One
Darkness covered the earth. The only source of light came from the moon, the same moon that kept our flowers standing tall. Their colors shimmered under the sky.
Walking along the cobbled path, I heard something coming from the humming lilies. I picked it up aside from the sound of humming due to the odd pattern that repeated.
When I approached the sound, I pulled out my sword and pressed it against the boy’s throat. It took a few seconds to register that he wasn’t awake. He was asleep, and his nose made a strange sound.
I pulled my sword back and tilted my head. I bent down and grabbed him by his arm while turning him onto his stomach. He had no wings. I gasped and stepped back before poking him with my sword once again. He was human. I’d heard about these creatures before. Asher said they were the cruelest ones to exist, and now one was lying in my garden.
I wasn’t sure what to do. He posed no real threat when he was out cold, but I couldn’t keep him here for others to see either. If I kept him alive and they knew, I would never be trusted again. I would be banished from the gardens.
“This is your lucky day, kid.” I grabbed him by the feet and dragged him through the paths.
I took him inside the Mausoleum, one place nobody would look. “If you wake up before I come back, consider yourself dead.” I left but my gaze landed on the moon. I didn’t understand how a human had ended up in the garden.
As I closed my eyes, I heard soft whispers floating from the roses. They spoke of violent beginnings and romantic endings.
I approached the roses and bent down to their level. “What do you predict tonight?” I caressed the gentle form of a petal. “You never told me a human would come. You didn’t prepare me. Have you lost your touch?”
There wasn’t a response. The roses could not respond. They could only speak words of the future.
“He’s awake,” a blue rose said to my right.
I widened my eyes. “Oh, no.” I stood and ran back to the Mausoleum. The door was open, and the inside was void of all life. He was gone.
I had to find him before someone else did. Faust and Elise could show up at any moment.
After searching through the roses and humming lilies, I found him standing by the dancing daisies. “I told you if you awoke before I returned, you’d be dead.” His back was facing me, and yet, something in my gut warned me that he brought danger with him.
He turned to face me. “I’m still asleep.”
“What?” I opened my mouth, unnerved by his words. Was I losing my mind?
The human glanced at everything around him. “This is all some acid trip. You’re an angel and I’m standing beside flowers that do the boogie. I refuse to believe I’m awake. I’m not at all surprised. I did take LSD.”
“What is...LSD?” I gripped the handle of my sword.
“It’ll wear off soon and you’ll be gone.” He shooed me away before walking off.
I chased after him. “Excuse me! If you want to live, you’ll stay in the Mausoleum. You’re pushing your luck, human.” I pulled at my sword and pushed it against his throat.
He lowered the sword. “Mausoleum? Who’s buried there?”
Pressing my lips together, I replied, “Nobody. It’s my...grave.” I swallowed. We were given purposes in our lives, and mine was to protect the powers of this garden. As the protector, I would eventually be buried here.
He shook his head. “My name’s Quinn. I don’t need to know your name.”
“No, because you’re going back home right away.” I kept my eyes glued to him. He seemed so different from all the men here.
He scanned the black sky. “It won’t be possible until these drugs wear off. I love that you’re thoughtful, though.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by drugs. Maybe he was right about how he got here. I had to trust him. If I didn’t, I’d be cutting out his heart sooner rather than later. “I’m not an angel.”
Quinn gestured to my feathers. “What the hell are those behind you?”
“Wings.” I looked at them. “But I don’t come from...Heaven.”
“Then where do you come from?” he asked.
That was a question I could not explain to a human. Their minds could never comprehend. “Do any other creatures have wings in your world?”
“Birds.”
I smiled a bit. “Then think of me like a bird.” I grabbed his hand. A shiver ran through my body as our hands connected. “We need to return you to the Mausoleum until your drugs wear off. It’s for your safety. If he finds out you’re here and I haven’t killed you, I will never get to hear another humming lily again.”
Quinn stopped inside the structure. “I see you don’t want me around.”
“I don’t want you to die. There’s a difference.” It was then that I concluded how I felt about meeting a human. I was too curious to kill him. Asher spoke of them as if they were vile creatures. I wanted to see just how vile they could be.
Quinn chuckled. “Why don’t you want me to die?”
I shrugged a little. “I guess I just want to see what makes you so evil.” I turned and walked towards the door. “Don’t leave without my permission.” I closed the door behind me before heading back. Quinn was certainly not one of us. Something marked his body, something that replicated a drawing of some sort. It peeked out from under his white shirt. Here, nobody marked their own skin.
A feather drifted from the sky, floating in every direction until it chose to land on a rose. Swallowing my fear, I glanced up at the stars.
I could only hope and ask that Quinn stayed out this time. I didn’t want to lose my chance to study a human.
“He’s here,” a pink rose said. “Asher’s here.”
