“No.” Chloe took my hands and maneuvered herself in front of me so I couldn’t avoid her emerald gaze. “I only told Stacey about you. Everything happened so fast, and I had no idea what to expect, so I hadn’t really thought it through. I’m sorry.” She bit on her bottom lip and her eyes widened, open and innocent. She meant it.
“It’s fine, but maybe you can stick with a cousin or an exchange student or something?”
She nodded and then wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “Deal. Now you’ve already met Stacey, but over there,” she pointed toward a group standing near the popcorn truck, “is Summer, Ashley, Conner, Nikki, Sasha, and Brad.”
“I’m not going to remember all that.”
“No worries. It’s your first day. We don’t have a test until mid-semester.” She laughed and tugged me off toward the group.
“Everyone, this is . . . my cousin, Arianna.”
I raised my hand and waved politely as they provided their welcomes and condolences for being trapped in small-town Iowa.
The novelty of my existence wore off quickly, and the conversation turned back to other things. Inside jokes and stories about people I’d never met. But being an outsider was exactly what I needed. To be able to sit back, observe, absorb. Besides, if all worked out, I’d be gone before anyone had the chance to know me anyway.
I listened to their conversations for a while, but the words droned on and swirled into each other. I wouldn’t be able to figure out humanity through an endless loop of gossip. I tugged Chloe’s arm and she turned to me with a wide smile.
“Having fun?”
“Of course,” I lied, “but I’ve never been to a farmer’s market before, so I’m going to go take a look around.”
“For sure. Hey guys, I’m gonna jet.”
“No,” I shouted, then corrected my tone. “You don’t need to come, I’ll just look around and then I’ll be right back. Don’t let me take you away from your friends.”
“Are you sure?” Her eyes questioned, almost as if they could see right through my lie.
I nodded, not risking any more words in the atmosphere. “I’ll only be a few minutes. And besides,” I pointed over at the fence that ran around the market grounds, “those crows are creeping me out. I feel like they’re staring at me.”
“Ha. You’re not that special. They annoy everyone. But don’t get too far. Wouldn’t want you to wander off and die of boredom. There would be no one to save you.”
“Right.”
I faced back toward the crowd. Now or never. I needed to figure out what made these people who they were and learn whatever lesson Raguel needed to teach me or I’d never make my way back to Heaven. But what could these small-town mortals teach me that I couldn’t learn when I had the ability of seeing all things?
Quickening my pace, I passed the crow-lined fence, the line of red eyes watching my every step. No wonder they called crows a “murder.” The large one on the left looked like it wanted to rip my limbs from my body and use them to build its nest.
I moved along the tents, scanning the faces and trying to make sense of my task, but nothing stuck out. People bartered their goods and talked to their neighbors, while children played in corners with toys or lost themselves in the screens of tablets and cell phones where they wouldn’t be a nuisance. Understand humanity? Humanity seemed like a big jumbled mess.
I stared up at the bright sky and let the warm sun heat my skin as I closed my eyes. What did you want from me, Raguel? What is the lesson I’m supposed to learn? Can’t you give me any sort of sign?
Someone jostled me as they passed and I opened my eyes, grabbing the edge of the nearest table to avoid falling over. So much for signs.
Just ahead a young man—maybe nineteen or twenty—with patches of dark stubble across his jaw, moved through the crowd with odd jerky movements. He took quick, short steps, knocking into other patrons and then racing away. His head swiveled from side to side in frantic twitches. I followed close behind as he nearly upended a mother and her stroller, unsure why his erratic behavior intrigued me but intent on finding out.
About halfway through the rows of tents, he slipped between the tables and around to the back of one of the stalls. He stopped and crossed his left leg over the other, leaning against a table, casual and suddenly relaxed. I inched closer, picking up a stack of knitted dish cloths at the stall closest to him. I turned them over in my hands, trying not to look suspicious.
He slid down the edge of the table, farther away from the main flow of traffic, then looked back and forth. I glanced down as he scanned my direction, then watched as he crept into the stall and shoved handfuls of green bills in his open denim jacket.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I dropped the dish cloths and raced toward him.
He glanced up, his eyes wide and jaw open as he saw me coming for him. He jumped out of the stall, panic blanching his face, confirming that it wasn’t his money to take.
I whipped around the corner as he raced down the back side of the tents where the crowd thinned. Every step of his long legs was two times the length of mine. If only I had my wings. I split my focus—half my energy in my feet to keep running and half between my shoulders on the rare chance my wings would materialize when I needed them. I pushed my body harder, trying to make my legs move faster as the thief stumbled over the uneven ground. Strips of flesh tingled down the sides of my back. A little more. I clamped my eyes shut, pushing every thought behind me, visualizing the strong white feathers bursting from my skin.
Then, bang!
Pain exploded across my chest, blunt and hard, forcing me backward to the ground. I opened my eyes as a red wave of Honeycrisp apples spilled across the grass at my feet. Beyond the mess, the thief glanced back with a sneer. He rounded the last row of tents into the parking lot and hopped into the back of a waiting pickup truck. It sped out of the lot, spitting up dust and gravel, then disappeared down the highway.
I slammed my heel into the ground, sending a small burst of pain through my leg, reminding me of my stupid mortality. Why did humans do such awful things to each other? Free will? More like free pass to be sinful. How could I figure out humanity when it made no sense?
“You should really watch where you’re going.”
“What?” I shook my head as a strange deep voice and a dark shadow descended over me.
“I said, watch where you’re going. That way you won’t hurt yourself and bruise all my father’s apples.” The voice stuck his open hand in my face, and I grabbed on as he hoisted me to my feet in one smooth motion.
“Thanks.” I rubbed my hands over my clothes, brushing off the grass and dirt, then looked up. “I was just . . .”
A pair of blue eyes pinned my words to my tongue. Blue like a vast sea on a clear day, the light of the sun reflecting and warming the open air while beneath the surface the currents raged and raced through the fathoms below. A strange balance between tranquil and torrential, drawing me in and threatening to never let me go.
“Trying to run right through me?” He released my hand and took a step back before crouching down to put the pristine red apples I’d knocked to the ground back in their crate. “Hate to tell you, probably not going to work.”
Likely not. From the size of his broad shoulders and the soreness that still burned through my torso from the blunt smack, I questioned whether I had actually hit the crate or maybe just banged into his side. I scrambled to the ground to help him pick up the last few strays, trying not to get caught in his stare again. Instead, I focused on his hands. His thick fingers, still holding the last of a summer tan, wrapped delicately around the fruit as he scooped them up.
“No, I was chasing after a thief. If I hadn’t run into you, he might not have gotten away.”
He settled the last apple in the crate and rested his arm across his thigh. “Thief? What are you talking about?”
“Back there.” I pointed toward the far end of the market, my breath still short from the run. “Some
one grabbed a bunch of cash from one of the vendors and ran, so I chased him. But then I ran into you and he got away.”
He looked over his shoulder, his gaze following my arm, then sprang to his feet scanning the crowd.
I fell back to sit cross-legged on the ground. “Don’t worry about it. I already saw them drive away.”
“Oh,” he sighed, still looking around through the faces. “Then I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. Unless you’re an awful person like that guy. Then maybe it is.” I tried to make it a joke, but my sour disdain crept into my tone.
His head tilted to the side as he looked me over, sitting on the ground like a child. “Have we met before?”
“I don’t think so. If we did, wouldn’t I already know if you were an awful person?” I leaned back and grabbed a runaway apple that had rolled much farther from the rest, then held it up in my palm.
He bent down again and smiled. A light, easy smile that helped to dull my sharp dislike for humans today.
“No, then you would know that I’m definitely not an awful person.”
He leaned closer—close enough for me to see how his thick dark hair curled gently behind his ears—and wrapped his hand around the apple. His fingertips grazed my skin and sparks cascaded down my arm, the touch igniting my blood. His eyes widened, maybe feeling it too.
“I’m Griffin. Do you have a name, or is it a secret?” He didn’t move, or look away, just kept assessing me with his intense stare.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, it’s—”
“There you are.” Chloe’s voice boomed as her feet pounded up beside us. She glanced at both our faces then took a step back. “Wait. What happened?”
The spell broke and the world started spinning again. Griffin grabbed the apple and placed it in the crate while I pushed off of the grass and stood up.
“Just an accident. Nothing more.” I pulled my hands into my sleeves and swung my arms at my sides.
Griffin gave a deep throaty laugh. “You aren’t going to tell her that you tried to single-handedly apprehend a thief?”
Chloe’s jaw fell open. “You what?”
“Doesn’t matter. He got away. But I should probably let the owners know what happened. I just hope they don’t think I did it.”
“I can tell them if you want,” Griffin said. “I know everyone around here. Do you know which stand it was? Or maybe what they sold? That would help.”
I closed my eyes and searched my brain. The thief had stood beside a table with yellow containers on it. They had a label. I pressed farther into my memory. Bees. “Honey. They sold honey.”
He nodded. “Must be Johnson’s Apiary. I’ll let them know.”
“Griffin, where are those apples?” A middle-aged man appeared around the edge of a bright blue and white tent, his hands on his hips.
“Coming,” he shouted back, then grabbed the back of his neck and stared at the ground. “Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”
I smiled, the possibility already making my stay here more tolerable. “Maybe.”
He hoisted the crate up to his chest, the muscles in his strong arms taut as he rushed toward the tent.
“I left you alone for, like, ten minutes, and you’ve already chased down a criminal and body checked Griffin Carlisle. Trouble does seem to follow you, doesn’t it?” Chloe said, as I kept watching the tent, secretly hoping Griffin would come back.
“Huh?” I blinked and shook my head. “It’s not like I’m looking for it. In fact, while I’m here, I want to stay as far away from trouble as I can.”
“Then maybe we need to lock you up in the house.” She threw an arm over my shoulder. “Did you want to get out of here?”
Chloe tugged my hand and we headed toward the parking lot. Her well-versed knowledge of this Sunday crowd kept me from crashing into more strangers and tumbling to the ground. However, if anyone else looked at me like that Griffin stranger did, I’d welcome it.
So far, I hadn’t learned one thing about humanity. Only how crazy and confusing humans were. The whole planet seemed like a huge mess to me. How would I ever make it an entire week? Hopefully, I could solve Raguel’s riddle and I wouldn’t have to.
As we neared the border where the grass met the gravel, a strange feeling dragged on the back of my skull. I shook it off, unable to keep up with Chloe’s determined pace without full concentration, but the hollowness it left in my stomach became harder to ignore.
The weight pulled again, stronger, deeper into my brain. I turned and scanned the crowd. About twenty feet away a boy stood staring at me, motionless, as everyone else flitted around him. His dirty-blond hair draped over his left eye, but I could still feel his gaze searing through me. When my eyeline crossed his, a smirk curled at the corners of his lips and he raised his left hand, beckoning me closer with his index finger.
I looked away. I’d had enough drama for today. Besides, he’d probably mistaken me for someone else. I didn’t know anyone here.
I peeked back over my shoulder, but the broody boy still waited, his laser-sharp focus still targeted on my head. The hollowness in my stomach began to throb, heavy and dark, as the intrigue gnawed at the edges of my thoughts. Maybe I’d dropped something when I crashed into Griffin? Maybe he knew something about the thief? Either way, the only way his insistent stare would likely let go of me was if I answered it.
“Hold on a second, okay?” But I didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, I broke my hand from Chloe’s and weaved through the shoppers, drawing closer to the stranger like a lost boat following a lighthouse beam to shore.
“Why do you keep staring at me?” I asked once I finally made my way to him. “Can I help you with something?”
“You already have.” His sly smile deepened, exposing a glint of white teeth. “I’ve been looking for you, Arianna.”
I crossed my arms, hoping to put some distance between us, already regretting the decision to confront him. His smile grew more sinister, more twisted, and my legs started to tremble. “Are you one of Chloe’s friends? How do you know who I am?”
“I know a lot more about you than you think. It’s not every day someone falls from the sky like that.”
My pulse quickened in my chest and my hands balled into fists. The tremble morphed into a full-out shake. How did he know? I glanced around, the dreadful exposed feeling making it hard to breathe. Did anyone else here know my secret?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you do.” He slid his right hand from his pocket and wrapped my hair around my ear as he leaned closer and whispered, “I wouldn’t want people to know either.”
“Who are you?”
“Seth. But I have a feeling that’s not the question you want to ask, is it?”
“We really better be going.” Chloe bounded up beside us and wrapped her arm around my shoulder, tugging me backward and out of Seth’s thrall.
A deep breath escaped my throat and I sidled closer to her, never more grateful to see a human before.
“We were just having a conversation. No reason to get jealous.” Seth glared at Chloe, but instead of withering at his determination, she planted her hand on her hip and glared right back.
“Not jealous, Seth. We’ve just got somewhere to be. And that somewhere is far away from you.”
“Well then, I guess you’d better go.” Seth jutted out his lip in a fake pout then turned back to me. He reached out but I flinched, and he retracted his hand. Smart. Very smart. “But I’m sure I’ll see you again.”
Chloe swung me around and headed back toward the parking lot. I looked over my shoulder as Seth watched us walk away. I cringed, then focused on the path ahead.
“What was that all about?” I asked, as I struggled to keep up with Chloe’s determined steps.
“Nothing. But trust me, if you really want to stay out of trouble, you are definitely going to want to avoid him.”
6
The morning sun beat d
own on the hood of Chloe’s Ford Focus and reflected through the windshield. I covered my blinded eyes with my hand and let my head drop down to my chest. High school. Another layer of punishment on top of my already daunting mission. But at least I’d be able to observe. People-watch until maybe something would trigger what I needed to do.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
I jumped as Chloe knocked on the passenger-side window. Her smiling face pressed close to the glass.
“Are you coming?” Her voice sounded muffled and distant, like she was talking from inside a fish bowl.
“Yeah, Chloe.” I yawned. “Just a second.”
I slowly dragged myself out of the car and shut the door. This human sleep thing didn’t make sense. I’d slept all night but felt just as tired this morning. Maybe because my mind wouldn’t stop talking. A whole day had passed, and the mystery of humanity still seemed far outside my reach. I’d scanned every face and replayed every interaction, trying to piece together something that might make sense. How would I even know when I was getting close?
When the alarm clock wailed this morning, I had yanked the covers over my head, hoping for a little more rest, or at least a little more clarity. But to keep up with Stephen’s rules I would need to at least pretend to go to school.
I tugged at my sweater and adjusted the pretty blue scarf Chloe had lent me. Around us students gathered in groups like polka dots made of people speckled across the school grounds. A few of them stared, sizing me up—a stranger in their territory—but quickly lost interest and looked away. No one seemed to notice I wasn’t a typical student, or they simply didn’t care. At least I could blend in here.
“C’mon. I don’t want to be late for class, and we still need to get your schedule.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure I can figure it out. Besides, I’ll bet it takes time to process someone new.”
“Not really. James and Margaret already took care of it. Once we get your schedule, you’ll be all set.” She smiled in her sweet, helpful way, and I forced a smile back, my stomach churning with the thought of being pinned into a classroom when I had so many other things to do.
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