Ethereal

Chapter 15

The judge's eyes were still glued to me, and I felt as though I were unable to move from my position as a result. Jasmine, Travis and Noah were still surrounding me, and though I felt comfortable in their presence, we had no chance against a whole court full of angels if they decided to kill me.

I would accept death if it meant they could live on, but I feared now that if I went down, they would go down with me.

"We met Emilia as soon as we entered the portal to the mortal world." Jasmine began, "Her mother, had fallen into the lake, and we watched her immediately jump in to rescue her, without a second thought. We recognised her as a pure soul from the very beginning. That's why when we began to search the school, we chose her as our friend. She agreed to aid us in our search. She knew the town well, she told us the names of those in the school who were the right age, and who had missing fathers. We had three potentials, and she helped us to watch them, helped us with our quest-"

"And yet she did not describe herself as such a potential, and aided you in your quest by distracting you from the true Nephilim, herself." The judge said in an icy tone, disapproval clear on her face. 

"That's not true, she didn't even know what we were looking for, she only knew that it was someone dangerous, someone special. She didn't even know she was a potential, Acacius is presumed dead on Earth, she did not believe her father to be missing." Jasmine explained, I watched as the Judge seemed to relax, but only by a fraction. 

"She must have known she was not human." The Judge frowned, shaking her head.

"No... she didn't." Jasmine sighed, "She... all this time, she has been human." 

"Lies!" One of the council members called out. 

"A bad choice of wording, Reed." She addressed the Judge, was that her name? "I simply meant that she didn't know she was not human." 

The council were silent for a moment before Jasmine continued. "Emilia's angelic side was not activated until she came into contact with angels."

The council seemed stunned for a moment, as they contemplated her words. "How did you discover this?" The judge asked.

I was surprised they weren't asking for evidence more, wasn't that how a court worked? 

"We did not notice Emilia changing. Not until it was far gone. She had been ill a lot, but never around us. I am not sure she even noticed herself changing. We found out about her abilities when she stood in a car park with a boy she worked with, a van sped into the lot, right where they were stood, we couldn't move fast enough to save her, we thought we were about to watch her die. And then... Emilia stepped in front of the boy, the van crashed into her, only she was unharmed, the van was deformed and crushed. She saved the boy. And checked on the driver straight afterwards. She isn't dangerous, she saved a humans life! She had never done anything like that before." 

"Child, is this true? You had never done anything like that before? An expression of strength?" The judge turned to ask me. 

"I..." I hesitated, I was going to say no. But that wasn't true, there was the tennis ball incident. "There was one other time." The three angels surrounding me turned to look at me in surprise. "In school, we were playing tennis, hitting a ball back and forth. Noah passed me the ball... I remember our hands touched, and it was like I was flooded with energy. When I hit the ball afterwards, it hit the wall at such a force that it shattered into pieces. That was only a few days ago. I thought I'd imagined it..."

The judge was silent, leaving Jasmine room to cut in. "She isn't the danger that you think, she is selfless. She came here without telling us, because she knew that we wouldn't have let her come here to die. She would rather die herself than let her friends die. She is not a danger."