Harper and I just stared at each other while all the others had their weapons drawn. My eyes were filling with tears as I looked at his face, not caring that he was currently wearing a hurt expression. His hair was the same light brown/golden flop of fluffiness: kind of short at the sides and longer at the top. He was wearing the same thing he had been when he died: a white long sleeved shirt with a nondescript design across the front and a pair of straight leg jeans. His eyes still sparkled even though the only light available was from the moon and stars, and the brown in them seemed warm to me like melted chocolate. His body was tall and fit and his skin still had the olive-y tan that I loved so much.
"Identify yourself." Came Thalion's commanding tone. That wasn't smart. Harper whipped his brown eyes to glare at the person he had just caught me kissing. I saw his muscles tensing and I knew Harper wasn't really one for conversation before throwing himself into the row.
"This is Harper, he was my one friend on the Earth plane; he died over a year ago." The others stiffly put their swords away but I caught Oren and Sameal still gripping the hilts. Harper turned his eyes back to me.
"Are you dead?" I heard his voice shake, I got up to my knees, slowly. Slow movements always calmed Harper down. I think I knew his quirks better than I knew my own. But then Harper knew me so well it was like I didn't have to. I nodded my head and then shrugged.
"Part of me is dead."
Harper tilted his head to the side and raised his eye brows. I almost burst into tears with this oh so familiar gesture of confusion. I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up and closed the gap between us and threw my arms around his neck, not letting my tears go but sniffing to clear my nose. Harper had never seen my cry and I wasn't about to let that start now.
Harper didn't hug me back, he was still tense. He didn't forgive easy either; but usually we forgave each other within minutes. He pushed me back from him kind of roughly and then took a step away. I tried not to be hurt by that.
"How can you only be partly dead Jenny?"
I was about to answer but Sameal gave me a sharp you're-push-it-kid look. I held my hand out, hoping Harper would understand. He did. I saw him war with himself and then finally give up and he took my hand. His hand wasn't the gentle warm caress I was used to, but his grip was hard and guarded. I knew I probably deserved that.
(You know all those abilities I had, how I could do all those things. And my eyes? Harper nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly. Well I could do that stuff because I'm not fully human. My dad wasn't human either. He was an Angel and I'm part Angel, and the Angel part of me is immortal so I can't fully die.)
Harper looked incredulous for a second and then he burst out in a roar of laughter. I let go of his hand, hurt. We had never lied to each other. We had always trusted. That was how we survived together, by trusting.
"Jenny I'm dead! And I've been dead for over a year so don't you think I would have figured out by now that there were Angel's? And yet, I haven't seen a single one since I've been here." I looked down, laying a finger on his wrist, completely demoralized. If he didn't believe that, he was never going to be able to believe the rest of it.
(That's because the Angel's belong to a different realm.) Harper's face still gleamed with wicked humor.
"Ah another Realm, that it explains it. So tell me, if you really are part Angel and your daddy belongs to a different Realm, why aren't you there, instead of here making out with your new boyfriend? Even partly human, you couldn't have been as bad as all that to be kicked out of Heaven. Or are you not really, what, sixteen now? And you've lived for centuries before you met me and have gone rogue? What story is it Jenny?"
