The Hunt
Chapter 16
Blood Brothers
~John’s
P.O.V~
They
were late as usual. Claire and I were sitting in our room flipping through tv.
Michael and Joey were supposed to meet us down her at noon and it was way past
that. “Maybe we should go check on
them?” Claire suggested. I checked my watch, (1:37pm). I huffed, “I suppose we
can.” Though secretly I was worried. They were never this late. We walked up to
their room and knocked on the door. No answer so I tried the door handle.
Locked. I stood there and the maid walked up the hallway. I approached her and
said, “ Ma’m? My brothers and I had a fight yesterday and I can’t get into the
room cause they locked me out.” She smiled and laughed alittle, “ I’ll unlock
it for you sweetheart.” She walked over and slid the master key into the lock.
The door clicked open and she patted me on the shoulder as she left. I walked
in and heard Claire gasp behind me. They were gone. Their clothes were here and
the T.V. was still on. The coffee pot was in to floor and the beds were unmade,
but there was no sign of Michael or Joey. We searched around the room for clues
but found none. Giving up I sat on the bed and Claire sat beside me, “ Where do
you think they went?” I shrugged. “ Do you think something kidnapped them?” She
asked. I stood up and checked the windows and door for forced entry but found
none. “ If that’s the case then what ever it was had to have appeared out of no
where into the room take out both Michael and Joey and leave again – with both
oh them – and not leave a single trace.” I said. “ Is there anything that could
do that?” She asked. I wracked my brain and paced the floor. Then I thought of
the only thing I knew of that had the power to do that. “ Claire we gotta make
a trip home come on.” I said grabbing their stuff and headed out the door.
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~Joey’s
P.O.V~
I
groaned. I had just woken up and this
hotel bed was so uncomfortable. My neck was stiff and my back hurt. I had
fallen asleep with my hands behind me and the ached. Plus sleeping in the
sitting position wasn’t helping… wait what? I opened my eyes and my head shot
up. I was sitting in a chair with my hands behind me and I couldn’t move. I was
in an all-white empty room. I opened my
mouth and yelled, “ hello!” “Ouch that
was my ear! You don’t have to yell it’s not going to do any good.” “Michael?” I
said softer. “ No you idiot. Its Santa Clause… of course its me!” he hissed. We
were sitting back to back against each other. My panic was calming down a bit,
but I was still jittery. “ Where are we? What happened? Why can’t we move?” I
asked him. “ I don’t know, I don’t know, oh and, I don’t know. All I know is
there’s no rope binding us so it must be some kind of magic.” He said. “ So
what do we do?” He didn’t answer. “ Who was that dude in the Hotel room,”I
aksed him. “ I don’t know. He appeared
out of thin air and I jumped up knocking over the coffee pot. Next thing I know
he’s beside me and when he touched me I blacked out.” “ Same. Sorta… I heard
you knock over the coffee pot and got up to turn on the lights. When I got them
on he’d put you over his shoulder and came after me.” “Okay so let’s see Demon
maybe?”he hypothesized. I thought about this, “ could a demon knock us out by
touch?” I asked. “ Hmm… not that I know
of.” He said. We both sat there and thought about what that could have been. “
I got nothing,” I said. “ Me either.”
We sat
there for a while before two double doors appeared out of nowhere in the wall
and a man walked in. He was wearing a white mid –sleeve shirt and black pants.
He had light brown short curly hair, and dark grey eyes. He walked fully into
the room and my heart stopped. Behind him protruding from his back were two
large light beige-ish color wings. “
Of course.” Michael said, “ Angels.” The
man raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The pressure that had bound my
wrist had suddenly disappeared and I could move. I jumped up and Michael did the same. We
uncertain looks and then turned to the man. “ Who are you?” he asked. “ My name
is Zayden. I’m the son of the arch angel Gabriel and the goddess Phobe. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
He walked closer and looked at us like one might examine an animal in a cage.
Which is what I felt like knowing we were trapped here in this room with
him. As he got closer he looked to be
about my age or maybe a year older. “Alright you two follow me.” He command and
began to walk out the door. Michael and I followed slowly and kept looking for
ways to escape, but found none.
Zayden
led us to a set of large mahogany doors that towered over us by about ten feet
with huge wooded door handles. He reached forward and opened the doors. They
swung open lightly and I could see the people inside. There were several people
sitting at a table staring at us. “
Welcome to the Angels Den.” Zayden said and beckoned us in. He started at the
end of the table and said, “ This is Trya. ( an African skinned woman with
light brown eyes and straight black hair. She had s young face, but her eyes
revealed her true and old age.) And this is Sable ( an Asian girl who look to
be about 20 and also had black/brown hair, but had unusually purple eyes.) And
Riley ( A red head with yellow orange eyes and pale ivory skin.).” Zayden then
walked over to the other side of the table and said, “ This is Maliki( A man
with gray hair but a young face and navy blue eyes) Raphael ( A man with blonde
hair and hazel eyes.) And my father Gabriel ( The man from the hotel but here
he had golden eyes) and this is the arch angel Michael.” He said gesturing to
the man in the middle of the table. He had Chocolate brown hair and ice blue
eyes. His red v-neck shirt hugged his body and his hands were balled up on to
table infront of him. He was looking at us and I started to feel incredibly
nervous so I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Okay
everybody.” Michael said and the others stood and left. Michael and I were left
standing in front of the doors looking at this man who had stood up out of his
chair and easily stood 6’7”. “ Who are
you?” Michael asked. “ My names Michael.
In an arch angel and command the other angels in Heaven. I’m also your father.” Michaels mouth dropped. I stood there
thinking so Michael has an angel for a father. “ So why am I here?” I asked,
surely they’d want to talk alone. “ Because I’m your father also Josef.” Now my
mouth dropped. My father? No. “ My father’s dead.” I said angrily. He sighed, “
No Josef. I’m you father. I met your mother years ago on a beach about week
before she married your father.” He paused, “ I told her the truth about who I
was, what I was, and she still liked me. I spent the entire week there. She had had a fight with you father she told me
that she didn’t know if she was still getting married. And well the rest is
history.” I still didn’t fully believe
him, but he seems so honest about it I was sure. “ Josef, Michael, why do you
think neither of you bare any resemblance to the man you thought was your
father. And why do you think you two look so similar?” I looked at Michael and
he looked at me. We both realized it at the same time; how we had the same
facial structure and the same body build. I look back at him, “ Wait where did
my hair color come from?” Random question I know, but I was the only one with
jet black hair. “ I once had black hair when I was younger. That was he only
trait you caught from me that was plainly visible.” I didn’t know what to think, but I knew he
was telling the truth. I looked at Michael – my brother – to see what he was
thinking. I saw it on his face, he believed it too. “ What about Sam and
Kayla?” he asked. “ No they are not mine. They are you moms’ husbands’ kids.” He turned his head to the side, then rubbed
his eyes and sighed, “ I’ll be back,” he informed us and walked out looking
annoyed. He left Michael and I standing
there stunned and unsure what to do. “ This is awkward.” I said. “ You think?”
Michael snapped. I sat down in a red cushion lined bench the stood out
from the wall by the door where we were standing. Michael sat down beside me and said, “So
we’re brothers?” “ I guess” He put his head in his hands and said, “ Dude that
makes me feel twice as worse about that fight.” I sat there silently, because I had no idea
what to say. I was still in shock. That’s when my father and another man walked
in. “ Boys this is Ezekiel. He’s the
Wings expert. Help you with your wings.”
“ Wings? What wings?” Michael asked. “ Hm… No wings yet?” Ezekiel said,
“ Well this isn’t going to be fun. Come here boys.” We hesitantly walked
towards him and stopped a few feet away. “Okay so we have to ‘ sprout’ your
wings. You should have gotten them around fourteen but I guess since you
weren’t in touch with your father it hasn’t happened yet.” He continued, “ This
is probably going to be slightly painful but you’ll live.” “ How painful?” I
asked. “ You have to grow two new body parts. How painful do you think?” I
winced at the thought. “ Okay oldest
first I guess. Come here Michael.” But Michael didn’t move. In fact he appeared
to be frozen to the spot. “ Oh for heavens sake.” Ezekiel said and walk over to
him. “ It’s ok son.” Michael the arch angel said. Ezekiel placed his hands on Michaels
shoulders and they started to glow gold. Michael yelled and jumped away from
him. When he grasped the edge of the table to hold himself up I could see his
shoulder blades moving beneath his shirt. I gasped and started to back away as
Ezekiel approached me. “ Now Josef it going to be okay.” He said but I knew
better. I look around wildly for escape. Michael had fallen on to the floor and
was writhing in pain on the floor. Ezikiel had grown tired of trying to
approach me and snapped his fingers. Suddenly my body seized up and I couldn’t
move. “ That’s better,” he said. He walked over and place his hands on my
shoulders and positioned his thumbs over my shoulder blades and rubbed them in
three small circles in different directions. At first nothing happened, but
then I felt my back start to get warm and them burn almost like my shirt had
been set on fire. My bones felt like they were breaking and popping. I could
feel them slide and move under my skin. By now Michael had passed out and I was
about to follow however I stayed awake long enough to hear Ezekiel and Michael
talk about how long this would take. I black out after hearing it would be
several hours…
~Michael’s
P.O.V~
I saw my
son’s on the floor and I felt guilt and regret for being the reason they were
in pain. I was going to tell them sooner
but I didn’t know how. Plus they were happier where they were. But they needed
me now. I walked out and found Gabriel standing outside and he said, “ How’s it
going?” “ As expected.” I said. Zayden was standing behind his father and I looked at him, “ Zayden I need you to
help them figure things out.” He nodded
and walked into the room. “What’s wrong Michael?” Gabriel asked me. “ Do you think I should have waited to tell
them?” “ I think you waited too long
brother.” Gabriel had told Zayden on his thirteenth birthday. Zayden’s
‘parents’ had divorced and his mom was an alcoholic so Gabriel went down and
brought him back up here and he’s been
up with us ever since. “ I don’t know. I almost didn’t want to tell them but I needed
to.” Gabriel patted me on the shoulder. “
It was the right thing to do Michael. They needed their father. They would have
figured out they were different eventually.” I nodded and walked away.
I went
in to the throne room of my Father and kneeled down. Father? I thought. Yes my son? The reply came. Did I do the right thing?
That depends.
On what?
Are they happier? Are you?
Yes. I’m happier with them here
and I don’t know how they feel.
My son, you are a father of two
children. I am a father of many. I think I can sympathize with your fear
for them, but if you are happier then
chances are they will be too.
Thank you, father.
I
stood up and walked out. I went back to check on my children and seen that they
were sitting up on the floor breathing heavy but they had their wings.
~Joey’s
P.O.V~
“Extraordinary!”
I heard someone say, “ I’ve never seen wings grow that fast! It was what twenty
minutes? Insane.”
“Oooh,”
groaned. My head was pounding and my shoulders were sore. Growing wings was a
painful job. I pushed myself up on to my elbows and sat up. My vision was
blurry and I felt sick. I looked around and seen Michael sitting up a few feet
away from me. His shirt was torn and barley hanging on his torso, because of
the large, white feathered wings that had grown out of his back. The lights in
the room made them seem to glow and looking at them hurt my already throbbing
head. I looked away and seen Zayden sitting on one of the chairs looking at us.
Ezekiel was still going on about it happening so quickly. Zayden looked at him
and rolled his eyes then stood up. He walked
over to Michael and helped him up. Then
me helped me up. I stood up and room spun. I blinked a few times and tried to regain
my balance. Zayden handed me a shirt and
I looked down. My shirt was in the same condition as Michaels and was about to
fall off. The shirt Zayden handed me was equipped for a person with wings. “
Try spreading your wings. They won’t be as cramped. There’s a mirror over there
if you want to see them. One of a kind I’d say.” I walked over and looked in the mirror. I couldn’t
see them well since they were folded against my back so I tried to move them.
Nothing happened. I concentrated on trying to control them and I felt them
move. I took a deep breath and moved my sore new wings apart. They had about a
nine foot wing span and were jet black, like my hair, but the last row or two
of feathers were a dark almost bronzy brown. I turned around and realized that.
The Michael had walked back in. “They suit you.” He said. I didn’t look away
from the mirror, but I saw him walk up behind me. “How do they feel?” I didn’t
know how to describe it. They felt odd, but also in a way they felt good. Like I’d
always had them but never knew about them. “ They feel… perfect.” I responded. “Good.”
He turned and walked over to talk to Michael. I continued to look at my wings
and move them to get the feel of them. “
Ready for a test run?” Michael asked. I turned and he was standing by the door
with Michael. Yikes that would take some getting used to.
I walked
over and we followed our father out of the room. “ So what should we call you?”
Michael asked. “ Um, well I am you father, so I guess you could call me father.
Or dad. Whichever you prefer. Or I suppose if that was too uncomfortable you
could call me Michael. But that might get confusing.”
“ Okay,
dad.” Michael said. We exited the building and walked outside. The place we had
been in was the size of a castle. It had several towers and the highest one
went above the cloud line so the top couldn’t be seen. “ Well, lets get
started.” Our dad turned towards us. “ When I was just learning how to fly millenniums
ago I learned that it was best to go at it at a run then once you’ve built up
speed try to push off and catch air to fly.”
He stepped out of the way and instructed one of us to start first. Michael
looked at me and then took up a running stance. He sprinted forward and ran
several feet be for jumping in to the air. He spread his wings and hovered for
a minute before falling forward on his face. “ That was good son. Next time try
pushing with your wings more. Joey. Your turn.” I swallowed nervously and then
with out hesitation I zoomed forward. I ran for a few moments and then jumped up.
Unfortunately I had the same pitiful results as Michael. I had gone up for a moment
then fell back onto my feet and stumbled some before falling on my hands and
knees. I stood up and walked back over to the
Micheals. “ Okay. Watch I’m going to fly to the top of that tower there. Meet
me up there okay?” “ Okay.” We both said. Michael took of in to a run and then
leapt into the air. He spread his wings out the moment his feet left the ground
and then thrust them a few times to gain altitude. Michael and I ran forward at
the same time and copied his steps. We jumped up and spread out our wings. Instantly
I felt a jerk and push upward with my wings. I stayed up in the air and looked
at Michael who had also managed to stay up. He nodded at me and we thrusted our
wings to meet our dad on top of the tower. We few higher and higher until we
hovered slightly about the tower then brought our wings in and lightly touched
down on the roof. “ Very good. I knew you had it in you.” He said proudly. “
That was amazing.” Michael said. “ I know.” Dad replied. We spent the rest of
the day flying around the sky and
hanging out with each other.
After a
while we got tired so we decided to turn in. Zayden lead up to a room that was
huge. It was easily half the size of John’s entire house and had two four poster
beds with white bed linens. In the back of the rom there was a giant flat screen
tv and by the windows there were two wardrobes against the walls. I walked over
and opened one and seen all the clothes were my size. I looked at Michael and
he looked at me. We both randomly started laughing so much I doubled over out
of breath from laughing. We finally stopped laughing and looked back at each
other. “ Can you believe it?” Michael asked. “ I don’t know, dude. This is a
whole new level of unbelievable.” I said. “ Ya, but still it seems pretty real.
Do you think we’re hallucinating or something?” He asked. “ No… I think this is
real but, wow who’d’ve thought.” I said.
“ I know. Us brothers. No offence but I’d have never thought that.” He told
me. “ Me either.” I confessed. “Wow. I
guess we’d better go to bed cause I’m exhausted.” He said. “ Wait! What about
John and Claire? We just left them there. They’re probably worried.” “ I forgot
about them.” Michael said. “ Me too.” I said guiltily. “ I guess we’ll talk to
Micha– Dad in the morning about going back.” I agreed and changed in to night
clothes. I laid down and processed todays thoughts; A new dad, an new brother,
and wings. It was almost too much to
process in one night. I didn’t know how I felt about Michael being my brother.
Did that make Sam my half sister? I wasn’t sure. I laid there and thought about
Kayla. How was she? Could my dad fix her? I decided to ask him in the morning. I heard Michael’s breathing slow and I knew he
was sleep. I closed my eyes and drfted in to a dream where I was flying and
soaring through the clouds with my dad and Michael. Maybe I hadn’t lost my
family after all.
~Authors
Note~
Yay! Two
updates in two days! I’m on a roll. Lol. Anyway OMG the secret it out. I hope you like this one I was so excited to
write it. I’m really happy with this one and was so into finishing it that I was
working on it nonstop for hours. Well hopefully I’ll have another chapter in a
about a week!
~Jayfeather1997