“Okay, whoa,” said Melina as she held her hand up. “That’s all a little too much for me right now.” She closed her eyes and laid her head back against the headboard. “I have the worst headache, and everything you’ve told me about my parents is not helping any.” She placed her hand on her forehead, and after taking in several deep breaths, her eyes popped opened and she shot up from the bed. “Walter!”
Tessa sprung forward and pushed her back toward the bed. “Calm down, Melina. You really shouldn’t exert yourself right now.”
She obeyed her friend and sat back down on the edge of the bed, but it was only for a moment. When Walter appeared at her bedroom door, she popped back up and rushed over to him.
“Melina, I was just about to come here.” He looked her over, a worried expression on his face. “Were you attacked again? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay,” Melina replied, shaking her head. “For two reasons. One, I was attacked again, and this time it was by all three of the demons. They were vicious and brutal, to my bookstore and to me. The entire store is a complete disaster, and I’m pretty sure I almost died.” Melina talked quickly and sounded as if she were out of breath.
“Now the second reason is—”
“Wait a second, wait a second,” said Walter as he cut her off. “We need to talk about you almost dying. What happened?”
Melina recounted her latest incident with the demons and explained how she'd received the burn marks on her arms and neck. Walter remained silent the entire time until she started to describe how she'd felt when she'd thought the demons were trying to kill her.
“Melina, you don’t understand how lucky you are. They weren’t just trying to kill you. They were trying to suck out your soul. You must’ve been horribly weak. How were you able to escape from them?” Walter looked at her, completely dumbfounded.
She gazed around her room. Gwen, Tessa, and Walter were all staring at her. “I don’t know,” she replied, looking back at Walter. “All I remember is a bright yellow light suddenly filled the room. The demons shrieked and released me, and then I blacked out. When I initially came to, I saw a figure of a man outlined with the same yellow light standing over me. He held his hand over my chest, and air immediately shot back into my lungs. I was gasping for air so frantically that by the time I calmed myself down and looked around, he was gone. I tried to stand up to search for him further, but I seemed to have passed out again.”
Everyone was still staring at her. “I know I didn’t imagine it!”
“No,” said Walter, finally coming out of his bewilderment. A small smile crossed his lips. “You didn’t imagine it. What you saw was your guardian angel. He saved you.”
Before Melina had the proper amount of time to fully react to his words, Gwen’s thoughts exploded in her mind.
Her guardian angel came to help her? Then why didn’t guardian angels come to help her parents? Why did they just have to die?
Gwen stood up from her chair, but Melina quickly stopped her. “I got it, Gwen.”
Gwen stared at her and then a look of understanding came over her face. She didn’t sit back down, though.
Melina turned back to Walter, who once again looked confused. She knew that Walter had heard Gwen’s thoughts, and she wanted to know the answer as well, but she had a few other questions that she wanted to ask first.
“So my guardian angel is a man? I guess I always assumed it would be a woman.”
Walter gave her a curious look, slightly amused by her question. “Yes. All guardian angels are male. Very large and well-built ones at that. It makes a lot of sense, given their job description.”
Melina nodded. “Does he have a name?”
“Henry.”
“Why didn’t Henry stick around? Am I not supposed to see him?”
“It’s just in their nature to not be seen,” Walter replied. “I’m still surprised, though, that he came to your aid at all.”
Melina noticed that Gwen and Tessa both looked confused, so she decided to fill them in.
“Walter sought Henry out to ask him why he wasn’t protecting me from the demons. He said that Phinneas, another elder guiding angel, told him that he couldn’t help me, that I had to survive on my own to gain control of the powers. Walter explained that his elders were the ones who suggested seeking him out to help protect me, but he said he couldn’t take Walter’s word over an elder’s. Then he disappeared.”
Walter scratched his head. “I wonder what made him change his mind?”
Melina looked back at Gwen, who was thinking the same thing that she was thinking. Maybe her parent’s guardian angels had been told the same thing. Maybe that’s why they hadn't helped them. They'd thought that they couldn’t.
She blinked back a couple of budding tears as she moved her gaze to Walter. “Whatever his reason was for changing his mind, I’m obviously grateful that he did.”
“Yes,” said Walter as he gave her a sympathetic smile. “He saved your life.”
Given his expression, Melina knew that Walter thought she had started to cry because of Henry. She needed to correct him.
“I’m not emotional because of what Henry did for me. It’s because I think you’ve been lying to me, and I want to know why.” Her lip quivered as she eagerly searched his eyes.
Walter’s brow creased as his eyes widened. “Lying to you? About what?”
Melina looked at Gwen and then back at Walter. “I know you heard Gwen’s thoughts earlier about my parents' guardian angels.”
He nodded. “Yes, but what does any of that have to do with me?”
“Their guardian angels just let them die!” she yelled in an exasperated tone.
“It must have been their time, Melina. I know it may be hard to hear, but guardians do have limitations and can’t interfere with certain situations.”
Melina shrugged. “Or apparently they must have been told to not protect them.”
Walter cocked his head to the side. “Why would you think that? And what does it have to do with me lying to you?”
A single tear slid down her cheek. “My parents… they were like me. Both of them.”
Walter’s eyes widened again as his mouth gaped open. “What—”
“It’s true,” Gwen said abruptly. “I knew about everything with Paul and Nora — the mindreading, the visions, all of the powers. The Noxin demons came after them, too. They caused the car crash that killed them.”
Walter stared at Gwen, taking in all that she'd just said. After a moment, he looked over at Melina. “You think I knew about that and didn’t tell you?”
She didn’t respond.
Walter gave her a wounded look. “I promise, Melina, I knew nothing about your parents. There must be a lot that Phinneas is hiding, but I’m not sure why.”
“I don’t think it’s just Phinneas,” Melina interjected.
“What do you mean?” Walter asked.
“Gwen said that a female guiding angel came to talk to Mom and Dad. Apparently she told them the same thing Adelia told me. You know, how the ability is rare and that it’s only happened to three other humans. So whoever the elder was, I think she’s in on it with Phinneas.”
Walter rubbed his forehead briefly and then looked up at Gwen. “Did Paul or Nora ever mention to you what the elder looked like?”
Gwen shook her head. “They never talked about her much. But I saw her myself once. It was only for a brief moment, but I remember she had long, shiny black hair.”
“That’s not Adelia,” Melina said.
“Helene,” Walter whispered.
“Helene?” Melina asked. “She’s the other female elder?”
Walter nodded.
“And there’s four of them total?”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “The other male elder is Cecil.”
Melina crossed her arms in front of her as her eyebrows scrunched together. “Are all of the elders in on it together?”
Walter stared down at the floor and shook his head. “I don’t know what to think anymore. I was always under the impression that if we encountered a human like you, we were supposed to go to Adelia about it since she’s the eldest. I didn’t know that any of the other elders were involved with it, but there are only two female elders, and Helene is the only one with black hair.”
He looked up at Melina. “I have to go and talk to the elders again, find out what’s really going on. I may be gone for a while, depending on whether or not I can get all of them together at once. But if you need me here for anything, just call to me. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said.
“And Melina, I know the news about your parents is a lot for you to take in, but you need to focus on helping Lee. The sooner you get to the root of his problem, the better.”
She hesitated and then gave him a small nod.
“But what about the demons?” Tessa piped up. “They almost killed Melina earlier. What does she do if they come back?”
Walter looked at Tessa and then back at Melina. “There’s no telling exactly what Henry did to the demons, but you should have at least a few days, if not a week, before they try to attack you again. I’m sure they’re either badly injured or scared out of their wits. Most demons would relinquish their task once a guardian angel got involved, but Noxin demons are the most determined of them all. They’ll keep trying. Their attacks just may not be as frequent now. And if you do encounter them again, I think it’s safe to say that Henry will show up again.”
Melina let out a long breath and nodded again. It was of some comfort to think that Henry would probably help her again when the demons decided to show back up, but she was still reeling from the revelation about her parents. She wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. She didn’t want to succumb to the same awful fate as they had, so she knew she had to deal with her powers.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and then stood up tall and straight. “If I only have a few demon-free days, then I need to get busy. I need to go see Lee.”
Chapter Fourteen
Tessa gasped as Walter disappeared right in front of them. Even though she had teleported with Melina and Walter before, it still must’ve been somewhat of a shock to witness. Melina glanced at Gwen and saw that she, too, appeared a bit surprised. She wished she could stay and talk more to both of them about everything, but her time was running out. Without saying anything, she rushed out of her bedroom and headed for the front door.
“Wait!” Tessa yelled after her.
Melina finished sliding her shoes on and then turned to look at her friend. “Please, Tess. Don’t try to stop me or tell me that I need to rest. I have to start gaining some headway with Lee, or the powers are going to start doing a lot worse to me than the demons did. I can’t let them destroy me.”
“I know,” Tessa said. “I wasn’t going to stop you. I just wanted to know if you needed any help?” Tears welled in Tessa’s eyes as she shrugged and gave Melina a sheepish grin.
Melina smiled back appreciatively, but before she could respond, Gwen spoke up.
“I think the best way to help Melina right now is to take care of the store for her.”
“Gwen, it's a disaster. I don’t even know where to begin with trying to fix or replace some of the items. I couldn’t possibly let you and Tessa be responsible for taking care of it all.”
Gwen shrugged. “It’s not like I haven’t had to put the store back together before.”
Melina’s brow furrowed, but then she realized that Gwen was referring to when it had happened to her parents. The store must’ve been trashed by demons then, too.
“Go,” said Gwen as she waved her hand at Melina. “Go talk to Lee. But might I suggest you pick him up a small gift before you go and see him?”
“Why?” Melina asked as she blushed slightly. “I’m not trying to get him to go out with me.”
“Well,” said Gwen with a slight grin on her face, “I would think that a small, thoughtful gift would help, even if you’re just trying to start up a friendship with somebody.”
“Okay, um, I’ll do that,” Melina replied, sounding a bit embarrassed now. She grabbed her coat from the hook by the door and slid it on as she turned to leave.
“Hold on,” Tessa said from behind her. “I have something that I think you might need.”
Melina turned and saw Tessa walking toward her with a thin, beige scarf.
Tessa held it out to her friend. “You know, to cover that up,” she said as she gestured toward the bandaged burn mark.
“Thanks,” said Melina as she wrapped the scarf around her neck.
“Are you sure you don’t want any pain medicine before you leave?” Gwen asked.
“No thank you,” she said. “The medicine might help with the pain from my burns, but I’m afraid they wouldn’t do much to help with the pain from these powers. To get rid of that pain, I have to help Lee. There is something else you can do for me, though. It’s a question I’d like to have answered.”
“What’s that?” Gwen asked as she raised her thin black eyebrows.
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth about my parents before?”
Gwen stared at Melina for a couple of seconds and then replied, “Would you have believed me?”
Melina paused for a moment and then shook her head. “No. No, I don’t think I would have.” She smiled at Gwen and then took in a deep breath. “Well, I’ll see you two later.”
She gave them both a quick wave and then moved as fast as she could down the stairs and out the back door. After climbing into her Jeep, she pulled out of the alley and onto the street. There was a stop sign ahead, and as she braked to a halt, she thought about which way to go. She could turn left to go to Lee’s jewelry store, but then she remembered what Gwen had said about a gift. What in the world was she supposed to get him? She had no idea what he liked. The mall was probably the best place for her to go, so she drove straight on through and headed farther into town. Hopefully, one of the various stores would spark some inspiration.
Ten minutes later she arrived at the mall. She parked in the first spot she saw and then hurried up to the door. As she grabbed the handle, she paused for a moment, thinking back to what had happened the last time she’d been at a mall. She remembered the young girl and the painful vision she'd had of her. Good thing it was a Monday and all the kids were in school. She pulled the door open and walked inside.
Since it was still pretty early, the number of people walking around was small, so Melina didn’t bother with blocking out people’s thoughts. She was careful to keep her distance, though, to avoid any accidental run-ins.