Michael: Destined Angels II

Chapter 1: Aren’t we a little old Valentina “Aren’t we too old to be doing stuff like this?” I ask my friends as we gather around the fire pit in the forest outside our apartment. It’s a ritual we do when our school year is coming to an end. It’s fun, and it makes us feel like we've bonded. Everly winks as she draws a circle of chalk around us. “Come on, it’s fun, Val. Don’t you want to know your future? Maybe who the love of your life is?” Everly has been my best friend since we were fourteen. Samira, Everly, and I met a little after my arrival to the United States from Columbia. I had barely gotten my citizenship and was living with my American grandmother. Before that, I lived a hellish existence with my abusive uncle and his gangster buddies. My mom had passed away the year before, and I was stuck with Fernando until my grandmother could find a way to get me out of the country. It was the worst year of my life. Unfortunately, my grandmother passed away a couple of months after my arrival, leaving me to become an orphan. I was living in the streets, trying to find something to eat, when I saw Samira and Everly fighting off a group of men. Everly’s foster dad was apparently trying to pimp her out to a bunch of creeps at a shady New Jersey nightclub. We became fast friends after we beat the crap out of the guys trying to rape Everly. We pretty much stuck together until child services caught us and sent us to live at a group home, where we stayed until we were accepted to Arizona State University. After years of living in the group home, we chose to move as far away as possible, and Arizona State was the place we chose after throwing a dart at a map. It was cheap, and the school offered us all full scholarships. It was our only escape from our wretched lives, and we took it. Over the years, we protected each other from predators and have become closer than sisters. However, we’ve all been sensitive enough to give each other space and have not infringed on each other’s painful pasts or secrets. There are just some things that we’re uncomfortable sharing. My biggest is that I have unexplainable supernatural abilities that I mistakenly discovered. My powers are almost too scary; I found I can make people fight each other. I learned about my powers when two girls in the group home tried to start something with me and turned on each other after I touched them. Thankfully, it didn’t affect anyone else. Or if it did, they never commented on it. I tried to find out why I had these abilities, but I never found concrete information. Most of the stuff I discovered was from myths that didn’t fit my capabilities. For example, one said that emotional vampires could drain people's lives or make them attack each other. But they also changed shapes, and it would take their victims a long time to die. Since I didn’t fit the criteria, I gave up my search. There were no myths about people who could make others fight each other, so where I got my abilities remains a mystery. Everly rolls her eyes and shrugs her shoulders at my question, “Hey, at least it’s not a Quija board.” Samira simply shrugs her shoulders, “Sure, I’m in.” Everly has long red hair, green eyes, and a willowy frame; I have dark ebony hair, hazel eyes, and a curvy body, while Samira has light brown hair and a boyish figure. All of us are average-sized. However, Samira has the oddest feature with her multi-colored eyes. One is green, and the other one is blue. While Samira is the spontaneous and open one in the group, Everly is the brassy one in our group who takes chances, and I’m the one who is suspicious of everyone. I puff out a patient breath and wave my hand toward the fire, “Alright, so what are the rules?” Everly tosses her red hair behind her ears and hands each of us a piece of paper and a pencil, “So, we each tear out a piece of paper, write a question on it and toss it into the fire. Once we do, we’ll dream of our answer. It’s as simple as that.” I look at the pencil and limp sheet in my hands, “How many questions can we ask?” Everly grins gleefully, “Only three. Like three wishes.” Samira arches a dark brow and looks at the sheet incredulously, “Seriously? Are we really basing this off some Disney-type thing?” Everly places her palm against her chest, feigning offense, “Come on, girl, you know me better than this.” I glance at Samira, who snickers, then look back at Everly, “If that’s not where you go it from, then where did you get the idea?” Everly narrows her eyes at me and wags her index finger as if I’m a naughty child, “I read it in one of my books.” “Are you telling me you got the idea from one of those fantasy romance novels?” I ask, knowing my best friend’s penchant for reading romantic fictional books about vampires and werewolves. The girl is crazy about them and is obsessed with the idea that there is a supernatural subculture and she might have a soul mate waiting for her. A werewolf mate, to be precise. For a while, I believed she might be right. But after researching underground supernatural clubs, I discovered a bunch of cosplay wannabes. I gave up on the concept of supernatural existence after that. Everly still persists. Everly’s eyes gleam with mischief as she writes, “Ugh, come on, Val. What will it hurt? Just do it. Samira’s doing it…” she waves at Samira, who gives me an amused smile, “I say, what the hell? It sounds like fun.” Sighing with exasperation, I look at the sheet and think about what I’m going to ask. Samira leans close and mutters, “I asked if I’ll get laid on our trip to Paris.” I choke out a laugh. Everly, Samira and I signed up for a travel abroad experience. In a couple of weeks, we finish our Junior year at ASU. Sami and I leave for Paris, and Everly will be working on the early stages of a dig with the renowned archeology professor, Dr. Cranston, in Israel. She will be at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City, where the curators of the tomb found a previously undiscovered cavern. It was pretty exciting. We plan on joining her a couple of weeks after we go to Paris. Sami and I agreed to help with the research after our trip. Right now, I’m studying Russian, Japanese and Gaelic. I’m studying languages because I want to interpret old languages. Everly is studying archeology, and Samira is studying ancient civilization. We all have this uncanny ability to pick up languages and are fluent in French, Spanish, German, and Dutch. I’m the quickest to pick up languages. It’s pretty impressive, if I say so myself. We’re all excellent fighters too. Considering we’re all orphans, we learned early how to defend ourselves. But we got better once we came to ASU. We took self-defense classes freshman year and continued learning when we discovered an affinity for it. I look down at the paper again and decide to write the first thing that pops up in my mind. Will I ever find my soul mate? It sounds corny, but I’ve always dreamed of finding my true love. I look at Everly, who is gazing intently at her sheet, “What did you ask?” Everly shakes her head, “If I tell you, it will not come true.” Samira groans and tears up her paper before taking another piece and writing something else. “Damn it, I’ll never know if I’ll get laid!” Everly giggles at her tone and folds her own paper, “Now, if you’re done, fold up your sheets and throw them into the fire at the count of three.” Samira gives me a sideways look and folds her own sheet. We stand before the fire, our eyes gazing intently at it as Everly begins to count, “Okay, one…” she looks at me and waits for me to continue. Sighing, I call out the next number, “Two…,” and Samira shifts in her seat before she calls out, “Three!” We all toss our sheets simultaneously. As if they’re connected, the sheets simultaneously fall into the fire, and the fire bursts like a wave. Everly giddily jumps and gives us an excited look, “Sweet dreams bitches!” We chuckle at her antics and shiver when the wind picks up, making the branches on the trees eerily sway and the sounds of the night dim. I look at the dark sky and smile at all the twinkling stars. The best part of living in Arizona is no light pollution. Samira jumped over to the log we were sitting on and exhaled deeply, “We should probably go to our apartment and get some sleep. Though classes are over, I still have to work tomorrow.” Everly gathers our blankets and nods, “Yeah, I promised Dr. Cranston that I’d help her get the equipment we’ll need for our dig at the cavern at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.” Samira and I clap our hands excitedly. We can’t wait to go to the church and see what was discovered. “Oh my gosh, I am curious to see what she found. The whole class was so excited when she chose us to go to the tomb. Who knew there was a hidden passage in Jesus’s tomb? It’s like an archeologist’s dream come true,” Everly beams as she jumps around excitedly. “I’m so excited. And I just can’t hide it!” she sings out the old eighties song. Samira and I sing along with her as we gather our things. When we lived at the group home, the house mother loved to play eighties music, which stuck with us. We put out the fire and returned to our apartment without another word. But, of course, we all pass out in our beds as soon as we get to our rooms and dream about things we never thought we would.