I Have Friends In Both Places
Thirteen

Atlas woke up with a start as a body fell on top of him. He let out a loud groan at the added pressure and pushed whoever was on him off the bed. “Atlas! Atlas!” Galen’s voice was whiny, and he dragged Atlas’s name out like a child trying to get their mother’s attention.

Atlas groaned again and rolled over in his bed, opening his eyes slowly. “What do you need, Galen?”

Galen had a grin from cheek to cheek as he looked at Atlas. Bags from no sleep lined his eyes, and his stance was jittery as if he was running off of caffeine and adrenaline. Atlas cursed himself a bit for leaving him in the library the night before. He should have known this would have happened.

Galen’s voice was as jittery as his body when he spoke. “Okay, so I was looking for the spell, y’know, and then, I came across this really cool thing. It was that prophecy tablet thing, and it turns out I can read it.” Atlas looked up a bit at that and sat up on his elbows in his bed. “I know, crazy, right? Anyway, so I’m reading it, and crazy thing is, you and Alijah are soulmates. Like, you’re supposed to rule the new Heaven together.” Atlas could barely process the information as it flew from Galen’s mouth. “So, I was reading more, and, dude, you got some like magical stuff inside you. Like, your soul, like, it’s like different than the other angels.” Galen stood up as he spoke, pacing around the room while Atlas’s eyes followed him. “Your soul is like meant for down here instead of up there, and that’s why the other angels saw you as a threat, y’know. That’s why you got punished so bad because there’s like this instinct to get you out because you’re like an enemy.”

Galen collapsed to the floor in a heap, his chest heaving up and down as he took in gigantic breaths. “Are you okay there, Galen?”

“I think I’m dying, Atlas. I drank like nine cups of coffee loaded with sugar. Lele kept trying to get me to sleep, but he ended up just sleeping in my lap, but then, I had to get a different book, but I couldn’t move, so I did a small spell to clone myself, and now Lele is in the library laying with a fake me while I’m here.” Galen ran his hands down his face in exasperation.

Atlas turned to the clock to see the time. 2:43 a.m. He slowly climbed out of bed and helped Galen off the ground. “Well, let’s go clean up your mess, yeah, buddy? We can talk tomorrow after you’ve slept and your clone is gone.”

Galen giggled. “He’ll disappear in like forty minutes.”

Atlas nodded and led Galen to Lele’s bedroom as he guessed that’s where he would be staying. Galen collapsed onto the bed in a heap, and Atlas helped him pull off all his clothes but his boxers and cover himself in sheets. Galen had a lazy smile on his face as he stared at the ceiling. “I can’t believe my best friend is so cool.”

Atlas chuckled a bit. “Thank you, Galen. I’m gonna go get Lele now. Stay here.” He then made his way to the door only to be stopped by Galen’s shrill voice again.

“Wait!” Atlas turned with a questioning look. Galen’s voice was almost silent as he spoke the next few words. “Can you grab me some water and gin?”

Atlas’s lips involuntarily curled into a small smile at the familiar question, and he nodded his head quickly. “Of course, I’ll be back in a second.”

Atlas closed the door slowly, trying to make sure no one in the hall woke up. He crept his way to the library slowly but quickly. Once inside the large room, he looked around to make sure that no one else was around before making his way up the stairs once again. Up on the third floor, he found Lele sprawled against the floor against an exact look-a-like of Galen.

Atlas made his way over to Lele and lightly shook him. “Lele. Lele. LELE.” Lele woke up with a jolt and grabbed at Atlas only to fall back to the ground when he realized who it was. “C’mon man, you need to sleep in your actual bed.”

Lele grumbled and rubbed sleep from his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, lemme just grab Galen.”

“Galen’s already in bed,” Atlas stated, grabbing Lele’s hands to help him stand up.

Lele rolled his eyes. “I’m not tired enough to not see my boyfriend right there.” He pointed to the fake Galen with a ‘hmph.’

Atlas laughed a bit at his disgruntled expression. “That’s a fake Galen so you would sleep. The real one is in your bed.”

Lele seemed to take a moment to process it, looking between the fake Galen and Atlas before shaking his head. “I’m so tired of this shit,” he mumbled under his breath.

Atlas followed Lele out of the library, making sure every light was off and every candle was blown out. When he opened the door and turned off the light, Atlas swore the library was a completely different place. It was now eerie, the beautiful paintings looked terrifying with no light, and the nooks and crannies now looked like places where someone could be hiding, and Atlas was happy to leave the room.

Atlas trailed behind Lele for a bit before dipping away from him as he spotted the kitchen. He stepped into the room and rummaged through the cabinet for a simple glass, but all he could find was extravagant metal and fine china cups that intimidated him. Atlas sighed and grabbed one of the larger fine china cups only for it to drop to the floor and shatter as a voice startled him. “What are you doing?”

Atlas cursed under his breath as he dropped to his knees and started picking up glass. “I’m so sorry, Alijah.”

Atlas looked up as Alijah grabbed his hands and took the glass, shooing his hands away. He held his hand over the glass, and it turned into water before boiling and evaporating. He did the rest just as easily. “Don’t apologize. Just don’t hurt yourself.”

Atlas ran his hands over his jeans and stood up, smiling a bit. “Sorry.”

Alijah laughed and shook his head. “What are you doing up so late?”

“I should be asking you the same thing,” he teased. “but I needed to get Galen a glass of water and some gin.”

Alijah laughed a bit and grabbed Atlas’s hand. “Well, for one, that’s in this room.” He pulled Atlas into a kitchen that looked a lot simpler than the last with alcohol lining the counter. “Two, I’m awake because you’re really bad at sneaking around.”

Atlas laughed. “I thought I did a great job.”

Alijah smiled and rolled his eyes. “Just wonderful.”

Atlas grinned brightly as he poured a glass of gin and placed it on the counter. He then reached for another glass for him to fill with water. “I’m sorry for waking you up. I wish I was sleeping right now, but Galen got excited and woke me up.” Atlas debated on telling Alijah what he had learned in those few moments, but he decided to wait until he knew all the facts from the human boy. “He was hyped up on coffee, and Lele was in the library still, so I put them both to bed, but Galen can’t sleep without gin.”

“What? Is he an alcoholic?” Alijah had a lazy smirk on his face as he poured his own glass of gin. “Because it wouldn’t surprise me. He has to have some sort of flaw for him to like Lele.”

Atlas shook his head at the boy’s question. “No, he just has really bad nightmares.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah.”

Silence fell over them before Alijah asked the question Atlas knew he would. “What are his nightmares about?”

Atlas pursed his lips. “His past life, I think.” Galen, in his past life, had been a high-level witch who died during the Salem Witch Trials. His soul floated around for a bit before landing in the body he inhibited now. Passing to different bodies was a strange thing, and it rarely happened. It only happened when the soul hadn’t fulfilled its purpose just yet. It could take millenniums for a soul to find its new body because it had to be perfect, and only few good bodies were born without souls. Galen had thankfully found his perfect match, though. “I think he dreams about being hunted down after they found out he was a witch. From what his past watcher told me, his -well, at the time- her dress got caught on a branch stuck in the ground, and she fell over. They found her a few seconds after, and she accepted her death easily, but she also caused the destruction of the whole town as she went up in flames.”

“That’s badass.” Atlas chuckled at that. “Seems like Galen’s always been a fighter.”

Atlas nodded happily, knowing his friend could impress even Alijah. “Yeah, he’s pretty cool.” Atlas grabbed the two glasses and began walking to the door. “Well, I’ll be taking these to him now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Of course, angel. Don’t forget to show me that playlist.”

Atlas hummed. “Maybe,” he stated as he turned the corner, a smile forever on his lips.

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