Fledgling: Book 1 (Afterlife) (25 page)

Cindy becomes impatient. “What did you want us over here for?”

He licks his lips; his eyes are still nervous. “Ah! You have a friend, right?” His voice was barely louder than a whisper.
 

We fall silent. Our faces remain blank, and none of us move. We just look at him.
 

He runs a hand through his hair and licks his lips again. His eyes flick over us individually again, and he nods. “You have a friend. He’s the colour orange.”
 

This comment pushes Ben out of silence. “What do you know about him?”

“They have him.” His eyes were more haunted than I had seen them before. “They have him,” he repeats.
 

“Who?” I ask.
 

“The others. The others have him.” He nods again. “Yeah, they do. He came to help me, and they took him.” I could hear his American accent now.
 

I frown and look at Ben and Cindy to see if they have any idea what he is saying. Their faces looked as blank as my mind. “Who took him?”

“Oooh!” He visibly shook from head to toe. “They were horrible. Like demons or something. They made these men look nice.”

“How many?” Cindy asks.

“Lots. There are lots of them,” he whispers. The news is rather disturbing. The archangels were right suspecting that this could be a dangerous mission. But why would they want to take Orange?

“Do you know where they took him?” Ben asks.
 

Something clangs across the floor behind me. I turn to see what made the sound and spot a hand grenade bounce in our direction, stopping right behind me. We are still all crouched around the human. My head spins around, and I reach for the man pulling him to a standing position with me. I catch a glimpse of Ben’s eyes and see terror as he stands with me followed by Cindy. My heart reaches out to him. He is about to face his biggest nightmare again. We don’t have time to do anything else other than circle around the aid worker, hoping to protect him from the blast. In unison, we release our wings wrapping them around the man. I grab Ben and Cindy around the waist and make sure my wings are on the outer edge. I look up. Ben’s eyes are studying me. I can see the panic ripping at him from the inside. I want to say all will be okay when the grenade ignites.

- Chapter Twenty-Three -

The force pushes me forward and rips at my skin. Each piece of metal burns as it hits me. It hits my back, legs, neck and back of my head. I can feel the metal entering my skin. I grit my teeth as the pain sears through my body. The effects of the explosion last only a short while and then it stops. The back of me aches, but I can already feel the pieces of metal moving toward the outside of my skin. Little tinkles sound as they hit the hard floor. I look up and assess the damage to the others.
 

Inside Ben’s eyes, I can see a change. He is more relaxed and happy that it is over. It didn’t turn out as bad as he feared. He looks down, and I follow his gaze, pieces of metal are exiting his legs. I look at Cindy’s, and it is happening to her too. There is no blood on the floor at our feet. My eyes travel up our human, and there is barely a scratch on him.
 

Breathing a sigh of relief we pull apart and give him some space.
 

“Thanks,” he says weakly. His eyes are wide and fixed on our wings.
 

I turn and look around the room. Every wall and piece of furniture are marked and embedded with shrapnel making the place look more tattered than before. “We have to get you out of here,” I say.
 

He approaches the door keen to leave when Ben places a hand on his arm. “Do you know where they took Orange?” At first the man jumps at his touch, then relaxes when he realises that it is non-threatening.
 

“I don’t know for sure, but I have a suspicion.”

“Where is that?” Cindy asks.
 

“I know it is hard to believe, but this place is heaven compared to the other side of town.”

“Are you kidding me?” I ask.

He shakes his head. A look of depression crosses his face. “Just thinking about the place overwhelms you with a sense of helplessness. It feels like hell on earth.”

“Which way is the other side of town?” Cindy asks.

He points toward the north.

A noise sounds up from the street.
 

“Come on, we need to get you out of here,” I say.
 

When we reach the door, I hear a groan from the corner of the room then a whimper from the other corner. I forgot about the other men. Looking in their direction I see pools of blood, and they are not moving.
 

I turn to Ben. “Can you transport him out of here to somewhere safe. I need to heal these men before we head to the other side of town.”

He looks at the men then gives me an apprehensive look. “Are you going to be safe while I’m gone?”

Forever my protector. “I am going to be fine. Besides, I have big bad Cindy here to kick their butts.” I smile, and he gives Cindy a curious look.

“That’s me, baby.” She gives him a wink. “A scary yellow bodyguard.”

“You’re the one that needs to be careful; you’re by yourself.” I raise an eyebrow.
 

He scoffs then turns to the aid worker. “Now, don’t be scared. Just relax, okay. It is not safe for you to leave here by foot. I am going to embrace you and surround you by my wings and teleport you to a place you see as safe.” He studies the man intensely. “Okay?”

The man wobbles his head up and down. He looks as though he does not completely believe what he is being told. Why would he? His life has just taken a weird turn from the point of view of a human.
 

Ben continues, “Now, think of a safe place you would like to go. Okay?” He watches our Innocent carefully.
 

The man nods again.
 

“Alright.” Ben steps closer to him and wraps his arms around him then encloses him in his wings. It is hard to tell that there is a man underneath yet I know he is there. Encased in blue they disappear.
 

I turn to the first of the wounded. I can no longer see the evil in their eyes, only fear and anxiety. I can also see the added damage from the shrapnel from the grenade. The attackers are lucky we had unknowingly placed them in a spot slightly sheltered from the explosion. As I approach, he wants to squirm away, but he is too injured. I place a hand on him and begin to heal his wounds. While I am healing the shrapnel wounds, I also work on the ones that were inflicted by us. I watch amazed that I can do this. I still do not know how, but I am grateful for the gift.
 

When healed, I move to the next man. This time it is the leader. He is still lying unconscious, unmoving, but I am certain he is feeling. I touch each wound individually watching the skin and bones return to its normal position and heal. I look at the inside of his wrist. Once again, the tattoo has disappeared. It is such an unusual thing to happen. The tattoos are showing signs they must have something to do with the possession of a demon.

As I finish, my mind wanders to Ben. I thought that he would have returned by now. A small smidgen of worry starts to creep into me.
 

I move to the next Somalian. His blood is pooling in patches around him. His eyes are wide and white, a severe contrast to his dark skin, as I make my way over. I can see he wants to flee, but he has just watched as I healed his other two colleagues. Desperate to be healed he begrudgingly allows me to approach. I work on his more serious wounds first. I lift the hem of his ma'awis high enough to see the wound on his leg. I gag internally at what I see. I don’t know how he was not still screaming in pain. The bone of his leg has completely broken and is sticking out of his skin.
 

I place a full hand on his leg next to the wound and watch it all slowly move back into place and seal, leaving no mark when it healed. Once satisfied, I begin to work on his other smaller wounds, enjoying seeing them disappear.
 

With the healing done, I rise to my feet. I have one more to heal. I look around the room, still no sign of Ben. It only takes a few moments to teleport somewhere. Where could he be? I try to push the worry down. I look at the charm hanging around my neck. I wish I had enchanted it to glow when one of the other two were in danger. The charm of the three angels remains dull and unlit.
 

Cindy sees me look at my charm and says, “I thought he would be back by now.” I can hear the worry in her voice. She is not helping me calm my nerves.
 

“True,” I say. “Maybe he is taking a quick holiday on the side.” I am trying to lighten the mood. It doesn’t seem to be working.
 

My next patient moans in the final corner. Not wanting to be seen I commando crawl past the door. It is not that I am injured; I just didn’t want to have any more unwelcome disturbances. I reach the man’s side, kneel over the top of him and begin to heal his wounds.
 

Behind me, Cindy calls out, “Finally!”

Curious, I turn my head to look at what she is talking about. Ben is back. On his face is an amused smile.
 

“Where have you been?” I ask.

“You noticed.” He smirks.
 

“Um, yes. You disappeared for quite a while for a simple teleport.” I say. “Did you take a holiday on the side?”

He tilts his head to the side. “Kind of.”

I frown.

“What do you mean, kind of?” Cindy asks.

“Well, you know how I said to him to picture himself in a nice safe place?”

I nod.

He chuckles. “That’s what he did. I ended up in California on the beach under some palm trees.”

A smile creeps across my face. “I’m sure it would be a lot safer than here.” I lean over and finish healing the last couple of places.
 

“Did you leave him there?” Cindy sounds stunned.
 

Ben nods. “That’s what he wanted. To be honest, I don’t blame him. After what he has been through here, he would need to get away from the place.”

I stand. “I agree. I don’t want to be here, and I’m not even human.” A warm feeling passes all over my body, the conclusion that our Innocent is safe and our job is complete with protecting him. I take a final look at the men lying in the room. They still looked haunted from the effects of their conscience. “Ready to go find Orange?”

“Let’s do it!” Ben says.
 

We turn invisible and fly out the balcony door. Below us is the display of ruins and devastation. The thought that the other side of town is worse than here, is hard to believe.
 

The sound of our wings flapping, almost in unison, reaches my ears as I observe our surroundings. A gust of sea breeze hits us catching under our wings.

On the right-hand side, the city is lined by the Indian Ocean. I am surprised to see the buildings along the ocean are still whole with some looking quite attractive. More inland from the north, burnt cars are sitting next to battlegrounds. Not far from there are long lines of makeshift tents set up for refugees and displaced people. These sites are heart-wrenching. The conditions that these people are living in are ghastly.
 

As we pass this area, I notice the conditions are getting worse. The trees are spaciously separated or non-existent; there are bodies lying in the streets surrounded by armed men that look like peacekeepers. It looks as though a stand-off has just finished with the rebels; the rebels coming in second best. Further up again, there are buildings on fire. Thick columns of dark grey smoke billow up to the sky. The air seems thicker and gluggier, feeling strange against our wings.
 

“I don’t like the feel of this,” Cindy says.
 

“What is it?” I ask her.

“The feeling is stronger than before. I can’t believe that you can’t feel it.” She looks baffled.
 

“It’s clearly your gift, not ours,” Ben says.
 

“Can’t you even feel the change in the air?” she asks.

“I can feel something, but I thought it had to do with the fires down below?” I say.

Shaking her head, she continues, “That’s not the smoke; that is different.”

“Okay,” I agree, not knowing what else to say. I try to increase my senses to see if I can feel it. I don’t perceive anything different. I look down trying to see anything different. Everything looks much the same, and the circumstances are slowly getting worse as we head further north, inching away from the ocean. Evidence of people running around the streets dwindles. There is no sign of movement for quite some time now. It is disheartening to see so many buildings ruined. They would have been beautiful buildings looking at what remains of them. It’s such a waste.
 

Something moves underneath me. Looking down I see a wild dog tearing at the flesh of a lifeless body. The spectacle is repulsive, but I had a quick look at what may have caused the death and saw several other people lying not far away from the first, each one as lifeless as each other. Cindy was right they need an army of angels to move in here to protect the innocent people. I cannot find the cause of death. Looking at their bodies, they may have been there for a few days. A crow calls out in the distance. The sound comes from behind us. Looking back I can see we have already flown a fair distance.