The Ascended (9 page)

"John?" I said, turning around to get his attention and discovered he was right behind me with his back to me. I gasped in pain when he took a step backward and stepped on my boot-encased toes.

"Ow," I complained, hoping around on one foot. "You stomped on my foot," I continued to gripe until I realized John's attention was focused on the shadowy forest to our left.

"What is it?" I asked, all humor gone.

"A black bear," John said, never taking his eyes off the woods.

"Are you sure?" I whispered as if that would keep it from noticing us.

"Positive. If you look close enough you can make out its massive shape just beyond the tree that seems tilted."

"Do you think it's a coincidence or is it a puppet of Victor's?" I asked, still whispering.

"Oh, it's a puppet for sure. Otherwise it wouldn't be stalking us like this. If it was seeking water it would have come lumbering out. Same goes if it was hungry."

"What's it waiting for then?"

"I don't know, maybe to see if we're going to run."

"Are you kidding me?" I asked not wanting to believe.

"I wish I were…" He started
,
only to be interrupted when the bear stepped into the narrow clearing.

The sheer size of it was staggering as it reared up on its hind legs and roared its displeasure.

"Krista, when he charges, just
run
. Don't look back. Get to the camp and prepare the others.

"You're insane, there's no way I'm leaving you."

"Krista, do as I say," he demanded in what I was sure was his dad voice.

I crossed my arms stubbornly. "No John, I'm not leaving you. I've already lost someone I care about by leaving."

"Krista, it's not your fault you were knocked unconscious. You can't keep blaming
your
…" John was cut off as the bear roared one last time before charging toward us.

Time seemed to stand still for me as I watched the beast lumbering toward us. Its hindquarters seemed to move in a blur as they propelled him across the small clearing. Its deadly teeth gleamed in the morning light as it jumped on John with one mighty leap.

John screamed at me to leave one last time as the bear used its huge paw to knock him to the ground. I watched in horror as blood began to bead up on John's face where the long claws had made contact.

John stumbled to his feet looking dazed from the blow. He struck the bear, aiming for the softer flesh of its belly. The bear roared its pain and displeasure. John moved closer and used his closed fist to hit the bear on his snout. This time the bear roared with such anger, I swear the ground shook. In retaliation, it struck John again. This time its massive claws scraped across John's chest, tearing effortlessly through his t-shirt. John staggered back and fell to his knees as blood began to gush from his chest wounds. I gasped as he slowly teetered backwards.

"No!" I shrieked as the bear clamored on top of John, pinning him to the ground. The bear turned its head in my direction. If I didn't know any better I would swear it understood what I had said. I focused intently, not sure if my powers would work on a bear the way they did on humans. As it turns out, the bear was a mom. I could clearly see her irritation at being awake and away from the two cubs she left behind. Seeing inside her was a surreal experience and I knew exactly how to direct her.

"Go back to your babies," I directed in a loud voice, trying to be as stern as I could to a gigantic black bear that could tear my head off.

She looked down at John one last time before loping off through the forest, relieved to have escaped the voice that had ordered her away from her babies. I could feel her anticipation to be home as the sound of her crashing through the forest quickly faded away.

I sank to my knees beside John as the blood continued to drench the ground beneath him. I pulled my hoodie off hastily and pressed it down on his chest, remembering another time not long ago when I was forced into a similar situation. He was deathly pale and his blood soaked through the heavy material of my jacket, running warmly over my fingers. I pressed down harder, trying to staunch the flow.

"Don't you die on me John," I ordered, using the same tone I had on the mother bear. I could hear movement in the trees and knew my friends were on their way. I could feel their turbulent emotions as they raced toward us. Kieran's panic was more prevalent as she raced ahead of the others using the speed The Light had given us to its fullest potential. She knew her Link was fighting for his life.

"Kieran's on her way," I told John, glancing away from his now ashen face.

The words had barely left my lips when Kieran burst through the trees looking disheveled with leaves and debris tangled throughout her wavy hair. She raced to my side and without pausing to think, she placed her hands over mine, trying to stop the blood that still seeped through my fingers.

"Krista?" She said, looking at me with glistening eyes.

"It's okay Kieran. I'm calling Haniel now," I said closing my eyes. I used every bit of concentration I could muster and called for our Archangel.

"How Krista?
How can you call Haniel?" She asked, openly crying now.

"I don't know how it works, I just know I can do it now," I said simply, looking up as Haniel strode purposefully through the clearing. The others poured out of the woods as one and stood in a loose circle around us.

Without a word, Haniel knelt beside me and placed his hands over mine, giving me a nod. With awareness like I had never experienced, I knew exactly what he was silently asking. I removed my hands from John's gaping wounds and pulled Kieran to the shallow water's edge with me. She came with me willingly, knowing that at the moment John was literally in the best hands possible.

"I don't understand," she said more confused than ever as we kneeled on the pebble strewn ground.

"We'll explain later," I said, giving her a sideways hug of reassurance, feeling like the adult. My encounter with the bear had opened my eyes and I now understood my hybrid status completely. In the span of the two minutes during and after John's attack, my understanding was now clear.

"What if he dies?" Kieran whispered, changing the subject.

"He won't, I promise."

"Kieran, John's asking for you," Jenna said, kneeling beside us.

Kieran whipped around, surging to her feet in one fluid movement.

I stayed at the water's edge, washing all traces of John's blood away. I felt Haniel's presence without having to turn around.

"You understand now?" He asked frankly, placing his hands in the water next to mine.

"Yes," I said, turning toward my friends so I could check on John. I was surprised to see that my friends were already assisting him from the small clearing. Paul and Jacob had his arms around their shoulders, helping him navigate the uneven ground.

"Will he be okay?" I asked, watching them disappear from sight.

"Yes, although his body will need to recuperate from the trauma he suffered. He would have perished if not for you."

"I didn't do anything but call you," I said.

"Yes, you used your Gifts to summon an Archangel."

"Do you mean I could have paged a different Archangel?" I asked skeptically.

"Paged?" he questioned before answering me, filing the new word into his ever expanding human lingo base. "Yes, you have been gifted with the power to contact any angelic being in the Heavenly Realm."

"Any?"

"Yes."

"Wow that's insane," I said, squatting down on my heels. "Where were you when I sent you the message?" I asked.

"I was in the presence of The Light."

"Whoa, that's crazy. Did The Light give you permission to heal him?" I asked curiously.

"No, those decisions are mine alone."

"Then why didn't you heal the others after Victor's last attack," I asked reproachfully.

"I cannot heal a demon attack Krista. If so, I would have done so many years ago," he said with more passion than I had ever heard him use.

His passion and strange exhibition of emotion rendered me speechless. I leaned back on my hands, reclining backwards as I digested his words. He had always carried himself so regally and standoffish that it was unnerving to think that he had once lost someone he had cared about.

"Who?"
I asked bluntly after several minutes passed.

He turned to look at me with penetrating blue eyes that bore through me. Just when I thought he was going to ignore my question, he finally sighed heavily.
"One of your kind.
She is someone who once belonged to another. It is wrong for me to exhibit feelings for her."

"Why? Is she still with the other person?"

"No, that bond was broken many earth cycles ago. It is wrong because I was not created to feel human emotions."

"That's crazy. You're supposed to exist all these years without ever feeling something for someone else?" I asked
indigently,
mad at the injustice of it.

"It is my place Krista."

"Place smace," I grumbled. "So, what happened to the Guide you were in love with?" I continued, not wanting him to stray far from the subject at hand.

"How do you know it is love?" He asked earnestly, seeking an answer that even with his infinite wisdom seemed to elude him.

"Because of the way you talk about her. Usually, you're so stiff—no offense, but for the briefest of moments, you seemed almost normal," I gently teased.

"I cannot be certain that what I feel for her is love. I was not created to recognize such feelings."

"Do you think of her at least once an earth day?"

He nodded slightly.

"More than once a day?"
I persisted.

Once again he nodded in acknowledgement.

"Do you yearn to be near her?" I continued.

This time his nod was more pronounced.

"Wow Haniel, does she know how you feel?"

"I have not spoken to her in the Heavenly Realm since her light joined us."

"What?" I asked astonished. "She's in heaven?
For how long?"

"Over sixteen earth years," he said, looking at me expectantly.

I gasped.
Is he saying what I think he is?
I thought.

"You mean she was one of Victor's victims?" I asked, realizing he was talking about one of our moms. How heartbreaking for Haniel, to be in love with someone who was linked with another.

"Her Link was severed," he said, picking my thoughts from my head. "Her soul is now free to choose."

"Her Link was cut?" I asked, digesting his words and their true meaning. I knew my link with Mark had been cut also, but I had never considered the fact that my soul was now free to pick someone else. The thought made me slightly nauseous.

"Yes, Victor broke her heart before he silenced her earth life."

"Oh my God, it was Mark's mom?" I said with sudden tears welling up in my eyes.

He nodded his head, not bothering to answer.

"Holy Crow Bear Haniel, you love Mark's mom," I said relishing the words. Just because my love life was in shambles didn't mean I wasn't still a diehard romantic. "Does she know?"

"I am unsure of love. How would one know such things?" He asked, clearly confused. His uncharacteristic vulnerability touched me like nothing else had in a long time.

I reached over and grasped his hands and was taken aback, reading a mix of swirling emotions that were obviously foreign to an Archangel. "You could tell her." I said earnestly. "Is she in some part of Heaven that you're not allowed to enter?"

He flashed a rare smile at my Heavenly ignorance. "Krista, Heaven is not sectioned into classes like Earth. It is a paradise for all the souls that reside there."

"Then why have you waited so long to talk to her?"

"I felt she was entitled to grieve her loss," he said, clearly searching for an excuse.