The teacher's laugh was pitched between amusement and derision. “Surely you don't believe that. No naked cherubs with the power to make you fall in love?”
Working her fingers along the hem, Norah blanched when the first chuckles emanated from the seats nearest the window, rolling across the room in contagion, a wave that would bounce and echo back if she let it reach the far wall. She straightened and squared her shoulders, fingers flying madly through the fringe. Her voice deepened, and she spoke stone-faced. “I would not joke about things invisible to see, for while there are no cupids, angels walk among you.”
The laughter stopped, threatened to rise again if she paused.
“I am an angel,” she said, “come to tell you the time is at hand. I am a messenger. Beware the others—the angels of destruction—who walk and watch among you. The seven who serve the terrible will of the Lord to punish the faithless. The Malake Habbalah: Kushiel, rigid one of God; Lahatiel, flaming one of God; Shoftiel, judge of God; Makatiel, plague of God; Hutriel, rod of God; Puriel, fire of God; and Rogziel, wrath of God. Besides these named, their number is legion. Four and forty thousand to come to dwell among you, wreaking judgment.”
The children's faces had turned to ash.
“But the Lord is merciful and full of forgiveness. He has sent his messengers ahead to beg your faith and trust. You will know us by the light of the heavens in our eyes.”
She took off her glasses and opened wide her eyes. All of the children leaned forward in an attempt to see what constellations might be swirling in her irises. Sean was startled by how small her eyes appeared, how she seemed reduced, more vulnerable, a mere child like the rest. He prayed for her to stop. Norah spread the wings of the poncho and said again, “I am an angel of the Lord.”
Shouts of “Norah, stop” from Mrs. Patterson went unheard, the hosanna made of her name until it became a remonstrance, and she did not notice the scrape of the teacher's chair against the floor, nor the footsteps as she approached, calling her name, insisting, begging her to “please just stop.” Norah did not quit until the woman's hand clasped her shoulder, and glowing, she was led back to her desk, past her stunned and silenced classmates, until seated, she slumped back in the chair. She shuddered and her limbs convulsed as though a shock ran through her nervous system, and then at once, the strange trance ended. Within seconds, her eyes were closed, and exhausted, she slept until the lunch bell rang. As the other students filed off to their meal, Mrs. Patterson asked Norah to stay behind.
“What on earth came over you?”
Norah folded her hands, offered no explanation, prepared herself for punishment.
Mrs. Patterson softened, thought of the girl as hers for the moment. “Are you all right, child?” Receiving no answer, she said, “I can't have such episodes in my classroom. I will have to tell your grandmother about your disruption today, and the principal as well. We just can't have it.”
Norah paid no heed to the threats of discovery, and in fact seemed pleased that the news would soon reach her home and spread like fire through the town. The plan to save Mrs. Quinn had been put in motion. Norah strolled to the cafeteria like an empress, and the children stopped to whisper as she passed, the rumors of her brazenness trailing her like threads loosed from a caftan. The others were waiting for her at the dining table, suddenly the center of the room, beaming with joy. Only Sean seemed troubled by her confession, but he kept his fears to himself. After the celebratory meal, her classmates queued to escort her back to class, and later to walk home with her, just to be close to the light they had newly discovered.