Crossroads (20 page)

“
Back off, Michael, if you
know what’s good for you! I’m not alone. You remember your friends,
don’t you?”

Curiously, I looked behind, but I
couldn’t see a thing. Were they hiding? Aden floated in an astute
manner, looking proud, like he had won this fight.

Michael didn’t flinch. He chuckled
stoutly, “And that’s supposed to scare me? They are not my friends
anymore!”

“
Is that why you killed
Julia?” Aden asked.

Michael’s eyes grew wide with the
sudden revelation. “So you were the one! You sent Julia instead of
coming yourself! I should have known. Your powers were weakened
when you turned against your own kind, leaving others to do your
dirty work, like a coward.”

“
Julia would have brought
her to me. When she didn’t come back, I thought she had betrayed
me, but it was you. You, Michael, ruined my plans! I should have
made sure you were dead. When you escaped, you were badly wounded.
I was certain you wouldn’t survive. I was mistaken in thinking the
Royal Council would have finished the job.”

“
I asked for forgiveness.
The Royal Council doesn’t consider me as one of the fallen like you
anymore.”

“
Fallen,” Aden laughed,
mocking Michael. “Is that the best you can do?”

“
I have other names, but
it would be inappropriate to say them in front of a lady, now
wouldn’t it?” He arched his eyebrows intensely.

“
Silence! No more talking!
Move out of my way! You’re forgetting who you are talking
to.”

“
I do remember, too well,”
Michael said with a smirk. “I remember how you trained me to fight.
Do you remember telling me I was the best?”

Did I hear that right? Aden trained
Michael? How? When? I was beyond confused. Surely Michael wouldn’t
associate with an evil being like him. As these thoughts ran
through my mind, Michael took a stance as if he was ready to do
battle. I could feel the tension in his muscles even from a
distance.

“
Stop. Don’t come any
closer!” Aden yelled, ignoring Michael’s question.

“
Are you afraid?” Michael
said, taunting him. “You should be.”

“
You dare to threaten me.
Very well then. So be it.” Aden gave a wicked smile. “Kill him!”
Aden shouted forcefully, screeching with anger that shot a pain
through my ears.

Then countless fallen came flying
toward Michael, and my prediction of him collapsing didn’t happen.
Out of nowhere appeared Davin, Vivian, and Caleb. I was overwhelmed
to see them. Michael didn’t have to fight alone. Their attack was
such a surprise to the fallen that even Aden was taken
aback.

Even though Phillip had already told
me that I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between an alkin
and a fallen, it was confirmed as I watched the battle. They looked
just like the alkins. The fallen and alkins fought with swords.
Watching, I noticed that Michael had one too, but where had it come
from?

“
No!” Michael shouted,
suddenly standing directly in front of me. “You don’t need her.
She’s just a human.”

“
Get them!” Aden shouted
again.

The fallen and alkins were battling;
all the while, Michael continued to stay by my side, protecting me.
They fought so swiftly that even with my flashlight; it was hard to
distinguish alkins from the fallen. I focused intently, trying to
figure out who was who, but it was no use. They were too fast for
human eyes. Then I pointed the flashlight, hoping to blind or
distract them, but that also proved to be pointless. It was only
useful for my vision.

With a blink of an eye they were here,
there and everywhere. All I could hear was the clanging of swords
colliding against each other. The swift, sharp noise of metal
slicing against metal was painful to hear. As the screeching sounds
continued, all I could see were sparks as the swords made contact.
It looked as if we were in the middle of a lightning storm. Fearful
of any alkin getting hurt, I covered my ears, hoping that it would
end soon.

Suddenly, Aden raised his hand toward
the stars, and the fallen stopped. The sounds of the swords
crashing against each other came to a dead halt. Aden started
circling around Michael and me. As he drew closer, I could see that
he looked exactly as I remembered him from my dream. The wrinkles
on his forehead defined his age, and although I conceived of him as
being evil, it was his voice that scared me more than his
appearance. Aden never lifted a finger to fight, but instead he
relied on the fallen to carry out his battle strategies.

“
Michael, come with me.
I’ll give you anything you want.”

“
There is nothing I want
from you!”

“
They’ve turned you
against me. I should have killed you when I had the chance!” Aden
was raging with anger.

“
They didn’t turn me
against you. I did it of my own free will.”

“
Move out of my way!” Aden
shouted.

“
You’ll have to go through
me first!”

As Aden was circling around us, I
could sense movement from the fallen, edging closer to Michael and
me. The alkin must have sensed it too as they positioned themselves
right behind us and immediately began to attack the fallen. Michael
moved me to the left and then to the right, fighting while
shielding me. Although the fallen were fewer in number than before,
they were fighting in full force. In the midst of all the chaos, I
lost my grip on the flashlight, and it tumbled off the cliff.
Instinctively, I reached for it, and in a split second, I began to
fall, along with Michael. Gravity was pulling me faster than my
body could resist. I’ve always heard that at the moment of death,
your life flashes before your eyes; all the moments that brought
you to this point, big or small. All I could think of was death
itself and the one person who had changed my life
forever—Michael.

Chapter 13

Complete darkness engulfed me; I
couldn’t see a thing. I was afraid to move, especially since I
didn’t know where I was. But I felt an indescribably soft object
encircling me, and it made me feel so warm. Whatever it was gave me
such comfort, and I felt safe wrapped inside it, like a cocoon. So
soft and featherlike, it felt like velvet or the stuffing of a
goose-down blanket. As I realized I wasn’t dreaming, I panicked and
tried to wiggle my way out. It didn’t work. Feeling claustrophobic,
I lost my breath, which made me fight frantically with all my
might, pushing and punching, then finally surrendering when I heard
his voice.

“
Claudia, you’re safe.
It’s me, Michael.” Michael peered in.

“
Michael?” I was so
relieved to hear his voice. Pulling the crystal toward Michael, I
asked quickly, “What color is it?”

I could tell he was trying to hold
back from laughing. “It’s clear,” he said.

I relaxed. Pulling the crystal into
closer view, I squinted my eyes to confirm what Michael had said,
but I couldn’t see a thing. Not that I didn’t believe him; I was
just amazed that he could see in the dark.

While holding the crystal in my hands,
I remembered that I hadn’t even thanked him for my gifts. “I should
have thanked you sooner, but I want to thank you for my birthday
gifts. It was a pleasant surprise, but you didn’t have to,” I said
in the most sincere way. “I thought alkins didn’t celebrate
birthdays.”

“
We don’t, but the Divine
Commandments didn’t say anything about celebrating a human’s
birthday.” He winked.

“
So, you kind of make up
your own rules, huh?”

“
I guess you can say that.
By the sound of your voice, you sound fine, but how are you
feeling?” Michael asked, changing the subject.

“
I don’t know. I guess it
would depend…” I paused with a terrible thought. “Am I
dead?”

“
You think you’re dead.”
He chuckled. “Why is that always your first thought?”

“
Well, I guess because I’m
always blacking out or waking up somewhere else. This isn’t normal
by human standards.”

He laughed out loud.

“
Hey! This isn’t funny.
And…and where am I? I want out!” I started pushing him away from
me, but he was way too strong for me and he didn’t even budge. I
stopped when I realized how close his face was to mine. I became
breathless as he continued to look at me with such tenderness. My
mind wandered with impure thoughts and I had to force myself to
snap out of it. With my head clear, I remembered what I wanted to
say. “Please,” I asked warmly.

He let out a heavy sigh.

“
Something is wrong, isn’t
it?” I asked. “I’m dead. I’m really dead, and you don’t have the
guts to tell me,” I said louder, angrily.

“
No. Nothing is wrong,” he
said, and his eyes grew bigger. “You don’t think I saved you?” he
asked, looking hurt.

Immediately I relaxed. It was not my
intention to offend him. I should be thankful. “I didn’t mean it
that way. I’m sorry,” I said as I ran my fingers through his hair.
I was shocked that I touched him that way; immediately I placed my
hand down and refocused somewhere else.

“
Claudia,” he called
gingerly.

I looked at him, marveling at how his
voice saying my name sounded like a beautiful melody to my ears. He
looked so serious that I refocused my attention. I had to prepare
myself for whatever he was going to tell me. The delay must mean
that something awful had happened.

“
I’m going to open up, but
you have to promise me that you won’t freak
out…Promise?”

What could possibly make me freak out?
All sorts of nonsense started racing through my mind. Was I hurt?
Or was Michael or the alkins injured? I imagined the worst, just
like the pictures I saw in my history book with the wounded
soldiers during the war.

“
You promise, Claudia?” he
asked sternly.

“
Okay. I promise,” I lied,
not knowing exactly how I would react to something he told me not
to freak out about.

As I prepared myself for whatever it
was, something held us tighter and moved us upward. Slowly, I was
released from his hold. I stood right in front of him with my mouth
opened so wide that I could have swallowed the forest. He slowly
moved his wings up and down. They were grand, bigger than Phillip’s
wings. Michael’s were as white as the clouds. I couldn’t believe
how strong they were, to be able to hold me the way they did. His
wings were magnificent, but how? “Alkins don’t have wings,” I
whispered. I stared into his eyes to get an answer.

“
This one does,” he
responded and turned away.

“
They are…” I was lost for
words as I continued to stare, enthralled by him.

He continued speaking, unwilling to
make eye contact. “My father is or was one of the Twelve. That’s
all I know.” His voice was low and indifferent.

Michael’s father was one of the
Twelve, and the Twelve have wings. Then Phillip’s words flashed
through me. Phillip, Margaret, and Agnes are part of the Twelve.
Aden, who had become a fallen, was one of the Twelve. That left
eight of the Twelve Angels still on Earth to carry out their duty.
Who could his father be? And was his father still alive, or had he
died? This happened before the Crossroads was created. It could be
any one of them. Regardless, I could only imagine how difficult
this must be for him. Although there were so many unanswered
questions, now didn’t seem like the right time to ask
them.

I started walking in circles around
him, engrossed by his wings. His shirt was torn on the back. From
where the wings protruded out, there were long slits to form an
upside-down V. He was beautiful, his wings were beautiful, and I
was even more in awe of him. Perhaps my reaction embarrassed him,
as he quickly closed them. It was amazing how they completely
disappeared without a trace of their existence. Even his shirt
showed no sign that it had been torn to allow such a
phenomenon.

“
May I please take a look
again? For me, please?” I pleaded.

“
You’re not freaked out?”
he asked, looking astonished.

“
Should I be?” I asked,
wondering why he felt embarrassed with his precious
gift.