An Angel's Wings.

Ch. 25 Shards.

I wasn't underwater. The waves gently carried me along, above. Looking around I saw the birds, trees, it was louder than before. Turning, I gazed underwater, and everything got quiet. Something was glowing at bottom. Before I could swim down, I heard a muffled voice and flipped back over. A guy was looking at me. He had yellow eyes and pale skin.

"Twelve." He said, with a smile, outstretching his hand. "Come with me." He seemed so friendly. I let my damp finger tips brush against his. He was so warm, and our fingers interlocked. As he lifted me from the water, I heard something else. "Tarasynoria," The voice was so clear, looking into the water, I saw a man. Despite being below the waves I heard him perfectly fine. He too had dark hair, but his eyes were also dark, his skin was tan. His lips curled into a smile. "Come with me." The first boy's grip on my hand got tighter, "Don't listen to him Twelve, he'll manipulate you and you know it." The boy said, Looking back down, I noticed how handsome the man was. "Ignore that foolish boy Tarasynoria. You think he really knows what's good for you? He's young and naive." The older guy retorted.

Looking up, the boy's yellow eyes were filled the desperation, the older one had confidence in his every feature. "Angel." I whispered, the boy's eyes and smile widened. I let him help me out of the water, and suddenly a hand clamped around my ankle. "You won't get away from me," the older man growled. His grip was freezing. I screamed, and suddenly the waves in the water started rocking harshly. With of them yanking on me it felt like I was being ripped apart.

"Help! Help!" I yelled, suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw something golden.

My eyes snapped open and my cell phone was vibrating. Rubbing my eyes, I answered, "Yeah?" I asked groggily. "Hey Twelve." My eyes widened in surprise at Angel's voice. "Angel?" I asked, "Yeah, I was wondering if you'd come and open your front door." His voice was quivering like he was cold. "Sure, why?" I asked. "Well it's Saturday and I thought I'd stop by but I couldn't sleep and I know it's early and you'd be asleep, and I really didn't want your mom answering the door." He explained. I smiled, "You hate the cold though." I comment, getting up, and shoving on a baggy sweater. "I'd prefer the cold over an awkward encounter with your mom." It was evident his teeth were chattering as I hurried down the steps.

Smiling, I opened the front door. Oddly I didn't feel self-conscious about my messy hair, or pajamas. Angel's face was flushed from the snow, and I moved to let him walk in as I hung up the call. "Thank you." He breathed into his hands for warmth. "You're lucky it's Saturday." I responded, closing the door. Angel nodded, and I chuckled. He was so shy. "Here I'll make you some hot chocolate." I offered, and he followed me into the kitchen.

After making Angel hot chocolate and getting myself a glass of water, we sat at the table. "So what brings you here at 8:30 in the morning." He shrugged. "I've just been having these weird dreams, and I don't know, I wanted to see you." He looked down shyly as he explained himself. I smiled. Then of course, because the universe HATES me, I managed to hurt myself, not by romantically knocking over my cup, cutting my finger tip and having him bandage my wound. I went to take a sip, but when I felt the water against my lips, for some reason my whole body went rigid with fear and the glass fell. It shattered on the ground and I looked out the kitchen window, where I had a view of the driveway. Mom wasn't home. I'm not sure where she is but it makes it easier for me.

And before you go saying, how convenient her mother's never home for no reason, I got really sick once and it hurt our finances, she was already struggling to pay for us alone, and so she took multiple jobs to help us. When she gets home she sleeps.

"You alright?" Angel asked, I was startled and confused but okay. "Um, yeah, I have no idea what just happened." Angel looked suspicious, and I knelt down to pick up the glass. "You might want to get a broom or something to sweep that up," Angel trailed off. "I've dropped glasses a lot..." I paused in my sentence because the slight reflection from the water wasn't mine. It was morphing into something else. Without thinking my grip on the shard of glass in my hand tightened. "Twelve!" Angel exclaimed but it barely registered in my mind. It wasn't my reflection, it was Nix. He smirked, "You won't get away from me." He whispered, horror coursed through me, and I barely felt my blood trickle down my arm.

Angel knocked the shard from my hand, and lifted me easily from the ground. Looking at my hand the cut was deep and bleeding. Closing my eyes, I took a quivering breath.

"I think I'm going to be sick." I whispered, "It's going to be okay Twelve." Angel said firmly, somehow he quickly managed to get hands on the gauze. "It needs stitches. You really clamped down hard on that shard of glass." He knew it wasn't for no reason. He bandaged the cut. "It's alright Twelve, here open your eyes and look at me." His voice was calm and reassuring, so I did. I looked right into his eyes, and they were their normal color of yellow. "Nothing is wrong. I can stitch your cut for you, really painlessly, do you trust me?" He asked, I nodded silently. "While I do, you need to tell me what got you so panicked." He continued, I nodded.

He vanished for a few minutes but came back quickly.

"Okay," he started, and my arm went numb, but not in a bad way. I couldn't feel anything, but he was just holding my hand. "Another Halfling power?" I asked, he smiled a little as he stitched. "Yeah but this isn't an Angel one." He responded.

"Now, tell me what happened."

I told him everything, what I read in the journal, seeing Nix in my mirror, and now my reflection. Odd headaches.

Angel frowned, "I think we might need to ask E for help."

"I agree, but where will we find him?"

"The real question is, did he ever leave?"