Chapter Twenty-Eight
The World is Quiet for a While
Noel woke in a cold sweat. Her dreams had been fuzzy and full of motion, swirling and piping hot – her entire body had felt as if it were on fire, the opposite of when Hades had spoken through her.
Out her window New York was still dead, snow piled up so high it was covering cars. This was not unusual for our Canadian hero, but for the New York natives it was practically as if the world had ended.
Pulling on her warmest socks and sweaters, Noel contemplated what to wear. She never usually thought about it, but being kissed had made her into such a…well, a girl.
Choosing a pullover knitted jumper the colour of wine her grandmother had made, remembering that Gabriel had commented on it once. Heading downstairs, she managed to find her way to the kitchen, were Constantine and Stephan were sitting at the table, gobbling down porridge.
“Hey!” Stephan said, oddly jolly. “You wearing your warmest socks?”
“Um…why?”
“We’re taking you sightseeing!” he cried. “You get to see New York through a residents eyes.”
“But the whole place is shut down because of the snow!”
“It’s best this way.” The smooth voice of Gabriel came from behind Noel, and she jumped, spinning around. Her nose hit his chest. “Morning sleepyhead.” He chuckled.
“Morning.” She blurted, feeling her cheeks burn.
He tugged on her side braid and brushed past her through the tall, slim doorway. Just touching him made Noel want to run out of the room.
“Um, where are we going?”
“Central Park.” Constantine told her. “It’s great when no ones around and it’s all snowy. Plus it’s a short walk from here.”
After eating they waited for Lola, who didn’t look at Noel, they headed out. Walking down the middle of the street they skidded and slid their way to the park, cheery even with the cloud of Hades threat over their heads.
Noel tried not t think about the kiss. She tried and tried and tried, but it kept on shoving its way into her thoughts. Gabriel Darcy had kissed her. Her.
“Hurry up, Mortal!” Lola shouted, running through the gates into the park.
Face pink partially from embarrassment and partially because of the cold, Noel followed quickly. Gabriel was silent, walking just in front of her. He’d barely looked at her all morning.
Constantine and the cousins decided to make a snowman, and set off to do so between the trees. And then Gabriel looked at her. “C’mon.”
To Noel’s astonishment, he grabbed her hand.
They darted off over a bridge, slipping up the slight incline. Stopping her there, Gabriel leaned over the railing. “Can I ask you a question?” he asked, still not looking at her.
Leaning over beside him Noel tried her best to look anywhere but him. Two could play at that game. “Sure.”
“Why do you take pills?”
Suddenly it wasn’t hard to avert her gaze somewhere else. She couldn’t speak.
“You can tell me Noel, I won’t get mad or anything or – or freak out.”
“I don’t think you’ll be mad.” She whispered, going on her tipy-toes to see over better. “Not at me, anyway.”
“You can tell me.” He said quickly. “I promise not to get mad.”
“I know I can tell you,” she said logically. “There’s nothing stopping me.” Yet the words – I have schizophrenia. At least I thought I did. – wouldn’t come out of her chapped lips.
Taking a deep, cold breath, Noel closed her eyes. “I…I’m sick.”
Gabriel’s hand was on hers so fast it was like a superpower. Noel had never met anyone more like a superhero than Gabriel, and his gloved hand on hers was the perfect touch to the beautiful moment unfolding, even with her sickness weighing down on her shoulders.
“Is it terminal?” his voice was all winded, as if someone had just punched him in the stomach.
“No! Oh geeze, it’s only schizophrenia.” She corrected hurriedly, wanting to wipe the horrified look of his face.
“Schizophrenia?” he cried. “Only schizophrenia?”
“Um, yeah.” She said weakly.
Gabriel stood up straight. “Angel, you never said…I feel like there’s a whole other side to you that I don’t know.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, well – you’re not exactly forthcoming with all your dirty little secrets.”
“This isn’t a dirty secret!”
“Yeah it is! I’m a freak, Gabe!”
He stepped just a little closer. “I’m half God, Angel, that’s pretty freaky.”
“Fine, we’re both freaks. Still think I’m freakier though.”
“My freak.” He chuckled, but his cheeks gave him away – they went even rosier than before. “C’mon.”
Before Noel could even catch her breath he had jumped over the railing, and she let out a screech. Laughing, he popped up. “The creek is frozen over, c’mon!”
“I am not dying today, not after all the hell you’ve put me through on this road trip!”
He laughed, loud and bouncing off the bare trees. “I’ll catch you, don’t worry.”
Still refusing, she skidded down the bank instead.
Together they walked the creek, hands brushing but not holding. Snow began to fall, but only a few flakes; the whole park was quiet, the outside world muted by the snow.
“What was it like?” he asked suddenly. “Growing up I mean, with schizophrenia – or I guess you’re not, are you?”
She shrugged. “I guess I’m not, but it’s weird to think of. I’ve been told my entire life by doctors and family and people I barely know that I have schizophrenia.”
She put on a deep voice. “’Ms. Lewis, you have schizophrenia, there are no monsters and no faeries and no one following you.’ That’s all I heard for years.”
“But there were monsters!”
“Yeah, I know that now, but Gabriel you don’t understand – I have been medicated for over twelve years, everything in my head has been suppressed and letting it all back in is – is – well, it’s one massive headache.”
Gabriel kicked at a frozen pinecone. “What was that like, as a kid?”
Noel didn’t want to tell him. Didn’t want to admit where she’d spent her fifth birthday, a whole Halloween and Christmas. Everything the kids at her kindergarten had said, how the adults had told their children not to play with her.
“It sucked.”
“I’m sure it did, a whole lot.” He bumped her shoulder with his. “I’m sorry you had to grow up like that.”
His voice was so honest, so caring. Noel couldn’t remember anyone ever speaking to her like that other than her parents and Grandmother – no one had ever apologized.
She couldn’t hold it in anymore, and it all came rushing out.
Noel told him about the first town they lived in, how the pills she’s been taking were first given to her at four years old. The stories about getting confused between the cartoons she watched and reality, the monsters she’d spotted – how no one had believed her. Her grandparents were touring the world for a while, and after extensive tests and multiple breakdowns over no one believing her, Bernie and Mark were pressured into putting Noel into a mental hospital.
“A mental hospital?” Gabriel’s jaw dropped.
“They exist.” She supplied. “And suck.”
“How long where you there for?”
“Over a year.” Noel shivered, remembering the cold, pale tile and tall doctors. “I rarely got to see my parents, and they didn’t tell Grandma. They knew that Grandma had been in a mental hospital too as a kid, and thought she’d freak out. And she did.”
When Ethel returned and found out about it she knew immediately what was going on and got Noel out, but she was forced to be medicated.
“And I’ve been medicated ever since, but not nearly as bad as when I was in there.”
Gabriel was silent for a little while, then said quietly: “I’ve never seen you take any pills.”
“Yeah, well, I had to move towns to get away from the bullying I got for taking them when I was little – I’m not going to let anyone see.”
“What did Ethel do?”
“Well, she was furious because the same thing had happened to her, right? She knew what I was for sure then, but couldn’t exactly tell my parents that I was some descendant of a slaughtered Greek Seer.”
“Why didn’t you mention it at Christmas, when Ethel told us about her childhood?”
Noel snorted and picked up some snow. “Gabriel, do you know how crazy I thought I was? I managed to push all those memories down for years, I wasn’t going to tell you.”
“You’re not crazy, Noel.” Gabriel told her, offering a hand to help her up the bank and onto a path. The voices of Stephan, Constantine and Lola could be heard beyond the trees.
“Thanks,” she looked down at their feet sunken into the snow. “Neither are you.”
He chuckled and tilted her chin up with one finger, leaning in. “I hope you’re okay with me kissing you yesterday.”
She shrugged. “I dunno, it wasn’t that bad.” Then she hiccupped. “Sorry.”
“It’s sweet.” He laughed. “It tells me if I’m doing something right.”
He leaned in, and Noel psyched herself up for it – she was going to kiss Gabriel Darcy. Again. Again!
But she didn’t get the chance. The earth rumbled under their feet, and snow fell from the trees with a heavy whomp! She gave Gabriel a stricken look. “Um, New York doesn’t get earthquakes.”
“Run.” he grabbed her hand and gave her that piercing, pale eyed gaze. “I don’t care what goes down, just run.”
“But what if –”
“Just run.”
Noel knew then that she couldn’t run away from Gabriel, but she nodded. “Okay.” They ran down the path, slipping on the ice as they neared the field. As the others came into view the earth split open, the sound of the ground tearing apart a loud roar in their ears.
“Gabriel!” Lola shouted from the other side. “Run!”
On the other side Constantine and Stephan were grabbing Lola’s arms, trying to get her to run away; she resisted, shouting over the noise of the earth shaking.
It was like the end of the world, everything Noel had ever read in the Bible (which to be honest was nothing) seemed to be coming alive around her. The sky went black and it began to snow again, but it wasn’t regular snow – it burned to the touch and wasn’t pristine and white but dirty.
Scrambling backwards, Noel and Gabriel didn’t let go of each other – they ran away from the crack, but long, black vines shot out of the crevice. They wrapped around Gabriel’s ankles and he slammed into the ground, letting out a shout.
Their hands ripped apart, and Noel couldn’t help the shout that jumped out of her throat.
“Gabe!” Noel screamed, slipping and falling into the snow.
A vine had gagged him, but his eyes said it all – RUN.
Fear gripped her, but Noel pushed herself up and started to run away. Collapsing just beyond the trees she saw Gabriel being pulled into the abyss. The earth had stopped shaking, but the ringing in Noel's ears remained so she couldn't even hear her own screams.
A/N: Whew! Intense stuff right there! Gabriel learns about Noel's past, as do you all - in depth this time, too.
Question: What do you think of a) Noel being in a mental hospital when she was a kid, and her telling Gabriel about it? and b) What the heck happened to Gabriel?!
Okay, now a little important update. The first part of the book is coming to a close, probably in a few chapters I think? Twoish. Then there will be part two! I decided to do the book in two long parts rathet than in two seperate books, partially because I couldn't think of a name...but other more practical reasons, too.
And to be honest I have barely mapped out the second part. It's in my head sort of? but I still need to write out my timeline, otherwise I'm screwed.I hope to get this first part done before Halloween. Maybe not though.
Also, for celebration about the first part being finished, I thought I could do an Underground Angels Q&A video? You guys always ask such amazing questions and I'd be happy to answer them! Do ask, and again, thank you for your brilliant support and love for the story, Noel, and the rest of the gang.
Rose<3