Children of the Archangels

CHAPTER 5: WELCOME TO SGA

"You might catch a penis in your mouth if you keep it open for that long."

Luke closed his mouth and glanced with furred eyebrows at Kevin.

"What, never seen a campus before?" Kevin walked ahead of him. "I'm going to check in with the main office. I think you already have yourself a tour guide."

He marched ahead into the building in front of him. Luke wondered if Kevin was jealous for some reason but was too distracted by the sight in front of him to care.

Beyond the security gate was a circular driveway with a fountain in the center. It showed a person dressed in metal armor stepping on the neck of a dragon and holding a lance in his hand. The statue was captured in the moment before killing the dragon, and the dragon looked up with a face of both rage and defeat. Luke knew immediately this was St. George. He was the fabled saint who saved a maiden from being eaten by a dragon. And now he was immortalized in a fountain at a school that bears his name.

When they got off the snowmobiles, they were at the front steps of a massive building that curved around them. It looked almost like the accordion Parliament building in London, only much more colorful with splashes of ruby pink and white. In the center was a clocktower with a cross at the top.

"The main building," Sirius said. "It's where the deans' offices are." He tugged at the hoodie he had given Luke. "I might need this back." He took back his white sweater and tossed it over his chest. He led Luke up the steps into the building.

Sirius led Luke towards the right, where a wooden door with the bathroom symbol of a man on top opened up to a hallway whose ceiling was decorated with peach colored swirling tiles. The hallway was busy with people moving about. Men were shuffling papers to different offices and talking on the phone. Students sat waiting by the biggest office, some in tears, others turning their pants a different color.

"That's Dean Ammon's Office," Sirius said. "He's a tough guy, but pretty cool once you get to know him."

On cue, Dean Ammon opened the door and released a student wearing all orange from his dungeon. The student looked like a broken high school jock. The Dean's attention turned to Luke and he wagged his finger.

"Where's your uniform?"

"Fresh dove," Sirius said. "Says he's adopted by Uriel."

That got a chuckle out of the Irishman. "And I'm Jesus Christ. Take him to the testing room. I'll have a word with him later after I deal with a couple of idiots who thought it was funny to skip battlefield training to smoke in the mountains." He turned his attention on the next person in line who was wearing green and motioned his finger for him to come in.

Sirius led Luke to the testing chamber, a doctor's office waiting room filled with propaganda health posters. "Don't let weed take you down the wrong path." It showed a teen looking at a split road, one with a canyon filled with needles hidden from view over the horizon from the traveler. The other path seemed more strenuous with a slight incline.

Another poster showed a teen running almost in choppy motion like an old film reel. His body turned to ash as he ran after a soccer ball and crumbled to dust just before he could kick the ball into an empty net. The poster read, "Don't let cigarettes prevent you from achieving your goals."

There were enough posters to turn this place into a poster museum for young adult health propaganda.

"What's this test for anyway?" Luke asked sweating a bit. He didn't smoke, and he didn't like being in a doctor's office while he was perfectly healthy. He tried glazing it over with a joke. "I didn't know I had to study to get into SGA."

"Relax, it's just a DNA test," Sirius patted Luke's shoulder. Although it was just a couple of taps, it felt like he undid the invisible tension that knotted together in his shoulders. "They check to see if you're born with the Nef chromosome."

"Nef chromosome?"

"It's that extra chromosome that causes mental deficiencies like Down Syndrome. This chromosome is what's left of Angelic interaction with humans during the watchers' period."

Luke felt like a baby being thrust into an advanced chemistry course. Sirius slapped him on the back. "Don't worry, SGA will teach you this in history class."

"But does this test tell me if I have a connection to Uriel?"

"It tells you if you are part angel, even if that part is minuscule. We rely on other signs to tell us where you belong to. An angel may claim you directly by showing up, but that never happens. He or she usually sends a sign or grants a power that corresponds to them."

"She? Aren't angels sexless?" Luke asked.

"It's an identity thing. Many angels try to be like humans by identifying as a sex. Others don't. It varies."

Sirius walked up to the front desk where a nurse in white greeted him. He ordered the test for Luke like it was a burger from a fast food chain. "One Nef test for my friend here."

The nurse led Luke down a corridor hall with paintings depicting various scenes from the Bible: Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, Daniel in the lion's den, the birth of Jesus, etc. It was a welcomed change from the health posters in the waiting area, some of which showed some pretty disgusting maladies involving STDs that Luke was trying to scrub clean from his head.

The test was quick. A simple swab of the cheeks and five minutes later his results....

Luke was not normal. He was a weirdo separate from society. He was a mutt between two species.

Luke was unique. He was special like the other students in this community. He was a hybrid between human and angel.

Luke was now an official member of SGA.

[The SGA Logo  on the chapter cover was designed by Justin Rosario.]