Colors of Angels

11. Not Myself

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Arabella's Point of View
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My eyes fly open and I realize I'm falling. I throw my hands out in front of me and they hit hard, cold stone. Where the hell am I? I look around me and see a damp room it looks like a cellar. I can see four other people around me. All of them look bruised and bloody, like they have been beat. I walk up to the closest one, a male he looks to be in his early twenties and I can see he is fire gifted from his wings, they look like Falah's. I reach forward and touch a cut across his arm that looks deeper than the others but nothing happens, I look down at my hands, but they aren't mine.

They look older. The guy next to me stirs and sits up.

"What are you doing Meriah?" he asks looking directly at me.

"Meriah?" I ask. "Who are you?" 

"Casey, what is wrong Meriah, you don't look so good." he says

"I'm not Meriah." I say, but it's not my voice. It's different. I stand and look down at myself. and then around the room again. Four people, five if I count myself, or whoever I am. That is how many of Drew and Falah's friends are missing. Oh my gerd. I'm in someone else's body. Wait that doesn't matter I need to figure out where they are at. I turn back to Casey.

"My name is Arabella. Drew and Falah are with me" I say. "I don't know how I'm here but I am" I say quickly.

Casey quickly stands and walks over to the oldest looking of the group. 

"Marcus" he says kneeling next to him and touching his shoulder "Marcus get up, some things happened to Meriah,  the girl Arabella, she's in her body somehow" he says as Marcus sits up. The older man stands and comes to stand in front of me.

"So you figured out how to body jump" he says with a small chuckle.

"Body jump?" I ask. "All I did was fall asleep and next thing I know I'm here in someone else's body."

"Falah? Is she okay?" he asks ignoring my confusion.

"Yes she's perfectly fine." I say a bit exasperated. "But where is this, you guys are the people I was supposed to meet. right?

"Yes, I'm Marcus, the leader of our part of the Society, this young man is Casey, you are in Meriah's body, the air gifted child over there is Breanna." She doesn't look like a child to me. She looks like she's in her mid twenties, then again she probably is a child to him. "And over there is Tammy" he continues unaware of my thoughts.

"Tell Drew we are okay, but the Rebels have us locked up somewhere, all I know is it is a very large underground structure.  You must make it to the council." He says in a very serious tone of voice. his voice softens as he continues. "You are a very specially gifted child Arabella. Guard yourself and learn to use your powers, do not shy away from them. You must know your strengths if you are to make it to the Council." I don't know how to reply to him at all. 

"Drew and Falah can explain most things about Guardians in general. But there is something you must tell the council something for me. Pennington. He is back. He is still alive and he has a huge following, bigger than ever. Ask Drew about how the Rebels began, he will explain who Pennington is. But the council must know something. He is after you. As a matter of fact he is hugely obsessed with you." I all of a sudden get a very sick feeling in my stomach and my head goes blurry, I hear a door open in the wall and see a tall man walk in and stand above me. I realize then I've fallen to my knees. I can barely hear him.

"Well hello there Arabella dear, I hope to meet you in person soon." I look up at him and get a feeling I know this man. I try to figure out where I know him from when my vision goes black and I feel myself hit the floor. In the same instance I gasp awake and sit up in Drew's bed.

Drew is beside me in a second. 

"What's wrong Arabella are you okay?" he asks. 

"Go get Falah. Now" I say, I need them both to hear what I have to say. He rushes out of the room and I close my eyes, seeing that man's face again, I need to figure out where from. I know him. I do. But how? They both come in and I see worry etched onto their faces.

"Your friends" I say. "They are okay" I say trying to figure out how to explain what just happened to me.

"What? How do you know that?" Falah asks me sitting on the bed next to me opposite Drew.

"Marcus called it body jumping." I say. 

"You talked to Marcus?" Drew says sounding confused.

"Look, I fell asleep and all of a sudden I was in Meriah's body. I didn't realize it at first but when I tried to heal Casey and I couldn't I figured out I wasn't me." I say. I continue, explaining everything that happened. "But that man. Pennington. I know him." I say slowly

"What?" Falah says looking at me.

"I don't know how, but his face, I know I've seen it before. I've been trying to figure from out where but I can't figure it out." I say.

"That's scary" Drew says. "If you've seen him that means he probably knows what you look like. which will make it easy for him to find you."

"No" I say, all of a sudden remembering where I know his face. "I need to go to my house Drew. I know where I know him from"

"What? We can't it's three in the morning, your mom." 

"Is out of town" I say as if finishing his sentence. I get up and walk towards the door. 

"Wait" Drew says. "You can't go out like that."

"Like what?" I say. I look fine. 

"Wings." he says. Oh right, damn I forgot. Again.

"Oh ya, oops." I say. He tosses me and Falah pull over sweaters and slips one on himself. I fold my wings all the way in behind me and pull the sweater over my head, it's a good thing Drew is so much bigger than I am, his sweater goes down to my mid thighs just enough to cover the bottom of my wings. We walk out and Drew grabs his keys on the way out, We pile into his car and he drives the 5 minutes to my house. As he drives I go back to the memory I remembered just minutes ago, I hope I'm wrong. If I'm right then it could make things real complicated real fast.