Divided Paths Read online

  - Chapter Twenty -

  Green particles circle in the corner of my eye before forming into Archangel Raphael. “What's wrong?” He approaches us and spots the blood pouring out of my side. “Do you need healing?”

  “Yes and no. Attend to Ava first.” The words are hard to say through my pain, but I'm not putting myself ahead of Ava.

  “What's wrong with her?” She lies on her side, scrunched in the fetal position. Raphael kneels over her, feeling her forehead.

  I roll her onto her back, and his eyes widen in surprise as he studies her. Ava is still convulsing, and her skin flushes from the internal heat. Her eyes still hold the weird look with the split irises. She flings her hand at Raphael, and I can feel the waves from the magic. Without hesitation, Raphael places a barrier in front of him, blocking her magic.

  “What was that?” His brow is furrowed, and his eyes hold confusion. “Since when does Ava attack us?”

  “Since a few minutes ago. Something happened after my pulse hit her in our practice fight. She hasn't been the same since.”

  “Did you tame the power?” Raphael feels Ava's forehead then her cheeks.

  “Yes. I did tame it. It was down to the level it always is when I have a practice fight with someone I am not trying to hurt seriously. Ava has been hit with it many times, but I've never seen her do this before.”

  Raphael moves his hand to her arm. “She is burning up. She is almost on fire. Her skin is clammy, and beads of sweat are forming everywhere.” He sends a pulse of healing light into her head, and she hisses. Steam blasts out of her mouth and nose.

  “That's odd.” Raphael pulls his hand away, looking almost afraid to touch her. “I hope that I am not hurting her.”

  “Can you help her?” I ask.

  “I don't know. I shall try.” He places a hand on her cheek and says, “Hold on there, Ava. We will help you as much as we can to return you to normal.”

  Ava's strange eyes glare at me and send a chill through my heart. I have no idea what is going on. It doesn't appear to be demonic, but it's certainly strange.

  “Perhaps we should take her inside and lay her in bed, where she will be more comfortable,” I say.

  “That sounds like a good idea, Zacharias.”

  I slip my hand under her legs and at the back of her arms, bracing my core muscles, ready to pick her up. Immediately I drop her to the ground and cry out in pain. The pull from the stab wounds is too strong. I glance down to my side and see the daggers still poking out of my body. I left them in to stop the blood flow. My skin feels as if it's burning, being singed from the damage.

  Raphael looks at me and sees me clutching my sides and thigh. “Seriously, Zacharias. Let me heal you first.”

  I nod. “I guess you should. I thought I could hold on for a while longer.”

  With one hand, Raphael clasps the hilt of the dagger. The other hand he holds in place, ready to seal the hole and start his healing process. First, he works on the wound on my side, the one close to my kidney. I grit my teeth and try to hold back a scream, bracing for the pain.

  “On the count of three. Okay?” Raphael studies me, waiting for my response.

  I have no idea why he needs to count, but I nod my head anyway. “Okay.” I think this action would be better as a surprise.

  “One. Two.” He rips out the dagger before the count of three. I yell, and a bird scatters from a nearby tree. Raphael sets to work straight away with his healing light. I feel the light as it enters and takes away the pain. I can feel each section mending as it works its magic on my skin. I watch it slowly knit the skin back together. Without any warning, Raphael grabs the hilt of the dagger in my leg and yanks it out. I scream again. His healing hand instantly changes places, covering the top of the hole and calming and healing it. He surprised me once again, and I am glad. I didn't have to brace myself for the pain before it arrived.

  I feel good again until my eyes land back on Ava. She is facing the other direction on her side as though she wants nothing to do with us. Whatever is holding her captive doesn't appear to like us.

  I scoop her into my arms, carry her into the little hut, and place her on her bed. These days, she feels more like my child than anyone else's. Since the death of her adoptive parents, I have taken it upon myself to bring her up in her teenage years, and in the process we’ve grown closer. She grimaces as I place her on the bed, and I leave Raphael by her side while he injects healing light into her head.

  I scurry to the kitchen then grab a bucket of cold water and a cloth to place on her forehead. I worry my bottom lip. I wish I knew what was wrong. This reaction came out of nowhere. Surely, my power couldn't have done this to her. It has never done this before.

  Her cries fill the air, sharing the extent of her pain. It doesn't sound like he's healing her.

  Raphael persists, trying desperately to push out whatever it is that is attacking her. The screams seem to be getting louder, and her cheeks flush a deeper crimson. Raphael continues while I set to work to make some stew—anything to take my mind off what's happening. She is in the best hands in the universe. Hopefully soon, Ava will wake up as herself and want to eat something. She is burning up a lot of energy. I hope.

  After a while, Raphael stops and comes to join me at the pot. “I'm afraid she's not getting any better. I don't know what it is. Perhaps rest is the best thing for her right now.”

  “It's not demonic, is it?” My brow pinches with worry.

  “No. It doesn't appear to be anything to do with demons. It could just be a fever, but it's strange that I can't heal it. Usually, I can heal all human illnesses. This one is different.”

  “Would it be because she's a witch and a shapeshifter? Would that make any difference to how she heals?” I ask.

  Raphael stretches. “I don't think so. Unfortunately, we have to ride this one out and see if she can heal herself.”

  A knot tightens in my stomach. I hate to see her suffer like this.

  Raphael leans over the pot and breathes in. “It smells good, brother. What is it?”

  “It's stew. Something I regularly make for Ava, using produce from our small farm. It's one of her favorites.”

  “It smells delicious. It's a shame we don't need to eat.”

  “Hopefully, smelling this cooking will make Ava feel better, and she’ll long to have some of her favorite warm food in her stomach.”

  - Chapter Twenty-One -

  Hours pass, and Raphael and I chat as Ava sleeps. Every so often, Raphael injects more healing light into her, hoping that it will have some effect, and each time his brow furrows when she doesn't show any outward signs of healing. Gently, he wipes the top of her brow with a wet cloth, cooling off her heated forehead.

  “She seems to have cooled a bit, but she's still quite hot,” Raphael says, dipping the cloth back into the bucket. “I don't know if it's from the healing power or if it's just her slowly burning her way out of it. Hopefully, this is a good sign.” He stands, ready to leave her side, when she groans. He pauses on the spot and observes her. She tosses and turns for a while until slowly her eyes open into little slits.

  Her eyes open widely. She looks at Raphael. He hasn’t bothered to hide his wings and stands in front of her in his full angelic glory. She pushes herself up to a sitting position.

  “Archangel Raphael?” Her eyes dart around the room until they land on me. The tension in her face falls away.

  Raphael chuckles over her reaction. “Yes. Zacharias called me to come to watch over you and try to help.”

  She frowns. “What do you mean? Do you mean that you healed me?”

  He nods.

  “I don’t understand. Zacharias is the one who needs healing, not me.”

  I roll my eyes. The girl is just out of a coma, and she's still deriding me, claiming she defeated me.

  Raphael glances at me and spots my face and grins. “Yes. Zacharias did need healing. You did a good job. You also passed out with some sort of fever. Your te
mperature was through the roof. We held great concerns for you. And your eyes…” Raphael leans closer to her, observing her.

  She assesses him with a strange expression.

  “Your eyes were peculiar. It looked as if you had cat’s eyes. Now, they've returned to normal.”

  She laughs. “Perhaps you two are the ones who need healing, not me.” She twirls her finger in a circular motion next to the side of her head. “As if my pupils would turn into slits.” She continues to laugh until she looks at me and sees the seriousness in my face. “You are kidding me, right?”

  I shake my head. “No. You were doing some pretty weird stuff. I thought maybe my power had triggered something when it hit you full force.”

  She frowns as she looks at me. “Maybe I got stuck halfway through changing into a cow or something and my pupils were affected and turned into cat’s eyes. The only other animal I know of with pupils like that is a snake. Is that what I was going to turn into?”

  “That may be a possibility,” Raphael says. “But you did look quite sick. Something was going wrong with your body.”

  “I have no idea.” She shrugs, and she doesn't look put out by it all. “I feel fine now.”

  Raphael leans over Ava and feels her forehead. “Still quite warm.” He lets his hand drop. “It is lower than it was before. Perhaps it was just a fever. Although, I am still baffled how I couldn't heal a human fever.”

  “I'm fine now.” Ava pushes herself up to stand. “What is that smell? I'm starving.”

  “I've been cooking.” My chest expands with pride. “I figured you'd be hungry.”

  “You bet!” She sits on the chair, and I hand her a bowl of stew. She starts shoveling it into her mouth heartily, barely taking a breath between swallows.

  “Careful. You'll end up choking on it,” I warn.

  She waves a dismissive hand at me and shovels more into her mouth until she reaches the bottom of the bowl.

  “That was so good.” She scrapes the spoon around the edges. “Can I have some more, please?”

  I take her bowl and start filling it while she stretches her back over the back of the chair, her arms reaching toward the sky, and she yawns.

  Raphael observes her. “She's doing it again.”

  “Doing what?” Ava asks. “I’m just stretching.”

  “I'm talking about the steam coming off your mouth.”

  Ava laughs heartily. “Steam? You’ve got to be joking.”

  “Do it again so Zacharias can watch.”

  She laughs then does as Raphael requested. Sure enough, steam oozes its way out of her mouth.

  “Yup. There it is again,” I say.

  Ava frowns then mocks a yawn. Nothing happens.

  “Try a real yawn,” Raphael says. “One that comes from deep in your belly.”

  Ava takes a deep breath then imitates a real yawn, pushing air from her stomach. Puffs of steam billow from her mouth. Her eyes turn strange as they look at the steam before her. “But it's not even cold weather. Why would steam be coming out of my mouth?”

  “I don't know. That's what I meant about you acting strangely before you passed out,” Raphael says. “We weren't making up stories. We were telling the truth.”

  “Okay, but perhaps I just have some weird human disease or something. That's not an animal thing. Besides, I don't know of any animals that have steam coming out of their mouths.”

  “Do you know of any other shapeshifters?” Raphael paces across the small space.

  She shakes her head. “My parents kept me so sheltered I don't know of any others. I don't even know of any other witches. They didn't allow me to associate with them in case of evil, and they weren't about to go out and advertise that their adopted daughter is a shapeshifter as well as a witch. They kept me hidden the whole time, and that means hidden from everyone. If I had contact with others, that could've helped me grow and understand what’s happening to me.”

  Raphael looks at me. “Then how has she learned so much over the years?”

  “What do you mean?” she asks.

  “He means like with that book you been writing. All the special spells that are in there, along with other things that you do like turning invisible. How did you learn things like that?” I ask.

  “My birth parents taught me lots of things before they were taken from me. I remember many of those things, and I wrote others down. Then I worked with them myself, playing with them and twisting them and trying things out.” Ava appears confused over the questioning.

  “You try spells that you aren't experienced with?” Raphael peers at her.

  She nods.

  “That's the beauty of young people. They think they're invincible and are happy to try anything.” I watch Raphael's face as he sits. “I have told Michael about some of the spells in her book. He has heard of no other witch that can do a lot of these things. They are original and unique even in the witch world. She must protect that book at all costs. You must keep them all to yourself and only share them with someone you completely trust.” I eye Ava under a cocked eyebrow. “There are some interesting, powerful spells in there.”

  “Sure. It is not like I see anyone, anyway. We're always trapped out here in the woods, and before that, Mama and Papa wouldn't let me see anybody my age—or anybody, for that matter. I'm still surprised that she wanted you to stay. They must've been desperate for help that year.” She waves a hand as though swiping her words from the air. “Not that I'm upset that they let you in.” She holds up her hand in a defensive mode. “I was so glad I finally had someone else to talk to besides my parents.”

  “Can you still do that steam thing?” Raphael asks. “Some time has passed, and maybe it is evaporating.”

  Ava takes a deep breath then yawns from the bottom of the stomach. Another billow of steam rises from her mouth. It’s not quite as strong as the first few, but enough to notice.

  “That's really strange.” She frowns as she studies the puff of white floating away from her.

  “Can you stay around longer, Raphael, just to keep an eye on her?” I ask.

  “Don't you mean to keep an eye on you, old man?” Ava jeers. “You're the one who's getting injured.”

  I shake my head as she speaks. “You're getting cheekier as you get older. I should tape your mouth up.”

  “I'd like to see you try.” She crosses her arms over her chest and smirks.

  Raphael watches the banter between us, saying when it stops, “I will stay a bit longer to see what's going on with her.” He eyes her again. “She seems to be showing some signs of aggression.”

  “Aggression.” Ava stares at him in shock. “What are you talking about?”

  With a deadpan face, Raphael says, “After all these years, I have heard many reports from Zacharias about you. Never has he reported that you have such an attitude. He always reported that you're a sweet girl.”

  “Attitude?” Ava spits. “What are you talking about? This is not attitude.” She grabs the plate off the bench that I had put up for her earlier and serves up some more stew.

  Raphael watches her scarfing down the food. “Perhaps you are just hungry. I've heard hunger can make humans irritable.”

  “He's got that right,” Ava says through mouthfuls of food. “Maybe also stop being so judgmental.”

  I look at her in shock. I have never heard her attitude like this before. There is no doubt that something is going on. I hope it wasn't the pulse I sent toward her. It's taking a lot longer for her to return to her usual self, and I can still feel the aggression, and the backtalk is something that I have never heard from her before.

  “Then perhaps it is because you are turning twenty-one next week. Perhaps that is setting your emotions off in the wrong direction.”

  “Hey, buddy. I'm not emotional,” she snaps at him.

  Raphael says nothing as he lifts an eyebrow at her.

  Ava stuffs more food in her mouth. “So, old man. Can we train again later?” she asks with sweetness l
acing her voice.

  I glare at her. This “old man” thing is getting tiring, but I guess it also has something to do with her new attitude. She needs to get rid of some aggression. My wounds still cause me some pain, but I’m not one to back down from a good fight, and she needs training. I lift one side of my mouth in a smile. “Sure. Maybe I can beat that nice girl back into you.”

  The look she gives me is priceless. She’s not happy with my response.

  ~~~~~

  AVA'S EYES BLAZE with a strange fire as she swings her hands and flings her magic at me. With a set jaw, she tosses spell after spell before she lifts all the weapons surrounding her and aims them in my direction. I watch as she throws her arms forward and each one aims directly at me. Immediately I construct my barrier and knock some back with my Egyptian ax. I move forward, swinging my ax and hitting different weapons aside, listening to them as they clatter against the trees. I march forward with power and resolve, determined to stop her in her rage. I had agreed to calm her down to get rid of her aggravation. So far, all I've seemed to do is the opposite. It only seems to be firing her up more.

  Ava's eyes constrict tighter, and each time the blaze behind them seems to burn deeper and stronger. I don't know what causes it. Perhaps it’s pent-up anger from all these years and from what happened to her father and mother. I have heard that humans go through a bad stage in their teenage years, but she has passed that now—she is almost an adult. It is only next week that she turns twenty-one. I swing my ax at her, and she spins, the ax narrowly missing her side. At the same time, she continues spinning and flails her arm, sending a spell straight to my face. It stings like hell with a weird sensation I've never felt before, burning that sizzles deep beneath my skin. I cry out yet continue forward. I will take whatever pain she can cause if it helps her settle down and wear this aggression out. When my vision clears, I catch a glimpse of her eyes. The pupils have changed again.

  I swing my ax again, narrowly missing her throat. I knew this would be the case. I would never hurt her intentionally, but she is certainly getting her practice, the practice of dodging weapons flying at her. I’m dying to send another pulse toward her, but I’m afraid it’ll make her even worse. That’s what sent her over the edge last time, and it’s the last thing she needs right now.