Uriel: The Inheritance (Airel Saga Book Five)

Chapter XIII

Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho—Present Day

MY READING OF THE Book of Kreios was interrupted by the arrival of the very angel who bore that name. It wasn't as if trumpets sounded or the world ended or anything. He walked into the library and sat down opposite me, near the fire, and regarded me.

I peeked at him over the top of his Book. "Oh. Hi." I swallowed hard, feeling a bit like a kid caught doing something she knew was wrong. I wanted to run to him and hug him, but I didn't. By the time I had thought it through, the opportunity had passed. Something didn't feel right about it.

As he sat there, his fingertips made a tent before him, and he studied me. "I am glad you are well, Airel." There was considerable weight in this statement, as if there were more to it than just little old me and my well-being. He nodded toward the Book as I closed it and placed it on my lap. "Has my Book shown you something new?"

"Yes, I was reading up on—"

"Please." He raised a hand in objection. "Do not tell me."

"Why not?" I was flustered.

He sighed, heavy. "Because there are things in my Book that I do not desire to be made plain. Ignorance is sometimes requisite for a sound mind to continue to remain sound."

"What do you mean, don't tell you—why not?" My tone was a little disrespectful, and I didn't mean for my words to pop out of my mouth like that.

The expression on his face immediately made me regret it. "I do not want to know about everything that is to come. What my Book reveals to you is for you, and is not for me. Keep close to your heart what it shows you, Airel, and do not tell a soul what you have seen and been allowed to imagine there. Some of us may not be as strong as you are."

What does that mean?

Just then, Ellie walked into the library, her eyes puffy and red like she'd been crying. Crying hard. "Hello, Dad."

Kreios stood. "Daughter. Are you well?"

She took a halting breath and glanced my way for a split second. "As well as I should be, I suppose. And you?"

Kreios grunted, obviously ill at ease. "The same."

I sat looking back and forth between them for what felt like an eternity, the tension of awkwardness in the room growing by the second. There was obviously something each of them was carrying, something they had chosen to keep to themselves, something they desperately needed help with—and further, something they each stubbornly tried to carry on with, going solo. "Can I get anyone anything?" I asked as I stood, the Book of Kreios in my hands.

"Not hungry," they said in unison without acknowledging me.

That feeling of a storm about to break washed over me and I shifted my feet, not sure what to do or say.

"Maybe you should go, Airel," Ellie said, her eyes now glued to the floor.

I shook my head in a reflexive twitch of disbelief. "Uh...okay, I guess." I started walking away, and my annoyance got the better of me. "Hey, maybe you guys should go down to the dojo to talk. You know, so you don't like, break anything up here that's . . ." I cleared my throat. "Rare and ... and, you know, irreplaceable." I swallowed; I needed air badly. "Uh, should I take your car, then?" I asked her.

"Keys are in it," she said. "I'll see you back in town."

"Later tonight?"

"You know that's kinda irrelevant up here," she said.

I growled. She was right. And I hated that. "Fine." I put the Book down on the table and walked out of the library. I went down the torch-lit hallway toward the staircase that ascended into the clearing with the old door lying in the dirt, turned the knob, and reentered the real world. My mind wanted to place those words in quotes inside my head because I wasn't so sure how real it actually was to me anymore.

I turned the key in Ellie's Toyota FJ and the engine came to life. It could get me back into town in about five hours.

As I drove down the lumpy dirt road toward the highway, I thought, El, why is life so freaking hard? I made a fist and banged on the steering wheel and said, "Drama. Yay." Yeah, I totally needed more of that.

***

ELLIE WAS THE FIRST to be seated. "So, Father, how have you really been?"

Kreios remained standing in his library. "I assume El instructed you to show her my Book once again?"

"Yes, Father. I wouldn't have done it if otherwise."

He grunted. "Because you know the risks in regard to free will." He placed his Book back up where it belonged, on the mantel above the fireplace.

Ellie resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. "Yes, of course. Will you please sit down with me and talk?"

Kreios considered this for a moment, and then sat across from her.

Ellie leaned forward. "I wanted to thank you for what you did in South Africa."

Kreios looked at her. "You are welcome." He appeared to think about his next words. "It was ...what else could I have done?"

Ellie agreed with a wag of her head. "Well, thank you anyway. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't ..."

"Speak no more of it, Ur—Ellie."

"I'm really sorry..."

"Please, daughter." Pain showed plainly on his face. "There is no need. All has been forgiven."

"But Father," she said, her voice desperate, "after Ke'elei ... after Qiel ... after everything I have done, there must be some need I can fill, something I can do, some way I can show how much I regret—"

"Ellie ..." Kreios closed his eyes. "It is enough, what you've been doing for Airel."

"But still," she said softly. "I thought if I could protect Airel, if I could instruct her, keep her from being overtaken by the Brotherhood, I could undo the damage I caused and ..."

Kreios stood and came to her and cradled her face in his hands. "Daughter. Ellie. Uriel. Look at me."

She did, reluctantly.

"I love you. And that is all that matters."

She fell into his arms and wept. She felt like a child again, held by her father. She closed her eyes, wishing this moment would never end.