Ever This Day (To Light and Guard Prequel)

CHAPTER 3 - THE FUTURE

  MICHAEL

  Twelve Years Later

  Los Angeles, California

  My wife and I had just finished cooking dinner together. I went outside to get our children while Ashley set the dining table. In the backyard, I saw my two daughters sitting on the grass.  Paige, who just turned five years-old, was talking to her sister with a big smile on her face, and she was very animated with her hands. Emma was three years-old, and she was sucking her thumb; she had a big frown on her face as she listened intently to her sister.  

  Paige pointed at the sky. “There!  There! There it is again. Did you see it?”  Paige asked Emma, her eyes wide in her excitement.

  Emma pulled her thumb out of her mouth.  “No.  I told you.  I don’t see nuthin’,” Emma said, pouting.  Then, she stuffed her thumb back inside of her mouth.

  “You never see anything,” Paige said, sighing, “but it was right there.  I promise.”

  I looked up and saw the orange sky; they were remnants of the sunset.  I didn’t see anything, either. I continued to watch them for a few more minutes, letting them have this moment.  It was something my children  enjoyed doing - watching the skies.  Maybe I can take the telescope out tonight, and we can gaze at the stars.  They liked doing that, too.  I was pretty sure that they got that from me.  I remembered spending countless of hours watching the night sky, stargazing, before Ashley came into my life.

  Finally, I called my daughters. “Paige.  Emma. Dinner is ready.  It’s time to go inside now.”  They both got up.  Paige was faster, and her face lit up when she saw me.

  “Dad, I just saw an angel.  It flew right there,” Paige said pointing up towards the sky.  I looked at Paige, sighing loudly, my disappointment apparent.  I crouched down with one knee on the grass, and I looked into her eyes. This wasn’t the first time this has happened.

  “Paige, there are no angels, alright?  You cannot see them.  We already talked about this… and you cannot be saying that you see angels to other people.  Do you remember a few weeks ago when we were called to the principal’s office?  Remember when your teacher said you needed to see a special doctor?”  Her teacher said that we needed to send Paige to a child psychiatrist, and I almost ripped her head off.  It was a good thing Ashley was there to calm me down.

  Paige’s face fell, and I felt horrible for the things I just said.  “I’m sorry, Paige, but we cannot see angels, and we don't need to go to a special doctor, alright?"

  “Yes, Dad, but… but it was really there.  The angel was flying right there,” she said softly, pointing to the sky again.  Her bottom lip trembled, and her little voice pierced right through my heart.  “If you see another one, just pretend that you don’t see it, alright? And you cannot tell other people. Deal?"  Paige nodded sadly.

  Little Emma took her thumb out of her mouth. “I didn’t see no angels, Daddy,” Emma said, looking at me with her big brown eyes.

  I stood up and touched the top of Emma’s little head.  Her long brown hair was a rumpled mess.  I took out a twig that was stuck in her hair and tucked a loose strand behind her ear.  “That’s good, Emma.  You’re not supposed to see angels.  That’s the way it’s supposed to be.  Let’s keep it that way.”

  Paige grabbed the twig in my hand, her earlier disappointment forgotten.  “I’ll need this for an art project.”  And she hopped away from me, making her way inside the house.  Three year-old Emma was trailing right behind her.

  “Don’t forget to wash your hands before you touch your food,” I said.  When both of my daughters were inside the house, I quickly shut the door behind them.  I turned towards the backyard and walked towards the center of the yard.  I looked around.  Although I didn’t see anyone, I knew that they were there.

  “You can come out now,” I said.  “Show yourselves.  I cannot see you.” I was human now, and my human eyes had its limitations.

  From one side of the house, two male angels came out, and they walked towards me.  They were both transparent, but as they walked closer, they materialized more and more.  When they reached me, I could see them fully.  I knew these two:  Gabriel and Raphael.  They were my brothers.  These were two of the few archangels I was created with, and we have always shared a common purpose... until the day I met Ashley.

  They bowed their heads in greeting, and I did the same.

  “Michael,” Raphael said. “It's good to finally see you again.”

  I smiled.  It had been twelve years since I had last seen Raphael.  Gabriel, on the other hand, visited me often; I had seen him several times since the birth of my two children.

  “It's good to see you both as well,” I said.  “What brings you to Los Angeles?”  They were here together, but I knew that Raphael would never come here unless it served his purpose.

  “You are needed.  You need to come with us,” Raphael said.  Somehow, I should have expected that they would be here for this, but I had a family now.

  “We are gathering Heaven’s army,” Raphael added, “and it needs its commander.”

  “I can’t,” I said quickly.  “My family needs me.”  That wasn’t the only reason.  I knew that my wife can take care of my children, but I needed to be with them, too.

  The life of an archangel was never easy.  We never stood still, always working to fulfill our purpose; our quests lasted years, sometimes decades.  I cannot be gone from my family for that length of time… even if Heaven’s army needed me.  Things have changed in the last twelve years.  I am human now.

  “I can’t leave them,” I said,  “and I won’t leave them.”

  “Your human family?” Raphael asked incredulously.

  “Yes,” I said a little bit harshly.  I didn’t want anyone, not even my brothers, to disrespect those whom I loved.  Yes, they were human, but they were mine.  Raphael would never understand.  He would never be the one to mingle with the humans and shirk his duties.  He would follow his destiny until the end of time.

  “I have a human wife and two human children,” I explained.  I heard Raphael exhale very deeply.  He was disappointed, and he wasn’t shy about showing it.  I knew that Gabriel would understand my situation, however. He had relationships with humans before.  He had children, Nephilim, who were all dead now.  Gabriel’s descendants, however, continued to walk the earth, living as humans and not knowing the truth about their ancestry.  I knew that he visited them, unseen, from time to time.

  For me, this was the first time I had tried having a human family of my own, and the love I felt for them was a deep surprise… but I always had to remember that my time with them was very limited.  In less than a hundred years, my wife and my two daughters would certainly be dead.  Time is their greatest enemy.  I think that I can shirk my duties as an archangel until then.

  "One hundred years," I said. "I will return then."

  One hundred years...  That is nothing to an angel.  It passes in a blink of an eye.  I think that my family deserved my love and attention for such a small amount of time.  I shook my head to clear my thoughts.  I try very hard not to think of their mortality.  It is heartbreaking when I do.

  “You are making a big mistake,” Raphael said.  “We need you now.”

  I understood his concern.  I truly did.  He was scared that they would fail in their endeavors without me.  Perhaps it was another battle between good or evil.

  “There are no mistakes, Raphael,” I said.

  “You cannot just abandon your duties! You are the protector of the Earth and the leader of our army!” he hissed.

  “And I will be again when my time here is up!” Our voices were raised as we spoke, and I was afraid that my family may be able to hear us.

  When no one said anything else, I added, “You have to be careful when you come here.  My oldest daughter, Paige…she can see angels.  I need her to live her life as a normal human, or the other humans will shun her.” Or hurt her. Maybe even kill her.  I would neve
r want that for her.

  “The Radiant?” Raphael asked.

  That would be her.  My daughter, Paige, is the Radiant.  I knew it the second she was born.  Seeing her light for the first time was a blessed surprise; it was a miracle.

  I nodded.  Paige’s existence wasn’t something that I should be hiding from other archangels.  They knew her importance just as I did.  Besides, they must have seen her aura shining very brightly before she went inside.  She was a beacon to all angels.

  “Yes, she is.”  And I was very proud.  To have the Radiant as my daughter.  She was an unexpected gift.

  “And your other daughter?  What is she?” Raphael asked.

  “She’s human," I said.  Emma was not important to the angels, but I loved her just as dearly.

  I added, “Just like me.  I am human now.”

  Raphael groaned.  Gabriel, on the other hand, was smiling.

  “Is it as wonderful as you expected?  Living as a human?”  Gabriel asked.

  “It is. It's beyond my wildest expectations.  I have learned a great many things about humans… and my family… they are everything to me.”  I would give my life for any one of them.

  I smiled, thinking that they would find my next words amusing.  “I have a human job.  I work as an accountant, and I drive a car to work.  I have a bank account and a mortgage.”  I chuckled. “We save our money so that we can go on vacation and travel.  I have medical insurance, and I go to my doctor once a year for a check-up.”

  Gabriel laughed loudly, and even Raphael cracked a smile.

  I added, “And my doctor thinks that I suffer from high-blood pressure, and he placed me on a low-sodium diet.”  Gabriel continued to laugh.

  “Which reminds me,” I said.  “I have to go back inside and have my low-sodium dinner with my family.”

  “You eat… actual food?” Gabriel asked.

  “I need to,” I said.  “My body is human.  It works just like theirs."

  "You do look older," Gabriel said. “You have a line on your face right here.”  He placed one finger between my eyebrows.  His finger poked me a little too hard; it was a reminder that my body can get hurt easily now.

  I pushed his hand away from me.

  “And you do look… smaller.  Did you shrink?”  Gabriel asked.

  I snorted. “I’m still larger than the average human male. I’m just more of their size. It had to happen because I had to blend in.  I made a complete transition.  I'm completely human now.”

  Gabriel sniffed the air.  “You do smell like a human.”

  I grinned.  I knew what he was talking about.  It wasn’t that humans smelled bad.  They just smelled differently.  My stomach chose that moment to growl.  Gabriel raised an eyebrow.  I knew that he heard that, but I wasn’t embarrassed of my human body.

  “Right now, I think I need to feed this body,” I said, gesturing to myself.

  “How did you do it?” Gabriel asked.  He was looking at me intently. I knew what was going through his mind.  He wanted to be like them, too.  Human. Just to see what it was like.

  “A spell while standing near the Radiant’s light," I explained.

  “A witch’s spell?” asked Raphael.  His voice was laced with disgust, and once again, a deep frown marred his face.

  “Yes,” I said, and I hoped that they wouldn’t ask any more questions. They didn’t have to know that my wife, Ashley, was a witch, and that she was the one who casted the spell.

  “The spell was a necessity, but it doesn’t work without being next to the Radiant’s light.”  I have tried turning into a human without the Radiant before.  Ashley casted spell after spell in her attempts to turn me into a human. It never worked until Paige was born. This was the only way, because this is how it was intended.  Only the Radiant’s light allowed an angel to turn into a human.

  “I’ll send a Guardian for the Radiant,” Gabriel said.  With the huge increase in the human population, humans outnumbered guardian angels by sixty to one.  These days, guardian angels get to decide who are worth guarding, and only some children and teenagers were lucky enough to have them.  It was time for my children to have Guardians of their own - to keep them safe.

  “I need two Guardians,” I said.  “One for Paige and another for Emma.”

  Gabriel nodded.  Raphael turned away from me, sighing.  “Michael, I will see you in a hundred years.  Make sure you don’t forget who you really are,” he said.

  “I never do,” I said softly.  Although, sometimes, I wished that I could. Maybe I would be happier.

  Raphael jumped up.  His wings flared away from his body, and he flew away.

  “Maybe I’ll join you for dinner sometime,” Gabriel said with a smile. He patted me on the shoulder. “For now, this is where I say goodbye, so that you can go ahead and have dinner… with your family.”

  "Goodbye," I said.

  Just like Raphael, Gabriel jumped up in the air, and his wings extended away from his body. I watched the two of them until they became two tiny white dots framed by the orange sky. I turned around and walked back inside the house to join my family for dinner. My day of rest has not yet ended.  My life is here, and this is where I will stay… for now.

  TO LIGHT AND GUARD, BOOK 1 (EXCERPT)

  BY PIPER HANNAH