Amber moaned interrupting his thoughts, and he let his hand linger on her cheek. Anna had not returned his message, but if he didn’t help her now, she would be dead within the hour.
He held her hand before closing his eyes. A vibration pulsed through his body as the gathering liquid energy poured from his hand. He pulled away and heard her sigh. Humans, he discovered, were sensitive and could literally melt if too much of it entered their bodies. He watched the colour return to her cheeks, and her eyelids flutter open and he smiled pushing her hair away.
‘How do you feel Amber?’ He felt like a father with a new born, her elation imprinting onto him.
Amber blinked in confusion, wriggling her toes – she was whole again and felt her tears well up. She rubbed her arms and legs in wonder. Her skin was radiant and even the old marks from when she was a kid were gone. Her mind felt alive and the misery that she felt seemed so long ago not minutes.
‘How?’
‘Hey, you deserve to be healed; your help has been invaluable.’ He laughed.
She sat up, smiling. The light inside the dome was dim and it was only then, that she realised it was evening. She’d been asleep for most of the day. She thought of Jo-Jo then and looked towards the cages.
Nettles spat at her before returning to her keening, stretching her arms helplessly towards her mate. She followed her gaze, and gasped when she saw the way Seth stared sightlessly. He looked dead.
He shook his head, smiling at how jumbled her thoughts were. ‘Not dead, should be, but not dead - yet.’
Amber sighed in relief before reaching out to touch his face – the face of an angel, her angel. He was still her guilty secret, and she tried not to gaze too hard at him. Drinking each part of him seemed more enjoyable somehow. His look left her breathless, from the square angle of his jaw, to the sharp edges of his cheeks and plump lips. But it was his eyes, the liquid sea green with gold flecks that seemed to make her go weak at the knees. An angel’s face haloed in a tangle of gold and copper. When she inhaled, she felt like she would pass out. His scent drew her in, binding her to him in the most sensual way. But most of all, he made her feel beautiful. When she was around him, Andrea almost disappeared from her thoughts. He had shown her things, things she thought were impossible. Anna had at first seemed like the mother she always wanted; a mother that was interested in her. Her mother was always tired, exhausted. Her pact with Hawk seeped into her consciousness and she felt torn.
Looking at him, surely he would understand, surely he would want to free them. To the others, here, he was hated, but if they only knew him like she did. She stopped, and felt the colour rise in her cheeks. Her angel was frowning at her and her stomach fluttered – had he read her thoughts?
29
Whispers
I wish everyone could see this guy. He’s gorgeous, sort of reminds me of someone. He’s so beautiful, it’s almost painful, and it feels like I’m looking at my twin. Jo-Jo would just die if she saw his blonde hair and green eyes. When I take his hand, I feel energy go through my body – it’s crazy. We’re hovering right now, over the entire planet; it’s like being an astronaut. I’m serious, I’m holding onto this guy’s hand and we’re hovering in space looking down at the earth. It’s so beautiful – I want to weep, seriously weep. The blues and greens against the blackness of space are just breathtaking. I feel part of everything.
‘Nevaeh – meet mother.’
‘Mother?’ I’m thinking of the woman with long blonde hair that holds me then leaves me.
‘Goddess Gaia, Nevaeh,’ he says sweeping his one hand across the empty blackness. It ripples like water.
‘Ok, so now I’m even more confused.’
‘Nevaeh, look at the planet, really look, feel her.’ He’s whispering to me now, holding me from behind, and I must admit I really like it.
‘Nevaeh, try to see the light around her. Can you feel her heartbeat? Every pulse of her energy lines is like a heartbeat.’ I nod furiously, I can feel it.
‘The light around her is thin, her air is thinning,’ he continues. ‘She’s choking Nevaeh. Our mother is dying.’ Her voice shocks me and I feel like I can’t breathe, I can almost feel the pain.
‘Why?’ I twist myself round to bury my head in his chest.
He lifts my chin up and stares intensely. His eyes are full of pain.
‘Humans are killing Gaia, and you and I were created to protect her. We are Heaven’s Children created in Nirvana’s light.’
30
Demons and domes
Hawk signalled to Raven in the early evening light, and the patrol obeyed, sweeping in high arcs. Earlier they had watched the gated drawbridge close behind the van. The forbidding stone entrance seemed to have none of that strange blue energy around it tonight. Maybe, he thought, Harp was focusing its energy somewhere else. The UK didn’t get tornadoes, not like America. Lately, there were strange isolated ones, wiping out one house in a street, a totem house. It was deliberate to them, but not to the general public. The local news put it down to freak weather or global warming. He irritably flicked the ends of his feathers wondering at the ignorance of the general public. Why don’t they find it strange when birds fall from the sky like they did over Italy at New Year? To make it worse, they were white doves, symbolic of peace.
He swooped below the line peering through the blue energy at the ancient windows of the fortress. What he really wanted to know was the purpose behind Harp – why control the weather? Hawk felt the thermal wind bump slightly, and realised Raven had dropped down forming a neat arc. Raven had taken to flanking him as a mark of respect, respect Hawk wasn’t used to. He preferred to be alone – his mind flashed to Nevaeh. Groups were difficult, and he always liked the freedom to travel on his own.
Hawk’s eyes scanned the perimeter of their land; patches of telephone poles dotted the area. From the distance, they looked like wide-armed welcoming people standing in rows. He swept towards the centre, towards the dome. Earlier, he saw it open and the nose of the telescope pushed outwards. It was confusing, what were they looking for? He felt his heart beat faster; the dome was the only way in. He cawed as he dipped towards the building, faltering slightly at the movement below. He planted his clawed feet on either side before swivelling his head to look up. Raven flew in tight circles around him, while above the others continued their arc. He called him down. Although the opaque glass made it difficult to see, it was not sound proof and he could just make out square shapes. Amber had described the area as a basement - a basement full of cages. Totem instinct to call down was strong when the strain of familiar voices echoed upwards.
Shall I call the others? We can break this glass. Raven sensed to him urgently. Anger raged in Hawk when he thought of his kind trapped without the air of Gaia to breathe. He still couldn’t believe how long her madness had gone undetected. Everyone knew that if you dabbled in Khaos for too long it infected you. Hawk felt a message float towards him and sensed it to Raven. The Ecos had already entered the castle, joining with the earth before shifting into brick and he flexed his talons. He was ready.