Dance of the Angels

Chapter 7

Like children, the two archangels stood anxiously in the hallway outside of Naomi’s room. Her door was shut and they could hear music from inside. Michael turned but Gabe grabbed his arm and yanked him forward.
“You’re doing it too,” he whispered and Michael sighed.

Michael knocked on her bedroom door and the music cut out. He knocked again.
“Naomi?” he asked. “Can we talk?”
“No.” Michael pushed his hair out of his face and sighed. Gabriel groaned and leaned against the door frame.
“Listen, I’m sorry,” said Gabriel. He looked to Michael who gave him an encouraging nod. “I really am sorry about screwing up. Can we talk please?”
“Yeah,” said Naomi on the other side of the door. “You did screw up.”
“I know.”

The awkward silence was thankfully broken after a while by the creaking of Naomi’s bedroom door. The teen stood in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe on the side Gabriel wasn’t. The two men exchanged awkward looks with each other.
“We’re sorry,” Michael said honestly.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” repeated Gabriel, clearly confused. “That’s… that’s it?”
“Yeah,” she said slowly while nodding.

“Besides, Michael would probably kill you if you do anything that stupid again. Even if that means I live with Azrael or Raphael by default because you’re dead and he’s been cast out of Heaven.” Gabriel looked to his brother who shrugged.
“Oh, that’s comforting,” he muttered.
“The point is, you’re not going to do anything that stupid again,” said Naomi. “Or at least, I hope you don’t.”
“And so do I,” agreed Michael.
“Well I’ll try not to.” Michael raised his eyebrow at him and Gabe shrugged in response. “I can try! Okay?”

After Gabriel vanished and Michael headed downstairs to watch tv, Naomi turned her music back on and picked up her phone. She typed out a message to Ryan but paused before sending it. Naomi needed to check that he was okay after everything that had happened but she also realised it might not be the best time considering he had just discovered celestial beings exist and his friend was one of them.

Pressing send, she waited for his response. When he did reply, it kickstarted a conversation that lasted for hours. With her phone in one hand, Naomi headed downstairs. As she walked through the front, she noticed how dark it was. After flicking the light on, she sat beside her brother.
“You should probably shut the curtains,” she told him. Making his laziness clear, Michael shrugged. “Wow, okay.”

“Have you texted Ryan?” asked michael, looking at his sister.
“Yeah,” she said while nodding. “Strangely enough, he’s taking this moderately well.”
“Moderately?”
“Oh yeah, he’s definitely freaked out,” said Naomi. “But he seemed more disappointed in not being able to reincarnate into a lion.”
“Really?” asked Michael. “Why a lion?”
“I don’t know, he finds them cool,” she replied with a shrug.

“Well,” said Michael. “That’s better than him totally freaking out, right?”
“Definitely,” she said while nodding. “He’s not going to call MI5 or anything so we’re good.”
“Yeah, that’s okay then,” said Michael with a roll of his eyes. The two exchanged smiles before Naomi excused herself to find food to eat out of the cupboard.

The following sunny morning, Naomi noticed a new person standing near the entrance to the church while walking to school. As she hummed along and lip synced the words, she took a mental note of him. Tall, blond, seemingly male in a shirt and jeans. She carried on walking but thought about it, it was strange. It was eight in the morning and no one visited the church that often. Perhaps it was something to do with the Lucifer problem Michael kept trying to keep her away from. Or it might be a new person in the neighbourhood.

Pushing her thoughts to the back of her mind, Naomi focused back on the song she was listening to and carried on her journey to school.

Feeling mildly irritated, Naomi dragged her feet as she followed Mr Jones. She was humming a song she had listened to earlier while following her mentor to his office through the school's idea of artistic corridors. The only positive was leaving her chaotic class behind.

“What is the point of these sessions? I don't understand why I'm being dragged out of lessons I need to be in,” Naomi complained as she dropped her bag by the swivel chair. “Katie needs them more than I do, get her in.”
“I asked her,” said Mr Jones as Naomi sat down “She refused.”
“So she can refuse but I can’t?” whined Naomi. She lifted her feet and rested on the desk, mirroring the teacher.

“I heard Ryan was a bit flustered after revision yesterday,” said Mr Jones as he watched her, waiting for her reaction.
“How do you know we did revision together?” she asked, panicked and suspicious.
“I live next door to him, I heard him on the phone to someone.” Naomi furrowed her brow at the teacher’s words, still quite confused at how he knew.
“I’m going back to lesson,” she announced. She didn’t give her mentor time to protest as she stood, grabbed her back and left.

Thankfully, lessons passed quickly and it was lunch time. As she sat at the table, Naomi noticed the group replaced their friends quite easily; Ruby and Jen had replaced Gareth And Alex. While the others talked, Naomi decided it was best to check if Ryan had told anyone, hoping he would be honest with her.
“Hey, Ryan. You didn’t tell anyone, did you?”
“Oh, no. No I didn’t,” he stuttered, not expecting her to ask him such a question over lunch. “Why? Did you want me to?”
“No,” she said a little too quickly. Again, sorry about Gabriel, he’s an idiot sometimes.”

“Do you have wings?” Ryan asked. “Sorry for the change in topic but I was just curious.”
“I do have wings,” she said before biting into her chocolate bar.
“So… are all angels related then?” he question. “Google said you are.”
“And Google is right,” she said, then adding: “For once.”
“Really?” Naomi nodded.
“Michael is the oldest and Gabriel is the… third oldest? I think? I have no idea really.”

“Who is related to who?” interjected Jen, curious about what they were talking about.
I was just saying that Michael’s my brother even though he’s a lot older than me,” Naomi said.
“She also has an older brother called Gabriel who’s also older and they have the same parents,” said Ryan. The ginger was silenced by Naomi’s warning couch.

“Hey guys, I was just wondering if you would know anyone with the name Darius?” asked Ianto. Everyone shook their heads, no one knew a person called Darius. “Well he’s my second cousin and Darius isn’t the most common name.”
“Do you know a last name?” asked Ruby. Ianto shook his head.
“No, we’re related through our moms so he’s probably got a different last name.”

“I could ask Michael for you? He might know,” Naomi offered. Smiling, Ianto nodded and thanked. Naomi smiled and Ianto pattered her hand as he thanked her again. Her smile faltered.

It was almost dark and two boys were in a park, one running from the other. I’m begging you, I’ll change. Gareth. I swear, I’ll change! Gareth tripped as he ran, his downfall. Ianto stuck the knife he wielded into the back of the other boy’s leg. Gareth cried out in pain. You’ll never change. Ianto.

Taking a deep breath, Naomi composed herself and smiled again. Ianto watched her, waiting for her to say something.
“I’m sorry, I just-” he started.
“No, no, it’s okay. I’m okay,” Naomi said quickly, interrupting him. “I’m getting better with the whole… touching thing.” Katie snorted and then burst into laughter.
“Please don’t say that again,” wheezed Katie as she tried and failed at covering up her laughter. Naomi raised an eyebrow and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Did you just take that wrong?” asked Naomi. Katie didn’t reply but carried on laughing, making her face go red. “Katie?”
“What?” Ianto joined in on the laughter and Naomi let out a groan. She hit the table with her head and groaned again.
“Ouch,” she whined. “That hurt.”
“Of course it did,” said Ryan with an amused smile on his face. “It’s a table.”