The Angel's Sacrifice

The Angel's Sacrifice Ch. 23

Five days after Jack and I made our game plan and still nothing had revealed itself. Sitting now in my own room, I flip the pages of Heaven searching for something to help. I don't look up when I hear the door click open and hear light footsteps that I have grown accustomed to.

"Hiya Fae," Nellie greets brightly. I nod in response but don't speak, hoping that she'll forgive my rudeness as I continue to scour the pages for anything useful. Not taking the hint, my friend ask, "Whatcha doing?"

"Research," I mumble, scanning the pages and flipping madly through the chapters.

I sense Nellie approaching closer as she pries further, "For what?"

Exasperated at not finding anything and the maid's continuation to interrupt, I slam the book closed making Nellie jump. I lean back in my chair, arms crossed and spit out, "What do you think?"

Nellie's eyebrows furrow, and she looks down at her shoes. "Sorry Fae. I was just curious."

Already the guilt gnaws at me and I roll my eyes. I then scold myself. How easy it is to forget Nellie's young age. "Look, Nellie, I need to be left alone so I can try to figure out what's up with the castle," I finally say.

The girl looks up and nods, hurt still in her prominent on her face. "Oh, I thought it might be that. Or..." Nellie trails off then turns to go.

Mentally throwing my hands in the air, I ask, "Or what?"

Slowly turning back around to face me, Nellie replies, "I thought it might be about Jack."

"Jack?"

Nellie's words come out in a rush, "Well I know that you’re afraid that you’re going to lose Jack when he becomes and Angel and well, when that happens... Anyway, when you, uh, die, you become a Dawn going into Angelhood. So that means that you can still be with Jack!"

I lean my head against the palm of my hand. I now regret telling Nellie my fear of Marcie's infatuation with Jack. While Nellie's reasoning is sound for a person with limited knowledge, it's unfortunately impossible. I tell her this calmly.

"What do you mean?" Nellie asks, confused and frustrated that she hadn't solved my dilemma. "Well you're right about Dawn into Angel when someone first dies," I allow. It's true that there are two types of Dawns, the first being when someone first dies the second being when an Angel Falls. When I first learned of this, it helped to think of the stages of Angel like a triangle ladder. On the ground on one side is human, the step up is Dawn, the next Angel. On the other side, Angel is still on top, but then you go down a step and your a Dawn, then go down again finally to Fallen.

Nellie looks even more confused than ever. I hurry to elaborate, "But that's when someone dies of natural causes. When someone sacrifices themselves, they turn into oblivion-- they cease to exist." It was a hard truth that I had learned a long time ago, thanks to Heaven.

Nellie's mouth turns into an "o" and her eyes are wide. I nod grimly. We are in the silence for less than a minute, contemplating this sadistic twist, when the door opens.

I stand up when I see that it's Jack who has come to my room. He gives Nellie's somber look a questioning glance, but gives it no more than that before his eyes fix on me.

Looking me up and down, Jack says, "Put on something warmer."

He turns to leave but not before Nellie and I share a look before I say, "Wait!"

Jack twirls around to give me a stare of his own. I gesture with my hands mutely, with a raised eyebrow. Jack still stares. Finally, I huff then say, "Why?"