“You again,” he said, backing up from me. He ended up wedging himself against the wall where Clothes Therapy used to keep the shoes. Which worked for me. I had him cornered.
The best part was that I didn't see his mother. That was a good sign. Hopefully, she would stay wherever she was for a long, long time.
“Yup. It's me. The one who tried to fix you up with the world's most amazing girl. But that's not why I'm here now.”
I didn't care that he didn't look excited to see me. I delved right into my plea. “I need your help,” I said in an almost whisper out of the side of my mouth. “I made a mess of things and now the devil is out there hurting innocent people.”
Lance didn't say anything. “Don't worry,” I assured him. “I know who you really are. I know you have powers.”
“What?” he asked, looking at me like I'd escaped from the insane asylum. “What do you mean
powers
? I played a superhero in one of my movies, but that was make-believe. It's called acting.”
“It's okayâyour secret's safe with me. I've got powers, too,” I told him.
Just then, his mother threw open the office door. “Lance,” she said, joining him, “go wait in the back room.”
“I'm not leaving you alone with her,” he said. “She might be dangerous.”
Oh my gosh. He thought I was like my father. That I'd actually hurt his mom. “I won't hurt her. I'm not the devil.”
Lance looked kind of frightened.
“LANCE. NOW!” his mother said.
“Butâ,” he protested.
“GO!”
He did as he was told. It was just me and Harmony Gold face-to-face. Again.
“I told you to leave us alone.”
“I'm sorry,” I said. “I don't want to cause any trouble. I just need help. And I thought maybe Lance would be more understanding than you. He's always doing stuff for others. And what I'm asking would help tons of innocent people.”
“Keep my son out of this.” She tried to usher me out, but I wouldn't let her.
“No. If you won't help me, maybe he will.” I was hoping I'd have better luck with someone closer to my age who understood what it was like dealing with a difficult parent.
Harmony let out a long sigh. “Lance can't help you undo anything,” she said, her hands on her hips. “You may know his secret, but he doesn't. He has no clue that he comes from angels. And that's exactly how I intend it to stay.”
He didn't know? No wonder he was so scared of me. I must have seemed like a lunatic to him. Okay, I could deal with this. It was just a minor curveball. “Then, please, can't you help me?” I begged her. “I made it so Lou thinks he's a teen again. And I think you know what happened during that point in his life.”
Harmony closed her eyes for a second. She took a deep breath before speaking. “I do. But there's a pact in place. I don't mess with Lou. He doesn't mess with me.”
“But when did you make that? Probably not when he was all wicked and trying to take over the planet. And that's where he is now. So the pact doesn't count.”
“Sorry, Angel. A deal is a deal.”
Sorry? She was going to let the world suffer at the hands of Lucifer and all she could give me was
sorry
?
“Fine,” I said. “If you don't help me, then I'll just tell Lance the truth about his identity.”
Was I actually blackmailing an angel? I was going to need a serious karma-cleansing after this was over. “I bet Lance has powers, too,” I went on. “Even if he hasn't activated them yet.” I looked her right in the eyes, daring her to test me.
“You would never do that,” she said. “It's not your place and you know it.”
“All I know is that I need to stop Lou.”
“But you won't do it this way. You won't tell Lance his true identity. Because you're good. Truly good. And you understand that he needs to be told in the right way at the right time.”
Wow. So Harmony Gold thought I was good. That was kind of a big deal. I mean, if anyone's a good judge of character, it would have to be an angel. Still, good wasn't enough to get the job done.
“I can't stop Lou myself. I wouldn't ask for help if I didn't need to.”
She shook her head no.
“But I have no one. Everyone's under a stupid spell.”
“Ahh,” she said, “that's right. I sent your powers back at you. Some of my better work, I must say. It's my âI'm Rubber, You're Glue' shield. I invented that one when I was about your age. I'll tell you what, I'll help you undo the love spell, since I did partially create that situation to begin with.”
Sort of? Try definitely. But I wasn't going to complain. At least she'd agreed to do something. Only I had already undone the love spell. For a whole chunk of people, anyway. “It's a little more complicated now,” I confessed. “I tried to fix it myself and made a group of people feel hate for me instead.”
She shook her head. “You need to sharpen your focus. You kids today, you're just not ready for your powers. If it were up to me, you'd all wait until you were eighteen to find out about your special gifts . . . not just Lance.” She waved her arm in the air, as if swatting away a major annoyanceânamely me. “All right, let's undo both spells together.”
I nodded. We took each other's hands. I bet it would have looked weird to anyone who knew our secrets. An angel and the devil's kid working together to fix a problem.
“Now focus,” she said. “Concentrate on reversing the hate spell. I'll concentrate on removing the love spell. Everyone will be back to normal in no time.”
Except for anyone who dared cross my father's path. But I blocked that out of my mind. One problem at a time.
I did as Harmony instructed. Two minutes later she dropped my hands. “All fixed,” she said.
But we both knew better. There was a lot more that needed to be repaired.
chapter 25
“'K, bye,” I said, heading toward the door.
“Yeah, see ya,” she said, rather anxious to get rid of me.
I knew she wanted me to go, and I wanted to go, but I couldn't. My feet wouldn't move. I was stuck there, frozen with fear.
“I said good-bye, Angel.”
“I know,” I answered, “I'm trying to go.”
Apparently I wasn't trying hard enough for her, because, the next thing I knew, she had lifted me up and had carried me to the exit. The woman was strong.
She was literally shoving me out the door.
“Wait,” I said, holding on to the doorframe as she tried to pry my fingers away. “What am I going to do to stop Lou?”
“You know how. It's within you.”
Wait a minute. That was it? That was her big advice? That didn't help me at all. If I knew, I wouldn't have asked! She was just trying to get rid of me. “You have to give me more than that.” I held on to the doorframe for dear life.
“Now I wouldn't be a very good guardian angel if I just went around giving out answers, would I?” she asked. She kept pushing me out of the room. But I was strong, too. “I'm supposed to guide people to figure out their own solutions, not give them answers.”
We weren't talking small everyday problems, like whether to use toothpaste or pimple cream to get rid of a zit. Or what shirt makes muffin tops look less noticeable. We were talking huge, possible destruction-of-life-as-we-know-it problems. I thought she'd make an exception.
“But this is major. I'm not trying to get my allowance raised, I'm tryingâ”
She didn't let me get any further. “I told you, I'm not getting involved with the devil. This is your problem to solve. Now don't even try coming back here. Once you leave, I'm putting a protective spell around this area. No one will be able to break inside. No powers, either. And I'm leaving it up until you can get through to Lou.”
“And what if I can't?” Only two of my fingers were left clutching the door. I couldn't hold on much longer. But I didn't want to go out there. Not alone. Not without her backing me up.
“Just trust in yourself, Angel.”
That was one thing I couldn't do. This was way over my head. How could I go up against my own father? I was a newbie. I wasn't equipped to battle the king of all things evil. “Lou against me is the same as a giant going up against an ant.”
“Ants are stronger than you think.” And on that note she gave one final shove, pushing me completely outside. Then she slammed the door shut. I certainly didn't feel very strong.
I wandered a few yards. And there, sitting at a table with security, was D.L.! I had forgotten all about him.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Did you get the autograph?”
I had completely forgotten. I hadn't even asked.
“You,” a guard I hadn't seen before said to me, saving me from D.L.'s question. “You need to leave.”
“But what about him?”
“Don't worry about him.”
I had to do
something
.
“I just came out of there,” I said. “You had to have seen me! I left my phone inside. I just need it back. Please!”
He didn't say anything.
I tugged at his sleeve. “If I lose that phone my parents will kill me. It will just be a second. I promise.”
“Fine,” he said and knocked on the door.
Finally something was going my way. I'd get D.L. off the hook, get him his photo, and then deal with the real issues.
Only no one answered the knock. And when the guard tried to open the door, it wouldn't budge. Harmony's protection power. There was no way in. Not until I took care of Lou.
D.L. was going to have to wait.
chapter 26
A loud blast went off at the other side of the mall, followed by screams. Dozens of them!
I followed the shouts, and, for the umpteenth time that day, I ran across the mall.
I pictured Lou doing awful thingsâengulfing people in flames, chaining them to gumball machines, making them clean the floor with their tongues. But that wasn't what I found at all. In fact, it was the opposite. People were screaming out of excitement. Hundred-dollar bills were shooting out from a hole in the ceiling. All the shoppers were fighting to grab as many of the bills as they could. And standing right in the middle of the cash-covered floor were Lou and my mother.
“What's going on here?” I asked them.
Lou looked away and Mom chuckled. “Well, it seems,” she said, playing with a button on Lou's shirt, “that he'll do just about anything to make sure no one talks to me.”
“Not true,” Lou said. But the blush rising in his cheeks told me it was. “They were just annoying me. All here to see stupid Lance Gold. So I gave them something better. Money.”
“Well, I still want to meet Lance,” Mom said. “That's why I picked coming to the mall in the first place.” My mother was totally boy-crazed.
“You don't need to meet him,” Lou said. “Look,” he waved his arm and everyone around us froze. “Isn't this better? Peace and quiet. The whole mall is yours. How often does that happen? You can shop for as long as you want. Have whatever you want.”
“Anything?” she asked.
“Anything,” he repeated.
“And no one will bug us?”
“Nope,” he said.
“What about her?” she asked. “Why is she here? Didn't you tell her to stay at the house?”
“I can send her back,” he offered.
“NO,” I shouted and grabbed onto his arm. “Please don't. I'm your”âI almost forgot about that little lie I had told himâ“
sister.
I just want to hang out a little.” He looked to my mom.
“Fine,” she said, “as long as she doesn't get in my way. It's
my
mall today.”
“She won't,” Lou said.
Then he snapped his fingers, and I was no longer standing next to my parents. Instead I was standing inside a big turtle-shaped sandbox. Surrounded by three tricycles, an orange plastic slide, four frozen toddlers, two adults, and encircled by a gated fence. Lou had sent me to mall day care!
The nerve! At least I wasn't frozen. But I was on the
way
opposite side of the mall. I needed to get back to Lou. Talk some sense into him. I was so tired of running. I looked at the tricycle. Could I? Should I?
I did.
Thank goodness no one could see me. I looked like a clown at the circus, riding a too-small-for-her bike. I was the perfect punch line for any of Courtney's jokes.
I pedaled down the hallway back toward the east wing of the mall where I had last seen my parents. But there was no guarantee they were still there. Lou could flash anywhere in a millisecond. I rode past the security booth and stopped short.
I had an idea. I ditched the tricycle and squeezed inside the booth. The frozen guard was taking up a lot of space, so I tried to push him aside. I needed access to his monitors. Control of the whole mall was at his fingertips. And now it was at mine.
With each button I pushed, different areas of the mall flashed on-screen. I saw D.L. at the desk near the stage, Porter hunched over the air-hockey table, Courtney mid-hair flip at the food court about to pay the cashier for her drink. But no sign of my parents. I just kept pushing buttons. And then I saw them. At Bloomingdale's. Lou was carrying a huge pile of clothes and Mom just kept flinging more onto it.
At least I knew where to find them. But I needed a new set of wheels. I grabbed the guard's keys and hopped into his mini security go-kart. I had never driven before, except for bumper cars, but this couldn't be that different. And I certainly had watched enough movies to figure out how to start a car.