A Beautiful Dark

heritage. I’m sorry for—”
    “Freaking her out?” Asher cut in with a wry smile.
    Devin bristled. “Precisely.”
    “You’re one to talk,” I said to Asher. “You freaked me out when you did the fire thing in the cave. Remember?”
    Devin wheeled on him. “You showed her your ability to bring forth fire?”
    “She was freezing. What was I supposed to do? Let hypothermia kick in?”
    “You’re incredible,” Devin said, his tone indicating the opposite.
    “Says the guy who healed her broken ankle.”
    “I’ve been ordered to protect her.”
    “So have I.”
    “Hey, guys, could we take the chest beating down a notch and get back to explaining to me how all this stuff works?”
    They both averted their gazes.
    “What about the Rebellion’s powers?” I prodded Asher. “Did anything change when you left the Order, or are yours the same as Devin’s?”
    “Skye, watching out for you is about the only thing Devin and I have in common,” he said. “When the Rebellion formed and broke away, their original powers were lost. I don’t know if the Order reclaimed them or if they simply faded when the Rebellion made their home on Earth. Over time, Rebels developed their own unique set of powers. Powers that they took from the earth itself and use to give back to it. Elemental forces. Water, fire, rain. We can create storms. The ultimate physical arsenal, to combat the Order’s mental manipulation.”
    “Whoa,” I breathed.
    “Yeah. I say ‘they,’ because this was long before my time. Our new powers came over hundreds of thousands of years,” he explained.
    “Are you guys immortal?” I asked.
    “No,” Devin said. “Though our aging process works in an entirely different way from yours.”
    “Angels aren’t gods,” added Asher. “We’re born, we grow old, and we die. We just do it all kind of . . .” He paused, searching. “Differently. Like Devin said.”
    “So you’re not really my age? Or is it some weird trick of the light that you look seventeen?”
    “I haven’t been seventeen for a long time,” Asher said, almost, if I interpreted right, a little wistfully. It made me want to rush over and hold him. What would it be like to live so long, to see so many changes occur?
    “We do share many of the same properties as humans, it’s true. We look like you, for one. We understand and speak your many languages.” Devin was ticking things off on his fingers as though he was going through a memorized list. “But it’s important to remember that we’re not human, Skye.”
    “But . . . okay,” I said. “Here’s the thing. If I have—what you said—if I have, like, powers. What kind will I have? Will I become one of you, completely? Will I be an angel?” I paused, not sure I wanted to know the answer to the question that came next. “Will I no longer be human?”
    Asher shook his head. “Well, you’re already different from other people in ways you may or may not have noticed. Think about it. You’re a little bit faster. A little bit stronger. Haven’t you won every single one of your races this season?”
    “Because I practice my ass off,” I said defiantly. The sportswoman in me couldn’t accept that I’d had an unfair advantage. My conscience would compel me to return all my trophies and medals. And how would I explain it? I had performance-enhancing angel genes?
    “It’s more than that, Skye. And didn’t you just survive an avalanche—with your worst injury a broken ankle?”
    “But I couldn’t heal it myself,” I protested. “Devin did.”
    “Doesn’t matter,” Asher said. “Just the fact that you survived is amazing. Devin, he’s sort of influenced everyone into thinking that your fall wasn’t that big a deal, but it was.”
    “If you weren’t at least a little bit like us, you might not have made it,” Devin added. His hands were in his pockets, and he looked almost sad.
    Asher continued. “Your powers haven’t completely formed yet. We don’t know whether you’ll develop the Guardians’ abilities or the Rebels’. We don’t know what forms the powers brewing inside of you will take. But when they do manifest, you’ll be your own thing. Not all human but not all angel.”
    He took a step forward, and I could see the passion and fire in his eyes. He was trying to convey how important all of this was. “This is what you were born for, Skye. To be part of our world, to embrace your destiny,” Asher quietly insisted. “Whatever