Awakening (Children of Angels) (11 page)

Someone
must
have told her then, or else how could she have known? And if not her parents, then
who
? “Leonara” her mind whispered to her, but again she tried to squash that thought back down. It was
not
possible. Her resolve was wavering though, her logical mind was failing her. Perhaps, she thought to herself, I just
want
it to be true, and that’s why I can’t shake it.

That was all it took, that tiny chink in the armour of Mia’s logical resolve. At last, Leonara felt as though a huge weight pressing down on her had been lifted. It was effortless then, to simply
be
in Mia’s bedroom.

“
Finally,
”
she said, her tone betraying her impatient exasperation
“
I thought you
’
d
never
come to your senses!
”

Mia whirled around and her eyes widened in shock, because standing there before her, in the same corner she had stood on the night of the dream, was an Angel.

“
Surprised to see me?
”
she asked, with a playful smile
“
you shouldn
’
t be - I have been
trying
to get in touch with you all week. You shut me out - I couldn
’
t get back into your Truth.
”

“
I
…
what?
”
Mia forgot whatever it was she had been planning to ask, as something had stirred in her memory.
“
You said only
Angels
can change Truths.
”

“
That
’
s right
”
smiled the Angel again
“
and you, my little mini-Angel, have juice in you to make me disappear - that wasn
’
t very nice of you Mia, I only came here to help you.
”

“
I
…
I
made you disappear?
”
she asked, astounded.

“
Of course you did. I told you how Truth works. And after what happened, you got scared, and in your new Truth - I didn
’
t exist. Something like that could really hurt a girl
’
s feelings you know
”
she said, in a mock hurt tone, but the playful smile had returned to her lips
“
I
’
m proud of you Mia - you picked it up fast. Quicker than even I anticipated.
”
“
But
…
I
saw
you, everywhere!
”
Mia replied
“
If I
’
d managed to make you
…
not exist, or whatever, how is that possible?
”

“
My Truths are stronger than yours, little one. I had the power to override yours to an extent, but you
’
re a strong little thing. Every time I almost made it back, you squashed me back out again. What was that man on the bench all about? I really thought I had you then, that I was back in business - but you managed to slip away again
”
she laughed and despite herself, Mia chuckled too.

Leonara’s expression grew serious then.

“
But I
am
sorry, Mia. For what happened. I know it
’
s my own fault you shut me out - I
’
m not surprised you got frightened, after he got in like that. I had no idea he was so powerful already
…”

“
Who
is
he?
”
Mia asked almost breathlessly. She wondered for just a moment if she was dreaming again.

“
No, you are not dreaming Mia, not this time.
”

“
MIA! I said
are you AWAKE?
”
her mother yelled. Mia heard her start to come up the stairs, and hastily replied.

“
Yes! Just getting dressed - I
’
ll be down in just a minute!
”
she quickly and quietly slid off her bed and crossed the room to where her bedroom door hung slightly ajar. She closed it quietly, and gently slipped the latch shut, so that it was locked.
“
who is he?
”
she repeated, her eyes boring into those of the Angel
’
s.

“
He is
…
a problem. A much bigger problem than I had thought he would be.
”

In less than the blink of an eye, she was sitting on Mia’s bed, and patted the duvet beside her, gesturing for Mia to sit. Mia obliged, keen to know who this strange boy was. Leonara took her hand gently in between her own cool smooth hands, and returned her gaze solemnly.

“
He is
…
..well he is a special creature. A very special boy. Special in the way that
you
are special
”
she focused her gaze on Mia
’
s, willing the girl to understand her meaning.

“
But I thought
…
you said I was the only one
”
Mia replied, confused and - to her surprise - a little disappointed that she wasn
’
t as unique as she had thought. She had never been one to
need
to feel important or special or different. But for a short time, she had been. Now it seemed, she was not such a rare thing at all.

“
You are the first and only of
your
kind. Of
our
kind. The only Angel Child that ever lived - on our side. There is another Angel Child out there, a boy. He was born before you, but he was born to
them
. I see you are hurt and surprised - I suppose you think I lied to you?
”
she smiled wryly.

Mia nodded, then, burst out “you
did
lie” she wrenched her hand back from Leonara, and sat glaring at her with narrowed eyes “What was the point of the lie? Why would it matter if there were others like me or not?”

“
I did not
lie
Mia. I did not disclose certain facts, that is true, and this has upset you and endangered you and for that Mia I
am
sorry. But I
’
ll tell you now. I will explain it all, lay my cards on the table, as humans say. And then you can decide for yourself what it is that you want to do about it all. Does that sound fair?
”
Reluctantly, Mia nodded, and Leonara continued to speak, an expression falling over her face as though she were in a dream-like trance.
“
We were not the only ones who realized that an Angel Child would prove to be a valuable asset. The Others knew it too, and they tried just as hard as we did to make it happen. They succeeded before us, and we never knew how they managed it. We had no idea how many Children they had managed to create. To this day, we have only ever found one - just
him
.

And so there are just you two. One boy for them, one girl for us. They kept their boy close, raised him throughout his life, taught him of Truths and of what he is - right from birth until this day. I knew he would be far ahead of you, in terms of his abilities, it stands to reason. But I did not realize he was so powerful that he could break into
my
Truths.
That
should not be.” She whispered the last, pausing thoughtfully. Mia waited a few moments, then coughed gently to prompt Leonara to continue. She did so, after briefly refocusing on Mia, then returning to her trance-like state. “We continued our efforts to create a child, the need all the greater for knowing
they
had managed it, and that they now held a great weapon that could be used against us at any time. We did not know how the Child would grow, whether it would age as a human, whether it would age faster or slower than a human, or whether it would simply come into adulthood as soon as it was born. For all we knew, they were already working with it against us.

We managed to keep a track on him for a year or so, after which we lost him - they learned that we were watching, and took greater measures to hide him. Eventually it became too hard and too dangerous to track him through all the Truths. And we lost many from our cause, for wherever they were found by us, then his protectors found a way to banish us - banish our people forever, our equivalent of human death, I suppose. It was a time of great loss. In that time though, we learned that he seemed to be growing just as a human child would. That gave us some time and some hope.

And then finally we had you, and although we had lost track of him and did not know what his powers were, how advanced he was, how strong he was, we knew that we would at least have some chance now. Once they knew that we had an Angel Child, they would not be so quick to attack. Even as a newborn baby, you would have been a good shield for us. I know, it was wrong to think we could use you like that. And of course, you know, it did not turn out the way we had hoped anyway. You were as lost to us as he was.

We feared that you had been killed by them, as had been your mother’s plan, when she took you away from us that night. We tried to find her, but she had slipped through so many different Truths, and the trail was cold by the time we found out what had happened. They had gotten to her, poisoned her mind against us somehow - convinced her that you were an abomination, that we should not be allowed to have you. And for some reason, whatever reason, she believed them and betrayed us all.

How the boy found you, I do not know. I am certain I was not followed, I am skilled at skipping Truths myself, it is the easiest way to make sure one is not followed by the enemy. If you are skipping through a great many and varied Truths, and the same person keeps popping up, it’s a dead giveaway.” She winked at Mia before continuing. “It took us a long time to find out that you were still alive, and it was from
them
that we learned it. I think it must have been the boy who found you. They had reason to look, yes, but we would be more likely to be the ones to find you - we are your family, Mia, and as one of our kind you would be easier for us to find that for them to. You have sort of a…a natural cloaking ability, which shields you from being found. Even by us - and that we did not bet upon. We should have been able to find you, as you are essentially a human born of an Angel. The human part in you should have overridden a lot of your Angel traits, and you should not have been able to hide.

It is fortunate, in a way, that you were hidden. I am certain that if they had picked up on your trace, we would not be having this conversation right now, because you would be dead. He is like you, though, and so it is possible and indeed likely, that he was able to find you. He would have had to trace you though…I wonder how he did that. To be able to follow you to the present day, he would have had to start at a point where he knew you had been, and follow your Trace from there. But you have been lost since the day you were born. And to be able to get into your dreams…” she trailed off and sat there in thoughtful silence.