Michael (The Airel Saga, Book 2) - By Aaron Patterson Page 0,55

how those machinations worked. Plus, truth be told, he had gone as far as he was willing to go until she gave him something in return for what he had let spill. He was genuinely fearful of telling anyone about how he had written Airel back to life. He wasn’t sure yet just how that story was going to end, what it would mean for her, for him.

“Still though,” she said, searching for something to say. “I suppose…I suppose I should say I’m sorry.”

“Ellie, I’m done. Completely finished with the Brotherhood. My motivations have turned one-eighty and I’m trying to start over.”

“What drew you in? If I may ask?”

“What, into the Brotherhood?”

She nodded.

“I dunno. How much choice does the son of the Seer really have?”

She nodded again.

“I mostly inherited everything, I guess. I never wanted that life. Not really, if I had truly known. It was just all I ever knew. I grew up into it blind. But Airel…changed it all.” His eyes began to fill and he wiped at them with his palms. “She means so much to me. I would do anything for her. I hope I’ve proven that by now—even if it means giving myself up.”

“To the Brotherhood? No.” Ellie’s eyes flashed. “You cannot do that, Michael. That means eternal…the Second Death.”

Thoughts of fire and water flitted through his head, the symbology of the ages running roughshod over his ragged and tortured mind. “Water is the first death. All flesh is required to pass through it one way or another. Fire is the second death. All spirit will be refined by it now or be tortured in it for eternity after the end of this age.” He shook his head, trying to clear the echoes from his mind.

“Do you ever hear voices in your head?” he asked her.

“Depends,” she said.

“Yeah, well, I get ‘em. Trouble is, it’s hard to know in my case just who’s talking to me.”

“Right. Who to trust,” she said. “Well, demon—I mean…Michael, you can trust me.”

“I hope to God you’re right,” he said.

“I think you’re actually telling the truth. I can tell you’ve been searching Him out. Talking to Him.”

He blushed.

“Nothing to be ashamed of, mate. Not at all. It’s hard, at first, to know how to listen back, though. No worries. You’ll figure it out. That’s what life is.”

“I will not let them get to her. Not again.”

She nodded in understanding.

“So,” he said, “you’re here on orders? Why don’t you know all this stuff? You’re an angel; haven’t you been fighting the Brotherhood forever?”

She sighed. “I know enough.” Ellie’s face became blank, lost in thought. “I’ve got to tell you…I think the best, most effective thing we can do is take the fight to them.”

“You know I’m on the same page. We keep running; we’ll be on the run forever.”

“Yeah, but it’s more than that. We’re in their territory. Everywhere under the sun, it’s theirs. At least until the end of all things. Until then we have to carefully pick our battles.”

He knew all that, he had heard the shouts of rage in his mind, the radical violence of the blindly self-centered whining for revolution, for glory, for the subjugation of all things right and good, and he knew what it was all about. It was utter emptiness. “I’m listening,” he said.

“I don’t quite know how to say this…”

He looked at her carefully. “Go ahead.”

She appeared to have a sudden change of mind. “Okay. I’m here for Airel.”

He thought back to the battle, how Ellie had pulled back from Airel, even how he had done the same, though he still wasn’t sure why. “You’re here for her? What, to…take her?” He allowed his face to show total confusion. What’s she not saying?

“No. I mean I’m not just here to protect her or to keep her alive. Guardian angel stuff.”

“Okay, so what then?”

“I’m to guide her in the path she must take. And on some level, she should know that already. But she’s still pretty hostile to me…”

Michael’s expression became enlightened. “So that’s what that was all about back there.”

“I was throwing her out of the nest. She dislikes me for that.”

“I might be able to persuade her for you.” He paused for a moment, the warm trace of a smile on his lips as he thought of her. “So…” the smile faded, “you knew about the Sword, then?”

“No! I was simply trusting El’s word to me. I knew nothing about what might happen. I was just as surprised as…as, well…as the baddies