Milayna's Angel (18 page)

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked, baffled by the
look on his face. I’d learned to decipher most of his expressions,
but his face held a new one. I had no idea what it meant.

He shrugged one shoulder.

He didn’t have time to give me an answer. The
front door flew open, and I heard a boy’s voice yelling my name.
“Milayna! I’m so gonna beat you today,” Benjamin yelled, running
down the hall to the family room.

Chay looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Video games. I played with him so much yesterday that I saw aliens
and meteors in my sleep. I swear at one point, I woke up and my
fingers were twitching like I was pushing the buttons on the
controller.”

“Chay!”

And that was all it took to get me off the
hook. As soon as Ben saw Chay, he forgot all about his invalid
sister.

“You wanna play with me?”

“I thought you were playing with
Milayna?”

“Oh, she won’t care. Do you, Milayna?” Ben
looked at me with big eyes.

“Nope. I’ll watch.” Actually, I slept most of
the time. But every time I woke up, Chay was still playing with Ben
and I’d let myself get sucked back into sleep.

“Don’t leave me,” I told Chay, my eyes
heavy.

“I won’t,” he promised.

I bolted upright on the couch. It took me a
minute to remember where I was. Chay was sitting cross-legged in
the middle of the family room floor, playing Legos with Ben. My mom
was cooking dinner in the kitchen, and my dad wasn’t home from work
yet.

“What’s wrong?” Chay dropped his Lego tower
and scooted to the couch.

Me standing in the kitchen. My back facing
the person staring at me. I see myself through their eyes.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. My other arm
wrapped protectively around my side.

Turning, I look at the person and smile.

“What’s wrong?” Chay asked again.

“Milayna?” I heard my mother call from the
kitchen.

My smile fades. I double over. A look of
shock registers on my face.

“Are you having a vision?” Chay’s voice.

I nodded and squeezed my eyes closed.

I look up. My face is white. I see the
person’s reflection in the kitchen window. Jake. He
looks
down. Blood. I feel his excitement. The adrenaline running through
his veins.

I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the
vision. It was eerie seeing it through another person’s eyes…
watching them kill me, feeling what they felt as they plunged a
knife deep in my gut.

Jake raises his head. I see the reflection in
the window. Chay.

I gasped, and the vision melted away.

“What’d you see?” Chay asked, lines creased
his forehead.

I smoothed the blanket over my legs.
“Nothing, just a lot of jumbled images.”

I’d had enough visions and nightmares to
realize someone was definitely planning to kill me. What I couldn’t
figure out was who. My money was on Jake. He had it in him to be a
murderer. When he sided with Azazel, he lost all sense of right and
wrong. But something bothered me about the visions. I smiled at my
attacker. I’d never smile at Jake. He’d never be welcomed in my
house… unless I changed. If I changed sides, then Jake and I would
be working together, but that didn’t make sense either. Why would
he try to kill me if I changed?

Another thing bothered me about the visions.
Why did they always end with Chay’s face? I refused to believe he’d
hurt me. But that didn’t change the fact that I saw him in nearly
every vision or nightmare. He was the one constant.

***

The group came to visit Tuesday evening.

“Hey, you look better than the last time I
saw you,” Drew drawled and leaned down to kiss my cheek.

“Gee, thanks.”

“Yeah, I think she just wants to skip
school,” Jen said with a smile.

“You caught me. That’s exactly it.”

“Hey, Milayna.” Xavier bent down and grazed
his lips over my forehead. It happened so fast I almost thought I’d
imagined it, but then I looked at Chay’s stony expression and his
jaw tightening and untightening, and knew I hadn’t. His hands made
fists, relaxed, and then fisted again.

Uh-oh.

“Chay.” I moved my feet. “Sit by me.”

He walked over and sat down next to me. His
eyes never left Xavier’s face.

After dinner, we talked and joked. Drew and
Muriel played video games. Chay never left my side. Possessive.

“I’ve been doing some research,” Xavier said
to no one in particular. “I think I’ve found some answers about who
Azazel’s boss might be.”

“Yeah? Who?” Chay leaned forward.

“There’s a name that keeps coming up.
Abaddon. From what I can ascertain, he’s called The Destroyer and
makes Azazel look like a kitten. He’s also known as the King of the
Abyss.”

“Well, it sounds like he’d be the type to
kill first and ask questions later. But why is he after Milayna?”
Chay ran his fingers through my hair.

“That I don’t know.”

“Then you really didn’t find out much, did
you?” Chay snapped. “Any of us could have come up with a name. What
we need is a reason.”

“Well, unless you want to take a trip down
there and ask him yourself, I think you’re gonna have to settle for
a name. We know he wants her dead. We’re gonna have to wait for him
to let us in on the reason.”

“So we know the who, but we still don’t know
the why,” Jen said.

“Pretty much,” Xavier agreed.

Jen rubbed her hands up and down her thighs.
“Do we know if Milayna is the only one on the hit list or are we
all?”

They all looked at me. “I haven’t had any
visions about anyone. Has anyone else had visions?”

None of them had.

Great. I’m the only one he’s after. That
makes me feel so special.

14

My mother finally let me go to school Friday.
I was still feeling tired and a little woozy at times, but I was
going stir crazy sitting at home all day. I was excited to see Chay
that morning and called him for a ride.

“Hey,” I said when he answered the phone.
“I’m going to school today. Wanna ride together?”

“Always. I’ll pick you up.”

“See you in an hour.” I clicked off the call
and hurried to get ready.

My mom put a bandage around my waist to hold
the wound as still as possible so I wouldn’t break a stitch. I was
brushing through my hair when I heard the doorbell ring.

I walked as quickly as I could to the door,
dragging my messenger bag behind me. It thudded against each step.
“Come in, Chay.”

The door opened, and he stuck his head
inside. “Here, give me that.” He opened the door and stepped
through, taking my messenger bag from me. “You aren’t supposed to
be carrying this. Let me do the heavy lifting today.”

“Sounds good,” I said as we walked outside
and got in the car.

“How are you feeling?” Chay maneuvered the
car through the neighborhood toward school.

“Good.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Liar.”

Chay carried my bag into chemistry, hanging
it over the back of my seat before pulling the chair out for me to
sit. He held on to me as I eased onto the seat. He was babying me
so much I half expected him to insist on carrying me from class to
class. It was ridiculous and totally unnecessary, but I loved every
minute of it. Any reason for him to touch me was a good one. So I
let him feel like he was helping and I got to feel the electrifying
currents run through my body every time his hands touched me. I got
the better deal.

It wasn’t until lunch that I knew something
was wrong.

“Milayna, can you hitch a ride home with
Muriel or Jen?”

“I guess so, but why?” I looked at him. His
face was flushed. I cupped his cheek with my hand. “You’re burning
up.”

“Yeah, I’m not feeling too hot. I’m going to
go home.” He handed my book bag to Drew, who was walking by us in
the hall.

Drew took the bag and looked at Chay.
“What?”

“I gotta go. Make sure she doesn’t carry
this.”

“Okay. Hey, Milayna, how you feeling?” Drew
smiled at me.

“Good.”

“Liar,” he said with a laugh.

I can’t lie to anyone without them knowing…
geez. Maybe it’s a demi-angel thing.

Drew carried my bag for me to the cafeteria.
He waited while I bought something to eat, and then carried my
tray.

“I can carry a tray with a salad on it,” I
complained, feeling completely useless.

“Chay said for me to carry your things, and
that’s what I’m gonna do. He scares me a little.”

I laughed and then held my side, letting out
a slow breath. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts.”

After lunch, Drew and Muriel walked with me
to my English class. Making sure I was settled before they left,
Muriel told me someone would meet me afterward and under no
circumstances was I to pick up my bag.

“I’m not an invalid.”

“I know. But you aren’t supposed to lift
anything heavy. So let us do the carrying.”

“Fine,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll wait.”

Muriel smiled and left, Drew on her
heels.

After English, I realized I had a problem. It
wasn’t Muriel or Drew that showed up. It wasn’t even Jen.
Xavier.

“Hey.” He swung my bag over his shoulder like
it was a light as a feather pillow.

“Hi.”

“Drew and Muriel were on their way, but I
told them I’d grab your bag since we’re going to the same
class.”

“Oh.” I sucked on my bottom lip and
nodded.

“So, how are you feeling? And don’t give me
any of that
fine
crap.”

I laughed. “I’ve felt better.”

He slipped a tendril of hair that had fallen
from my messy bun behind my ear. “You should have waited until
Monday to come back to school.”

“Probably.”

“But I’m glad you came today,” he said
quietly.

I looked at him with a raised brow.
“Why?”

“I missed you.”

“Oh. Well, I missed everyone here, too.” I
had no idea how to respond. I didn’t want to be rude, but I didn’t
want give Xavier the wrong idea either.

“Not quite what I meant.”

“Xavier, I—”

“I know.” He smiled down at me.

Geez, he has a great smile. That dimple is
killing me. Stop it! You shouldn’t be looking… but he’s so easy to
look at.

When we got to our class, he pulled my chair
out for me and hung my bag on the back before walking to his seat.
He sat down and looked over his shoulder, catching me watching him.
His lips twitched into a small smile.

Ugh, what am I doing?

I looked down at the gold band Chay gave me
and felt a twinge of guilt in the pit of my stomach.

After class, Xavier and I walked to our next
class together. Lily walked toward us. I saw her ball her fists as
she neared. Some tells were so easy to spot. When her hand darted
out to jab me in the side, I grabbed her wrist and twisted it
painfully. I leaned into her so the sides of our faces were almost
touching.

“Don’t screw with me,” I whispered. She tried
to jerk away, but I tightened my grip. “It’s been nice having this
little talk,” I said louder before letting her go. She stomped away
with a scowl, rubbing her wrist.

“Not very friendly, is she?” Xavier put his
hand on the small of my back and guided me around him so the wall
of lockers was on one side of me and he was on the other, blocking
me from the crowd in the hall.

I trailed my finger along the blue and gold
lockers, looking at the photos and things people had pasted on the
outside of the doors.

“What class do you have last hour?” he
asked.

“Gym. I’m sitting out, obviously.”

“Where are you going?”

I shrugged. “I’ll probably go to the library
and work on my homework until Muriel is ready to leave.”

“Ah.”

***

I’d just gotten settled in the library that
afternoon when I saw him saunter across the room toward me. His
jet-black hair gleamed under the incandescent lighting, his blue
eyes twinkling mischievously.

“Shouldn’t you be in class?” I asked.

“I came to save you from an hour of boredom.”
Xavier pinned me with one of his dimpled grins.

“So you’re skipping,” I accused under my
breath. “Shame, shame. Not very angelic of you, now is it?” He
laughed, and I grinned at the sound.

I’m in way over my head here. I just need to
stay away.

“Like I said, I’m saving a damsel in
distress. That takes precedence over English class.” He leaned his
hip against the table where I sat. “So, can we go before I get
caught?”

“You should go to class, Xavier,” I said
quietly.

“Why? You think he’d have a problem with me
driving you home an hour early from school? He could’ve taken you
when he left at lunch. It was obvious to everyone you weren’t
feeling up to being here today.” His voice had a hardness I’d never
heard in it before.

He’s right. I didn’t feel like being
here.

I tapped my pen on the book opened in front
of me and let out a sigh. Biting my lip, I looked around the room.
It was empty except for the librarian and us. It would be so easy
to slip through the tall bookcases and out the side door. Once in
the hallway, we’d be just a few feet from a door leading outside
and to the student parking area.

“Okay,” I whispered and closed my book,
slipping it into my bag. “Let’s go.”

His dimple winked at me, and he took my bag
from the table. I stood, and he waved me in front of him with a
sweep of his arm. “Ladies first,” he teased, bending at the waist.
I stifled a laugh and walked past.

We slipped through the door into the hallway
and made our way outside. The sunlight glinted off the newly fallen
snow covering the ground. Our footsteps crunched when we walked
across it.