The Nightwillow

Chapter 3

A calling?

"Wha-, a calling?" Sophie stammered, her eyes darting about as she tried to make sense of what her father was saying.

She had a calling. He tried to explain that all seraphim were born with purpose, and when they came of age, it manifested. But what did a little bit of energy have to do with any purpose? She was a woman. Just a woman who was a little odd. No more than that.

And yet now he was telling her that she was more, that being half-seraph meant more. She was burdened with purpose and power.

"What could I possibly do with it?" she practically whispered. Nothing made sense. In one evening, her predictable life became an uncertain enigma.

"I don't know yet. I know as much as you about the power. We'll figure it out. I just hope we do before them," he looked over her shoulder out the window where the fireflies erratic dancing mimicked the storm in her stomach.

"The seraphim?" she asked.

"Yes."

"That's who you met outside the coach?"

"Yes."

Sophie's eyes narrowed. "What did they want?"

Her father took a deep breath. "You."

"Me? Why would they want me?" Sophie jumped back. What? What could they possibly want from her?

Micah shook his head. "Right now they've only expressed a curious interest in you, and the Tribunal is keeping the others at bay. Before tonight, you showed almost no manifestation, so they ignored you. But now...," he trailed off.

She knew what he was thinking - now something happened, and their disinterest turned into more than just detached curiosity.

"In all seriousness, though, what would I have that they would possibly want?" Sophie questioned, trying to mask some of the panic rising within her. The Seraphim were powerful beings. They wielded swords of fire and had the strength of armies in but one individual. They were beyond powerful, so what could they want with a half-human woman who could do no more than generate a little electricity and heat?

"What I felt couldn't possibly make a difference to them."

"We don't know enough about what this is to decide that, which is why we have to figure this out. If your power grows, or Heaven forbid, gets out of control, it will draw attention beyond the elders, and there will be no keeping you from them," her father warned.

"So, more lessons?" Sophie groaned.

She was twenty-four. What girl her age had lessons anymore? She was supposed to be finding a husband, not a calling. She was supposed to be going to teas, helping out at the hospital, raising money for the poor, dancing at balls with eligible men. She was a woman of society, where she was supposed to be prone to frivolity and fainting spells, not playing with energy and being chased by all-powerful angels.

The thought of going back to the days of training made her ache already. It wasn't as if she didn't practice to maintain her skills, but those sessions were different. They were ways to burn off energy and maintain what she already knew.

What could she be taught now? She was dealing with a calling they didn't even understand.

Weapons? She understood. Martial arts? She understood. But how do you train to control energy that you didn't know you possessed up until that very night?

Maybe escape was just a better option. Go somewhere the Seraphim wouldn't find them.

"Why not just run away? Why not escape where they won't follow?"