To Light and Guard

by Piper Hannah

  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…

  Still 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 mighty 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.

  CHAPTER 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 blanket. 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 didn’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.

>   Luke laughed hard this time, and I felt the rumble of laughter in his chest. It was a deep sound that echoed in the night.

  “You could say that,” he said.

  The feeling was mutual. We made each other happy, and I wish this feeling would never end. I think this is what love feels like.

  CHAPTER 12

  The next morning, we were having breakfast, and I caught Mom staring at me. She looked at me with a frown, and I felt that I was in trouble somehow. I gulped.

  “Paige, are you okay?” she asked.

  “Sure, Mom,” I said. Why wouldn’t I be okay? I was delusional, sure, but other than that, life was pretty good.

  “You have black rims around your eyes as if you haven’t slept for weeks,” Mom said. Like spectators following the ball at a tennis match, Dad and Emma both looked at me, their heads swinging in my direction at the same time.

  Oh, that. Sleeping kind of got in the way of hanging out with my angel at night, and oops, I forgot to put concealer around my eyes this morning.

  “I’m fine, Mom,” I said with a smile as I stuffed my mouth with Mom’s omelet.

  “Have you been sleeping well?” Dad asked. He was now openly staring at me.

  “Uh-huh,” I said, chewing my food. I’m quite glad that my mouth was full, and I wasn’t able to explain anything right now.

  Without saying anything else and without looking at any of them, I finished my breakfast very quickly. I wiped my mouth with a napkin, and I stood up.

  “Emma, time to go to school,” I said as I gave her what I hoped was a very persuasive older-sister look. I leaned down to pat Buffy’s head and picked up my army green messenger bag from the floor. I headed towards the door to the garage.

  I looked back and gave Mom and Dad a smile. “The early bird catches the early worm,” I said. I was trying to quote Dad, but I wasn’t sure if I quoted him correctly. That quote never made sense to me since I didn’t know what an early bird was and thought that all birds woke up early… but the quote wasn’t important, and I was just trying to make a quick getaway. Missing sleep so I can talk to an angel was a little hard to explain. I should take a nap after getting home from school today.