Finding Heathcliff

Twenty-One

Astrid woke up with a scream wedged in her throat. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes-- she was in a place filled with pleasant warmth and semi-darkness, feeling safe. She closed her eyes again, hoping to recall more details from her dream.

This wasn't the first time she had dreamed about angels since she had found that book in the library, but this dream had felt different.

It couldn't have been a dream... The girl in the flames had been real, and so had the two dark-clad, wingless... angels who had saved her. Fallen angels.

But that was impossible. If it all had happened, then she should still be in the meadow, surrounded by people and flames. Astrid pulled herself up on her elbows to better see where she was, but even that slight movement made her head spin, and a sigh escaped her.

That was enough to bring Orion rushing to her side, eyes filled with worries, his hands on her shoulders pushing her back down. His touch made her shiver and it surprised her-- it felt too different from the angel's strong but gentle arms, holding her close to his body as his scent of burning incense wrapped around her, filling her mind like the sound of his voice...

Scolding herself for thinking about the stranger, Astrid smiled at Orion as she obliged, lying back down.

"What happened? Where are we?" she asked, observing her fiancé's face.

Was it really worry in his sapphire irises, looking nearly black in the tenebrosity surrounding them, or was it some other feeling, curiosity laced with suspicion, incredulity mixed with disapproval... her head kept spinning; she couldn't focus enough to understand.

The deep frown marring his features as he replied, hinted at anger. "You caused chaos at a witch trial. You must never do that again. You need to listen to me, Astrid, or..."

Ignoring the hint of a threat wrapped in his words, she looked away from him, her frown mirroring his. So it hadn't been a dream.

Turning her head to the side, Astrid could see a fire burning beyond the thin, fabric wall, and the moving silhouettes of the five guards huddled around it. She could hear the murmur of their voices and the faint whisper of the river somewhere beyond. It was dark; a few candles were lit in the tent around her and Orion, filling the darkness with their faint, flickering light. How much time had passed, how did they get here?

"The girl?" she asked, looking back at Orion, and now she could feel the anger he had tried to hide before, hitting her like a wave.

"The witch magicked herself out of the flames somehow. We all saw her fly away."

You shouldn't be able to see me.

Her mysterious stranger's words uttered so long ago finally made sense. Orion and the other guards, the people gathered in the meadow, could not perceive him.

Why could she see him, then?

Astrid's heart fluttered as she recalled his irises the colour of seafoam, profound like the ocean, looking into her eyes as if he hoped to read her thoughts... He had been there, she had seen him, he and his friend had saved the girl...

He belongs to those who killed your parents, a small voice whispered in her mind, shattering her reverie, extinguishing the smile forming on her lips before it could grow fully. She wouldn't think of him ever again. She mustn't. It was the fault of those like him that she had been brought up by Uncle Arcturus, a ruthless man who didn't believe in love, who had kept her locked away from truths and reality. It was the angels' fault that she was here now, alone with Orion and a handful of guards, searching for them to be able to change that ancient, awful treaty.