Angel Unaware (31 page)

“Gabriel!”

Dora’s eyes popped open, and she gasped at the change that had taken place on the platform.

The Archangel, who had taken form and replaced the diminutive Gracie, stole Dora’s breath. Gabriel could have stepped from the heart of the sun. Her blinding white robes pooled around her feet, and her magnificent wings beat the air with a slow, deliberate rhythm. Instead of the instruments of war held by her counterpart, she gripped a snow-white lily in her hand. Though she was the lone female, she seemed to dominate the Council.

How could this be? What had happened to Gracie? Then it hit her. Gracie had never really existed. Gabriel had taken on the image of Gracie. Her friend had simply been a transformation conjured by the Council to keep watch on her.

“But … I—” Dora sputtered.

The Archangel raised her hand to stop Dora’s disjointed protests. “You don’t understand,” Gabriel said kindly, easing the knot of tension that had gathered in Dora’s stomach. “All your questions will be answered in good time, Dora.”

“But—”

Michael stepped forward. “Patience, Dora.”

His deep voice boomed out and echoed around the chamber like a clap of thunder. From the rumbling sound of it, Michael must have been the one who had bid them enter the Hall of Prayers. Dora shuddered and took a step back.

“You’re scaring the poor girl out of her halo, Michael. Do turn down the volume.” The third Archangel leaned forward and smiled benevolently at Dora. “I’m Raphael.” He shielded his mouth with his hand. With the other he pointed toward Michael and Gabriel. “They’ll tell you that I’m a bit on the unconventional side. And they’ll be right,” he shouted, and then burst into gales of laughter.

The other angels snickered behind their hands, but quickly sobered when Gabriel admonished them with a silencing glare.

Gabriel frowned at Raphael. “If you please. We have serious business to take care of. For once, try to contain your frivolity.”

Looking suitably reprimanded, Raphael slouched back in his chair, his ruffling wing feathers reflecting his unhappiness with Gabriel’s admonishment.

As Dora waited for the Council to exact whatever punishment they’d decided on for her, she realized the murmur of prayers coming into the Hall from below had grown in volume since she and Calvin had first entered. The Archangels seemed oblivious to the increase in noise.

Before Gabriel could say anything, Dora stepped forward. “If you please, I just want to say that none of what happened down there is Calvin’s fault. He gave me the Council’s rules about not becoming emotionally attached to my mortal charges and not allowing my real identity to become known to the mortals. Despite his warnings of dire consequences, I fell in love with Tony Falcone. Through my negligence, Penny saw me as an angel, and before I left, it was completely my decision to show Tony who I really was. Calvin tried his best to stop me.” She stepped back, then she remembered something else. “I also admit it was my idea to pry into the Sullivans’ future.”

There, it was all said, all out in the open. All that was left was for her to receive her punishment.

Gabriel rose and moved to the edge of the dais. Her robes floated around her like liquid silk. “As for the Penny thing … unfortunate, but not something that will bring about the end of time. Six-year-olds are known to have vivid imaginations, one of their more charming qualities. In any case, there is no harm done. Children often see us and, to their detriment, adults tend to dismiss their reports of those sightings as nonsense. Besides, it’s not as if Penny can prove it now, is it?” Gabriel studied Dora intently. “As for the Tony incident … also unfortunate. But nevertheless not something we need be concerned with right now.”

Dora shuffled her feet. “Well, I did leave one of my wing feathers under Penny’s pillow … so she wouldn’t forget me.”

“Ah, yes, the feather,” Gabriel said, and resumed her seat. She waved the lily in the air. “My guess is that the adults she shows it to will assume it came from … a bird perhaps, a treasure she found while playing and not something she got from any heavenly being. And, if you recall, my child, I … or rather Gracie, helped you get the information you needed about the Sullivans, so if you were in violation of some nebulous celestial law, then so was I.”

Somehow Dora doubted anyone, with the exception of Him, would have the courage to call Gabriel on the carpet for what she’d done. Even though she now knew Gracie had actually been Gabriel all along, Dora was relieved her
friend
would not suffer consequences for her actions.

“As for the question of no emotional involvement” — Michael cleared his throat loudly and leaned toward Calvin — “we never stipulated that Dora should not get emotionally attached to her charges. So exactly where did this rule originate, if not with us?” He raised an eyebrow and glared at Calvin.

Calvin squirmed under Michael’s scrutiny. His nervously shuffling feet stirred up wisps of clouds. “I … uh … I guess I sort of made that one up.”

“Made it up? Made it up? You took it upon yourself to make up additional rules?” All humor had vanished from Raphael’s face.

A deep red hue crept into Calvin’s cheeks. He swallowed hard, and his pronounced Adam’s apple bobbed up and down comically. Then his wing feathers shuffled into wild disarray. “You see, Dora has had her share of … mishaps, and I thought a few additional … uh … guidelines would be helpful to keep her on the right path.”

“Guidelines? The right path?” Michael bellowed. His fists tightened noticeably around the golden spear. The Heavens themselves seem to quake with the volume of his angry voice.

Gently, Gabriel placed a restraining hand on Michael’s arm, and then she spoke to Calvin. “Did it ever occur to you that, had we wanted such a condition added, we would have done it ourselves?” Though soft, her tone did nothing to disguise her irritation with poor Calvin.

“But I felt that emotional involvement would only hamper her success, distract her from her mission. I had to stop her from falling in love—”

Raphael’s laughter rang out through the Hall and all eyes turned to him. He slapped his knee. “You poor, deluded man, you can’t stop love from happening. Once it’s created it cannot be destroyed. As the Angel in charge of Love, Joy, and Light, I know. I did that on purpose so mortals wouldn’t pick and choose and end up making terrible mistakes.” He cleared his throat. “Of course, it doesn’t always work out that way, but for the most part, it works very well.” He patted his chest. “Even if a few wrong turns are taken along the way, the heart always knows best.”

Michael stood. His massive wings beat the air with an agitated rhythm, churning up the clouds covering the floor into small whirlwinds. Though his voice still had the ability to fill the room, he tempered the angry tone he’d used earlier. “You have overstepped your authority, Calvin. As a result—”

Instant alarm filled Dora. He was going to punish Calvin. She couldn’t let that happen. It just wasn’t fair. It was her fault, not his. He’d warned her, and she couldn’t let him take the blame. In the end, Calvin had been right to warn her against emotional involvement. Look what had happened. Though it hadn’t been their ruling, she could see what harm falling in love with a mortal had already caused.

“No. Please don’t punish him.” Dora took several steps toward the dais. “He was thinking of me. Everything he did was to make sure I succeeded in my task. Don’t punish Calvin because I failed.”

Gabriel studied Dora for a long moment. She looked to the other members of the Council. One by one they nodded. “Very well, Dora. Only because you asked, we won’t punish him.” Then she turned to Calvin. “This will
not
happen again. Am I clear?”

He shook his head vigorously. “Yes. I mean, no. No. It won’t … happen … again. You have my word.”

For a long moment, Gabriel stared at Calvin, her brows knitted as though to further reinforce her warning, then she returned her attention to Dora. “Now, Dora, what makes you think you failed?” Gabriel’s quiet voice had lost the edge it had acquired when speaking to Calvin. “You brought Tony and his niece together into a loving family. That was your mission, and you accomplished it.”

Please send her back to us
.

The level of noise filtering into the Hall from the Earthly prayers had risen considerably. Dora had barely heard Gabriel’s last words. “But I fell in love with a mortal. And it complicated … everything.” She choked back a sob.

Please send her back to us
.

“You simply followed your heart, and I don’t see complications arising from it, unless you consider
this
.”

She raised her hands to indicate the burgeoning noise level in the great room.

Please send her back to us
.

“Had you not, we would not now be bombarded with this deafening din.” She clapped her hands over her ears. Beside her, Michael did likewise and grimaced. Raphael smiled.

“I don’t understand.” Dora had to yell to be heard. The noise had risen to a level that hurt her ears.

Please send her back to us
.

“Raphael, please.” Gabriel’s face twisted as the noise increased. “Can you control this for just a while?”

“Oh, all right.” Raphael waved his hand, and the noise subsided to a faint murmuring of voices. He grinned devilishly at the other two Archangels casting stern looks his way. Then he shrugged innocently. “Just trying to make a point.”

Dora looked from one to another of the Archangels. She had no idea what any of them were talking about. “What’s going on?” she whispered to Calvin.

“Not a clue.”

“That noise,” Michael said, “has been growing in intensity and persistence since you left Earth. I’m afraid it’s Tony. For hours, he’s been praying for your return, and quite vigorously, I might add.”

Now Dora felt even worse. She bowed her head, her remorse almost beyond bearing. It was all her fault that Tony was so despondent and in such pain. The ache clutching her heart increased tenfold. “I never should have let him fall in love with me.”

Raphael slapped the arm of his chair and leaned in her direction. “Did you not hear what I just said, young lady? You have no control over whom you love or who loves you. It happens” — he snapped his fingers — “like that. No control. None. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Zero—”

“All right, Raphael, we get the picture.” Gabriel took her seat again, rearranged her robes, and looked up at Dora. “Despite Raphael’s overly exuberant display, he’s right. The heart
always
wins out. Now, let us get on with things. Perhaps, once we do, you’ll understand more.” She raised her chin and gestured with the lily to one of the lesser angels standing at the side of the dais. “Lailah has something to tell you.” The petite, very motherly looking angel who stood to Gabriel’s right stepped forward.

Dora frowned. She’d never heard mention of this angel before. “Lailah?”

Gabriel laughed lightly. “She’s not one of the better known angels, but nevertheless, a very important one.” She glanced lovingly at the angel. “Lailah guards the Well of Souls. That’s where the souls of both angels and mortals are stored in separate chambers until they are ready to be assigned a body. When a mortal soul enters the womb of a woman, Lailah stands guard over the babe until birth. During the time it resides in the mother, Lailah tells the child what its life will be like. When the child is ready to enter the world, she flicks it on the nose and removes all memory of what she’s told it.” She nodded at Lailah. “Please tell Dora what happened.”

The little angel took a deep breath. “The last Guardian of the Well was … well, shall we say, a bit less than efficient. She didn’t keep good watch on the souls and one of the mortal souls slipped in with those of the angels.” She glanced hesitantly at Gabriel.

“Go on, Lailah. It’s time she knew.”

“That soul was yours, Dora. You were destined all along to be a mortal.” She smiled broadly, obviously relieved to have the burden off her shoulders at last.

Dora didn’t know what to say. A joy unlike anything she’d ever known swept through her. Her heart raced faster. She clutched at the sides of her robe, hoping she could keep her knees from buckling. Mortal? She was actually a mortal? This explained so much: her ineptitude at being an angel, her inexplicable interest in the mortals in the Earth Pool, and most importantly, her strong desire to go to Earth. And all this time … they had known.

“Why did no one ever tell me?”

“We wanted to tell you, but we thought it better to wait until you asked to go to Earth. We knew you would eventually. It was inevitable. Your mortal instincts were getting stronger each day. But it had to be your decision, not ours. When Calvin came to us with your request, we were ready to grant it immediately.” Gabriel left the dais and seemed to float across the floor to Dora. She took both of Dora’s hands in hers and looked deeply into her eyes. A contented warmth invaded Dora’s body. “Your trip to Earth was to see how well you could blend in with the mortals. If you could adjust.” She smiled. “I’m happy to announce that you passed with flying colors, my dear. Now, you can reap your reward for a job well done.”

“Reward?” Dora fought to keep at bay the hope of, until now, an unattainable dream. Could it be that she …? No. It would be too much to expect.

“Because you were so successful with the Falcones, we’re promoting you to Guardian Angel.”

CHAPTER 25