Seven Archangels: Annihilation (24 page)

"I haven't been allowed to see him yet," Saraquael said. "Uriel's orders."

Remiel shook her head, her eyes suddenly cautious, sparks around her hair.

No, she couldn't lose control again.

"I'll ask," Saraquael said, then spoke into the air. "Michael?"

Anything to report?

"Remiel wants to know if we can see Gabriel."

Is she still throwing energy?

Like a pulsar,
Saraquael sent rather than said.

Absolutely not.

"When do you think we can?" Saraquael said aloud, meeting Remiel's eyes. Her expectant look faded.

I don't think he's even awake yet, but I'll let you know.

"Thanks," Saraquael said. "I've got someone here who wants to be first on the guest list." Then he turned to Remiel. "Apparently he's still sleeping."

"Where are they keeping him?" she said. "I couldn't track him down before."

Saraquael caught the gleam in Zadkiel's eyes. "He's safe for now, among friends, like you."

- + -

Mary looked up from her knitting to find Gabriel with his eyes open.

"Gabriel!" She dumped half an afghan in a heap and rushed to the bedside, dropping to a seat on the floor so they were on a level. His eyes absorbed all her movements, but his face was slack. One hand rested outside the covers, and she stroked his fingers. "I'm so glad you're awake."

He blinked at her languidly.

Mary looked at the other two angels: Raphael exactly where he'd dropped himself on the bed, and Uriel spread out over a pile of cushions in the corner. She touched Gabriel's hand again, and although cold, it hadn't the bloodless chill of before. He curled his fingers around hers and squeezed.

She squeezed back, taking care not to hurt him.

Gabriel put his hands under his shoulders and started to push himself up, then shut his eyes and gasped. Mary rushed forward, catching him as he panicked. Fear. Confusion. Understanding.

"Does it hurt?" she said.

After a moment, she felt reassurance that he didn't hurt. He had just lost track of his position.

He pivoted as he sat up and again endured the confusion. Then he met her eyes and remembered where he was.

Mary didn't release him immediately. "Your equilibrium is off-kilter?"

Biting his lip, Gabriel swiveled his gaze around the room, taking care to keep his head still. A short intake of breath, and his grey eyes clouded. He tried to look around again without moving.

"Oh, Raphael?" Mary patted Gabriel's hand. "He's behind you, asleep. He and Uriel gave a champion effort to keep you together."

Gabriel frowned. Mary sat directly in front of him, knee to knee. "Are you worried because you can't sense him?" He nodded. "Uriel said Satan broke your bonds—"

His eyes bugged, and he clenched his fists.

"—and you can re-bond later when you're healthy, but not right away." She offered a smile. "Raphael was furious about that."

Mary went across the room to get the picnic hamper, then withdrew a thermos. "Would you like some tea?"

A picture formed in her head: water streaming from a cracked pitcher.

Laughing, Mary looked over her shoulder. "Should I pour you a cup of tea and stand by with a towel?"

Gabriel smiled. She unscrewed the thermos top and poured a mug of steaming tea, which Gabriel took in both hands. She'd wondered if he'd be able to make himself solid enough to drink, but he managed that just fine. As he sat with his hands around the warmth of the cup, she opened another thermos and poured a cup of cream of mushroom soup. When he'd finished the tea, she took that cup and handed him the other.

Gabriel took a deep breath as if to speak, strained, then huffed in frustration.

"Don't worry." She rubbed his shoulder. "I know you can't talk."

He lowered his eyes and projected what he would have said
.

"You're welcome. Don't try to force yourself." She touched his hair as he raised the cup to his mouth. "Uriel is my guardian angel, remember? It's not unusual for Uriel to go a century or thereabouts without speaking, so that after three decades you find yourself thinking, was the last spoken sentence in 1637?"

Gabriel laughed without making a sound. Then he raised the mug and nodded.

"You like it?" This was new. Mary hunted through the hamper to see what else was inside. Not all of it was convalescent food, but all of it was comfort food. She pulled out the cookies, macaroons, and some cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches on thin slices of wheat bread. She placed the containers on the bed, and Gabriel took a sandwich.

This won't make him sick, will it?
she prayed.

He has an angelic body,
God replied.
He can't get sick.

Mary sorted through the other containers.
It's great to have someone who isn't only humoring me about the cookies.

He's trying to make up substance,
God said.
Below the surface he's aware he's missing a lot of himself, so he's feeling hungry, or what in an angel passes for hunger.

Mary's eyes brightened, and she unloaded piles of food from the hamper.
Does it work?

Not efficiently.

She poured another mug of tea for Gabriel and joined him, eating one of the sandwiches. Her heart warmed at how animated he seemed. "I'm so glad you're back." When he paused mid-bite, she added, "I would have missed you terribly."

He avoided her eyes, but she caught the flush of his cheeks.

"I remember the first time I saw you, when you told me about Jesus—it was just so incredible." The experience had buoyed her for weeks; even recalling it made her a little heady. "I'd seen Uriel a few times before, but only fleeting glimpses. But after you came, I was able to see Uriel more often, and I was able to see Raphael too."

Gabriel traced his finger around the edge of an empty plate.

Mary said, "I saw you hanging around sometimes, only I don't think you realized. I didn't know why, but I thought maybe you were looking out for me. Sometimes I'd get scared, but then I'd see you sitting on the well or tussling with Raphael, and I'd feel safe. You were always so relaxed."

She felt Gabriel demur.

"You said the baby would be called the Son of the Most High and inherit the throne of David his father, and I kept that as a shield. If you'd said it, that meant he'd live long enough to do all those things, and even that Joseph wouldn't have me stoned as an adulteress. I clung to that." She touched his hand. "You told me not to be afraid. I'd see you, and seeing you made me strong so I didn't have to feel afraid."

Gabriel really wouldn't look at her now.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She averted her own gaze, as if that could make him less uncomfortable. "I didn't realize you'd finished. Here, there's one more thing." She removed a container from the hamper and showed it to Gabriel. "A tomato-basil salad with fresh mozzarella." He laughed silently as she said, "I went to Leoni's on 15th Avenue in Bensonhurst to get the mozzarella balls."

He laughed again. Mary added, "Then I stopped off at Vasillaros in Flushing to get coffee."

Beaming, Gabriel gestured over his shoulder to the sleeping Raphael. Mary laughed out loud.

They split the tomato-basil salad, but before uncovering the bottom, Gabriel began to shiver again. Mary retrieved Raphael's wings-as-a-blanket and tried to cover Gabriel, but she couldn't figure out how to get it around his own wings. She knew he shouldn't try detaching his wings at this point, not when he'd so recently been in pieces, but she didn't know how the angels had made the room warmer before. She asked God.

They just made it warmer.

But how?

They moved the molecules in the air,
God said.
It's not that big a deal for an angel.

Mary tried again with the blanket, but she shot God a tolerant look.

The Holy Spirit said,
Up on the front of the throne of glory, does it say "Thermostat"?

Mary bit her lip to contain her smile. The room was already warming as she cleared empty containers off the bed.
I'm not aware of anything it says on the front of the throne because I've only got eyes for You when I'm there.

The Holy Spirit said,
Come back sometime and check.

So I can be dazzled and forget again? Okay. But then I'll have to return again. And again.

The Holy Spirit hugged her.

Really, what does it say on the throne of glory?

"Not a step."

Mary laughed as she put away the hamper.

Think about it.

Gabriel had his wings tight to himself by now, and Mary knew he ought to sleep, but he didn't want to move.

"I'm going to lay you down again," Mary said to Gabriel, who projected a strong negative. "No, listen to me. You're tired."

Raphael stirred. Hearing him, Gabriel groped sideways until he touched the Seraph's feathers. In the next moment, Raphael had burst awake and was hugging Gabriel; Gabriel closed his eyes and leaned into the embrace.

"Raphael, he's chilled," Mary said.

"He's beyond chilled and well into freezing." Raphael positioned himself behind Gabriel and wrapped his arms and then his wings around him. Gabriel had his hands up at his chest, and he kept his eyes shut. Raphael murmured, "Believe me, I'd love nothing more than to talk to you right now, but you need to rest."

Gabriel projected an even stronger negative. Mary explained about the equilibrium problems.

"So every time you move, you have no idea where you are?" Raphael sighed. "I hope that's temporary."

Gabriel's eyes flew wide.

Raphael laid his hands on Gabriel's head, and Mary watched him examine the entire Cherub with his mind. Gabriel relaxed moment by moment as Raphael warmed him, and the room itself continued heating.

How warm are you going to make it?
Mary asked God.

In answer, God changed her jeans and t-shirt to an airy dress loosely belted at the waist.

Sitting behind Gabriel, Raphael didn't have to hide the distress on his face, and with the bond severed, Gabriel wouldn't be able to detect whatever realization had created that expression.

Gabriel must have felt the examination end, because he cocked his head and squinted.

Raphael touched his head against the back of Gabriel's and spoke in a hush. "You need more time to heal."

Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry I can't be more specific. I've never done anything like this before."

Gabriel reached one hand to his shoulder, and Raphael took it. He sighed. "We got you this far. We'll figure out something. It's not so bad, considering." Raphael's wings vibrated. "Just, when you consider—"

Gabriel leaned into him again, and Raphael squeezed him tight. "Uriel may be able to figure it out."

Five minutes later, Gabriel had surrendered to sleep upright against Raphael's chest. Raphael could probably have laid him down then, but he didn't. For nearly an hour he sang the Trisagion in a low voice, his focus fixed on the Vision. As she prayed while knitting, Mary could feel the relief sheeting off him like rain off a metal awning. It was to this scene that Uriel awakened.

Uriel admitted to confusion about the equilibrium problems and didn't have a magic needle to fix them. The Throne tried to check the repair work, but as soon as Uriel reached inside, a terrified Gabriel flexed out of Raphael's grasp, desperate to fight or flee except that Michael's Guard trapped him. It took a few moments to calm him.

While Gabriel huddled against him, Raphael said, "Were you able to get a look?" and Uriel replied that things seemed to be holding together for now.

Uriel cleared everything off the bed and put down a cardboard puzzle, spread out all twenty-four pieces, and looked at Gabriel.

Sitting forward, Gabriel frowned.

Confused, Uriel prompted him.

Gabriel studied the pieces for an interminable minute, then set about methodically trying each side of each piece against every other piece. The scheme was thorough and would have yielded a complete picture in an hour, but Uriel cleared away the puzzle and brought out a board with five pegs and twenty-five shapes to stack on them. Gabriel sorted by color, but in order to sort by shape he had to systematically match each shape to every other shape.

Raphael sat stunned. Mary tried not to appear nervous.

Uriel cleared away the shapes and moved on to testing languages, all of which Gabriel could understand.

The battery took over an hour, covering every conceivable area from problem-solving to optics to fine motor to social skills ("No worries," Raphael joked. "You'd have failed that on the best day of your life anyhow,") and basic sensory input. Poker-faced, Uriel had a clipboard to mark everything as they went through. Gabriel ate cookies between tests until he got too tired to continue, at which point they made the room dark, laid him down again (once more the terrified disorientation) and told him to sleep.

Gabriel started to sit up, but Raphael stopped him. "Is something wrong?"

Mary murmured, "You don't want to be alone?"

Raphael closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against Gabriel's. "No, I wouldn't either."

Uriel said, "We'll only be on the other side of that wall."

"No." Raphael kept his voice flat. "You'll only be on the other side of that wall. I'm going to be on
this
side of that wall right here."

Mary and Uriel went into the rest of the house, which felt frigid after the greenhouse effect in Gabriel's room.

Mary took a deep breath before saying, "How bad is the damage?"

Uriel projected that Mary had seen it for herself. "I need Raphael to go over this with me, but his senses aren't integrated. He can't see things and turn them over in his mind."

Mary said, "God told me it's all right that he's hungry."

Uriel sparkled with surprise, then a generalized projection Mary couldn't entirely decipher about Gabriel eating the whole time (it felt like an a-ha moment) and then an image appeared in Mary's head of herself heading right back to her kitchen.