The Above || Completed

26 Slaves

"Look, I can explain, okay?" Grace said rapidly.
I set a hand reassuringly on her shoulder when she sat up. "Relax, Grace, we aren't accusing you of anything. How about we go somewhere a little more private?"
She nodded, fear brightening the tears in her eyes. "All right. We can go to the library, I was up there last night after midnight."
We all got up to leave and Aeron fell behind while getting the book that was written in a different language from what we knew. The first thing we'd have to do was check whether Grace could understand what was written in it. I gave Aeron a nod when he came to walk close beside me, putting me between him and Grace. He gave my hand a subtle squeeze.

When we came round to the library, we made our way to the usual spot. Aeron and I sat before Grace, who still looked fairly traumatised. I felt quite bad but we needed a breakthrough. Chances were best with her.
Aeron slid the peculiar book toward Grace. "Tell us if you can read this."
Grace opened up to the first page, seemingly perplexed. Her eyebrows shot up above her glasses as soon as she concentrated hard enough. I couldn't tell if this was a look of recognition or-
"This is an angelic language," she realised out loud.
"Do you understand it?" I questioned.
She snorted. "Course not, I'd have to be an angel to do that. But look on page forty-six of the book Aeron's got in front of him."
Aeron opened up the book and showed me the foreign writing that appeared in a small section.
"It matches the writing in the book," Aeron said, taking the other book back from Grace.
"Yeah, that's how I know what kind of language it is. THE HISTORY OF ANGELS was the book I was reading earlier today," Grace mentioned.
"We knew as much, that's why we decided to show this to you," I said, nodding along.
"Interesting way to check if I'm the angel. Very clever." Grace smirked. "An angel definitely wrote that book."
"You're the clever one here, Grace," Aeron pointed out. "But we also want to know why angels interest you so much?"

Grace's expression became grim again. "I just wanted to know more about what we're dealing with, what the appearance of this angel might mean for the Above."
This was reasonable but too much of an obvious lie to ignore. Her body was not saying the same as her words.
"Grace, I really want to believe you. You shouldn't be dragged into this," I told her.
"But if you know anything that could help us, we need you to tell us," Aeron finished.
She nodded way too many times. Clearly, this was something that hit way too close to home.
"I've seen things." Grace said eventually, her voice small.
"Things like?" I almost urged.
"Give her time, she'll tell us," Aeron said gently, trying to calm Grace down, perhaps relieve some of the pressure we'd put on her.

"I was nine years old, barely able to tell the difference between right and wrong. But if anything, what I saw that day would be wrong to anyone," Grace went on. "My parents came home from work later than usual and I got bored at home on my own. We didn't live far from a park I'd always wanted to visit, so I chose then to check it out. I dashed through the streets to get to the park but something in an alley caught my attention."
"Nothing good ever happens in alleys," I commented.
"You're telling me." Grace chuckled dryly.
"This alley led to a strange building on the other side. I crept closer to see that two men were being pretty rough with each other just outside this building. One of them was dressed in a way that made him look important, so I figured he'd been a council representative. The other guy looked so torn up and filthy that I thought he must've been some kind of criminal scavenger. But he was beautiful with radiant, kind, blue eyes brimmed with gold. He had these brown curls crowning his head. The council representative was dragging this man violently towards the building and he was resisting, causing the representative to hurt him. I almost screamed but my breath caught in my throat. The guy who was being abused suddenly sprouted these magnificent wings and tried to get away."
"He was an angel," I said in awe.
"This isn't the first time an angel's been in the Above," Aeron said, connecting the dots.
"You're right, it isn't. After the angel revealed his wings, the representative held him back more aggressively. He took a blade from somewhere and severed the skin connecting his wings to his back, making him scream in agony. I was crying by now, watching as the angel bled. His blood had no colour, it was just light. The council representative left him there and I watched him die," Grace continued, tears now spilling over her eyelids.
I moved over to sit beside Grace and I held her in my arms as she cried.
"Grace, I'm so sorry," I whispered as I rubbed her back, attempting to soothe her.
"What you're telling us helps a lot," Aeron took her hand across the table.

"He wasn't the only one, you know?" she said through her tears. "I went back whenever I could and that's practically all I saw. Angel after angel, slaughtered or beaten by our fair, just council."
"Why would they do that?" I shook my head, outraged.
"I asked myself the same question, until one day, I figured out they were being used as slaves. Their Creator would send them to us, probably to protect us, and look what the council did to them and the way they'd treat them. It was appalling." She choked.
Aeron had a calculating look on his face. "The angel that's in the Above now was likely sent to put a stop to it, meaning it's still ongoing."
Grace and I both looked at him with our eyes wide, knowing how much sense this really made.
"Hold on, but how would the council monitor the flow of angels who came to the Above?" I enquired.
"The council obviously has patrols. And angels always have something that gives them away," Grace answers. "Sometimes they heal too rapidly, their eyes have gold in them or on rare occasions, someone catches them with their wings out in the open. Maybe they bleed. I read that in THE HISTORY OF ANGELS."
"No one in the Above would've written this book either. Unless one of the council members is really stupid," Aeron put in.
Grace smiled. "An angel clearly wrote that too. A distress call, I presume."
"Listen Grace," I began, "I think you'd be a great help to us in finding out who this angel is. Clearly, you have an interest in finding out as well. So, would you like to give us a hand?"
"I suppose so," she agreed. "I need to finish reading this book though. We'll meet up tomorrow to discuss this."
"Sure, we should get some rest," I said.

Aeron and I fell behind as we walked back to the dormitory.
"Devonne, we can't tell the council about any of this," Aeron whispered. "We'll have to give false reports."
"Agreed." I nodded, speeding up.
But Aeron pulled me back by my wrist and kissed me deeply and passionately, making me wish we were somewhere less open.
"What was that for?" I croaked lustfully once he pulled away.
"Just a good night kiss." He smirked, running a thumb along my bottom lip.
And we continued back to our dorm with our hands clasped together.

^^^

!!Author's Note!!

So now you know that Grace is NOT the angel. That mystery is yet to be solved. Stay tuned.

But damn, I loved writing all about Grace's past and the council's deep, dark secret.

I mean, ANGELIC SLAVERY? That's pret-ty bad, guys. Well it is in my eyes at least.
I wanna know what YOUR eyes see here.

I can't wait to receive feedback on the last few chapters I've written. I'm really feeling the hype!

Any questions on the chapter? Any thoughts? Comments are open!

❤️