Feathers, page 15
“Really? Two others?” I mused. Now that was interesting. So we weren’t alone in this after all.
Michael sat back, looking back at the window again. “I can’t say we haven’t been interested in finding that out for sure. But we’ve had a hard time with all of it too. Like you’ve seen twice now, there are a lot of things on that side of the world that aren’t friendly at all. Unfortunately, for some of them it just tends to be in their nature. What you saw this afternoon was what is called a Mantis. They’re all female, and they are what our insects called the Praying Mantis were originally named after. They’re basically the same equivalent, as terrible as that sounds.” He went on.
“Wait a minute. Are you saying that thing was a giant bug?” I asked in disbelief.
“Not exactly, but close enough. As I said, the Mantis are all female, and are a type of creature that typically lives in the darkness of the spirit realms. You can think of those places as mirrors to our mortal one. Most of what you’d hear about that are considered myths actually do exist there, though most don’t cross over anymore. And the ones that do are so incognito that normal humans can’t even tell. Only those like ourselves, with what one once told us was a veil over our eyes being lifted, can tell what they really are, even when disguised.” Michael admitted.
That made me wonder just how many of these things I’d really seen in my lifetime before I’d gotten my wings. Obviously, some must have been very good at disguising themselves. “So that Mantis, you knew about her before?” I guessed.
“It was actually a chance thing. When we came back to Madison from living in DC, we ended up realizing that she was stalking the area. If you look back in the papers, you’ll find that over the years there were many unexplained killings and disappearances. That was all her. And beings we had come here to settle down then, we decided to stop her. But Raphael worried about one of us being hurt in the process of actually killing her, so we opted instead to lock her away in the ruins of St. Andrews, which was her original home. She still had some hapless victims who walked in there, but not half as many. It was a fair trade in the end.” Michael said.
His words did make sense. And it was a sentiment that I would learn the Renaldi family had come to adapt long ago. Protect the family first. You couldn’t save everyone unfortunately. But I knew I should probably come clean then, especially when I thought of what Raziel had said to Sean when they come to get us. “Hey Dad, did you know that Sean told me a little about that place before?” I had to ask.
Michael shook his head. “Not really. It was more of a guess on Raziel’s part. Although it doesn’t surprise me that Sean would go there and take his chances. Foxes are known for doing dangerous things simply because they’re bored. I suppose that was one aspect of his personality that can never be changed. But I’m not really blaming him either. After all, he did go after you to make sure you’d be protected. And a Fox against a Mantis is a bit outmatched a majority of the time. He must be serious about all of this after all to risk his life like that.” He admitted.
“Serious about what?” I couldn’t help but ask.
But as usual, Michael avoided my question. “Never mind. All that matters now is that you’re safe. You should get some rest. You’ve had a long day.” He said, standing up and patting my head.
I felt myself sigh, but I didn’t argue the point. Instead, I opted to do as he said. Another hour would pass, and eventually, I found myself falling asleep again. I had a nightmare though about the Mantis I’d seen. I found myself waking up very quickly. Taking a few deep breaths, I managed to calm myself down again. That was right. That thing was dead, and I was now in my room safe. As if to remind me, I felt my wings shift slightly behind me. Sighing to myself, I stood up and walked over to the full mirror on my closet doors. Turning on a small light, I turned and studied them once again. This was really strange feeling now that I was letting it all sink in. The feathers of my wings had the same bluish tint that my father’s did, as well as my other family. He’d told me once that he thought it was something from my great grandfather, but they weren’t really sure.
But the thing that caught me as well as I stood there was that I wasn’t wearing my glasses. The thing was, I was basically blind without them before. Now, I was seeing perfectly. In fact, even without that light, I was seeing very well. Leaning a bit closer, I inspected my face. It looked the same, yet prettier, somehow. Was this some sort of by product of these new wings too? I couldn’t help but wonder.
The sound of tapping on my window brought me back to reality. I stood up straight for a moment, feeling a bit a fear inside of me. But then, the familiar feeling returned. Raziel. Sighing, I walked over and pushed back the curtain to the far window. As I expected, he was crouched out there on the sill. His large wings were silhouetted behind him. “You know, you probably could have used the front door. You know the alarm code.” I said as I let him in.
“Maybe. But they kept telling me to let you rest, and wouldn’t let me see you until tomorrow. So I took matters into my own hands.” Raziel said.
“You mean you snuck out?” I guessed.
“How’d you know?” Raziel joked, giving me the same impish smile he always had when he knew he was probably going to get in trouble.
I couldn’t help but smile back though. “It’s okay. I’m glad you’re here anyways. I was lonely.” I admitted, hugging him.
I felt him tense up for a moment, then hug me tightly. “You scared the hell out of me you know. I really thought that thing might kill you before we got there.” He admitted softly.
“I’m okay now. But why didn’t you just tell me when I asked you before?” I asked, pulling back to look at him.
“It’s not like it’s something you’d talk about.” Raziel replied. “Besides, I didn’t think you’d actually find the place. Hell, I’ve never been able to find it before. Guess Dad was counting his blessings with that one.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at that one. Raziel loved seeing how far he could push his father at times. They had a very distinct personality clash anymore. “You know, Sean did manage to find me first. That means that you might owe him for saving me like that.” I joked, sitting back on the bed.
“Yeah. Maybe. But I’m not that surprised anyways. Guess he was telling the truth about it all. I can’t say much to it anymore.” Raziel admitted, sitting down beside me and bowing his head in defeat.
This would be the second time that I was certain someone in my family was alluding to something with Sean. But where Michael normally avoided telling me about it, I knew Raziel wouldn’t. “Raziel, just why is Sean being so nice to me now? Is it because of what I did to him?” I asked.
Raziel gave me a funny look. “You seriously don’t get it?” he asked.
“Get what?” I replied.
“And here I didn’t think you were this dense.” Raziel mused to himself.
“Just shut up and tell me.” I retorted.
“Okay, okay.” Raziel lamented. “But I would’ve thought you could tell by now. It’s really got nothing to do with you breaking the bad side of his fox nature, or whatever it was. Sean wouldn’t have spoken to you that first day anyways if he didn’t have some kind of interest in knowing you personally. Trust me, I know all about that one. I’ve had to listen to the stories since the day he came here.”
“Anna, huh?” I guessed.
Raziel shook his head. “Who else? Anyways, when I’d heard that he talked to Michael about taking you to the Prom, I decided to ask him about it myself. I got curious as to why. He’d attacked you, and now he was acting like he actually cared about you. It just didn’t sit right with me. So I went and confronted him myself after school a couple days later.” He admitted.
This was news to me. Sean had never mentioned speaking to Raziel about all of it before. “What did he say?” I dared ask.
Raziel sighed, running a hand through his hair. “He came clean. But it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. He admitted that he’d actually liked you for the moment he saw you. What happened at the school before was partly because of that. He couldn’t control that other side then. But now that you’d erased it, he was sure of how he felt. Guess that’s just grown for him since then too. He sure as hell wouldn’t have done what he did today if he didn’t feel something strong.” He explained.
I felt my cheeks burn slightly. So it was true. Sean really did fall in love with me. I knew Raziel would never lie about such a thing. Not with his distrust of Sean and knowing that this might make me closer to him. But I still wasn’t sure. I didn’t get it myself. Why would someone like Sean like someone like me? It made as much sense to me as to how in the world I’d ended up with someone like Michael as my father.
“You know sis, you do have some major complexes at times, don’t you?” Raziel suddenly said. He tended to call me sis here and there because we were so close. There had been a couple of times at school where it had been pretty confusing for others too. It didn’t help that we could have passed for being brother and sister, possibly even twins.
“Did you read my mind?” I had to ask.
“No. But I could feel what you were feeling. There was a lot of confusion and doubt there. Seriously, I don’t know why you worry so much about things. It’s not like you’re really ugly or anything. Trust me, I’d tell you the truth if you were.” Raziel said, smiling at me.
I huffed, looking away again. “Wow. Thanks a lot for that one.” I muttered.
Raziel just laughed. “Come on. I’m kidding. Besides, you really aren’t ugly, and you’ve never been, no matter what you keep thinking. And I’m telling you, getting your wings is definitely gonna turn heads when you go back to school.” He said.
“What do you mean?” I asked, looking back at him.
“Guess you really haven’t taken a good look, huh? Well, it’s kind of a sutle thing. At least, that’s how Gabrielle always puts it. But I noticed it too. When we get these wings, things about us change a little too. We look a little better then normal people, and we don’t have any handicaps anymore. I bet you’ve already noticed that you don’t need your glasses anymore. You’ll never need them again.” Raziel explained.
“Okay. Now that’s going to feel weird.” I admitted. But at the mention of Gabrielle’s name, something else suddenly popped into my mind. Noel Renaldi. I’d never mentioned her to anyone else. But I’d been wondering if Raziel knew anything about her. “Hey Raziel, can I ask you something?”
“Okay. What is it?” Raziel asked, suddenly curious. Guess I’d caught him off guard.
“Have you ever heard of someone named Noel Renaldi?” I asked him.
For a moment, he was quiet. But I had the distinct feeling that he was very surprised. In fact, it was almost like I felt it from him being right there beside me. After a few long moments of silence, he finally spoke again. “Where did you hear that name?” he asked softly.
“I didn’t. But I saw her grave. When I went to the cemetery a couple months ago and was looking at our grandparents’ graves, I saw this grave near them that looked like it was covered up by leaves and grass. And it said Noel Renaldi.” I explained.
“So she really is buried there?” Raziel muttered, though it seemed more to himself.
Now I was certain he knew something. “Who is she Raziel? I’ve never heard anything about her before, and she was born on the same day as Gabrielle. She even died when she was our age.” I continued.
Raziel hesitated for a moment before finally speaking again. “I don’t… know that much about her. She was part of the family. I only heard her name a couple of years ago, and that was from Gabrielle. The only reason she mentioned it at all was because we’d been watching something and she decided she wanted to talk a little about it all. But Dad and Michael don’t talk about her at all, and apparently won’t.”
“Something bad happened, didn’t it?” I guessed softly.
Raziel nodded. “Yeah.” He replied. “I didn’t know she was buried near our grandparents though. I’ve been there plenty of times, but I never saw that grave. Guess I wasn’t looking in the right place. Anyways, Noel was Gabrielle’s twin sister.”
“Twin sister?” I said in surprised.
“Yep. They weren’t identical, but they were twins, and the youngest of the four of them. But when Noel was eight, she got kidnapped. They found her a week later, and she was alive, but she was never the same. Gabrielle said that they had a lot of trouble from her. She turned our grandparents against each other, and my dad against them. So Gabrielle said that Gramps eventually sent her to live with our great aunt out in Tennessee. But right after Grandma died, she apparently committed suicide.” Raziel explained.
Another suicide. That was kind of creepy when I really thought about it. But at the same time, I kind of understood why Michael and Raphael wouldn’t want to talk about her. Maybe they felt guilt for not being able to help Noel back then.
After a few minutes, I finally forced myself to speak again. “Do you think that’s why they won’t talk about her? Because they regret what happened to her?” I asked softly.
“I don’t know. I’ve never really pushed the whole thing. It kinda creeps me out anyways.” Raziel admitted. But just as quick, he had an add in. “But not as much as thinking about that fox as part of the family.”
I had to smile. Of course Raziel would never take it easily that Sean may become part of our family one day. But far be it for me to disappoint him. “You know, Sean did score brownie points in saving me back there. Even you have to admit that.” I said.
Raziel sighed, shaking his head. “I know. And I’ll admit it. But really Mia, think about what you might be doing if you go for the fox. He’s not exactly like us.” he said.
“I know.” I admitted. “But seriously Raziel, I want to be around Sean, and I want to give him a chance. I like him, and I think you actually could be friends with him if you let yourself.”
“I could. But it’s just gonna take a while. Just give me some time on that.” Raziel said, giving me a slight smile.
Looking over at the side of my bed, I suddenly realized how late it was. It was nearly one in the morning. “Are you going to stay now?” I asked.
“Nah. I guess I’ll head back, now that I know you’re okay. And I’ll be here tomorrow.” Raziel said as he stood up.
I won’t say I was completely sure of anything as he flew back out of that window. The only thing I knew for sure at that point was that my life had changed forever. I was a full Nephilim now. And nothing would ever be the same.
Fifteen
Another week passed before I could learn to pull my wings in and control them. I had to say, it was kind of a depressing week in the end. Sean had not come back around, though we’d gotten reassurances from Sara that he was doing fine. In all honesty, it was very confusing for me. Sean had to have known that Michael would trust him completely now for what he’d done to save me. Yet, he hadn’t even attempted to call me. It was making me wonder if I’d misread things.
But I was determined not to say anything to it. Instead, I ended up passing the next month and a half of summer on my own. Well, not exactly on my own. Raziel and Anna were still around. But even then, I couldn’t help but feel a bit lonely. Every time we were in town, I found myself looking around in hopes of seeing Sean. Yet, he was a no show everywhere. Even Raphael had commented on it after two weeks. He reasoned that Sean must have went back into the Spirit Realms for whatever reason. Hearing that only worried me more though. Was he doing all of this to avoid me and keep me from getting the wrong idea?
Eventually, the first day of school arrived, and I found myself pulling into the parking lot. Sitting in the Mustang, I couldn’t help but frown to myself. I knew I had a serious problem now. I couldn’t stop thinking about that fox. And beings no one had seen a sign of him, we didn’t even know if he’d be coming back to school. Michael had admitted that one to me the night before. He’d been a bit concerned, considering he’d seen right through me all summer about this. “Don’t get your hopes up too much darling. Sometimes the ones like Sean just end up disappearing.” he’d told me.
I knew Michael was trying to help me, but I really didn’t need to hear that one. Sighing, I put my head on the stirring wheel. It was still early, so I didn’t have to worry about others seeing. I was only the third car in the parking lot. Stupid fox, I couldn’t help but think. Why’d you have to make me like you?
A knock on my window startled me out of all of this though. Jumping, I looked over and fully expected to ring Raziel out for scaring me. But it wasn’t Raziel standing there. Instead, familiar emerald eyes were regarding me with a bit of concern. I almost couldn’t believe it. Somehow, I managed to put the window down.
“You certainly pick some odd places to rest, don’t you?” Sean said. One may have thought he was teasing me, but he sounded very serious.
“Sean? You… came back?” I managed to say.
“My apologies. I only got back late last night. Were you worried?” Sean asked, opening the door for me.
“Well, yeah. You didn’t even tell anybody you were leaving, and you were hurt.” I reasoned as I got out. I almost forgot to grab my back pack in my shock.
“I’m fine now. And Mom knew. Although I’m not sure she would’ve told Michael or Raphael too quickly. She wasn’t very happy over what happened.” Sean admitted, though he was looking a bit puzzled over it all.
I sighed. So Sara didn’t talk because she was blaming me. That sucked. But before I could say anything, I felt him make me look up. “Hmm, I knew something looked different. No glasses now.” he commented.
