Tyson went and helped Darius pack for military school. Delphine and Sofine were sitting in Emelie’s basement office. They both were looking at their mother expectantly, but Emelie purposely avoided their eyes, looking through her bookshelves and acting like she was busy.
“Mom,” Sofine coughed, her voice exaggerated.
Emelie glanced up nervously at them.
“Umm, right, long story short, you guys come from a long line of Warrior Angels. What do you want for dinner?”
Delphine made a rude noise.
“Seriously, Mom?”
Emelie sighed.
“The truth is I don’t know why warrior angels run in our family. The truth died with my older sister.”
Emelie sat down and took off her glasses.
“You know that your aunt and I were orphaned in Haiti, and we were adopted by a rich White couple.”
The sisters are familiar with the tale of their mother and aunt’s arrival in the US when their mother was just two years old and their aunt was ten.
“What do you mean it died with Aunt Marie?” Sofine asked, confused. “I thought she drowned?”
Emelie had a guilty look on her face. “That’s what we wanted you to believe.”
Delphine, who was playing with her hair, heard her mom play on the words, “We?”
Emelie looked like she was struggling to get the words out. “My team. Excuse me, ex-Team.”
Delphine and Sofine stared at her blankly. Emelie rolled her eyes.
“Our family isn’t the only family that has Battle Angel in their blood.” She took a cleansing breath. “Marie didn’t die in a drowning; she was killed during a mission.”
The twins wore similar looks of horror.
Emelie quickly continued, “I just awakened the night I turned thirteen after our parents threw me a big surprise party. My sister told me she had a surprise for me.” she took a brief pause, remembering that awful night like it was yesterday.
Many Years Ago
Emelie could barely contain herself in the passenger seat of her sister’s Ferrari. Marie said she had a big surprise for her. She glanced at her sister, who was wearing a worried look on her face. Emelie noticed throughout the party that Marie was rubbing at her arm and glancing down at her phone, sulking.
At first, Emelie thought it was because Marie didn’t want to be there, but Marie approached after the party and hugged her tight and said she had a special secret present for her, but they had to wait until Mom and Dad went to bed so she could give it to her.
Marie glanced at her and smiled. “We’re here.”
Emelie realized that the car was parked. Marie walked with her towards a beach. Emelie tried to look at her surroundings, seeing if she recognized where they were. Marie was carrying a satchel with her. Emelie never saw it before. Marie suddenly stopped in front of two lawn chairs with a picnic basket in the middle of them.
Emelie was confused. Was a night picnic her big surprise? Marie sat in one of the chairs and motioned Emelie to sit in the other one, which she did. Marie fiddled with the straps of the satchel, not looking at Emelie for a good two minutes. Emelie was getting impatient.
“What’s the surprise?” she startled her sister, who remembered for a second that she wasn’t alone.
Marie let out a huge sigh, “Emelie, I wanted to tell you that I found out we’re not exactly human.”
Emelie gave her a dumbfounded look, and then she got angry.
“I’m not a kid, so don’t mess with me!”
She stood up and glared at her sister. Marie got up as well, holding up her hands to calm her down.
“I’m not joking with you, Emmy,” she said, using her nickname for her. “I found out why the orphanage did not have records of our parents.”
Emelie saw the desperation on Marie’s face, so she calmed down and said, “They died during a hurricane.”
Marie shook her head. “It wasn’t true. I talked to the nuns who ran the orphanage.” She took a deep breath. “They told us that lie because they were afraid of the truth.” Emelie looked shocked but didn’t say anything, so she continued. “They said we fell from the sky.”
Emelie was about to ask her what she meant by that when suddenly the waves splashing at the edge of the beach stilled and pulled into the ocean. Suddenly, something large started to rise from the ocean, and without warning, a hydra creature was there. It was dark green, covered in a black smoke-like substance, and its red eyes were glaring at the two girls on the beach. Both sisters stared back at the monster, Emelie in horror and Marie in steely resolve.
Marie told her sister without looking away from the beast, “Emelie, get behind me!”
Emelie stared at her sister in fear, “I’m not leaving you with this thing!”
Marie gave her a soft smile, “Don’t worry, you’ll get your wings soon.”
Emelie didn’t understand it, but she trusted her sister, so she got behind her.
Marie started to chant, “Oh awful demon attacking a confused soul, be weakened by my determination!”
Suddenly, a green light surrounded Marie. Once it dimmed, she was wearing a green armored breastplate with vines and flowers, her stomach was out, and she was wearing a short gilded skirt. She was wearing a crown that was made out of gold-plated vines, an array of flowers, and gold-plated butterflies that were flapping their wings. She had wings growing out of her back that looked like lethal butterfly wings.