Page 36 of Living Legend

“I mean gone as in, his name hasn’t shown up in the book since that trip to Purgatory. That seem odd to you?”

Reese looked up at the clock, tapping on the desk again before circling it. “It does, Nick, but we don’t have time to look any more suspicious than we already do. By we, I mean me.”

I nodded, closing the book and finding the hollow wooden box it sat in. I gently placed it inside and closed the lid. I had no idea where it was before, so I put it between two books from the fallen stack. I started to walk around the desk and position myself next to Reese, but something else caught my eye: a picture frame near the corner of the desk, glass with rounded edges. I reached my hand out and picked it up, slowly bringing it closer.

“Nick, let’s go!”

I could hear the flutter of wings and knew our time was up. My eyes were still fixated on the photo of a much younger Jonah. His hair was a thick, rich black, long enough to meet his ear lobes, curled at the ends. It was slicked back away from his face. He was with a woman, who I assumed was his late wife, Amelia. She was Asian just like Jonah, her hair long and wavy, matching his with its inky black color. Her face was narrow and small, and she looked so tiny next to him. Her eyes were round and seemed kind.

They were next to two other people, and I caught my breath when I saw my father. It was like looking in a mirror. People in the village had always told me I favored him in so many ways, but I hadn’t understood how right they were.

“Nick, come on, get over here!”

I heard feet on stone. I had to move, but something held me in place.

A face.

Standing there next to my father, arm wrapped around his middle in a loving, playful embrace, was the face of someone I recognized, but didn’t, almost as if I didn’t want to.

My mother.

I had vague memories of her, but nothing that ever quite sustained a full idea. Regardless of what I thought of her, I’d seen enough pictures to pick her out of a crowd. Her face was creamy, cheeks a blushing pink. Her hair was short, about shoulder length, the sunlight in the photo enhancing the strawberry blonde color.I had her eyes. I started to feel something in my heart pull and tug in different directions, but I didn’t understand why. My head started to throb the more I looked at it.

How did Jonah know my mother? I knew he and my father were sentries together in their younger days, but this seemed so much like a pure friendship, my mind couldn’t fully understand it. I never asked questions about her because she left us -- that’s all I ever needed to know. Maybe I’d spoken too soon. Maybe I hadn’t asked enough questions.

The photo vanished from my hand and was back on the table before I could take another look. Reese grabbed my arm and dragged me around the desk, back to my original spot in the room right as Ariel and the others made their entrance. I took one weak glance at the room and confirmed everything was as it was meant to be, not that it would matter now.Ariel looked us over as he took his place behind the desk.

“I wanted to stay to make sure everything was resolved,” Reese said, clasping his hands together behind him.

Ariel straightened the lapels on his jacket and nodded. “Yes, it has. It has been dealt with accordingly, Mr. Diniel. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.”

I glanced over at Reese, confused by Ariel’s response. Reese only winked at me before looking down at the ground.

“You both may go. Mr. Diniel, I sent some of the recruits to the north woods. See what you can do with them,” Ariel commanded.

Reese opened his mouth to protest, but I let out a low cough. He hated training new blood, but if I knew anything about Reese, he would take advantage of the woods and intentionally get them lost, making the goal of finding their way back home into a training exercise. He simply answered with a ‘yes, sir’ before turning and heading out the door.

“Mr. Cassial, prepare yourself for duties tonight. Accommodations cannot be made for every angel who says they are tired, despite their workload.” He gave me a once over and then swiped his hand towards the door, letting me know the conversation was over.

Unlike Reese, I didn’t try to respond when I headed out the door. My mind was too busy. Reese was waiting for me, leaning against the wall. The doors slammed closed behind me, and I looked around, wondering where the sentries had gone.

“If you’re looking for Ariel’s little bitch hounds, they went back to their posts. When I came up here, they busted out of fucking nowhere,” Reese explained as we walked.

We stepped into the elevator, both of us leaning against the wall railing. “So, there really was a fight in the woods?” I asked.

“Well yeah, how else was I supposed to keep him out long enough?”

I ran my hand through my hair. “Like an actual fight? Or did you tell them to fake it?” Reese looked from side to side, trying to figure out what to say. “I mean, yeah. A fake fight wouldn’t look authentic.” I shook my head with a smile.

We walked out of the elevator, greeting a few angels as we passed them until we arrived at Reese’s room and closed the door behind us.

I finally let my voice relay my thoughts. “What do we do about Keegan Finley?”

“I’ll admit it’s fishy that he hasn’t been accounted for since that trip, but if he’s somehow gone missing, where’s his portal key? Did that just disappear too?” Reese pointed out, sitting down on his bed.

“Exactly. Let’s say, God forbid, one of them dies -- where does the portal key go? Does it magically transport itself back to Jonah or does it just eliminate itself from existence?”

Reese shrugged. I lifted myself on top of his desk, setting my feet on his rolling chair. “You know this means that the demons were right.”

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