I locked my bedroom door and yanked off my shirt, throwing it at my bed, so bloody angry that I could smash holes in my walls. But what good would that do? My grandfather would still go after Catherine if I didn’t do what he wanted, using my body to hurt her. Dio! I didn’t know he could even do that. I’d heard of demons forcibly taking over bodies, but never an angel Merge. Sì, we could do it to someone who was responsible for our death, but never to an unwilling innocent. I froze at that thought, rewinding to the part about demon possession, then rewinding further to the bit where the nun had thought my grandfather was a demon. My heart slammed against my chest, slammed so hard that I felt like I was going to throw up. Did he have demon blood like my father? But Papà treated him like he had none. Yet, if that were true, how could he possess innocents? I’d read nothing about angel Merges being able to do that.
I slumped onto my bed and pulled out the Halo rosary from my pocket, for the thousandth time wishing I was a Halo instead of a Seraph. I wanted to be in a family that was more inclined to healing people than burning them alive, because what good was fire if all it did was harm?
I placed the Halo rosary over my head, praying it could heal my heart, because right now it was breaking. In answer to my prayer, soothing waves of solace washed over my body, the pearls on the Halo rosary trying to heal my breaking heart, my grandfather’s words having shattered me. I couldn’t believe he would even contemplate using me like that, and especially against my consent. Even suggesting it made me feel violated, my skin crawling at the thought that he could use my body to seduce Catherine. No matter how much I loved him, I couldn’t let him do that to me.
Or to Catherine.
***
A cold breeze brushed across my face, ice-cold fingers of air rousing me from my sleep. I yawned and opened my eyes, startling a second later. Instead of being in my bed, I was lying on a beach, the sand beneath me sticking to my bare back.
Wondering whether I was in a dream, since I was in my own body, I pushed to my feet, stopping at what I saw out on the water. A girl was standing on the surface with her arms outstretched. Her long white hair was whipping about like the water at her feet. She was playfully flicking her fingers upwards, creating thin waterspouts. They danced around her like Grecian sprites in white and blue gowns, with sequins that sparkled under the moon.
Then she turned around.
It was Catherine.
She didn’t see me, too caught up with what she was doing. I watched in awe as balls of water took form in her palms. She said something, which seemed to awaken the fish. They jumped through the globes of water that were now hovering above her palms. She raised her hands higher, doubling the size of the spheres. Without warning, she propelled one of them at a row of boulders, splintering a massive rock in two.
“Whoa!” I said, shocked by her power.
Her head whipped around to me, her eyes going round as our gazes met. She dropped her hands, the other water sphere and the spouts instantly dropping too.
“Christopher!” she called out, sounding as startled as she looked. “What are you doing here?!”
I opened my mouth to answer, but something pulled on my body. Before I knew what was happening, I was being yanked back by an invisible force. Catherine yelled out my name, but I couldn’t see her. Or anything. My sight was gone along with the air in my lungs. Everything and nothing was closing in on me, the suffocating pressure on my body making me feel like I was going to implode and explode at the same time. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Instead, I sucked in air, lessening the pressure on my lungs, the relief massive. The pressure on the outside of my body also disappeared, only cool air tickling my exposed skin.
I opened my eyes, finding myself back in bed. I was cold, yet sweating, everything about the experience a paradox. I looked down at my body, finding the Halo rosary still lighting me up like a human torch. Unnerved, I pulled the rosary off and tucked it under my pillow, wondering what I’d experienced. Because it wasn’t a passe or a premonition. But was it a dream or real? I didn’t know, other than if it was real, Catherine had powers far beyond a novice. She looked more like a master out on the water, the control she had incredible. So incredible that she could take down a master.
Like my grandfather.