Until Next Time The Angel Chronicles Book 1 (2 page)

BOOK: Until Next Time The Angel Chronicles Book 1
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Mike took a breath and nodded at Gabe. The teachers both rose from their seats as elegantly as eagles taking flight.

Mike’s hand rested on my shoulder. “You and Matt
have
to do this.”

I nodded. Again, I just didn’t have anything left in me to resist. All he wanted was for me to understand how I’d gotten to this moment—how my first adventure was just the beginning of all these feelings now raging inside me. In the book was the story of the very first time my soul was in someone else’s body. That first time when I had faith, and still believed that the humans down there were actually good.

If I had the ability, I’d puke.

Matt leaned back in his chair, and sighed. He was ready to move on. He was ready to forget the past and forge ahead. Matt could actually forgive—even me—because he somehow believed in that higher power that said everything would be all right. I knew it was impossible for Matt to make this one last trip alone. He would not be successful with a partner stuck inside her head like a lunatic.

I suppose I did need to understand all that went wrong before, so I won’t make the same mistakes again. Soon it’ll be time to go, and the world is a lot angrier now then it was back then.

I opened to the first page of the book. Once upon a time, Matt and I were two innocents. Excited, upbeat, happy and thrilled to be leaving home for the very first time…

CHAPTER ONE

Home

“Are you
listening
to me?” A huge voice shouted from the golden stage, putting a stop to their laughter.

“Put it away,” Emily snarled. She bowed her head and continued to stare at the pristine marble floor.

“I didn’t
do
anything!” Matt laughed. “
You
started it.”

The frustrated speaker stepped down from his mighty perch and marched towards them.

Emily quickly reached for the object that her partner in crime was cradling in his hands. “Give it to me. He’s coming,” she squeaked.

“No! Give it to me,” the teacher demanded.

A visible shiver ran down Matt’s spine, as he released the small green item into the archangel’s hand.

“Look at me, Matt,” Michael ordered. “Now!”

Matt’s lower lip trembled as he raised his chin, meeting his teacher’s angry eyes.

“Why do you two
insist
on behaving like fools? Don’t you know how important this is to both of you?”

Matt stuttered, “But Francis gave him to me. He said I should take care of him so I could learn responsibility.” He quieted, as frustration beamed from Michael’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Michael. I mean…sir.”

Emily glanced up at their teacher. She watched him release a deep sigh and stare down at the small green creature that was now crawling up his arm. The nervous little reptile seemed to be watching his step, carefully avoiding Michael’s long white mane of hair.

The archangel scowled. “I suppose I’ll have to speak to Francis about this. He
knew
how important this meeting was! I can’t believe he would give you an animal to play with in here.”

The lump under the lizard’s neck bobbed up and down. A small squeak came from its tiny lips, “But I want to go with them.”

Michael’s eyes grew wide, as he stared into the pleading red pupils of the little reptile. “Emily?” His voice grew louder as he glared at her. “You didn’t…”

Her shoulders began to quiver. Tears of apology and fear were erupting inside her like a volcano.

Michael placed his hand beneath her chin giving it a forceful tug. When she met his gaze, she could barely see through her salty tears. Michael’s cheeks turned bright red, as he struggled to keep his voice calm and even. “What
exactly
have you done? Who
is
this?” He held up the talking lizard.

“It’s Mark,” she giggled, clasping her stomach with her hands.

“Saint Mark?” Michael screamed. “That’s it!” He grabbed Emily by the ear and pulled her up from the chair. “Both of you come with me,” he ordered. “Now!”

Matt jumped up at the command as Michael turned to address the disapproving faces that filled the room. “I regret to inform you that we seem to be experiencing some difficulties. We’ll be back.”

Michael stopped at the door, grabbed Matt’s ear with his other hand, and led the obnoxious teenagers out of the room.

“Move!”

***

The light brightened and their surroundings immediately began to change. Emily hated this room. With all the mischief she and Matt had caused since birth, it’d become like their second home. She was thrust into a hard wooden chair, as Matt landed with a loud thud in the one beside her. As he reached out to steady himself, the old wood splintered beneath him. “Damn,” Matt whispered, as a piece of wood sliced his hand.

“Don’t you mean
darn
?” Emily winked.

Michael took his place behind the large oak desk. He certainly looked the part of the angry teacher frustrated with his class clowns. His brows lifted to the top of his forehead. His eyelids closed as he took a deep breath folding his hands in front of him. “I’m only going to ask this once. Yet, somehow, I can’t believe that I should have to ask it at all,” he whispered softly between controlled breaths. “I realize this could be, by far, the dumbest question I’ve ever asked the two of you. But how…
exactly
…did Saint Mark become a lizard?”

Matt immediately raised his swollen finger pointing it at Emily. “She did it.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Can’t you back me up just once? I had a perfectly good story ready for this.”

Michael raised his hand in the air. “I don’t care who did what. I don’t care where it happened, or even if permission was granted—which I’m quite sure was
not
!” Emily sat up straighter as Michael’s glare shot through her body like a bolt of lightning. “What I want to know is why a very great man is now…
crawling
up my robes?”

Emily stared at the lizard that was now sitting on Michael’s shoulder. The reptile gazed at her and shook its small head back and forth. He blinked one of his large eyelids then stuck out his tongue.

Emily smiled. “Well,
we
,” she began, thrusting her finger in Matt’s direction. “
We
decided to say goodbye to Francis before we left. You know he’s upset about us leaving and he thinks that we shouldn’t travel alone. Sooo…” Emily pulled out the word, trying to think of any story that would stop the angry red color from spreading across Saint Michael’s face. “Since Francis is already in a bit of trouble anyway for putting the grizzly bear in Gabriel’s room…which I think was a
total
mistake, by the way.”

Michael waved his hand in the air. It looked like he was trying to erase the sudden picture from his mind of his best friend, who happened to be an archangel, attempting to wrestle a circus animal dressed in a pink tutu.

“Anyway,” Emily sped up, “Saint Mark
has
been asking to go back down and he also thought that, since this will be our first time and everything, we shouldn’t be by ourselves. So
with
his permission, Francis and I…helped him out.”

Michael stood up and pounded his fists on the desk. “You aren’t a charmer, Emily! How many times do we have to go over this? That is
not
your job!”

“I know,” Emily said as she jumped out of her chair. “But you taught me how, and Mark seemed so happy and really wanted to go…”

“That’s enough!” A bright light shot from Michael’s ears, and the room immediately filled with the strange aroma of burning metal mixed, oddly enough, with the pleasant scent of fresh lavender in bloom.

He walked around the edge of the desk, removed the small lizard from his shoulder, and placed it on top of Emily’s head. “This is the most important day of your first life,” he said. “Francis, Gabriel…Saint
Lizard
…and I, have worked very hard to make sure that you have all the knowledge you’ll need at your disposal. However, this kind of selfish misuse of your skills is
not
permitted!” Michael crossed his arms. “What if Matt had been the one to do this? Would you have supported him?”

Emily grinned. “Matt couldn’t do it. He tried, and almost blew himself to smithereens. You should’ve been there. It was hysterical.”

Matt joining in with her laughter, raised his hands toward the ceiling. “
Poof!

“This isn’t funny. Both of you go into the Lightning Room and stay there until I come get you.”

Emily shrugged and walked to the door, with Matt following one step behind. She mumbled to the lizard sitting on her head, “What’s up
his
robes today?”

The lizard belched a small reply, “Young one, you know he’s in charge. There are very important reasons why he yells at you two. He’s worried. He wants to keep you safe.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “I know all that, but we’re excited. We’re young, after all. What does he expect? Besides, he’s the one who made me take all those classes with you to learn this stuff in the first place.”

“Yes, but we all have to learn to use our gifts wisely. Your sense of humor should only shine at the appropriate times. Now go into the room and leave me here to talk some sense into him.”

Emily stopped at the threshold and placed the lizard on the table. She bent down and stared into the wide red eyes. “You’re still coming with us, right?” Her voice cracked, as she felt the first icy fingers of panic tickle her soul.

The lizard flicked his tiny forked tongue against her cheek. “Don’t worry, child. I’ll be there.”

Emily gave a small smile, and reached behind her to take Matt’s hand. She waved her arm in the air and the door disappeared, allowing the partners to pass through the mist into the Lightning Room.

“You’ll kiss a lizard, but not me,” Matt whispered. “There’s something
seriously
wrong with you.”

“He’s cuter than you.”

The mist evaporated, and the heavy wooden door took its place behind them.

***

Michael walked back to his desk and stared at the reptile perched on the table. “Why do you encourage this childish behavior—especially on
this,
of all days? They’re eighteen. They’re supposed to act like adults now!”

Saint Mark closed his thin, see-through eyelids. The scales on his body quivered, as his small tail began to jerk back and forth. “They have to release the stress somehow. They need a little fun.”

The archangel shook his head. “
Fun
? I thought we were teaching them how to survive. What’s fun about…?” He rolled his eyes at the smiling lizard. “Will you
please
speak to me as He intended? I find it very difficult to have a conversation with you in this…state.”

A small snort came from the tiny nostrils as Mark coiled his tail around his body and stretched his neck toward the ceiling. A sickening melody of bones cracking took over the room, as the tail transformed into two feet and the spine grew straight and tall. The large eyes moved closer together, and the green scales slowly mutated back to smooth, amber skin. The shape of a man was almost complete, ending as Mark’s wispy brown hair grew from the top of his head and fell down the back of his dark green robe.

Mark lifted his chin to meet Michael’s gaze; his smile turned into a grimace. “Remind me never to go that small again.” The younger man limped slowly to the wooden chair. He waved his hand over it, transforming the hard object into a soft leather couch, and sat down.

Michael let out a scream that made the walls shutter.

The door disappeared immediately allowing the Archangel Gabriel to enter the room. He was a large man, huge compared to the other two. His features spoke of many battles; the scar tissue from numerous fights was proudly displayed. His black hair was cut short, and his small spectacles looked strangely out of place on his large, angular face.

Gabriel carried a book made of black marble and an intensely annoyed expression. He waved his hand over the other wooden chair, and sat down on the tall, metal stool that appeared. He offered his longtime partner a glare. “Couldn’t you just call?
Must
you always summon me with that awful scream? I feel like we’re working for the other side when you do that. It’s creepy.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “I’ll try harder next time.”

Gabriel set the book down. “Well, it’s finished. The shells are ready and it’s time for them to go.”

Michael drew his brows together, and felt a thin line of sweat appear above his upper lip. “Is Matt ready for battle?”

“A bit too ready, I’m afraid. He’s worked hard. He’s honed every skill and fought every challenge. He’s a young warrior in his prime.” Gabriel sighed. “He’s ready, but he’s not the one I’m concerned about…and you know it.”

“We’ve been through all this before. Emily is a bit more dominant than he is, but this is expressly what the boy asked for. You seem to forget that he
chose
to be a warrior.” Michael’s voice grew nervous. “He’ll be able to protect her. I know he will.”

“There’s a part of him that’s as black as night, Mike,” Gabriel said as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Maybe even darker than mine.”

“Don’t worry, old friend.” Michael smiled. “No one is as far gone as you. Not even an angry teenager.” He turned his attention to Mark who was resting his legs comfortably over the armrest of the couch. The eyes of the saint darted back and forth as he stared up at the ceiling. Michael looked on while Mark used his eyes like an artist uses a brush. A rainbow of colors appeared, as he created a picture above their heads.

“What about it, Mark?” Michael asked, taking a quick glimpse at the lovely landscape of flowers now blooming on his ceiling.

BOOK: Until Next Time The Angel Chronicles Book 1
4.61Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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