halo 'n horns [klance au]

34. Encounter pt. 1

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Lance

Mom and I sat on the porch of The House sipping homemade mojitos and eating wild strawberries that some of the little kids had picked. Up here, it felt like summertime. We were watching the sunset over the clouds and I felt more relaxed than I had in a while.

All across the lawn, the younger angels giggled and chased each other, launching into the air and staying aloft for a few moments, beating their wings furiously, before dropping back down to the grass in fits of giggles. I knew that they were eager to age and finally grow their flight feathers, but I knew that I sometimes wished that I was that young again.

Some of the older angels were lounging on picnic blankets, eating apples from the orchard or grapes from the vineyard beyond. I could hear a group of them off playing some sweet, summery music.

It was easy to forget the Midworld when you had this paradise laid out before you, but each night as I slept, I was plagued with nightmares. Sometimes they were recurring, but most of the time they were twists on old dreams or completely new ones. I wasn't sleeping well, despite my lavish bed in The House, and I knew why.

If I wasn't having a nightmare, I would lay awake in bed, picturing Keith. Sometimes his face, his lips, his palms. Other times his black eyes, his horns, the cruel twist of his mouth as he told me he hated me. Not a day went by where I didn't think of him. 

"How are you feeling, darling?" Mother asked me, rocking gently in her wooden chair. I was sitting to her left on the porch, my legs dangling off the side. The House was back to its country style, like a house you'd see in Texas, and it seemed like someone was always making cornbread or blueberry muffins in the kitchen, making it a warm and comfortable home. 

I preferred it over the other styles that Mother sometimes changed The House to, like Victorian or Modern, and I think that she'd kept it the same style like this because she knew that I was most comfortable in it.

"I'm alright," I said blandly, but I could tell that my mother knew I was lying. I was already a terrible liar, but my mother knew when any of her children were lying like a sixth sense. 

However, she waited for me to explain instead of prompting me, which was kind of her. 

"I'm still having the nightmares," I admitted. "It makes it hard to sleep."

She nodded, but I knew that she expected more. 

"I know that you said- that everyone said- that I should just forget about it. I mean, I don't really know what happened and I guess no one saw it anyways but..." I looked back at my mother, "I feel like I need to go see if he's okay. Tell him I love him, even if he doesn't feel the same way."

I had gotten over the embarrassment of my love for my devil quickly since it had been accepted with Adam and Matt when they had returned. 

Mother looked at me with kind eyes, but I could tell that my words were causing her pain. I knew that she wanted someone good for me, another angel, maybe. Or even a mortal. But I knew where my heart lay: in the hands of the Prince of Darkness. 

She turned her gaze to the field before us, taking a long sip from her mojito. The sun had just about disappeared from our cloud horizon. 

Her next words were calculated and slow, placing meaning in each one. "If you feel the need to return to the Midworld to contact your devil, I will not stop you, but I will warn you that the path you are taking is dangerous and may lead to more pain."

It was all I needed. I rose from my seat and walked to my mother's chair. I leaned down to kiss her cheek and was sorrowfully surprised to see that she was crying. She didn't look at me, but I knew that she would look after me. 

"I love you, Mother. I'll be home soon. I just need to do this."

She nodded once, and then I was off, wings springing from my back as I leaped from the porch, immediately finding a swift breeze that I knew my mother had sent, and dove through the clouds to the Midworld. 

...

It wasn't hard choosing a place to land. I flew North, staying just below the clouds, watching the city lights below me. I knew where I was directionally, but I just had to find the exact place. When I'd entered the Midworld, I'd emerged in the general city area, but I had to fly north a bit to find the exact spot.

The sun had already set in the Upperworld beneath our cloud horizon, but it was still early evening in the Midworld and the sun here was just beginning to kiss the real horizon. I landed in the field as gracefully as I could, surveying the houses on the street to make sure that no one was outside. There were a few lights on, so I threw myself into invisibility just in case.

New Hampshire summer nights were mild, sweet, and calm, and the sound of crickets in the field was comforting. I looked out to my left and saw the large, abandoned barn. Nostalgia ran cold through my veins and I fell to the grass in a heap.

My hands forming fists, I hit the ground hard, as if pounding on Keith's door to let me in. I needed him.

I need you. Please.

Of course, no one showed up. Keith hated me- that's what he said. But I didn't care, so I told the ground, the dirt, and grass beneath me, what I wanted to say to my love if only he was here.

"Keith," I started, and the name itself made my throat close up.

"I met you here, in this town, months ago. It was raining and you were almost hit by a cab. I remember saving you. I remember looking into your eyes that first time. I remember you hating me.

"I remember how you scribbled The Plan on a napkin and how you hated flying with me. We came here because I didn't have the Energy to get money so I could buy us a hotel room, but I never told you that.

"You smelled like pine and smoke and you were so angry. You slept in the hayloft and I slept on the floor. When you woke up, you saw the sun for the first time. You were brilliant, Keith. I don't think you know just how beautiful you looked, even though you looked like you were going to kill me." I laughed humorlessly, hollowly.

"Just come back, even if you hate me. Let me apologize and make things right. I need to make things right, Keith."

The sound of crickets drowned out the sounds of my tears. I don't know how long I sat there on the ground, my forehead to the dirt, until I heard the voice.

"I can see how much you care for my son."