Angel Fire (33 page)

“I know,” he said softly, studying my face like he was memorizing every detail. “I feel as if...I’ve known you for ever. The whole time I was searching, I always knew how much we needed each other.”

He was so right that tears came to my eyes. I couldn’t help myself this time, and I sat up, clearing my throat. “Seb, can I – I mean, don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but—”

Understanding came over his face; he sat up too, swinging his legs forward. “Come,” he said in a quiet voice. “A brother can hug his sister, yes?” He held his arm out to me.

I wiped my eyes. “Yeah, he can. And – I’d really like that.”

I shifted towards him on the sofa and we hugged tightly for a minute. It felt so good just to hold each other – like something I’d been missing my whole life. Seb’s arms around me were strong; he smelled of soap, and a sort of clean woodsy scent. I closed my eyes and pressed against him, feeling his heart beating against mine; the gentle shiver of our auras as they mingled. Seb let out a breath and dropped his head to my shoulder. “Willow...I can’t tell you how I feel, to find you after so long,” he whispered. “I’d stopped looking. I told myself,
You’ll never find this girl; she doesn’t exist
.”

I pulled away. “‘This girl’? But—”

He hesitated; I noticed again the gold flecks in his hazel eyes. “I always knew it was you I was looking for,” he said finally. “I always felt so strongly there was only one other half-angel: a girl my own age. Then I saw your picture, and your dream – and I knew I was right.”

My dream. Feeling flustered, I looked down at the sofa, at our legs almost touching each other. I didn’t even know how to explain my dream to myself, much less to Seb. Had I been reaching out to him in some way, without realizing I was doing it? I didn’t know – the only thing I was sure of was that somehow we were meant to be in each other’s lives.

“Why didn’t you tell Alex about my dream?” I asked suddenly.

Seb looked surprised at the question. “It felt too private. Like something that’s just for us.”

Unfortunately, he was right. I let out a shaky breath. If Seb’s feeling had been right too, and it really was
me
he’d been looking for all this time...then what did that mean? When I was in love with someone else?

“But there must be other half-angels,” I said after a pause. “We can’t really be the only two in existence, can we?”

“I’ve never seen another one,” said Seb with a shrug. “Never.”

For a fleeting second I wondered if Raziel had ever been to Mexico, but I knew it didn’t matter if he had been. Because I was positive that Seb wasn’t my half-brother, or even related to me in any way – there was no familial sense to him at all, the way I used to notice with Mom and Aunt Jo. No, Seb and I were just what we seemed – a half-angel boy and girl who had no connection to each other, beyond whatever force had somehow drawn us together.

I could tell Seb knew it too.

Neither of us spoke. I stared at Seb, taking in his high cheekbones; the beautiful shape of his mouth – and I thought,
My god, what if we really are the only two half-angels in the entire world?
My dream flew back to me again – the way he’d held out his hand to me, called me
querida
– and how all I’d wanted was to be with him, how just the thought of being apart from him, ever, had filled me with despair. And Seb
knew
I had dreamed this.

His eyes were very steady on mine. Remembering what I thought I’d sensed from him the day before, my cheeks caught fire. My dream couldn’t mean what it seemed; that was all there was to it – so if Seb thought he and I were destined to be soulmates or something, he was wrong. No matter what kind of connection the two of us had, it was still Alex I was in love with – Alex who I wanted to be with for the rest of my life.

I moved away from Seb and snagged the bag of cookies from the table, busying myself with opening it. The plastic made a comforting crackling noise that filled up the silence. “You know, my dream wasn’t – I don’t think it meant anything,” I blurted out. “Or it did, but just that you and I are really close – really good friends. Because that’s all it
can
mean.”

“Willow, it’s okay,” said Seb quietly.

Embarrassment wasn’t the word; I could hardly even meet his eyes. I cleared my throat. “Listen...maybe we should start doing the aura work. All we’ve done so far is talk.”

Seb got the hint that I really wanted the subject to change – like, yesterday. He nodded. “Yes, you’re right,” he said. “But first I think I should try one of these – see if there’s any orange in it.” Stretching across, he reached for the bag and helped himself to a few cookies.

He bit into one. There was a pause.

“Well?” I said finally.

“Maybe it’s all right,” he said with an uber-casual shrug. “I’ll have to try again to make sure.” He took another bite, chewing slowly. “Hmm. No, it’s hard to tell.”

My embarrassment faded a little. “Yeah, you big phoney,” I said. “You just won’t admit you like them.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “You need to be careful, you know,” he said mildly. He gave me a warning glance as he licked a crumb from his finger. “I saw from your hand that you’re very ticklish.”

“Oh, now
that
is just completely unfair. I didn’t get any of your weaknesses.”

Seb looked smug. “Maybe you’ll find out someday.” And as he popped the rest of the cookie into his mouth, my tension melted away at his teasing look. It was what he’d been trying to do, I realized – make me see it was all right; that he wasn’t going to pressure me, not ever. No matter what else he might hope for, Seb was my friend. He’d told me that before, and he really meant it.

“Thanks,” I said, before I could stop myself.

He didn’t ask what for, though I knew he knew – he just
tsk
ed and shook his head. “I don’t think you’ll thank me when you see what a tough teacher I am.”

“Are you?” I said with a smile.

“Oh, yes. Very strict.” Seb sat up, brushing his hands off. “Okay – let’s get started.”

That night I lay in bed in the darkness, listening to the soft sounds of sleep around me. Even with the worry about the Council, I felt happier than I’d been in a long time. I could trust my angel again; it was just me inside of me after all. And even better, earlier that night Alex and I had slipped away to his room for half an hour and the world had fallen away into nothingness. I let out a shivering breath, hugging myself under the covers, and wished I was with him right now; that I could sleep wrapped up in his arms all night. But meanwhile, just having been close to him for a little while, without the gut-wrenching anxiety that had been chewing me up inside...well, it wasn’t enough, but it was still pretty amazing.

Rolling over onto my side, my gaze fell on the small framed photo of myself when I was a little girl, peering up through the feathery leaves of the willow tree. I gently touched its frame. After I’d had a few fruitless hours of working with my aura that afternoon, Seb had finally stood up from the sofa and stretched.

“Come on, you need to take a break,” he said.

“Come on where?” I asked, getting to my feet. It was a relief to stop for a little while; I hadn’t really expected this to be so hard.

“There’s something I need to give you.”

I glanced at him in surprise – and then I understood. “Is this what I’m thinking?” I asked as we left the room.

His face was a picture of puzzled innocence. “How could I know what you’re thinking? Do you think I’m psychic or something?”

“Yes, very funny.”

Seb’s storeroom bedroom was filled with boxes; his camp bed literally took up the only empty space, so that when we got there he had to crawl over it to grab his knapsack from where he’d stowed it on the floor. I watched from the doorway, taking in the strong lines of his back and shoulders despite myself.

There was a ragged sound as Seb unzipped the knapsack, and then he stood up and handed me my shirt and photo. His fingers seemed a little reluctant to leave them, but he smiled. “Here, these are yours. And I lied; I could tell what you were thinking,” he added. “You were right.”

My eyes went straight to the photo of myself and the willow tree. I’d been so sure I’d never see it again. “Thank you,” I said softly. Then I gave a small laugh, clutching its frame. “You know, it’s so funny – this photo keeps getting stolen and then finding its way back to me somehow.”

Seb didn’t say anything, but I could feel his emotion – the photo had been how he’d known he wasn’t the only one of his kind after all. Looking down at my seven-year-old self, I was so glad that fate, or whatever, had led him to that Chihuahua marketplace that day.

“Thank you,” I said again, and tucked it in my jeans pocket. Then I glanced at the shirt in my hand and thought of something. “Wait – you paid for these things, right? So I need to pay you back.”

Seb’s expression turned gravely serious. “Well, they were very expensive, you know,” he said, stroking his chin. “But I’m sure we can work something out. What do you call it – a payment plan? Perhaps if we make an agreement for how much you’ll pay me back each month – but no, we need to think about interest, too—”

He broke off with a grin as I started laughing. “Okay, okay,” I said. “Why don’t I just say, ‘thank you very much’?”

“You have said that,” he said, his eyes warm. “And you’re very welcome.”

S
ILVER
T
RAIL
, C
OLORADO
,
WAS A
small mining town high in the Rockies. The place had had a heyday once, complete with several brothels and saloons – now, its silver depleted, it was home mostly to artists and people who wanted to get away from it all. There were also, Raziel believed, several llama farms, though thankfully he hadn’t encountered one. The field he was currently examining appeared to have had cows in it at some point, though. He stepped carefully as they walked, surreptitiously checking the bottoms of his shoes at times.

“See, we could have the school here – and maybe a library or something nearby,” said the man, motioning around him. He was named Fred Fletcher, and his round face was flushed with sincerity.

Raziel had almost cancelled this meeting, but decided it might take his mind off the news about the Council he’d gleaned from Willow’s thoughts two days before – with not a single word from Charmeine meanwhile. Not to mention that there was another half-angel in the world; he’d barely even begun to get his head around the implications of
that
. The boy’s energy as experienced by Willow hadn’t rung any particular bells for him, though he’d dearly love to know who the father was – it could be a useful little piece of blackmail material if he ever found out.

Raziel took out his phone again as Fred continued to talk. Nothing from Charmeine. Obviously this was what she’d tried to tell him – that the Council was in Mexico City weeks ahead of schedule, at a totally different place than planned. He could sense she was still alive, at least, so presumably their alliance hadn’t been discovered. But what was going on?

“So that was my idea, Mr. Raziel, sir,” Fred summed up finally. “Because you see, as wonderful as it is for people to pledge themselves to the Church and live there, not everyone can do that – lots of us are just as devout, but have families, y’see.”

“Yes, naturally,” said Raziel absently. He linked his hands behind his back, scanning the frosty fields that sparkled in the late afternoon sunlight, with the Rockies a dusky purple rising up behind them. Forcing himself to focus, he saw that Jenny was right. It wasn’t a bad idea at all. Camp Angel: a community where entire families could live in honour of the angels, with schools, a church, a library devoted to angelic works – everything.

“We could have them all across the country,” he said, thinking out loud.

Fred’s face lit up. “Really? You like my idea that much, sir?”

“It has definite potential,” allowed Raziel. Since the dramatic Second Wave TV footage, the demand for all things angel was exploding. A gated community where families could purchase homes and enrol their children in schools devoted to the angels would take off like wildfire.

And as he’d thought before, the idea would allow for another possibility, one he’d been mulling over for some time – something that, if the Council knew about it, he was sure would cement whatever plans they might now have in place for him. It didn’t exactly go along with their vision of angels not giving into their baser urges.

“Yes, I’d like to go ahead,” he decided. “I’ll be in touch soon to discuss the building work.” Though everything had now been cast into uncertainty, Raziel still held out hope that soon there wouldn’t be a Council to worry about. Meanwhile, in the same spirit of reckless defiance that had caused him to say too much on TV, he refused to put his various schemes on hold.

Fred seemed almost incoherent with gratitude and excitement; he stammered his thanks non-stop as they made their way back across the fields. “Think nothing of it,” said Raziel, shaking his hand when they reached his black BMW. “You have the angels’ gratitude.”