Ethereal

Chapter 15

There was silence in the room for a moment, before the judge raised her hand up high. Following her signal, the angels in the stands started turning to their neighbours, whispering to each other, creating a soft hum that seemed to make the room feel warm and pleasant. 

Soon, the angels on the end of each row started to pass a sort of silvery slip down to the row below them, until finally all of the slips were in the open hand of the Judge. She lay them out in front of her, inspecting each slip closely before sweeping them into a neat pile on the corner of her desk. I felt a sense of anticipation, standing on the edge of my toes waiting for her to speak.

"The decision is unanimous. The child shall be sent to a cell. Guards?" She spoke. 

I was confused, their decision was to put me in a cell? Did that mean they were truly going to kill me? I thought Jasmine, Noah and Travis might fight this, but they moved aside, allowing the guards to grab my arms and start to haul me towards the large archway on the right of the courtroom. Seeming to sense my angst, Jasmine leaned towards me and whispered "If they wanted you dead they'd have done it now. Being put in a cell means they're at least curious about you, it's the best we can hope for." 

I breathed a sigh of relief, I would not die today. Even so, I couldn't help but notice the nagging sensation of fear within me, I had never been locked up before. 

As we walked through the tall archway, I was met with a familiar sight. The hall was pristine, the floor and walls made of a white tile, the same material used in the court room. The white was bright, I expected it to hurt my eyes, but it didn't. Our footsteps echoed as we walked. 

This was a hallway I had seen once before, in a dream. I remember walking down it, I could hear my name being called by a familiar voice. I recognised now that it was Acacius whose voice I had heard calling me, whose eyes I had seen before I woke. 

Though in my dream there had been a darkness at the end of the hallway, and the tiles were cracked and worn. Here none of them were broken, they appeared as new as if they'd only been built earlier that day. 

As we walked, cells began to replace the tiled walls. Vertical bars of a strange silver-like material stood at their entrances. I noticed they were oddly spacious, and the rooms within didn't contain anything. In fact, almost all of the cells were unoccupied. 

It seemed as though we had walked for miles by the time the guards halted me. One of them dropped one of his hands holding me to reach into the pocket of his stiff white trousers and produced a key, of the same material as the bars. 

I watched him slide it into the lock on the cell, and the door opened with a soft clunk. The angel that still had hold of me gently pushed me inside. I obliged, stepping inside. 

They closed the cell door behind me, and I heard the lock turn again. Turning to face them, neither guard offered me a single look before turning back on their heel and leaving. Their footsteps echoed all the way down the hall, their expressions stern. 

The back wall of my cell was the same tile as in the hall, though the walls on either side were also made of bars, like the front was. That meant that I could see the cells either side of me, similarly empty to mine. However, I could hear new sets of footsteps approaching, so I sensed I wouldn't be alone for long. 

I sat on the floor cross-legged, finding it cool but not unpleasant. It was also surprisingly not uncomfortable. None of the cells near me had any occupants, but I could hear sounds coming from further down the hall, like a scuff of feet on the tile, I even thought I heard a gentle flap of a wing. Perhaps that was why the cells had to be so large, so that an angel could fit in with their wings. I wondered if angels needed to take them out every now and again, or maybe it wasn't bothersome to keep them in. I wasn't sure.