Angelfire (15 page)

MY STOMACH GROWLED. I LET MY FACE HIT THE desk and rolled my head to the side to glance at my clock sideways. It was just after six. I couldn't believe I'd been working on this homework for two hours. I was so sick of this crap.

I lifted my gaze. “Hey, Will?” I felt stupid talking to no one in my room.

“Finished?” answered his voice a moment later.

Startled, I leaped out of my seat, grasping my heart. My pulse pounded in my head. “What's the matter with you? You scared the crap out of me!”

He stood just in front of the window. He had somehow managed to get in without making any noise at all. “Sorry about that.”

I smoothed out my shirt. “What
are
you, Will? How
can you move that fast?”

“I'm your Guardian.”

“No, I mean, besides Batman, what is your
species
?”

“I'm immortal.”

“Never mind,” I said impatiently. “I already know what you are:
obnoxious
. I'm going to go change into some fresh clothes.”

“Why?”

“Because I don't like wearing the same outfit all day.”

He looked at me like I had a third eye. I rolled my eyes and shut myself in my closet. I picked out a pair of jeans and a black sweater and put them on before emerging. “I'm really hungry, and I know how much you like to be invisible and all, but I think you can make an exception. Would you mind if we grabbed a bite to eat before the movie?”

“Not at all,” he said. “You need to eat. You get grumpy when you don't eat.”

I blinked in surprise. He really did know me well. “Great. How does Coney Island sound?”

“I have no idea what that is.”

“Blasphemy.”

 

I drove us to my favorite, Leo's Coney Island. The restaurant was typically crowded for a Friday night. As we wandered to an open table, I noticed a group of girls sitting at a booth near the front door. Two of them were staring at Will, so I gave them the stink eye as we passed.

I chose a booth on the opposite wall, as far away from the girls as possible. Our waitress was a perky girl maybe a year older than me.

“What can I getcha?” she asked with her pencil and notepad in hand.

“Plain cheeseburger and fries with a side salad and water for me,” I said, and nodded at Will. “Do you want anything?”

“No, thank you,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

The girl gave a quick nod and buzzed away.

“Aren't you hungry?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “Not often. The only time I eat is usually after a fight. The more heavily wounded or weak I am, the more I need to eat in order to heal and replenish my strength. Calories heal my body, so I need a lot of them.”

I stared at him. “I am so jealous.” I was excited that he felt like revealing things to me. Perhaps this conversation would go somewhere interesting. Our hostess brought my drink and I stuck the straw in to take a gulp.

“Will you ever tell me how you became my Guardian?” I asked hopefully.

He smiled. “You know very well how that happened. I know you don't have access to that memory yet, but I don't think it's something I can just tell you. It means too much to me, I guess. Everything will come back to you. Be patient.”

I huffed at his response, because it only made me more
curious. “Are you going to tell me what my name was, or do I have to remember that, too?”

He rolled his eyes. “You need to stop asking questions. Remember what I said earlier? We're pretending to be normal humans today.”

“Well, normal humans don't sit at Coney Island and watch others eat. They order a plateful of chili cheese fries. Don't be so weird.” I took another gulp.

My food arrived, and just as the waitress was about to leave, Will held up his hand. “I've changed my mind. I'll take a root beer float.”

She flashed a quick smile and fluttered away.

“A root beer float?” I asked. “What are you, five?”

“They're my favorite.”

“A root beer
float
?” I repeated. “You're six hundred years old and a root beer float is your favorite food?”

He shrugged. “You wanted me to be normal and order something, so I did.”

“That is still weird.”

“They're delicious.”

The waitress returned with his float, and he stirred and dunked the ice cream immediately. Between his sips and bites of ice cream, Will watched me much too closely as I ate.

“What?” I asked, swallowing a mouthful.

“You remind me of me.”

“That can't be good.” I took another bite.

“It's not necessarily a bad thing. You must be really hungry.”

I didn't like the amused look on his face. I felt very self-conscious suddenly. “So?”

He shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Screw you.”

I ate more slowly after that. When we headed to the register to pay and leave, I reached inside my purse for money, but Will handed the clerk a twenty-dollar bill.

“No, no, no,” I said, reaching for his hand. “That wasn't part of the deal.”

“Don't worry about it,” he assured me, allowing the clerk to take the bill. “I've got this.”

“But all you had was that float.”

“We're trying to act normal, aren't we? It's not very normal for a young lady to pay for her own dinner.”

I scowled. “You must be confusing right now with a hundred years ago. That's a stupid stereotype. We aren't even on a date, so it doesn't count.”

“Perhaps, but everyone around us is assuming otherwise.” He nodded, his gaze wandering around the restaurant. “We don't want them to become suspicious, do we?”

“Will, they
really
don't care what we're doing,” I said. “It's not like we're undercover or something.”

 

When we met up with my friends, Landon spotted Will, and his attitude soured dramatically. I told myself sternly that
I would ignore Landon's attitude tonight, so I focused my efforts on being in a great mood. I hadn't forgotten Will's earlier warning about the wandering reaper, but seeing Will at ease made
me
feel at ease.

“E-l-l-l-l-lie!”
Kate grabbed me into a huge hug and held me tightly. “I'm so happy to see you!” She practically shoved me away and turned to Will. She yanked him into a hug as well, resulting in a very uncomfortable Will. “I'm so glad you came!” You could count on Kate to be over the top with everything she did.

I forced a bright smile. “So how about this movie?”

“We have twenty minutes before it starts,” Chris said, looking at his cell phone. “We should probably get our tickets and get seats. It's opening night.”

After buying our tickets—I refused to let Will pay for ours when he tried—we waited in line to enter the theater. Every once in a while I'd see Will stiffen and swivel his gaze around, as if he were listening and watching very carefully. If anything was considering jumping us tonight, I was assured Will would have plenty of warning. When the usher let us in, we found seats a little toward the back, since the middle was filled. Chris, Rachel, and Evan slipped down the aisle first, followed by Landon and Kate, then me and Will.

Landon leaned over Kate and me. “Where did you say you go to school again?” he asked Will.

“I'm a sophomore at U of M,” Will replied.

Landon scoffed. “You and Ellie hang out often?”

Kate elbowed him in the ribs, and he shot her an angry glare.

“Yes,” Will said.

Wrapping an arm around mine, Kate grinned at Will. “You shouldn't hog her so much. We miss her!”

Will shrugged and smiled. “Sorry. I don't mean to.”

Kate laughed and toyed with a lock of my hair. “I guess you'll just have to hang out with us more so we can see her too.”

Yeah, right.

The movie finally began, and by halfway through it, Will seemed to be enjoying himself. He chuckled a few times, but he frequently glanced toward the emergency exit as if expecting something to burst through it. I also noticed Landon repeatedly looking at us. What was his problem? He probably expected us to make out during the movie. That was a junior high thing anyway, so his worry was ridiculous.

At nine thirty the movie had finished and the theater began hemorrhaging high school and college students. We stopped on the sidewalk outside to plan our next move.

“Landon and I are going to Cold Stone,” Kate said. “Anyone want to join? Ellie?”

I frowned. “I don't really feel like ice cream.”

“Oh, come on!” she whined. “Please?”

I laughed. “Why do you want me to go with you to get ice cream so badly?”

“Because it's
good
!” Kate turned to Will. “You want ice cream, don't you, Will?”

Will's eyes flickered to me and back to Kate. “If Ellie isn't interested, then I'm not. I just go where she goes.”

Kate groaned. “You guys can't leave us yet! It's not even ten. At least come over to my place and party for a bit. We can hang out in my basement.”

That sounded really good. I hadn't been able to relax with my best friend for weeks. Will leaned close to me, his voice soft, his breath warm on my ear. “I think you should go. You'll enjoy yourself.”

“But what about—?” I whispered back.

“You'll have fun,” he whispered. “I want you to be happy. Remember our agreement for tonight?”

I smiled. “But I want you to pretend you're human
with
me.”

“All right,” he said.

“Okay, you two,” Kate said. “What's the plan?”

I looked up to her. “We're coming.”

“Yay!” she chirped, pulling me into another tight Kate hug. “I still want Cold Stone. Sure you don't want to join us?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I ate right before the movie, so I'm still pretty full. I'll pass, but how about we meet you at your house in an hour?”

“Sounds good,” she said with a smile.

“Okay, bye,” I said, and waved to them all.

Will and I walked back to my car. “Thank you,” I said in a low voice.

“I meant it when I said I want you to be happy,” he answered. “It has always made this easier on you—when you're happy.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.” He smiled.

“What did I use to do for fun?” I unlocked my car and we climbed in.

“You've always loved horses,” he said distantly. “Through every lifetime I've known you.”

I perked up. “Really? Did I ride a lot?”

“All the time. A hundred years ago there weren't many cars, so that's how we got around. When you were…When I knew you last, you competed in horse shows.”

I laughed. “That's cool.”

“You were really good.”

“Do you think I still am?”

He nodded firmly. “Oh yes. You've always been a natural. It's never failed to come back to you.”

“Will you take me riding?”

He glanced at me. “Definitely.”

“Promise?”

“I have never broken a promise to you.”

I eyed him. “Not once?”

“Not once.”

I was skeptical. “You're telling me that in five hundred
years, you have never messed up something you've promised me?”

“Ellie, you need to understand,” he said softly. “I exist only to serve you and fight by your side. Whether that fighting is to preserve your life or to make sure you smile, that is what I am built to do. You're all I have, and I will watch over you forever.”

I stared at him. “You're very intense, you know that?”

“I do now.” He smiled.

We headed back toward my town and exited onto a wooded, hilly back road. The narrow road was quiet, and I saw only one other pair of headlights for a half mile.

“I hope you enjoyed yourself,” I said to Will. “Did you like the movie?”

He was looking out the window, but he turned to face me and smiled. “It was interesting. I think Landon and I could become friends.”

I laughed. “Oh yeah. Best friends in the making, right there. What did you think of the movie, honestly?”

He shrugged. “It was funny. Humans always amaze me with how drastically their culture evolves every few years. Imagine witnessing that over tens of generations.”

“I wish I could,” I said. “I'm still only remembering snippets of things.”

“It'll come back. I know I keep saying that, but it will.”

I nodded glumly. “I'm glad that you came tonight, and that nothing bad happened. Thank you.”

“Of course. I think it was good for you.”

My smile returned. “It was good for
both
of us to get out and do something besides fighting for a change.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a dark shape bound across the road toward my window. Then something massive rammed into my car door, and the Audi was sent spinning counterclockwise, whipping my body around in the seat. The wheel was torn from my grip and the car came to a stop so suddenly, my shoulder slammed into the door panel and the window shattered next to my face. The headlights poured out onto the road into blackness.

“Ellie!” Will shouted. “Ellie, are you okay?”

He undid my seat belt and his hands frantically touched my arms, face, and neck. My head spun and I felt like I was going to be sick. I looked around and saw we had smashed up against a tree on Will's side. The jagged edges of glass from my window jutted out in all directions. Oh God, my poor car.

“I'm fine. Are you—?”

The windshield exploded, spraying chunks of glass, and the hideous, deformed head of Ragnuk burst through with a bellowing roar. He was free of the Grim. He was completely in the mortal dimension.

I screamed and thrashed, throwing my arms up. Will pounded on the reaper's snout several times, and the jaws snapped back, biting at his arm.