Until Next Time The Angel Chronicles Book 1 (3 page)

Mark brought his head down, and the creation of the beautiful painting stopped as his magical brushes suspended their work. “Emily’s ready. Like her partner, she’s more than ready. Of all the ones we’ve trained, I believe their partnership will prove the most useful for gathering information.”

“Yes,” Michael agreed. “But will they be all right? Or, will they simply return too soon?”

Mark’s emerald eyes twinkled. “They all return. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. They have a lot to do and a long way to go. But Matt will protect her, and she in kind; the ties they use to fight will be the ties that bind.”

Michael dropped his face in his hands. “I hope that the charms you taught her work better than that, or this whole thing is going to be a big fat waste of time.”

Mark laughed. “Don’t worry, she’s much brighter and better at it than I am. The souls that He made are good ones—far better than ours.”

Gabriel grunted.

Mark reached over and patted his hand. “I don’t mean better fighters, my warrior friend. I mean they’re pure. They haven’t been touched by the pain of human life.” He looked over at Michael, and his voice grew deeper. “This isn’t a mistake. They can make the world a better place; the place we always thought it could be. I believe that Emily and Matt will be the catalyst; the team that’ll succeed.”

“I worry about them,” Michael said. “Do they have any idea what fate has in store, I wonder?”

Gabriel and Mark looked at the fear gleaming in Michael’s eyes. “They know everything they need to know, my friend,” Gabriel said. “The rest they’ll just have to figure out over time.”

Michael nodded. The earlier excitement of the occasion drained from his soul. Taking its place was the fear of a father who was sending his son and daughter out into the cruel, cold world. “There’s still so much we don’t know, and I only want the best for Matt and Emily.”

Michael looked back up at the ceiling, joining Mark in his work. The painting now stretched out as far as the eye could see. The landscape of the dark green valley was painted lovingly with Mark’s emerald eyes. He brought the lush moors to life, as Michael added his own brush to create a blue, winding river and an ocean that lay off the dark, treacherous cliffs that Gabriel’s black eyes had added to the portrait.

Suddenly, yellow appeared. Brilliant sunshine was cast over a small, brown cabin resting on a quiet hill. Michael could feel the light’s warmth as it illuminated the dark shadows making the picture peaceful and serene.

Michael smiled, as he and the other heavenly entities bowed their heads to the real painter at work in the room. “Amen,” the trio spoke.

“It’s time,” Michael whispered.

With a soul full of worry for his beloved students, Michael waved his hand in front of the door as he led the heavenly saints through the mist.

CHAPTER TWO

Emily picked up one of the wands scattered across the floor and touched the tip of it to the slate-covered wall. Her lightning chalk went screaming across the board, as a flash of colored light shot across the dark room.

She loved this place. She knew it was supposed to make her feel alone—that was the punishment. The darkness was supposed to make her think of what she’d done wrong, but she’d never felt that way in here. When Mark was her mentor, she had learned from him, very early on, that colors were even more vibrant when created in the absence of light.

She waved the wand around producing vivid stripes of color, and with every stroke she made a new image spring to life. The bright red and orange flares shot through the room like a river of fire. Picking up two more wands, Emily watched the pale blue and soft lavender ribbons react with the heat from the fiery colors. As they met, an explosion of amber and green cascaded around her body.

She squealed with delight. “Matt, look! I’ve made a rainbow!”

Matt snorted. “So what? You
always
make a rainbow. What else is new?”

“What’s the matter with you? Michael wasn’t
that
mad. It was just a joke.”

“It wasn’t funny. What if they’re in there right now changing their minds? What if they decide we can’t go?” He paused as fear caused his voice to crack.

“Do you really think we went through all that training—the warrior classes, the angel tests, the rescues—just for them to shelve us now?”

“
Shelve us
? We’re not an experiment, Emily!” Matt yelled back. “You make us sound like we’re scientific robots…like those visions we saw.”

“Aren’t we?” Emily spun around in circles; the wands creating a flaming halo above her head. Her soul felt like it was ready to explode. The years leading up to this journey seemed endless; all the meetings and tests that were drummed into her head had felt like endless torture as she waited for this moment to arrive.

She was so eager that she barely heard Matt crying behind her. Rolling her eyes at the familiar sound, she used her bright, burning wand to find him in the darkness.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. Emily could handle her friend’s fears, quiet his anger, and enjoy his amazing humor, but she still couldn’t take his tears. “I’m sorry…
really
.”

Sitting down beside him, Emily took the softest wands she could find and circled them over his head. The brilliant turquoise and peach sparks illuminated the small corner of the room.

Matt waved his hand in front of his face, drying his tears. Emily understood her partner well. She knew when she could tease him, and when her words would simply embarrass him. After all, Gabriel had told her that Matt was a young man now, and he certainly didn’t want to cry in front of her anymore. Emily knew that Gabriel had been teaching her warrior partner ‘manly’ things, trying to make Matt understand the strange ideas that supposedly ran through all male beings down there.

Emily was slightly jealous of these classes she was forbidden to witness. They certainly had consumed her partner’s mind. In what felt like the blink of an eye, he’d gone from playing tag in the fields with her to sitting in the grass asking her to recite Mark’s poetry. She’d also noticed lately that his blue eyes would sometimes grow dark and haunted, studying her with a new intensity that she still didn’t understand. But every time she’d asked him about the sudden change, he’d simply offer a mysterious smile and turn away. She constantly wondered why he was trying to hide things from the one and only person created to see deep down into his soul.

“I just don’t like the dark, is all,” Matt replied quickly.

“It’s not dark, so don’t worry about it. And don’t worry about them. They’ll let us go. They
have
to. We’ve been called. It’s our time,” Emily stated, as she continued to twirl the colors above Matt’s golden-brown hair.

“You scared?” he whispered.

“Scared of everything, you know that,” Emily giggled. “But excited, too. There’s so
much
down there. I want to be a part of everything—everything good, anyway.”

Matt spoke softly, “I like it
here
…with you.”

“But just think of all the things we can do down there,” Emily continued in a wistful voice. “There won’t be anyone telling us what to do, which way to go, or how to act. We’ll be free.”

“Yeah…free to fail. What if we mess it all up?”

Emily stopped twirling the wands and let the colors melt into the blackness. “Well, if we mess up, we’ll learn more, which means they’ll learn more. As long as we do our job, we’ll be okay. Besides, we’ll always have each other. You’ll protect me and I’ll protect you. It’ll be us against the world. Deal?”

Matt reached through the darkness pulling her close. She felt a sudden strange warmth erupt inside her.

He whispered, “Deal.”

Flames shot from lightning wands across the room and Emily jumped. She stared into Matt’s eyes, now filled with mischief.

He winked. “Just think of all the trouble we can cause.”

Emily’s laugh was cut short as heavenly white mist replaced the solid door. She stood up quickly to face her magical family.

Michael’s voice was low. “It’s time to go.”

Emily took Matt’s hand as they followed the large men up the glass hallway to the Council Chamber. She looked over at her partner’s happy face, as he stared around the enchanted passageway. Emily knew that he loved the bright path as much as she enjoyed the exquisite darkness of the Lightning Room. In fact, she could no longer count the number of times she’d found Matt pacing this hall; his eyes widening as storm clouds shot bright strips of light across the floor releasing rumbles of thunder that echoed off the fragile walls.

Gabriel turned around and touched her partner’s shoulder. “You’ll do fine, Matt. Just remember your aim is always to protect. Use your best judgment in all situations, and understand that humans can sometimes make bad decisions because of how strongly they feel about things. Anger is the enemy. It can cloud issues and make people do unspeakable things. So can love. True love is the most powerful thing, but it can prevent a man from seeing clearly. All the emotions we’ve talked about, you’ll feel now. Make sure that you choose your path carefully. If you get confused…just call me. I’ll be there in a heartbeat.”

Matt nodded as thunder erupted through the glass chamber.

Emily stepped away from them, waiting for her own teacher’s words of advice.

Mark came close bowing his head to speak to her. As he continued to whisper, Emily could hardly believe what she was hearing. As her forehead tightened, anger flew from her lips, “What do you mean? All the hours, all the classes—we did them
together
. How would we
not
know?”

Mark put his arm around her shoulders. “Your memories you cannot take with you. If you were allowed to keep them, then all of the decisions that you make will be ours and not your own.” He reached out and touched her cheek. “If you go into this knowing what and who you are, Emily, then the information you bring back will be shrouded in your training. It will be useless. We need to know how you and Matt handle the emotions…the trials…the world as it is down there. We need to know how to fix things—through your eyes.”

“So we
are
an experiment?” Emily pulled away from Mark’s grip and shouted at the leader of the group. “Is that it, Michael?”

Michael offered her a troubled stare. “You are souls, Emily. You have a job to do. You’re being placed into human shells. These shells were supposed to do great things,
important
things, but their souls left too early to complete their tasks. Your spirits are going down to take over, to do what needs to be done. And you and Matt will solve these situations with as little violence as possible.

“You both can stop bad things from happening and turn them around. But always remember that the human shells you’ll be in are vulnerable. Not even your unlimited powers can save them if something bad happens. You are
not
an experiment, Emily. You’re a human angel.”

She bowed her head. “You have a ton of angels. They go out and help all the time…every minute of the day. Why this? Why would you take him away from me?”

Turning away from Gabriel, Matt’s eyes darted back and forth from his partner to their teacher. His confused voice suddenly filled the hallway. “Take who away?”

“You,” Emily stated. “When we’re sent down today, you won’t know who I am down there. We won’t know what we are. They’re taking our memories away.”

“
What
?” Matt gasped. “Why? I
need
her!”

Emily jumped at the intensity in her partner’s voice.

“We were made for each other.” Matt’s face turned red. “I mean…we’re a team.”

Michael raised his hands in the air. “Wait! Children, you have to understand this. You
will
be together. You’ll also have certain…gifts…that will go with you. But the situations, the choices that you make have to be yours and yours alone. What you do and how you handle life will be completely up to you.” He looked at Emily. “You’re brand new. You have human gifts up here and you’ll have your angelic gifts down there. You will play by a set of rules different from humans. You have immense power and understanding and, better than that, you’ve been offered the chance to have a life.”

“Life?” Matt sounded confused. “Our lives are here.”

Gabriel cut in. “This,” he said, swinging his arms around the hallway. “This is an afterlife. A real life—with opportunities both good and bad—is waiting for you and Emily down there. You’ll have the freedom to be whatever you want, and go wherever you wish. The information you gather will aid our quest to understand humanity. Perhaps you will uncover why such painful things are happening down there. We hope you’ll serve as a map to peace.”

Emily turned and hugged Mark, swallowing her childish tears. She then went to Gabriel and did the same. As she approached Michael, she stopped before him and bowed.

He reached his hand below her chin, raising her eyes to meet his. “Use your time wisely. This is
your
life, but know that it is the first among many.”

Emily nodded. “We’ll do our best.”

“I know you will.”

Turning to the silver door, Michael waved his hand, leading the huddled group through the mist.

Emily was grateful for Matthew’s strong, comforting grip as they followed Michael into the chamber where the members of the Council awaited their historic journey. She could barely breathe as they were led to the stage. Emily searched the familiar faces. As her friends and teachers met her gaze, a mixture of sadness and loss filled the quiet room.

“Bow your heads and close your eyes,” Michael ordered quietly.

Emily took one last look at Matt, her best friend, and felt powerful sparks of energy flow through their clasped hands.

Matt’s words were determined and strong. “I’ll
always
know you. There’s no need to worry about that.” He smiled before closing his eyes.

Emily’s brain knew what he said was true. She could never forget Matt. If nothing else, she would surely remember his cerulean blue eyes. They were the color of the thin line that separated the ocean from the sky. His gaze was that brilliant horizon that kept her steady so she never got lost in the wide majesty of the stars, or the treacherous depths of the ocean. Their souls were one, keeping each other on the right course, oblivious to the rest of the world.

“Wait!”

Emily heard a familiar voice cry out. She opened her eyes to see Saint Francis rush into the room. His long white hair flew out behind him like a crown of feathers as he ran towards her, clutching a small black and white bundle in his arms.

All the eyes in the room seemed amused, as they watched the old man scurry forward under Michael’s impatient gaze. “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but I forgot to give something to Emily,” Francis sputtered, as he held a furry object out to her.

She glanced up at Michael’s towering figure.

“Do I even want to know
who
this is?” Michael sighed, as he stared down at the squirming ball of fur.

Francis tilted his head to the side, placing the creature into Emily’s outstretched arms. “
Who
? It’s not a who, Michael. It’s an
it
.”