Awakening (Children of Angels) (15 page)

Leonara emerged from the bathroom, and tossed a bottle to Mia, who caught it with the very tips of her fingers.

“
Paracetamol. They should help with the aching. You should eat something proper first
”
she commanded.

Once Mia had eaten and had something to drink and taken the paracetamol to ease the deep-set aching throughout her body, she stretched lengthily and lazily, before flopping back onto the bed.

“
So, what
’
s the verdict?
”
she asked, lolling her head to look at Leonara who stood across the room from her.

“
Verdict on what?
”
asked the Angel, cocking her head to one side with a puzzled expression on her face.

“
On
me
of course!
”
Mia sat up to meet Leonara
’
s gaze.
“
I mean
…
you did your stuff, right? You had a good poke around?
”

“
Ah,
that
verdict
”
Leonara replied, and seemed to relax. This puzzled Mia, after all, what other verdict could she possibly be asking for the outcome of?
“
Well, as we already knew, you
are
the Angel Child. It
’
s nice to properly confirm it, I recognized you at once, once I got to touch your soul. It was the grown soul of the child I held all those years ago. A lifetime ago.
”

“
And so
…”
Mia prompted, raising her eyebrows and waiting for Leonara to continue, but she didn't.
“
Well
…
what does that
mean
exactly, for me, I mean? Am I going to be able to defend myself? Can I do all the things that you can do? Am I much weaker?
”

“
I don
’
t know what you mean by
‘
things
’
that I do. You can shift Truths, create them, break them, possibly even bend existing Truths, but it will take time, practice and hard work. It will very much depend on who you are up against, whether you can defend yourself or not. I do not know how strong you are yet, but you must bear in mind that you are not fully grown yet. You can and probably will get stronger. For now, be content to know that I will teach you all I can, and help you to reach your full potential.
”

“
So where do we start?
”
asked Mia, jumping to her feet to show her eagerness and readiness to begin her training.

The jump up from the bed did not exactly achieve the desired effect. As she jumped up, she was hit with a wave of dizziness and nausea, and the aching throughout her body intensified, so that she staggered and almost fell over. Leonara was there, of course, to catch her in less than the blink of an eye.

“
We begin
”
said the Angel sternly, as she pushed Mia firmly back onto the bed
“
with you healing.
”

Mia opened her mouth to protest, but was lost to the blackness of unconsciousness before she even knew what it was she was going to say.

When she came around again, the aching had lessened significantly, and she felt much brighter and less groggy. The light in the room was on, but again she found herself alone. Mia wondered where it was that Leonara went to, and whether she would leave every time that Mia slept. It was a discomforting thought, to know that she was left alone when she slept, despite whatever protections the Angel had put on the place in the meantime.

Slowly, Mia sat up and swung her legs off the bed, testing her balance carefully as she stood up. Her head throbbed slightly more, in protest at the extra work her body was being asked to do, but there was no dizziness and she was not hit with a wave of dreadful nausea as she had been the last time, so she padded over to the bathroom to fetch herself a glass of water and wash her face to wake herself up.

When she got into the bathroom, she closed her eyes and splashed cold water over her face, fumbling for the mouth rinse with her eyes still shut, she took a swig from the bottle, then rinsed. As she straightened up again, and wiped the water from her eyes, she glanced in the mirror to see what kind of a state she was in. As she did so, she gasped and gripped the side of the sink so hard that she was dimly aware it was hurting her hands. Behind her, in the reflection, the boy was standing by the shower, just watching her. She took a breath and whirled around, her hands balled into fists, ready to hit him if he came near her - he was gone.

It was only a little later that she realized her balled fists would to little to stop an Angel from doing whatever they pleased with her, that it had just been a stupid human reaction. And she knew that the boy could not have been there. No Angels could get in, and if a human had tried, then Leonara would have known about it. She decided not to mention it to the Angel on her return, whenever that might be.

Looking at the clock, Mia tried to figure out what time it had been when she had last passed out, and how much time had passed since. With a sigh, she plonked herself on the bed and picked up the TV remote from the table beside the bed. Idly, she flicked through the channels, but it was the middle of the night, and there was nothing on. She ended up putting a shopping channel on just for background noise, largely to keep her imagination from hearing bumps in the night. The cheerful host was trying his hardest to sell her some fantastic new invention that was going to revolutionize the way she peeled her potatoes, but she wasn’t really listening.

She simply stared at the screen without seeing what was on it, and mulled over the events of the past day. It was beyond belief. A fresh wave of sadness hit her as she thought of her parents once again, and how they would never recognize her. How much she missed them already, but knowing that they would never miss her. She tried to wrench her mind away from that train of thought, it would do her no good to get depressed and upset about it all over again. It was done now. She was angry at the injustice of it all though, that she could not help. She had not asked to be different. Yes, she had agreed to let Leonara wipe her parents memories, or whatever she had done to them, but only to protect them. If she had stayed, she would have been putting them in untold danger. Either way, her old life was gone, and it felt like all her happiness had gone with it.

Angrily, she snatched up the remote from beside her on the bed and jabbed the power button so that the TV went off, crossly wondering where Leonara had gone this time and why she wasn’t back yet.

“
I
’
m right here. What is it?
”
the Angel
’
s voice spoke from behind her, sounding somewhat frazzled.

“
Oh,
”
Mia tried to compose herself quickly as she twisted to see Leonara
“
when did you get back?
”
she tried to sound nonchalant.

“
Just now. You called me.
”
Leonara replied, her arms folded as she leaned against the wall.

“
No
…
I didn
’
t
”
Mia replied slowly.

“
Believe me Mia, you did.
”
The Angel pushed herself away from the wall gracefully and unfolded her arms as she walked to stand in front of Mia.
“
Its an Angel thing - sort of like a human pager. If you need to get ahold of someone pretty snappy, you page them. You just paged me
”
she looked faintly amused now, whereas before she had been
…
what? Annoyed? Mia wondered whether Angels got annoyed.

“
Sorry
…
I didn
’
t mean to.
”
Mia replied in a small voice.

“
So I can see, from your reaction,
”
Leonara laughed playfully
“
well at least we know you
’
re on the mend. I was pretty far away. It takes a good burst of energy to send a 'page' that far across the planes.
”
She winked at Mia before continuing.
“
I guess this means you
’
re ready to start learning, huh? Angel 101 - class is now in session.
”

CHAPTER TWELVE

M
ia sat and listened carefully as Leonara attempted to explain
how she could control her powers, and how she could harness her power to start doing what she wanted.

“
It
’
s important that you learn, Mia, and I will do what I can to teach you. These are things that I have always just
known
,
so I will do my best to be patient with you while you learn. It is particularly important that you get your
‘
pager
’
under control.
Very
important.
”
She nodded as she emphasized the word, and anticipated Mia
’
s question as she opened her mouth to ask why.
“
It is important because when you
‘
page
’
another Angel
”
- she had said
‘
another Angel
’
, and it made Mia feel slightly giddy to be referred to as an Angel. It still sounded impossible and absurd -
“
what you are in effect doing, is becoming a beacon. That Angel can find you wherever you are, whatever Truth you are in, whatever plane you are on, if you want them to. If you are calling Angels without meaning to, it can cause big problems. When you called me, I know you did not mean to. But your thoughts must have been intensely focused on me.

As it happens, all the harm that was done was my business was cut short, and it was an inconvenience. However, should you focus your thoughts intensely on another Angel, or even another Angel Child, and you think about them hard enough, you will essentially do the same - call them to you. And whether you meant to or not, and whatever context you were thinking of them in, you will call them to you, and once the beacon is lit, there is no extinguishing it, not unless you can make a Switch before they can get to you. And
that
takes some doing, particularly if they are just
waiting
to find out where you are.

I suppose, in a way, it’s like what you humans call “butt-dialing”. You sit on your phone, call someone, and whether you want to speak to them or not, you are left with no choice.” She winked at Mia playfully.

“
Celestial butt-dialing?
”
Mia asked with a giggle.
“
W
ell we can
’
t have that” she added in mock seriousness.

When her giggles subsided, Mia sat cross legged on the bed with Leonara sitting opposite her in the Lotus position. The Angel ordered her to close her eyes, and to focus on relaxing her entire body, and just concentrate on her breathing. After a few minutes of this and nothing but silence from Leonara, Mia opened one eye to peek at what the Angel was doing. She was not there.