Above the Clouds: Night

Chapter Five: The childhood friend

Avery's P.o.V

I grinned, slowly dusting myself off as I recognised the friendly face before me. Rachael, a childhood friend from years ago. Since my family... Passed away, I hadn't seen much of her. But whether I saw her or not, the rest of my friends and I knew she'd earned a life long pass to the friends flock.

Rachael had parrot-like wings, but instead of the usual red, blue, yellow and green, they were lilac at the top, fading to purple-violet, before changing to magenta then fuchsia at the bottom. She had soft, sandy brown hair. The main reason I hadn't seen her was because she'd been getting tutored. Angels are often home schooled, but when the parents are busy, or for some reason can't teach their children, there were tutors. Rachael had been home schooled, but wished to become a tutor herself and so needed additional teaching. She was easily distracted however, and I smiled, thinking of how the F.o.a must have had their hands full.

'Avery! I haven't seen you in ages!' Rachael greeted me.

'Rachael! It's been forever! How's tutoring going?' I reply.

'Great! I passed! I've my own student now, and I help out in group teachings too, and- and what's this I hear about a human?' She asked the last part with her eyes narrowed slightly, and I knew there was no putting it off.

Sighing, I explained the events leading up to now. Coupled with a look that said I'll tell more later. I wanted to tell my whole friend flock, but now wasn't the time.

After making sure everyone had arrived back safely without being followed, we headed inside Cave Falls. Rachael told me how Vivian and Sonnaya had sought her out, knowing Rachael wouldn't want to be left out of the venture with Ash. Because it was a venture now, not just a random rescue mission.

I wondered what Rachael and Ash would make of each other. Rachael often came across as direct, sometimes people had their doubts, but she was the best friend an angel could hope for and I could trust her not to grass us up to the F.o.a. As for Ash, he seemed quieter, maybe taking more to Vivian.

We reached the cave containing Ash, and entered only to find the human had once again fallen asleep. Quietly, so as not to wake him, we arranged the bed before Sonnaya lifted the still sleeping boy magically into it.

There are as many misconceptions about magic as there are angels, if not more so. Let me clear it up a bit.

Take humans and say, cats. Cats have retractable claws: but if you saw a human with fingernails coming in and out of their fingers, it'd be freaky. It's the same with magic. It's all down to angels having a slightly different anatomy to humans. Magic isn't magic as much as energy, and angels are better at conducting it, bending it to their will, than humans. The skill of magic differs from angel to angel, and the strength of energy too, make it a hard skill to master. Sonnaya showed promise, as did Vivian though slightly less.

There are probably also questions about flocks. To be a flock, you just need two or over people to be in it and either a member of the F.o.a, someone in contact with them, or five trustable people outside of the flock to know about it. Vivian and Terence's parents were regularly meeting with the F.o.a, as they guarded some of the airways near angel cities and hideaways from planes and such. Anyway, after a flock has been made, it's like a family or more often, good friends who had moved in together. They made their own house rules, and didn't have to return home, but to the flock. Usually flocks had their own house for all members. You didn't have to be sixteen (how old angels are when they come of age) to join a flock, but you had to be over it to live with them or have the permission of a F.o.a member.

Me, Rachael, Sonnaya, Terence, Vivian and Mistrival were a flock. The Fallen Angel families were one of the largest flocks recorded, along with the F.o.a. We all lived together, so no worries about hiding this from our parents.

There was a silent discussion about sleeping arrangements, then it was decided that Rachael and I would sleep in the cave with Ash, and the others would sleep in a larger cave further along. Bidding our goodnights, we separated.

Making sure we were out of earshot, I filled Rachael in on Ash's story.