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Authors: Georgia McBride
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only trying to protect you, to make sure that when this day came, you would be strong enough to hear what I have to say—what you need to hear. I could not form a bond with you, or allow you to form one with me.” She stopped talking—finally, but she wasn’t done.
What was she talking about? My birth mother? Rosa . I felt dizzy. It was too much all at once. I couldn’t look at her. Mom and Dad had always talked about Remi’s heritage. Never was there any indication that I wasn’t her daughter. I refused to look at her.
“Look at me, Grace!” she insisted sternly, as if chastising me for failing to clean my room. For all the crap, backtalk, drama, and disrespect I’d given her, she’d never once spoken to me in that tone. She chose then to do it. She should have slapped me. Would have been easier. Unfriggingbelievable .
No words. None. All my anger liquidized. Blinding tears filled my eyes, pooled, then tumbled down my raging-hot cheeks as if pushed to the floor by the middle school bully. I fell to my knees in pain. My sides and back exploded in crushing agony, muscles, bones, and joints all protesting. “Misery,” “waste,” and “orphan” were the words that invaded my mind. My mother, whom I couldn’t stand all those years, wasn’t even my real mother. I’d wasted so much anxiety and energy on not liking someone who had tried to get me to dislike her. The joke was on me.
My mother placed her hand on the top of my head, then moved it to my cheek, then arm. “Gabriel and I are angels sent to protect and guide you. We were to ensure that you actually made it to your seventeenth birthday, alive and untouched by the Fallen Ones, or worse, demons. But then they attacked, sooner than we expected,” she said quickly as her touch calmed me.
She got my attention when she mentioned demons. I wiped my tears and stood, slowly, not feeling too alive or untouched.
My mother spun the tale I’d been waiting all my life to hear. She never made mention of the fact that, despite claiming to be charged with my protection, she had abandoned me twice.
“Grace, this is serious. You mustn’t trivialize it. They are not going to stop coming after you. They want you on their side, or dead. And if you choose them, you are as good as dead anyway. You are what the prophecy foretold. Our hope rests with you.” The sternness in her tone matched the wrinkle in her brows.
“So … this is all real?” Terror and elation battled within me.
She smiled briefly and continued. “Your birthmother, Rosa, is a seraph, a High Angel, and was once the most beloved of our kind. But she became unhappy and asked The Divine One for a daughter. He blessed her with twins.” She paused so I could absorb the punch that had just been delivered to my gut. She always did that when she said something I would have trouble getting behind. Her pitying smile provided little comfort. Then my thoughts turned to Gavin and Mom’s face darkened for a second. “A short time later, The Divine One asked Rosa to offer a daughter to fulfill a prophecy. She agreed. She then Fell for the sole purpose of bearing you here on earth, though many say it was done out of love for The Divine One. Still, she did so unselfishly and never asked for anything in return. He afforded her Divine Grace so she wouldn’t suffer the fate of the other Fallen who had left their posts for more dubious reasons. No one has seen or heard from her since. From what anyone can tell, she has stayed to herself and not gotten involved with the Fallen, with whom you may already be familiar.”
Mom paused, allowing me to digest. All this time, Mom had kept my true heritage from me. Why reveal it then? She didn’t think it important to tell me sooner that my real mom was a Fallen Angel, that I had a twin sister, and I seemed to be some sort of consolation prize from God to my mom? Angels, demons, humans, all connected by an age-old prophecy that somehow involved me.
Surely she had the
What was she talking about? My birth mother? Rosa . I felt dizzy. It was too much all at once. I couldn’t look at her. Mom and Dad had always talked about Remi’s heritage. Never was there any indication that I wasn’t her daughter. I refused to look at her.
“Look at me, Grace!” she insisted sternly, as if chastising me for failing to clean my room. For all the crap, backtalk, drama, and disrespect I’d given her, she’d never once spoken to me in that tone. She chose then to do it. She should have slapped me. Would have been easier. Unfriggingbelievable .
No words. None. All my anger liquidized. Blinding tears filled my eyes, pooled, then tumbled down my raging-hot cheeks as if pushed to the floor by the middle school bully. I fell to my knees in pain. My sides and back exploded in crushing agony, muscles, bones, and joints all protesting. “Misery,” “waste,” and “orphan” were the words that invaded my mind. My mother, whom I couldn’t stand all those years, wasn’t even my real mother. I’d wasted so much anxiety and energy on not liking someone who had tried to get me to dislike her. The joke was on me.
My mother placed her hand on the top of my head, then moved it to my cheek, then arm. “Gabriel and I are angels sent to protect and guide you. We were to ensure that you actually made it to your seventeenth birthday, alive and untouched by the Fallen Ones, or worse, demons. But then they attacked, sooner than we expected,” she said quickly as her touch calmed me.
She got my attention when she mentioned demons. I wiped my tears and stood, slowly, not feeling too alive or untouched.
My mother spun the tale I’d been waiting all my life to hear. She never made mention of the fact that, despite claiming to be charged with my protection, she had abandoned me twice.
“Grace, this is serious. You mustn’t trivialize it. They are not going to stop coming after you. They want you on their side, or dead. And if you choose them, you are as good as dead anyway. You are what the prophecy foretold. Our hope rests with you.” The sternness in her tone matched the wrinkle in her brows.
“So … this is all real?” Terror and elation battled within me.
She smiled briefly and continued. “Your birthmother, Rosa, is a seraph, a High Angel, and was once the most beloved of our kind. But she became unhappy and asked The Divine One for a daughter. He blessed her with twins.” She paused so I could absorb the punch that had just been delivered to my gut. She always did that when she said something I would have trouble getting behind. Her pitying smile provided little comfort. Then my thoughts turned to Gavin and Mom’s face darkened for a second. “A short time later, The Divine One asked Rosa to offer a daughter to fulfill a prophecy. She agreed. She then Fell for the sole purpose of bearing you here on earth, though many say it was done out of love for The Divine One. Still, she did so unselfishly and never asked for anything in return. He afforded her Divine Grace so she wouldn’t suffer the fate of the other Fallen who had left their posts for more dubious reasons. No one has seen or heard from her since. From what anyone can tell, she has stayed to herself and not gotten involved with the Fallen, with whom you may already be familiar.”
Mom paused, allowing me to digest. All this time, Mom had kept my true heritage from me. Why reveal it then? She didn’t think it important to tell me sooner that my real mom was a Fallen Angel, that I had a twin sister, and I seemed to be some sort of consolation prize from God to my mom? Angels, demons, humans, all connected by an age-old prophecy that somehow involved me.
Surely she had the
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