Ethereal

Chapter 13

Travis narrowed his eyes, his stance suddenly deadly. I felt a shiver creep down my spine, and I stumbled backwards a step.

I'm the one. That's what Jasmine said. That I'm the one they were here for, the one who was dangerous. Was I dangerous? A few moments ago I would have said I couldn't harm a fly, and yet I had just stopped a moving van, and walked away unharmed.

Who was I? Clearly I wasn't who I thought I was... what was it that Noah had said before, the one they were looking for was a half angel? I wasn't a half angel... that was impossible. Except... was it? I had never known my father, it wasn't out of the question. But before today I had never done anything extraordinary.

Wait... the tennis ball in P.E. the other day... okay, so maybe it wasn't a one off?

I bit my lip in confusion, I just wanted to take a moment to think, except I couldn't. Not with the way Travis looked ready to pounce.

I watched as Jasmine took a step forward so that Travis was behind her. I wondered who it was she was trying to protect, me... or him?

"I don't understand." She whispered. I heard it with perfect clarity, even on the other side of the car park. I realised with a shudder that my hearing had improved so much without me even realising. "Travis, stop!" She cried out as he tried to push her back behind him. "Can't you see! She isn't a threat, look at her, she's terrified! She's never tried to hurt anyone... and I don't think she's going to either."

He didn't speak, but I could see his eyes scanning across me, analysing me as though I were dangerous, like they'd said. I felt myself shake in response, having your friends see you as a threat... it made me want to curl up and hide.

"I should have known." Noah cut in. His eyes were still wide and slightly alarmed, but he held a hand out towards me, as though offering me aid. "Your father, Emilia. Tell them."

I was frozen in place, so had no hope of reaching his outstretched hand. What was he asking, my father? I was feeling a flood of adrenaline still, from the fear of what I had just done. I tried to force myself to focus, to even my breathing, to explain. "They assumed he was dead. There was a fire... they never found his remains. It's what drove my mother crazy. She's been obsessed ever since... she called him the glowing man."

Jasmine seemed to sob at my response. "It is you!"

By this point Noah had moved towards me, and his fingertips were now less than an inch from mine. He left them there, waiting, until I placed my hand in his and he pulled me away from the wreckage and slowly walked me over to Travis and Jasmine.

"It is you." She repeated sadly, "You're the one. You're a nephilim."

"A what?" I asked, surprised. "I'm... human..." I was hesitant, unsure anymore. But it was what I'd always known. At least, what I had thought I'd known.

"That... that was not human." She seemed to hiss, and I felt myself recoil.

I took a deep breath. "So... what's a nephilim?"

"Half human, half a-" Travis started to say before Jasmine hit him on the arm.

"Angel." I finished for him, I was half... angel? I didn't know what to say. It couldn't be true, there had never been anything special about me in the past. I was just... me.

"Noah! How could you tell her!" Jasmine immediately turned to him, a scowl on her face.

"He didn't." I interrupted quickly. "I figured it out."

"Smart." Travis muttered. "The council will be interested in that."

Jasmine seemed to freeze for a moment, her eyes slightly wider than usual as though she had just remembered something. "Emilia, you're father, Acacius, was an angel. The fire is what happens when an angel's true self is revealed in the human world. It's the reason for your mother's insanity, a human can't look directly at such a form. Not without consequence. She's lucky to be alive. Angels can't hold it in during intercourse, you see. The light makes their minds crazy, they become obsessed with the light. Able to recognise the glow... it makes sense. She knew we were different when we took her to the... hospital. I suppose it's how she knew we were in the lake."