Angel's daughter

Chapter 23

I sprung awake, or tried to spring awake. I tried to sit up but my mother's strong arms held me down. It didn't help with my chest as I was trying to breathe. I had to fight against her to be able to sit up, finding cooler air above me. I sat there, breathing as best I could before the light turned on,

"Grace?" I squinted at the light, then at my mother, "You ok?" I was still breathless, I could barely respond,

"I can't-" I pulled in a deep breath of air in hopes that could help me. It didn't. My chest hurt more when I fought against its movements, gasping for air. I tried to force my breathing to slow but it wasn't. I became aware of humming in the room just over my breaths and when I focused on it, I also realised my wings were out and currently relaxing under someone's touch. I'd never felt that before and the massage was warm and slow, moving up then down the wings. I closed my eyes, hoping to drown out the sounds of my breaths with the sound of humming and focus on the warm touch on my wings rather than the pain in my chest. It took forever and part of me thought it would never end. Even after I'd got my breath back, my head was killing me. I had to yawn because I was exhausted. Despite that, I couldn't just go back to sleep, not after that. My mum knew that too, "Mum"

"Shh" She kissed the top of my head, "It's ok" She stood up, "How about some warm milk" I haven't had warm milk to sleep since I was nine. Still, if it had a chance of working, I was willing to try it. I pulled myself out of the bed and my legs nearly buckled on me. I was hugging my mother's arm so I could walk and it was a lot of effort to get to a seat in the kitchen. We turned the light on and Jack was sitting in the dark eating some cookie crunch. We all just sort of stared at each other in silence until Jack broke it,

"Don't tell Sam" He said. I smiled. I still needed some help getting to the table but when I finally sat down, I picked up the box to look at the front. Of course they got the off brand kind,

"Don't tell Sam because...?" I put it back down to look at him,

"He tells me this stuff will rot your teeth but I like it" I rolled my eyes,

"I just ignore the health talks. Nothing's happened to me yet" I looked to my mum who was shaking her head at me,

"Grace"

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it's just when I want to eat something other than fruit, I get looks" She brought over the mug once the microwave dinged, "You do realise it's the middle of the night" I tilted my head at him,

"I know but I couldn't wait till morning" He crunched loudly on the cereal, "So what are you doing up so late?" Jack asked, taking another spoonful and crunching down loudly. I took a piece of the cereal and dunked it in my milk,

"Can't sleep" I said. I figured eating the cookie crunch would just keep me up so I left it at one. The warm milk helped soothe my chest and throat. Even helped a bit with the shivers I'd gotten since getting out of bed, "Been practicing your balance?" Jack perked up, nodding excitedly now,

"Yeah, I've been getting much better at it" I smiled,

"Maybe tomorrow I could show you more then" He nodded, smiling brighter. Jack got so excited when I agreed to be out with him. And that could be for anything, playing catch, meeting Katie and Hannah, studying. He liked doing things with me. With his mother working such long hours, I guess he'd get a bit lonely. He liked my dad though and Sam and Dean. And my mum. He loved everyone like a new puppy. Right now though, I was working on keeping my energy low, I still had a couple more hours of sleep to prepare for. Just thinking about it made my stomach twist, I knew it wasn't going to be pleasant. Still, after I'd finished my milk, I walked back to the room with my mum, "See you tomorrow Jack" I said over my shoulder,

"Have a nice sleep" Jack said back. I smiled because that wasn't going to happen.

I woke up early in the morning. And I mean early. It was maybe close to six in the morning, my mum was still asleep. I knew it was the most sleep I'd get and slowly slipped out of her arms. I went back to my room to get dressed and stare at a wall for a couple hours. My wall staring was interrupted by a knock on the door. I opened it and it was Jack,

"I heard you get up"

"Did you even sleep after last night?"

"Did you?" Jack shot back. I soothed down my hair before answering,

"I did actually" I said. I stepped out of my room and down the hall to get some breakfast. The pack of cereal was still on the bench and Jack waited for me to eat,

"Was it you who took the ring out of the box?" He asked. I didn't even realise there was one,

"No. That sounds like a Dean thing though" I smiled. I left a note for my mum where I knew she'd see it. I went out with Jack. The sun wasn't even risen yet and the outside brought a chill. It felt fresh though, made me appreciate the scarf I brought. Jack didn't seem to mind the cold, all he had was his coat. I gave him my hat so he'd at least have something,

"I was wondering where your dad is. I haven't seen him for a while"

"He's looking for that rift" I explained, "Apparently it's hell on the other side, they want to close it as soon as possible. Before someone finds it" I looked ahead where we could see the streetlights still on from last night. On the horizon, the sun started to peek out. I could see cars as all the nightshift workers drove home,

"What happens if someone finds it?" My writing hand twitched. I sighed,

"Something bad" I picked up my pace until we got into town. Jack hoped up on a railing and walked along it while I walked beside him. I smiled at that, "You have been practicing" He seemed pleased with himself,

"Yeah. Though I'm wondering how you ran from hellhounds like this"

"You'll see. I'm sure there's somewhere here with a couple low walls to practice vaulting over"

"Vaults?" Jack perked up, jumping back down on the sidewalk beside me. I chuckled at him,

"Told you it would get interesting. Let's go"