Beyond (46 page)

Arching her brow
s in curiosity, she shuffled the tall grass with her right hand. Running her fingers down the long stem that f elt smooth like silk , she said, “
I thought Crossroads was beautiful. I mean not that it isn ’
t. Actually…I don ’
t know what I ’
m talking about.
”
She l e t out a short laug h. The tall grass reminded her of the ones on I sland of Eden , only these didn ’
t have thorns. They felt very pleasant, almost as soft as Michael ’
s wings. She could picture how Austin parted them in her mind. Just to amuse herself she said out loud, “
Recludo .
”

To their surprise
, the grasses parted. Claudia ’
s eyes grew wide, looking at Michael with a huge , unbelievable smile. When she stepped in , her eyes grew even bigger if that was possible. The sea of clouds was beneath her, just like how she imagine d Heaven would look. Breathless and speechless she murmured, “
Wow.
”

Michael
explain ed how he had watched her whe n she stood on the other side .
Every time she visited, she looked lost and confused. This was where it all began, where he fell in love before they met, before she turned his world upside down. Claudia took in all of his words and felt his love to the core of her heart and soul. She couldn ’
t believe someone so beautiful on the outside as well as the inside could love her so much. He would do anything for her, even go against the Twelve and suppress her memories instead of erasing them. For that, she was forever grateful.

Claudia continued to match her eyes to his. She couldn ’
t believe all that was pouring out from him. She wanted to tell him she felt the same, but she couldn ’
t, not yet. Sure, she cared for him. At least that was what her heart t old her, but she couldn ’
t be sure. Mostly, she knew it was forbidden , so how and wh y would she go along with this?

Michael knew that look in her eyes. He could see Claudia was confused. Instead of asking for her permission, he picked her up and flew across the endless dreamy clouds.
The breeze from their speed brushed her hair back away from her face. She could see nothing but the puffy vast clouds against the backing of blue. It was surreal .

Claudia
’
s eyes glisten ed from a small teardrop that was t h reat en ing to fall, but this time, it was not from sadness, but from happiness ; the kind of tear that falls when your heart feels full of joy. She felt so light , she could float away , and indeed she was—literally.

Michael landed in front of the colossal door of Halo City. On cue, it opened wide. Claudia gasped softly to see such a grand place.
It was just as mesmer izing as the Island of Eden and Nubi lus City , but different.

Michael laced his fingers through Claudia
’
s .
Like thieves, they tiptoed across the main entrance and occasionally walk ed with their back s flat against the wall.
The first place he took her was to his room. He showed her his tools he ’d used to make her necklace, the sketches of her that were half completed , and the letters he wrote to her when this terrible nightmare began.

Claudia
brushed her fingertips over the countless letters.
“
May I?
”

Michael nodded and turned away.

Claudia
’
s hand shook as she picked up a couple of letters .

My Dearest Claudia,

They said it
’
s nearly impossible for alkins to fall in love because we were trained to be more like angels than humans. I hated who I was .
My life didn ’
t make sense , and I thought I didn ’
t deserve any happiness.
Little did I know my life would change on that one special day. With just one smile, one glance from you, I fell.
From the moment that I looked in your eyes, I saw the girl I loved all my life. I ’
ve been waiting for you, my savior. With you, I broke free. With you , there was light. With you, I found my purpose and happiness.
On that day, you made sense when my sanity hung by a thread. You are my angel. You mad e me love who I am .

But sometimes life does funny things.
Sometimes we need to be in the darkness in order to see the light. Though I knew it would be extremely difficult, I was not prepared for the anguish I ’
ve been through.
My pain is so deep, I feel lost and broken .
The road I ’
m walking keeps getting longer and longer and it never seems to end.
I don ’
t have the strength to carry on.
There is no other way to say it. I miss you. I miss holding you in my arms, the sweet ness of your smell and your laughter that rings joyful to my ears.
No one makes me feel the way you do.
No one can mend my broken heart, my broken soul, except for you.

Open up your eyes, your
heart and soul . Can you hear me sing your name?
Can you hear me calling out to you? Someday soon, I know you will remember us, but until then I will wait . I will wait as long as it takes , because when I see your beautiful smile, I see the light and my life makes sense.
Somet imes I hold you in my mind, and it feels so real.
Though it ’
s only my imagination, it carries me through. Until that d ay, I will carry your smile and your laughter in my heart and soul.
Hurry my love , and remember me. Hurry my love , and remember us. Every day lost pains me , for I can ’
t live another day without you.

In my heart, in my soul—M

Claudia
moved on to the second letter.

I hear your voice inside my mind c alling out for me .
But it ’
s not real because you see y ou don ’
t remember me .

You don
’
t see my face .
You don ’
t even know my name .
It was not what I wanted , b ut it was the way it had to be .

How I long for those days
w hen you and I were one .
You told me you love me .
I said we w ould never be apart .

You will never know the emptiness I feel , r egrets, anguish, anger all mixed into one .
I hope one day you ’
ll understand and learn somehow to forgive me .

Close your eyes, Claudia
, o pen up your heart a nd try to remember us t he way it used to be.

I will always love
you n o matter where you are f or you are my heart and soul w ith you is where I belong.

Forever I will wait for thee.

T
ears streamed down Claudia’s face . S
he felt every word and the depth of his pain.
S
he wished she could take away the hurt , but she didn ’
t know how. Instead of using her words, she walked toward him .
Claudia placed both of her hands on his cheek s and gave him a feather light kiss on his lips .

U
nable to pe e l their eyes off each other, neither of them knew what to do as they stoo d there , hypnotized.
It was as if they could see into each other ’
s soul , feeling the depth of the love they had for each other.
Their trance was broken when they heard a noise. Michael grabbed Claudia so fast she didn ’
t realize she was elsewhere until she saw a door in front of her.

The
door w as closed , which, Michael whispered, meant a meeting was being held. He motioned Claudia to rest her ear on the door the way his was .
“
Concentrate. Relax. Will you r power to listen, ”
he whispered.

“
Impossible!
”
Jeremiah stood up with rage.
“
How could you have let this happen?
”

“
You were there too,” Katherine retorted.
“
We were fools to trust Callum, but how could we have known he would betray us ?”
S
adness fill ed Kat h erine’s heart .

“
What do we do now?
”
Phillip asked, raking his hair back in despair.

“
From what Samuel has told me…that ’
s if I trust what he said…Aliah ’
s soul is in C
a llum ’
s body. He can go just about anywhere. I will assume Callum is the one who freed the dark shadows with Aliah ’
s help, ”
Katherine informed.

“
Do the Curators know?
”
Margaret asked.

“
Maybe, ”
Katherine said softly.
“
After this meeting, I ’
ll hold an emergency meeting with them, but I believe they were due for their quarterly meeting.
”

“
Where is Claudia and what is she doing about this?
”
Jeremiah sn ee red , narrowing his eyes on Katherine with disapproval.

“
Why does this fall upon Claudia? We are all in this together. She can ’
t fight this battle herself , ”
Katherine huffed .

“
If she would have done it right in the first place, Aliah wouldn ’
t be alive, ”
Jeremiah said .

“
This is not Claudia ’
s fault, ”
Phillip intervene d .
“
If you are to point the blame, it is on all of us. We ’
ve been so blinded, too trusting, giving them too much.
”

Agnes
place d her hand on his to give him comfort.
“
There is no way we could have known. What is done is done. I ’
m sure not all the C
urators are against us . It could be just Callum.
”

“
I hope so for their sake, ”
Elizabeth mutter ed .
“
When this war comes to an end, the Earth angels that are against us will be turn ed into dark shadows to be locked away in the Abyss for eternity , just the way the others were. Perhaps we should do something different this time.
”