Everlasting Fate (Third Book)

Chapter Two

A fortnight came and went, but Alduin never called for me. I became impatient. I learned how to paint, draw, and play music. Next I was working on dance to pass the time. I felt so lost. My mind was slipping into the abyss that was this human world. I was starting to actually care for my human family although I was no one special to them really.

I glanced up from my journal and my morning musings. If father caught me writing I would have a swift whipping. Girls needn't write or have brains for that matter. Ellwyn followed the rules and was the sweet daughter while I got daily scolding.

"Gabriela." The voice in my head shocked me. I dropped my journal and rose from the tree I had been leaning against. The sun was blinding, slowly pulling itself into the early morning sky. The grass was still wet with dew. I searched around the tree. My eyes scanned over the land, but saw no one. My hopes dampened.

"Gabriela, I have not left you. We are indeed going to war soon. I am going to arrange for you and Ellwyn to be 'sent' to different safe places. You are to meet me in Atlantis in seven days. Get up at dawn before the sun has caressed the earth on the seventh day and meet me. I will find you."

I nearly wept, "Alduin, I need to see you."

He appeared before me. I stepped forward but stopped short. My heart was hammering so hard it hurt.

"I really cannot be here right now." He said strained.

"I'm sorry." I sighed breathlessly.

"It's okay. How are the emotions?"

I nodded, "It's difficult when I know my Greek family might die in this war. And when I cannot be near your pureness."

Near you.

"I dumped you all into this foreign world with barely any training and expected you to thrive. I know now that that expectation was unrealistic. The Christian God's angels don't have human-like emotions even on earth. That's the difference. I wanted you to experience the emotions. Perhaps I was wrong." He admitted then became stoic as if he shared too much.

"You weren't wrong." I longed to embrace him just for the added comfort and the closeness. Humans needed that physical touch and to belong. They are such weak beings, prone to madness at any given time. And I was becoming much like them it seemed.

"Seven days, Gabby. I'll see you in seven days."

I restrained myself from hugging him. It was nearly impossible. I nodded letting him know I had heard him. The breeze softly lifted my hair. I glanced up and realized Alduin was gone. I wasn't expecting the pain I felt from his absence. Seven days, I told myself.

***

Father was away plotting to kill my fellow Atlanteans. As much as that saddened me it gave Ellwyn and I freedom to do as we pleased. Mother only cared that our studies were finished. The rest of the day and night was ours. Ellwyn had her head in my lap twisting daisies into a flower crown. We sat on the bank beside the steaming pool of water where Alduin had first visited me. It was a few miles away from the house in the forest. The stars twinkled above us. I could imagine the will-o'-the-wisps on a clear night like this. I missed Atlantis, my home. I felt the island calling to me. I was okay here, but I wasn't home. How could anyone be home here when there was a place like Atlantis that was a part of your very essence?

Ellwyn hummed amidst the silence and continued with the flower crown. I watched the water ripple as the breeze languidly greeted us.

"Beautiful night, is it not?" It was Alduin.