"Thomas E. Sniegoski - Aerie" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sniegoski Thomas E)

But then again, who could have predictedthis crazy turn his life had taken? he thought as he waited for
his order to be filled. The angelCamael had become his companion and mentorsince Aaron's realization
that he was born aNephilim. He remembered how insane it had allsounded at firstтАФthe hybrid offspring
of the mating between a human woman and an angelicbeing. Aaron thought he was losing his mind.And
then people he cared about started dying, and he realized there was much more at stake than just his
sanity.

Aaron turned away from the counter andlooked out over the dining room. He noticed acouple with a
little boy who appeared to be nomore than four years old. The child was playingwith a blue plastic top
that he must have gotten asa prize with his kid's meal. Aaron immediatelythought of Stevie, his foster
brother, and a weightyfeeling of unease washed over him. He recalledthe last time he had seen his little
brother. The seven-year-old autistic child was being draggedfrom their home in the clutches of an
angelтАФa sol dier in the service of a murderous host of angelscalled the Powers. The Powers wanted
Aarondead, for he was not just a Nephilim, he was alsosupposed to be the chosen one spoken of in an
angelic prophecy written over a millennium ago,promising redemption to the fallen angels.

At first it had been an awful lot to swallow,but lately Aaron had begrudgingly come toaccept the bizarre
twists and turns that lifeseemed to have in store for him. Camael saidthat it was all part of his destiny,
which had beenpredetermined long before he was born.

The child had managed to make the top spinand, much to his parents' amusement, clappedhis hands
together as the plastic toy careenedabout the table top.

The prophecy predicted that someone verymuch like Aaron would be responsible for bringing
forgiveness to the angels hiding on Earthsince the Great War in Heaven, that he would bethe one to
reunite the fallen with God. It's a bigjob for an eighteen-year old foster kid fromLynn,Massachusetts, but
who was he to arguewith destiny?

The spinning top flew from the table and thelittle boy began to scream in panic. Again Aaronwas
bombarded with painful memories of the recent past, of his foster brother's cries as he wasstolen away. "I
think I'll keep him," the Powers leader, Verchiel, had said as he handled the littleboy like some kind of
house pet. Aaron's blood seethed with the memory. Perhaps hewas some kind of savior, but there was
nothing he wantedmore than to find his brother. Everything elsewould have to wait until Stevie was safe
again.

The child continued to wail while his panicked parents scrambled to find the lost toy. Onhands and
knees the boy's father retrieved thetop from beneath a nearby table and brought thechild's sadness to an
abrupt end by returningthe toy to him. Though his face was still streakedwith tears, the boy was smiling
broadly now.Ifonly my task could be as simple,Aaron thoughtwearily.

"Do you want ketchup?" he heard someonesay close by, as he turned his thoughts to how much farther
he'd be able to drive tonight. Hewas tired, and for a brief moment he consideredteaching Camael how to
drive, but that thoughtwas stricken from his mind by the image of theheavenly warrior in the midst of a
minor trafficaltercation, cutting another driver in two with aflaming sword.

Aaron felt a hand upon his shoulder andspun around to see the girl with the ponytail andthe incredibly
wide smile holding out his bags offood. "Ketchup?" she asked again.

"Were you talking to me?" he asked, embarrassed, as he took the bags. "I'm sorry, I'm just abit dazed
from driving all day and..."