Between

by Mary Ting

  Unexpectedly, he gripped my wrists, moving them behind me and drew me into him. My heart heaved in and out from being a breath away from his lips and from being exhausted from all the energy I was releasing. He set his eyes deeply into mine and exhaled. “Everything was just great until you walked into my life. I know who I am and my purpose in life, but you are making me confused. For the first time, I want more. The worst part of this is that I can’t have you, even if you allowed it.” He paused, searching for words. “I want you to hate me ’cause if I knew that you ever cared about me that way, I would give up everything just to be with you. I don’t know why. And that scares me more than anything I’ve ever known. So there is the answer to your question. Satisfied?”

  We just stood there with our eyes locked. I was completely speechless. What could I say? There were no words. After he released me, I rubbed my sore hands again.

  “I can make it better,” he said sweetly and cupped my hands with his, as if our conversation never took place. A small beam of divine light surrounded his hands, and mine started to feel warm and tingly. His angelic touch worked its magic and made them feel much better ’til finally the pain was gone. “Don’t punch me next time. You can’t hurt me physically, but you can hurt me in other ways. Like right now; you’re killing me softly with your presence.” Then he let go.

  My hands felt better and I didn’t know what to say, so I just said, “Thank you.” It became awkward, not knowing what to say or what to do. I started pacing in my room while he sat on the edge of my bed, and I did a double take when I spotted my overcoat and my scarf on the bed. How and when? I thought, but I didn’t bother to ask. Instead, I took the opportunity to ask him questions. “Those angel statues on Island of Eden; they come alive, don’t they?”

  “You noticed.”

  “How could I not? They are beautiful in their stillness, but they disappeared when the alkins came. I thought I was losing my mind.”

  “Yes. We call them the watchers. They were fallen once.”

  “Fallen?” I asked, sounding flabbergasted.

  Austin explained. “Fallen angels can be split into several group—the angels who sided and allied with Lucifer during the war in Heaven, the ones who fought along with Aden, and the fallen known as watchers or Grigori. These watchers were created by God to be Earthly shepherds of the first humans before the Earth angels existed. Their job was to observe humanity, lending a helping hand when necessary but not interfering in the course of human development.

  “Over time while living among them, they couldn’t resist the temptation. They soon began to lust for human women, and the offspring of these unions were born—the nephilim, half human and half angel. The watchers further taught humans things such as weaponry and other techniques that would otherwise be discovered gradually over time, not foisted upon them all at once.

  “God was very angry, and eventually he cast a great flood to rid the earth of the nephilim, thus Noah’s Ark. Many watchers asked for forgiveness, and the Royal Council agreed to save their souls under one condition. For their penance, they would help the Divine Elders. Since Divine Elders are not trained nor fit for battles, they needed many who could guard and keep an eye out for demon occurrences. Each Divine Elder has a group of watchers under their command. The watchers are banned from human contact, so that is the reason why they become statues until they are needed. They are bound ‘in the valleys of the Earth’ until Judgment Day.”

  I didn’t know why, but I felt sorry for them. And thinking of angels, I thought of Gamma since she had been one. “You knew Gamma?”

  “I met her several times with Katherine. They were good friends. She was an amazing Earth angel whom I deeply admired. She kept many things from us so we wouldn’t risk our lives. She always thought of others before herself. The last time I saw her was regarding you. She asked Katherine to send a guardian to watch over you. Naturally, Katherine would send you the best.” He cocked his brow, referring to himself.

  “Really, I’ve already met the best,” I said, referring to Michael, purposely bursting his ego.

  He chuckled. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

  “I’ll be the one to judge.” Then I changed the subject again. “I wonder why she never mentioned you?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? She didn’t want you to know or be around us. All she ever cared about was your safety.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” I was confused. I didn’t know what questions to ask. I had so many. “Were you guarding me at camp?”

  “No. I wasn’t assigned to you yet.”

  “Then, meeting you was a complete coincidence?”

  “You came to the restaurant I work at. I didn’t force you to come; however, I did know you. You could say I admired you from afar.”

  I ignored his flirting. “Why do you work?” I asked, leaning against my desk.

  “Because I get bored. We don’t have assignments all the time. We go chasing after demons when we have a lead.”

  “Oh, so, when did you get assigned to me?”

  “The day of your grandmother’s funeral.”

  “Oh, I see.” I swallowed hard, trying to keep from tearing up. “Were you at the funeral? I thought I saw you.”

  “You were thinking of me?” he asked, grinning.

  “No, I wasn’t,” I said quickly. “You were there. I thought I was seeing things.”

  “I was there briefly to pay my respects.”

  “So, you and Gamma were friends?”

  “Yes, if that’s the word you want to use. We didn’t exactly hang out and party together.”

  I gave him the “don’t be a smart mouth” look.

  “She mentioned you several times. She loved you more than anything in life.”

  His words pierced through my heart, bringing back the memories of her, and blinking back the tears wasn’t working. “I know,” I managed to say. A teardrop found its way out of my watery eye.

  “You were everything to her. She said she loved you like her own.”

  I wanted Austin to stop speaking. His words were so precise about how Gamma felt about me that it made me miss her so much. The wound from the loss of my grandmother reopened when I had thought I had healed it somewhat. Tears streamed one after the other, and there was no way to stop them from falling. I didn’t want him to see me this way.

  “I’m sorry,” Austin said, now standing in front of me, wiping my tears. “I didn’t know you would react this way. I wouldn’t have said anything. I don’t know how it feels to lose someone you love. I don’t know much about loving someone, I…”

  “It’s okay. Thanks for letting me know,” I interrupted. I didn’t want him to continue.

  Suddenly, he lifted me up and backed me against the closet door. His wings were fully extended, protecting me. I used my finger to find an opening through his silky, layered wings and peered out to see who he was protecting me from since my butterfly necklace was still crystal clear.

  Out of thin air appeared Davin, Vivian, and Caleb.

  “Who let this dove in?” Davin sneered. “Wait, no, dove is such a pretty bird. Who let this goose in? After what you did, you don’t deserve to be in our presence.”

  Austin didn’t look happy with Davin’s comment, but he didn’t say anything, which was surprising. After he realized it was safe, his wings closed. I wiped away any evidence that I was crying and walked to Davin.

  “Who told you to come?” Austin retorted.

  “Michael told us to keep an eye out for Claudia,” Davin replied.

  “You don’t need to be here. I’m her guardian. He knows better than to ask amateurs to watch over her.”

  Davin’s eyes grew wide. “Amateur?!?!” His tone was loud and angry. Vivian must have seen the same expression on Davin’s face, the kind of expression that says, “I’m gonna kick your butt.” Before things got worse, she stepped in front of Davin.

  “Lose the macho ego, goose,” Vivian huffed. “We stay whether you like it or not.”
r />   “Fine.” It was all Austin could say.

  Then Holly and Patrick appeared.

  Holly stared down Vivian. “Who dressed you? Going to a funeral?”

  Vivian looked livid. She gasped with shock. “Perhaps it’ll be yours.” She paused and spoke again. “Claudia dressed me.” Vivian looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. “Fashion Wear,” she said to me. “Your stuff…you sell them.”

  Vivian didn’t look bad. She had her usual black outfit. I guess she could’ve used more color, but what did I know about fashion? I loved my jeans and T-shirt. Then Vivian shot back, “Who did your hair, zebra?”

  “Zebra?” Holly looked offended. “It’s called highlights, for your information, and zebra’s are black and white. You see any white on my hair?”

  “Who cares about the color? Stripes are stripes.”

  “Look, we’re not here to argue about fashion or who gets to look at this princess,” Holly said. “We need to follow Katherine’s plan. But first, we all need to get along and work as a team. This is the plan. Michelle and Gracie will lure the demon to us. Austin and I will look after her at school, and then you can take over when she comes home. Sound like a plan?”

  “You and Austin will be attending my school?” I asked, not liking this one bit.

  “Yup,” Holly replied. “You got a problem with that?” She furrowed her brow. Holly was a bit shorter than me, but it was her tone that made others submissive to her.

  “I don’t need babysitters,” I fought back. “I don’t need you two to follow me around.”

  “First of all, I don’t watch babies. Second of all, you got no choice, princess. We go wherever you go. You go to the bathroom…I’m there.”

  “Great,”

  I muttered.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Austin drove me to school. The heavy-tinted windows shielded me from the students, but it didn’t shield them from me. Girls stared deeply through the window out of curiosity as we slowly drove through the parking lot, and the guys just admired from afar. After we parked, I waited until the second bell rang. I was late for school, but I didn’t care.

  “Thanks…see you after school,” I said, slamming the door shut. The icy-cold wind swept through me, making me shiver. Austin followed behind, helping me put my overcoat on, as we weaved around the parked cars. “Why are you following me?” I mumbled, looking around, hoping nobody would notice. Thank goodness there were only a couple of students that I noticed by their cars—either late or ditching school.

  “Didn’t you hear Holly? We go wherever you go.”

  “What? You’re enrolled in my classes?” I tossed my backpack hard behind me, purposely, allowing it to hit Austin, letting him know I wasn’t happy. As always, it didn’t bother him, but I heard a chuckle. I might as well have hit him with a feather.

  “Yup. I’m enrolled in all of them,” he smirked.

  I let out a heavy sigh. Great!

  Holly and Austin always sat in the back of my classes. I ignored them, pretending not to notice them. None of the teachers even asked who they were; I guessed they used their angel magic to make that happen. Kristina couldn’t keep her eyes off Austin, wondering why she hadn’t seen him before. And walking back and forth to class, girls couldn’t stop talking about him. Austin flirted a couple of times with my friends, and I was surprised at myself for feeling a twinge of jealousy. And it wasn’t really so bad being with them at school; it was actually quite comforting. Nothing out of the ordinary happened the first couple of days, which was a relief.

  After school one day, I found a note in my locker; it looked like someone had slipped it in. Surprisingly, it was a note from Kristina, reminding me that I had a group meeting at 4:00 PM in the gym. Though I was excited to receive the note from her, I wondered why she didn’t text me instead like she usually did. She hardly ever stopped by; her locker was across campus from mine. It was a good thing she left me a note because I had forgotten all about it.

  “I need to go to my meeting. Do you have to be there? It’s a group project; they won’t let you in,” I said to both of them.

  “Holly and I will wait for you in my car,” Austin agreed.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I don’t think we should split up,” Holly suggested.

  I gave Austin a pleading look.

  “Give her some space; we’ll be in the car,” Austin directed.

  “Thanks,” I said and headed to the gym.

  It was quiet as I walked down the hall. I passed the office, but it looked like the lights were off and everyone had left. The only sound I heard was my boots clanking across the laminated floor, and the dangling trinkets clipped on my backpack, bouncing with the rhythm of my steps. Feeling the cold slowly sweeping in meant the heater was turned off. Shivering, I remembered that I had left my overcoat inside my locker. Shoot!

  Why the gym and not the library? I wondered as I pushed the door open to enter. This huge room with the high ceiling felt so eerie that goose bumps were crawling up my spine, especially when not a soul was there. What was even worse was the smell of sweaty clothes, body order, and cheap cologne. I told myself that everything was fine and decided to walk farther in toward the bleachers, and I pulled out my cell phone. Did they change the location and forgot to tell me? I scrolled down to check for any text messages from Kristina when suddenly I was startled by a man’s voice. He was standing underneath the basketball hoop; I hadn’t seen him when I came in. “Hello, Claudia. Glad you could make it.”

  I recognized his voice. “Mr. Cain?” I was glad to see a friendly face. I confirmed it was him, and I continued speaking. “I…umm…actually…I’m supposed to meet my group here. I think I’m early,” I said cheerfully.

  “You’re not early. You’re just on time, 4:00 PM. You did get my note, didn’t you?”

  I couldn’t put it together, but it was his voice or his mannerisms that were different, unlike the way he was in the classroom.

  “I didn’t get your note. I got Kristina’s no…” I stopped speaking when I realized I had no idea what he was talking about. “Mr. Cain, where did you put the note? I don’t think I got it.” Fear pumped through my veins, and I felt short of breath; and naturally, that’s when my necklace turned black and started to vibrate. He didn’t answer. I glanced around the room for demons, but saw nothing. “Mr. Cain?” I called again urgently. “I think we should get out of here.”

  “It’s Nicholas. Mr. Cain is no longer present.” Then his eyes turned jet black.

  I swallowed hard in panic as I finally understood. This was one of the demon spirits that Michael and Austin had told me about. He’d possessed Mr. Cain’s body and now he was coming after me. Backing away while dragging my feet, trying not to look like I was moving, I tried to think of something clever to say. I pretended to be ignorant of what he said. “My friends are waiting for me. So, I think I’ll go get them before they worry.” I bolted for the door, but when I pushed it with all my might, it didn’t budge. I desperately shook the door. Come on, open! But to no avail.

  With my back flat against the door, I looked around the room for Nicholas; he had disappeared altogether. My whole body trembled in fright, and my legs felt heavy, too scared to move. My cell phone vibrated in my pants. I took it out, and it fumbled in my hands while my hands shook. A message popped up. Chills ran down my spine as I read it: “We’re here! Let’s play. Ready or not, here we come. Now, run!” I didn’t want to just stand there like an idiot so I ran to the middle of the gym, then to the door on the opposite side. When I reached it, it rattled like there was an earthquake. I backed away carefully, wondering if something was going to explode through the door. The shaking continued, so I ran to another exit; then I heard a creepy, wicked voice calling my name. “Claaaaudia.” My name and then his laughter echoed eerily through the entire gym. The combination of events confused me—where to go, what to do?

  “What do you want?” I yelled.

  He didn’t respond. Suddenly, the fir
st row of bleachers started shaking, then the second, then higher and higher, until all of them were rattling. I thought they were going to explode. My body tensed with fear, and my stomach cringed with anxiety. I had to cover my ears from the pain from the sound. “Stop!” I screamed. Surprisingly, it did. All was calm, almost too quiet. Some guardian angel. Where are Austin, Holly, and the alkins? I thought as I slowly tip-toed toward the door, hoping it would let me be.

  An easy escape out of the gym was not what I expected, but I had to try. I was just about to reach the door when I was pushed back by something. I was horrified by their sight—they were white, long, ghostlike beings without a face or hands or feet; there was just a black hole where their head and hands should be. Many of them whirled around me, faster and faster, producing heavy, cold air—too much. Unwillingly, I sucked in air, and my lungs felt tight, like they were going to rupture. Reaching out my hand, I tried to break the motion, praying this would stop them, but my hand went right through. Suddenly, I was being elevated toward the ceiling.

  Just when I thought my life would end this way, Austin, Holly, and Patrick appeared. They surrounded the tunnel of demons and shot silver flames out of their bows—so many flames that it looked like an electrical current. It felt like I was riding a lightning storm; it was beautiful and frightening at the same time. The white spirits screeched in pain. When the tunnel collapsed, they dispersed, with nowhere to go but straight down. Fortunately, Austin caught my fall, and held me tightly.

  “Sorry, we were held up,” he said, still floating us in midair. “Damn those spirits. They attacked Holly and me inside my car. Nobody messes with my car.”

  Late or not, I was happy to see them. He brought me down and placed me behind his wings. Everybody else huddled around us. Then it became quiet again.

  “Did you see anything?” Holly whispered.

  “He said his name is Nicholas,” I whispered back.