“Impossible.” Michael said. “There were tests….”
Raphael and Uriel exchanged a glance.
“How is that possible?” Nick asked. “How did I end up with humans if I'm an angel and she was my mother?”
“I switched you with the dead Fenton child,” Uriel said softly.
These half answers, and partial truths were tearing Nick apart. “Would someone please tell us what really happened?” I asked, not caring who I pissed off. “Nick deserves the entire truth.”
“He does.” Tears pooled at the edges of Uriel’s eyes. “I promised Ariel I’d make sure Nick knew why she couldn’t be there to raise him.”
Uriel wiped the drops from his face, and I led Nick to a couch. He was still weak from his dream fight, and these shocks weren’t helping him.
Uriel grabbed a chair and put it so he could face Nick. “As some have alluded, I have visions. I can’t see the future, but I see probabilities of what can happen. Your mother, Ariel, sometimes experienced what I saw through our bond. She did not, as Michael suggested, have the ability to see probabilities on her own.
“One of the most recurring visions I had was of her death in childbirth. Every time, without exception, she died giving birth to her first child. I spent thousands of years making sure that future never came true. Some, like my brother, called me self-centered because Ariel’s child would be the fourth archangel. No angel born of anyone else could become that heir.”
The others had taken seats and listened in silence. Nick held tight to my hand, his emotions roiling with all the newinformation. If he hadn’t had a power burst, I doubt he’d believe what he’d heard.
“The only vision I had more frequently than Ariel’s death was of the Drevlin coming to Earth. I’m not sure how much Henry told you, but they are a race that lives for conquest. When they came to our home world, we foolishly thought we could withstand them. Our race survived because the previous four brothers sacrificed themselves so some of us could flee to Earth. We’ve spent the last four thousand years preparing for them to expand and reach Earth.
“In every probability in which we prevailed, there were four archangels, and four heirs. We didn’t always win, but we lost whenever any of those eight weren’t present. The fourth heir was vital to our survival.”
Uriel got up and poured himself a tumbler of whiskey. Taking a sip, he returned to his chair. “Michael is right, I was selfish. I would rather we all die than lose Ariel. She had other ideas. As she saw it, she died no matter which path she chose, so she opted for the one that gave our race a chance to survive. She made that choice after Michael spoke to her.”
“You have never believed me, but I did not talk her into that decision.” Michael toned down his anger. “She came to me to tell me what she planned to do.”
“I know.” Uriel refused to look at his brother. “She shared every word of your conversation. I blame you because you didn’t try to stop her.”
“That’s not fair,” Dad said. “All of us are prepared to give our lives if it will defeat the Drevlin. Ariel made the same choice.”
“Fair has nothing to do with this, Gabriel.” Uriel took another sip. “Michael was practically gleeful when she told him.” He held up his hand in Michael’s direction. “I saw the entire conversation through my sister’s eyes. Your exact words were,‘I’m pleased to hear you’ve made the only rational decision.’ And you smiled as you spoke them.”
Michael sank back in his seat, his silence an admission of guilt.
“I planned to die with her, but she told me she needed me to take care of her boy.” Tears rolled down his cheeks. “She was right, but she also knew what it would cost me.”
Beside me, Nick was a maelstrom of emotions, but the one that stood out most was his empathy for Uriel. I couldn’t be that generous, but I was proud of Nick for his big heart.
“How did…?” Vicky asked what we all wanted to know. “We looked everywhere.”
“Ariel checked into a hospital owned by our kind as a Jane Doe,” Raphael said. “Uriel went with her and called me to help. Her son was born with his powers fully formed.”
A collective gasp echoed in the room and Raphael nodded. “Yes, it was unprecedented. No infant could possibly control such power. It would have killed him, and likely many others around him. Having seen this probability, Ariel was prepared. She used her life force to suppress his powers until he was old enough to handle them.”
Nick's breath caught. I wanted to pull him closer, but he didn’t need me that way. “How did Nick end up with the Fentons?” I asked.
“Although we knew what was going to happen, we weren’t as prepared as we thought.” Uriel's expression tightened. “Before you were free of the womb, you instinctively sought energy. In the adjacent delivery room, the Fentons had just had a baby boy.”
“No!” Nick whispered in horror.
“You were not to blame, Nick,” Uriel said. “The fault was mine. Despite everything, my focus was on trying to save Ariel. I should’ve been more attentive. You absorbed the life energyfrom the Fenton baby. You were seconds old and couldn’t understand, much less control what happened.”
“After Ariel died, we swapped you with the deceased Fenton boy. Raphael facilitated the process. The Fenton boy was listed as a still born John Doe, born to a woman who died in childbirth with no identification or name.”
“I changed the hospital records, took numerous blood samples from the baby, and let Uriel take his sister home for a proper burial,” Raphael said. “With your powers suppressed, no one questioned that the child the Fentons took home was their own."
“Why all the secrecy?” Michael asked. “You can’t possibly think I’d have harmed the child.”
