The Seraphim Project

Chapter One

I woke to the sun in my face and a silent house.

It was a typical morning, I suppose. Normal, at least for me. I pulled myself out of bed with a glance at the clock to show that it was just after seven. Stretching, I winced a little as my slightly extended wings bumped against the wall.

I slipped into the hallway, pausing for a moment to listen to a highly unusual sound for me. The house was almost completely silent. When I listened very closely, I could just hear the sound of breathing, but no one was awake aside from me.

I smiled and made my way to the bathroom. The silence was one of the only reasons I got up as early as I did. Within an hour, the house would start to come alive, and I wouldn’t have another silent moment for the rest of the day.

After a quick shower, I made my way to the kitchen to make breakfast. On my way, I passed the living room, where Falcon was already sprawled across the couch. I paused in the doorway, studying him. He was a big guy, with lots of intimidating muscles, except that I knew he was really a goofball. His dark hair was in a slight mohawk, though his eyes were closed and I almost wondered if he was sleeping. And then he smiled.

“What are you doing up so early?” I made my way through the room and into the kitchen. As I tried to pass him, he extended one of his huge, dark wings to block my path. Rolling my eyes, I pushed past him and into the kitchen to make breakfast.

“Seeing as I’m not exactly up, this doesn’t really count.”

I rolled my eyes again. “Up, as in, somewhat awake and not in your room. If I meant up as in fully alert, then I wouldn’t be expecting you until breakfast was ready.”

He made a fake indignant noise. “Now, that’s no way to treat your elder, now is it?”

I laughed. He was older than me by two years, but I’d been taking care of all of us for years. There were six of us total, me being one of the youngest and Falcon one of the oldest. I found a couple of clean pans and set them on the stove before starting the first set of toast.

There was a loud thump and muttered curses from down the boys’ hall. I didn’t need to investigate. I had discovered why Falcon was up so early.

“Falcon, what have I told you about moving furniture to mess with Hawk?”

Falcon appeared in the kitchen doorway just as I started the eggs. “Come on, Kite. You know it’s funny.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s not funny. The first time, a little, perhaps. You should have learned better by now.”

He hung his head a little. “It was just a joke. No harm done. Right, Hawk?” The last he directed towards the end of the hallway, where Hawk had just appeared. Hawk glared in Falcon’s direction, rubbing a place on his shin.

Hawk was at least three inches shorter than Falcon, and a lot leaner, too. His light hair was disheveled, sticking up from his head in every direction, and his own wings arced behind him. We were the majority in our little group, seeing as all of us were angels.

There was one big thing about Hawk that made him different then the rest of us, though. Hawk was blind. We were created by scientists in a lab. With Hawk, they had just started experimenting with our senses. They messed up, and everyone in Hawk’s generation, Generation Two, had suffered.

I shooed the boys out of the kitchen as I set to work on the eggs again. Well, mostly I shooed Falcon away. Hawk just followed him into the living room. I didn’t even have to look to know that Hawk was stepping in exactly the same places as Falcon to avoid any surprises. They may have messed up Hawk’s sight, but his other senses were unbelievable.