Chapter 2 - The Angel Boy

Marina

I sneak out of my tent when I’m sure everyone else is sleeping. The entire town is quiet when I wander down the street. The army has even turned off the torches to illustrate the time for sleep has come.

Luckily, it’s easy to navigate because of the light illuminating from the angel’s weird tattoos. Faint light is glowing in the dark, and since the tents around our town aren’t massive, it’s easy finding the tall creature.

He is still lying in the same place, roped to the ground. It seems someone has wasted nutritious food and thrown tomatoes on his back. He smells exactly like fresh tomatoes and yuck, something resembling juice is dripping from his back.

I grimace at the smell. “Hello?”

There isn’t an answer. Figures. They covered his mouth.

Cautiously, I take a step closer to the enormous creature.

He is absolutely enormous, and Jesus Christ, it blows my mind how much he resembles a human!

Hands, hair, feet, all of his features look human, only larger.

The desire to run my hands over his skin enters my mind scarily quick. It’s a frightening desire, an idea I hadn’t expected to creep into my head, even though I must admit I’m curious about the creature before me.

It’s weird, I know, but I want to know if his skin feels like mine. The thought is frightening. Angels are already scarily similar to humans, and if I found more similarities between us, then maybe I would forget to stay cautious.

Shaking my head, I remind myself to stay on guard. Angels are monsters.

Humans tried to communicate with them in the past, but the larger creatures weren’t interested in making friends with us. It only took a day or two before the angels had figured out where we lived by communicating and pretending to be our friends.

And when they found our old home, they ate us without hesitation.

An involuntary shudder runs down my spine at the facts running through my skull, and I swallow thickly.

“You can do this,” I whisper to myself. “There is no backing out now,”

No matter how afraid I might be, I have to approach this creature. For years I’ve been thinking my sister is dead, but those beads hanging from this angel’s bangs could prove me wrong.

They taught us in survival class that angels who have tasted human blood have red eyes. And that means this angel couldn’t possibly have eaten my sister. Earlier, when I looked into its eyes, I noticed they were a deep, bright blue.

I take a step closer to the sleeping angel, clearing my throat once I’m standing next to its thin arm. It’s funny how the creature is so impossibly tall, and yet I can quickly tell it’s a teenage boy who still hasn’t entered puberty, judging from his slim build.

“Are you awake?”

As if having just having waked up from a long slumber, the angel repeatedly blinks before he opens his eyes. Dislocation seems to run through his mind, and I scowl in response. He probably forgot he got captured.

Moments pass, and I freeze when the angel slowly lifts his head. Chains keep him from raising his shoulders, and the cloth covering his mouth prevents him from speaking.

“Ouch, I bet you don’t like that cloth around your mouth,” I laugh nervously.

The angel simply glares in response.

I lick my lips, gathering courage before speaking again. “Those beads in your hair...” I hesitate and pull up my sleeves to keep my dress from swallowing my arms. I’m wasting time since I’m uncertain how to continue my sentence. “Did someone give them to you?”

The angel makes eye contact, and I feel sparks fly in the surrounding air around us for a moment. An electric discharge surges through my veins, but it vanishes as quickly as it came.

Weird.

For a long moment, I stand there, paralyzed, as if my feet have grown their own roots and stuck them in the ground. I can’t stop staring at the angel who stares straight back at me with what I could only describe as a frightened expression.

Slowly, I take a step forward. “What was that?”

Kindness seems to flare in his eyes as I ask him my question. Interesting. In school, they taught us angels cannot feel human emotions. I guess they were wrong.

“You could feel it too, right?” I ask.

The angel nods. He doesn’t look like a monster at all. Neither can I find any of that otherworldly beauty on his face.

He is undoubtedly a teenager like me. The enormous nose on his face doesn’t seem to fit him yet, and his disproportional arms seem to have grown faster than the rest of his otherwise thin body. He is tall, but he lacks muscles.

I laugh at my discovery, smiling at the angel despite myself. “You don’t look half as scary as I thought you would. My teachers told me angels are vicious creatures, but you don’t look like a savage,”

Shock settles into the angel’s features, and then it’s replaced with irritation. He stares at me, and I stare back at him, unable to look away from the flecks of silver in his eyes.

“I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to sound rude,” I mumble.

Why am I apologizing to an angel?

The angel tilts his head at me. The cloth keeps me from seeing his mouth, and I lift my eyebrows when he points at the fabric meaningly.

I gawk. “D-Do you want me to remove it?”

The angel nods.

My mood darkens. “I can’t do that. It wouldn’t be wise, considering what you could do to me,”

The angel hangs his head, disappointment evident on his face. My stomach wrenches in response, and I turn away.

Guilt shouldn’t flood me when I look at him. He is an angel, and angels eat humans; I have to remind myself repeatedly to not fall victim to the hurt look in his blue eyes.

“I’m sorry, but that’s just how it is,” I tell him.

The angels tilt his head to the other side like a puppy with pleading eyes.

I laugh. “Are you trying to tell me you won’t try anything funny if I remove it?”

Another nod.

I smile. “And why would I trust you?”

The angel points at the beads hanging from his bangs, and I giggle.

“Are you blackmailing me?”

My friend blinks multiple times and then nods.

I laugh out loud. “Call me mad, but I kinda like you already, and I think I can trust you,”

I walk over to the angel. His face isn’t that big; I couldn’t fit into his mouth. Therefore, I got nothing to fear. He couldn’t possibly eat me, right?

“If you eat me, then I won’t ever forgive you,” I warn the angel.

With his eyes locked on my trembling hands, the angel silently watches me reach into my pocket to pick up a knife. Uncertainty flashes in his widening eyes, but I calm him.

“I won’t hurt you,” I whisper. “I promise,”

The angel presses his palms against the ground and averts his eyes. Not looking at me is probably less scary for him. He doesn’t know if he can trust me. And oddly enough, his fear humanizes him. Perhaps we are more similar than I initially thought?

“Here goes nothing!” I exclaim.

I stretch out my arm, tearing apart the cloth with the blade of my knife. It takes a while, but once the fabric falls from the angel’s face, I back up from the winged creature. His lips twitch a little, and I widen my eyes, bracing myself for what might come next.

“You said you wouldn’t do anything, right?” My voice is unstable and filled with an equal amount of fear. I hope this wasn’t a mistake.

The angel locks his eyes on mine, and the corner of his lips curl into a faint smile. For many seconds we just stare at each other until the angel finally clears his throat to speak. My hands instinctively go to my ears, and the suspicion towards the angel return.

“Thank you,”

Shocked, I stare at the smiling angel. I didn’t expect him to thank me, neither did I think his voice would sound so... Human.

“Uh...” I scratch the back of my head and create some space between us with a sheepish smile spreading over my lips. “You’re welcome?”

Heartfelt chuckles erupt from the angel. “That cloth wasn’t comfortable at all. I’m glad you took it off... Um... What’s your name?”

I give the angel a suspicious glance. “Why do you want to know?”

The angel shrugs. “Asking for your name seems like the right thing to do, common courtesy,”

“And you won’t curse me or something if I give you my name?”

“No!” An infectious smile spreads on his rosy cheeks, and he laughs a bit. “How about I tell you my name first? I’m John, nice to meet you!”

“John?!” I gawk at the angel. “That sounds way too human!”

John lifts an eyebrow, still smiling. “John is a perfectly normal name... Just what did you expect?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “Something more... Inhuman like Lucifer, or Cassius, or Nathaniel or something,”

“Lucifer? Really?” There is laughter in his eyes, amusement glistening within them. “You think I look like the devil?”

Now it’s my turn to laugh and blush. “No... Of course not... Those names just seemed more angelic somehow,”

“Ah...” John nods at me and grimaces when the ropes tying him down keep him from lifting his head higher above the ground. “To be honest, I kinda know your name already,”

I stare at him. “You do?”

“Mmm, I let the humans capture me for a reason, but goddamn, I entirely underestimated you guys. Those pointy things you got? They freaking hurt!”

“You mean swords?” I ask, massively amused.

“That’s the word!” John shakes his head, clearly remembering something unpleasant. “Jenny warned me, but I didn’t really listen to her,”

I snap up my head, mouth opening wide. It’s been a long time since I heard someone mention my sister’s name.

“Jenny?” My mouth twitches.

John nods. “Yes, your sister. I came here to invite you to her wedding, Marina. I can take you there if you wish. She also gave me these beads in case you wouldn’t believe me...”

This is too much information to take in at once. A million questions stir up inside my head, and suddenly it feels like I should sit down.

Hearing my sister is still alive is nothing short of shocking. I stumble forward without intention, almost crashing down on my knees out of sheer confusion. Luckily, John grabs my hand at the last minute to prevent me from falling. My entire body goes limp, but John keeps me standing on my feet.

“Oops!” John sounds worried. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I breathe, unable to calm down my beating heart. It feels like I’m drowning. My entire world just got turned upside down. “I’m just shocked. I thought Jenny died on the day she left the mountain,”

John helps me sit down and then withdraws his hand. I thank him by smiling at him, and the angel smiles briefly back at me before the seriousness returns to his face.

“Jenny wouldn’t die that easily,” John studies my face for a minute. I get the sense he is purposely keeping away information from me. His expression says he got more things to say, but his eyes are waiting for me to regain my calm.

“What?” I ask him.

“Your sister is a half-blood. She looks like a human, but she was born with angel abilities,” John avoids looking into my eyes. “Her father is Julius, the king of the angels, and your sister is next in line to become the angel queen,”

I laugh. It’s not because I think John is funny, but because I can hardly believe what I’m hearing. My sister is part angel and next in line to become their queen? Please, it’s a little much to take in all at once.

“I see...” I shake my head as if, for one second, I believe that would help clear my mind. “And she is getting married?”

“Yes,” John replies. I don’t understand his expression. Suddenly he looks torn, uncertain of the future. “She is going to marry me,”