The Taking (10 page)

“And don’t come back.” Now I know my face has lost its colour. They did not sound like idle words. He turns to me. “You’re no better. I have no idea what Separus sees in you. Both of you are nothing but arrogant human teens. Only the male has some sense, and even that is not much.” He flings his hand in Cindy’s direction. “Go join her if you like. You don’t like the way I instruct, then go join her. I don’t
want
to teach you.” Turning his back to us, he stares at the wall.
 

My jaw drops as I stare at his stumpy wings. He hasn’t been my favourite teacher, but I know I need the instruction.
 

Ben’s voice pleads in my head. “Don’t leave. For your own safety, don’t leave. We, especially you, need the training if you are going to go against Separus. The guy sounds pretty bad by what Zacharias is saying.” I look at him; his eyes have turned to the deepest colour. He runs his hands through his short, dark hair, and his eyebrows push together.

I shake my head and think in response.
I am not planning on leaving, but I would like to run after Cindy and try to sort her out. She targeted his wings — being earthbound; it must be a touchy subject with him especially when he used to be able to fly.
 

Ben nods his head, and I frown.
 

Did you just hear that?
I ask mentally while looking at him.

Yes,
he says in my head.

I smile.
This will make communicating a lot easier.

Turning to Zacharias, who remains with his back toward us, I say, “You are not getting rid of me that quickly. In fact, you won’t be getting rid of Cindy that easily either. Strangely enough, she is not too fond of your rudeness, and it's been wearing on her patience. As for me, I like your training style as much as being beaten on the head with a rock. I know we need to learn and the archangels trust you to teach us the skills we need, so I’m sticking around.” I walk over and face him. His eyes are set like opals with anger while I stare into them.
 

Ben walks over and stands next to me. He looks at the hardness set on Zacharias’ face and says, “You know, it probably wouldn’t hurt for us to get to know each other a little instead of throwing insults at each other.”

The earthbound angel throws and angry glare at Ben. “What good will that do? After training, you will disappear and never come back, not giving a second thought to your time here.”

“Not necessarily.” Ben shakes his head. “We are young and curious, and since we are forbidden to remain with our human friends we are short of people to socialise with.”

“I don’t have time to sit around all day chatting. I have work to do,” Zacharias snaps.

“Yeah, because you were so busy gathering dust on your body when we arrived. It looked as though you hadn’t moved for weeks, if not months,” I say.

A rumble sounds from Zacharias’ throat, and his eyes squint tighter.

I hold up both my hands in a stop motion. “I was just pointing out the fact, it was not meant as an insult. We would just like to understand you and learn a little more about you. For instance, why do the archangels hold you in such a high regard?”

“They don’t,” he snaps. His arms cross and his monk gown rustles with the sudden movement.
 

“From what I have seen, they do hold a high regard for you,” I say.
 

He shakes his head. “Then you’re mistaken. They have no regard for me at all.”

“They certainly seemed to in their conversations they had among themselves before sending us here,” Ben says. He frowns. “Although this is odd considering the lack of respect you seem to hold for humans when their whole life’s work revolves around protecting them.”

“Yeah, well, humans are nothing but ungrateful pains in the butt. An angel could lose their life or worse for them, and they would not be grateful.” He turns, so his side faces us. “Look, if you are not going to leave then go get your annoying yellow friend and let's get this training completed so you can go.” He waves his hand in the direction of the door. “I don’t need your compassion or friendship,” he spits out the words. “I like my peace.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Yeah, that is why you are such a happy being.” I take some steps toward the door. “I shall go find Cindy and convince her to come back. If you open your heart a little, then you may find we are not that bad.” I walk to the door and turn to Ben. “Are you coming? I may need your head talking skills to help me find her. It is a big place.”

“Sure,” he says. I see Zacharias shaking his head in the background as Ben reaches me at the door.
 

“Which way are we going?” he asks.

“Any direction, that takes us up.” I turn the opposite direction to the rooms that we were held. “This is the way we arrived with Archangel Michael, isn’t it?”
 

He studies the area. “I think so.” We reach the end of the corridor. “Yes, it is.”
 

We navigate through the passageways and feel the levels becoming higher until we begin to see windows along the external walls of the corridor. Laughter fills the air, and instantly I recognise it as Cindy’s.
 

I frown and look at Ben. “Clearly she has found something to cheer her up.”

Following the laugh we end back at the small dining room that Archangel Michael stopped at when we arrived. There were only a couple of monks sitting inside this time, on the opposite sides of the table and Cindy was sitting on a chair next to one of them. They looked relaxed in each other’s company. When we stood in the doorway, the two monks’ eyes find us immediately.
 

The monk sitting opposite Cindy stands and a welcoming smile spreads across his baby face. He wears the traditional black monk gown tied around the waist. Under the loose, modest clothing, he looks to be medium build in weight and height. Indicating to the chair, he says, “Come sit and join us.” As he flicks his straight black fringe out of his eyes, I notice he doesn’t look much older than twenty.
 

It felt weird being allowed to talk to humans and not have to wipe their memory; it was a welcome change. Glancing at Cindy who is smiling from ear to ear, I am looking forward to a little light-hearted conversation. Zacharias can wait for a bit while we unwind. It may also be easier to take Cindy back with us after a little down time too.
 

Cindy introduces us. “This is Peter.” She indicates the pale skinned man sitting next to her. He looks a little older than the standing monk and is possibly in his late thirties. It is hard to tell under his short dark hair, and a woolly looking beard topped with a black moustache. “And Joseph.” The man who welcomed us. I sit down next to Joseph and Ben sits next to me. His wing overlaps mine, and he reaches down and strokes my hand under the table. Pleasurable quivers run up my arm and down my spine with each stroke as I struggle to hide it.
 

“So what have you been talking about?” I ask Cindy.
 

“Cranky Zacharias,” she says. Her golden brown eyes dance with mischief.

The two monks look at each other silently as though they are speaking straight from the eyes.

Ben says, “I hope you haven’t been speaking poorly about him behind his back to the monks. That would be like backstabbing one of our kind.”

“He is not one of our kind,” Cindy’s eyes tighten and I think we are about to have an argument when she starts to laugh. “Oh, stop worrying. I have not been doing that.”

Peter’s eyes are wide, as he says, “No, she hasn’t, although his crankiness is not lost on us. We have lived with him for a very long time. We know what he is like.”

“Yeah, well after Cindy took off in a huff, we tried to get to the bottom of why he is so cranky all the time. After all, we do have to train with him for at least another couple of weeks, and it would be nicer if we were all more pleasant to each other.” I look at Cindy and glare. “And you just made it harder by boasting that our wings are better than his.”

Peter and Joseph gasp. Cindy asks them, “What?”

“That is not good,” Joseph says.
 

“Why?” Cindy sounds annoyed.

“Because that is the biggest insult you could give him. He is earthbound you know,” Peter says.

“Yes, we know.” Cindy rolls her eyes. “So?”

Peter’s face drops. “Do you not know?”

“Know what?” Ben asks. He studies the awed look on Peter and Joseph’s face and says, “We do not know anything other than he needs to train us.”

Joseph shakes his head. “It is a sad story. I am surprised that you haven’t been told.” His wide eyes study our faces. It is then that I notice that both of Peter and Joseph’s eyes are a dark chocolate brown.
 

I look at Ben and Cindy. They both look as dumbfounded as I feel.

“He used to be an archangel.” Joseph says quietly as though he is in mourning.
 

Cindy gasps and she holds a hand over her mouth. Her eyes look horrified.

“What?” I ask.

Peter nods. “It is sad, but it is true. It is why we do not take his grumpiness to heart. We live in hope that one day he will be able to move on. He still has much to give.” He speaks slowly, and the look in his eyes speaks of great sadness. “In his days of glory, he used to be close to Archangel Michael — one of the best fighters and well respected among the archangels and angels. He had magnificent pearly white wings that were the closest in comparison to Archangel Michael himself.”

Cindy removes the hand from her mouth slightly. “I feel terrible. How did he become earthbound?” Her eyes still taunted.
 

Joseph spoke slowly. “He was so powerful that he attracted the attention of demons in their hierarchy. In fact, both he and Archangel Michael attracted their attention. They caught Archangel Michael first, and Zacharias came to his aid freeing him. They pounced upon him with several demons rallied together by . . . what was the name?” He looks at Peter and Peter shrugs. “By . . . Sep . . . Sep—”

“Separus?” I add. My heart pumps loudly, pulsating in my ears. I feel Ben’s hand stroke my thigh in a comforting notion yet my neck tightens.

“Ah, yes,” Joseph says his voice etched with enthusiasm. “I see you are familiar with the name.”

“Let's just say we have heard it a few times over the last few weeks,” I mutter not mimicking his fervour. “What did they do to him?” My interest in the conversation is split in two. On one side, I’ve been told that the same demon is after me, and I am not keen to find out what the outcome might be. But, on the other hand, I am extremely curious about what happened to Zacharias.

Peter answers, “As a group they managed to trap him and somehow secure him to the ground. They then cut off the lower half of his wings, uneven, and on both sides. He can fly very low and short distances, but he can never leave earth again.”

“Oh, that’s horrible,” Cindy’s voice raises an octave as she looks at me with sympathy in her eyes. I know she means well, but it irks me, so I look away.

“They did other damaging things to him rendering him unconscious, and this is how they found him.” Peter’s shoulders slump as he continues. “Archangel Raphael was able to heal the other damages, but the wings were permanent, plus the ends were nowhere to be found.”
 

Silence fell in the room. The flames of the torches burning on the walls were the only sounds heard.
 

“Apparently they wanted him to join them,” Joseph says. “But thankfully he refused. For some reason to this day, he will not speak to Archangel Michael, and he holds a grudge against all beings. Sadly, he lives his life in bitterness.”

Ben asks, “Why does he speak like he hates humans if he was once an archangel?”

Joseph shakes his head. “I don’t know. Perhaps it is because he spent his life protecting them, and this was his reward. But that is only a guess. I think he is just angry about everything.”

“How do you know so much about it?” I ask. “He won’t tell us anything.”

Joseph shakes his head. “Oh, he has not spoken a word of it to us. Archangel Michael told our predecessors many years ago. He thought it might help us handle his rudeness.” He smiles. “I think he was right.”

“Why didn’t he tell us then?" Cindy moans. “Now I am starting to feel awful.” She fiddles with the charm I gave her of the three angels on her necklace.
 

Peter shakes his head. “I do not know. Perhaps he feels shame. I can only imagine that losing one's wings would feel like a bird trapped in a small cage. He should be proud of his achievement before his downfall and of what he is doing now. He will not even talk to Archangel Michael unless it is in harsh tones.”

“Is that why he looks so old?” Cindy asks. “All the other archangels look young and don’t have any wrinkles, but he looks as though he is eighty — in human years that is.”

“Looks can be deceptive. Maybe he is just portraying how he feels,” Joseph says.

“Remember Cindy,” Ben says, “Archangel Gabriel, said that the archangels are seen as they want to portray themselves? Explaining the reason we cannot work out if Archangel Gabriel is male or female.”

Her pale forehead creases in a frown. “Well, I hope he changes his mind about that because he looks like something out of a horror movie.”

Joseph frowns. “What’s a horror movie?”
 

Cindy chuckles. “Oh, it is where often weird looking people go around killing people for the fun of it. My point is — they are not nice.”

“Ah. It does not sound like fun,” he says shaking his head. “We have not had any monks go missing since he has been here.”

“That’s good to know.” Cindy laughs.

As our conversations turn to more light-hearted topics, I realise just how much I have craved ordinary human contact along with simple conversations.
 

After a while Peter stands. “As much as I would love to stay and talk, we have duties that we must perform.”
 

Joseph stands with him. “Yes, many of our brothers have left to aid the people, and it has increased our duties.”

Ben, Cindy and I stand to let them pass.