Prologue.

Kelly Gardner can see angels.

Ever since she was four years old, since she survived the car accident that took the lives of her parents and two-year-old brother, Kelly knew she could see them. Sometimes it was just a glimmer of yellow and white, a wing here and there, but as she got older, they turned into full body visions. Kelly knew that angels didn’t really have bodies; they just appeared that way. After she knew she could see them, she read everything she could about them, but she soon learned to keep her visions a secret.

When she was seven, Kelly had once told her grandmother, her mother's mother and legal guardian, that an angel followed her around the house. Gran had smiled and told that she was right; everyone had a guardian angel, watching over them. But when Kelly described what she (the angel had looked like a she, even though Kelly knew angels didn’t have genders) looked like, Gran had scolded her for making up stories. After that, Kelly realized that she had a special gift, and that only she could see the angels.

The angel Kelly really wanted to see, and never did, however, was her own guardian angel. If she could see other people’s protectors, why couldn’t she see hers? It didn’t seem fair to her. Didn’t she have one? That’s what Gran had told her, but Gran couldn’t see angels, so how did she know? Kelly was convinced that, since she had this gift, she hadn’t been given a guardian. When she had presented this theory to Gran, however, she had argued, saying that surely she wouldn’t have survived the car accident if she didn’t have a guardian angel hovering around? Kelly hadn’t been able to answer that.

Many times Kelly’s thoughts went to that car accident. That night was known to her and Gran as Black Bumper Night. When Kelly reflected about why she had lived and her parents and brother hadn’t, she could only think it somehow tied in with her gift; that she was supposed to do something about it.

And when she was ten, Kelly found out what her purpose was. The same way she could see angels, she could see demons and Fallen, angels who turned away from God and fell from Heaven.

Kelly saw her very first one at a store, standing in line behind Gran, whispering to a teenage boy. She heard it urging the boy to try some beer from his parents’ refrigerator when he got home. Kelly knew that was wrong, and so did the boy it seemed, for he looked unsure, but the Fallen was insistent. So Kelly went up to the boy and asked him he wanted some water, right out of the blue, glaring at the Fallen.

The boy had been startled, and, calling her a weirdo, ran off. But the Fallen knew that Kelly could see it, and, being frightened, also ran off, but in a different direction than the boy. Pleased that her plan at worked, Kelly realized what she was meant to do. And she did her duty gladly for seven years afterward, discouraging people from the harmful seeds that the Fallen were planting in their minds. Every time she did, though, she wondered where those people’s guardian angels were. Perhaps the Fallen had overpowered them?

Or, maybe, just maybe, she

was their guardian?


Chapter One

Kelly was dozing off in class when her friend, Sharon Smith, saved her from the ridicule of being caught sleeping by the teacher by elbowing her in the ribs. Kelly, startled, bolted upright, ready and awake. Sharon giggled a little bit at her friend’s reaction.

“What’s wrong, Kelly? Not sleeping well?” she teased. Sharon had rosy cheeks and a light complexion. With her golden blond hair and baby-blue eyes, Sharon, to everyone else, looked like an angel herself, and she used it to her advantage. Sharon had had at least seven boyfriends that Kelly knew of.

Though she absolutely hated it, Sharon wore the girls’ uniform: white blouse, light blue skirt and black shoes. It didn’t matter for the shoes, as long as they were black and not heels. Sharon had combat boots on, a sign of rebellion for which she couldn’t get in trouble. For make-up, she had red lipstick, some mascara, and ‘rust’ eye-shadow, as it were. Kelly didn’t really care much about make-up, but did make an effort to look nice.

Kelly glared at her friend, brushing her blond hair out of her green eyes. But then she smiled and mouthed ‘Thank-you’ at her. Sharon just waved it away. Then she turned her attention to the teacher, who was calling on random people to read out loud.

While half-listening to Mr. Burt go on about the Revolutionary War, Kelly looked around the room, smiling at the angels who waved at her, which was about all of them. There were thirty-two in all, each one for every kid and Mr. Burt, excluding her. A lot of times the angels talked amongst themselves, or said a few things to her. They understood she couldn’t say anything directly to them in public, so the things they said were usually a yes or no question, ones she could answer with a nod or shake of her head.

After social studies was over, there was study hall, so Kelly and Sharon went to the lunch room for that period, where they did more chatting than studying. Now Sharon was telling her about the new transfer student, Luce Daemon.

“Where did he come from?” Kelly asked, balancing her math and English textbooks in one hand and her science and Lit textbooks in the other.

“I think he might have come from Israel. But he wasn’t born there; he was born in the U.S. His parents went over there for summer vacation or something, but died from some fever there, and now he’s living in their old house. He’s eighteen, so he can, like, inherit it, I guess.” Sharon knew the scoop on everyone in school; she was a reporter for the school paper, after all.

“Wow,” Kelly said, feeling sorry for the boy. “It must be hard to lose your parents so suddenly like that.” Her thoughts flashed back to that dark, rainy night thirteen years ago. Her parents, little brother and her had just driven out of the parking lot of Friendly’s, when another car, going eighty-five miles per hour, rammed into them, making them spin and almost go over the side of a cliff.

“It’s not that bad,” a voice said. The two girls’ heads shot up to see a pale, black-haired, blue-eyed boy standing at their table. He wore the regular uniform for boys (stiff white undershirt, black jacket and black pants), a stack of books in his arms. Sharon looked at him and thought she must be dreaming, and Kelly just stared, her mind a blank.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” the boy asked. Sharon and Kelly shook their heads and Kelly moved over to give the boy some room to sit down. He was good-looking, and seemed nice enough. What Kelly found shocking, though, was that she could see no angel near the boy; rather there was just a black glow around the edges of his body. That disturbed the girl, but when she looked closer at the boy, the black shine was gone. Thinking it had just been a figment of her imagination, Kelly shook it off. Though the mystery of why the boy didn’t have a Guardian hovering around him was still unsolved…

The boy’s books took up half the table, and Kelly wondered if he really was just going to study. Nothing wrong with that, Kelly told herself. But she had yet to see a high school student, particularly a guy, devote very much time to their studies, and especially not when girls were around.

“Luce Daemon,” the boy said, sticking his hand out to Kelly for her to shake. She did, and introduced herself to Luce, being calm and polite. Sharon, on the other hand, practically jumped over the table to shake Luce’s hand, giggling while she told him her name.
Looking at his stack of books, Sharon batted her eyelashes shamelessly at Luce and said in a girly, flirtatious voice,

“Do you, like, um, enjoy studying?” Luce, however, was not in the mood to flirt. He just shrugged and mumbled something about keeping appearances up so his aunt wouldn’t worry about his school work and get on his case. But this confused Kelly. Didn’t he live in his parents’ old house by himself? Where did the aunt come in?

“But I thought you lived alone in your old house.” Kelly said. But then she wanted to kick herself. She had gotten that information from Sharon, and as much as a truthful reporter her friend was, Sharon might have just heard the gossip. But Luce nodded and told her that he did live alone, but that his aunt checked up on him every once in awhile.

“She still thinks she needs to be my legal guardian, even though I’m eighteen,” he said, and the girls saw how resentful he was of the treatment. But then he brightened up and asked about their home lives and schedules. They found out that Luce was in every class that Kelly was except for two, social studies and French. He shared Spanish with Sharon, and no one they knew was in his social studies class.

Just then the bell rang, and the three of them gathered up their books and Luce and Sharon went off to Spanish, saying good-bye to Kelly, who had French next. As the two walked to their class, Kelly saw Luce asking a lot of questions, and was surprised to see Sharon look bored and annoyed after a little while. That wasn’t like her.

Kelly shrugged it off as nothing, and walked to class.


Chapter Two

Sharon was not a happy girl.

At first, the girl had been ecstatic that she shared a class with this new hottie, but the first words out of his mouth after they left Kelly were questions about

Kelly. What was her favorite food, color? Did she have a hobby, and if so, what? Where did she like to eat? It went on like that, and by the time Sharon and Luce arrived at their classroom, she wanted to strangle the boy, and a little friend called envy had invaded her thoughts.

To her credit, Sharon kept arguing with herself. There was no way Kelly knew that Luce liked her that much. And even if she did, she would never go out with him if her friend wasn’t comfortable with it. It wasn’t her fault that Luce admired her as much as he did. Sharon tried to stop thinking bad thoughts about her friend, but jealously is a very persistent thing, and while her conscience kept telling her what was right, Sharon finally succumbed to the resentment in her heart.

(--)

Kelly tapped her fingernails on her desk nervously. Going to bite them and realizing they were bitten to the quick, she starting to gnaw on her lip. She had totally forgotten about the test they were having today, and she wasn’t that good in French. While she had wanted to learn it ever since she was little, she hadn’t realized how hard it would be to master a second language.

Staring at the paper before her, she took a deep breathe and picked up her pen and started to write in the answer to number one. Soon her pen was flying across the page, a few seconds per question. She smiled to herself; she had had nothing to worry about. The test was pretty easy, to her anyway, and she finished relatively early. Going over each and every one twice, Kelly was finally satisfied with her answers and put her test on the teacher’s desk.

Picking up a book to read while she waited for the other kids to finished, Kelly became absorbed with the story and so didn’t at first hear the bell. Shocked out of her fantasy by books slamming and shoes squeaking on the floor, she got up and gathered her school books. Yelling an “Au revoir!” (Good-bye) to her French teacher, Kelly hurried to her locker so she could get to lunch on time.

Fortunately for them, Kelly and Sharon’s lockers were right next to each other, and they regularly met up and walked to lunch together. So Kelly wasn’t surprised to see her friend leaning against her locker, hanging around, waiting for her, nor did she think it odd to see Sharon’s guardian angel fluttering next to her.

However, Kelly was

surprised to see Leviathan, the demon of envy, whispering into her friend’s ear. Sharon’s angel (Isda, angel of nourishment) stood by looking anxious while Leviathan’s enemy, the angel Barchiel whispered in the other ear trying to sway her from the demon’s words, and it strongly reminded her of the cartoon version of your conscience, the one with the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other.

Kelly was also frightened for her friend. What had happened in the fifty minutes they had been apart that Leviathan had any reason to tempt her? Then Isda looked up and saw Kelly. The angel’s eyes begged the girl to help. Walking over to her friend, Kelly clamped a hand on Sharon’s shoulder, shocking the girl and causing her to spin around to see who would greet her in such a way. When she saw Kelly, Sharon laughed nervously, and mock scolded her friend, wagging her finger in Kelly’s face.

“Now why’d you go and do that, Kelly? You could have given me a heart attack. What would you do then, huh? You’d miss me, right?” Kelly played along with the charade, and pretended to think about it.

“Nah, I’d think life with you gone would be quite enjoyable,” Kelly said.

“Hey!”

“Kidding, kidding!” Kelly held up her hands in surrender, and the girls laughed together at their little play. Grabbing their lunches, they went to the bathroom for a quick touch-up and potty break.

While Sharon was in the stall, Kelly continually glared at Leviathan, who had still not left. She very much wanted to give the imp a piece of her mind, but she couldn’t, not with Sharon within hearing range. Isda fluttered about, glancing from the demon and mortal back and forth like someone watching a tennis match.

When Sharon finally emerged from the stall, she washed her hands and proceeded to go out the door. Turning back to Kelly, she stopped, confused as to why her friend wasn’t coming with her. Thinking fast, Kelly smiled and said,

“You go on; I just need to do a little more touch up. I’ll be right there.” At her friend’s dubious look, Kelly hastened to assure her that she would be right behind her. Satisfied, Sharon went out the door, Isda behind her. Leviathan tried to follow, but Kelly grabbed his extraterrestrial form and yanked him back.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she hissed in his ear, determined not to let him go until he told her why he was hanging around her best friend.

The little devil wiggled and squirmed, trying to get away. Eventually he wrenched free from her grasp and turned, snarling at his captor. His black, leathery bat-wings stretched out of and folded into his back like living things with minds of their own. Lighting his body on fire, the demon hissed in Kelly’s face, showing fangs that dripped purple goo as a forked tongue flickered in and out of Leviathan’s mouth. Kelly knew not to touch the strange goop; it was poison.

Then, just like that, the flames and wings disappeared, and in their place was a shirtless man with black jeans, and his light brown hair was pulled back in a pony tail. Black eyes stared at Kelly stonily, and Leviathan smiled charmingly at her, but she knew what hid behind those lips. The imp had showed it to her himself just moments before.

“What do I owe the honor?” Leviathan hissed. “It is not every day I get to meet the one who is driving the Master crazy with your…holy deeds.”

It was plain ‘holy deeds’ was not the term the demon was looking for. Ignoring the hostility in the demon’s words, Kelly demanded,

“What right do you have to follow Sharon around? What has she done to attract your attention?” Thanks to her years of helping the angels and discouraging evil spirits, Kelly had learned the ways of the Ancient Laws God had set down before the angels and demons concerning their conduct with each other and when demons could attack a mortal’s mind. Regarding the Seven Deadly Demons, only if a human thought of the Sin or it entered their heart were they allowed to whisper in their ears and urge them to more.

Leviathan smiled, flashing his fangs and flicking his tongue. Looking mightily pleased with himself, that dratted imp said proudly,

“I have every right to plague her. My domain, envy, has entered your friend’s heart and contorted her thoughts. By the Laws, she is my prey, and when I get done with her, she will be fair game to my brothers.” Kelly frowned. Leviathan had not told her what had caused Sharon to feel envious, and that’s what she wanted to know. She said,

“Well, that’s all well and good, but why is she jealous? What happened? That’s what I want to know.” The demon stepped closer until he was in her face. Looking around the bathroom, as if trying to catch eavesdroppers, he whispered softly in her ear,

“Your friend is resentful of your fame with my brother.” Kelly jerked back so fast she almost fell. Catching herself, she stared at the envy demon. What he had said made no sense. She knew that the demons and Fallen were none too pleased with her handiwork, but why would Sharon care? On second thought, why and how did Sharon even know

about her gift?

“What do you mean, she’s jealous of ‘my fame with your brother’? Who is your brother?” Leviathan suddenly looked nervous, and it was obvious he shouldn’t have told Kelly about that. Not wanting to stick around, the imp turned around swiftly, and headed toward the door, as if to walk out, and said,

“If you will excuse me, more envious hearts are calling me, and I cannot do my duty with you blabbering at me.” Kelly narrowed her eyes. No way was she letting him go. Rummaging around in her pocket, she cried out in triumph when she pulled out her weapon: a vial of holy water, the St. Anne’s Church label on it.

Leviathan froze in his tracks and stiffened, as if he could sense what she had just taken out of her pocket. Turning around super fast, the demon snarled and tried to lunge at the girl, but recoiled when he caught sight of the vial. Just the mere presence of a blest object made him nauseous.

“You have been with a priest,” he hissed, his voice noticeably quieter.

“What was your first clue?” Kelly said sarcastically. “The fact that I can’t bless water or the label on the bottle?” She got a pained snarl in response.

Stepping closer to the agonized demon, the girl sprinkled some of the holy water on him, making him scream like a banshee. As Leviathan’s skin began to bubble and sizzle, turning a horrid red color and giving off a putrid stench, Kelly said the words that would banish him for a time:

“Ateh Malkuth ve-Geburah ve-Gedulah le-Olam.

Amen.” With a scream loud enough to shake the heavens, the Deadly Demon of Envy fell through a hole in the floor down into a dark abyss.


Chapter Three

Sharon waited outside the girls’ bathroom for her friend. The girl looked at her watch and saw that that lunch was almost practically over. Worried at the amount of the time Kelly was spending in there, she was about to open the door and get her when the Gardner girl emerged and smiled sheepishly at Sharon. Kelly, apologizing for spending so much time in there, walked with her best friend down to the cafeteria.

Catching up to a girl they sat with at lunch every day, Monica Bakalowitz, the three of them chatted and ate their lunch. Since Sharon’s lunch consisted of an orange and half a tuna sandwich, she was able to finish hers fairly quickly. Still feeling hungry, she gladly helped herself to Kelly’s pudding when she offered it to give the girl room for her peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, apple, and large cookie. Monica had already finished her chicken salad.

“Guys, don’t look now,” Monica warned “but there’s total hunk at three o’clock, and closing in.” Sharon and Kelly turned their heads to see Luce walking over to them. While Kelly laughed at Monica’s attempts to tame her unruly red curls and batted her beautiful green eyes at Luce, Sharon groaned inside. He was probably just coming over to be with Kelly. The girl shook her head to clear it. She was determined not to let a petty thing such as a guy ruin Kelly and hers fourteen-year friendship.

“Hey Luce,” Kelly greeted. He flashed her a smile, and acknowledged the other two girls with a nod. Attaining permission, the boy slid in next to Sharon, who scooted over to give Luce room. Monica, who was also next to Sharon, inhaled sharply, and her eyes became as round as saucers.

You are so lucky,

she mouthed to Kelly, wishing desperately to be on her side of the table, so Luce would have to look at her, too.

But Luce’s attention was fully focused on Kelly, who was trying to bring the other girls into the conversation, but her fellow orphan always directed it back to a subject just they could discuss. While she was flattered that the boy liked her, Kelly felt uncomfortable with his obvious ignorance of her friends.

Isda and Douma, the angel of silence and Monica’s Guardian, frowned at Luce’s behavior, and Isda said to Kelly that she was doing the right thing, not claiming the attention for herself. Douma nodded. That made the girl feel a little bit better, but not much, so she was immensely relieved when the bell rang.

After lunch she had chemistry, which Luce also had. Unfortunately, Sharon had math that period, but Monica was in Kelly’s class, so that was good. She didn’t think she could handle being with just Luce for a whole fifty minutes.

Waiting for Monica to meet her at the door, Kelly confronted Luce about his rudeness to the two other girls during lunch period. The boy seemed surprised that she was bringing his behavior up, and also confused at her question. But then Sam smiled. His mouth stretched into a creepy grin, and Kelly was a bit disturbed by his reaction.

“What are you talking about, Kelly? The only woman I saw was you.” Kelly sighed. She couldn’t believe this; he was trying to flirt with her! She looked up sharply then, just now realizing Sam’s choice of words.

“Woman?” Now Luce blushed a bit. He hadn’t thought she would pick up on that. But then he went back to the cool bad boy type, and grinned at her.

“Well, you’re eighteen aren’t you? Or close enough?” When Kelly nodded slowly, Luce exclaimed as if it were obvious, “Then you a woman!”

“And Sharon and Monica aren’t?” Luce didn’t get a chance to answer, because then Monica came bounding over. Just before she got here, Kelly looked at Luce and said,

“We will

finish this conversation.” Sweeping her a mock bow, the boy said,

“Your wish is my command.” Kelly frowned. She had a feeling she needed to stay away from the teen, but something else told her that he wasn’t going to let her keep her distance.

Chapter Four

Luce kept sneaking secret looks at Kelly when she was busy talking to her friend. It was obvious that she was trying to ignore him, but it didn’t help that he brushed his hand along her leg every once in a while. The girl tensed up every time he did that, and it made him laugh inside. She was so vulnerable, so fragile, but there was spirit in her.

The horse gets broken eventually,

Luce thought darkly, and I’ll be the one to do it.

(--)

Luce saw the obvious relief on Kelly’s face when he decided to sit in the back, whereas she chose a spot in the front. Monica decided to sit next to him, a shy, yet flirty smile on her lips. She started bombarding him with the usual questions when you meet someone for the first time. He answered as pleasantly as he could, but the fact was that the girl bored him. He turned his head to the front of the room, hoping Monica would get the hint and leave him alone. She did.

After class, Luce watched Kelly following a freshman male. A football player, by the looks of it. Tapping his shoulder, Luce read Kelly’s lips as she spoke to the boy.

David,

Kelly’s lips said, I hear you’re going to Brad’s party tonight. I didn’t think you liked him.

The boy, David, stared at her. Luce saw the shock and confusion on his face. It was almost taboo for a senior to associate with freshmen, whether or not they played a sport, so this was a real treat. Reading David’s lips, Luce watched the rest of their conversation.

Why do you care? Are you going?

Kelly shrugged nonchalantly.

I might. Maybe I could go with you.

She beamed at the boy, and David looked like he wanted to kiss her feet. Just don’t do anything rash. Brad isn’t worth it.

Then the girl turned away on her heel, leaving the dumbfounded freshman behind to go to her next class.

Luce looked down at his schedule. Next class was English. Same one as Kelly’s, he knew. He smirked. He was getting rather fond of the girl. Maybe he should ask himself over her house. No; too soon. Or was it? The boy really wanted to get to know her better.

Then Luce frowned. What was he thinking about? Why did he think he could accomplish anything at her house that he couldn’t here at school? It didn’t make sense. Shaking his head to clear it, Luce ran until he met up with Kelly. The girl frowned slightly, but then plastered a fake smile on her face, pretending that she was glad he had popped up. Luce smiled at her in return, but his was as false as hers, no real warmth.

“So, Kelly, when would you like to continue our conversation?” This caught her off-guard, but she quickly recovered. She chewed her lip as she thought. Blurting out the first thing that came into his head, Luce said,

“Why don’t I come to your house?” At her frightened expression, he added tauntingly,

“We can do it right after school, when it’s still light out. You can even wait till your daddy gets home.” When he said ‘daddy’, Kelly’s eyes opened wide, and they shifted to glare at him. Steamed, she said in a voice full of venom,

“My father is dead, and so is my mother, and my little brother, too. I thought an orphan like you would know not everyone has the typical family life-style. But I guess I was wrong.”

Then she stormed toward the classroom, leaving the shocked boy in her wake.

(--)

Kelly brooded all through English. She couldn’t believe that Luce was so shallow-minded. And teasing her like that!

So she went out of her way to avoid Luce. When he went to sit in the back, she stayed in front. As part of a project, they had to pick partners, so Kelly asked a girl she had seen around school, Hailey Cooper. As far as Kelly Gardner was concerned, she would have nothing to do with Luce Daemon.

After class, Kelly hurried out of the room, not wanting to stay in the same room as that boy. She heard him call her in hall, but she ignored him, merging with the crowd to get to her locker. She needed some girl talk with Sharon.

The Kelly stopped abruptly. What was she doing? Didn’t she promise herself she would never exclude or ignore someone? She wasn’t one to hold grudges, but that was what she was doing, over some silly misunderstanding. Yes, her family’s deaths were a sore spot for her, but she had no right to treat Luce like he was lesser than she was.

So she turned around to find the boy almost directly behind her. He stepped backwards a little bit to give each of them room. Luce gave her a shy smile, embarrassed that she had caught him so close to her. But Luce’s embarrassment was soon replaced by surprise when Kelly said.

“You can come over to my house tomorrow; just call first.” Kelly got a marker out of her pocket and wrote her house and cell phone numbers on Luce’s arm. Then, with a wave of her hand, she went off to her locker.


Chapter Five

Kelly was extremely relieved to see her best friend waiting for her at their lockers. Sharon took one look at her and opened her arms for a hug. Kelly gladly accepted.

"What happened in English?" Sharon asked. Kelly backed away, ending their hug, and sighed.

"I got real mad at Luce, and then ignored him during class. But, in the hall, I realized I was being a jerk-"

"You were not!" Sharon interrupted.

"-and then I stopped and talked to him." Kelly paused. She knew that Sharon had a bit of a crush on Luce, and she wasn't sure if she should her friend about her and Luce's 'date.'

"Sharon...I have a...hypotetical question for you." Sharon blinked. She hadn't expected that. But she would listen to her friend, so she nodded.

"Ask away," she said.

"Okay...if you had a best friend, and you knew she liked this boy, but the boy liked you instead, and you kind of asked him on a date despite your friend's feelings...what do you think the friend would say?"

Sharon thought. She knew that Kelly wasn't talking about a hypotetical situation at all, but she would play along. She put a hand on Kelly's shoulder.

"Hypotetically, I think think the friend would say, go for it, girl." Sharon smiled at Kelly, and the angel whisperer, a term Kelly had applied to herself at age twelve, was immensly relieved.

"Thanks, Sharon." Just then the bell rang. The two hugged again quickly, and then Kelly went off to catch her bus.

On the ride to her house, Kelly wondered if inviting Luce to her house had been such a great idea. She hardly knew anything about him, and he didn't have a Guardian...could he also be an angel whisperer?

But, that red aura Kelly had seen when she'd first met Luce made Kelly shiver. She was sure she hadn't imagined it.

So what was it? She couldn't normally she auras, the colors around a person that tells what emotion the person is experiencing. She had sometimes seen a yellow or white light around the Guardians, and a blue light that surrounds the Seven Archangels. Even demons had auras, mostly black, and Fallen had blood red around them.

Suddenly Kelly's gut clenched. Demons had red auras around them. Luce had had a black aura around him. Could it be...? Was he really...?

What had Kelly invited into her home?

(--)

"Gran, I'm home!" Kelly called. She dropped her bookbag in the dining room and went into the adjoining room, the kitchen, where the smell of cookies wafted throughout the whole house.

Kelly smiled. Gran's homemade choclate-chip cookies were amazing.

"Hello, sweetie. How was your day? Pass your French test? Well, silly me, of course you did. You're a smart little cookie," Gran said, turning to give her granddaughter a hug.

Meghan Kent was a small woman with dark skin and bright blue eyes. She had puffy white hair, and always smelled of baking. Today she wore a plain white apron to cover her rainbow flower skirt and green blouse. She loved Kelly, but was strict on important things, like homework and eating right.

"I'm pretty sure I did okay. I don't know why I was so worried; it was actually kind of easy. And, speaking of cookies, may I have one?" Kelly said, reaching for one already.

Gran laughed and slapped Kelly's arm with the spatula she had on hand. Then she lifted a cookie of the tray with the utensil, and gave one to Kelly.

Kelly plopped down on a stool at their counter, and told her grandmother about her classes, and then mentioned Luce.

"There's this new boy at school," she said nonchalantly. Gran, scooping dough onto a cookie sheet for a second batch, nodded for her to go on.

"I have him in all my classes, except French and social studies. And...I think he likes me." That got her grandmother's attention. She she paused, put down her spoon, turned to Kelly.

"Oh? Do you like him?" Kelly though about it. She had concluded that her thoughts about Luce on the bus were due to nerves about inviting a boy to her house, but she still wasn't quite sure what she felt about the new boy.

"I guess. He's seems...sort if dark, y'know? Like he has this big secret that he wants to tell someone but he can't." Gran nodded, like she understood.

"I would reckon we all have secrets," she said.

A cold, wet nose on the back of her leg made Kelly look down and smile. Her cute little Yorkshire terrier, Colonel, was trying to get her attention. She bent down and picked him up, laughing when he licked her nose.

"Well, I'm going to get some homework done. I'll take Colonel up with me," Kelly said to her grandmother. Gran nodded once more.

Kelly did her homework at her desk, Colonel sleeping peacefully at her feet. Well, tried

to do her homework would be a better term. Her thoughts were consumed by Luce and the mystery he had presented. The possiblity of him being...unhuman was strong. The aura, the sinister feeling she got when she was near him, the way he only paid attention to her, and the fact that he didn't have an angel near him...

"No!" Kelly said out loud, startling her dog. He barked, but when he saw that Kelly was all right, he settled back down to sleep again. His mistress bent down and stroked his head. What a life he had, free to roam the house, no school, no annoying boys who might possibly be demons following you around...Kelly shook her head. She couldn't jump to conclusions. There was no reason that Luce wasn't just a regular, eighteen-year-old boy who had a secret. She had one of her own, didn't she?

Agonizing over it wasn't going to get her any closer to the answer, Kelly decided, so she went back to her homework and was doen by dinnertime.

As she got ready for bed that night, Kelly once again wondered if she had done the right thing in inviting Luce over to her house. Finally she decided that if the boy really was dangerous, she would just get him out of her house and never talk to him again. And if he wasn't, well, then, maybe they could be friends.

That night she the most disturbing dream. It started out pleasant. She was walking in a meadow, with wildflowers of every kind stretching their necks above the tall grass. The sun was warm on her skin, and she was content.

Then a dark shadow eclipsed the sun. Kelly looked up, but could only see the silohoute of person with...wings? Yes, black wings like a bat's, and that was when she knew this was a demon. She ran in the opposite direction as fast as she could, but it didn't seem like she was getting anywhere.

The beating of wings was right above her. She closed her eyes and covered her head, fearing the worst. The beating stopped, and the demon landed, but her own heart beat echoed loudly in her ears, until it was all she could hear.

Finally she sneaked a peek and was shocked at what she saw. The demon had a heart in his cupped hands-a real live, beating, human heart. He had a puzzled expression on his face as he gazed down at it. He looked up, and Kelly felt dismayed as she saw that the demon was Luce

. Maybe she was right after all.

"This is for me?" he asked, confusion evident in his voice and eyes. Kelly started, realizing that it was her heart he was holding. She felt sick, and she wanted to yell at him, grab her heart and stuff it back in her chest-only there was no hole. She wanted to scream "No!" and run away from him as fast as she could, as far away as she could.

She wasn't sure who was more surprised when she said, "Yes."

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 25.08.2010

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