Praefatio: A Novel by Georgia McBride Page B

especially if we don’t have a body to inhabit or haven’t taken on a form. Most humans never see us, even when they are in danger. There are a lot of rules. You need to read the book. As for you, no one knows what you are capable of. It’s why some people are scared out of their minds about your existence.” Remi lowered his head.
    “So what about you? Why didn’t you tell me about you? Were you always an angel, or did you become one … like me?”
    Remi leaned against the wall, as if he was using all his self-control not to run screaming from my hospital room. I was tempted to unleash my bag of eyeballs on him. Then he ran one hand through his ringlets, knowing I loved the way they bounced around his face. He took a long, deep breath. “Despite your existence, it’s forbidden for angels in human form to conceive a child on earth. As such, my parents were punished. Their castigation was to become human after I was born. Your parents, Vivienne and Gabriel, were already posted here. It was decided that I would be given to them to raise, since there was no way for a human to parent an angel. Michael preferred for us to grow up together since we were the only ones of our respective kinds on Earth. With no precedent for someone like me or you, it was thought that we would come into our ascensions as late as our eighteenth birthdays or as early as normal human puberty. Mine came sooner than anyone expected, when I was seven.” Remi sounded so official when he used his “angel voice.” Lots of big words.
    My thoughts turned to the weekend Remi and I went camping with the Larsons and Remi got sick. Mr. Larson had to call Mom and Dad because Remi was hospitalized. Dad said Remi needed to get his appendix out, and despite my protest, I was not allowed to visit him. We ended our camping trip early, the Larsons took me home, and Remi returned two days later, as if nothing had happened. That was the last time we ever went anywhere with anyone other than Mom or Dad. I remember thinking the first time I saw him after he had been released, that the bones in his back—his scapula bones—stuck way out. Still do.
    That was same the week I started hearing His voice.
    Wings, Remi thought as he listened to me put everything together in my head. “They told me everything that weekend. How could they not? They gave me Praefatio , the angels’ version of the Bible,”he added.
    “Remi?” I started to get up to hug him, wrap my arms around him, but couldn’t. I felt weighed down, heavy. I lowered my left leg slowly at first, and as I crossed my right leg over to stand up, I felt wobbly and unable to hold the weight of my body, which seemed to have doubled. It was a chore to raise my head, but when I did, Remi had moved all the way to the door, preparing to leave.
    His genuine smile gave me courage. I leaned slightly forward to try again, slower this time, and a shadow cast on the oily, slick floor nearly scared me to death. The shape of angel wings, much wider than I would have expected, surrounded me from behind.
    Get outta town! Sofriggingheavy!
    I turned to inspect my new appendages, and my body rose about three inches off the bed, forward, feet dangling. I tried to find the floor; I found it, and the oil slick where the eyeball demon left his slime, and fell flat on my face. I hit the cold tile with a hard thump.
    Just prior to falling, in the bathroom mirror across from my bed, I saw my wings—silvery-white and fluffy with brick-red feathers underneath.

Eenie Meenie Miney Mo
    The floor smelled of hospital-grade cleaner, bleach infused with laboratory-made pine scent, the fibers of a mop that had been used too many times to be effective in actual disinfection, rare sickness, incurable disease, and opaque bodily fluids. Disgusting.
    The roar of Remi’s laugh shook the room. Nothing new, as he always enjoyed a hearty chuckle at my expense. He cleared the distance between us with little effort, extended his hand and pulled me up