Whatever! I think to myself.

"And that is why your portal home was closed?"

"No. The portal was closed to protect Divinity. But that is a story for another day. It is suspected that one among us divine Angels is a traitor. The Tartaros gates can only be opened from outside, and only by a divine Angel."

"Oh, yeah. Someone has definitely betrayed you." I say listlessly and he sighs at my outburst of unconcern.

"All angels know that the gates to heaven are here, so the portal had to be closed. To protect the Principles of Divinity, we cannot take the chance of fallen angels coming through the portal."

"Ok, but doesn't that mean you will never get back home? And what is this Divinity anyway that you need to protect?"

"The Principles of Divinity are beyond your comprehension." I scoff at his condescending tone. "And no, we can eventually go home, after we finish our mission on earth."

"How do you know the traitor is not one of you seven?"

"The traitor cannot be one of us. The chances of it are very slim, as we were all back home when the gates were opened. The traitor is one of the angels that had been on earth when it happened. I a.s.sembled my Brotherhood of warriors and together we've come to handle this case. Our primary objective is to hunt down the fallen, smoke out the traitor and imprison them again."

"Sounds like a great plan, but why don't you just kill the fallen angels so that they don't get freed again? I hear judgment day is far, far away." I say listlessly.

"No, we cannot kill them, angels are immortal until judgment day. Our mission is clear- capture and imprison the fallen angels again, smoke out the traitor among us, and then go back home." He says it plainly, but I catch the emotion in his words. Is he that much worried about the success of his mission? Poker face Raphael, who'd have thought!

"What part do I play in all this?"

"You are the link to our home, the holy grail of sorts."

"Someone called me the guardian last week. Get your facts right."

"The holy grail I am referring to is Archangel Gabriel's divine Essence in your soul, a piece of her consciousness in you. The connection between the two of you makes you the portal home. Your physical body is its guardian. Should you die, her Essence dies with you. And when our quest is done, we will have no way of contacting Archangels Gabriel and Michael, and no portal back home. We will then be stuck in the world of man for all eternity until judgment day."

"Oh wow! That sounds like a long time. I don't particularly like you creatures, but I wouldn't willingly condemn someone to roam this world for what sounds like millions of years. What can I do to help?"

"For now, just try keep your emotions at a minimum. We communicate with each other via our emotions. We can feel your emotions because you have Gabriel's Essence in you, and your emotions are raging all the time. If one of my brothers is in trouble, I'll find it hard to help them because your raging emotions are drowning out theirs."

"Oh!" I say in a whisper. I do not wish any of them harm, so I am willing to help as much as I can.

"What can I do about it?"

"You need to stop hating Azrael so much. It is making us hate him too. So much so that we want to try kill him all the time. Those are your emotions, not ours. I feel your emotions much more strongly because I am often guarding you in close proximity. We need to pay attention to our true enemies." His words surprise me, and despite the gravity of the matter, I giggle at the thought.

"He is such an a.s.s!"

"I know you believe so."

"I forgive him," I say with a shrug, wishing to get back to school because cla.s.ses are just about to begin again.

"No you haven't. You are still angry with him."

"Yes I am! So how do I stop?"

"You need to hurt him. That will make you even, and you will then stop being so angry." Azrael then lands before us, his beautiful face looking at me with a blank expression.

"How do I hurt him?" My voice drips with the venomous anger I feel towards the creature before me.

Raphael turns to look at me, his ice cold blue eyes echoing the raging emotion I feel inside me. He takes out a metallic lighter out of his pockets and flicks it to let out a blue flame.

"Pluck out some of the feathers from his wings, and burn them. That will truly hurt him." Raphael's voice sounds like it's coming from a cold hearted psychopath, about to enjoy torturing his victim immensely.

Azrael's face twitches in sudden fear and pain at his brother's betrayal, throwing threatening gazes at the two of us. I take a step towards him, and his large powerful wings burst out from his back protectively, cascading behind him majestically.

They are warning me, I note. I walk up to him, and lift my hand to stroke one of his feathers.

I see the raw panic crossing his face. When I wrap my hand around one of the long perfect feathers, his eyes look at me pleadingly, begging me for mercy, as his body shakes as though he is using all the power he has not to flee from what is coming next. I lift my hand away from the feather and trace the side of his face above mine, our eyes lock together.

"Do we understand each other?" I ask him. Meaning that he is never again to try threaten me or my family.

"Crystal clear," he promises, unblinking.

There's power not only in hurting for vengeance, but in the ability to forgive after delivering a serious threat, something I've just learnt.

"Put out the flame, Raphael. I think I've forgiven him."

"Yes you have. I no longer feel like beating him to pulp anymore." I smile back at Raphael, glad that at least he had understood just how angry I had been at Azrael.

"I have to go back to school," I say turning to him.

He wordlessly cradles me again tight to his side, and we land in one of the girls' toilet noiselessly. I chuckle at his ingenious choice of a landing place. He holds onto me as I wriggle my legs under me. It still unsettles me a lot to travel this way.

"How did we fly into the toilets?" I ask puzzled, after I have listened to be sure we are alone.

"We squeezed in through that window," he says pointing towards a small window of about 300x300mm, which is still gently swinging on its hinges.

"No way! That would be a very tight squeeze even for me. You couldn't have possibly squeezed through it."

"Watch and learn," he says in a whisper over my hair, before I watch him fly super-fast to the window, and then supernaturally stretch himself as his body repositions itself to allow him to squeeze through the window. Nice!

I walk out of the bathroom and make my way to cla.s.s, planning to lie to my teacher Bente about how I had an upset stomach and spent the last quarter of an hour that I should have been in cla.s.s throwing up.

It is amazing what a good liar I am becoming, all in the name of saving the Principles of Divinity.

Hallelujah to you all!

Chapter 15.

"Haha! Dad let it go already! I brought you someone now to carry the half of my load!" I call out laughing as I clip another floor heating pipe in place onto the plastic s.p.a.cers.

Dad, with the help of grandpa and Magnus, is busy replacing the old windows with the new energy saving windows he picked up earlier today after work. Grandma and I are relegated to laying the floor pipes because of our lack of body strength.

I don't argue with them for I am enjoying my task. Dad however keeps bringing up the point of how I was not much help with the mounting of the roof insulation last week because I could not lift the rockwool bundles and balance on the ladder at the same time. He is convincing the guys that women cannot multi-task after all!

"Magnus, thanks for offering to help," dad says to my friend.

"No problem, Torben, I'm enjoying the experience. I had lots of fun last summer when my dad and I built an extension to our house, so I am glad to have the opportunity to help out."

"I am glad you think so. I could really use the muscle, no offence dad!" Grandpa laughs lightly in response.

"Well, I am offended dad," I call out from the other room, the one that is to be converted into two bedrooms.

"You'll get over it, princess!" Dad jokes. I can't help but laugh along with the others at his reply.

The work load moves much faster this afternoon. It really does help to have a seventeen year old athlete added to our building team. Grandma and I are soon done with our task, and I join the men with helping fix the Windows as grandma contents herself to clearing the rubble and piling it onto the trailer.

It had been quite tricky for them to replace the windows in the beginning, but they seem to have it all under control now. Like most things in construction, it has a learning curve to it.

We manage to finish the second window, just as grandmother is getting impatient with calling us to dinner. There is a steady drizzle, but miss perfect-wife grandma has already set up the large picnic umbrella over the camping table.

We sit under it, and dig into our meal of koldskl and pebernd, a very light Danish summer meal whose American equivalence I am yet to find. She packed with her a large thermos with warm cocoa that we drink to warm us up after the cold meal. We then set out to work on the third window, leaving grandmother and grandfather to clear up after us.

"So tell me, is Caroline being a brat at school?" Dad asks Magnus good-humoredly, who laughs back in response.

"Not especially, though I doubt the teachers enjoy the fact that she refuses to speak Danish."

"Magnus, shut up!" I say, feigning my annoyance, and he winks back at me.

"Yeah, she refuses to speak it at home too. Stubborn daughter I've got!" Dad says chuckling. It is so cool how easy going my parents are about my schooling at times. Not a single hint of college has ever been mentioned in my life. If I said I do not want to go to college after high school, they would probably invite me to travel the world with them and live among the different underdeveloped areas in the world that they love so much. That is what my parents call the true education of life.

Their motto in life is probably live and let live. I know that when dad lived among the Khoisan, he never showered for weeks because there was no water. Living just as the communities there do; wiping himself clean instead with a piece of towel soaked in sap squeezed out of tree roots. And when he called us and talked about it, he was excited about having to try something so different. My mother did promise though to scrub him clean for hours when he got home.

At just five years old, I believed she had carried out the threat, because they had stayed in the bathroom for so many hours. I now know, however, that they stayed in the bathroom for so long because they were doing a lot more than showering in there. Ew! No one enjoys thinking about their parents coupling. I need to distract my mind again.

"Dad, when we move in here, how shall you get to work?" I ask.

"I was thinking about a motorbike..."

"Mom will kill you!"

"I know. That is why I said I was just thinking about it."

We laugh a little, imagining just how loud my mom would yell if he were to get a bike. We both fall silent after that. He is probably thinking how much he misses her just as I am. But he has practice, often not seeing her for up to three consecutive months. I however, have always lived with mom, always woken up to her voice. I am trying so hard to be strong and not show how much I miss her. Every time she calls, she sounds so happy and excited with her work, and I have to bite down my emotions. No one wants to be a party p.o.o.per!

"Seriously though, I applied for a transfer to the Snderbirk post office, and they accepted. That is why I thought this house would be perfect. You and I could take the bus together every morning." he says cheerfully while I groan loudly.

"Exchanging Magnus for dad as my bus-buddy! Could it get any better!" I mock sarcastically and we all join in laughing.

We continue the same light banter when grandfather joins us, and manage to replace the bathroom and kitchen windows before 9pm, leaving just the two large windows in the larger room that should be later converted to the bedrooms.

The ride home is quite uncomfortable, as three of us are squeezed together onto the back seat. I sit in the middle, and therefore have it worst.

As we get closer to Lejtoft, I feel the emptiness as the heady Essence thins out of the air. I must be getting addicted to it, for I get a great pang of longing, a strong pool to get out of the car and run back to it.

I take quick inhales as we drive on, trying to take in as much as I can before we drive completely out of its reach. Dad drops Magnus and I at the bus stop, as the three of them drive on home, for we have our bikes parked here.

"Thanks for helping out today. It was really cool to have you there," I say to Magnus as we walk towards our bikes.

"Anytime. It was fun! And your dad is so cool!"

"Yeah he is!" I say, laughing at the clear hero-worshipping tone in my friend's voice.

"He has travelled to so many cool places, and has done so much crazy stuff. Cliff diving, hand gliding, swimming with dolphins, hunting crocodiles with just a spear with natives! d.a.m.n! I wish I could live my life like that," he says, kicking at an imaginary stone as we walk.

"Well, it does come with a price. Like never raising your own child," I put in quietly.

"I mean... and your mom, she is a rock star! Letting him live his dream, even if it meant her being alone most of the time. A single parent of sorts."

"Mom is a rock star," I confirm laughing. "She is so cool with stuff. Nothing ever stresses her, except motorbikes and roaches!" We both laugh at this, and quickly hug.

"See you tomorrow Magnus!"

"See you!" I get on my bike, turning on the bright LED lights, and bike in the opposite direction. It is still raining, so my jumper is soaked wet when I get home.

I'll have to take with me my light rain jacket tomorrow, and maybe put on some light leggings instead of shorts, I think to myself as I step into the house.

I find grandma in the bathroom and dad rummaging through a pile of mail, his work pants still on. I drop my bright yellow green backpack on the floor by the door and pull out my iPad, turn it on and sign in to Skype.

She picks up my call at the second ring.

"Mom!"

"Caroline! How are..."

"Mom, I miss you!" I cry out fervently, surprising myself. I lean back on the wall and let myself slide slowly onto the floor.

"Oh baby, I miss you too so much!" Mom cries out, and I can hear her fight a sob on the other side. I bite down on my lip hard with guilt.

I should not have broken down like that.

"Mom it's okay, I will be fine..."