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

he laughs even harder. It´s impossible not to join in on the laughter and soon my sides hurt from all the laughing. We spend the afternoon talking about normal things, mundane things. He tells me about his past as a human. He used to live in a small town just outside Toronto in Canada and he tells me the most amazing stories about Grizzley bears and christmas holidays. It´s easy to talk to him, listening to him talk is relaxing and I barely notice how the hours pass until all the light is gone. With a heavy heart i realise that I really have to get home, I don´t want to leave this place. Ever since I arrived in heaven everything has passed in a hectic blur of new experiences, here time passed more slowly, dripping like honey. 

"I better get you home before Michael goes looking for you. Wouldn´t want to get you in trouble with him just yet", Nathaniel says as if he could read my thoughts.

"Just yet? Are you implying you will be getting me into trouble with him on another occasion?"

"Only if you want me to.", he winks at me and I realise then that he must be flirting with me. Not exactly sure if I am comfortable with this new situation I reply lamely: "I guess we´ll see.". The spark in his eyes dies a little but he is quick to cover with a cocky smile. 

"Let´s go then!", he says and gets up. He begins to walk toward the small pathway but turns after a moment to realise I am not following.

"Are you coming?2, he asks me, tapping his foot on the ground as if to symbolise impatience.

"I would, but I can´t seem to be able to get up by myself. You wouldn´t lend me a hand, no?", I really need to learn how to get up from the ground by myself, I don´t want to rely on people to pick me up all the time. He gently helps me up and together we walk down the cobblestone path through town and back up the stairs. He walks me up to the front lawn of Michaels house and hugs me goodbye. The hug is not half as awkward as I would have pictured it. I watch him walk away for a moment before I turn to knock on the door. Michael opens and I walk past him into the house. 

"Felice, I asked you to be back before sundown...", he states and I hear anger in his voice.

"Sorry, I forgot how late it was. It won´t happen again."

"Next time it does I´ll cancel your flying lesson, I need to be able to rely on you."

"Michael, that´s not fair. You´re acting like you´re my father! I´m 22, you don´t need to babysit me", I throw at him harshly. He stares at me for a moment and I can see a fire spark up in his eyes for s split second before he snaps out of it. 

"I am your mentor, I´m responsible for your safety and your training. You need to learn to respect my authority as such and I am not arguing about this. In case you ahve forgotten I am still in archangel", he is right I did forget about his position, I may have humanised him too much in my mind. The rules here are different but that does nto mean that I´ll let anyone push me around, archangel or not. I turn and leave him standing there and walk off to my room withotu saying another word. This is probably going to have consequences but i could not possibly care about that right now. 

Training

 I cautiously walk down the stairs that next morning, unsure what to expect. I speculate wether Michael is pissed off because I left him standing there like an idiot last night. I choose to play it safe and sneak into the kitchen to check the situation, my stealth operation is interupted when I hear Michael clear his throat behind me.

"Trying to avoid someone?", he asks and looks at me sternly. I find myself quite stuck for an answer, not sure what to say to remedy the situation so I just blankly stare at him, waiting for a lecture of some sort.

"Well come on, let´s get you some breakfast. We got work to do, how is your back feeling?", he sighs and I realise that up until this point I hadn´t really payed attention to the throbbing pain in my back and wings. I know that now that I noticed the pain, it´s not going away and I already feel myselof longing for the comfort of a warm bed to lie down and wait until it´s over. Michael glances at me as he passes to prepare some breakfast, not waiting for me to answer his question obviously. As I have discovered, Michael is a fantastic cook and the fruit he serves with his pancakes is beyond heavenly, no pun intended. 

"How come everything tastes so much better here and where do you actually get all the ingredients from?", I didn´t see any farms or fields on my exploration yesterday at all. Do the angels just manifest fruit and vegeetables and even eggs out of nowhere? 

"We get all our fruit and vegetables from the garden and we have a trade system going on with the other realms that worship animals such as cows and chicken", he explains patiently and I can hear in his voice that he is trying his best to sound casual. Within no time I have a plate of steaming blueberry pancakes infront of me and a bowl of fruit salad on the side. 

"Thank you", I manage to get out while already ravenously shoveling the food into my mouth. I have never felt this hungry in my life before and I suppose it comes from all the excercise the day before.

"You call that a lot of excercise? Just wait until Raphael gets his hands on you for combat training", Michael chuckles, clearly having read my mind this time. It appears that unlike Shekinah he does have the ability to read other people´s mind.

"Do you mind not snooping around in my head? It makes me uncomfortable and it´s not exactly fair", I ask him, the annoyance audible in my voice. I don´t like other people intruding my personal space and my thoughts are somethin I would like to have to myself.

"I won´t promise anything, but I´ll try to stay out of your thoughts as much as possible", he replies harshly, I must have hit a nerve. Does he not trust me? Considering he only met me five days ago I understand why he wouldn´t trust me, but then again he expected me to trust him when it came to jumping off a cliff liek rockface that could potentially kill me. For now I´ll acceot his proposition of trying but sooner or later I will make him promise to respect my privacy. There is no pint in argueing just now, especially not when I want him to take me out to fly again. I gulp down the last öpiece of pancake and look at him expectantly. Excitement wells up inside me, I can´t wait to get out again despite my hurting wings and back muscles. I have rarely ever felt so free and transcended from life like I did when I flew for the first time. The sene for wonder and excitement reminded me of when I was a little child, when I still believed that fairies lived in my backgarden. I would spend hours on end looking and waiting, leaving little snacks to lure them closer to me, but they never came. Soon enough I have up and grew up, looking back growing up was a terrible decision. Life is so much easier when you believe in the impossible and I have a feeling in my gut that all this is bringing out the person I was once. It might just be a change for the better to start believing again. 

"When can we go?", I can´t hold it in anymore.

"Are you sure you´re feeling strong enough to do this?", Michael inquires with a sceptical look in my direction and with a sigh gets up. "Come on then"

 

Jumping off the rockface was so much easier today, but the flying put a greater strain on me than it did the day before and I tired very fast. Sadly excitement can´t cure physical exhaustion. Michael drops me off at the top of the plateau and tells me to weait there for his brother Gabriel since he has an errand to run and is already delayed. I sit there by myself in silence, legs dangeling off the edge and drinking in the scenery around me. The height no longer scares me, instead it sends jolts of adrenaline through my blood. I am no longer afraid of falling. It doesn´t take very long for Gabriel to arrive but I welcome the resting period it gave me. As he introduces himself I give him a quick once over, his voice is soft and melodious and he has a less strong build than Michael but i believe he might just be every bit as deadly. Like his brother he is fairly tall, but where Michaels hair is of a golden blonde Gabriel´s is of a dark mahagony colour more like Nathaniels. His eyes are big and friendly, the colour of autumn chestnuts and The dust that covers the tips of his wings is a dark jade green shade that remind me of deep forests. He gives me a curious look and it is then that I notice he must have said something while I was busy staring at his wings. I have to stop doing that...It´s probably very rude. 

"I´m sorry, I´m still very new to all of this", I try to explain and he simply nods and gives me a kind smile.

"It´s alright, I frequently traffic among humans so I am quite used to people staring at me. Some of them faint so I´d say you´re doing pretty okay so far"

"So Michael said you´re going to teach me all about angel skills and powers?", I ask curiously, trying to make up for the initial appearance I must have given off.

"I suppose we better get started then. I´d prefer doing this somewhere a little less public. Would you mind flying with me, I´d understand if you´re not comfortable with that...", he asks politely.

"Oh no, it´s fine. Off course", I stand there awkwardly as he takes a step closer, uncomfortably close within my personal space. 

"Put your arms around my waist and hold on tight", I do as told and wrap my arms around him, in return his arms go around my back pulling em even closer. He bends his knees all so slightly and in one swift motion takes flight. It´s different from flying with Michael in that Michael usually holds me the other way around but I can see why it was necessary for Gabriels method that I face him. I have difficulties keeping my wings close enough to my body, not to hinder him in his flight and have us both fall to death. Luckily the flight doesn´t last very long and the second we