Chapter 4 Old Angel?

Elena POV

The doctor's words echoed in my head like a distant hymn that I could not quite believe. He had called what happened to me a miracle, and he had told us that I could finally return back to my home.

Home? How was I supposed to go back to a place that I barely remembered belonging to in the first place?

We walked down the pavement together, and the afternoon sun cast long shadows that stretched across the concrete like they were trying to escape from something. I kept my eyes fixed on the guy who walked in front of me, and I could feel nothing but rage burning in my chest. 

He was all six feet tall, with one hand shoved deep into his pocket while the other swung loose at his side, and he walked as if he was not the very reason why my entire existence had turned into absolute chaos.

I stopped walking and turned my face toward the sky, spreading my arms wide and jumping up onto my tiptoes, but nothing happened at all. 

There was no rush of wind beneath my feet, no pull of invisible currents responding to my command, and no lightness in my bones. Not even the smallest sign of anything that resembled the powers I had once possessed.

"What are you doing?" the guy asked, and his name was Liam as he turned to look at me with that infuriating expression on his face.

"The hell is I need to go back right now," I snapped back at him.

He stood there staring at me for a long moment, and then he took his fingers through his hair while muttering something under his breath that I could not catch. He started walking toward me with slow and deliberate steps.

He stopped right in front of my face while his eyes never left mine for a single second. He placed his hand on my shoulder and said, "How about I take you to a place? I am very sure you'll be able to return back, alright?”

He nodded his head, agreeing to his own words as if that settled everything between us. I scoffed at him and then walked past him.

The road stretched ahead of me in a way that felt ordinary and unremarkable, with cars lining the curb and a single bird perched on a lamppost while everything around me seemed to carry on with normal sounds.

I stepped off the pavement without thinking about what I was doing.

The street looked empty to me because I saw nothing more than open space with a clear path and no obstacles in my way, but my thoughts were elsewhere anyway as they remained tangled in the mess of everything that I had lost. 

I did not hear the engine of the car that was approaching me.

I did not see the metal grill of the vehicle that was racing toward my body.

My hand rested against his chest even though I could not remember when I had reached out to touch him, and I could not stop thinking about the rhythmic thumping that I felt beneath my palm because it felt so steady and so alive against my skin. 

The sound of his heartbeat filled my awareness with a thump-thump and another thump-thump that drowned out everything else around me.

The car horn screamed through the air and shattered my trance.

My head snapped up toward the source of the noise, and I saw nothing but headlights and metal and speed all rushing toward me at once. The vehicle was too close for me to escape in any normal way.

I could not phase through the solid object the way I used to do when I was an angel, and I could not dissolve into nothing before reforming myself on the other side of the danger. The realization hit me like a physical blow to the chest because I understood in that terrible moment that I was solid and that I was completely stuck in place.

Before I could move or even think about moving, his hands clamped onto my waist with a grip that was hard and desperate at the same time. He yanked me backward with a force that knocked all the air from my lungs, and I stumbled while my head cracked against his chest with a dull and hollow thud.

"Your heart is also beating," I whispered, voice trembling. "Does this mean I’m becoming... human?"

His hands immediately shoved my head away from him. His face was flushed with panic as he took a step back. I stumbled, but my eyes caught movement in the street.

There, standing like a silent sentinel, was the Old Angel, calmly guiding a ghost toward the afterlife. A surge of relief flooded me.

"Old Angel! Come here!" I shouted, desperate.

Liam spun around, eyes frantic as he searched the empty street. "Who are you talking to? What’s going on? You’re scaring me!"

I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t. I was too focused on the angel, who motioned for the ghost to keep moving. Then, the angel turned his gaze to me, worry etched into his celestial face.

"Elena, what is wrong with you?" he asked softly.

I pointed a trembling finger toward Liam, who was now staring at thin air with increasing confusion. "I was trying to save him," I said shakily, "but I can’t find the Black Book. It’s just... gone."

The Old Angel’s expression shifted to one of shock. "Why can’t you see it?"

"I’ve looked everywhere!" My voice cracked as I desperately clung to my last thread of hope. "I can’t find it."

Liam stood closer now, his confusion twisting into frustration. "You’ve looked everywhere? Who are you talking to? What’s going on? Are you out of your mind?"

The angel exchanged a glance with Liam, then looked back at me with a mixture of pity and concern. Shaking his head, he started walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey!" I snapped, trying to catch up, but there was no use. I couldn’t even fly. My wings, my power, they were gone.

Suddenly, Liam grabbed my hand. "Let’s go before things get worse." He started pulling me down the street. I let him, but kept glancing back, my heart heavy.