Earth Angel (Falling Angels Saga) (8 page)

“We were almost too late,” his voice was trembling. “Another few minutes and the demon would have killed you.” He rested a weary head on my shoulder.

“He wasn’t here to hurt me.”

Guy drew back and stared at me. “How would you know that?”

“He told me. Besides, if he wanted to hurt me, he had plenty of time to do it before you got here.”

“He is lying,” he muttered. “Megan, he is a demon. You can never trust a demon.”

“I noticed you and the demon were talkin’ when we I came up.” Harrison had scrambled back over the wall, and was now walking toward us. The wings were gone. He was once again plain old Harrison, with his hazel eyes, chiseled features, blond ponytail and red jeans—if you call that plain. “What did the filthy beast say ta ya?”

I hadn’t yet told Guy about
The Book of Calls
. I didn’t care if Harrison was an angel. There was no way I was going to share its existence with him.

“He was begging me to put my crucifix away. I had just put it in my pocket when you showed up.”

A relief filled smile lit up Guy’s face. “You are the most resourceful person. You know that?”

His smile made me smile. I was glad to see he was no longer worried about me—although I have to admit, the worry was charming.

Meanwhile, Harrison seemed befuddled. “Beggin’ yer pardon, Megan, but demons don’t usually engage in conversation. How did he approach ya?”

“He didn’t. I approached him.”

“What?” squawked Guy, the concern returning to his face.

“Let me finish. I saw someone or something moving in the garden shadows outside the kitchen window, so I came outside. He was hiding. But when I commanded him to come out, he did.”

“You commanded the demon to come out and he obeyed?” Guy seemed incredulous.

“Uh-huh.”

“A mortal cannot command a demon!” Harrison barked. He turned his angry eyes on Guy. “You need to tell yer gal to stop with the lying and turn it over to us.”

I shot Guy a questioning look.

“He think’s you have
The Book of Calls
.”

I could feel the color draining from my face. “The what book?”

“She doesn’t have it!” Guy snapped at him.

Harrison faced me, his beautiful features marred by anger. “You are lucky to be alive.” He practically spat the words at me. He turned to Guy. “And
you
are blinded by love, mate.”

With those words Harrison stormed across the garden, and hopped back over the wall, this time without the use of wings.

“What’s with him?”

“He’s a tracker. I think he’s embarrassed you dealt with a demon so easily.”

“Some tracker,” I muttered.

“But he’s right,” Guy continued. “A mortal cannot command a demon.”

“I did.”

“At least that’s what the demon wanted you to believe. For some reason he was trying to win you over.”

“Perhaps.” Waves of guilt rippled my stomach. I needed to tell Guy that I had
The Book of Calls
. But I couldn’t tell him now, two minutes after I told him I didn’t have it.

“I don’t think the demon was playing a trick,” I said, mashing the guilt down deep into my gut.“He was hiding when I came out. And I could tell he didn’t want to reveal himself until I commanded him to.”

Guy looked into my eyes, his expression unreadable. When he next spoke, his voice was coming from far away. “Megan, you need to be careful when I’m not around. You may not realize it, but you are in danger.”

He continued staring at me, and I recognized the look in his eyes. It was the look of love. I knew Guy loved me, but I hadn’t seen that special look in his eyes before. It made me go all gooey inside.

“Megan, are you out there?” Suze’s voice rang out from the kitchen.

I saw Guy move. At least I think I did. There was a wooshingsound, like a mini-tornado had sprung up in the garden. And he was gone, just as Suze poked her head outside.

“Did I hear you talking to someone out here?”

“No. Just thinking out loud.”

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Not a chance.

#

Guy texted me three times that night. He was checking up on me, making sure I was safe. All this attention from him left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling, as if I was the belle of the ball. Girls like Ashley Scott had boys crawling all over them all the time. I didn’t. Guy was my first real boyfriend. My first love. Guy was the first and only boy to give me a feeling of security whenever he was around. I trusted my well-being, my life, and my heart to him.

Yet as exhilarated as it felt having a boyfriend who was concerned for me, the feeling was covered in a patina of dread. Guy had good reason to worry. I had both demons and Satanists beating a path to my door because they wanted
The Book of Calls
. I couldn’t expect Guy to jump out of the bushes every time a potential threat came along. I needed to replenish my supply of holy water. After that, I needed to figure out what to do with the book.

#

After a few days of constantly looking over my shoulder and jumping at every sound, I began to relax. I’d purchased the holy water, and had picked up a twelve-inch blessed crucifix. I started wearing my tennis shoes every day in case I needed to make a quick getaway. I also knew that Guy could sense when I was in danger. I was as prepared as I could be.

#

What a pleasant surprise,”said Mrs. Chambers when she saw me standing outside her door. She was smiling. “Please, come in.” There were dark circles under her eyes. A furrow I hadn’t seen before creased her brow. She had aged during the two months I hadn’t been around.

“Is Erin upstairs?” I asked.

Erin’s mother looked up the stairs. “No,” she said softly. “Want me to pop some popcorn? I’m sure she’ll be home from school any minute now.”

“Umm, sure.”

We moved into the kitchen. The Chambers’ kitchen was bright and airy. It was much larger than ours, with modern fixtures, and an island at the center.

“I haven’t seen you in quite a while,” she said as she removed the cellophane wrap from the popcorn pouch. She placed the pouch in the microwave, shut the door and stared at the timer pad. “I’m never sure how long with popcorn.”

“I usually set it for three minutes, and if it stops popping before then, I take it out.”

She shot me a grateful smile. “Good thinking.” She punched three minutes into the pad and moved away. “So, what have you been up to?”

“Same old. School. AP tests are coming up pretty soon.”

The sound of the popcorn sizzling in its oil drifted from the microwave. Mrs. Chambers removed a big bowl from the overhead cupboard. She set the bowl on the counter and looked at me, the cheer in her face falling away. “What happened between you two?”

I let out a slow sigh and shrugged. A knot formed in my stomach.

“You were so close. Best friends. Your relationship went south when she got closer to Matt, didn’t it?”

Her eyes dug into me. “We’re still friends,” I said. “We’ve just been busy is all. That’s why I stopped by.” I put on a fake smile. I could hear the popcorn popping furiously in the microwave. That’s exactly how my stomach felt.

“I hope so,” she said forlornly. “I can’t seem to get through to her anymore.” She looked at me again. “This is an odd time of year for her to changeschools. But she insisted on it. She said if we didn’t move her, she would drop out.”

“So, umm, when do you think she’ll be home?” I needed to get her off the subject of Erin and me.

“Soon, I guess.” She looked at the microwave. “Almost ready,” she sang, putting up a brave front.

I was beginning to regret my decision to stop by—not because I didn’t want to fix things with Erin. I did. But I could tell Mrs. Chambers was hurting. The change in Erin was scaring her, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

“I asked her older brother, Bill, to talk to her. Looking back,I don’t think it was such a good idea. She got mad at me.” Mrs. Chambers sighed. It was as if a light had gone out. “Her brother told me she’s been hanging out at a social club.” She shot me a raised eyebrow. “It’s not a social club. It’s a bar. The Rattlesnake Lounge.”

I’d heard of the place. It was a local hangout for cowboys and roughnecks. It’s probably where she met Danny Tambor. Mrs. Chambers took the popcorn from the microwave.

“All done.”

“Maybe I should go. Tell Erin I stopped by and to call me.”

“Don’t go,” she said. Her voice was low, her eyes imploring. “Please stay.”

It was the last place I wanted to be. “Okay,” I said.

She poured the popcorn into the bowl. We went into the living room and talked about the old days for almost two hours. Erin did not come home.

#

Friday after school, Maudrina and I decided to go the game against Coronado together. Maudrina knew even less about basketball than I did. At least I’d had Matt to explain it to me. She had me, God help her. However, Maudrina wasn’t going to the game because she had developed an interest in basketball. Curtis was going to be at the game.

The exodus across campus to the gymnasium was massive. Even though we had a losing team, our home games were always well-attended. That’s because the Poplarati went to every home game. Most of the jocks were members of the Poplarati, and they always supported their own kind. This support rubbed off on the rest of the student body. Wherever the Poplarati was, the rest of the school wanted to be.

“Look, there’s Guy,” called Maudrina as we approached the gymnasium complex.

He was standing atop the gymnasium steps, a dour look on his face. A beautiful girl stood by his side. She was our age, with blond hair, bleached by the sun, and a California tan. She was staring at me, contempt looming just beneath the surface of her eyes.

As soon as I saw her, my legs got weak.

“Is that Guy’s sister?” asked Maudrina.“She’s beautiful.”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen her before.”At first sight, I knew the girl was an angel. She had a sexy, yet athletic build. No way was this Guy’s sister. My stomach started doing flip-flops.

Are demons coming for me at the game?

The question fired through my consciousness. I believed the girl to be a tracker, like Harrison. Guy knew I didn’t like Harrison and had replaced him with the girl. From the look in her eyes, she didn’t want the job.

“Hi there,” Guy said as we reached the top of the stairs. His smile seemed forced. “Megan, I want you to meet my, umm,
friend
, Rocky.”

Why do boys lie?

Seriously. Why do boys even bother to spin the lies they know they’re going to get caught in later? It’s stupid! And if the boy in question happens to be an angel, that makes it even stupider, since I’m certain there must be some kind of angelmorals code forbidding angels to lie—even fallen angels. And if there isn’t a code, there ought to be.

“Hi… Rocky. Nice to meet you.” The fact that I was able to choke out a cordial greeting is a testament as to how strong a person I must be, because in that moment, I wasn’t feeling like greeting anyone. The way Guy had called Rocky his
friend
set the alarm bells ringing in my mind.
Friend
meant more than friend. A lot more.

Guy introduced Maudrina to Rocky, and Maudrina proceeded to compliment the drop-dead gorgeous angel on the sheen of her hair. This diversion gave me time to shoot Guy the stink eye. He pretended not to notice.
Boys!

“Megan,” he said softly. “Umm… we need to talk.”

“Yes, we do,” I said smiling sweetly. “Maudrina, why don’t you go inside and find Curtis. I’ll catch up in a little bit.”

From the change in Maudrina’s expression, she could tell something was troubling me—even if Guy couldn’t. She headed inside, and Guy suggested the three of us take a walk.

“Sure. Say, Rocky, I need to have a minute alone with Guy.” My voice was syrupy sweet. “You mind?”

She shot Guy a questioning eye. “Of course. I’ll meet you two at the car,” she said in a throaty voice, before striding down the stairs with her long beautiful legs, made even more long and beautiful by the tight mini-skirt she was wearing. Every boy on the steps was ogling her.

“
That’s
Rocky!” I screeched the moment she was out of earshot.

“Yes,” he replied innocently, as if he had no idea why I was so hot.

“You told me Rocky was a 
he
.”

“No. You assumed she was a he.”

“You didn’t do anything to let me know I was wrong. You lied to me, Guy.”

“I did no such thing,”he replied getting indignant.

“Of course you did.” My voice was rising. Eyes were on us. Among those eyes were Ashley Scott’s. No doubt this argument would be broadcast all over the gym within five minutes.

Thanks a lot, friend!

Guy noticed people staring and attempted to quiet me. “Calm down, Megan. You’re getting emotional.”

Unfortunately, he said the wrong thing.

“That’s because I’m a
mortal
! And you know how emotional us
mortals
are,” I was out of control, losing it like a crazy person.

Give him the benefit of the doubt
, a small voice in my head said softly. I took a few deep breaths.

“We have to go,” he mumbled nervously.“Rocky’s waiting. Let’s talk while we walk.”

He started to usher me away. The only reason I let him is I was trying to listen to the small voice my head, which was difficult, considering there was an even bigger voice in my head screaming,
LIAR!

I allowed him to pull me away. It would have been too embarrassing to stay on the steps with half the student body walking past us into the gym.

In the opening of the movie,
The Blind Side
, Sandra Bullock’s voiceover tells a story about a quarterback guy who got creamed by this line guy because no one was guarding his blindside. You get where I’m going with this? Meeting Rocky was like getting hit by a four hundred pound line guy. What made it so bad was, I thought
my
Guy was looking out for my blindside, when in reality, he was playing for the other team.