Free Natural Born Angel by Scott Speer Page B

TV screens, like the inside of a dome. A number of computer monitors glowed along a control panel to the side, and in the middle of the room loomed a large metal platform. No one was present except for one Angel. She stood up, smiling genuinely to greet Maddy. Maddy suddenly recognized her as the female Archangel who had spoken up for her at the meeting at the NAS.
    “Hello, I’m Professor Archangel Archson,” she said. “But you can call me Susan.” With her olive complexion and rich, dark hair pulled into a bun, Susan seemed at first glance like another impossibly gorgeous Angel, but there was an accessible side to her that Maddy immediately sensed.
    Sadie excused herself, leaving Maddy and the professor alone together. Susan offered Maddy a cup of tea, which she politely declined.
    “Well, if you don’t mind. . .” The woman poured herself a cup of the steaming brown liquid, mixing in a few drops of honey and fresh-squeezed lemon. She smiled warmly again at Maddy.
    “You look confused,” Susan said. “Sometimes we Archangels teach classes. It keeps us close to the incoming classes of Guardians.”
    Maddy tried to smile back, but the fact that her teacher was not just an Angel but an Archangel made her feel even more nervous.
    Susan looked at Maddy. “Tell me what you know about frequencing.”
    Maddy’s mind went back to what Jackson had told her, as well as her own experience with the phenomenon – her own strange visions, Angel “abilities” dating from way before she knew she was part Angel, the grisly premonitions that would overrun her at random times.
    “Well, every person has a frequency. It’s unique. And every Angel has the ability to pick up on these frequencies.”
    “That’s right,” the professor said, nodding encouragingly.
    “But normally it’s like static, if you don’t know the frequency. It doesn’t make sense, it’s all jumbled. That’s what used to happen to me . . . before I knew.”
    “Every Angel has this, except you weren’t aware. And every Angel has to learn how to control it. Some have to work very long and hard at it, and some may never even master it. Did you know that?”
    Maddy shook her head.
    “I’ve gone over your case file. Apparently you’re already well on your way.” Professor Archson looked at Maddy. “I bet you didn’t know that either, did you?”
    “No, I just always thought I was a . . . freak.”
    “I know what you mean. Visions started interpolating themselves with me at a much younger than normal age. I’d become so disturbed that my parents thought of sending me away to Angel boarding school as young as age seven. I thought I’d never master frequencing, not have those terrifying images own me. And now here I am, teaching them. You’re not a freak, Maddy. You’re just one of us.”
    Maddy nodded, her blood chilling for a moment as she recalled the premonition of the boy in the striped shirt, reaching out to her from fire at the homeless shelter.
    “Are you OK?” the professor asked.
    Maddy regarded the kind Angel in front of her. “Professor Archson, can I still have that tea? It sounds good.”
    “Sure.” The professor poured her a cup. “And remember, it’s Susan.” She leaned forward in her chair. “Now, should we get started?”
    Susan turned to her computer. She typed a few keystrokes, and a deep rumbling started in the room. An eerie blue aura began to fill the space, and Maddy realized it was coming from the mysterious metallic platform in the middle of the room. Susan led Maddy towards it. The blue gleam from the sphere began to grow brighter, and Maddy thought she even felt some heat emanating off the gleaming skin of the metal.
    “This is what we call a frequencing modulator. Professor Crosstone, who helped found these grounds, built the first crude prototype, and I have since perfected it.” Susan reached her hand close to the sphere. The blue light seemed to slowly gravitate towards her hand as it neared.