“Yeah, start over. We’ll pretend nothing bad has ever happened between us.”
Jarret stood with his mouth open for a second. Then he exhaled and a smiled flickered on his face. “Uh, okay.”
❖
Jarret set the angel statue down. With a slow and contemplative expression, he grabbed the suitcases, left the room, and headed for the stairs.
Roland had been sleeping in the recliner in the entertainment room ever since he’d gotten the cast on his leg. Though he sometimes sat in the dining room, he spent most of his time in the recliner with his cast elevated. Jarret found him there now, talking with their father. They both looked up as he entered the room.
“I’ve got all our things packed, except toothbrushes and stuff.” Jarret sat down beside his father on the couch.
His father nodded. “We’ll leave before the sun comes up tomorrow. Anything else you want to do before we go?”
“Like what? We’ve been here a week longer than you planned already.” Jarret gave Roland a glance, a bit of guilt in his eyes. “I’m ready to get back home, back to green grass and trees. I’m getting tired of the sun, sand, and all those wild, prickly shrubs.”
“I guess I am too,” his father said as his cell phone rang. He glanced at his phone, checking the caller, then got up and left the room.
“You ready for another game of poker?” Jarret said to Roland.
Roland smiled but, before he could answer, Selena bounced into the room.
“What are my two favorite West boys up to?” She sat on the coffee table and glanced playfully from one to the other. “I can’t believe it’s your last night here. It went so fast.”
“Are you going to visit us next summer?” Roland said.
“I hope so. But I would like to go riding before you go.” She turned to Jarret. “Do you want to go?”
“He’s not riding no horse like that.” Jarret glanced at Roland.
Selena laughed. “I didn’t mean him. How many times did you ask me to ride with you? We haven’t done it yet.”
“Just you and me?” He gave her a crooked grin.
“That’s right, just you and me.”
Before Jarret decided upon an answer, a shadow slipped out from under the couch. The shadow sprang up and transformed into Deth-kye’s foul shape, taking a position close to Jarret. Deth-kye opened his mouth to speak.
“Be gone,” Ellechial said in a tone that was firm but not loud. He had gained such strength through the prayers of others and Jarret’s own cooperation, that he had merely to turn his gaze on the demon to make him leave.
Deth-kye threw Ellechial a parting scowl but he obeyed, vanishing at once. He had lost the freedom to tempt or torment Jarret for a time, though he still tried on occasion.
Jarret turned his gaze from Selena to Roland and his big white cast. His grin faded. He’d been serving Roland and keeping him company for days. “Well, I ain’t gonna leave him.”
“I’ll be fine.” Roland reached for the TV remote.
“See? He’ll be fine,” she said. “Besides, your father’s been hanging out with you guys all week. I’m sure he can take care of things. And if not, I can ask Eremita to stay with him.”
“Yeah, right. Is she gonna help him in the bathroom? I don’t think so.”
“She could.” Selena giggled.
“Are you guys really talking about me going to the bathroom?” Roland’s forehead wrinkled.
“Eh, I don’t feel like riding right now.” Jarret got up, snatched the remote from Roland, and shut off the TV.
Nadriel’s wings lifted.
“Don’t we have a poker game to get to?” Jarret said to Roland. “I’ll go get some Ritz crackers or—” He turned to Selena. “Did I see dinner mints in the kitchen? Wanna play for dinner mints?”
Roland chuckled. “Sure.”
“I’ll get them,” Selena said. “I think we have miniature candy bars too.”
Nadriel flew up to Ellechial, his countenance somewhat shocked. “Was that . . .? Did he . . .? Rather than go with Selena, he chose to remain with Roland. That was an act of sacrificial love!”
Ellechial laughed. “Praised be to God. Miracles abound.”
“Amen,” Nadriel said, admiring Jarret.
As Selena went to get the mints, the boys’ father returned and sat on the couch.
Jarret joined him on the couch, an accusing grin on his face. “So was that Miss Meadows?”
“What?” Their father’s face flushed, a physical response entirely uncharacteristic of him.
“The phone call. We all know you’re sneaking around with her. I don’t know why you got to hide it.”
“Sneaking around? I’m an adult. I don’t sneak around with anybody. What I do is my own—”
Jarret raised his hands. “Chill. It’s okay. I’m just saying, why don’t you bring her around? We all like her. I know I kind-a told you something different before but . . . she’s cool.”
Roland and their father both gave him a strange look then exchanged glances.
“What’s gotten into him?” their father said to Roland.
Roland shrugged. “He’s kind of weird lately.”
Jarret glared but then all three of them laughed.
❖
The entire Zamorano family and most of the stable hands woke early to see them off. Selena gave each of them a kiss and a big hug. After a two-hour flight and an hour-long drive, they finally reached home.
Jarret helped Roland from the car and, with an arm around his waist, walked him up the porch steps. Their father followed with the crutches, stepping past them to open the door.
“Welcome home!” came a chorus of voices.
Friends crowded the foyer and both hallways. Keefe, Nanny, and her husband stood in front. Peter, Caitlyn, Kiara, Phoebe, Dominic, and more prayer warriors were there, plus a few of Jarret’s friends.
Ellechial greeted the other guardian angels, his sympathy going out to the guardians of Jarret’s friends. Without exception, they wore the long robes of angels who had no permission to do battle. Ellechial prayed their day would come.
Peter took the crutches from Mr. West and handed them to Roland while the others cleared a path. “Hey, buddy, I’m glad you’re back. It seemed like you were gone forever.”
“It went fast for me, except for this past week.” Roland indicated his broken leg with a glance.
Peter’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, about that . . . You never really explained what happened. I’d like to know.” He gave Jarret an accusing glare.
Jarret glared back.
“Let it go,” Ellechial whispered to Jarret.
His mouth twitched, but he resumed talking to his friends. A victory! In the past, he would’ve called Peter a name, at the least.
Keefe gave Roland a hug, greeted his father, and then stood apart from the others, his eyes on Jarret. As the crowd moved down the long hallway and into the family room, Jarret noticed him.
“Hey, Keefe,” Jarret said.
“Hey.” Hands in the front pockets of his jeans, Keefe approached. “I’m glad you’re back. Missed you.” One of his arms twitched as if it were all he could do to keep from hugging his brother. After their last conversation, he probably doubted the gesture would be welcome.
Jarret gave a crooked grin. “Did ya really?”
“Of course.”
Jarret pulled him into a hug and rubbed his crew cut. “Guess I missed you too.”
They started down the hallway.
“I didn’t know if you’d be here or not when we got back,” Jarret said.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. Ain’t you meeting up with those friars?”
“The Franciscans? Well, no, I’m not. School starts in a couple weeks. It’s our senior year. Besides, I’m too young to be thinking about that kind of vocation.”
“Are you?”
“Well, yeah. You said so yourself.”
Jarret stopped. He took Keefe by the arm and turne
d him to face him. “Yeah, but . . . if God told you that’s what he wants, you sure better do it.”
Keefe’s eyes blinked rapidly. He gulped and then breathed out his mouth. “You mean . . . you won’t be mad? You’ll still talk to me?”
“I don’t know. You gonna be allowed to talk to anybody when you’re in there?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be? They don’t live in a cloister.”
“I guess I’ll talk to you then.” He grinned and tapped Keefe’s shoulder with his fist. “They gonna let you have a cell phone?”
Just then, Nanny came bounding down the hall, the phone in her hand. “Oh dear, oh dear.”
Jarret chuckled. “Let’s go see what’s wrong.”
They followed her into the family room. Roland sat in the recliner, footrest up and cast elevated. The others stood in groups or sat on the couches, talking and laughing. Jarret’s friends had gone to play pool in the recreation room off the family room, and their voices carried.
“They won’t be able to deliver the pizza for an hour and a half,” Nanny said, hand covering the receiver of the phone, worry in her eyes.
“It’s okay,” Roland said.
“No, that’s too long,” Jarret said. “Roland will be out by then. He’s tired. I’ll go get it. Tell them I’ll pick it up. That is . . .” He looked at his father. “If I’m allowed to drive.”
His father grinned. “This time, but remember—”
“Yeah, I know, I’m grounded.” To Keefe he said, “You with me?”
Keefe nodded, smiling.
As they started from the room, Peter’s mouth fell open. “Oh no,” he said to Roland. “His car. The Limburger cheese.”
Roland’s eyes popped wide open. He jerked the footrest down. “Oh no.”
Ellechial flooded heaven with prayers. Please, Lord, help Jarret to keep his temper.
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Did you love Battle for His Soul? Then you should read Standing Strong by Theresa Linden!
Book 4 in the West Brothers Contemporary Christian young adult fiction series.
When the path is not clear... When temptation is near... When God speaks in a whisper you can barely hear...
Ever since that life-changing night in the canyon, Jarret has felt the presence of the Lord in his soul. Now that presence is fading. Is it his fault? How will he remain faithful without it when he still struggles against the same temptations?
Questioning whether he has a true calling, Keefe reads everything he can about St. Francis and the Franciscans, but he's afraid to talk to his father about the Franciscans' upcoming discernment retreat because his father seems closed to faith. Is he ready to go all in?
Read more at Theresa Linden’s site.
About the Author
Theresa Linden is the author of award-winning Catholic teen fiction that weaves the natural with the supernatural. She has ten published novels, including a dystopian trilogy, a contemporary young adult series, two short stories in Image and Likeness: Literary Reflections on the Theology of the Body, and a short story in Secrets: Visible & Invisible. She is a member of the Catholic Writers Guild and the International Writers Association. Her books can be found on CatholicTeenBooks.com, Catholic Reads, and Virtue Works Media. A wife, homeschooling mom, and Secular Franciscan, she resides in northeast Ohio with her husband and three teenage boys.
Read more at Theresa Linden’s site.
About the Publisher
"For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap, he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and sliver" ~Malachi 3:3
God is the refiner. His Word is the fire. We are the silver. And the more we immerse ourselves in Him, the purer we become. And even though the purification process might hurt a bit, He is with us through it all. And like the saints, we come to reflect His image.
All novels published under the Silver Fire Publishing imprint show the refiner's fire at work in the characters. These novels are written to entertain, to support Catholics in their faith, and to inspire a greater trust in the Divine Refiner, who is at work in each of our lives.
Draw near to the Master Silversmith through faith-filled fiction.
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