The Colours of Salvation [Complete (Slowly Editing)] #Wattys2016

Chapter Twenty Two (Part 1)

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO (PART ONE)

Sapphire

Ergh! That girl was really doing my head in, acting all innocent. Does she think I'm going to forget the fact that she tried to poison Sky? Maybe she doesn't realise that I know but she isn't fooling me. I'm a little bit annoyed at everyone for not realising that there's something wrong with her. It's like they've all forgotten the vision that I had about someone trying to infiltrate our circle. I mean Silver and Indigo questioned her name and the fact that it isn't a colour, but they quickly dropped it. I mean even with the two new guys: Emeraldo and Cordovan, although their names aren't as obvious as mine for example, they still tick the box.

"Sapphire, are you okay?" Gabriel asks me worried. I think about telling him how I feel but decide otherwise. I mean he's one of the hot shots you know, being an archangel and what not and he hasn't said anything about Gift being bad, so maybe I shouldn't worry about it either.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking," I answer.

"Mm. So what's the real reason you want to go to the library?" he asks, which takes me by surprise.

"What?" I say.

"Oh c'mon Sapphire. I'm not an idiot!" he says chuckling. "Did you have a vision?" I stop to stare at him.

"I'll take that as a yes," he continues, slowing down.

"The reason I want to go to the library is to do some research and enjoy the arts and crafts fair," I say. Gabriel continues to look at me blankly, so I continue and say: "And yes I may have had a vision but it's not the only reason I want to go to the library," attempting to explain myself but he clearly doesn't believe me.

"Of course! And what did you see in your vision?" he says picking up his pace.

"It wasn't clear...the first part was two ties laying on a table, one was a brown burgundy colour and the other was a green colour. I am guessing that was for Cordovan and Emeraldo," I explain.

"Yes, that sounds accurate and what about the second part?" Gabriel asked.

"The second part, I saw myself walking in a library and I was faced with hundreds...no thousands of books. I know I wanted to read them but didn't know where to start and when I tried to grab a book at random the whole shelf moved back. For a while I was too shocked to do anything but stare at the shelf, and then out of nowhere three books started to glow and came off the shelves. They flew into my hands: one white, one green and one yellow. As soon as I had them in my hand, I felt almost complete. Not quite complete but close," I tell him, remembering how I felt.

"I see, well let's find out what that means shall we?" Gabriel says smiling.

***

By the time we reach the library, the fair is in full swing. There are so many people we have to squeeze past to get by. When we reach the reception desk in the middle we stop.

"Right, how do I go about this?" I say turning to Gabriel.

"You wait," he says simply, taking a seat on a free stool. "Sit with me, we can try to look at everyone who comes in and see what happens."

"Will you know, if they are a recruit when they come in?" I ask.

"Of course. But I won't tell you, that's your job remember?" he says smiling.

"Right, sure," I say slightly disappointed, as I was hoping that he would just tell me.

"Remember your vision, you said one was white, one green, and one yellow," he says. I automatically start to look for anyone wearing green or yellow. "It will most likely be their name Sapphire, not what they are wearing,"

"Ha! Of course," I say laughing. "Right, I'm going to read a book so I don't get bored."

"Am I not good enough company?" Gabriel says pretending to be hurt.

"Hey! You know what I mean," I say sticking out my tongue. "I'll be back in one second." I quickly make my way to the popular young adult section and grab the first book that I see. It takes me under two minutes to do this, and yet by the time I get back, Gabriel is already in full conversation with a cute Hispanic girl with two pigtails. As I come closer, I hear a lady next to them, who must be the little girl's mother apologising:

"I am so sorry, Maya is a chatterbox, and she talks to anyone and anything she sees."

"That's okay, I don't mind," Gabriel kindly says. Bending down to her daughter's level the woman says:

"C'mon Maya, vamos ya."

"But mama, I haven't finished speaking to the angel," she says defiantly before turning back to Gabriel and saying: "Where are your wings?"

"Mi amor, he's not an angel. He's a nice man that has things to do, so c'mon let's go!" the mum says chuckling. Maya pouts, unhappy.

"Listen to your mum and if you stay good, I'll ask my angel friends to come and visit you, okay?" Gabriel says.

"Really?" asks Maya, her minstrel coloured eyes getting big.

"Promise!" he replies smiling.

"Oh my, now she'll actually wait for them," her mum says shaking her head. "Oh well, tell the nice man goodbye."

"Bye," Maya says quickly hugging Gabriel.

"Bye," he replies. I smile and let them past. As they walk away I say:

"Well aren't you Mr popular?"

"Indeed I am!" he says smiling.

"Did someone forget to eat their humble pie this morning?" I say teasingly.

"What's your book about?" he asks smiling, ignoring me.

"I don't even know to be honest, I just picked up the first one there," I tell him.

"Oh, well I'm going to have a look around, see if there's anything interesting. I'll be back soon. Don't disappear!" he says making his way towards the craft section at the back.

"I'll stay here, don't worry," I say, opening the first page of my book.