Angels Born of Hell and Fire

[Part Two Chapter Four]

Excitement buzzed throughout the mansion. People, more than I had ever seen at once, flooded the elegant hallways. It was like the whole population was on a sugar high; such was the level of anticipation. Tomorrow was Adam’s ball.

I was hiding in my room. Literally- I was hiding under the heavy blankets, my curled body looking like nothing more than a small mound of pillows. Pinpricks of tears dotted my eyes beneath closed lids while at the same time laughter was threatening to bubble through clenched teeth. Every time someone walked by, which was often due to the sheer amount of activity going on, I flinched, hands over my head.

I seriously hated feeling other people’s emotions.

But I didn’t even have room to feel my own hatred for the ability, with so many people going by I couldn’t even think about what I myself felt at the moment. Normally this part of the mansion was fairly quiet, with it only being Jasper and I inhibiting this entire hallway, but now with everyone here in preparation for tomorrow the hall was over run.

I think I may just lose what was left of my mind before the party even began.

Maybe this was the reason Adam had devised this plan. It had to be with the intention of testing my capabilities to keep other people out. Obviously which I was failing horribly at. Normal day to day life I had gotten used to. I could be in room with thirty or so other people without a problem. Anything over fifty though, was beginning to push it. And now there were people everywhere; outside my door, in the other rooms, below me, above me, they were like termites or something. I couldn’t get away.

“Megan?”

A voice called my name from beside my bed. I didn’t respond. Taylor was probably here to tell me it was lunch, or maybe dinner? What time was it again? I couldn’t remember… The invasion had begun this morning, that’s all I knew. I had awoken to find myself overwhelmed with anxiety, and then quickly became elated. Ever since it had been nonstop.

“Megan? Are you awake?”

Of course I was awake. I wasn’t so fortunate as to be able to fall back asleep while still on this rollercoaster of everyone else’s emotions. My mind was too busy reeling from the sensation of being both happy and sad at the same time while also being worried and calm. No, sleep was not something that was going to be happening.

I think Taylor must have left, I couldn’t hear her breathing any more at least. Typically I was aware of someone’s presence based off what they were feeling. I can usually pin point the direction an emotion came from. Just not right now, with feeling coming from every which way.

Fear was suddenly added to the mix and I silently quaked along with the original owner. Someone was lonely. Someone was angry. Someone was frantic. Surprised. Ah, someone just found someone they loved. Someone was crying I think. Now another was tired.

Tired. If I could possibly feel anything I think it would be tired. Beyond tired, exhausted. It was amazing how much extreme emotions took out of a person. Yet I couldn’t rest. I wasn’t even moving but my body was drawn tight, held in place by outside forces. On occasion I would be taken over by violent shaking, the reason beyond my control. I couldn’t recall how often I had broken out in sobs, but I knew it was frequently. When your body is feeling too much at once, its only response is to cry, unable to display anything else.

Hands suddenly where pulling me away from my blankets. My eyes opened and I looked up at Savannah’s tight face. Was my own showing surprise? I couldn’t tell. Surely that was the reaction I would have from her appearance.

“Come on General, lets get you out of here,” she said and I wanted to ask where, but when I opened my mouth only a strangled cry came forth.

She lifted me up, clad only in my pajamas still, carrying me easily out of my room. I caught sight of Taylor, her brows drawn together in worry. Worry, yes that was that expression. Was she the one whom I felt it from? Or someone else? Maybe there was more than one? Certainty there had to be more than one.

We were walking through narrow shadowy stairways- the maid’s stairs. I couldn’t fathom where we were going or why. I hoped they weren’t going to make me eat or talk to people. I was confident I wouldn’t be able to do either. I rested my head against Savannah’s shoulder, my jaw clenching to the point of pain as joy clashed with horror. What the hell was going on to cause such a range of emotions? Whatever it was, I wished it would stop.

Fresh air smacked against my skin, as well as the startling brightness of the sun. I blinked up at blue skies, lightly misted with wispy white clouds. We were going… outside?

I might have frowned, or at least I was frowning in my head. I wasn’t really allowed outside. I had traveled to the eastern barracks and back once, but that was about it. Adam didn’t like us to leave the mansion for any reason. If we needed something, it would be brought to us. So was the law of Adam.

Savannah carried me up, along the cliff that the building was pushed into. Slowly, like water draining from a broken cup, the cascade of emotions began to fade. The higher we climbed, the clearer my head. I felt my first feeling of the entire day: relief.

“Just hang out up here for a while until things calm down,” Savannah placed me on a sun baked rock. Heat radiated up through the hard surface, soaking into my skin like a warm bath. I sighed, lying flat to absorb as much as possible.

“Thanks Savannah,” I muttered, closing my eyes against the sun. I didn’t know how far from the house we were and I didn’t care. Solitude washed over me, basically feeling amazing in every way.

“No problem. Are you going to be okay with tomorrow?” she asked from somewhere above me.

“If I have some time to prepare probably, I guess we’ll see,” I said uncertainty.

“Mhmm,” she hummed, “I need to help Taylor get the stuff for tonight ready, will you be alright up here alone?”

I squinted up at her.

“What’s tonight?”

“Taylor planned this whole big thing… I don’t know. Peter and the other’s came back a few hours ago.”

Ah. Had it been a week already? The return of out-of-valley missions was always a big deal. I don’t know what they expected to happen, it wasn’t necessarily dangerous to go and restock on supplies and such. At least I didn’t think so.

“I’ll be fine, just let me know when it’s safe to go back inside,” I said and she nodded.

“Will do.”

I listened to the sound of her boots crunching against gravel until I could no longer hear it. The sounds of nature crowded into the silence. I marveled in it, surprised by how much I had missed being able to just sit outside. I might get in trouble for this outing if Adam discovered it, but I had a good reason for wanting to be gone from the mansion. Tomorrow should be an interesting challenge… my distaste for the whole affair had only increased by today’s chaos.

I sprawled out on the rock, its warmth keeping me from being chilled by the late autumn air. It would be winter soon, the valley blanketed in snow and coming and goings would be even less frequent. I was informed of whenever there was to be an outing, but otherwise they didn’t concern me. It’s not like Adam would ever let me go along on one. I wasn’t even supposed to be outside. Peter went on them a lot, as well as ShadowWalker. Briefly I wondered how exactly they came about the truck loads of supplies they came back with. Surely Adam had enough money to buy it all but did that mean he would? Doubtful… if only just to piss people off.

A breeze rose goosebumps along my bare arms and I opened my eyes to find that the sun had started to set. I must have fallen asleep without realizing. The sky above bled red and orange into the normally azure fields, and the far reaches to the east loomed a mass of black. Looked like it was going to rain soon. I rose from my now cold rock, wondering if Savannah had forgotten to come get me. No matter, I was fully capable of walking back down on my own, even without shoes. Something fell as I stood and I looked down in surprise at the particle that must have been resting beside me. The white petals shone softly in the fading light, the elegant neck of the steam a cheery green: a daisy.

Lifting it up I frowned at it, glancing around my rocky surroundings. As far as I knew they didn’t grow wild around here, but then again I was never outside so what did I know? Shrugging it off I laid the flower back down on the rock and carefully made my way back down the mountain side. I tread carefully, as to not invite any jagged rocks to tear open the soft skin of my soles. I spent every day for the past year either walking on plush carpet or in comfortable boots, the underside of my feet were puff balls.

By the time I was back in sight of the mansion lights I was limping, having stabbed a thorn or something into my heel. Next time I’ll remind Savannah to at least grab my boots before hauling me away outside. I entered from a side door, certain that the front ones were being watched as always. I didn’t want anyone to slip word to Adam I had been outside. If all went well, I would like to return to that sunny rock one day.

Hobbling through the now peaceful corridors I was glad things had died down. My pleasure was interrupted however, by the knowledge that tomorrow it would be even worse; the majority of the army was invited to the mansion. The thought of all those people made my head spin. I already hadn’t been very excited about the party, and now I was just plain dreading it. Plus, I knew Taylor was going to make me spend a ridiculous amount of time getting ready for it.

Sometimes, I was very glad I was required to wear the same thing every day, and no one in the army was allowed to wear makeup. Most women either wore their hair short or pinned back in some way as to not get in the way. I think only Jasper had access to make up, which she only wore a minimal of most days. But tomorrow…. tomorrow I knew… I’d have to act like a girl.

Sighing I opened the door to my room, expecting to be greeted by the quiet folds of darkness, but instead found a bundle of activity and the scent of food. My stomach grumbled, surprising me. Was I actually hungry? I was for whatever Taylor had on that table.

Taylor looked up from where she was organizing food around a table that had not been in here when I left. At least I didn’t think it was…

“Ah, Savannah she’s here already,” she called over to where Savannah was exiting the bathroom, a bucket of ice in her hands.

“I was just about to go get you. Did you climb all the way down without any shoes?” Savannah looked down at my bare feet.

“Yeah, was no big deal. What’s going on?”

Taylor suddenly bounded over to me and threw her thin arms around my waist.

“Happy birthday!” she cheered.

I frowned, mentally checking the calendar. It was…. October… my birthday… had been last month. I blinked in surprise. I hadn’t even realized the passing of my own date of birth.

“My birthday was last month Taylor…” I said slowly. She waved me away, returning to what she had been doing.

“It’s not just for your birthday dummy, its for everyone! Today is everyone’s birthday!” she tossed me a sunny smile over her shoulder.

I looked over at Savannah, hoping she could translate ‘Taylor speak’ for me.

“I told her that I didn’t know what day my birthday was and she created… this,” Savannah gestured around. The resigned way she spoke of Taylor’s antics made me smile.

“So she decided to create a birthday for you?” I asked, sitting on my bed.

“Not just for her! But for Gabriel and Peter as well. Can you believe they’ve never had a birthday party?” Taylor huffed.

It made sense actually. The three of them had spent the majority of their lives here. I’m sure when they lived with their real families they had birthdays, but all of them had been too young to remember. Being as Adam didn’t allow any sort of celebration –holidays, new year’s, birthdays, nothing- I wasn’t surprised the three didn’t know when they had been born. They only way they probably knew their ages were because there was a file that listed it.

“Savannah go change out of your uniform, no military stuff tonight,” Taylor ordered.

Savannah looked down at herself.

“What else am I supposed to wear?” she asked and I couldn’t help but laugh. Of course she wouldn’t have any other clothes, as we had to wear them every day no matter what. Taylor sighed.

“You don’t even have like, sweat pants or something you sleep in?”

Savannah didn’t even bat an eyelash, “I sleep in my underwear.”

“Of course you do,” Taylor grumbled.

“I might have something that will fit her,” I ventured and Taylor beamed at me. I noticed that she herself was wearing a simple green dress that I suspected was Jasper’s as it was a few sizes too big. Jasper had probably discarded it because the skirt was shorter than she would wear. God forbid anyone actually see Jasper’s legs.

I found the longest pair of sweat pants I owned- which usually pooled around my feet when I wore them- and a black cotton t-shirt for Savannah to wear. As she went to change I surveyed the bountiful display Taylor had set out.

“Is that…. a cake?” I stared at the dessert incredulously. As cake was not necessary for a well-rounded diet, we didn’t get it. It was nothing fancy, looking like something that was probably from a box, the frosting undecorated and probably out of a can. It was the most beautiful thing I think I’ve ever seen.

Taylor’s hazel eyes danced.

“Yup. We had Peter get it for us while he was gone. Jasper used her snack budget for all of this.”

Jasper’s “Snack Budget” was something Adam created during one of his better moods. He decided that as Empress she should be able to eat whatever she wanted, regardless of if it was healthy or not. As Jasper didn’t do any physical training and was not expected to do any fighting I guess it was fine. Jasper said she would get fat if she spent all the money –it was a ridiculous amount- for herself and she usually asked for whatever Taylor and I could think of that we wanted. You would be surprised, how much you could miss something as simple as a soda.

This time it seemed the money had been spent on cake, sodas, green tea, chips and dip, seasoned fries, processed chicken nuggets, a random assortment of candy bars and-

“Holy crap its pizza!” I cried as my eyes landed on the round masterpiece. The source behind the amazing smell in my room had been found.

Taylor wiggled her eyebrows, “Oh yeah baby. Can’t have a party without pizza can we?”

Savannah, who had just finished changing, took in our ecstatic expressions with wary eyes.

“I don’t see how you can be so excited about food… you hardly ever eat anyways.”

“But its pizza!” I pointed, as if she had somehow missed it.

“I don’t even know what that is…”

Taylor put her hand on my arm, her other clutching her chest dramatically.

“Doesn’t know what pizza is… oh these poor souls…”

“Did someone say pizza?” Just then Jasper walked in, Gabriel on her heels.

“Jasper have you seen all of this?” I asked.

Jasper whistled in appreciation.

“Yeah looks like a clogged artery waiting to happen. Lets do this shiz.”

“Wait wait, where’s Peter?” Taylor asked.

“He’s in some meeting or another I think… something about the trip. I only saw him for about two minutes when he got back and then he’s been in there ever since,” she shrugged.

“Tays, how’d you manage to cook all this stuff without the other maids noticing?” I asked.

“I have my ways,” she winked and I chuckled.

“Right right. So you guys ready for the biggest sugar rush and stomach ache you’ve ever had?” I grinned over to Savannah and Gabriel, who were looking over the foreign spread of food cautiously.

“I am,” Gabriel said eagerly causing the rest of us to laugh.

Taylor pulled out the plain plastic plates that the majority of the army ate off of –in contrast to the fancy china that we were served with – and passed them around. If I had to go based on the worn chipped edges, I’d guess they were from the maid household.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Peter?” I asked.

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon, defiantly before the cake,” Jasper said shrugging.

In agreement that we would wait for Peter before breaking into the star of the whole celebration we scattered across the floor of my room, not needing the formality of tables. The first bite of hot saucy pizza was amazing, a groan of pleasure slipping from my throat. From beside me on either side Jasper and Taylor added their own in agreement: Pizza, best thing ever.

Watching Savannah and Gabriel explore the land of junk food was pretty amusing. Savannah didn’t care for chips much or soda, but ate two whole candy bars. Gabriel on the other hand ate pretty much everything in such a way I began to worry he would end up puking before we even got to the cake.

We were all working on seconds by time Peter walked in the door. His jacket was unbuttoned and hanging open, his clothes wrinkled, dark circles bruised under his eyes and his hair didn’t look like it had met a comb in a long time. A splatter of facial hair darkened his jaw. For a moment we all looked at him in shock, taken aback by his worn out appearance. It was Jasper who broke the spell, quickly jumping up and into his arms.

“There she is,” Peter said softly, a smile breaking across his tired face.

Warm emotions bloomed from them, washing over me in a way that was discomforting. It felt… invasive. I averted my eyes, trying to give them a moment of privacy. My eyes landed on Gabriel, who had also looked away as I had. His green eyes focused on his plate in a way that suggested he didn’t really see it. I nudged him with my foot, smiling when he looked up in surprise. He had just seemed like he needed a smile just then.

“Alright! Now that everyone is heeeeere,” Taylor bounced, she did not walk, she bounced, to the table.

Anticipating what she was planning I went to flick off the lights. Darkness prevailed for about two seconds before a glow silhouetted Taylor’s form. When she turned towards us the cake was cradled in her hands, a single white candle stuck into the white frosting. The light cast deep shadows into her face as she smiled up at all of us.

“Ready?” she asked, directed at Jasper and I, as we were the only ones who knew what was going.

When she next opened her mouth we joined her, the familiar song ingrained into our heads so deeply we could never forget it.

“Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear JasperMeganTaylorPeterSavannahGabriel,” here Jasper and I left of laughing,
“Happy birthday to youuuuu,”

“And many more,” Jasper smiled up at Peter.

“Okay everyone over here to make a wish and blow out the candle,” Taylor said and we all crowded around her small form.

You know that moment, when you’re thinking of a wish and your mind goes blank, but you want to hurry and think of something before you waste the moment? And then you just go with the first random thing that goes to mind?

“On the count of three…”

What did I want to wish for?

“One…”

What was it I wanted?

“Two…”

I wanted to be happy like Jasper and Peter.

“Three!”

Six teens let out a breath at once, and that delicate flame folded to our power.

Happy birthday.

[End: Part Two Chapter Four]