Blood of Dragons (9 page)

“No, there is not a problem with her work.  I just want to talk to her in private.”

Rashnu’s face is emitting confusion.  My god, is there a pandemic of confusion occurring in the Angel realm?  Are they all inflicted with it?  Because I don’t think asking to speak to someone in private is something to get confused over.  

In frustration, I stomp my foot like a two year old.  Unlike the stomp of a two year old, the ground beneath us begins to rumble and a schism begins to develop.  There are gasps all around.  Crap.  It’s getting bigger.  And wider.

In an effort to stop it, I pull magic.  Pure, white magic that fills me with a sense of peace and love.  And then I fling it at the schism to try to stop it.

Turns out, magic doesn’t stop schisms.  It just makes them widen faster.  I pull the magic back and it flies through me almost knocking me to the ground.  I stumble and end up falling into the schism that is growing between my feet.  Ow.  I grasp the edge of the schism, which is now probably half a mile deep and look down.  That was a poor choice of things to do right at this moment.  Down is really far away and full of what looks like lava.  What I wouldn’t give for that lava to turn into Jell-O.  Oh, look.  It is Jell-O now!  My stomach rumbles as I hang here.  I never ate breakfast.

A strong hand grasps my wrist.  “You seem to be making a mess over here, Raziel.  Perhaps you will allow me to lend a hand?”

It’s Ray.  I forget what his Angel name is.  “Yes, please Ray,” I say. 

He does a double take at the use of his Cowan realm name.  With one hoist and a little bit of magic, he has me out of the schism and on my feet.  With narrowed eyes, he says, “There are no Angels who call me by that name, Raziel.  I surmise there is something afoot here?”

“Well, yeah,” I say.  Finally, someone is getting it.  “Can we go somewhere private?  The orchard or somewhere?”

With furrowed brows he nods curtly and then starts walking.  As he does, the giant schism I created folds back together.  Okay, Archangels are pretty cool. 

Ray’s walking so fast I thought I would have a hard time keeping up with him.  But I’m not.  My strides are as long as his. Huh.  That’s weird.  Adriel on the other hand is having a hard time keeping up like I would have in my body.

When we are finally far enough away from the rest of the Angels, Ray stops abruptly.  Adriel almost walks into him.  She takes a quick step back.  I guess it’s custom for Angels to give deference to Archangels. 

Ray speaks first.  “You have never been one for mystery, Raziel.  What is going on?”

“I’m not Raziel,” I say.  Yeah, I’m the whiny one now.  I try to keep the whine out of my voice as I continue.  “I’m Xandra.”

Adriel is looking at me as if I’m crazy.  Ray looks thoughtful.  “With your manner of speech as it is, I am apt to believe you.  How has this come to be?”

Great, the grammar police have gotten to him since he came back to Angel time.  Back in Ireland he was perfectly happy to use contractions.  “I don’t know.  One minute I was about to kiss Kallen and make our marriage real, and then I’m not.  And everyone started calling me Raziel and I don’t know what happened but I would like it to be reversed so I can go back to my wedding and marry Kallen so we can go rescue Tabitha from the Goblins and Dragons.”  I have to take a deep breath now because my tirade used up all the oxygen in my lungs.

Ray cocks his head to the side.  “You are the only soul within this body?”

Um, thought I just explained that.  “Yes.”

“That is impossible.”

Oh my god, if I hear that sentence one more time in my life I’m going to start killing people.  “Apparently it’s not.”  He deserved that bit of snarkiness.  I wonder if that’s really a word.  Probably not.  Great, I’m thinking about grammar again when more serious matters have to be addressed.

He strokes his chin with his index finger and thumb as he stares at me in a thoughtful trance.  “The only logical explanation is that you and Raziel have switched bodies.  The why part of the equation is what I cannot puzzle out.”

“I don’t care why it happened, I just want it fixed.”

“How do you even know Raziel?” Adriel asks.  “Archangels rarely commune with others.”  Realizing she just said that in front of an Archangel, her cheeks turn bright pink.  It looks pretty on her porcelain skin.

Ray inclines his head.  “You are correct.  The answer to your question is that there is a bond between Xandra and Raziel.”

“Bond?” she says.

“He changed my destiny.” 

As Adriel takes in a deep gulp of air, Ray gives me a sharp look.  “That is not a detail to be shared Xandra.”

Oh.  I think I just committed an Angel faux pas.  “Oops, sorry.”  My face is the picture of sheepishness.  “Adriel, you have to promise not to tell anyone.”  She nods her head a couple of times.  I don’t think she can speak right now.  She may be in shock.

“It is important that we keep all of this amongst ourselves,” Ray says and there is a clear threat in his voice.  Adriel shrinks back a bit.  Wow, where’s my smart mouthed friend? 

I am getting more frustrated by the second.  “Okay, we keep it to ourselves.  Fine.  How do we fix it?”

Ray shrugs his shoulders.  “Honestly, I do not know.  Raziel would be the one we would question about that.  Since he is omniscient, I assume he knows how to reverse this.  We will have to wait until that happens.”

There has to be something in my ears.  I would say bees but I don’t think these trees need to be cross pollinated.  I think they have some sort of Angel fertilizer because they have the biggest cherries I have ever seen.  I wonder if it’s a crime to eat one.  “I must not have heard you correctly because I thought that you said we should do nothing.”

“That was the implication of my words, yes,” Ray says casually.

“You know, I’m not really a wait and see kind of person.  What else can we do?”

Ray shakes his head.  “Xandra, I understand your impatience.  It is justifiable in this situation.”  Gee, glad to know my freaking out about being in someone else’s body is justifiable.  “But.”  I knew there would be a ‘but.’  “There is a delicate balance to the universe that must be maintained.  Part of this balance is each soul has an ultimate destiny.  Little changes are made through free will, but taking someone completely out of their destiny can create an imbalance.  Raziel thought that he had worked around that.”

“Guess not,” I say.  I’m not whiny anymore and my frustration is quickly fading into complacency.  Wow, I think I’m in shock now.

Ray nods.  “Guess not.  I am sorry, Xandra.  There truly is not anything that can be done by anyone besides Raziel.  He holds the key to the answers.  In the meantime…”  I close my eyes.  I know I’m not going to like this.  “It is important that none of the other Angels know that Raziel has gone missing like this.”

My mind is so befuddled I have no idea what he is talking about.  “What do you mean, ‘like this?’?” 

“Without warning.  Without preparing anyone, yourself included.”

Still befuddled.  “I don’t get why that’s such a big deal.”

His chuckle is humorless.  “Xandra, Raziel is omniscient.  Nothing is supposed to happen without him knowing about it.”

“Okay, I know what omniscient means.  I just don’t get why it’s so horrible if Raziel isn’t.”

“Xandra,” Adriel interjects, “there is a plan.  A cosmic plan – an outline that has been sketched into the universe and we have faith that it is the right plan.  As Angels, we have to have faith to do what we do – which is to uphold the plan.”

The significance is starting to seep into my brain.  “If Raziel isn’t really omniscient like everyone believes and has faith in, there might be other things wrong with the cosmic plan.  Angels all over will be second guessing their faith and might start looking for other ways to screw up the plan.”

Ray’s mouth is in a grim line as he nods.  “That is correct.  We must figure out how this factors into the great plan before anyone else can know it happened.”

So I really do have to pretend to be Raziel.  I don’t have the first clue how to be an Archangel.  “Just from my brief conversation with one of the Angels over there, she has to know something is wrong.  I mean, I feel a connection to Raziel,” which is true now that I’m thinking about it, “but I don’t know anything about him.  I don’t know how he walks, how he talks, or most importantly, how he thinks.  This is not going to work.”

“It must.”  Good, glad I have a choice.

Chapter 10 - Raziel

Kallen is pacing back and forth in front of Dagda’s desk where Isla and Dagda are searching ancient texts for answers.  I have already explained to them that if it had happened before, I would know about it.  Isla’s response was that I did not know about this, so I may not have known about a previous instance.  I suppose I will be confronted with a lot of doubt from here on.  That may make eternity more tedious than it already is.

“Is Xandra back yet?” Zac’s small voice says from the doorway. 

I shake my head.  “Sorry, it is still Raziel in here.”

“No offense, but you’re kind of creepy right now.”

I chuckle.  “Yes, I suppose I am.”  A thought hits me.  How strange it is to have to figure things out as I go along.  I could get used to this.  “Zac, how would you like a job?”

One of his eyebrows goes up and the other goes down.  “What kind of job?  Will it be hard?”

Smart child.  “No, not hard at all.”

“What kind of job are you trying to give my son,” Xandra’s mother demands as she appears right behind him. 

“I would like to suggest dividing our workforce so that we can attain two positive outcomes instead of one.”

Dagda sits back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest.  “What are you saying?”

Here goes.  My first attempt at talking someone into something without having my omniscience to back me up.  I probably should not be giddy at the moment.  “I am suggesting that young Zac here help his parents pour over these tomes,” I wave my hand at the pile of books, each several inches thick, on the desk.  “That will free up the four of us to go in search of Miss Tabitha.”