Strange Fruit: Prologue

made him, even if the order itself had been given by a cherub, was blasphemy. No, it was worse than blasphemy, it was a betrayal everything that was true.

  Killing her would be betraying what he was. Azriel cringed, drawing his hand back to his chest, cradling it with his other hand as if it had been burnt. Why was this happening? Were the Seraphim testing him, was the Father testing him? Azriel shivered at the thought, failure was not an option. His faith needed to be strong.

  Azriel reached his hand forward again, but stopped a third time. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t kill her. It didn’t matter what she would become, who she would be in the future. Now she was a devastated, terrified little girl, a fragile human, something that stirred him, made his wings ache, caused his halo to glow with the need to save her. And it would literally take a Miracle to save her. The blood from her stomach wound was staining the ground, she would die if he didn’t act, so why was the order to kill even necessary?

  This had to be a test. He didn’t know why, or what had shaken the Father’s love of him, but he would prove himself worthy. If only he knew what the correct action was. To disobey the word of a cherub was heresy, so why did the answer seem so unclear?

  Azriel closed his eyes, took in the Four Elements and brightened. One last time, he would not turn back now, he reached out a hand and touched her soul, burning away the pain, the injury; performing the Father’s miracle of Healing.

  The girl stirred, slowly sitting up as if she’d been sleeping. The horror of what had happened to her was still there, unfortunately, but the absence of pain dulled the immediate paralysis the trauma had caused. She looked around the alley with dark brown eyes, bewildered, and then quickly picked herself up off of the ground and ran. Azriel followed her, shielding her against the furious rain all the way to safety. The door to her home opened, a golden glow bathing her. The tearful smile that lit-up her face made the idea that she would eventually be the host to a powerful, vicious demon, seem impossible.

  However, she would. The menunim had seen the potential. However maybe her Will would be stronger now, maybe she could change before she invited the darkness in.

  Azriel turned away from the house, drawing his staff, his Halo, his key to Heaven, to him. It was time to report. He hoped he’d passed the test.

  Back to Top

  Name Calling

  Timothy waited in line, watching the kids occupying the four chalk-drawn squares and the red rubber ball bouncing between them. His friend, Augy, was in the first square, the undefeated champion of Four Square, at least in the fourth grade. Maggie, who was in the fourth square, missed the ball, and Timothy caught it. Her mouth turned down and she wrung her hands as she left the square. She hunched her shoulders, and instead of going to the back of the line for another try, she started to leave the gathering, giving up.

  “Nice try, Maggie! You’re getting a lot better! Let’s play again later!” Augy called after her, tucking strands of his straight, black hair out of his eyes. Maggie turned back towards him, her cheeks red, and the beginnings of a smile on her face, and then she quickly ran off.

  That’s why Timothy liked Augy, he was very nice to everybody. He was really smart too, but still had lots of friends; the bullies didn’t pick on him.

  Well, that probably wasn’t all because Augy was so nice; there was his twin brother, Ephraim, and he was kind of scary. He was mean to everybody, even the bullies, so he got into a lot of fights. The teachers were starting to get mad about it. He didn’t have any friends.

  Timothy tossed the ball to Augy and stepped into the first square, grinning. Augy smiled back as he caught it, and then the game started.

  Timothy was actually pretty proud of himself. It was hard, but he made it to the third square. And then Derrick, who Timothy hadn’t even seen get in line because he was so focused on the game, entered the first square. Timothy cringed; Derrick was one of those bullies and he played really mean.

  Timothy looked around, trying to find Augy’s brother before anything bad happened, but didn’t see him before the ball was bouncing his way and he had to knock it into another square.

  Soon his hand was hurting from the aggressive passes, but Timothy thought they were in the clear when Augy hit the ball past Derrick and it bounced out of his square, eliminating him. In a surprisingly considerate move, Derrick lunged to grab the ball, but instead of handing it to the next person in line, he spun towards Augy.

  “You cheated!” Derrick yelled and flung the ball. It hit Augy in the face, knocking him down. Timothy ran over to him as the line fell silent, helping his friend sit up.

  Augy started crying. “Why did you do that?” He gasped between sobs, blood starting to pour out of his nose. Before Derrick responded, everyone turned to the sound of feet pounding on the asphalt. Augy reached out a hand, but it was too late, his twin brother didn’t even slow down to punch Derrick, falling on top of him. Ephraim hit Derrick again and again, screaming, and soon there was blood everywhere, and everyone was crying.

  “Ephraim! Stop! Stop please!” Augy cried, running over to the tangle of limbs. He grabbed his brother’s arm, just to have it ripped out of his hands so that Ephraim could hit Derrick again. He was squirming underneath Ephraim, crying and trying to protect himself with his arms. Augy was sobbing, hiccupping, “S-stop! Please!” Ephraim didn’t listen. Derrick stopped moving. Augy grabbed his brother’s arm again, “Sak’roa, stop!” It was as if a switch was turned off. His brother simply stopped moving. Augy grabbed his brother’s shoulders, and pulled him off of Derrick. Ephraim just stood there, staring down at Derrick, covered in blood, his expression blank.

  Then the recess monitor lady was there. For a moment she didn’t act, stunned by what she was staring at, and then she was on the radio. Augy hugged his brother from behind, still crying loudly. Ephraim wasn’t moving. The other monitors showed up, one trying desperately to usher everyone back into class, and two more walked Augy and his brother into the building, probably to the principal’s office. They would probably get kicked out of school now. It wasn’t fair. Augy was really nice, he had lots of friends, and Timothy really liked him too, it wasn’t fair that he’d have to leave just because his brother was crazy.

  Back to Top

  The Fates

  Ola tucked her legs underneath her on the pale yellow flowered couch, leaning on the armrest. She glanced at the couch’s other occupant, similarly situated, who had his eyes on the TV screen. In the dark, the glow of it reflected off of his pale skin, almost giving him a blue glow.

  Yamato looked back at her with his strange, almost red-brown eyes. “What?” He asked flatly.

  Ola shrugged, smiling, “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” Yamato narrowed his eyes at her, but when she offered nothing more, returned back to the show they were half-watching. They were really waiting. Something was going to happen tonight, they could both feel it, even if they didn’t have a clue what it meant. Ola listened to the rain pound on the roof of the townhome she shared with her mother. Her mother was a nurse at Starfield Hospital and usually was stuck with the late shifts, so she wouldn’t be home for quite a while. “How’s Leo doing?”

  Yamato flushed. “That’s why you’ve been grinning at me, you pervert.” He snapped.

  If Ola hadn’t known Yamato as well as she did, she might have mistaken his embarrassment for anger. The 14-year-old grinned, wiggling her eyebrows, “So it went well then?” Her smile widened as Yamato’s face got redder.

  He swore at her in Japanese, which she was just beginning to learn, so she missed most of it, but his tone translated very well. Ola started giggling. Yamato folded his arms across his chest, blowing strands of black hair out of his eyes, briefly revealing the ragged scar on his forehead. A car accident when he was much younger, killed the driver, and almost him as well; but somehow he’d pulled through. He never talked about it.

  The giggles died on Ola’s lips as she contemplated the meaning of his not-date with Leo, another boy in their class, “But tha
t means what you saw…you really might…” she couldn’t finish the sentence at the pained look on her friend’s face. They both quickly returned their attention to the TV.

  Unexpectedly her half-Japanese friend pointed at the table. “Why on earth do you have those ugly rainbow gloves?”

  Ola shrugged. “Had a dream I would need a pair of gloves a few days ago. Those were on sale at Steve’s Stuff. And they aren’t ugly, they’re cute.

  Yamato frowned. “Can’t see why you’d ever need a hideous pair of gloves, but if Leliel told you to do it, it’s probably true.”

  They both jumped at the abrupt pounding on the door, followed by the clear abuse of the doorbell. Ola quickly rose, walking cautiously towards the door, Yamato close behind her. She shifted her weight to her toes to reach the peephole. There was a boy outside, frantically ringing the doorbell and sobbing. He was soaking wet and shivering in his t-shirt and jeans. The strangest part was his hair. It was long-ish and a ginger color, but there was a large white streak down the front. Lightning flashed, and Ola’s mouth fell open; his eyes were practically the color of amber.

  The door muffled the words he began to speak, but Ola understood, “Mom, Mom, please! My key doesn’t work anymore! Let me in! Please!”

  Ola’s