Alone and Unafraid

Chapter Four

I knocked on Cespar's door.

"Come in" his voice echoed from inside. I opened it to find him sitting in a desk chair across from a small twin bed,"Take a seat." I planted myself in his bed across from him.

"Why are you keeping me here?" I asked, it was something I'd been dying to say, just not to anyone else.

"Because, the demons want you."

"The demons want what? None of this is making any sense! I swear, if Marcus is pulling some kind of elaborate prank..."

"Who's Marcus? Come on, be real with yourself. You saw what I did to you in the healing room. You heard the voice of Zoura in the woods, and deep down inside your heart you know what you are. You wouldn't have stayed this long if you didn't." He stared at me with his deep blue eyes.

'Why haven't you questioned this yet?' I thought to myself. 'Because, this something, deep inside my heart wants me to stay.'

"What about my parents? And Marcus? They'll be worried."

"You still live with your parents? Whatever. I'll have Gosford take care of all of that. You ARE the reason he's on earth. Listen, if you want out, I'm 100 percent okay with that, but don't come crying to me when things go bump in the night and you're being eaten by a Shadow Demon." He turned to his desk and started scribbling nonsense onto paper.

"Earlier, when you healed me, did it..."

"Hurt? Yeah. Hurt like hell. But it's something you have to get used to when it's your gift. I have no choice in what I do."

"So, how do you know I'm an angel?"

"The prophet told us, and he's never wrong."

"I... I see..." I turned toward his closet. In the small crack I saw a face.

"Uh, Cespar..." I tugged on his shirt sleeve, black, like everyone else's clothes.

Without turning to look at his closet, he sighed, "Lin, this is Annalyn. We'd like you to meet her."

Out of the closet came a small Asian boy, he looked shy and afraid. He slowly approached me.

"Are you The Uncommon?" He asked in a small voice.

"... Yes." I put my hand out for him to shake, "So you're Lin? I've heard about you."

He smiled and took my hand. "The Prophet says you're going to save us, all of us."

"What?" I took my hand back and looked to Cespar. "What is he talking about."

"I was actually just getting to that, Lin. As I said before, you're here to be kept safe from demons. The reason why is that they want you and your power, they want to rid the universe of Angels. We're already on a strong battle, but we're losing. We need you to help us defeat these creatures. "

"Woah, woah, woah. That is a hell of a lot more than just protecting me! I don't even know what I can do! Let alone, save all of the angels everywhere!"

Lin jumped a bit as he spoke, "We know, and we're going to train you!"

"Train me? How can you train me if I have no idea what I do?" Lin looked to Cespar, his smile faded into a frown.

"We don't know yet," Cespar spoke, "But we're going to train you as we would a regular angel and see if that makes any progress, Lin, it's nearly supper time, do you want to grab the rest of the group so we can eat?"

Lin's grin returned as quick as it had gone, "Yes, sir!"

"Good. Annalyn, will you be joining us?" They both looked to me.

"Uh, no, I think I'm just going to, uh, have a nap or something."

"Suit yourself," said Cespar as we all left the room. I headed to my door, stopping before I entered.

'Would staying here really be worth it?' Only one way to find out.