Ryder's Angel

Chapter Thirty-Four: Battle on the Horizon: Angeline

Chapter Thirty-Four: Battle on the Horizon: Angeline

Danny had, in a way, asked me to marry him. I would have said yes, but my definite answer was actually “maybe.” We shared our worries about the future – stay or leave the orphanage, marry or don’t, fight or hide…? There were just too many unanswered questions, much too overwhelming.

Sometimes I found myself wishing to be human, and not one of the last angels on earth.

But where could you find a shooting star that grants wishes?

The truth was that I was terrified – terrified for Danny and Ethan, my family, the wellbeing of everyone else at the orphanage, and myself. I hated thinking that there were people who blamed me for causing the dilemma with Hutch, even though it was partly true. What could I do; I couldn’t choose to be an angel, which is why they went for me. But of course, Ethan was slightly the cause of Miss Sadie’s death, and when she died, the brainwashed mutants got in because the force field shattered.

So many problems… No answers….

But I tried to continue my daily life. Training, kitchen helping, cleaning – it wasn’t my thing. I still preferred to fight, and I found myself in the gym a lot. And now that Ethan was older, I could train alongside him when his class was in the gym. Most of the time now they learned how to fight with others on their side instead of individually, and when his classmates paired up with others like Kayla – who volunteered often – me or Danny would pair with Ethan. As far as I could tell, no one minded it, but Danny and I didn’t try too hard.

When Ethan had free time, he would sometimes find me and we would watch out the window. He asked me questions about the city, about humans and their lives, but I couldn’t answer much. We could stare at humans all day, with their ever-changing outfits and hair, the way they act, the things they do. Their cars interest Ethan, too, and he always wonders how they could build such things.

“Ethan, do you want to be a human?” I asked him once, out of grim curiosity. I wanted to see if he shared my wish.

He was sitting on my lap and pressing his face against the window, trying to see a woman with a small dog dressed in frilly dog clothes. He looked at me and wrinkled his nose. “No,” he said firmly, and resumed looking at the humans.

“Are you sure? Humans don’t have to stay here, locked up in an orphanage.” I had to see what he would say.

“No. Humans don’t get to fight bad guys.”

He had a good point. I stroked his hair, reminding myself to get him another haircut.

Danny and I were closer than ever, and that was only one slight piece of good news. But we were bored out of our minds. There was nothing to do, especially after seven years. I couldn’t stand it, though the children who live here have training and real friends, so of course life didn’t seem so dreary to them.

Danny and I, when Ethan was training, would lie in bed for hours, talking softly or just staring at the ceiling. We had nothing exciting to talk about anymore, and we told each other everything that happened in the past, we knew each other’s lives as well as our own, and nothing was interesting anymore. What joy was left?

But that was the good thing about being immortal. I knew I wouldn’t be stuck in here forever, so I knew this wasn’t how I’d be spending my last days if I were mortal. 

I had to get out soon, or I’d go crazy, but I was glad Danny was with me, because I had someone to lose my sanity with.

* * *

Three years later, on January fifth, Danny, Kendall, and I celebrated Ethan’s tenth birthday privately. We wanted just a family birthday. With permission from Claire and Sienna, we took him to a car show. We had extra protection put on us, though there was protest among some mind readers and future-tellers, whereas we kept it as secret as possible. Ethan absolutely adored it.