Divinity (36 page)

“I see.” Julia felt a pang of guilt for using any of Raphael’s energy. She swept her hand through the air, letting the colorful band fall away. She focused her mind on Raphael and envisioned the green aura of healing, identical to that which Raphael used. She sent a wave of rejuvenation over the Archangel. Julia searched Raphael’s brilliant eyes for signs of success, and was pleased to see a renewed sparkle. “Better?”

Raphael’s eyes widened and her wings arched out from her back, rippling once before re-settling. She tilted her head to one side, then the other. A brilliant smile spread over her face and her eyes shone with renewed vigor. “I have not felt this alive for centuries.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” Julia said, blushing. “Did I do it right that time?”

“You did.” Raphael nodded slowly. “I think whatever it is that you take out of yourself—that secret ingredient you seem to have—I believe it comes with urgency.”

“Secret ingredient,” Julia repeated. She lifted her head with a knowing grin. She remembered Maria’s parting words to her. “Like Grandma’s cookies.”

“I do not understand.”

“Oh, it’s just something someone said to me once.” The humor fell from Julia’s face in an instant. “I think I need to go see her. Are we finished here?”

Raphael rested one hand on Julia’s shoulder and smiled. “There is nothing more for me to teach you. The rest you must discover for yourself.”

“Thank you, Raphael. You are wonderful.” Julia disappeared the moment she finished speaking.

Julia reappeared in her living room, facing the fireplace. She had no time to ponder her course of action as the baying of the wolf split the air. The cry held alarm, and as soon as it stopped, Julia could hear the low growl. She rushed to the front door and peered through the peephole. Hackles raised, the wolf crouched at her front steps, growling toward something unseen on the lawn. She placed her hand on the handle, and the wolf craned its head around and issued one sharp bark before turning back and resuming its stance.

The wolf’s intentions seemed clear to Julia. She should stay where she was. But she wanted to see what was out there.

When a loud, high-pitched shriek came from the other side of the door, Julia flung the door open, and the malefic odor overwhelmed her senses.

“A’nwel,”
she hissed, stepping forward, alert. Her shield sprang to life around her.

The wolf, much to her surprise, came to heel at her right side. He brushed up against her with every step. She didn’t have time to fear the wolf when she knew her true enemy was out there.

She reached ahead with her angelic senses, searching for the source. Thirty yards from where she stood, Julia found a circle of dead grass, seared underneath the imprint of the
A’nwel
. Spreading out in a large circle, the lawn surrounding that spot was wilted and dying, unable to survive the presence of such evil.

The
A’nwel
itself had vanished, the odor already fading.

“It seems we were correct,” Michael said from behind her. “The
A’nwel
won’t come near the canine.”

Julia glanced down at the wolf, wild yet placid at her side. Its growl faded along with the stench, but continued right until the moment the air cleared. And then it darted away toward the woods.

“Thank you,” Julia whispered after the wolf.

It slipped between the trees, instantly invisible, then its long howl broke through the silence. Julia shivered, then slowly turned back to Michael.

“Thirty yards. Is that enough? What if it has a weapon?”

“It hasn’t thus far.” Michael moved out to the damage on the lawn, standing in the exact spot the
A’nwel
had only moments before. He crouched, his wings cloaking the dead foliage. He remained still for several moments, and then stood, fresh, vibrant grass springing to life beneath his feet.

Julia’s face lit with pleasure. “Beautiful, Michael. Thank you.”

Michael turned to face Julia, his face creased with concern. “This thing wreaks great damage upon all life.”

“It’s all well and good that it can’t get to me, but what if it chooses another target?” Julia walked over to Michael and stood directly in front of him. “What if it goes after someone else? We have to stop it before that happens. We’ve got to go after it.”

“How do you propose we do that, girl?”

“Just give me a little time,” Julia said. “I have an idea, but I need to speak with Maria first.”

“She has a valid point,” Gabriel said, eyeing the scene below.

“Yes, she does,” Michael said. “We need to find a thing we cannot see. We need to fight a thing we cannot harm. I don’t like our odds here, Brother.”

“It is something she will have to do on her own,” Raphael said, stepping up beside Gabriel. “If we unite to stand beside her, it may be possible to limit the damage.”

“Her desire to meet with her mother disturbs me,” Gabriel cut in. “This speaks of her inability to release her human ties. I think we should not allow this second meeting to take place. We should stop her.”

“I am not certain,” Michael began, facing Gabriel, “that this has to do with ties.”

“I am not certain,” Raphael said with a wry smile, “that you would be able to stop her.”

Gabriel’s wings twitched as he met Raphael’s eyes. “What are you saying, Sister?”

“Only that I have felt the strength of her spirit. We may be underestimating her,” Raphael said, resting a hand on Gabriel’s forearm. “In any case, I see no harm coming from a meeting with the mother. Perhaps she simply needs to say goodbye.”

“She will do as she will,” Michael said. “Her choices are, and have always been, her own.”

XXXVII

M
ICHAEL
stood facing the setting sun, his silhouette crisp. Julia studied his every movement. She thought she was figuring out his body language. His broad shoulders moved in tandem with his massive wings, sliding back when he was issuing orders, lowering when he was being compassionate, and flexing when he was vexed. Eavesdropping had taught her a lot.

While she watched him, an idea came to her. It might be dangerous to try without a test run, but she thought she could handle it. After all, if she was born to do everything that Michael could do, it stood to reason that she would be able to be in two places at once. She considered telling him first, but seeing the furrow of his brow, she thought it would be best not to bother him.

She focused on separating her body and spirit. With a clear thought of her destination, she skipped the Second Realm and went straight to the heavens. Clouds swirled at her feet, an endless stretch of billowing floor. A smile touched her lips when she felt her wings fluttering on her back, the tips of them trailing, disappearing in the mist.

She waved an arm as she had seen Michael do, parting the clouds to expose a scene below. Success.

Beneath her, she saw her own body, sitting on the front step. Michael stood a few feet away, still preoccupied. She could still see, hear, and feel everything that was going on around her physical being. She waved her arm once more, hiding her view, and opened a new vantage point—this one over the grounds at Woodgrass.

The timing couldn’t have been better. Maria was sitting beside one of the fountains, chattering to herself. An orderly was nearby, standing guard.

“Maria,” Julia said softly, “can you hear me?”

Maria’s mouth clamped shut and she sat perfectly still. Her eyes darted left and right, then up. She raised her head and smiled. “There you are.”

Julia smiled. It seemed as though Maria was looking directly at her, though she knew that was impossible. The guards would think it was business as usual with Maria, and that was exactly what Julia had been hoping for.

“I want to make sure you’re being taken care of,” Julia said.

“Gabriel came by,” Maria said with a smile. “We went to a dinner party. On Venus.”

The orderly raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

“The Queen of Venus hit on Gabriel,” Maria continued. “I smacked her in the face, the trollop! Now Gabriel is mad at me. He says that isn’t how his wife should behave.”

Julia chuckled to herself. She did enjoy Maria’s rants, but she had some serious business to attend to.

“Maria, I need to know what you know about the
A’nwel.”
Julia pictured the monster clearly as she spoke in hopes that Maria would pick up on her visual. “You told me about the secret ingredient. Did you know what I would be faced with?”

Maria pushed herself back on the bench, sitting on her hands so her feet could swing back and forth without dragging on the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut and hunched over.

Julia reached into Maria’s mind, just as she had when she sat beside her, and watched the scene unfold. A young Maria, huddled in the back corner of the closet, a towering Archangel Gabriel pulling his hand free from the chest of Maria’s father as the body fell to the floor. It was exactly as Julia had seen it before, except for one thing…

The young Maria was chanting, “Watch!” over and over while she stared, transfixed, at the body of her father. A thick black wisp of smoke rose from the body. Julia knew in an instant it was the same substance the
A’nwel
had shed when she had seen it running in the woods. Her stomach knotted.

The wisp joined several more, gathering and growing into a softball-sized mass. It dropped to the floor and dissipated, seeping into the floorboards.

Julia blinked as the scene ended. She found herself standing with her mouth hanging open, fists clenched at her sides.

“Like snowmen,” Maria said, turning her head toward the orderly. She flashed a smile at him and winked. “Snowmen can’t live on Venus, though.” She began to rant about the Queen of Venus, and she seemed lost in her own thoughts again.

Julia listened to Maria’s ramblings for a few more minutes, pondering all that was said and trying to decipher Maria-ese. Julia hadn’t built a snowman since she was very young, but she remembered rolling the balls through the snow and being amazed at how they got bigger with every roll. Piecing it together, Julia grimaced.

If the
A’nwel
gathered the evil from the spirits of dying humans, there could be thousands of them. Or, because there were thousands of evil spirits, if there was only one
A’nwel
, it could be incredibly strong.

“I’ll worry about that when it’s time to hunt,” Julia said, more to herself than Maria. “But first things first.”

She hoped Maria would have another moment of clarity, but it looked like that wouldn’t happen. Julia wanted to ask Maria if she would like to be healed, but decided to make that decision for her.

She reached into Maria’s mind, seeking the part that was broken, the part that made her insane. Julia searched every crevice, every molecule, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing felt “wrong.” She refocused on Maria’s mind, gathered a wave of healing the way Raphael would, and sent it through Maria. The only effect visible was that Maria began to laugh—so hard, she almost fell off the bench.

The orderly stepped over and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Maria, are you all right?”

“Oh yes,” she answered, getting her laughter under control. “I just remembered the joke Gabriel told me at the party.”

Julia tried again, to no avail. She folded her arms. She wanted to stamp her foot. The start of a dull, throbbing headache made its way into her skull. With a heavy sigh, she gave up.

“Goodbye, Maria,” Julia said, rubbing her temples. “Thank you for the cookies.”

Maria waved an arm to the sky, and began laughing all over again. Within minutes, she was escorted inside.

A single tear trickled down Julia’s cheek as she turned away from the hole in the clouds that enabled her to view her mother. Raphael’s sudden appearance startled her.

“Your initial error,” Raphael said, “is thinking you can heal someone who is not broken.”

Julia wiped the tear away and searched Raphael’s eyes. “She seems broken, Raphael. Did you hear her?”

“Maria healed herself many years ago by shutting down certain parts of her mind. You could not find anything because it works exactly the way it needs to for her. Had you found the trick of it and reversed it…” Raphael shook her head.