Angel Dust by Aurora Morgenstern (summer beach reads .TXT) 📕

are much bigger than the ones in the alcoves. I immediately recognise one of the statues and I have to admire the worksmanship on it, it looks as though the real Michael turned to stone and rests there. it is accurate down to the wings being covered in gold dust on the tips and his eyes look severe and formal, made put of what I can only guess to be lapislazuli. His hands rest on a swords hilt and I know it represents the famous flaming sword without having to ask. I don´t recognise the other statue but when I turn to examine the other two statues guarding the door behind me it all becomes clear. They are the spitting image of Raphael and Gabriel, Raphael holding a spear while Gabriel is blowing a horn and holds a scroll in the other hand. In one of the alcoves I can make out the familiar face of Uriel as well, while the other faces are strange to me. After a quick count I can puzzle together who the last statue next to the door is. One angel too much to add up to the seven archangels. He doesn´t look demonic at all, no trace of cruelty on the carefully crafted face to be seen. I would have expected Lucifer to look different, one woudl think that the evil would be cast even into his stony replica. Instead I am mesmerized by the sheer physical beauty of him, I see then why so many so willingly followed him. He has the kind of face that can inspire loyalty with a smile alone. Unspeakable to think what a man like him would be capable of had he a voice. Each wall has a big, church like window on it with teh colourful glass mosaics depicting each angel in a different pose again in a dozen fractured shades of stained glass. It is beyond beautiful and the many different patters overlap and dance on the floor as the sunlight comes through the windows. Michael clears his throat and I snap out of my daze to follow him to the door, a shiver passing down my spine as I cast a hooded glance at Lucifers statue when Michael opens the door. I would find it more than odd to keep a statue of someone like Lucifer around, I mean I understand that they have not yet given up on him but would it not hurt to have the statue and his house as a daily reminder of your brothers betrayal.

"You have no idea", Michael whispers to me and fakes a smile as we walk into the next room. This room is much simpler, no decorations of any sort, no statues and no big windows. The room is lit by simple lamps on the walls and the only pieces of furniture are a big oakwood table and chairs. I count 16 chairs  in total, enough for each archangel ( including the fallen Lucifer) and a companion or a guest. At this moment six of the seats are filled and the occupants are all deeply caught up in their conversations. I can see Gabriel leaning over a book with another archangel with wings in rosy pink shades and short blonde hair that is combed in a very orderly manner and yet still falls into his face. To my surprise he is wearing a pair of glasses on his nose, I thought that angels wouldn´t suffer from optical impairments and that sort of thing. Raphael sits on the other end of the table, looking quite bored as he tosses a coin into the air again and again. The conversations stop whe the door slams shut behind Michael, the sound vibrating all around the room. All eyes turn to us and I can see that actually they all turn to me. I count three unfamiliar faces, including the angel next to Gabriel. Uriel gives me a kind smile and an encouraging nod. 

"Alright, have you all stared at her enough now? How about you show some manners and introduce yourselves!", Michael thunders sounding quite cross. I suspect he is trying to show off his authority and it works, apart from Raphael almost all of them guiltily look down to avoid Michaels gaze. Interesting to see that seemingly only Raphael is brave enough to defy Michael even on such a small matter, I immediately decide that should it ever come down to it he is my best bet. The first angel to stand up to introduce himself is a tall and very lean archangel with yellow wings and curious amber eyes, his hair is a black mass of braids and I can see pearls of all colour woven into it. 

"I´m Jophiel, I have been quite excited to meet you indeed and I can only ask you to forgive my own and my brothers bad manners", he sounds awfully formal but his voice is pure and sweet. I can imagine he must have a beautiful singing voice as well. I reach over the table to shake his hand, which is surprisingly rough skinned especially on the finger tips. "Sorry, guitar hands", he apologises and smiles. Next to extend his hand is the pink winged archangel with the glasses. he introduces himself as Chamuel and I notice that his wings are covered in amethyst dust. Amethysts always were some of my favroite gemstones and I can´t help a little pang of jealousy and yet I find him immensly likeable already. The last angel to get up has soft, soothing green eyes with a curious look in them as he gives me a quick once over. His wings are soft hues of blue and he emits an aura of collected calmness that is reflected even in his voice. His grip is firm but not too tight and I relax a little as his hands touch mine. He must be projecting some of his calmness onto me somehow and I am more than grateful for it.

"Now that we have that done and dusted, let´s move on. We have a lot to discuss", Michael ends the introductions and takes his seat at the top end of the table. He gestures for me to take the seat at his side next to Uriel. I finally release teh frim grip my left hand had on the hem of my shirt and notice red crescents on my palm where my nails bore through the material. Michael begins to talk in a stern, business like manner about things I cannot begin to understand. As much as I try to listen attentively I soon find my eyes wandering around the room, observing the other council members. Raphael is still playing with his coin, seemingly bored and not listening to a word Michael is saying. When he catches me looking at him he winks at me and mimiks a person falling asleep. I surpress a small laugh, it feels liek High-School all over again. Jophiel is tapping his fingers as if in some distant melody on the table and I almost swear I can hear him hum to himself. The only ones listening attentively to Michaels words are Chamuel and Gabriel. Uriel next to me touches my arm for a second to get my attention and when I turn to look at him passes me something under the table. Under closer inspection I find that he has given me a small sweet and I give him a grateful smile, he winks at me conspiratively and scribbles a small note on a piece of paper infront of him. 

Sorry about earlier, Phillip only came back from his travels and was very eager to spend some time with me alone. 

I pick up the pen and write him a reply: It´s quite alright, I understand that. 

I find that maybe, just maybe me and Uriel might be able to become friends some day. I would like that immensly, seeing as currently my number of friends is down to one and a half. Michael being the half since I am desperate enought to count my mentor as a friend. I find myself focusing on Michael again as he begins to give a detailed report of the demon attack he was involved in, which is followed by Gabriel giving his view on his own incident. Unlike Michael he still looks quite beat with dark circles under his eyes. They are both calm and collected reports but I can see that Raphael doesn´t perceive them as such, his face grows harder and grimmer with every second. I am surprised he doesn´t burst out while they are still talking. When they finish the room errupts into a chaotic, heated debate and I find it hard to follow. There is talk of a war and marching toward hell and something about horesemen and seals being broken. The nois is almost unbearable and after covering my ears fails I move to the other end of the table and find myself next to Raguel.

"I can never bear to see them fight", Raguel says and shakes his head with a regretful expression. He seems to be a rather calm person and I sense he means it when he says he finds it unbearable.

"But I don´t mean to worry you, dear. They get like this during council sessions which is quite frankly why I avoid attending them. I came out of mere curiosity of finally meeting you I must confess", there is a genuine warmth to his voice and I feel a lot less unsetteled than I did before we began our conversation. 

 

Eventually Michael decided it was better to have me leave the meeting as they had highly sensitive information to discuss, so he asked Raphael to summon Shekinah. I noticed how he declined Gabriels offer to send Nathaniel to pick me up right away. I know he doesn´t like him but he doesn´t need to e so rude about it, Nathaniel is my friend and I would have much prefered his company to Shekinahs, who I barely know. I don´t have to wait long for the green winged fairy like angel to arrive. She is wearing a floaty white dress and her curls are tied back into a messy bun. She has an easy kind smile on her face and I can hear her humming a short melody to herself. She seems different than what I remember. For once she is a lot less annoyed. 

"Heya, heard they kicked you out. Don´t fret it, I have to leave all the time so they can have their manly war talks", she sighs dramatically. I laugh nervously unsure what else to do. 

"Let´s get you out of here! Come on, you weren´t that shy last time! You have finally come to terms with the fact that you´re not hallucinating, right?", her voice is bubbly and excited and she doesn´t seem to really care wether I answer her or not. 

"I guess I have accepted that I am actually dead if that´s what you mean", I try  and she gives me a sympathetic smile.

"Wonderful!", she exclaims even though I cannot see anything particularly wonderful in the fact that I am actually dead. "Now I want to know everything, Michael must have some juicy secrets!", she is acting as though we are est friends and I find it a little unsetteling. 

"I don´t thik he has any, we don´t talk that much", I reply lamely and she looks rather disappointed. I follow her to sit on the edge of the mountaintop. The view from here is even better than from the plateau and I am convinced that I can see the little clearing Nathaniel and I like to sit in from here. 

"I reject that at hand! There must be something! Now then I have seen you hang around with Gabriel´s stray a lot, what´s he like? He´s so mysterious and fascinating. He also happens to be quite an eyecatcher, nothing liek Raphael or Michael off course...but I wouldn´t push him away either", she exclaims