Chapter 9: Angel

Written by: Tyler Stafford

It was the same nightmare I've had all my childhood. In it, my parents are alive and well. We had just moved from England, boxes were still piled up in the corner of my new bedroom in our New Orleans apartment. Mom, with her beautiful brown hair and soft brown eyes was playing with me, throwing a bright white ball of light she had conjured to me, while I laughed uncontrollably before throwing it back. Dad was standing behind Mom, running his calloused hands through his light blond hair, watching with his sparkling blue eyes, smiling his perfect fatherly smile.
    And then a loud 'BANG' come from the living room. Dad instantly stopped and glanced at mom, fear replacing the smile in his eyes. He said something, but I couldn't make it out, I was too worried about the fact that my ball had disappeared. My mother nodded, and then picked me up, and hid with me in the closet, while my father went to check out the noise.
    From our hideout in the closet, I could her dad yelling. There was alot of banging, and from the cracks in the closet door, the Dark magick my father was skilled at seeped through. Finally, it fell silent. Footsteps sounded towards where my mother and I were hiding, and I wanted to call out for my father, but mom put her hand over my mouth, silencing me.
    It wasn't enough though. The doors of the closet were ripped open, revealing a tall man with dark red her and shining violet eyes. He lifted his hand, ready to attack, when my mother raised her own, and shouted "Protect!" A brilliant white light shielded us, temporarily shocking the tall man. A few seconds later, he smiled, revealing dreadfully sharp teeth. I must of thrown my mothers concentration with my cries of fear, because with a wiping motion of his hand, the man waved away the protective Light magick. He lifted his hand once again, making a crushing motion. I heard my mother's neck snap, and felt her grip on my loosen. The tall man was now reaching down for me, when a strong gust of wind knocked him back off his feet. Jack stood behind him, his grey eyes bright with anger. The tall man smiled again, and promised he'd be back for me, before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.
    It was then that I woke up, lifting my head off my desk. I was soaked with sweat, and breathing heavily. I took a few minutes to calm down, and looked at the clock on my bedside table. Five thirty in the morning.
    "Might as well get up now," I muttered to myself, wiping the sleep off my eyes and stretching. I looked down at the mountain of books that lay on the desk in front of me. I had spent most of the night looking through them, only to find nothing useful in a single one. I sighed and closed the large open book that sit on top of a stack of others, and then let my face hit it's cover. "How am I supposed to know what Silus is planning?" I asked myself out loud.
    I felt something lightly nudge my head, and tried swatting it away, thinking it was just a fly. The nudge came again, only this time it was harder. I looked up to see a the smallest of the books Jack had given me floating a few inches by my face, preparing to strike again.
    "Alright, alright," I mumbled to the book, grabbing it out of the air. "I get it, all I had to do was ask, no need to get violent." I didn't realize how small the book was at first, but now I felt I could harder call it that, because it was about the size of a pamphlet. There was no title printed on the front of it's leather bound cover, or on it's spine, just the symbol we used at the Academy to represent the six elements.
    I opened to the first page, and nearly fell over when I saw what was written in it. The book was more like an instruction manual. It described a ritual that required six people, each the embodiment of one of the six elements, and a seventh person that acted as a conduit that would take these elements and give them to the seventh person, bestowing them with god-like powers. I read about how this spell could affect the world, by either creating a new, better one, or destroying it completely.
    I was almost completely immersed in what I was reading when I heard a knock at my door.
    "Come in," I muttered without taking my eyes off the book. I heard the door open of it's own accord, and Jack stepped into the room.
    "Good morning Angel!" He said, walking to my desk. "How has your research come along?"
    I turned to him and held up the book. "I think I know what Silus is planning," I said, handing it over to him.
    He took it and examined it, flipping through it's pages with a concerned look on his face, before glancing up at me.
    "Angel, where did you get this book?" He asked, clearly puzzled.
    "I thought it was one of the ones you gave me last night," I replied.
    Jack shook his head. "I don't remember picking this one out," he said, peering down at the cover. "But, I think you may be right, this sounds like something Silus would be planning."
    "So, what should we do? I could gather a team to go stop him now, he must be searching for the people he needs now."
    Jack shook his head again. "No, it's much to dangerous for you to go," he said, turning to leave my room. "I'll assemble a team myself, Angel, you can take this one off."
    Without another word, Jack left, leaving me to stare at the door with a million questions in my head, the top one being, 'Did Jack really just deny me going on an important mission?'