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Gadriel’s mouth turned up in a small smirk. “You don’t have to believe me. In fact, as soon as you wake up, you’ll forget this entire conversation, at least until you need it.”
“What?”
“I trust you to do the right thing when the time comes, Sarakiel.”
“You can’t just wipe my memories!” I protested, “You can’t do that!”
Gadriel’s head lowered, her smirk turning to her gentle, familiar smile. When her eyes turned up at me again, they were glowing with golden light, as if the morning sun itself was passing through her skull and beaming out of them. “I’ll see you soon, my Lightbringer.”
The light grew exponentially until it was impossible to see her, or anything else. The birds were gone, the cars were gone, there was only the light and a humming sound I had not heard since… since Heaven. The hum of creation.
When I opened my eyes, I was in darkness, the dream falling away rapidly until I was left with only warm feelings of a dearly missed friend.
CHAPTER FOUR
SARAKIEL
The world was dark, and cold. I realized, as my skin began to tingle and prickle over, that—remarkably—I wasn’t dead, I had just thrown bedsheets off me in my sleep, and I was genuinely freezing.
Was I in an ice box?
It sure felt like it.
I tried to get up to look around, but the muscles in my back screamed and forced me to lay back down, grimacing from the pain. Gritting my teeth and breathing heavily, I lay completely still and waited for the pain to pass.
“Hell—” I tried to speak, but my throat was on fire, and I hacked up the rest of thathello.
The coughing fit that followed must have attracted attention, because I soon heard voices on the other side of a door somewhere in the dark. I realized, now, I could see it. There was a thin line of light just at the edge of the darkness, light broken up by moving shadows and muffled whispers. There was someone out there.
After an awkward moment of shuffling and conspiring in hushed tones, someone stuck a key in the lock, turned it, and gently pushed the door open. The light that entered the roomwas soft, and warm; bright enough to allow me to see, but gentle enough that it wouldn’t hurt my already strained eyes.
I swallowed hard, trying to lubricate my throat so as to speak, but it was no use. I felt like there weren’t any fluids left in my body, like I was filled with sawdust.
“Don’t speak,” came a soft, feminine voice. “You’re safe.”
The woman who had just entered the room walked closer to the bed I was on. She carried a small tray with a pitcher of water and a full glass that she handed over to me. “Here,” she whispered, her voice low, and as gentle as the dim light filtering into the room, “Drink.”
I struggled even to hold the glass upright. Whoever this woman was had to help me bring it to my lips and tip it gently. It was cold, and fresh, and while it hurt to swallow, after a while, my throat started to feel miles better than it had a moment ago. When I was done drinking, she set the glass down with the pitcher on the nearby end table and knelt by my bedside.
I realized as the light touched the side of her face that she was… beautiful, ethereal, and somehow uncorrupted by the world she had fallen to.. Her long, platinum hair was, kept in a delicate updo with loose strands to frame her face and display her slender neck. Her eyes pulsed with inner Light, and I noticed her pupils were gold—not orange, butgold.
When she smiled at me, I felt like crying. Since I was all dried up, I blubbered instead.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, and she leaned across my bed and gently wrapped her arms around me. “It’s okay,” she repeated, “I promise you, you’re safe.”
I didn’t know what to do but sob. I couldn’t speak, I could barely move, and my thoughts were a mess. I felt like a shell; hollow, in pain, and afraid. When I thought the blubbering had stopped, I pulled myself away and tried my best to sit up; a feat I couldn’t accomplish without her help.
Coughing, straining my throat, I forced the question out past my lips. “Where am I?”
The woman beside me angled her head to the side, her soft hair tilting with the movement. “This is Helena,” she said, “and I am Helena.”
“I… made it…”
“Barely. You smashed into my courtyard so violently, nobody thought you had survived the landing. Our Lightbringers had to work very hard to patch you up, but you still have a long road to recovery; the Light can only do so much.”
“I don’t remember hitting the ground,” I said, though speaking was a struggle.
“It’s probably best that you don’t. I’m sure most of us don’t want to remember, either.” She paused. “Do you feel like you could answer some questions?”
