Earth Angel (Falling Angels Saga) (24 page)

She didn’t respond. Instead, she continued to stare.

*

All the way home, Curtis chattered a mile a minute about the happenings at Splashtopia.

“Best end of school year event ever.
Ever!
Ladies, we are part of history. We’ll be talking about this one all summer.”

I sat silently in the back seat staring out the window. Yes, I had planned for my afternoon at Splashtopia to end early. But I hadn’t anticipated anything like this.

“And, Megan, wow. You were in it. You actually went in,” Curtis continued.

“It was dumb of me,” I said. “That boy got me so mad. I was just trying to get away from him.”

“It seems suspicious.” Maudrina was finally breaking her silence.

“You mean like someone turned up the wave machine on purpose?” asked Curtis.

“Something like that.”

“You’ve got a wild imagination there, Zim,” he responded with a chuckle.

“I don’t know. What do you think, Megan?”

I wasn’t sure before that moment, but now I was. Maudrina believed what I believed--that I had caused the near calamity.

I suddenly felt tired, as if sacks of cement were hanging from my shoulders, weighing me down. “What do you want me to say, Maudrina?” there was a hint of unintended annoyance in my voice.

After a moment’s silence: “Nothing,” she replied in a flat tone.

“Did I miss something?’ asked Curtis. “Is something going on with you two?”

“Of course not,” I replied quickly. His eyes were on the road, and not on me squirming in my seat.

“Now whose imagination is working overtime?” added Maudrina with a laugh.

“All right, all right, you got me,” he said, backing away from his statement.

He was right, of course. There
was
something going on between us. I had told Maudrina everything about my trip to hell to rescue Guy. During my trip a she wolf had attacked me. When it looked as though she was going to retrieve
The Book of Calls
that I had brought along to trade for Guy’s life, a lightning bolt shot from my hand, knocking the book from her lips. Later, the angel, Roxanne, had told me that during my battle with Satan a few months ago, some of his power had rubbed off on me.
The abilities will reveal themselves to you in time,
she had said.

Now I was seated in the backseat of Curtis’ car wondering about the extent of my new abilities and wondering if what happened today was, in fact, the abilities revealing themselves. I was sure Maudrina, seated on the front seat next to Curtis, was wondering the same thing.

I was grateful that Curtis dropped me off at home first. He wanted some alone time with Maudrina that he would get once I was out of the car.
Perfect
, I thought. The last thing I wanted right now was to be confronted by Maudrina.
What would I say?

“You sure you’re okay?” Curtis asked as I climbed from the car. “That could have turned out really bad.”

“I know. But it didn’t. I’m good,” I said.

As I eased shut the door, I turned to Maudrina who was rolling her window down, letting in the heat. “See you at school Monday morning,” I said, breaking eye contact and heading up the walk toward the house.

 “Let’s talk later,” she called as I moved away. It was meant to come off as quick and matter-of-fact for Curtis’ sake. I knew better.

“Okay,” I hollered back without turning. What happened at Splashtopia was the last thing I wanted to talk about. What had happened at Splashtopia needed to stay at Splashtopia.

E. Van Lowe
is an author, a television writer, screenwriter, playwright, and producer who has worked on shows such as
The Cosby Show, Even Stevens
, and
Homeboys in Outer Space
. He has been nominated for an Emmy and an Academy Award. Van Lowe recently stepped into the young adult fiction genre with his novel
Never Slow Dance With a Zombie
, a horror novel with a comedic twist. It was a selection of the Scholastic Book Club, and a nominee for an ALA Award.

Visit E at his website
www.evanlowe.com
.