Eternity Read Free Page A

hand. That she better rethink her future actions and ask absolution for those past, because there wasn’t much time left for malevolent games.
    The conversation nearly delivered me to the edge. Who was I meant to be? How was I supposed to behave?
    Before I could say anything I’d regret, Michael appeared at my side and dragged me away.
    “Are you all right, Ellie? You look pale,” he said, once we were alone. I must have looked shaken, because alarm registered on his face.
    “I’m not sure if I can do this, Michael. I know we need to pretend, but I’m already having a hard time—knowing what we know,” I whispered.
    He put his arm around my shoulder and walked me down the hallway, bringing us into a darkened alcove. More than anything, I wanted to stay in that warm, shadowy recess, wrapped in his arms. It was the only place I felt safe. It was the only place that made sense.
    Michael placed his finger under my chin, and tipped my face to his. “Ellie, I know you can.”
    He slipped another letter into my hands. He nodded that I should read it immediately, so I smoothed out the paper and started.
    My Ellie—
    Do you remember the first time we went flying over our field? You were so nervous about everything. You were afraid to fall from such heights; you didn’t want to embarrass yourself in front of me; you were fearful of doing something so clearly otherworldly. Still, you were determined and strong. And I watched in awe as you furrowed your beautiful brow, willed your fears away, and took to the air.
    You were breathtaking up there. The wind at your back, your black hair whipping all around you, you owned the skies. From the beginning.
    And the very next day, you walked down the hallways of Tillinghast High School like nothing had happened. Like you were a regular girl—prettier and smarter than all the rest, of course, but just a regular human girl.
    You can do that again, Ellie. You can walk the tightrope between the two worlds with courage and determination. You’ve done it before.
    I love you,
    Michael
     
    I smiled as I read the letter. Somehow he had anticipated my feelings and perfectly knew how to restore my confidence. How to bring me back to myself. Michael truly was my soul mate.
    “Thank you,” I whispered.
    “Remember who you are. Remember that you walked this walk before, and you can do it again.”
    I nodded and closed my eyes for a second. Conjuring those days from earlier in the fall, my self-assurance returned, slowly and shakily and only on the surface. I had no other option. I had to successfully playact at being a regular high school junior, concerned about homework and my new boyfriend. Michael had to convincingly make believe that he was an average senior guy, focused on football and college prospects and me. Too much depended on our role-playing.
    Off to calculus I went. As I listened to Mr. Dalsimer rattle off theorems, I stopped fixating on the surreal nature of my situation and started to map out my next steps. Focusing on action helped take my mind off my still-shaky core.
    By the time class ended, and I joined Michael in the hallway, I wasn’t surprised that his next letter had the same focus. I had already drafted a similar note in my head.
    My Ellie—
    Now that your resolve has returned, did you spend all of calculus thinking about what we should do next? I bet you didn’t take a single note. I’m guessing that you stared out the window, dreaming up a strategy.
    I did the same thing.
    What should we do next? The trip to Boston definitely gave us a better sense of our natures as Nephilim, and the encounter with Ezekiel linked our births to the emergence of some kind of apocalypse. Crazy as that sounds. We need much more information in order to act next. We need to know exactly what the Nephilim are and were—creation, history, powers, even mortality—and we need to know how the Nephilim fit into this whole end-of-the-world scenario that Ezekiel revealed to us. How are we