The Metatronic Chronicles: A Minor Inconvenience
Chapter 10

The following few months went quickly in the Wilder household. With a pregnant mother moving in soon, Mary had spent some time gathering up baby things such as a crib, bassinet, stroller, diapers, clothing and anything else that caught her eye. She also took the rarely used guest room and converted it into a combination bedroom and nursery. Michael had eyed this last development with suspicion as Mary replaced the old double bed with a California king size bed, the only size that was reasonably comfortable for him. Did she expect him to share Alice’s bed?

“Just thinking ahead,” was all she said when he asked her about it one late December Saturday morning while he was at the breakfast table, watching her cook eggs. “Mind your own business.”

“This is my business,” Michael answered grumpily, idly stirring his hot coffee with a spoon. “I’m the father, and I’m the one being inconvenienced by Alice moving in. Do you expect me to be sleeping with her regularly at some point? I know that’s not in my plans.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Mary said, ignoring his crabby mood. “I just want her to be comfortable.”

“Oh but my comfort isn’t important any more?” Michael shot back, knowing his mother would just keep ignoring his attitude. “Seeing that bed in there is making me extremely uncomfortable.”

“Then just ignore it. You don’t sleep much any more anyway, so why worry?” Mary kept her attention on the frying pan.

“That brings up another question,” Michael continued on his grumpy train of thought. “Won’t it be a little strange to have Alice living here when you have angels regularly flying in and out? Aren’t we concerned that just maybe she’ll start to think something a little weird is going on here? Or that we won’t be able to keep this from her for very long?”

“Your father and I discussed that and we were going to talk about it to you and your brother, but you two have been so busy with school and training, we haven’t had a chance.” She finished with the eggs and removed them from the pan to a plate. “Do you want anything to eat?”

“No thanks,” Michael answered. He had not eaten in two months and had actually gained seventeen pounds as a result of his ongoing nightly training with Derasthe and Leila. “So what were you going to say to us?”

Mary brought the plate to the table and sat down across from him. “We were going to recommend that you gently tell her within a few days of her moving in.”

Daniel entered the kitchen for some coffee and found he was just in time for a nice confrontation between Michael and his mom. “Am I missing something?” he asked, seeing Michael’s shocked expression. After pouring himself a cup of coffee, he sat down at the table with them. “Michael? Mom?” He got no response. “Anyone?”

Michael finally spoke. “Mom wants us to tell Alice that we’re angels.”

Daniel glanced back and forth between the two of them. “And this is a problem?”

Michael took a swipe at him, nearly knocking his full cup into his lap. “Of course it’s a problem! Are you nuts? You’d do it?”

“Well I’d at least think about it,” Daniel said, moving back a bit in his chair to get out of his brother’s reach.

“Thank you, Daniel,” Mary nodded. “I know it sounds crazy, Michael, but I’m telling you as someone who was in nearly the same situation that it is the only way. If your father hadn’t told me—hadn’t shown me---I would have put him in a terrible bind of having to keep a huge secret from me. No marriage can stand that for long. Little secrets…” she shrugged. “Not such a problem. But big secrets are the kiss of death to a marriage.”

“That’s right,” Daniel commented thoughtfully. “You’ve actually seen dad as he is! How come we haven’t?”

“It was a special moment he was given permission to do. He is supposed to be a totally immersed human so he can’t go flying around like you two do. But don’t let that fool you,” Mary warned them. “If either of you got out of line, he is still strong and skillful enough to make you think twice about doing it again.”

“Yeah,” Daniel nodded, sipping his coffee. “Your spankings didn’t hurt, but dad’s spankings hurt like the devil! I couldn’t sit down for days after one!”

Michael absorbed her words for a moment, remembering that his birth wasn’t exactly nine months after James and Mary’s wedding. It was more like seven. “So you’re saying that you didn’t know you were carrying an angel when you got married?” he finally asked.

“All I knew is that the baby I was carrying was extremely strong and active. You kicked me constantly starting in the fourth month! The fourth month!!” Mary exclaimed. “I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t go out anywhere much for fear of you kicking me so hard I would yell out loud. You also started vocalizing! Who has ever heard of a baby yelling before birth? I thought maybe we had drastically miscalculated your due date but we checked several times and there was only one instance where your father and I…um…got together in that way and we knew the exact date. When the same thing happened with Daniel, I knew by then what your father was and it wasn’t such a surprise but knowing that didn’t help much. Daniel kicked, squirmed, and even yelled once so loud in church that people around me started looking around for a baby. I just sat there praying he would quiet down before anyone figured out the yelling was coming from my stomach.” Mary started laughing as she remembered her pregnancies. “It’s funny now, but back then I was just mortified. I was so glad when you two arrived. After all that I thought having you would kill me, but it was surprising how easily you both came into the world. It was like you knew somehow that you had already been hard on me and made a point of coming quickly and just popping out without a prolonged labor.”

This was beginning to interest Michael more. “So you didn’t have a long labor? How long was it?”

“With you it was about two hours. With Daniel, it was a little more, about four hours. Then you both just came on through with little bleeding, not much tearing. Amazing considering you were almost twelve pounds, Michael and Daniel just a shade less. Doctor Gannon still talks about it when I go in for a checkup. I guess his son Richard came in much the same way.”

“What?” Both boys echoed each other. Richard Gannon was their band buddy Rick, whom they had known all their lives. He was a big kid too though still inches shorter than the Wilder boys and although he had an amazing IQ, was quite a slacker at the private school he attended. He played bass in their garage band but since achieving angelhood a few months back, they had not seen him. There had been no time to practice and the band had been put on the back burner for now.

Yet they had heard nothing from Rick about this. In fact, despite his usual habit of dropping in at least once a week, he had not been heard from in months.

“You mean,” Michael asked. “That he kicked and yelled before he was born? Or that he just had an easy birth.”

“Well I don’t know about the kicking and yelling,” Mary answered, her face reflecting what her boys were thinking. “But he did come awful easily and he was almost twelve pounds, like you. You don’t think…”

“We’ve got to replace him,” Daniel suddenly said. “Would dad know anything about him?”

“Would dad know more than that about him?” Mary answered, her face darkening. “James!”

Despite the fact that James was at work, he jumped when he heard Mary’s call telepathically. She wasn’t telepathic but his abilities let him listen in on a sort of ‘open channel’ if there was an emergency, but she usually didn’t use it---until now. Glancing around to make sure none of his employees were close by to see him go, he spirited himself home.

“What?” he was saying as he reappeared in the kitchen to face his entire family’s stares.

“What do you know about Rick Gannon?” Daniel asked.

“That he’s too smart for his own good, a lazy student and plays a pretty good bass. Other than that, nothing,” James answered, mystified. “Why?”

“We think he might be an angel like us,” Michael said. “Is it possible?”

“Why on earth would you think that?” James asked, surprised. “I guess it’s possible. I was only responsible for bringing you two into the world, not him if that’s what you’re thinking. Another angel might have passed through at some point and planted a seed or two. It’s not unheard of but since Asmodeus doesn’t have to report anything like that to me, I wouldn’t know for sure. He lives in a different town, goes to a different school…who knows?”

“We’re just considering the idea,” Mary said. “Since he was a big baby and was born so easily, like these two here. We were just wondering about it, that’s all.”

“And you took me away from work for that?” James was not pleased. “Mary, that channel I leave open for you is for emergencies. You couldn’t pick up a phone and just ask me?”

“I thought it was an emergency at the time,” she shrugged back. “Sorry.”

“If you want to know if he is an angel, just replace him and ask him. And leave me alone at work—we have a lot to get done down there today. A big refrigeration unit is being replaced and I’ll have a lot of margarine and cheese melting out into the street if we don’t get it done soon!” With that said, he disappeared again.

Mary looked at her two sons, folded her arms and gave them a perfect ‘Jack Benny’ stare. “Well!”

Her feigned expression of surprise caused both young angels to laugh out loud. Finally Michael stopped laughing and with a bit of leftover giggling punctuating his voice, he poked his brother. “Maybe we should just forget it. If he is, he obviously doesn’t want to share that with us. If he isn’t, we’ll just look like idiots.”

“But didn’t you use your abilities to pick out an angel when we took our first solo flight to Derasthe’s house in Bel Air?” Daniel asked, trying to sober up. “Couldn’t we just fly over his house and see if we can pick up the presence of an angel?”

“Yes!” Michael answered. “I did do that but I haven’t done it since. I’m not sure I can remember how.”

“You’ll remember,” Daniel got up from the table and dragged his brother with him. “Come on! Let’s forget about old Alice for a while and go angel hunting. Wouldn’t it be awesome if he was?”

“What if he hasn’t gotten his wings yet?” Michael asked as Daniel led him outside. “Can I still detect him?”

“We’ll replace out!” Daniel took off and his brother followed him up into the sky. “Can’t hurt to see if you can and if not, no harm done!”

A few moments later, they were circling a few thousand feet above a beautiful stone mansion located on the outskirts of the neighboring town of Rosewood. The house belonged to Doctor “Doc” Gregory Gannon, their family doctor for as long as they could remember. Doc Gannon had been nearly forty years old when their only child Richard had been born nearly eighteen years ago, despite the fact that his wife Angela had been diagnosed as being barren.

They eventually joined the same church as the Wilders. His son and the Wilder boys met each other at a church picnic and hit it off right away. James and Mary became friends with the Gannons over the years and though they didn’t spend much time together as couples, the kids were always being shuttled back and forth to each other’s houses. As soon as the boys were old enough for bicycles, the car shuttling stopped and now just said a friendly hello whenever Mary took the boys to Doc for an exam. Invariably, he pronounced them extremely healthy, gave them the next in what seemed like an endless series of vaccinations and treated them to lollipops afterward.

Looking down at the familiar old house, the two young angels remembered the time they had spent there as kids, tearing it nearly to pieces at times. Doc and Angela just smiled tautly, tolerating the tumult for a while. Rick had done his share of the damage too. In fact, Michael could clearly remember one instance when Rick had literally knocked Daniel through a bedroom wall. His brother had landed butt first on the floor of the bathroom next door, then jumped up, unhurt and went back to playing.

That time, Doc did seem a bit perturbed, but Rick invited them back the next week and all seemed serene. There was no mention of the wall, the cost of the damage or that they perhaps had been roughhousing too much. The hole in the wall was repaired and life was much as usual until Rick pushed Michael through a window and the youngster fell three stories to the ground. As Daniel had, Michael jumped up unhurt and ran back into the house to continue whatever they had been doing. After that instance, Doc had sternly instructed them to move their playing outdoors for the foreseeable future and only to come in when they needed to use the bathroom, warm up or get a treat.

In recent years however, most of the group’s activity had moved to the Wilder house because Angela didn’t want to listen to their band practicing. It wasn’t that they weren’t good—they actually were a very good cover band that picked up occasional gigs at local high schools and dances, but that the vibrations from the bass hurt her ears. At least that was the excuse she used.

Michael tried concentrating on the structure below, seeing if he could pick out an angel from the resulting mishmash of radios, television, other people in the neighborhood, cars passing by and animal noises. There were people in the house, that much he could discern, but it wasn’t quite clear who they were. One was an older male, which he guessed to be Doc and another a female around the same age which was probably Angela. Both were on the main floor, but there were three other people on the second floor in the house, all young and female and all gathered in one room. Their energy was intense and Michael had a hard time sensing anything that might be in their midst.

“Got anything?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t know. Haven’t you tried this yet? It’s interesting!” Michael answered. “But I feel like I’m spying on them.”

“So what, let me try!” Daniel began concentrating on the structure below. “I see what you mean!” he said after a few seconds. “This is cool! I can see Doc and Angela!”

“You can see them?” Michael tried concentrating on the house again. “How come I only get an energy source for each of them? Who else can you see?”

Daniel was pleased that his own ability at his particular activity seemed superior to his brother’s. “I see some girls down there on the second floor. They must go to his school—I don’t recognize them.”

“Do you see him?” Michael asked.

Daniel watched for a few moments more before he gave his brother a big smile. “Ricky is a bad boy! He’s down there all right and he’s in bed with all three of those girls! And with his folks in the house! Doc and Angela may be pretty liberal but holy shit, this is taking it to the limit!”

“They must not know.” Michael kept circling along with his brother, his interest in the house below significantly increased. “What are they doing?” He sent a scan down there again and this time the energy signatures he received back were much more intense. “Are they doing it?”

“If you mean, are they screwing?” Daniel answered, still watching. “Oh yeah. They’re doing the beast with two backs all right. He’s got one girl under him and the other two…” His voice trailed off as he watched the proceedings come to a climax and then came back strongly as he smiled at Michael. “I’ve got to get me some of that!”

Michael felt a huge erection coming on but recent training had taught him how to control it. With some effort on his part, it went down but he knew it would have to be taken care of in some way later on. “Are they done now? I see the energies separating and…”

A sudden bright glow became apparent, so bright it nearly blinded him. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes. “Something down there is definitely not just human!”

“What do you mean?” Daniel asked, still watching. “He looks human! I can see him clearly—he looks the same as ever…oops.”

“What do you mean by ‘oops’?” Michael asked.

“I mean, look out!!” Daniel zoomed away and Michael looked around wildly to see what had scared him off. To his shock, a small airplane was approaching dead on and the pilot could not see them over the nose of the plane. It was nearly on top of them, going unnoticed while they were concentrating on the house below.

With a mighty effort, Michael flew up and out of the plane’s path just in time to let it pass harmlessly through the airspace. Inside, the pilot gave them a shocked look back as he saw what seemed to be two angels scurrying out of his way.

“What was that?” Michael gasped as they came back together in the same area to start circling again.

“A Beechcraft Bonanza,” Daniel answered. “An old one too. You know, like Sky King flies?” He was referring to an old Saturday morning television program. “I loved that show.”

It was their first narrow escape with an airplane and Michael looked around cautiously for any more approaching aircraft. “I think we must be near a landing strip or some kind of air lane. We should get out of here!”

“Not before we figure out what is going on down there,” Daniel answered, looking down again. “Hey…they’re gone!”

“Gone? They can’t be! It’s only been a few seconds.” Michael sent another scan down and it confirmed what Daniel had found. There was no one in the house except Doc and Angela. “Where did they go?”

“Maybe we should go down and ask,” Daniel said. “It wouldn’t do any harm to just knock on the door.”

“I suppose not,” Michael said. “Let’s go down.”

It only took them a few seconds to land in a hidden area behind the house and walk out onto the roadway to come around to the front door. “Oh wait,” Michael said as they went. “How will we explain getting here? We don’t have our bikes and definitely don’t have the car.”

“I don’t know. Maybe they won’t ask,” Daniel shrugged. “Come on!” He led the way up to the front door and knocked.

Presently it opened and Angela Gannon stood there, a surprised smile on her face. “Hello boys!” she greeted them, genuinely pleased to see them. “We haven’t seen you in awhile! I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong.”

“No, we’re fine, thanks,” Daniel answered. “Is Rick home? We wanted to talk about the band.” That wasn’t far from the truth. They needed to establish whether the band even existed any more.

“No, I’m sorry, boys. He’s on his holiday break all right but he is staying up at school for a few days to finish up some projects. He’ll be here tonight though if you want to come back.” Angela stepped aside to allow them in. “Come on in for some coffee, will you? We need to catch up!”

Daniel glanced at Michael, who just shrugged. “Sure, thanks!”

They followed her into the mansion’s expansive kitchen and sat down at the big breakfast counter that formed one side of it. Angela poured them some coffee while she called for her husband. “Doc! The Wilder boys are here! Come on out to the kitchen!”

Back in the master bedroom, Doc Gannon hesitated a moment as he was dressing for the day. The Wilders? He had not seen the boys in almost a year. He paused a moment, remembering back to the days both boys were born. They had been quick births, as expected. He had been told just what was going to happen and it did. Mary came through both deliveries fine and he sent home two of the strongest babies he had ever seen.

He had been able to track their progress through the years as they passed from active, nearly indestructible boys into strapping young men with great promise. Now here they were back in his house, almost ready to go into the world on their own and he wondered just what he would see when he went out there. And he hoped they could help.

Doc quickly finished dressing and headed for the kitchen. As he rounded a corner, he almost had to stop to catch his breath. There they were at his kitchen breakfast counter, sipping coffee just like normal teens. But they were anything but.

“Hello boys!” he smiled as he approached. “You look amazing! Mary must be feeding you something special!” He shook their hands, surprising both of them with his effervescence. This was not like the man whose house they had nearly trashed to the ground. In fact, the last time he had seen them a year ago, he had told them to “straighten up and fly right” after an episode where Daniel had tried to take off flying from the roof of the Wilder house and landed in some decorative shrubbery, presumably saving his life.

“How are you, Doc?” Michael said, surprising Doc with his voice’s depth and fullness. “We just stopped in to see Rick, but Angela says he’s not here.”

Doc glanced at Angela, who nodded, smiling brightly. “Uh, no…he’s not here. But he will be tonight. I hope you will stop by then. I know he’ll want to see you. He’s mentioned how much he’s missed you both in the last few months. I guess school is keeping you busy, huh?”

“Oh, yeah, school is pretty time-consuming,” Daniel nodded, conveniently leaving out the fact that they went to regular school during the day and an entirely different type of educational experience at night. “So how is Rick doing at his school. What was it again? St. Mary of the Woods?”

“Yes. He’s doing fine there,” Doc nodded. “We’re very proud of him. He is taking some college courses there now, pre-med. Going to be a doctor, like his old dad. But tell me more about you boys. I’ve watched you grow up, but I know your blood type better than I know you two lately. It must be getting to be time for your yearly exams, isn’t it?”

“What is our blood type?” Michael asked. “We have no clue.”

“I’ll look it up when you are in next time,” Doc laughed nervously. “But I know it, I promise.”

“Mom said something about an appointment next month,” Daniel said. “But I think that’s our last one before we are booted out of your clinic to Doctor Moore’s adult practice across the hall.” Doctor Moore took care of their mom but James had never been to a doctor that they knew of.

“Oh I don’t think so,” Doc said, sitting down across from them. “I would like to keep you boys in my practice. I’ll let your mom know that when you come. I’m sure she’ll be amenable when I talk to her. With Doctor Moore right across the hall to consult if needed, we should be able to cover all the bases for you.”

Daniel glanced at his brother and telepathed a quick message to him. “Why would he want to do that? Do you think he knows something?”

“All I know is that Rick was here a few moments ago and now he’s not,” Michael answered the same way. “But I don’t think they know that he was here.” Noting Doc’s expectant face, he went back to the conversation. “Uh, about us, not much to report. Mulling over college, other options.”

Doc leaned forward to whisper in Michael’s ear so that Daniel and Angela wouldn’t hear. “Michael, I know about Alice Fitch and your baby. She’s been coming to me for prenatal care. Surely you are factoring that into your plans?”

Shit! He’d forgotten about that! The Fitches and the Wilders both used Doc Gannon as their family pediatrician. Since Alice was just about to turn seventeen, he was still taking care of her. That damned girl was turning up in every aspect of his life and he didn’t like it, yet every time he saw her at school, he got crazy if any other boy even glanced her way. Michael the angel was running the affairs of Michael the teenage heartthrob and it just was not fair. “Oh yeah, Alice definitely figures into about everything I do these days,” he smiled slightly. “She is moving into our house you know.”

“Her mother told me. Michael, I want you to know that if you have any questions or concerns or just want to talk, I’m here for you,” Doc said. “I promise, I won’t pass it on to Rick. It’s just between you and me, okay?”

Daniel leaned forward and whispered to both of them “I know about the baby and Alice and her prenatal care with you, doc. You don’t have to whisper.”

Doc glanced at Angela. “And you?”

Angela shrugged. “Her mother told me at the supermarket last week.”

“Doesn’t anyone believe in a patient’s right to privacy anymore?” Doc complained. “At least you didn’t hear it from me. Anyway, I can tell you all that she is healthy and the baby is developing normally.”

Daniel couldn’t resist. “Normally for what? Is the baby big, like Michael and I were?”

“That’s privileged information!” Doc decided he had said enough. “You’ll have to ask Alice that question. Now you boys tell me more about your plans after you graduate. Surely with your intelligence, college is more than just an option? Daniel, even though you are a year behind your brother, you must be thinking about it, right? There is an accelerated summer plan at your school. You could take your senior year during the summer and the both of you go on to college together.”

“You’ve been talking to our mom, haven’t you?” Michael asked suspiciously.

“She called a few minutes ago and said you might be dropping in and if you did, I was to mention college prominently,” Doc grinned. “But I’m serious. You have to be at least considering it? Michael, your IQ tests were high enough to get you into anywhere you want on full scholarship. Why not go? It would be a waste for you not to go to college and do something with your lives besides flying and fighting!” He suddenly knew he had said too much.

“What did you say?” Daniel had been half-listening to the spiel but those words made his ears perk up. He knew Doc had let something out of the bag. “Flying and fighting? Where on earth did you get that phrase from?” He eyed Doc closely, seeing that sweat was beading on his forehead. “C’mon Doc, spill it or you know what we can do to you, don’t you?”

Wiping his forehead and sighing, Doc drew Angela close. “What do you think, dear?”

“I think keeping a secret like this for almost eighteen years is damned good,” Angela shrugged. “It would have come out tonight anyway. ”

“Boys,” Doc started, noting that the two were now hanging on his every word. “I get reports from your mother and father about you, just a few minutes on the phone every week. James is an old friend of mine, but when we met,” he smiled slightly. “We were presumably the same age or so I thought. I was an undergraduate at UW-Madison, getting ready to enter medical school. He was working as a custodian in the Medical School Library at old Music Hall there on Park Street. I studied a lot of late nights and he would come around to empty the wastebaskets. We got talking one night and over a period of time became friends. Close friends—and he eventually told me his secret.”

Daniel and Michael looked at each other. A custodian?

“Don’t sell your dad short,” Doc smiled. “He proved it one night when he let me take some blood samples and analyze them. His blood type was completely new and had never been recorded before. I later found out through experimentation that it was also completely compatible with any human blood type. I might have even written a paper on it and gained some buzz in the medical world, but he destroyed the samples and data when my back was turned.” Doc paused to reflect on this for a moment, and then continued.

“Anyway, when he met Mary and she became pregnant, I had already been in practice for a number of years here in Rosewood. They both asked me to do her prenatal care and become your pediatrician and of course I agreed. I know how robust you boys were growing up, but just how much you were like your dad I didn’t know for sure until I talked to Mary a few weeks ago.” His voice failed him for a moment, and then he seemed to regain strength. “When you appeared at the door here just now, I knew it was for a reason.”

Daniel’s mouth was hanging open but Michael asked the question. “For what reason?”

“Believe it or not, there’s more to the story,” Angela said. “Much more. It was incredible enough to know what you and your father are, but somehow we got drawn in too.”

“When Angela was diagnosed as being barren, we pretty much thought that was it, we would have to adopt if we wanted children,” Doc went on. “But we had one last hope. I received some information on a new procedure for transplanting fertilized eggs, just experimental and we decided to try it. We went to a clinic in Madison where we met a young doctor who guided us through it. He obtained an egg somehow, ostensibly used my semen to fertilize it and implanted it surgically in Angela. It took several weeks before we knew if it was successful so we arranged another appointment with him and went home. When we went back several weeks later, we got to the clinic and asked for him.”

“No one ever heard of him and no one ever heard of the procedure,” Daniel said, figuring out where this was going.

“Not a soul. No one even remembered us being there and this procedure even now is just theoretical—it’s never been done. I don’t even know where my information about it came from.” Doc paused for a moment, reflecting on that time so long ago. “After a lot of questions and no answers, we gave up and went home. I gave Angela a pregnancy test myself and it came back positive,” Doc sighed. “Her due date was about the same as yours, Michael and we hoped and waited. I did her prenatal care myself convinced that somehow this egg would miscarry and we would lose the baby, but incredibly, she had the healthiest pregnancy I’ve ever seen except for your mom’s.”

Angela suddenly laughed uncomfortably. “In fact the baby grew so big so fast that it began to kick me hard and even…”

“Vocalized in the womb,” Michael finished for him. “So did we. Are you saying that Rick is like us?”

“We still don’t know who the doctor was in Chicago,” Doc went on. “But your dad feels it was an angel who was paying us back for the care I was taking in your mom’s pregnancy.” His voice became choked with emotion. “We were given a baby of our own even though there was just no way it could happen.”

“Sure there’s a way,” Michael said. “In the last few months, Daniel and I have found out that angels can do about anything. I don’t know exactly how, but I think if an angel wants Angela to have a baby and you to be the father, that’s how it will be.”

“When you get to college, take a course in human physiology,” Doc answered, smiling slightly. “You’ll replace out just how impossible it is, but we aren’t ones to question a gift like this. It was just too incredible, but there’s more.”

“More?” Daniel echoed. “How can there be more?”

“Oh but there is. I’ll let Angela tell you, I need a beer!” Despite the relatively early hour, Doc went to the refrigerator and pulled out a cold one. “Pardon me for not offering you one, boys, but you are still underage.”

Angela started up where her husband had left off. “Well you know how Rick grew up—you were both here a lot so I don’t have to tell you that. I can tell though that he knew more than you did about what you all were. He couldn’t articulate it very well though and he would act on it by violent acts on you boys—well, you did it right back to him, too. We knew you couldn’t really hurt each other, but that day Rick thought you could fly, Michael…”

“He thought I could fly?” Michael echoed. “You mean that day he pushed me out of the window from the third floor? He thought I would just fly?”

“He told us that you were an angel and could fly. He knew it then. Anyway, without a brother to beat and be beaten by, he found other ways to express himself, especially in the last year or so. I bet you didn’t know he had gotten his wings earlier than you, did you?”

“I thought he had just gotten weirder than usual,” Daniel shrugged, glancing at Michael. “Well I did!” he confirmed, seeing Michael’s dark glare back. “So he’s been flying?”

“He’s been flying and he’s been taking night courses with Asmodeus,” Angela continued, delivering yet another shocking statement. “But Asmodeus never took him to other instructors like he did with you. Maybe he just didn’t want you to know that he was working with Rick too. I don’t know.”

That was odd. How could Asmodeus be stuck in St. Mary’s Church and giving Rick flying lessons at the same time? This thought struck both boys and they filed it away for later, hoping Asmodeus wasn’t lying to them.

“No, Angela,” Doc said. “That’s not why. Boys, Rick is like you, but he’s different than you too. He apparently has a different function wherever you boys come from and he’s being trained for it. But when he got his wings, something in him changed more than you. He was infiltrated immediately by this…this…angel…who is nothing like your father.”

“Who’s the angel?” Michael asked.

“Someone named…what is it…Gabriel.”

“Whoa! “ Daniel exclaimed. “Like Old Testament Gabriel?”

Angela shrugged. “He says he has nothing to do with the Bible and it’s just a name. But he is so different now. He still goes to school and is still planning on college, but there is something in him that is so much more, it scares us. Your dad is an angel and your development didn’t scare him, but we weren’t prepared for this like he and your mother were.”

“So does our dad know he’s Gabriel?” Daniel asked, hoping to replace some basis for his faith once more.

“He knows but he says it makes no more difference than having Michael here too,” Doc answered. “And Daniel. James says the proof will be in the pudding, so to speak. You are all to prove yourselves throughout your lives, Bible stories or not. Apparently your father isn’t much of a theologian.”

“No, he’s not,” Michael said. “He just goes to church to placate mom and Daniel. He always has.”

“What?” Daniel said, this being news to him. “I never told dad he had to go to church with us. He always just went!”

“Shut up!” Michael admonished him impatiently. “So where is Rick really located right now?”

Angela and Doc both shrugged. “We have no idea. He comes and goes as he wishes and has pretty much since he got his wings. Compared to you two boys, he has become uncontrollable. But he did promise to be here this evening and he keeps his promises.”

“He comes and goes…?” Daniel looked at his brother and then backs at the Gannons. “Asmodeus and Derasthe would kick our butts if we did that? Why is he getting away with it?”

“Maybe because he’s Gabriel and can fry everyone in their feathers?” Michael conjectured sarcastically.

“Oh come on!” Daniel said. “You’ve seen who we have to deal with. I doubt that those angels would be afraid of a teenager just into his wings for a year!”

“Actually, what Michael is saying is partly true,” Doc said. “Gabriel came right to the fore with his power and ability and Rick nearly disappeared. On the other hand, from what your father tells me, Michael, you are at least as powerful as he is and might even be able to get him to calm down. That’s what we were hoping when you turned up at the door this morning. That maybe Asmodeus had sent you to us to help us get our son back.”

“And our bassist,” Daniel added.

“He smashed the bass guitar awhile back,” Angela told him. “But if he wants to do that again, we’ll buy him a new one.”

“He smashed that delicious Fender bass?” Daniel couldn’t believe that. That bass had cost over a thousand dollars. “That’s just plain sacrilegious. Michael, you have to do something.”

Michael was still mulling over the thought that he might be as powerful as the archangel Gabriel. His recent work with Derasthe, Leila and even Asmodeus gave him a confidence he hadn’t experienced before and just maybe it could be true. “Can I really be that powerful?” he thought to himself.

The answer came when huge warmth washed over him and the human form he wore disappeared, leaving a giant scarred war angel in its place. Michael looked down to make sure he was dressed was relieved to see the kilt he had made with a dark leather belt holding it up. The transformation was a surprise to everyone else as well, but neither Doc nor Angela screamed and ran as might be expected. Instead, they just stared for a moment until Doc shook it off and Angela’s stare melted into more of a dreamy eyed gleam. The barstool he was sitting on began to creak under his weight so he got to his feet.

“Well,” he finally said in the angel’s even deeper, richer voice. “Maybe I can do something about it.” He turned to Daniel. “Brother, let’s go replace Gabriel.”

“Can you locate him?” Daniel asked, rising from the breakfast bar and letting his human form fall away into fully kilted angelhood as well. Seeing a pair of magnificent war angels standing in their kitchen was overwhelming to Doc and Angela, but they managed to hold each other up as the two angels headed for the door. As he opened it, Michael glanced upward and noted a big repair in the ceiling of the living room. “Did Gabriel do that?” he asked.

“He doesn’t use doors much, only when we remind him,” Angela managed to answer. “Please, don’t hurt him.”

Michael sent out a scan, replaceing it easier and more powerful than before. It shot out over the town, county, state and entire country, and then enveloped the globe itself. Many angels were found, but ignoring that for the time being, Michael focused in on Gabriel and instantly the powerful angel that had been his friend Rick became apparent. “How strange! Did he have an affinity for cold weather he never mentioned?” he asked.

“He had been reading about the arctic circle and the North Pole,” Angela shrugged.

“Would you please call our mom and tell her we’ll be home later this afternoon, with luck?” Michael called out as he and Daniel took off straight up. “We’re going to Alaska!”