Benediction: The Unbound, #2

By Jeroen Steenbeeke

I used to think I was a pretty normal teenager. That was before I found out I could throw people around without a touch. Before I learned I could fly. Before Karen tried to kill me. There were voices inside our heads, and they knew each other. They formed a truce, and then they went silent, leaving us without answers.

Not knowing where else to go, we turned to Paul, who had helped me find Karen when the voice took over. Paul, who the world knew as Cain. But now that we'd found him, something else had found us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeroen Steenbeeke
• Release date: Dec 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519916303

Book preview

1.

Karen shivered as I put an arm around her, but she did not flinch at my touch. We were walking in the middle of Delden Forest, following one of the many sandy roads that would eventually lead us across the A35 highway, or underneath it. The sound of birds filled the air, and despite the day's gloom I could not help but notice the beauty of the surrounding trees.

We had left the water mill fifteen minutes earlier, deciding that finding Paul—or Cain, or whatever his real name was—should be our first priority.

My mind was still reeling with the details of the confrontation between Karen and myself. The memory of the purple fire sent a shiver up my spine, the pain still fresh.

Uriel remained silent, even though I could still feel his presence. His emotions were a mix of relief, frustration, uncertainty, and pride, but I couldn't figure out why he was feeling these particular things. I remembered how he had said that our bond was still young, and I wondered if Karen had similar problems communicating with Elariel.

I looked at Karen, and she rewarded me with a weary smile. She had that look of sadness on her again. I guess it must be even harder for her, as she had tried killing me less than half an hour ago.

No, I corrected myself. It was Elariel who tried to kill you.

Even with Uriel's presence in my mind, it was still hard to get to grips with reality: both Karen and I were bonded to angels, though the details were apparently different. Uriel—my angel, or archangel, as he insisted—was a Sleeper, while Elariel—Karen's angel—was an Unbound. But aside from these tidbits, and the knowledge that we were supposed to be enemies, we knew little. Uriel wasn't strong enough to explain anything else to me, and I had no way of telling if Elariel was capable or willing to explain anything to Karen.

Any idea how we're going to find Paul? Karen's voice was her own again now that Elariel no longer controlled her.

I was hoping he'd still be at our school, I said.

Karen's lips trembled a bit, and she looked away from me.

How the hell are we going to explain any of this? There were dozens of people who saw what I did, Karen said.

There's nothing we can do about that now, though I wouldn't worry about it just yet. I think I managed to convince Arnold the water at the school was drugged, so with a bit of luck, people will think they were hallucinating. I smiled.

Maybe. Karen frowned. But what if they don't?

I didn't quite know how to answer that. I honestly had no idea what would happen. If people became convinced we had superpowers, then what? What would our parents say? How would our teachers react? How would the authorities react? Had they encountered kids like us before? It was hard to remain optimistic in the face of so many doubts.

I'm hoping they simply won't believe what they saw was real, I said. Things will get very complicated if they do.

We continued walking in silence. After a few minutes, we came upon an intersection with an asphalt road, which I knew would lead to a bridge across the A35: the Hamjan Bridge. Once we crossed the bridge, it wouldn't take us long to get back to Hengelo, and from there, to our school.

I hope Sarah's all right, Karen said.

She was when I left, though she probably has a concussion.

I feel awful about it, even though I wasn't in control. Karen looked away again.

I understand, I think.

I think you may be the only one who can.

I rubbed her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek, not knowing what else to say. She gave me a quick smile as we continued walking.

I can't help but wonder what it's like, with Elariel in there somewhere, I said.

Weird. Karen grimaced. There's all sorts of emotions, but no thoughts to accompany them, unless she makes an effort.

Kinda like what I'm going through, then. I can feel he's uncertain about something, but I have no idea what it is.

I guess we're not so different then, Karen said, a slight smile appearing on her face again.

We'll get through this.

It took us another twenty minutes to reach our school, and we arrived right around the time of our first break. We didn't quite know what to do, figuring that if we couldn't find Paul, we might as well go to whatever class we were supposed to be in and hope our absence had gone unnoticed.

Wait, are those emergency vehicle lights? Karen said as we came within sight of our school.

She was right. Bright-blue flashes illuminated the street, and even though we were still some distance away, we could clearly see the various emergency service vehicles; red fire trucks, white police cars with red and blue stripes, and yellow ambulances, several of them surrounding the school.

That…is so not what I was expecting. My eyes went wide.

Karen didn't respond, but instead moved a bit closer to have a better look. There were quite a few people on the street, both students and people living in the neighborhood surrounding our school. Karen simply walked up to the closest bunch of students, and asked them what was going on. A few minutes later, she ran back to me.

I think your 'drugs in the water' rumor might have been a bit too much, she said. They considered quarantining the school, and they're taking samples inside.

Crap, I said. At least it'll keep them off our trail for now.

Yeah, but what do we do now? I'm sure our names will have been mentioned more than once by now. Karen sounded scared, but she looked determined.

"You know, we could just go to the hospital to check on