Learning to Fly

A puzzle box sat on the mantle. The wood was carved with different symbols, none of which Elizabeth could read. She glided her fingers across the surface, unbidden memories leaking into her mind.

"I remember that box," she said quietly. "I used to try to solve it when I was a little girl. My dad showed me one time. I wonder if I can remember still." She took up the box.

"Those are enochian symbols," Castiel said, coming up behind her. "Angel symbols."

"What do they mean?" Elizabeth asked, looking up at him.

"They protect this box from angels – an angel cannot get into it or see it from afar."

"Then this has to be it," Elizabeth said, turning back to the box. "His grace is in here. I can feel it." She could, there was an energy inside the box that seemed to call to her. With nimble fingers, she slid the panels of the box in a familiar pattern. There was a click and the box opened. A glow lit up the room as the grace appeared, tucked in a bottle at the bottom of the box. "There it is," she said. "My father's grace."

"Good job, Castiel." A voice came from the doorway. A man and a woman walked into the cabin. Angels. "We'll take that," the woman said to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth didn't move. "You did agree," Castiel told her.

"You're going to destroy it?" she asked the angels. "How? What will that do?" The thought of destroying something so pure hurt her.

"It will be harmless," the man said. "We can't let it fall into the wrong hands."

"It's not in the wrong hands," Elizabeth said calmly. Something about the grace felt right. It didn't want to be destroyed – it was almost alive, pulsing with urgency, telling her to keep it safe. The angels took a step forward. Sam and Dean moved in front of Elizabeth.

Castiel looked down at her from where he stood beside her. "Elizabeth, it's not yours to keep. Please."

"This feels wrong," she insisted. "It's not something you can just destroy."

Then she moved mechanically, and her actions didn't seem like her own. She took the bottle from the box. The angels moved forward again, but she had already unstopped the bottle, dropping the cork to the ground. The grace swelled up, the light filling the room with an almost blinding force. It swirled upward, spiraling into her mouth and through her body. She felt the heat now, raging within her body like liquid fire. Her very skin seemed to glow brightly. Pain began to fill her body, and she dropped the bottle in anguish. She heard the shattering of the glass. She heard herself screaming though she was not aware that she had begun to scream. All at once the pain, the light, and the fire all came to a climax. Everything burst into white light, so bright that it was the most perfect, unflawed brilliance that only pure white can be.

The grace had enveloped her now, and there was no taking it back. It felt familiar, like a long forgotten favorite coat. She let it wrap itself around her. The grace now glowed like a hot ember within her heart, sending out heat waves that seemed to ignite her body.

The pain began to fade. She no longer felt as if shattered glass was tearing at her flesh. She felt as light and as free as she had ever felt. As the light faded around her, she felt different. She saw faces looking at her in astonishment and horror. She felt something weigh down on her back, and looked behind her to see what they were all staring at.

Two white wings protruded from her back, somewhat small and covered in fine, downy feathers. They seemed to glow, emanating the grace within her. She lifted them, finding that the wings were an extension of her body. And then she was gone from the room, the light dying completely as she disappeared, wings and all.

…

Elizabeth landed with a splash in a large body of water. She fell like a cannon to the very bottom of the water, her feet hitting sandy bottom. Her wings were no longer light and downy. They weighted her down as the water rushed in on her, and she tried to flap them as she panicked. They weren't helping. She needed them to go away. At that thought the weight lifted from her back, and she was only human again. She kicked off from the bottom of whatever body of water she had landed in and swam upward until her head breached open air. She gasped for breath, taking in her surroundings. It was night. She could hear crickets chirping in the distance. She was in the middle of a large pond. At least it wasn't a lake or an ocean. Her tired limbs couldn't take her much further. She swam weakly to the edge of the pond and fell to the ground, her clothes completely sodden, her energy spent. The fire that had burned in her chest had now vanished. She lay there for a long moment until sense kicked in and she sat up, groping around her pockets for her phone. It was gone. It would have been ruined by the water anyway.

Elizabeth got up and tried to wring the water out of her clothes and hair. She was still dripping and her shoes squelched when she walked, but she started walking anyway, shivering in the night as the cold water droplets chilled her skin. She had no idea where she was. No idea what direction to go. She was too terrified to try flying again. That had been a horrifying experience. She hadn't even meant to, but instinct had kicked in, and she'd fled the angels who had wanted to destroy her father's grace. Her grace.

Everything was still sinking in. She was nephilim. Her father had been an angel. She didn't know what it meant for her that she'd taken in his grace. She could still feel it fluttering within her like a nervous butterfly. She didn't know how to use it or what powers it would give her. Perhaps it was too powerful for her and it would burn her away from the inside out. This thought made her heart rage with fear, but she pushed it back. Right now she needed to focus on finding some signs of civilization.

A few miles away from the pond she found herself on a deserted road. Who would be driving at night anyway? She started walking down the road, heading west. She had no idea where she was going. A reflective sign was up ahead, and she read the words: Interstate-70. She sighed. She was obviously in the middle of nowhere, but eventually she'd have to come to a mileage sign. She walked on.

Finally the familiar green sign reared up before her. She stopped before it to read the names.

Parachute 1

Grand Junction 46

The good news was that there was a town within a mile. The bad news was that this was by car. The other good news was that now she thought she had an idea of where she was. She sighed. She'd been in Montana the last time she'd checked. Now she was in Colorado. She kept walking. Maybe she'd be able to find a ride in Parachute. Of course she had no money, no ID, no phone. And she looked as if she'd tried to take the pond with her.

As the sky began to light up, she could make out her surroundings a little more. She realized that dry grasslands ran all around her and that mountains flanked the road. Shrub brush and pine trees grew scattered across the lower hills leading up to the mountains. As the sun flushed over the road, she welcomed in its warmth. She couldn't stop shivering though her clothes had begun to dry. She was still damp and cold air drying cold water wasn't really helping.

Finally all her walking paid off. She saw city lights on the horizon and then a small town came into view. A gas station lay to the right of the interstate, and she made for that, hoping to find a phone. Of course she had no money, so that wasn't ultimately going to help her. She searched the parking lot for loose change as she approached the gas station. She only found a dirty penny and left it where it was.

A bell chimed overhead as she entered the gas station's jiffy mart. A bored looking employee looked up as she entered.

"Hi," she said. "I was wondering if you had a phone I could use."

"There's a pay phone out front," he said uninterestedly.

"I don't have any money," Elizabeth told him.

"That could be a problem." He wasn't even looking at her now.

"Look, it's kind of an emergency-" she broke off when she saw the date on the newspaper next to the counter. She snatched it up. September 2, 2007. "Is this today's paper?" she asked.

The boy gave her a strange look. "Um, yeah."

It was July when I was in Montana, she thought to herself. How can two months have passed? She shook her head. "Sorry. I thought it was the first. Never mind. Um, phone. Right. Do you have a phone back there I could use? It'd only take a second."

"We're not really supposed to do that."

Elizabeth felt impatience flair up. "Please just let me use it," she said, sharper than she had intended. She felt a rush of heat in her chest. The boy stared at her for a moment, his eyes going unfocused.

"You can use this phone," he said, pointing at a phone behind the counter.

"Thank you?" Elizabeth came around the counter cautiously. The boy just stood there looking dazed. "Could I get some privacy?" she asked.

He walked off without complaint. Elizabeth stared after him. Had she compelled him? She didn't like the feeling it gave her to think that she had possibly forced someone to do something against his will. Shaking the thought from her head, she picked up the phone and dialed Sam's number. It rang once and then an automated female voice came on the line.

"I'm sorry, the number you are calling has been disconnected."

Elizabeth hung up. Great. What was she supposed to do now? "Is there a bus that comes through here or something?" she asked the boy.

"No." He was looking more focused now if not confused by his current position in front of the pop cooler. He went back behind the counter, glaring at the phone suspiciously.

Elizabeth sighed. "Great. Looks like I'm stuck here."

"Sometimes truckers come through her to refill. Maybe one will take you somewhere. You just have to be careful. Some are trustworthy, some not so much."

"Alright, thank you." She left the jiffy mart and sat down on the sidewalk outside, watching the empty gas station. After an hour her stomach was beginning to growl and her mouth was feeling parched. She considered compelling the boy to give her some food and water but thought better of it. The last thing she needed to do was take advantage of her new powers. Instead she kept waiting until, finally, a semi truck pulled into the station. A thirtyish man got out and started the gassing up process. Elizabeth stood and approached him.

"Hi," she started. He looked up at her with brilliant blue eyes and smiled. He wasn't missing any teeth and his smile wasn't creepy, so she felt more confident. "I'm stuck here, no car, no money, no one to call. I was hoping you might give me a lift somewhere – anywhere – that might have a bus service."

"Sure. Grand Junction has a bus station. You should be able to get a ride there to wherever it is you want to go. Just let me gas up, and we'll get going."

He went into the jiffy mart and came out with two bottles of water and two bags of chips. "Hungry?" he asked, handing her a water and bag of chips.

"Yes, thank you!" Elizabeth popped open the bag and then took a chug of water.

"Ready to go?" The truck was ready, and Elizabeth hopped into the passenger's seat. She laughed inwardly. She'd never gotten a ride from a truck driver before. After meeting Sam and Dean, she'd done a lot of things she'd never done before.

They made much better progress in a truck, and Elizabeth sat back and enjoyed the ride. She saw another sign that said Grand Junction was only 10 miles away. Then the truck started to slow. She looked over at the driver in alarm.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I have my orders." He stopped the truck and pulled out a silver blade, turning to Elizabeth. "You seem like a nice girl, but that grace wasn't yours to take."

"You're an angel," Elizabeth said with realization. "Who gave you those orders?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter."

"Why do I deserve to die?"

"I never said you did," he said, and she could see the conflict behind his eyes.

"Then don't kill me," she said.

"I'm sorry," he said, raising the blade.

Elizabeth felt terror building up inside of her. Then her thoughts were calling out to the one person she thought could help her. Castiel! she cried out in her mind. Help!

There was a blinding flash of white light, and Elizabeth heard a scrabble. She unlatched the truck's door and dropped to the ground. She heard a brief scream and then silence. She huddled against the truck. Then she heard footsteps approaching her. She was defenseless and there was nowhere to run. She stood and braced herself to fight.