Grounded ~Book Four of Winged~

Zerach

"So what are you making?" I ask and look up from the sandcastle that I am trying to build. I'm unsuccessful, but I'm trying. Zerach stops sanding a piece of wood that is slightly curved and leans against the plank, looking at my horrible sandcastle. He stares at it for a while before looking at me. I've been here for two weeks and I think that Zerach and I have bonded a little.

"A boat." He replies and dusts his hands off, walking around his project and towards me.

"A boat?" I question and look up at him, blocking the sun from my eyes with my hand. He shrugs and examines the deformed hill of sand I created.

"I have to do something to keep me busy." He responds and I blink and he is gone. I look around and sigh. He is so flighty. I slide some sand up and onto the already existing mound. "Here, you should use the damper sand." Zerach crouches beside me closer to the darker damp sand with a hollowed out coconut that is attached to a small hollowed out log.

"There are coconuts on this island?" I question and he laughs a little.

"Yeah, there are all kinds of plants on this island. I planted a lot of them and they kind of just spread." He sits on the other side of the sand mound and turns the makeshift bucket upside down at one of the corners of my sand mound.

"Do you miss Heaven and being around other Angels like you?" I question and sculpt some damp sand into a better sandcastle like shape.

"Not at all." I look up at him and he is filling the bucket thing back up with damp sand. I stare at him slightly confused.

"Why not?" I ask and he pauses, licking his lips.

"Heaven's not as great as everyone makes it out to be." He laughs slightly and looks at me. "Well, technically, Heaven isn't being controlled or watched over by Angels anymore so maybe its better." He goes back to putting another sand tower up.

"You knew all the Angels were expelled?" I question and he starts smoothing out the sand to try and fill any cracks.

"Of course, its hard to not notice millions of Angels falling from the sky and the panicked voices of Angels in my head." I remember Dominic talking about how he could hear Demon chatter in his head.

"You can still hear them although you left Heaven?" I question.

"Yeah, I still have all the Angelic abilities." I nod and we go back to working on the sandcastle in silence.


It dark and hot; the air is thick and its all too familiar. The room is small and the walls are made of concrete. I'm facing a thick metal door with a small barred window.

"Trinity..." I spin around and look down at the Angel on the ground of this cell with his wrists in metal cuffs that are attached to chains on the wall. His black wings are out and horribly damaged. I then notice some black feathers scattered around the dirty floor. I drop to my knees and bring his head to my lap, pushing some hair away from his damp forehead

"Nathan." I whisper. He is trembling and shaking. He is sweating like crazy. I then notice that he is gripping a sharp piece of concrete in his hand so tight that he is bleeding. I reach out and try to take the piece of concrete out of his hand.

"No..." He barely whispers. "He t-thought that i-i-it would be hilarious to put me... me in the same cell E-Eli put you in." I look around and I do notice the blood stains on the floor and splatter on the wall from being whipped over and over again on fresh wounds. "B-b-b-blood connection t-to connect our minds..." He lets out an uneven laugh and then starts coughing.

"Nathan, they're looking for you. Etheriel and Dominic and Malachai, they are all looking for you, okay? Just hang on." Without knowing it, I started to cry. A tear drips onto Nathan's face and he flinches before opening his eyes for the first time and looking up at me. His eyes are bloodshot. He raises his hand shakily and wipes my tears.

"Don't cry." He whispers and I can feel myself starting to wake up. "See you soon."


"Nathan!" I scream and sit straight up. My breathing is heavy and I'm hot and sticky from sweating in my sleep. Zerach appears next to me and sits down in the bed with me, pulling me to his chest. He strokes my hair, smoothing it out.

"It's okay." He whispers and holds me tightly. "It's okay." He whispers again.

"Nathan..." I whisper breathlessly and he looks down at me.

"Your friend in Hell?" He questions lightly and I nod.

"He said that he used a blood connection to connect our minds." He nods and doesn't say anything after that and just tries to comfort me before he brushes some hair out of my face.

"Somnus."


I wake up at noon the next day and get up and shower. When I get out of the shower, Zerach isn't around. I go to the fridge and grab a couple slices of star fruit from a container of chopped up star fruit from yesterday morning. I get a bottle of water and then walk out the front door, walking along the wooden walkway to the beach. I scan the beach and don't see Zerach anywhere. I look at his little construction area where he is building the boat and it doesn't look like he is working or has worked any today.

"Zerach!" I call and wait for a response. When I don't get a response, I walk back up the path and then veer off the wooden path and start toward the waterfall and spring. I come out of the tree line and look around. I don't see him. I look up at the waterfall.

"Zerach!" I call and there is no response. Where in the world is he? It would take me probably two or three days to search this entire island and he would probably be back at the house by then. I turn around to head back and almost scream. Zerach stands a foot from me, staring at me.

"Did I scare you?" He asks calmly and curiously.

"Yeah, where were you?" I ask and he holds up a woven bag full of fruits and some vegetables... and a dead chicken. He told me that there were chickens and other animals on this island, but I've never seen any of them personally besides birds flying around in the trees.

"I was just getting some food. Are you okay?" He questions and his eyes quickly examine me for injuries.

"No, I'm fine, I was just curious." I reply and he nods, turning and starting to walk back toward the house. I follow him back. He drops everything off and then we both go down to the beach and he starts working on his boat again. As Zerach works on his boat, I walk along the tree line and collect sticks and twigs.

"What are you doing?" Zerach asks, making me turn and look at him.

"I want to have a bonfire." I respond and he tilts his head.

"A bonfire..." He seems to mull over this word and then nods. "A fire." He says and I nod, making him nod more and he goes back to his boat. I walk back and forth along the tree line, collecting sticks and putting them in a pile thirty feet from Zerach. I walk along the tree line to the point where I no longer see Zerach and I'm at a part of the beach I've never been at before. A cloud blocks out the sun which causes me to look up and see the massive dark cloud that is rolling in. I walk a little more and see that the sandy beach becomes rocky until it becomes just sharp jagged rocks with shallow water in-between some of the rocks. A drop of water hits the top of my head which makes me flinch and then another hits and I turn around and start back. Rain starts falling faster and I pick up my pace into a fast walk. I become soaked within seconds. Zerach suddenly appears in front of me with his wings out, also completely soaked now and he picks me up and suddenly we are in the house.

"You're going to catch a cold. You should change clothes." He says and sets me down. We stare at each other for a second, both of us dripping. I turn and go to my luggage, grabbing clothes and then go into the bathroom to change. I put my hair up into a pony tail and then leave the bathroom. I open the bathroom door just in time to see Zerach pull his shirt over his head and toss it into a basket. I stare at his back, at the black tribal tattoo scar-like symbols that expand from his back and go around to his chest. He turns around to go get a new shirt and stops when he sees me looking at the symbols on him.

"Are those tattoos?" I say quietly through the noise of the rain pelting the roof and the dark house that is barely being lit from the low lighting of outside.

"Kind of. I burned it into my own skin with ash and my blood. This is what keeps me from being found, that and the sigils that I marked this island with in my own blood."