Undone by a Broken Angel

31.) Dianna

"But I will bless the person who puts trust in me."

-Jeremiah 17:7

Walk down a dark tunnel?  Me?  I go up to it and look down. There are wooden steps that lead down into darkness.  I can’t see the bottom, but I can feel the cold, damp air flow out and swirl around my skin.  I shiver in fear.  “We’re going down there?” I ask with huge eyes.

“Yes, it’s quite a long walk, but I have my spirit, and I’ll be with you the whole way.  Do you trust me?”  He extends his hand like a gentleman, his fingertips curling slightly.

I eye it quizzically, wondering why he would have to ask. Of course I trust him. “Yes,” I reply with an obvious sort of tone.

He smiles my favorite smile, much to my surprise.  Why is he taking so much out of an answer to an obvious question?  He takes my hand and leads me down into silent darkness.

The second he closes the hatch, all the sounds of the pretty birds are muffled, all light is drowned out, and the damp air clings to my exposed skin.  It’s pitch black; it can’t get any darker.  I cling to Jack.

“Relax,” he groans.  How can he be so calm?

I feel something fall on my head and I jump.  I feel my hair with my stiff fingers to find it wet.  Water?  Water dripped on my head?

“Watch,” he says, placing his hand along the dirt wall.  Light begins to glow along a strip down the long tunnel.  It was placed there, as it seems, so that falcone can have a light source whenever they traverse this tunnel.

“Whoa, how are you doing that?” I wonder in amazement.  Even in Eden I’ve only ever seen him and Nathanael use fuel based lamps.

He smiles, “It’s something we placed here hundreds of years ago.  It’s a tube that lights up when we touch it.  It responds to the light of heaven that runs in our veins,” he explains.  “Cool, huh?”

I nod.  Though I do feel better being able to see, I don’t like seeing the tunnel.  It’s dug out of the ground, and the only things we have to walk on are two rows of narrow boards that run the length of the tunnel.  I can hear insects crawling in the dirt around me.  It makes me feel itchy.  I follow him down deeper into the ground and stay as close to him as I can without stepping on his heels.  As we continue on and on, I sense Abe growing tired.  He’s walking slower and breathing harder, his feet dragging on the planks.  Even for a person who doesn’t walk often, he’s tiring too quickly.  I want to ask if he’s okay, but I have a feeling it’s the effect of using his spirit.

The stink of dirt and the damp air sticks to me.  The humidity climbs the further we descend.  I try to stay as far away from the walls as I can, but sometimes the tunnel becomes narrower and it’s hard to keep from touching them.  I try to tune my ears to the surface, to try to listen to any sign of life besides the insects that crawl in the dirt that surrounds me on all sides.  What I find is pretty much silence, but I catch the tone of wind rushing through the trees, the leaves dancing cheerfully.  That being the only sound, it doesn't do much to help my moral.  My breathing becomes panicked when I feel as though I can’t take it anymore.  I’m not meant to be trapped underground.  I need to be in the sky.  I need to stretch out my wings and catch the wind in them, but I try to cling to my sanity.  I’m in an enclosed space very near the dark shadow that’s pouring off of Abraham.  Taking a deep breath, I try to calm myself.  I don’t know how much more of this I can take.

He suddenly slumps forward and catches himself on the slimy wall.  The light goes out, and for a tremendously long moment, but even with my fear, I recognize that Abe needs my help.  In my blindness and distress, I can’t seem to move.  I’m too scared to do anything in this pitch blackness where the earth would swallow me up and bury me forever.  No, I have to make sure he’s okay.  The world is too important to let Satan win like this.  I reach out and search for him.  “Abe?  Are you okay?”

I hear a grumble as my fingers meet fabric.  “Yeah, I’m fine.  Did I startle you?  Sorry, I- I tripped.”

I know that he didn’t trip.  I’ve never seen him stumble before.  “Let me help you.”

“No, it’s okay.  We’re almost there, he assures me.

The light comes back on as he touches it and he walks languidly in front of me.  I follow after him, noticing the peaceful sounds from above disappearing the further down we go.  Abe continues to struggle as he walks, his head dipping down as though falling asleep.  I want to help him; I need to help him, but I don’t know how.  Nathanael hasn’t taught me how to use my spirit yet.  “Abe, do you need to rest?” I ask him, hoping he’ll stop for a moment.

“No.  It’ll be dark.”

He won’t let me hold him back, so we continue on.  He’s doing it for my sake, I know that, but I don’t like him making sacrifices for my sake.   He recently injured his head, and I’m sure he’s using a lot of energy right now- that can’t be good for healing.  But if I tell me that, he’ll ignore me anyway.  Finally, after what feels like an agonizing forever, we come to an incline and reach a heavy metal door after a short set of stairs.  Abe knocks.

“Who is it?” a strong, aged female voice demands from the other side.

“It is Abraham McKinley and Princess Abigail Grace requesting entrance."

There’s a pause.  “What’s your family color?”

Family color?  What does that mean?  Do I have one?

“Mine is black, and Abigail’s is red,” he responds.  I have a family color?  Interesting.  Does the color match the gems?  In which case, why would Abe say black?  Wouldn’t it be clear or white?  The door creaks open under its massive weight.  A human woman stands behind it.  She’s average height, slender, but not bony like myself, and old- about in her sixties.  She has olive colored skin and wispy coarse hair that is pulled back in a braid.  She’s wearing a regular house dress complete with an apron.  Her eyes are a deep forest green that suggests that she’s seen more than she’s wanted in her lifetime.  She looks behind us in the tunnel searching for something.

“The only things in the tunnel are us and the bugs, Dianna,” Abe reassures her with a roll of his eyes.

So this is the Dianna I’ve been hearing about.  She’s not at all what I pictured her to look like.  I thought she was young and beautiful by the way Abe and Nathanael regard her.

“You can’t be too careful, young man.  Tell me how you know for sure,” she demands with a rise to her chin.

“Me,” I say.  “It seems like I’m sensitive to them, Ma’am.  I can feel them whenever they’re around.”

“Besides,” Abe adds, “your blessing still holds.”

That makes her proud, judging by the way her shoulders pull back, making her chest puff up.  “Of course it is.”

She finally looks at me and her face smooths out into a smile.  “Ah, princess.”

“We killed the group the day before last, but it seems like you have a great number of them on the other side of your blessing, whatever that means,” I continue.  “We’re safe.”

 “I like you; you get to the point.  All right, come inside.”  She moves aside and we climb into the house.

The interior is like a palace.  All the carpets- a rug that runs over the marble floors- are red and black and run up and down along the length of the  hallways.  A golden glow illuminates the hallways from lanterns attached to the walls.  Portraits and paintings hang every ten feet or so.  There are no windows that I can see.  It feels warm, but the silence is too overpowering and I can’t seem to get comfortable.

“How are you, Dianna?” Abe asks.“Terrible,” she bluntly replies.  “I need your help.”  She turns to me.  “And you.  Try to stay out of the way until they’ve healed.”

“She needs your help too,” Abe snaps at her.  “Look at her hands.”

Dianna looks down and then her eyes snap back up to mine.  Unwavering, without concern or pity.  I’m starting to like her.  “You understand, don’t you?  You understand that the men are more important right now, yeah?”

I smile, “I understand completely.”  I shoot Abe a look.

She smiles back and then turns her attention to Abraham.  “Take her to her room and then come to the sick room immediately.”

He nods.  “Yes, of course.  I’ll be there to help as soon as I can.”

She turns and walks down one of the three hallways that branch off the entryway.  I’m concerned that Abe may not have the energy to do what Dianna expects of him.  Watching him grow weak in the tunnels made me realize that he’s not invincible.  He’s a sick mortal angel and I have to help him, but I know that now is not the time.  Now is the time to let him help his friends.