Torn

by Ashley Stambaugh

  Chapter Seven

  Two hours later, Melina's eyes fluttered open, then suddenly went wide when she realized she'd fallen asleep. "Oh no. What time is it?"

  She threw the blanket off of her as she bolted upright. Her eyes went directly to the clock on the wall. It was already after three o'clock. "Crap! Dean's going to think I forgot about him." Then a heavy sigh escaped her. She wanted to call him, but he would have to wait just a little bit longer.

  "Walter? Phinneas?" Melina looked up toward the ceiling as she spoke out loud. "I need to talk to you both if you have a few minutes."

  Her eyes gazed around the room as she wondered if calling to both of them would work. She had never tried to call out to Phinneas before. Walter could hear her since she had once been his charge, but she wasn't sure how it worked for the other elders.

  She started to pace back and forth, unsure of what she should do if neither of them showed up. A minute or two passed when suddenly a bright white light filled her living room, causing Melina to turn her head and raise her arm in an attempt to block it out. When the light finally died down, she lowered her arm and turned back around. Walter was standing in front of her.

  "Walter, thank you so much for coming. I was beginning to think you might not be able to make it."

  "Yes, I was just finishing up with another guiding angel, but I came as soon as I could," said Walter as he stepped closer to her. "I also heard you call out to Phinneas, but he won't be able to come here. He's the only one at the temple right now."

  She nodded her head in understanding and then gave a small shrug with her shoulders. "I didn't know if he would be able to hear me or not, but I figured I could at least try."

  "Phinneas can hear you," Walter said. "As long as you've met that particular guiding angel at least once, he can hear you whenever you call out to him. Now, what did you want to talk to both of us about?"

  Melina cleared her throat. "I had another painful reaction earlier, and the intense burning sensation in my head… well, I felt it in my entire body this time."

  Walter's forehead remained creased as he raised an eyebrow at her.

  "It was as if I had flames racing through my veins. It was an excruciating feeling, but that's not even the worst part." Her eyes began to water as she recalled how she had lashed out at Gwen. She shook her head as she said, "I pushed her, Walter. I pushed her hard."

  Walter's brow furrowed even deeper than before. "Did you feel like you had any control at all when that happened?"

  Melina brought her hand up to her chin as she stared down at the floor, her eyebrows scrunching together. "No," she replied after several seconds of silence. Her hand dropped back down to her side as she looked up at Walter. "I didn't. The words that came out of my mouth and my actions… they just happened. I knew what was going on, but it was like it wasn't me doing it."

  Walter nodded slowly. "I can see why you also wanted to talk to Phinneas. He would certainly know more than me on this subject, but I'd say it's exactly what it sounds like. It wasn't really you doing it."

  Melina started to rub her forehead. "Maybe it's because I'm still not feeling quite right, but I'm not following."

  He placed a hand on Melina's back and guided her over to the couch to take a seat. "What I mean is that whatever it was that made you feel so angry was the same thing that made you attack Gwen."

  Melina thought about what he had just said. He made it sound like there was something inside of her that didn't belong, trying to control her. The only thing that came to mind was her angel powers.

  "I knew it," she said as her eyes widened. "It's what I've been suspecting. No matter how much control I think I have over my powers, they'll always be too strong for me. And now they're backfiring. It's the only explanation that makes sense." She looked down at her hands as she clasped them together in her lap. "Maybe Adelia was right. Maybe humans aren't meant to have these powers."

  "Hold on now," Walter said as he angled his body inward to face her. "Your theory about your powers still being too strong for you may be a real possibility, but I don't think they're backfiring. And I definitely don't think Adelia was right."

  Melina raised her eyes to meet Walter's and gave him a distressed look. "If the powers aren't backfiring, then what is going on?"

  Walter sighed. "I know you're probably getting tired of us saying that we don't know, so I'll just say that we'll figure it out. I'll go now and talk to Phinneas to see what he has to say."

  She nodded as they both stood up from the couch.

  "Are you still going to meet with Dean?" Walter asked.

  Melina's brow furrowed. "First Tessa, now you. You're not going to tell me that I should rest?"

  Walter chuckled. "Well, for starters, it looks like you've already been resting."

  Melina quickly ran her fingers through her disheveled hair and then tried to smooth out her rumpled shirt.

  "And secondly, if you're going to be as stubborn as you were last time about not wanting help, then I know I'd be wasting my breath."

  Her lips pulled up into a small smile as a slight blush filled her cheeks. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that. But I do still want to meet with him. I'm not sure how long he has before he needs to go back home, and I'd like a few days to see if there's a difference in how we use or experience our powers."

  "Well," said Walter, "as usual, be careful. If I don't hear from you before tomorrow morning then that's when I'll return, hopefully with Phinneas."

  Melina nodded. "Sounds good. Thanks again for coming."

  "Of course," Walter said. "I'll see you tomorrow." He gave her a small bow and then disappeared.

  She stood silently for a moment and then went to fetch her cell phone to call Dean. He didn't pick up on the first try, so she waited about five minutes and then dialed his number again. He answered on the second ring.

  "Melina, hi."

  "Hi, Dean." She couldn't tell by the tone of his voice if he was annoyed or not. "How was your first night at the hotel?"

  "It was great actually. The bed was surprisingly comfortable," he said with a light chuckle. "Sorry I didn't answer the first time you called. I was on the phone with one of my work partners."

  "No, I'm the one who should be apologizing," she said. "I told you I'd give you a call right after lunch, and it's after three o'clock now."

  "That's all right," he said. "I'm sure you had something come up."

  She could hear the curiosity in his voice. "Yeah, I did. Do you still want to meet up? I can tell you about it then."

  "Of course. Just tell me where, and I'll catch a cab."

  Melina paused for a moment, wondering why he didn't expect her to come to the hotel, when she realized that he was trying to help her avoid being around too many people. She smiled at his thoughtfulness. "Let's meet at Nina's. It's a small café not too far from my bookstore. This area was actually the original downtown before the city's developments all started to move south. It's not as crowded as the new downtown, but it's populated enough for us to practice our powers."

  "Sounds perfect," said Dean. "I'll head out now."

  "Okay. I'll see you in about fifteen minutes." She hung up her phone and then quickly gathered her coat and purse before making her way down the stairs. As she reached the last step, she stopped just in case and listened for Gwen's voice. After a few seconds of silence, she decided she was in the clear. She tiptoed over to the back door and slipped outside.

  Her feet crunched loudly on the frozen snow as she ran over to her Jeep. She climbed inside and then drove out of the small parking lot as fast as she could and headed toward Nina's. It was a short drive, so when Melina arrived in front of the café, she thought she'd probably have to wait for a while before Dean showed up. About five minutes later, though, a bright yellow cab pulled up behind her and out stepped Dean, bundled up in his long, black wool coat.

  She hopped out of her Jeep and met him on the sidewalk. "Wow, you got here fast."

  Dean's eyes wid
ened. "Yeah. That cab driver was crazy." His mouth turned up into a grin as he chuckled a little. "Let's just hope I don't get him again when I'm ready to go back to the hotel."

  Melina laughed. "You could always teleport back. Then you wouldn't have to worry about it."

  "I could," said Dean. "But I've never teleported that far before. Maybe I'll have more confidence in my ability after I've worked with you some. So, do you want to go in?" He gestured over his shoulder toward Nina's. "Maybe get a coffee or something to warm ourselves up before we go out and about? There's a decent amount of people inside for this time of day, but not an overwhelming amount."

  "Oh, Nina's is always busy," she said as she glanced through the front window. "She's so easy-going, it's hard not to like her." Melina smiled. "Come on. The buzz in my head is pretty dull right now, so it shouldn't get to be too much worse when we go inside."

  Dean's brow creased. "You can hear the thoughts of the people inside the café right now?"

  Melina's smile disappeared. "Um, yeah. The voices are all really soft, and I can't make out any words, but I can definitely hear them. Why, can't you?"

  He shook his head. "No. When I'm outside of a building, I can't hear the thoughts of the people inside of it until I'm inside as well."

  "Hmm. That's… interesting." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and shifted her gaze to the ground. Maybe I was right, she thought to herself.

  "Right about what?" Dean asked.

  Melina dropped her arms back down to her sides as she looked up at Dean. "I was wondering if we might experience the powers differently, and it appears that maybe we do. At least with how close we have to be to people to hear their thoughts."

  "Well," said Dean, "let's go inside and see if anything else happens differently."

  Melina nodded and then led him into the café. After briefly scanning the room, she picked out a small table in the corner and took a seat.

  Dean sat down across from her and laid his hands up on the table. "I can hear their thoughts now. It just sounds like a lot of low whispers. What about you?"

  "Lots of chatter." She briefly touched her temple. "I'm trying to block it all out now, though."

  "Yeah, same here," said Dean. "How long does it usually take you to block them out?"

  "It depends on the amount of people," Melina replied. "But it never takes more than about ten seconds or so."

  "Well then, I guess we don't experience that differently," he said. "That's about how long it takes me."

  "Interesting," Melina said again as she slowly nodded her head.

  "So…," said Dean as he started to twiddle his thumbs. "You said something came up earlier this afternoon. Was it something with the pain you're still having?"

  "Yeah," she paused to clear her throat, "it was." She told him everything that had happened just a few short hours ago, and when she'd finished, Dean stared at her with wide eyes.

  "Why didn't you tell me about all of this on the phone?" he asked. "I'm sure you probably still need to rest, and we could've just met up tomorrow."

  "I didn't tell you because I'm fine now. And I'm not sure how long you plan on staying here, so I didn't want to waste any time."

  "I own an architecture firm with a couple of my college buddies, so I work for myself," said Dean. "I can stay as long as I need to."

  "Right, well, it's probably going to happen to me again, so I can't keep putting off working with you every time that it does. Who knows how long you'd end up being here." She gave him a small smile and then changed the subject to remove the focus from her. "Have you seen any other angels or demons yet? You know, since we can see all of them now."

  "I've only had control over my powers for a couple of weeks now," he said in a low voice, "so I've only seen a couple of guardian angels. I actually wasn't sure what kind of angels they were at first since I've only seen guiding angels. I'm used to the white auras and these had golden yellow auras. Phinneas eventually explained it to me, though."

  "Yeah, you would think that you'd see guardian angels all the time with there being so many of them," said Melina. "But they do a good job of staying out of sight. Actually, I think all of them, both angels and demons, do a good job of staying out of sight. I've only seen a handful of random demons here and there, and only two other kinds of angels other than guiding and guardian ones."

  "What other angels have you seen?" asked Dean as he perked up in his chair.

  Melina leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "An angel of inspiration, or as we know it, a muse, and then an angel of life. I saw the angel of inspiration when I was at the mall one afternoon, which I thought was an odd place for her to be. She had a bright blue aura around her. Then a few weeks later, I saw an angel of life when I went to donate some books to the children's hospital. He was walking into one of the children's rooms and had a soft green aura around him."

  "Wow," said Dean.

  "Yeah, it was pretty neat," she said. "I sort of put two and two together and figured out that the one I saw at the hospital was an angel of life. But I had to ask Walter about the angel of inspiration."

  "I wouldn't mind seeing some more angels," Dean said, "but I can do without seeing any demons. I'm glad I haven't yet."

  Melina nodded. "Yeah, you're lucky."

  "Yeah," he said in agreement. "So how many people have you helped? You've had control of your powers for almost three months, right? You must've helped at least a handful of people by now."

  "Oh, um…" She briefly looked down at the table as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "Well, I've actually only helped one person so far. A young girl."

  "Oh," said Dean, looking a bit surprised. "What did she need help with?"

  "She was being bullied by some other girls. It took a little while to convince her that they weren't really her friends, but it eventually all worked out."

  Dean smiled. "Well I bet it felt good to know that you helped someone like that."

  Melina nodded her head. "It did. And you know, I came across several other people who needed guidance, but they already had a guiding angel helping them."

  "That's sort of what I figured, you know, that most people would already have an angel helping them," said Dean.

  "Yeah," she said. "Most of them do."

  They both sat in silence for a few seconds. Melina looked down at her hands and, after clearing her throat, looked back up and asked, "So, what do you want to order?"

  Dean opened his mouth to answer her when Nina suddenly arrived at their table. Melina looked up at her with a smile, expecting her to ask them what they would like, but instead she asked something else.

  "Hi, Melina. Who's your friend here?" She gestured toward Dean, a curious look on her face.

  "This is Dean Porter," Melina answered. "He's, uh…"

  "I'm an old family friend who's in town visiting for a short while," Dean piped up. "You must be Nina. It's nice to meet you." He grinned as he extended his hand out to her.

  "Nice to meet you, too." She returned his smile as she shook his hand.

  Melina was silently hoping that Dean's short yet to-the-point answer would suffice, when Nina's voice popped into her head.

  He's quite handsome. I wonder if Lee knows that she's out with him?

  Melina suddenly snapped at her. "Just so you know, yes, Lee knows that I'm out with Dean. But why do you care? It's not any of your business!" She could feel heat rushing to her cheeks as she glared at Nina. Then the feeling was gone, just as quickly as it had surfaced.

  "Nina," Melina said, her eyes wide in shock. "I'm… I'm so sorry. I didn't mean…"

  "It's okay," Nina said in a shaky voice as she took a small step back.

  "No, it's not okay." Melina shot up from her chair. "We need to go, Dean." She glanced back at Nina with watery eyes. "I'm so sorry." She then ducked her head down and rushed out the front door.

  Chapter Eight

  As Melina ran outside, the abrupt greeting of the wintry wind made her feel as if she had
just been slapped in the face by an invisible, icy hand. She gasped, sucking in a sharp breath of cold air that burned her throat. A light sob escaped her, and she was about to take off down the sidewalk when she heard Dean call out from behind her.

  "Melina, wait!"

  She stopped but didn't turn around.

  "Hey," Dean said as he came up next to her. "What happened in there?"

  Melina looked down at the ground as she shook her head. "I don't know. I didn't mean to snap at her like that." She crossed her arms in front of her and then lifted her eyes to meet Dean's. "I heard her thoughts and how she was wondering if Lee knew that I was out with you."

  Dean nodded his head, acknowledging that he had heard Nina's thoughts as well.

  "It made me angry that she was thinking that, and then I just snapped at her."

  "Like what happened with you and Gwen earlier?" he asked.

  "Sort of, but not exactly." She sniffled and then wiped away the tears under her eyes. "Do you want to walk around for a bit to try to warm up some? Just standing here is starting to get cold."

  "Sure," he said as they both started down the sidewalk.

  He continued to look at her expectantly. She pulled her gloves out of her coat pockets and put them on as she explained further. "I didn't have any pain this time. After I heard her thoughts I went straight to being angry, and before I knew it I was yelling at her."

  "Well that's a good thing, right?" he asked. "That you didn't have any pain, I mean."

  Melina tilted her head to the side. "I'm not so sure. It actually kind of scares me. It makes me wonder why it happened differently this time."

  Dean shoved his hands into his coat pockets as they turned a corner to their left. "If you're scared about it, then shouldn't you tell Walter or Phinneas?"

  "I will," she said. "But not now. It's not necessary."

  He gave her a curious look.

  "I would tell them now if it was a new development, but it's not. It's an experience I've already had. It just happened a little differently."