Free Fire Prophet (Son of Angels) by Jerel Law Page B

That way, we can place you in the appropriate group.”
    Rupert waved his hand in the air. “Well, what are the gifts, then? I for one would like to know.” Some of the other kids nodded their heads as well.
    “Patience, dear Rupert.” She smiled. “Elohim reveals yourgifts to you when He deems necessary. It is not for the angels to reveal all of His purposes.”
    Camilla looked at her notes and began splitting the kids up according to what she’d written. The first group went with Samuel down to the other side of the reading room. They sat at a table in the corner. It was so far away that Jonah couldn’t have heard them if he’d wanted to.
    The second group went with Camilla out of the room and into a hallway. Apparently there was another classroom where the Spiritual Arts would be taught.
    Jonah, Eliza, and Jeremiah were all in different groups. Frederick was selected to join Jonah’s group. Just my luck , Jonah thought. Also joining Jonah was his roommate, David, Lania from Australia, and Hai Ling, the Chinese quarterling who still looked less than thrilled to be there. Jonah tried to quickly analyze the groups. They must be grouped together by gifts . . . but what were those gifts, exactly?
    Marcus and Taryn began pushing tables against the walls of the reading room. A rectangular space was cleared out in the middle. Jonah figured it was as wide—and almost as long—as the basketball court in their school gym back in Peacefield. At one end, they positioned two tables up on their sides. Marcus pulled two pieces of paper out from his belt. He unfolded two bull’s-eye images and tacked them onto each of the table bottoms.
    “This is no ordinary paper,” he said as the quarterlings watched him. “When your arrow hits this, it will stick, not just dissolve away.”
    Taryn nodded. “This will be our combat practice area every time we are together. Elohim has made it clear to us that you need to be able to protect yourself, so the first gift many of you willdiscover is a weapon to be used in combat. One of the gifts you all share is angelic archery. Some of you have experience with this.” She gave Jonah a knowing smile. Frederick noticed this and rolled his eyes. “Have any of the rest of you had any archery practice?”
    Frederick and Lania raised their hands.
    “Marcus, why don’t you take those three? I’ll work with our beginners, David and Hai Ling.”
    She took David and Hai Ling over to the side and began to instruct them on how to pull out an arrow. David was eager, but Hai Ling stood listening with her arms folded. At Taryn’s insistence, she finally reached back over her shoulder and pulled out a white flaming arrow. She looked at it, seeming almost surprised that she could actually pull an angel arrow out of thin air and hold it in her hand. Before she knew it, a bow had appeared in her left hand.
    Marcus stood with Jonah and Frederick. “All right, let’s see what you boys have.”
    Frederick stepped up. “Let me go first,” he said, and abruptly pulled an arrow off his back. He grinned as his bow appeared in his other hand. “Cool!”
    “Very well,” Marcus said, motioning him forward with his arm. “We will start here.” He pointed down to a line in the floor formed by a crack.
    Frederick stood at the mark, pulled his arrow back, and fired.
    The arrow pierced the red center of the bull’s-eye on the paper and stuck there. He smiled smugly, glancing back at Jonah.
    “Excellent!” Marcus said, clearly impressed. “You’ve had some practice.”
    Frederick nodded. “It’s no big deal. We bow hunt at my parents’ compound all the time. ”
    “Jonah?” said Marcus. “Why don’t you give it a go?”
    Jonah doubted Frederick had more experience, at least at shooting angel arrows, than he did. Confidently, he pulled an arrow off his back and put his toe up beside the mark. The bow appeared in his left hand, and he took aim and fired.
    The arrow flew wildly off to the left,