“Awful.” Henry finished for her.
Melina’s brow furrowed. That wasn’t exactly the word she was going to use.
“For his sake, I hope it’s not true,” Henry continued. “But if it is true then maybe there’s more to the story.”
“Maybe,” Melina said, unsure of how she felt toward Phinneas right now. “I guess we just have to wait to hear from Walter. Hopefully he’ll have some answers for us soon.”
Chapter Twenty
Henry flew Melina back to Lee’s apartment and helped her clean up the best they could. They started by putting the fallen books and picture frames back into their respectful places. Melina looked over at Henry as he was picking up a book and couldn’t help but smile.
“What?” he asked.
“I bet you’ve never had to help a charge pick up a trashed room before, have you?”
He shook his head. “You’re the first charge I’ve had who’s been attacked in a place that belongs to someone who’s not involved. Usually it’s either in the victim’s or the attacker’s place, or somewhere public, so cleaning up with them wasn’t really part of the job.”
Melina cocked her head. “But it is with me?”
Henry held her gaze for a moment then said, “Your situation is so unique, I think you need all the help you can get.” He smiled and then continued picking up books from the floor.
Melina smiled back. “I think you’re right on that one. What do you think we should do about all of the glass, though?” She gazed around the floor and then back up at Henry. “If we pick it up, Lee will come home and find a coffee table with no top, an end table with a missing lamp, and half of a window.”
“Yeah, I thought about that,” Henry replied. “I think we should leave it. The mess could actually be explained pretty easily. Say someone threw a ball through the window, which hit the lamp, and then landed on the table. Accident. If we cleaned up and left it how you described, that would look too suspicious.”
“But then where’s the ball?”
Henry thought for a moment. “It could’ve been a bird that flew through the window and eventually found its way back out.”
Melina nodded. “Right. Okay, that could work.” She placed the last picture frame back into place and then glanced around the room. “Well, I guess we’re done here.”
“I guess we are,” said Henry. “Do you need me to take you home?”
“No, thank you. But you could take me out to my Jeep. It’s out front, and I don’t really feel like teleporting right now.” She reached up and started to rub her forehead. “I also don’t want to make the doorman suspicious by leaving through the front door.”
“Sure.” He picked her up and flew through the space in the broken window and discreetly dropped her off by her Jeep. “Are you sure you don’t want to let Walter know what happened with the demons?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t like to bother him unless if it’s something new or strange going on with my powers.”
“Okay, suit yourself. Be safe driving home. I’ll be keeping an eye on you in case anything else comes up.”
She smiled at him. “I know. Thank you.” As soon as Henry departed, she climbed into her Jeep and took off toward her apartment.
When she arrived back home, she slept for the rest of the afternoon. Henry had healed her wounds, but she still had a headache, and her whole body was sore from being thrown around by the lead demon. The following day she didn’t leave her apartment. She needed a break from the demons, but she also needed to prepare for tomorrow. Tomorrow was Friday. Not only did she have to travel up to Claire’s place in hopes of witnessing what she'd seen in her vision, but she also had a dinner date with Lee.
Melina imagined that when most women prepared for a first date, they would spend their time picking out what outfit and accessories to wear, choosing the right shades of make-up to use, and deciding how to do their hair. Melina didn’t think she needed to worry too much about all of that with Lee, though. It was more of a friendly date than a romantic one, right? No, she shouldn’t even be thinking that way. She needed to stay focused on her main, and only, objective — helping Lee to resolve whatever it was that was bothering him. If she was able to witness the argument that she saw in her vision between Lee and his sister, then hopefully it would give her the answers she was looking for.
The next morning Melina woke up early to shower and get ready. When she put Claire’s address into her GPS, it said the trip would take her one hour and forty-eight minutes, so she wanted a good head start in case something should happen on her trip there. The vision she'd had took place around lunch time, and she would never forgive herself if she missed getting to witness it because she didn’t arrive in time.
She put on her make-up and styled her hair as fast as she could, and then she rushed over to her closet to pick out some clothes. Since she had a long road trip ahead of her, she decided to go for casual and threw on some jeans and layered a long-sleeved blue tee over a gray one.
After eating a quick bowl of cereal and downing a glass of orange juice, Melina slid on her coat, grabbed her purse, and started to head downstairs when she remembered her bloody scarf. She pulled it out of her coat pocket and buried the now-stiff wad of material in the trash. It was probably a good idea to pick out another scarf to have on her just in case, but she would have to do that when she returned. Right now she didn’t have time. She rushed down the stairs, wishing she could check in on Gwen and Tessa in the store, but she didn’t have time for that either.
Once she was in her Jeep, she pulled her GPS out of her purse, connected it to the holder on her dashboard, and then took off in the direction that it told her to go. Almost two hours later, she arrived in front of a beautiful, two-story, dark blue house.
She looked over at the mailbox to make sure she had the correct address and was satisfied to see
C. Atwood
written on the side. It was indeed Claire’s house. But by the looks of the empty driveway and street out front, she didn’t know if anyone was home. Even if Claire’s car was in the garage, she should’ve seen Lee’s vehicle, whatever it was, parked somewhere out front, and she didn’t see any other cars besides her own. Hmm. She looked at the clock on her radio. It was almost eleven o’clock. They could be in there having an early lunch. Maybe she should go check the house, just to be sure she wasn’t missing anything.
She parked her Jeep a few houses down and then made her way back toward Claire’s. Slowly, she walked up to the front porch and peeked into one of the windows. There weren’t any lights on. Since it appeared that no one was home, she walked back to her Jeep and waited. Hopefully they would show up soon.
An hour later, Melina still hadn’t seen any cars park in front of Claire’s house. Worry started to creep its way into her mind. What if she missed the argument? No, she couldn’t let that happen. She hopped out of her Jeep and snuck back up to the house. Upon approaching, she saw a black SUV parked by the back of the house.
“What! That wasn’t there before. Oh no.” She peered down at the license plate. It wasn’t personalized, just random letters and numbers, but she had a hunch the vehicle belonged to Lee. “I didn’t think about them coming in from the back. I wonder how long they’ve been home?”
When she'd peered through the front window earlier, all she could see was the living room. She guessed that the kitchen was probably in the back and immediately started to creep her way around the side of the house. As she rounded the corner, she could hear loud voices coming from inside. She tiptoed up onto the deck and peeked inside the nearest window. There stood Lee and his sister, arguing about something.
Oh no, she was missing it. She moved over to the next window to hear their voices more clearly and peeked back inside as she began to listen.
“Lee, I can’t help it if you don’t know how to manage your finances!” Claire yelled. “Maybe you shouldn’t have put half of it into that swanky apartment of yours. I mean really, why would one person need that much space?”
“I know, I know,” said Lee. “I was so mad that I wasn’t able to go to New York like I’d planned, that I thought I deserved it. You know, if I had to stay there and take over the store, then I was at least going to use some of the inheritance Dad left us to splurge on myself. I didn’t think I would need it to help the store. I thought it was successful.”
“
Was
is the key word there, Lee. When Dad was running it, it
was
successful. You’ve been too busy being angry and feeling sorry for yourself to manage the business properly. You don’t care about the store or the employees. That’s why business has slowed tremendously, and why three employees have quit! If you don’t take pride in something, then what do you expect the results to be?” Claire crossed her arms and stared at her brother.
Lee looked down at the hard linoleum floor and started to rub the back of his neck.
Keeping her arms crossed, Claire took a step toward him. “Mom and Dad got divorced eight years ago. When are you going to get over that?” She paused for a brief moment and then continued. “We all tried so many times to explain things to you, but you always refused to listen. You had your mind made up on what happened, and then you went off to college and we hardly saw you anymore. And Dad… he was devastated that you didn’t want to see him. He loved you so much, despite how you acted toward him.”
Lee glanced up at his sister but didn’t say anything. He turned his gaze back toward the floor and began to bite his lip.
Claire sighed and relaxed her arms. “You want to know why he left the store to you? He wanted you to forgive him. He thought it would make you happy, and look at how you’re acting. You act like you’re even angrier with him because he ruined some so-called dream of yours to work at some silly corporation in New York where you don’t even know anybody! The jewelry store is our family’s business. The employees who work there are like family, and that’s how they should be treated.”
“Stop,” said Lee as he held his hand up. “I’ve heard enough.”
“But Lee—”
“Enough!” Lee’s hands balled into fists as he glared up at his sister. “I know what mistakes I’ve made, and I know that they’ve started to cause the store to fail. But I didn’t come here to ask for your help because I wanted an easy way out. I want to get the store back up to the respectful level it used to be, because that’s what Dad deserves. I want to do it for Dad because I know I was wrong. I’ve been beside myself, knowing that he died thinking that I hated him over something that wasn’t even true.”
“Dad didn’t hate you, Lee. But are you saying that—”
“Yes. When I met with the lawyer, Mr. Harvey, about inheriting the store, I was also given several other documents that belonged to Dad. Mom and Dad’s divorce papers were among them, from which I learned that Mom was the one who filed for the divorce, not Dad. I went to see Mom before coming here and let her tell me everything.”
“Oh, Lee.” Claire wiped at her tear-filled eyes and then pulled her brother into a soft hug. “Mom, Dad, and I… we tried to tell you. We tried.”
“I know,” said Lee as he stepped back and looked over at his sister with his own watery eyes. “I was just so young and stubborn when it happened. It was my last semester of high school, and all I saw was Dad leaving us.”
Claire shook her head. “You should’ve known that he wouldn’t have done so willingly.”
“Yeah, I should’ve. Some son I am to instantly think the worst of our father like that, huh?” Lee blinked his eyes, causing streams of tears to fall down his cheeks. “And now that I know the truth, you’d think that I’d be mad at Mom, but I can’t be. She tried to tell me it was her doing from the get-go, and I don’t want to be angry anymore. I’ve been angry for so long that I…” Lee’s sobs took over, leaving him unable to finish his sentence.
Claire took her brother by the arm and led him over to one of the chairs at the kitchen table. She sat next to him and held his hand while they both cried. About a minute or two later, Lee was able to compose himself and wiped the tears away from his face.
“Please, sis, help me make things right.” He looked at his sister with pleading eyes.
“Okay,” Claire said as she nodded and squeezed his hand. “I can help you with the store. But I can’t help you with finding peace with Dad. You’re going to have to do that on your own.”
Lee nodded as he gave her a weak smile. “I know. I’m just not quite sure where to start.”
Melina turned away from the window and let out a long exhale.
Wow. I thought I could find a way to help him when his issues seemed to be just a bad attitude and financial struggles, but those aren’t his main problems at all. His problem is something so much more. He thinks his father died thinking that he hated him. Oh man. And he thinks
he
has no idea where to start. Where do
I
start?
Before she got lost in her thoughts and ended up getting caught by Lee or his sister, Melina snuck back around to the front of the house and took off toward her Jeep. Once inside, she headed straight for the interstate and didn’t stop until she'd made it back home.
Chapter Twenty-One
Walter hung his head as he sat down on a bench outside of his temple. He knew Melina was counting on him for answers, but he didn’t have any for her. At least not yet. He couldn’t give up, but he didn’t know what to do anymore. Every time he'd checked inside the temple, Cecil had been the only elder there.
He was beginning to think that getting all four of the elders together wasn’t going to happen. Who knew when Phinneas would show his face again, and he had no idea where Adelia was. It had already been a few days since he talked to Melina last, and he was running out of time. Whenever Helene returned, he would just have to talk to her and Cecil.
Walter knew about Melina’s parents now, and that Helene was the elder who'd spoken to them. She would have to explain herself for that, and hopefully it would get Cecil to admit that he'd been involved as well. Then he would have to question them about the demons again. It wasn’t the Noxin’s first time to come after a human who could absorb angel powers. According to Gwen, the demons had attacked Melina’s parents, too. If that was true, then did that mean that they had gone after all of the humans like Melina?