Children of the Archangels

CHAPTER 65: FULL CIRCLE

Luke was glad Nellie didn't break up with him. He thought the conversation was going to go down that route, but the hugging and kissing leading up to their reunion didn't foreshadow such a drastic course.

Luke let the argument die. He didn't want to waste his limited time with her fussing over something. He wanted to just hold her as long as she was there. They hiked up a small distance to a ridge within the campus, where some smokers usually went. They sat down on a rock cleared of snow and just watched the movement of the campus below. Nellie's head rested on his shoulder and his head on her red hair. The two of them should've been spotted like a chocolate stains on white pants but he didn't care. Nothing was going to ruin this moment he had with her.

He pointed out the houses. Orifiel's looked like a tree house since it was a house built in the midst of a small clump of trees.

Michael's house was made from marble and resembled a rotunda reminding Luke of the Jefferson Memorial back in D.C.

Anael's house looked like a giant igloo and Luke heard the place was kept below freezing at all times inside—just the way Anael students liked it.

House Raguel looked like factory with chimneys spewing smoke and solar panels covering the roof. The smoke came from the smelting chambers where Raguel students typically experimented making new weapons.

House Raphael looked like a giant chair that was missing a person in it—almost like someone had kidnapped Abe Lincoln from the Lincoln Memorial. It had a glass elevator and staircase that rose in a spiral outside the armrests.

House Gabriel looked like an observatory, a round dome on top with a massive telescope and satellite dish as well. Luke heard from Jordan many of the students in House Gabriel study the stars and are seeking to expand their powers to eventually lead to faster space travel.

Finally, House Uriel was probably the oddest one. It was shaped like a scroll unwrapped down two stories but coiled with rims of parchment on top as if the potential to grow taller was there. Luke explained that's what he lived in, and Nellie laughed at the fact that he lived in a piece of paper. She started mocking him in song, "Who lives in a paper where people go ski?"

They laughed. When the sun started to set below the rim, casting an orange glow on the sports fields, reflecting upon a lake in the distance, and casting a shadow of the huge cross that rose stories atop the cathedral like the tower of Babel, they decided to head back down the ridge.

When they reached the bottom and headed back to the fountain of St. George, they found Kevin waiting with a backpack and a snowmobile. Luke didn't like the idea of Nellie riding behind Kevin, but at the same time he knew Kevin wouldn't make a move on her—he just didn't flow that way.

Luke gave Nellie one final kiss goodbye and she extracted a promise from him that he would write more often and find a way to get reception on his phone which he has since never used after finding out the school lacked unrestricted access to the internet.

They waved their final goodbye, as she promised to be back to visit him again and Luke hoped he'd get the opportunity to visit her as well. He returned to his house feeling like he was properly relieved of all his stress.

***

Two weeks went by. Things got back to as normal as things could be after an invasion of the campus. Jurgen was being guarded by Tempest students and regular soldiers. The Dean thought a 40 day fast was in line for Jurgen, along with turning off the heat in his cell throughout that time.

Luke was no longer hated as much as he was before. Many of the students greeted him and invited him over to their table at lunch or dinner. The invitation always included Sirius and Alpha, because they were a squad, and many people welcomed the new change in Alpha, although sometimes, Luke missed the old Alpha. The new Alpha looked more lost than the old Alpha ever was.