To Light and Guard (5 page)

“
That’s a handy trick.  How did you do that?” I asked. 

Luke shrugged like it was no big thing.
  “Angels can manipulate matter.  It’s not difficult. I think of it, and it happens. I can walk through anything.  Catching a spinning car – now, that was more complex.  The timing had to be precise.”  He made a sudden catching motion with his hands.

I smiled.  I’m glad he can joke about that.  At the time, I thought he was very upset. 
I figured my angel would have some sort of super power, though.  It comes with not being human.

“Thank you,” I said.  “You
are so my hero.”  Then, a creepy thought occurred to me.

“You
… you don’t follow me… in the… in the bathroom, do you?” I stammered.  

“No.  N
ever.”  He looked at me horrified. “Do not even think about it,” he said.  I believed him; yet, at the same time, I wondered if angels ever lied.  Luke walked around me and stood underneath the doorframe.  He turned around facing me.

I raised my index finger, the one with the band aid and pointed up. “You healed my finger
, right?”

He nodded
, and one corner of his mouth quirked up.

It was a
nother handy dandy angel super power. “Thank you, again,” I said. 

For some u
nexplained reason, I wanted to take care of him, too.  “Are you hungry?  Can I get you something to eat?”  I asked.

“Angels do not need to eat.”

“How about some water or soda?”

He shook his head as he started walking backwards
and away from me. My hand was on the door knob, and I was ready to close the door.

“Paige,” he said, “I
will
protect you.”  I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. He seemed very serious about it.  Of course, I was very grateful for his concern, but seriously, how much trouble can I get into?

“Thank you.” I smiled.

He turned away from me slowly and started walking away.

“
Hey, Luke,” I called out.  “I’m glad you’re here.” It was the truth.  I’m very happy that he was here.

His shoulders stiffened, and he didn’t say anything.  He didn’t have to.  I already knew t
hat he was also glad to be here – with me.  

He took three steps and
leaped. His white wings flared out with a whoosh, and he drifted up in the air.  I watched him until he disappeared from my sight, his white wings blending into the darkness.

I shut the door gently and locked it.  I just convinced myself that I was no longer afraid of my angel, but I was still afraid of burglars.

CHAPTER 1
0

             
The next morning, I woke up late again.  After hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock for the third time, I finally got up.  I got ready for school in five minutes flat, skipping the make-up, and wrapping my wet hair in a ponytail.  Then, I ran down the stairs.  Mom, Dad, and Emma were almost done eating breakfast when I joined them in the dining room.  “Good morning,” I said, taking my seat next to Emma.  Almost like magic, a glass of milk was already sitting next to my plate.  “Thanks, Mom,” I said as I gave her a big smile.

I placed a blueberry pancake on my plate, and
I took a bite.  I had to physically force myself not to tell my family about my angel.   It’s a good thing my mouth had something useful to do because they weren’t ready to hear something this big. 

My dad
was wearing a dark blue suit, and he was talking about the two things he loved talking about the most:  his work and money. It didn’t help that my parents were both accountants and worked together.  I groaned silently.  Somehow, I already know that this money conversation was going to lead back to me.  Call it déjà vu or a re-run of the last eighteen years of my life. 

  As Dad continued
telling us about the events of his yesterday, I promised myself that when I have my own kids, I would never torture them with war stories about work.   After a while, Dad’s nameless clients who couldn’t get a grip on their finances all seemed the same.  I wondered why I never heard about Dad’s good clients, the organized ones who didn’t keep their receipts in a shoe box. 
Was it because the screw ups were just so much more entertaining and could serve as a lead in to another unhealthy lecture about money?

I smiled at Dad a
s I ate my food.  I know that he meant well by giving us these talks; only right now, I don’t quite understand what he really means.  Maybe I’m just too young… or too sleepy… or too bored.

My mind drifted
as I ate.  
What was my angel doing right now?  Was he eating breakfast up in the sky somewhere?  Or was he in here watching me? 

My entire family was seated around
the dining room table; even Buffy was on the floor, sitting next to my chair and begging for pancake scraps.  It would be suspicious behavior for me to be looking around for one missing angel.  I fought the urge to look around. 

Fought the urge
…

S
till fighting…

Short fight.

I looked around casually, but he was nowhere in sight.  

“What are you doing?” Emma asked, staring at me.

I pointed at myself
and looked at her innocently. 

Emma nodded. “
What are you looking for?” she asked.  She was always so perceptive, and she was watching me
all
of the time; she was so very younger-sister like and annoying.

“No one,” I grumbled
with my mouth full.
Sheesh. Mind your own business.
I stuffed my mouth with more pancake.  I had to catch up with breakfast because I didn’t want to be late for school this morning.  

Dad started talking again, but unfortunately, it was still the same conversation. 

“You have to respect money,” Dad said, and he was now addressing me and Emma.  I gave him my full attention as I continued eating.   “You need to know the full value of the dollar.”

I know the value of the might
y dollar, Dad; it’s one hundred pennies.  Aaargh! 

I looked at Emma again, and beyond her straight face, I saw the snicker in her eyes.  We smiled
, nodding our heads at times, as Dad continued talking about another one of his loser clients; this time it was about a woman who organized her receipts by size.

Ten
minutes later, and after the parents rushed out to get to work, Emma and I were left alone in the dining room; we were still finishing our breakfast.  “Do I have you to thank for today’s lecture?” I asked Emma.

“You’re welcome,”
she said.  “I asked Dad to increase our allowance earlier, and he said fine.”

No wonder Dad’s speech was longer than usual.  Somehow, his speeches were becoming longer and longer.  Comes with age, I suppose; he has more stories to tell.  It didn’t help that Emma and I were still happily unemployed and still received our allowance with our very open hands.

“Maybe you should go get a job
.” Emma said. 

“You get a job.”

“I’m too young.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.  What’s your excuse?”

“I’m college bound.  Hey, did you see my SAT score?” I asked, grinning.  My SAT score was off the charts.  (Let me tell you again because you may not have heard me correctly.  My SAT score was off the freakin’ charts!)  Who would’ve known?  I certainly didn’t. 

“You mean the piece of paper you posted on the refrigerator door with the score highlighted?  That score?”

“Yep.  I’m a genius.”

Emma laughed
.  “Grandma must have done some serious voodoo to get you that score.”  See here - even Emma thinks Grandma is a witch.

“Hey, hey,” I said, ready to thoroughly defend myself. I pointed to my chest.  “High I.Q., remember?” 
This is true.  I always beat Emma at I.Q. tests.  She’s just better at studying and remembering things.  Seriously.  My little sister can remember things from when she was two years old. 
Creepy.

“Yeah
, yeah,” Emma said.

I drank my milk, chugging it down until my glass was empty. 

“You done eating?” Emma
asked, and I nodded.  We cleaned up the dining table, and I followed Emma in the kitchen.  We placed all of the dirty dishes in the sink.  Emma turned the lights off as we walked out the kitchen door leading to the garage.  From the corner of my eye, I saw Luke inside the garage waiting for me.  He gave me a quick nod, and then, he walked
through
the garage door.  I blinked a couple of times, and I pretended not to see him.  

Emma and I
got in the car.  We were ready to face another ordinary day, but today, however, there was something very different. I was hiding the most inconceivable secret of my life.  I wonder how long I could keep it to myself.

C
HAPTER 11

At exactly midnight, I met Luke in the backyard.  We had a rocky start, at first. He wasn’t the easiest guy to get to know, and he always had a frown on his face.  With the wings and the frown, I found him to be very intimidating.  He was eager to meet with me – I could tell - and I knew that he wanted to talk to me.  Yet, at the same time, it felt as if he didn’t really want to get too close. 
Do you know what I mean? 
It’s like he has a shield of ice surrounding him, and I so want to break the ice.  Eventually, on our third evening, I did… with chocolate.  Chocolate, I found was a major food group for angels, and it’s also a good ice-breaker.  

Tonight, I met Luke in the backyard
armed with the good stuff.  When I reached Luke, I handed him a plate with three slices of chocolate cake, a fork, and a bottled water.  Then, I took the blanket that was tucked under my arm, and I laid it out on the grass.  I also brought three flashlights and a plastic lantern from last Halloween, and I spread them randomly around the blanket.  Luke and I both sat down.  Without saying a word, I watched Luke wolf down the chocolate cake.  A minute later, he was finishing his third slice.

“Good
, right?” I asked.  He nodded without slowing down.  I grinned. For someone who didn’t need to eat, Luke sure enjoyed eating chocolate. It was strange, but seeing him eat made him seem so much more approachable. 

It’s
a good thing that we always have chocolate in the house.  Dad and Emma can’t get enough of that thing, and they always start their day with a good dose of chocolate.  

Now
that he was done eating, I handed Luke a napkin because there was some icing left on his fingers.  Instead of taking the napkin, he lifted his hand up in the air and wiggled his fingers in front of me.  I watched intently as the brown icing disappeared from his fingers.

“That is just… Wow,” I
said.  “I wish I could do that.”  Unfortunately, I don't have any super powers, but I do know some magic tricks with a deck of cards. “Stay right here, okay?  I need to go back in the house.  I’ll be right back.”

I snuck back into the house, grabbed a deck of
playing cards from my room and a box of chocolate chip cookies from the kitchen pantry.  I snuck back out without waking up my family.     

Sitting next to Luke on the blanket, I handed him the cookies.  “I have a feeling you’ll like this one, too.”  I took out the cards from the box and started shuffling.  Luke wasn’t even paying attention to the cards.  He already had a cookie in his mouth
and was thoroughly enjoying it.  I think he may even be smiling. 
That’s just pure science.  You cannot fully enjoy eating chocolate chip cookies with a frown on your face. 

I laid the cards on the blanket, spreading them apart
, face down.  “Pick a card, any card, look at it, but don’t show me.”

He looked amused.  He pulled a card from the deck and took a good look at it.  I took the pile of cards left on the b
lanket. I cut the cards and told him to place his card face down, which he did.  I shuffled the cards a few times and gave him the deck.  “Your card should be on top.”  He pulled the top card and out comes the Queen of Hearts.  He nodded.  “You’re good at this,” he said as he picked up another cookie from the box.  “How did you do that?”

“Magic,”
I whispered.  Not real magic, of course, just tricks with a deck of uneven cards, but he didn’t have to know that.  A really good magician never reveals her secret. So, I taught him how to play poker instead, but not the stripping kind.  He was an angel, after all. 

It
was the beginning of our friendship: chocolate cake, cookies, and a deck of cards.  Except it wasn’t all just friendship for me because I was beginning to really, really like him. This is bad - I know. Trust me. I am very conflicted about this.  For one, we were different species.  Then, there was this whole debacle about me being the only one who can see him. 

Yet
, here I am, extremely tired from lack of sleep, but still enjoying every moment that I spend with him.
Who wouldn’t?
  After all, he was an angel with charming angel tendencies and awesome powers.  Truly, my heart just seems to like him.  Of course, he was also very handsome, and he never wears a shirt. It’s quite distracting, really.  Maybe I should buy him one, or steal one from Dad's closet. 

I felt a cold breeze and shivered. “Don’t you
ever get cold?”  I asked. 

“I sense the cold, but it doesn’t bother me,” he said.

“What happened to your coat? The first time I saw you, you were wearing a coat.”

“I never needed a coat, but I did
n’t know when it would happen… when you would be able to see me.  It was my disguise.  I didn’t know how you would react when you finally saw me.”

“Yeah.  I get it,” I said.
  “Without your shirt on, it’s kind of like sensory overload.  All that skin is still hard to take in.” 

Luke grinned.
The grins were still hard to coax out of him, and seeing one on his face, made me very happy.  Although, I think he preferred being sad and brooding.  Lately, I’ve turned into a comedian just to see him smile. 

“
No. I was talking about the wings. I thought the wings would frighten you - you being human and all,” he said.

“Right.  That was what I meant.  The wings are
frightening,” I said as I felt my cheeks get warm.  Thank God it was dark, and he didn’t see me blush.

“And now you already know what I am.  The coat was useless, and it only impedes flight.   I dropped the coat off with a man sleeping
by the freeway exit.” Yes. Unfortunately, we have a lot of sleeping men near freeway exits.  I wondered if the bums of L.A. had guardian angels watching over them, too… and what about my family…

“
Mom, Dad, and Emma… do they have angels guarding them?” I asked. 

“
Emma has a Guardian named Micah, but your parents do not,” Luke said. “Though, that is quite normal because adults rarely do.  Children and teenagers are our bigger priorities because, sadly, they are more reckless with their lives.  Humans outnumber angels by about sixty to one.”

“How come I don’t see Micah?” I asked.

“
You are not supposed to see angels, at all. I am guessing that you are only able to see your own Guardian because of our close relationship.”  

What relationship?
I wish he would elaborate because my idea of a relationship might differ from his.  I was already getting too attached, and my heart was definitely getting involved.  I really liked him.  Okay, let’s be honest here.  Maybe
like
was the wrong word.  I more than just
like
him.

“Demons
would be easier to witness,” he said.  “All humans have a power to sense danger, and most humans can sense demons.  Since you can see your Guardians, I suspect that you may also see demons.”

“
That is creepy,” I said.  I was fine with sensing danger, but seeing demons is so exorcist-like.  It was so not my kind of terror, but I did appreciate the warning; it made me aware of what was to come.  Maybe the demons were the reasons I needed a Guardian in the first place.

“Before I became your
Guardian about six months ago, you were guarded by an angel named Caspar.  Since you were able to see him, he had to be replaced,” Luke said.

Hmmm.
I have no idea what he was talking about.

“You called nine-one-one,” he explained, “and you reported seeing a
suspicious redhead roaming in your backyard.  You gave a very accurate description of Caspar, which the police took seriously.”

“He was an angel?” I asked
, feeling awful that I reported a guardian angel to the police. 
Oops. 
Unfortunately, the police searched our yard and came inside our house to search for the ‘suspicious’ redhead until the early hours of the morning.  Mom and Dad believed me, but Emma joked that I made it all up.  She said it was because of my desperate need for attention.

Luke must have heard the horror in my voice.  “Do
not be concerned.  I replaced him because of that phone call.  So, lucky me,” Luke said.

I wasn’t sure what he meant by
that.  I thought guarding me was sort of his job.  So, technically, I was the one who was lucky.

             
"Since I can see you now, does this mean someone else will replace you?" I asked.

             
“Not really. I'm not asking for a replacement," he said.  He paused for a while. 

"I have wanted to guard you for a very long time,”
he added. 

             
“Why?”

             
“Because you are good.”

             
My mind began to deny what my angel just said about me.               How did he know that I was a good person, anyway?   Mom always said that about me, too, but that was what moms are for - to say things like to their children. It boosts our self-confidence – makes us better people.

             
On the other hand, how would Luke know if I was kind, respectful, caring, or whatever it was that defined being good when he's only been around me for six months?

             
Luke looked up at the sky. 

             
"Your aura is white," he explained, "like a bright light, and when I look at you, you glow. Your spirit is peaceful, and your destiny will be great."

             
I smiled. 
My angel had a way with words, didn’t he?
  That was really nice – what he just said about me.  Maybe I should write that down somewhere, to remind me about my good traits when I’m feeling down. 

It was something I’ve never heard from a guy before – my aura, my spirit, my destiny.  I could tell it meant something to him. I was very flattered, but I didn’t know how to respond to something like that.

However,
what Luke said about my having a destiny was also a little freaky.  In my not so distant future, I always dreamed that I would get married someday, have two point five children, a dog, and a goldfish.  I would live in Los Angeles somewhere, always close to my parents and Emma – maybe near the beach – and live happily ever after.  How did the destiny part fit in with my plans for an ordinary life?

“Would you like to fly?” he asked.

Oh, would I? 
It was something I wanted to do since the first time we hung out.  I just didn’t want to be pushy about it.  I stopped myself from jumping up and down with glee.  “Of course,” I said calmly, very mature-like.

              “Are you ready?” he asked as we both stood up. 

I nodded, rubbing my now sweaty palms on my sweat pants. I was nervous in a good way, and my eyes were wide with anticipation.  Luke bent down and slipped one arm underneath my knees; his other arm supported my back as he carried me. I looked at his handsome face, which was only inches from mine, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. I bit my lower lip.  I could really get used to this.   

“Am I heavy?” I asked, self-conscious now. 

“No,” he said.  “Even if you were, I’m very strong.” 

I giggled.  “You are very modest, too.  It must be hard to be you,” I said
, but I knew he was telling the truth.  I saw him stop a spinning car once.  

He took three quick steps.  I felt
a dip as he bent his knees, and he jumped up.  His wings flared out with a whoosh.  My jaw almost dropped from the massiveness of his wings; his wingspan was about fifteen feet across.  I don’t usually see him with his wings extended, and being wrapped around his arms, he seemed even larger – wings and all. 

His wings caught the wind.
There was a sudden upward jerk, and I felt a little dizzy.  I didn’t trust myself to look down yet, and my arms instinctively clutched Luke tighter to me. 

Flying was such a strange sensation.  I would have been scared if I didn’t trust Luke
.  He was my guardian angel, after all, and he would have failed miserably if he dropped me. No. Luke would never drop me, even if we flew for a thousand years.

             
There were dogs barking, and I could hear the humming of the cars on the road.  The sounds became fainter as I felt myself moving farther from the earth.  I felt a quick gush of air with each down stroke of his wings as he flew higher towards the sky.  I finally looked down.  Everything looked very small now:  my house, the backyard, our pool, the tree. I saw the other homes surrounding our home, the streets with some cars on the road.   Flying with an angel was an amazing way to travel.                 

             
“I like your ride,” I said, and I saw him smile.  I could tell it made him happy to be flying with me, and I really love making him smile. Lately, I’ve become a comedienne.

“Am I the wind beneath you wings?” I asked
.