Watcher

by Andrew Weis

  After leaving Double N and landing at Daniel’s house, to my surprise, I found Nemo and Nero seated in their Galaxie and not inside keeping an eye on Daniel. Despite how Nero turned on me earlier, I believed him when he said Coz lied. I tread lightly as I approached the car since they weren’t expecting me.

  While remaining inrepped, I settled on the Galaxie’s hood, all the while observing the boys through the windshield as they wiped blood off their heads. They seemed mad about something. I materialized into solid form, which surprised Nero. He blurted out another high-pitched yelp, unusual for such a large man. Nemo shot a quick glance at his startled brother.

  “Damn, girl! Don’t do that magic crap without me ready,” Nero yelled.

  “Sorry, Nero. Hey, guys, I got a scoop on the Fed job,” I said.

  Nero caught his breath while Nemo studied him. Nemo’s grin stretched into a toothy smile on his wide face.

  “What are you smiling at?” Nero asked, still rattled upon seeing me.

  “You screamed like a little girl just now. You did it before too,” Nemo said.

  “Like hell I did,” Nero said.

  Nemo shook his head and tried to muffle his laughter.

  “Guys!” I blurted to get their attention. “We can’t waste time.”

  Nemo’s laughter faded as he focused on me and his brow furrowed.

  “Hey, Abbey, your face is different than before,” Nero said.

  I felt my cheek scar and realized I wasn’t showing my African-Asian facade. There wasn’t any point in hiding my looks anymore since Daniel now knew who I was.

  “Oh, uh, guys, about that. My real name is Jessa. It’s a long story and I’ll tell you about it later, okay? I promise.”

  “How did you do that?” Nero asked.

  “She’s an angel and can do things, girl,” Nemo said as he swatted Nero’s arm.

  I wasn’t sure how Nemo knew I was an angel. With everything that’s happened so far it was possible I slipped up somewhere, and they saw me doing angel stuff in a moment of carelessness.

  “I told you I didn’t scream like no girl. Are you going to keep on me?” Nero said, shoving his laughing brother against the driver side window.

  Nemo continued laughing while Nero shoved him again. They traded jabs and exchanged many insults only brothers could volley while I watched them spat. My head swayed with the jostling car as they tussled. After a few moments, they stopped fighting. Nemo pressed a cloth to his forehead. Nero, still grumbling, did the same with his injury.

  “What happened to you guys? Get in a fight?” I asked.

  Nemo paused. A wave of anguish hit me when I realized the worst.

  “Hey, where’s Daniel?” I asked.

  “Gone,” Nemo said.

  “What?”

  “We were inside the house. Daniel was up in his room. Then there was a wavy thing and a blackout, girl.”

  “Wavy thing?” I asked, shaking my head trying to understand.

  “Then when I came to, he was gone and my head was bleeding.”

  There was no way it was Coz or Tyrone since I was with them moments ago. However, a divine presence could knock out these behemoths. I suspected that presence might’ve been Ellis.

  Ellis had been riding my butt since this ARV started. Now, I’d bet he was the one responsible for Daniel’s disappearance. The reasons weren’t mysterious. I figured Ellis took Daniel to keep me at bay while he did whatever he needed to do with Coz at the Fed.

  “Jessa, with all the things we saw you do, we figure it was another angel who took Daniel,” Nemo said.

  “I was thinking the same thing,” I said. “I need your help now more than ever.”

  “Yeah, about that,” Nemo said.

  Nemo looked at Nero.

  “What’s the problem?” I asked.

  “We can’t help you no more, Jessa,” Nero said. “We like you, but things got too big for us. I mean, we got angels attacking us, and we can’t do anything about it.”

  “You two can’t bail on me, not with the Fed job hours away. Besides, even if an angel hit you, they got what they wanted.”

  “Well, the angels move independent of us,” Nemo said. “As long as we’re with you, they’ll keep on us.”

  I needed these guys, so to keep them, I needed to reassure their safety.

  “They know you guys aren’t angels, so they can’t kill you outright.”

  “Are you saying we don’t matter?” Nemo asked.

  “I’m saying they won’t hurt you,” I said.

  “Well, girl, you’ll have to fight this match solo because we ain’t taking beat downs for nobody. Until you figure out the score, we’re out of the game,” Nemo said.

  “Are you kidding me?” I asked.

  “Sorry, Jessa, but we’re taking the back seat. We’ll get ourselves killed if we stay. That guy, or angel, or whoever it was will do more than knock us on the head if we keep at it like this,” Nemo said, dangling his bloody handkerchief in front of me.

  I didn’t want to drag these guys into my problem, but I needed them. Maybe I pushed them too hard and got them injured by forces greater than they.

  “What if one of you helps and the other runs interference? It might confuse them and buy me time,” I said.

  Nemo took a breath and seemed to give the idea a moment of thought. Nero looked out the window. He looked as though he fought an internal struggle of his own.

  “Come on, Nero, you feel me, don’t you?” I asked.

  “Look, it ain’t like I don’t want to. It’s that I can’t,” Nero said.

  I slid off the car hood.

  “So, you two are quitting on me even after you both said you’d help.”

  “Jessa, you got to see it our way, girl. We never signed on to take beat downs. You even said you’d take care of that part and look what happened,” Nero said as he eyed Nemo’s head.

  “You’re blaming me for something I couldn’t anticipate? How can you leave me hanging like this?”

  “Jessa, look. We can’t help no more, okay? Go do what you got to do. Let us do our thing. We only want our shop back.”

  “You guys suck! If that’s how you want it, fine. Good luck,” I said.

  Nemo and Nero drove off, leaving me with my thoughts as I headed inside Daniel’s house.

  While I sat in the living room and watched the first rays of sunlight rise on the pictures on the wall, I felt like I hadn’t completed a single thing since I started this ARV nightmare. I lost Nemo and Nero as allies, lost Daniel again, pissed off Arlen, earned a prison sentence and dealt with an enemy that had greater strength than mine. God, this sucked.

  Chapter 29

  NOW THAT NEMO and Nero left me flat to deal with my problems, I figured the only friend I had left was my dad, wherever he was. My relationship with my father was different now since we were both angels. It wasn’t as if I could go home and find him sliding around on the creeper beneath the GTO.

  The kind of dependency between humans didn’t exist in the spirit world. He felt like a friend now instead of a father. We also seemed to see things more eye to eye as if our age and original relationship were no longer relevant.

  In the darkness of the living room of Daniel’s house, a car rumbled to the curb. I shuffled to the window for a curious look. Nemo and Nero emerged from their Galaxie, then approached the house with a command in their stride.

  “What’s up, guys?” I asked, opening the door. “Did you forget to rub salt in my eyes?” I said.

  “What? No, girl. Look, we want to make it right by you,” Nero said.

  “That’s right, Jess. A deal is a deal. We talked it over, and we decided our shop ain’t more important than you. We’re keeping our word no matter what happens to us,” Nemo said.

  “That’s sweet,” I said in a mash of sincerity and sarcasm. Their prior departure hadn’t rooted inside me, so I didn’t have time to go full psycho on myself.

  I opened the screen door and, in the foyer light, I notic
ed their heads still bled. Whoever hit Nemo and Nero was serious about getting them out of the way. Who had the strength to knock out these two mountains of humanity with one strike each?

  I entered the kitchen, pulled on the freezer door and took out a small ice bin. With a couple of hand towels from a drawer beside the sink, I wrapped a handful of ice cubes in the towels and broke the cubes with a meat tenderizer I got from a drawer beside the stove.

  “I’m glad you guys changed your minds,” I said, handing the homemade cold packs to the boys. “Let’s work through this. Where were you when you got bounced?”

  “We were in the front room while Daniel was upstairs,” Nemo said, adjusting his ice pack.

  “I was heading for the kitchen when I heard a loud thump upstairs. We ran up to check, then boom,” Nero said.

  “What do you mean?”

  Nero frowned while he looked at the blood flowing into his wet towel.

  “Whoever was in there clocked us,” Nemo said.

  “Did you see who it was? Did they yell, throw stuff at you, anything?”

  “I remember a weird rippling circle thing, then I got popped.”

  My field of vision went blue while I approached Nemo. I materialized a dagger as I stepped toward him.

  “Creative. Try again,” I said.

  My wings illuminated behind me. The warmth energized my spine much like goosebumps when they raced over me from a sudden chill.

  “You had a pretty damn fast change of heart,” I said.

  Nemo and Nero backed off, shaking their heads.

  “We’re serious, Jessa. I know what we saw,” Nemo said.

  “Try again,” I asked.

  “Yeah, it was a circle, like a big water circle. We woke up on the floor a while later. I never saw nothing like it.”

  “At Garfield Park, you said something about a rippling circle thing.”

  “Yeah.”

  My vision returned to normal, and I put away my dagger. My wings folded away out of sight as I returned to Daniel’s bedroom window. Daniel had a similar experience in the GTX at Garfield Park when Coz appeared.

  “I can’t explain what you saw. It doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard of,” I said.

  “What else makes round rippling rings where bad ass dudes come out?” Nero asked.

  “It’s bigger than all of us,” Nemo said. “They came looking for something, and they got a slick way to do it.”

  “What could they want?” I asked. “They already have Daniel, Reggie and the quiet bomb.”

  I wouldn’t get an answer, but I still had to ask the question. Tyrone held all the cards, yet there was something more he needed.

  “What do we do?” Nemo asked.

  “I have to figure out what’s going on with whoever took Daniel,” I said. “I'll bet it was the same guy who knocked you guys out. It isn’t Coz or Tyrone since neither of them can make that wavy ring and I saw them both moments before I saw you two.”

  “We can’t stand around doing nothing,” Nero said.

  “You guys might as well go home. I have to figure out what the heck I’m doing here.”

  “Are you sure? I think we should stay together,” Nemo said.

  Nero swatted Nemo’s arm, nodding with approval.

  “I got no problem hanging back, busting caps and killing them until they dead,” Nero said with a confident nod and protruding jaw.

  My brain’s thought process stopped cold as it struggled to understand Nero’s statement.

  “Ro, you can’t keep killing a guy when he’s dead,” Nemo said doubtfully.

  “I can.”

  “How?”

  I couldn’t wait to hear this.

  “When he gets dead, I stop killing him,” Nero said.

  “I got no idea how your brain works, man. I can’t figure that shit out,” Nemo said, shaking his head.

  “Yeah, I’m one of those marvels of nature.”

  Nero nodded with confidence and a tinge of superiority.

  “More like a marble of nature,” Nemo said.

  “Hey, don’t crash me, Mo. We got to be on our game,” Nero said.

  “Enough, guys,” I said. “You don’t have to wait here. You’re better off staying at your place so you can keep up appearances.”

  “Good point, Jessa,” Nero said.

  “Are you going to hang here?” Nemo asked.

  “For a while. If our mystery person comes back, I’ll try to get more info before they knock me out.”

  “If they do, you’ll need this,” Nero said as he handed me his ice pack.

  “Thanks. I’ll keep in touch.

  Chapter 30

  THE FEDERAL RESERVE Bank heist seemed so out of control that I didn’t have the slightest idea how I’d save Daniel and Reggie despite the plan I created. Knowing Arlen likely wouldn’t grant me my promotion given my mistakes so far, I grew more accepting of impending imprisonment.

  After sitting on Daniel’s bed thinking about how I’d let tomorrow play out, I realized I sat on the bed of a wonderful boy whom I loved with all my heart. My chest squeezed at the prospect that, if I failed, that meant Daniel and his father would’ve died. Spending eternity with Daniel sounded blissful, but I couldn’t afford to be that selfish.

  In my conflicted mind, this ARV was far more complicated than I expected. Perhaps I should’ve stayed in Heaven. At least there, I wouldn’t feel any pain. I could realize all the dreams I had when I was alive, like being the best actress or model in all existence or touring cities in any country or time. Yeah, that was the life for me, but I got greedy for power. Boy, what I’d say to Dad if he were here now.

  “What would you say?” Dad’s voice said as he materialized from inrep.

  My heart melted as his fatherly smile begged me to tell him what was wrong. I rushed up and hugged him as though I hadn’t seen him in years. My training in Hali never covered how to listen to other angels’ thoughts. I wasn’t so sure I wanted that skill at this point since I had enough problems already.

  “This whole ARV thing is screwed,” I said. “Tomorrow, Tyrone will make his move to rob the Fed. I came up with a rather ridiculous plan, and if it fails, we’re all done.”

  “Nobody said it would be easy.”

  “Come on, Dad. They outsmart me at every turn. Angels are road-blocking me. I’m telling you, I’m ready to go to the Outer Edge right now. This ARV is history, so I don’t have that worry anymore.”

  “Wait, what angels are giving you trouble?”

  I studied my glossy-red manicured nails with the winged-foot decal as I recalled the angels I met up to now.

  “Ellis, at least. He’s given me an earful a couple of times now. He keeps saying he has a job to do too, but he’s in the way of me saving Daniel and Reggie, who are once again missing.”

  “I’ve never known Arlen to put more powerful angels in the way of a promotion assignment.”

  “Well, he must have this time. So, what brings you here?” I asked.

  “It’s been a while since we had time to talk. My early death didn’t help you any.”

  Even though he stood in front of me, the mere thought he’d died still put a lump in my throat. I stood at the window, observing the alley and the rows of garages lining it.

  “Lots of things changed in my life,” I said. “Coz turned on us because I loved Daniel.”

  “Those two were quite a pair; always getting into silly mischief. Like when they tried to help Daniel’s mother by putting hand soap in the dishwasher.”

  “They were seven years old,” I said. “I remember Daniel telling me about that.”

  Daniel and Coz spent an hour gathering all those suds. I laughed when I pictured it in my head.

  “What happened between Coz and Daniel?” he asked.

  “I happened. They both liked me, but I liked Daniel. We grew together from that moment. Then right before I died, I told Coz I liked him, not Daniel, but that was a lie. I did that to keep Coz from hurting Daniel. I never
got a chance to explain it to Daniel until a little while ago.”

  “You saved Daniel from physical pain, but he lived with the emotional pain from you breaking his heart. That’s hard to erase. Did Coz know you did that?”

  “No, and he ended up raping me. After that, he chased me to a Metra yard where a train flattened me.”

  “That’s right,” Dad said, nodding.

  “Daniel and I cleared up everything. We’re cool again, and I don’t need my disguise anymore.”

  I loved that thought and, with my man back, a smile spread across my face.

  “Life as a human is so difficult. So, what do you think the point of living is?” Dad asked with exposed palms.

  “You’ve been in Hali longer than I have. Has anyone told you?”

  “The Book of Ancients describes what the point of life is, but since I’ve never read it, I can't say for sure. Only Power-class angels and above can read the book if granted approval.”

  “That’s something to look forward to, I suppose. How would someone get approval?”

  I sat back down on Daniel’s bed and slid my hand along the blanket, imagining I rubbed his shoulder.

  “You’ll need to be on a case that requires at least a Power’s ability. Cases like those can limit you,” Dad said. “If you require direct knowledge, as described in the book no less, they may grant you permission.”

  “Who grants the permission?” I asked.

  “Dominion-class angels. They’re the choir above Power. The requestor receives permissions through spiritual transference. Unfortunately, one permission got manifested in physical form. I think that’s what’s making your ARV so miserable.”

  “Can you find out which dominion authorized that permission?”

  “I’d have to request it from Arlen, but I’d need an archangel to sanction it for me.”

  “Jeez, what’s with all the bureaucracy?”

  “I know. It can be frustrating at times.”

  “In what form is the permission in? Like a post card or something?”

  “It’s in a form like that, something common.”

  “That helps. I’d love to make that process easier.”

  “If you succeed at making archangel, you could ask Arlen yourself. If anyone has that potential to one day make Power, Jessa, it’d be you. It’d be a long road but well worth the effort.”