“Yes, you can. You can help me.”
“But how did you know what I was thinking?” I asked, although I wasn’t shocked.
“Like I said, I know you so well, Teagan.” He leaned closer to me, placing his hand in mine, a hand that felt warmer now. “I fear I have done too much harm here in this world where you belong. If heaven offers me a second chance…” Hadrian looked away and didn’t finish.
He tilted his face toward mine again and the light caught his eyes. For the first time, I saw a hint of green behind the ebony.
The darkness was lifting, letting the light he used to be shine through, allowing it to break through what had controlled him for so long. He was beautiful and light, and soon he would be whole again. He could be what was planned for him so long ago. An angel. I could help him, I knew that now. That was my power. To heal. To bring the truth.
His lips were inches from mine. I breathed him in. I wanted him to stay… I wanted…
I heard a scraping sound come from beneath me.
From the corner of my eye, I saw colors of light moving on the floor, sliding across it. The triangles of colored glass met, forming a design.
As if the floor had a mind of its own, it formed a circle around us, the sharp points of the red stained glass forming an octagram. Suddenly, the candles toppled over, the spilt wax merging with the outline. Their tiny flames grew larger and taller by the second. We were trapped inside the circle, inside the heart of the octagram, surrounded by an awesome power.
“Teagan!” Someone was calling me.
I was being pulled out of my dream and I didn’t want to leave. It was so warm here, I wanted to stay. But I was yanked away from it and thrown. It was only when I hit the cold floor outside the circle that I could see clearly what was happening.
In the center of the octagram, Garreth and Hadrian stood facing each other as flames licked at their legs, threatening to take one of them down. Two angels. One of light, the other of darkness. Both beautiful. Both powerful. One of love and the other of destruction. And there I was, outside the circle, and I wanted them both.
If Garreth hadn’t shown up, I would have been convinced I could change Hadrian. Did I really have the power to make him as God wanted him — and keep him for myself? I understood then that nothing comes without a price. How far would I have gone before I realized that? I would give anything to have Garreth’s invisible and unconditional love around me, then let Hadrian take his place in the human world.
Garreth stood strong as the flames threatened to reach within the circle. He stared into Hadrian’s fierce glare, ready for anything and forever my protector. “She seems to see something in you that I don’t believe exists.”
“Oh, don’t let her innocence fool you. She has a dark side.”
“Don’t you think I know her well enough to know that?”
Garreth offered.
Hadrian’s laugh sent shivers down my spine. I couldn’t deny it any longer; there was something about Hadrian that I needed. That I wanted. But Garreth meant more and I only hoped I could make him believe that.
I frantically searched my thoughts for the purpose I could offer. What price would anyone be willing to pay for the one they loved? I knew, without a doubt, because it surrounds me each and every day.
Sacrifice.
I pulled myself to my feet and stepped inside the circle.
The flames threatened to take me but the only part of my body that felt intense heat was my right hand. As I moved between the two angels, with my hand held high in front of Hadrian, I let the flames’ heat seep into the lines of my palm, activating the power of my Guardian stored within me.
Hadrian’s face crumpled as he looked at me innocently, and I trembled inside, questioning just for a second what might have been. Then a pair of strong hands were on my shoulders, convincing me I was right. Garreth’s gentle scent strengthened me, shattering Hadrian’s perfect illusion.
The truth to see beyond; to uncover what truly lay beneath the façade. That was all Hadrian really was. A façade.
The world tipped then and the black sky above the ruined tower was now beneath our feet, swirling and spinning below us, an angry hole sucking in anything it could grab from our world. The room appeared illuminated by a thousand fires as shards of colored glass flew past us into the dark, swirling cavity. My hand burned ferociously and I anchored it with my left hand as the full and final power of the light Garreth had given me surged out of it and smashed squarely into Hadrian’s chest. I felt sick, wanting to turn away, but Garreth’s hold on me was strong and sure.
Hadrian’s feet lost hold, and he desperately grabbed onto my hand, clinging to the power it held. I met his eyes, the green of his, flashing in the flames’ glow as he tried to convince me to help him. I closed my eyes and willed my beautiful scrolled mark to disappear from my palm.
At last I knew the power I could wield.
My eyes opened and the lifeline Hadrian clung to was gone, sending him plummeting down into the darkness. But the floor no longer wished to hold us and Garreth pushed me to the stones outside the circle just as the glass octagram splintered and fell in pieces into the abyss beneath. We stood staring as the colors disappeared after Hadrian.
We were then immersed in a great orange light. The flames were out of control. Soon the tiny chapel was filled with thick, gray smoke that seemed to tear the skin from the inside of my throat. Within seconds, Garreth and I were lost to each other.
“Garreth!” I screamed. My voice stretched itself over the expanse of the room, seeking him. “Garreth!”
I dropped to my knees, desperate to avoid breathing in the ashes that danced around me like phantoms. I willed myself to crawl, though where I was crawling to I had no idea. My hands reached out in front of me, feeling for anything substantial and I felt the wall give way and crumble to the ground. I clawed my way through the stones, my skin tearing away from my fingertips. At last, I made it to the ground on the other side. I sucked the cool air into my lungs but the woods hung heavy with smoke and shadows as ashes flew and clung to the trees and branches. Tiny sparks projected themselves above the inferno and hovered, airborne and still, as if calculating where they wanted to land before falling gracefully to the ground, setting the dry brush into miniature fires.
Garreth was nowhere to be seen and panic bled itself into my bones.
The fire was spreading. I saw the flames race past the clearing and out toward the road. The air rang with sirens and it felt like the whole town was on fire. I was spent, my legs refusing to move anymore. With my head pressed against the smooth, worn bark of our old tree, I began to sob uncontrollably. My chest was heavy with fatigue. All I could think of was Garreth, and suddenly the hole in my heart ripped all the way open with fear. Hadrian, it seemed, was gone for good, but in the end, I feared Garreth was gone as well.
I felt smoke weave itself around me, clouding my senses. I closed my eyes to the sweet song of the sirens and cried for my Guardian.
I let my head roll to the side as the room spun then slowed around me. At last I could make out white cabinets, a single gray chair, a commercial linoleum floor. I looked for the source of a sound that had been repeating itself in my ears, the constant hum of a machine in the room with me. It sounded like water flowing and briefly I envisioned it to be the contents of my heart pouring out of me. That would explain why I could no longer feel it.
A big metal box on legs was the culprit so I closed my eyes again, preferring sleep to wondering how I managed to be in the hospital. A shuffling sound joined the hum, and I forced my eyes to open.
“Hi, sweetie,” My mom leaned over me. She looked as if she hadn’t slept for a week. “The doctor will be in soon.”
I opened my mouth to speak but my lips felt all dry and cracked. I wanted to ask if anyone had found Garreth.
At the thought of his name, I couldn’t help but cry again.
“Oh, shhh. Don’t, honey, you’re going to be okay.” My mother glanced over her shoulder and stepped aside.
“Well, now, how’s our patient?”
I couldn’t see his face from where I lay but I saw a redness flush its way into my mom’s cheeks. He stepped into view, pausing to smile at my mother, then he lifted my right hand, which for some reason I failed to notice until now was bandaged heavily with white gauze. I looked at the doctor, then my mom, then back to the doctor again.
“I don’t need to tell you how lucky you are, young lady.
The whole town practically went up in flames last night and only your hand was injured. You’re a hero, you know,” he said, nodding his head.
Hero? Why am I a hero?
I wanted to interrupt and ask a zillion questions but I couldn’t get my tongue to reach the roof of my mouth to form the words. And, whenever I breathed too deeply, it felt like my chest was about to explode.
My mom’s gaze dropped to my wrapped hand. “Will there be much scarring?”
“Unfortunately, yes, but the burn looks sort of like a design. It will be a great battle wound to show to your friends.” The doctor went to the foot of the bed and began writing something down on my chart.
Battle wound. Good one.