Found



  FOUND

  Second Edition

  Kimberly Odum Wells

  Copyright 2013

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  Prelude

 

  The girl was small; the top of her head coming to her father’s waist. She worked with her mother in the garden that grew alongside her family hut on most days, but she also went with her father to hunt for meat. It was unheard of in the village, women were gathers. The girl, while strong, looked like a strong gust of wind could carry her away. But she was stubborn and absolutely adored by her father, who denied her nothing. The whole village seemed to hold the girl in high regard, which added to the angel’s overall assumption that she was special.

  Hadraniel was one of the angels whose purpose was to find and protect the Guardian Mothers. Since the cleansing of the Watchers, he’d investigated countless girls and women in search of the ones he’d vowed to protect and until now he had never come across anyone he’d felt was the one.

  The day was sunny and hot and the sounds of the forest around them were soothing and nonthreatening. The angel followed behind the girl as she picked timber for the evening’s fire for cooking. She hummed to herself, occasionally singing a verse or two of the song. She had a lovely voice and the sound of it lulled her follower, which was why it took him an extra step before he realized she had come to a stop. Hadraniel stepped aside as the girl turned back in his direction, to give her passage back to the village.

  As short as she was, she was still all arms and legs, scrawny ones at that. She had not gotten her first markings and her dark chocolate skin was flawless. Her hair was shaved but didn’t take away from her beauty. The multi-strand, bright beaded necklace, the girl’s mother had just given her yesterday, was a nice contrast against her skin. On her slender hips, a piece of sand colored cloth hung precariously. Her feet were bare; her lips full large and intelligent, brown eyes stared in his direction.

  “Why are you following me?”

  He’d made no sound and had not revealed himself. Surprised at being addressed, it took a second for Hadraniel to rely. “How is it that you can see me?”

  Dropping the armload of wood, that was no bigger than large sticks, she put her hands on her hips. Her tone was that of an older sibling speaking to an annoying younger one. “My grandmother had the sight. Now I am the one who sees.”

  Angels were emotionless creations but extended time spent on the surface and prolonged time around humans would breach an angels steely reserve. Hadraniel was too strong to fall as the Watchers had but something about the little girl stirred things in the center of him.

  “Are you here to kill or to protect me?” she asked.

  Hadraniel cocked his head to the side. There was no fear in her voice as she asked if he was there to take her life. Stories from the surface before the Cleansing said humans were weak and feared the unknown. Maybe the Watchers had been wrong.

  “I am a protector. Yours, in fact.”

  The girl gave a single sharp nod and bent down to pick up the wood she’d gathered. She didn’t head back to the village, but continued further into the forest, completely ignoring the angel at her back. Hadraniel had never heard of a human being able to see an angel before a reveal. Any doubt about whom and what the girl was replaced with certainty. He called out to Sariel.

  Sariel appeared beside Hadraniel and the girl turned before either said a word; both should have been invisible to her. Sariel was an archangel, almost as strong as Hadraniel in strength and power.

  “How long have you been able to see angels,” Sariel asked before the girl had a chance to question him.

  “You are the first two.”

  “And are you different in any other way?” he asked, bending down to look at the girl like she was a newly discovered species of insect, or in this case human.

  “We are all different in many ways, but alike in others. Are we not?”

  Sariel straightened and looked at Hadraniel and then back at the girl. He nodded once and placed a hand over his heart. “My name is Sariel. What is yours?”

  “Ife.”

  They walked behind the girl as she finished with her chore and returned to the village. They were not seen by any of the other villagers and she didn’t mention them to any of her family or the one or two friends she had. Sariel had also taken the vow to protect the line, but Hadraniel refused to leave her as Sariel left to report the girl to Azriel. Hadraniel took a seat on the branch of a tree that had grown low to the ground not too far from Ife’s hut. At his feet grew a tiny, white flower and to pass the time he picked some and began to weave them together. Angels may be emotionless, but beautiful things didn’t escape them. It wasn’t until Ife came to him that he saw he had made a crown.

  Ife stopped a few feet from him as Hadraniel stood up. He held his arms out and moved a step closer before stopping. His outstretched hands asking the question he didn’t speak. She bowed her head and he lowered the crown on her head, making contact with her skin. The mighty angel fell to his knees.

  The powerful burst of energy had stolen his breath. He knelt in the flowers, head bowed, taking in great gasps of air as he recovered. He raised his head but didn’t stand. Ife had not been affected the same way but she stared at him in amazement. She had been able to see him but there was one thing that had remained hidden. That was no longer the case. Ife could see his wings.

  “You have brought danger to the line,” she said, her voice low, full of awe as she stared at the massive white wings all higher angels had. “My grandmother said I must leave as soon as I’m finished.”

  “The Mothers will be born of this tribe and are of my line. As I am in danger, so shall they be. My grandmother says you will find The Queen Mother and only you will be able to protect her. When she needs you the most, you will be there even if the world should stand against her. You will make sacrifices so that she may live. You will be tested many times but you must never give up.”

  The soft incandescent light from his wings lit her face and Hadraniel flexed his wings to open them. Her breath was warm on his face as she exhaled a quiet gasp. Her thin arm reached out and he watched her face as she stretched it past his face and touched his wing.

  Hadraniel put one fisted hand on the ground to steady himself. He was created without emotion but recognize what he was feeling. The love he had for the little girl was instant. The previous feeling from the brief touch was nothing in comparison.

  “You must not stop or follow me,” she said.

  She ran her hand over his wing before letting her hand drop back to her side. “Only when the Mothers sit in their rightful places will the world be whole.”

  Ife smiled at him before running into the woods behind him. Hadraniel saw her parents standing just inside the entry of their hut before he turned to see someone standing almost directly behind him. Ife waved before grabbing the old woman’s hand. He didn’t try to stop them. He was still kneeling in the flowers when Sariel came back.

  Chapter 1: Wila