8 Chapter 8

-Harper--

I circled the city with Michael trying not to let my anxiety overcome me. My mind ran away with me, with every passing second more and more dark thoughts started to creep up. I dipped low, closer to the rooftops. And continued my search, Michael stayed a little higher canvassing a larger area. Where are you, Gabriel? I pushed my wings against the air, and there was a murmur from my left, and I froze. Dropping to the pavement with Michael behind me. I saw a pair of bodies rolling on the pavement and I started forward but Michael had already separated them. Holding Gabriel by the arm and Miles by the joint of one wing. I looked at Gabriel knowing that he didn't go looking for a fight and when he saw me there was so much relief in his face that he easily pulled himself from his father's grip and pulled me into a hug, I buried my face in his shoulder allowing the fact that he was here to comfort every over-stressed nerve in my body. He buried his nose in my hair and I clung to him, not caring if he was hurt or if I was hurting him. The pictures from my dream flashed through my mind, I was terrified I would find him as I had in the dream. His father was in a serious discussion with Miles, who looked utterly terrified and ashamed. It was like Micheal knew Miles and I looked between Gabe and Miles. There was something going on, a sleek black car pulled up and Vivian's slim tan legs appeared from the door. She ran to Miles pulling him into a hug. And Gabriel stood there and watched as Miles got in the car with his father and his new wife. And my heart broke for him. That's why Miles picked on him, I cuddled my head against his chest and his hand came up to my hair. We watched as the car pulled away. I pulled back and tipped my chin up to look at his face. Checking on his condition.

"You are still trembling--" He spoke without taking his eyes off the retreating car. I knew he wanted to know about my night terrors. I sighed and I just wanted to hide in his arms forever.

"Come on your mom is waiting." He looked at me and didn't move to follow me. He was bruised and looked in need of a good long shower, but he was being stubborn.

"We will talk when we get home, please. Your mom is really worried." He blinked at me for a moment like he couldn't really understand what I was saying.

"Gabe--" He blinked slowly and I reached up to his head feeling for an injury, and he swayed on his feet. My fingers came away from his scalp cover in thick blood, and my eyes shot to his. He needed a healer now. I frantically patted down his pockets to try and find his phone. His knees gave out and I tried to support his weight. I found it in his back pocket, my finger trembled and it vibrated in my hand as an unknown number flashed across the screen. I answered it in the hopes it might be his father.

"Hello?"

"Harper? Where is Gabriel?" My mouth exploded with words.

"I need his mom, he is hurt bad. His head, please I need Callie--"

"Keep him awake, I'll bring her." He hung up, and I fell to my knees by his head. He reached for me and I caught his hand.

"Gabriel stays awake, you're mom is coming." His phone rang and Mom came up on caller ID. And I fumbled with the phone to answer it.

"Callie! I found him he is hurt bad, he hit his head I don't know---"

"Can he stand?" Her voice was calm and professional.

"No." I shook my head and he looked like he was going to sleep.

"Stay awake--Callie I'm not a healer."

"Is his head bleeding?"

"Yes, pretty bad actually Callie you have to get here."

"I won't make it, you need to listen to me. Put your hand over the wound--" I put the phone on speaker and set it on the cement. Rolling him over and covering the wound, warm blood pooled in my hand, leaking through my fingers.

"Callie I'm not in healer classes--"

"Here is a crash course, you have no choice. If you don't heal my son he will die." And her voice remained calm and professional. My heart was pounding in my chest and ears.

"You are an angel, you have the ability by birth. Classes aren't mandatory to have the power. Now close your eyes and find a happy memory of him. Something that makes you warm and fuzzy." I felt a shock-rock my body. But I did as she asked. I remembered him bringing me breakfast, protecting me, kissing me. And it felt warmth shift from my heart to my hand. I needed him to be better. And I felt it draw on my energy, it sucked whatever I would give.

"Is he still bleeding?" I opened my eyes and the panic set in deep. Holding onto my racing pulse like an iron claw. But it wasn't enough, he was still bleeding.

"Yes. Callie, he's dying!" I panicked, he was barely breathing. Michael's car came and somehow I knew she wasn't in it. He got out and I looked at him, there was horror written on his face when he saw his son lying on the ground.

"Focus! You need a stronger memory," I couldn't focus myself my brain was frazzled. But I cried as I tried again. My entire body needed him. He was safe here, he was my best friend, my only friend here. I remember him cradling me after my night terrors, being wrapped in his wings, and the light from my heart covered my hand. And I threw myself into the feeling. And it sucked away whatever energy I could manage. And blackness ebbed in from the corner of my vision. I fainted onto his chest, the pounding of his heart matched the pounding of my head. I couldn't hear Callie I couldn't hear anything. I blinked to try and clear my vision. But it failed me, blackness sang to me like a siren pulling me deeper into the abyss.

Dreamless sleep lasted seconds in the inside but to the outside world. Well, that waited for no one. Minutes would turn to hours, then from hours to days, days to weeks, and weeks to months. Months to years, years to decades. A never-ending loop. Time waited for no one.

(( Gabriel ))

I came to a headache from another world. Lying in the hospital, my memories were blurry, fractured. I could remember dropping mom off at home, heading back to the carnival for Harper, then I was dive-bombed from above. After that, it gets a little foggy. I sat up and Kayla was waiting patiently by the bed, she was coloring a picture of Harper. Oh my god. No. Harper. Memories came into sharp focus. She tried to take me home after my dad left, but the head injury from Miles. She cried, she kept me awake, called mom. She healed me. Where was she? I threw the blankets off and Kayla jumped. She hadn't realized I was awake. She smiled and jumped on me. I held my little sister for a moment.

"Kayla, where is Harper?" She looked at me with wide eyes and called for mom. Who came out of the recliner I hadn't noticed in the corner by the window. I looked at her disconnecting myself from the machines. She tried to stop me with fluttering hands. I pushed them away and she fell back a small step.

"Mom enough. Harper where is she?" She looked away not wanting to give me an answer.

"That can wait for a little until you've eaten at least." She turned to ring for the nurse and my brain skipped a beat. What? Wait? No, I didn't want to wait. I got up and stumbled a step, trying to get a baring and a hold of my rebellious body. Mom braced herself against me, and I could nearly taste her anxiety. Which in turn sparked off my own anxiety.

"Mom, where is she?" She closed her eyes and sighed.

"You had a skull fracture, by rights you shouldn't have lived. Even the most skilled healer knows not to heal that big of a fracture by themselves....she didn't know. She told me she wasn't a healer...I didn't know how bad it had been when I gave her the instructions..." I knew very little about healer except for the basics of how it worked. It took energy to heal, the more energy you have the bigger the wound you can heal, but skull injuries are tricky because of the shapes, the number of muscles, and the brain. Too thick healed bone could cause brain swelling or brain sagging. Too thin the brain can be at risk from any little bump or knock.

"I don't care about me, mom. I'm fine-" She walked over to a light board that held my x-rays. And there was no fracture, no line showing where it had been, no healed bone. No new growth. It wasn't there. I looked at her and I knew that wasn't good.

"Even healers at the highest level leave evidence of work. There is nothing, it is like it never happened. She saved my son as I told her to..." Why wouldn't she just take me to her? My mom refused to meet my eyes. She wouldn't look at me and that made my heart accelerate.

"Mom..." Dark thoughts crept up from the back of my mind. That kind of healing took energy she didn't have. She had suffered from night terrors for a few days, she was lacking in sleep and nourishment she hadn't eaten well because of her dreams.

"Come." She walked toward the door and I didn't want to go now. I didn't want to face the reality of what she might show me. But the other half of me needed to know. I moved after mother and she moves towards the end of the hall. I followed her at a distance and the farther we walked the more anxious I became. She stopped at an open door and I was afraid to walk in. My mom had tears running down her face. And I walked into the room, and a tear rolled down my face. She laid in the middle of the hospital bed, connected to more machines the I could count.

"Your father kept her alive until healers could get there, she was so close to death...she nearly sacrificed her own life to save you..." I wanted to look away but I couldn't. She was pale, her body too still, a tube down her throat to help her breath. I was still in shock, my body was frozen and my brain was going haywire. Signals of pain came from my heart I had done this to her. I moved up to the side of the bed and gently took a hold of her hand. I sat down in the chair next to her and pressed a soft kiss to the back of her hand. I felt the warm tears slid out of the corners of my eyes. I looked up at her still face.

"Don't you leave me? You are beautiful just as much as you are stubborn. Don't you dare, you mean too much to me?" I stroked her hair away from her forehead, she was too full of life to be lying here.

"Can't they wake her?" Mom put her hand on my shoulder.

" She went several minutes without breathing, the brain activity hasn't shown much progress...Gabriel, there is a strong chance she may be brain dead..." It hit me like one of the Miles' fists, knocking the wind from my lungs and causing my headache to worsen. This couldn't be happening, and she pressed a kiss to my head.

"I'll give you a moment with her." I waited until the door swung shut and I did something I swore I would never do. I pulled out my phone and called my father.

"Gabriel, how are you?" I didn't care about me, I cared about Harper.

"Teach me." His breaths stopped short, I swore I would never claim my birthright of mind walking or dream sailing. But I needed to. Bring her back and this was the only way to do it.

"I take it she hasn't gotten better...I can teach you but you have to be ready for what you might find her mind, your mother told me she suffered from night terrors." I clutched the phone tightly.

"I will face anything I have to." There was a sigh of acceptance from him.

"Come to my house, we will begin. This will have to be a crash course, you will have only a couple of weeks. Her parents are pulling the plug. Something about an agreement they made with her when her little sister had been in an accident. She made them promise they wouldn't keep her on support for more than 3 weeks."

"I'll handle it." I hung up and leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. I leaned closer to her ear.

"I'm coming my angel, don't you give up on me." Not many demons could dream sail. It was usually passed from father to son, old powerful lines were usually the only ones with the ability. I could trace my lineage back to one of the monarch Angels before the Fall. I walked out of the room and my mother knew. Which is why she didn't want to tell me. Dream Sailing can be dangerous, if the mind is too strong for the sailer to handle you could find yourself trapped inside, with no way out and no way to make your own mind stronger. That is how most sailers meet their demise. But I was confident enough that I could bring her home. I wouldn't be able to live with the other option. She meant too much now, being a demon was hard enough without dark thoughts tempting me, but with her, they were gone. They didn't nag at my every thought, they were waiting in the shadows to pounce on every good memory. She was my angel, my light. Even as a friend she battled my demons without even knowing it. I walked to my father's and he was waving Vivian off when I approached. He looked at me like I was getting home from an errand late, but I leveled him with a cold stare.

"I'm here for Harper." He nodded and waved me inside. This is why Miles was mean to me and destroyed everything I ever had. Because it wasn't his. He wasn't Michael's true son, he would never be able to dream sail, he would never be able to control the mind of his opponent and he was afraid of someone being able to do it to him. I was ready to claim my birthright.