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“Alba?” Roma asked, climbing back out of the cab. She looked down at me and I noticed for the first time that I’d fallen over on the curb. I stood up, attempting to brush myself off while I snuck glances at the cab driver.
It couldn’t be the same guy...
The driver turned towards us, probably to see what was taking so long, and I got to see his whole face. Curly, brown hair with a blue baseball cap squished on top. He beard was neither thick, nor long. It was more like a light stubble from not shaving for a day or two. He also seemed to be around twenty years old. There was something distinctly different between him and the vision man. His eyes were a different colour and his face shape was different.
From a side profile he may have looked similar but he really didn’t look like the other man at all.
Roma looked at the driver, whom I was openly staring at now. She looked back to me and then took hold of my arm. “Come on, Alba.” She pulled lightly and I followed her into the back.
No one said a word, besides me directing the driver to take us to Lafayette Street. Xavier shot me a weird look but I pretended I didn’t notice. Explanations would come later.
The driver looked back into the rear view mirror at me, once we were on Lafayette. “Do you have a house number or something, kid?” He asked.
I looked around. Nothing seemed familiar but had I really expected it to be?
“Is there a hotel on this street?” I asked. He nodded. “You can take us there, then.” I instructed. Xavier and Roma gave me weird looks again but I just busied myself getting money to pay the driver with.
When the car came to a stop, I dropped money in the front seat and hurried out. Roma and Xavier were quick behind me. Xavier caught my arm and spun me around.
“What’s up with you?” He asked. “First you fall over and zone out or whatever and then you decide to come check out a random street?”
“It’s Lafayette Street.” I replied. “And I think maybe Fate is here.”
We walked into the hotel and up to the clerk. It wasn’t all that fancy but it was still nearly $200 a night. I told the clerk I wanted the room for two nights and he gave me a funny look.
“Do you have parents or guardians with you?” He asked. His voice was slightly nasally and I could already tell he was a jerk.
I nodded. “They’re on the way. They’ll join us later tonight.”
“Well, I can’t let anyone under than eighteen check in, so you’ll have to wait for your parents.” He smirked at me and I bit back a nasty retort.
Before I could take out my own fake ID, Xavier stepped up with his license. “I’m eighteen and, until you are otherwise notified, I am the guardian of these girls.”
The guy stared at his license for another moment before handing it back and typing something into the computer. “Your room number is 217, and it’s on the third floor. Enjoy your stay.”
Xavier took the room keys from him, handing me one and keeping two for Roma and himself.
The room wasn’t bad. There were two comfortable-looking beds and an average television. There was a small table and two chairs, a microwave and a mini-fridge. The bathroom was partially hidden behind a wall with a floor-length mirror. It was small but the shower was fairly large and had an interchangeable shower head.
Xavier and Roma sat down on one bed and I climbed up on the other, sitting in the middle with my legs folded. “I’m not really sure why I think she’s here.” I started.
“When I was about to get into the cab, I saw the driver and all of the sudden I was seeing this...vision thing. But it wasn’t about me. It was Fate, and she had me in her arms. I was just a baby. She’s been trying to get to Lafayette Street to go to the hospital but instead, the driver took her to an alleyway. He was a Fallen. I think...maybe she knew him previously or something. I dunno.”
Xavier’s eyes narrowed and Roma looked surprised. “How can you see a vision of Fate when you were only a baby?” She asked.
I shrugged and Xavier spoke up. “I don’t think it was a vision, necessarily. It’s a projected memory. Angels can make people they’re connected to see their memories or thoughts.”
“But Fate’s not an angel anymore.” Roma reasoned.
Xavier shrugged. “No one’s ever said it stopped working when an angel fell. Most powers didn’t so this is probably no different.”
We were all quiet for a moment, thinking it over. Xavier’s expression changed quickly, his eyes narrowed and he scowled.
“What?” Roma and I asked at the same time.
“In order for an angel to project their memory to someone else, they’ve got to be in close range. Within fifty feet.”
I remained quiet. Fate had been within fifty feet of me and I hadn’t even known.
“Xavier,” I started. “In the memory, Fate was an angel and a Fallen was trying to capture her, I think...But I was a baby. Didn’t she lose her Grace when she was pregnant with me?”
Xavier’s eyebrows rose. “I figured David would have already filled you in on everything you didn’t know.”
I shook my head. I’d told David lots about Fate but he’d never told me anything. He didn’t know anything I didn’t, did he?
“Fate lost her Grace after you were born.” He explained slowly. “She and your father fell in love quick. They didn’t bother to get married, they just moved in together. Fate hid her wings from him; she refused to tell him that she was an angel. She thought that he’d be freaked out and leave her.
“Problem was, Fate got pregnant. She didn’t mean to but it didn’t matter. She—”
“Hold on.” I interrupted. “Why is it so bad that she got pregnant? Are angels not allowed to be pregnant or something?”
Xavier shook his head. “Angels aren’t allowed to mate or marry humans without consent.” He explained.
“But it’s not like she forced it upon him, surely he consented.” I argued.
“Yes, but he didn’t know she was an angel. If they had gotten married and she still hadn’t told him, it would have been the same thing. He couldn’t consent because he didn’t even know he had to. He had no idea she was an angel, she never let him.”
Roma seemed as stumped as I was. “If they...you know...how did she hide her wings from him?”
Xavier and I both laughed at Roma as she blushed. “She retracted her wings.” Xavier explained. “It’s very hard to do and painful as hell, but it did the trick. She hid them so well there wasn’t even any scars on her shoulders.”
We were all quiet before I sighed. “So she got pregnant and had me. Then what?”
“The entire pregnancy, she and your father were on the run. She made sure that none of the angels knew about her pregnancy. When she had you, she went back to the angels and pretended everything was normal. The angels suspected something but they weren’t sure.” He paused, drawing in a breath.
“Then, you got sick. When an angel baby is born, they grow their wings almost immediately. It’s like when a human baby is teething. You had a high fever and you cried almost constantly. She didn’t know what it was, so she decided to take you to a hospital. That’s probably what you saw.
“A Fallen caught her. They’d been looking for her because some of the angels promised them their Grace if they could bring Fate to them. She’d been quite elusive, until that point. The Fallen captured her and the angels forced her to tell her what she’d done. They took her Grace and tried to take you. However, some angels disagreed on that. They thought it was unnecessary. In the end, she got to keep you but not her Grace.”
Roma and I were both quiet, staring off in thought. Fate had lost her Grace because she mated with a human and didn’t tell him what she was? I’d always just assumed it was because she had done something awful. I mean, it fit her personality.
But she hadn’t. She had been a young woman in love and she punished for that. So when did she become the way she is now? I asked Xavier just that.
“After she lost her Grace, she wasn’t the same anymore. She was angry, bitter. And because of that, she started pushing your father away. Eventually, he lost interest and started cheating. She knew but she couldn’t bring herself to leave him. I think she blamed you, Alba. When you were seven, she couldn’t take it anymore. That was the first year that you were able to fly. She had to watch you grow up to be an angel and she couldn’t. You were a constant reminder of what she lost.”
I pursed my lips. “So she took my Grace and then left me in a dumpster. How does that solve anything? It’s not like she could use my Grace.”
That was one thing I knew for sure. A person’s Grace was specially fitted for that one person. If another tried to use it, they’d die in the process. Many Fallen tried to steal others and harness their Grace.
Xavier shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to ask her that when you see her for yourself.”
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I wasn't actually going to upload this for a while but then I got a bit of motivation. This chapters short but it's just a filler. I just wanted you guys to get a little bit more information about Fate before I spring anything big on you.
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