Flying High
Page 8
But like all de Winters, once Dom got going, he was kind of unstoppable. He pointed to the still madly twirling time FX. “See that, you guys? In twenty seconds max, you’ll be gone for ever.”
“He won’t do it,” his mother said scornfully. “He’s all talk like his father.”
Dom’s face twisted. He swung round, deliberately aiming the device at the captives. All the relatives ducked, whimpering with fright.
Reuben’s voice rang out like a bell. “This won’t work, Dom! You can’t create Paradise by just deleting all your enemies, man.”
But things had gone too far. Dom didn’t dare to stop now. His fingers flickered over the keypad and with no expression whatsoever, he activated the device.
There was a collective flinch of horror. I felt helpless. But there was nothing we could do except to wait to see what happened next.
At first I thought Dom had decided to zap the de Winters to that space station after all, because when they appeared, the new time FX were lovelier and more futuristic than ever. Unbelievably beautiful colours filled the room, but at their core was a light so celestial and pure that my eyes filled with tears.
My step-dad’s advice had worked. Our Agency back-up had arrived in the nick of time.
The light levels adjusted, becoming slightly less dazzling, and Michael stepped into the room, closely followed by several stern-looking agents.
Michael calmly took the device from Dom. “Reuben’s right. This is not the way,” he told Dom. “The power to judge and punish does not belong to you. If you really want to change the world, you’ll have to try to understand that.”
I don’t think Dom for one minute suspected that his uncle’s boardroom was full of angels! He just took Michael and the others for humans from some wonderful, luminous, far distant future, and he looked completely over-awed.
Forgetting we’d ever been enemies, I whispered to the invisible Brice, “Isn’t this brilliant? You finally kept your promise! You saved Dom!”
Or that’s what I was going to say.
But he’d silently slipped away. I don’t think he could face Michael.
I noticed Michael watching me with his beautiful all-seeing eyes.
“Actually, you all saved Dom,” he said gravely. “His father is a fine influence and now Dom will have his true guardian angel to watch over him. The truth is, we never stopped watching over him, Melanie. Not even for a moment.”
He seemed happy to leave it at that, but my mind swirled with unanswered questions. OK, Dom was safe, but what about Brice? Where was his happy ending? Was anyone watching over him? Could he break his evil bargain with the PODS and come back home? Or had he blown it with the Agency for all Eternity?
Michael passed his hand lightly over my hair, and I felt a zillion archangel volts sizzle down my spine. “Time to go home, Melanie,” he said softly. “We’ll take care of this from now on.”
Chapter Eleven
A few days later my phone jolted me out of a deep sleep.
“Melanie speaking,” I mumbled.
“Sorry if I woke you,” said Michael’s amused voice.
I shot up in bed. “No problem,” I babbled. “I’ll be down at the Agency in two ticks.” Then I caught sight of myself in the mirror. With my bed hair sticking up all over the place, I looked ridiculously like a cockatoo.
“Didn’t I say? I’m at Guru,” Michael said cheerfully. “I’ve been at the Agency all night. I thought we could have a chat over breakfast.”
I carefully replaced the phone. Then I registered what he’d said and practically went into orbit, madly throwing on the first clothes which tumbled out of my wardrobe. “Omigosh, omigosh,” I moaned.
There could only be one explanation for Michael’s alarmingly exclusive invitation. My cosmic crimes had caught up with me and I was going to be reprimanded big-time.
My legs were literally shaking as I walked into Guru.
Michael waved from a booth. “I ordered some rather delicious looking pastries for us both. I hope that’s OK?”
But when the pastries came, I just sat fiddling nervously with my cutlery. My heart was thumping so hard, I was sure Michael could hear it.
Why the sassafras doesn’t he just put me out of my misery? I thought miserably.
“If it’s about the tags, maybe I could just pay the Agency back or something,” I suddenly blurted out.
Michael looked blank. “The tags?”
“We didn’t plan to materialise,” I said desperately. “It was an accident.”
Michael poured us both some freshly-squeezed orange juice. “A very useful accident as it turned out,” he said smiling.
I was totally bewildered now, not to mention the suspense was killing me. When was I going to get my ticking off?
“Oh, did you hear the good news?” he added. “Orlando’s team saved about fifty of those brave young Crusaders.”
I felt a pang of distress. Fifty was better than nothing, but I’d wanted all those kids to be saved.
Michael gave me one of his looks. “At the Agency, we believe in evolution,” he said gently. “This means we take the long-term view.”
I took a tentative sip of juice. I could feel our headmaster working up to something but I had no clue what it might be.
“That’s the marvellous thing about Eternity,” Michael said. “There’s never any need to rush. Forests turn into diamonds. Evil changes into good. Sometimes whole centuries go by before you even begin to see the big picture.”
I had a feeling we’d moved on from evolution. In fact I thought Michael might actually be answering my questions about Brice.
I started playing nervously with my hair. “Did I do something wrong?” I asked, swallowing. “Did I break another cosmic law, you know, by co-operating with a fallen…” My voice trailed off pathetically.
“No, Melanie,” Michael said firmly. “You played your part to perfection.”
I stared at him. “Seriously?”
I thought I might cry with relief.
He laughed. “Seriously. So do you think you could help me out with these pastries now? There seem to be rather a lot.”
Michael sounded so plaintive, that I truly wanted to hug him. Imagine an archangel worrying about his: waistline!
“I’d love to,” I said truthfully. “It’s just - this is a really busy day for me.”
He nodded. “Of course, Lola’s party.”
“I don’t mean to be rude, but after last time, I want everything to be totally perfect,” I explained shyly. I pushed back my chair and stood up.
“Just one more thing,” Michael said.
He sounded so deadly serious that I swallowed hard.
“Next time you see a worm hole, please don’t feel you have to jump through it. Perhaps you might like to pass that message on to the others?”
Just in time, I saw that his eyes were twinkling.
Mo caught me up at the door. “Who knows, maybe she’ll get to open it this time!” He gave me back my parcel.
I slapped his palm. “Later, Mo, yeah?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he beamed.
But as I hurried out into the early morning streets, I’m not sure I was completely awake. Because for the first time ever, I had this moment of pure clairvoyance, a vision almost, like I was being shown a movie preview of Lola’s party.
Everything was going brilliantly. The DJ was cool. The music was hot. Fairy lights twinkled in the trees and I was dancing with my mates under a big fat moon. Any time now, Orlando would step out of the shadows, and tell me what a great job I’d done in the twenty-third century.
But at this moment my soul-mate was boogeying up to me, proudly wearing my present to her.
“Do you really like it, Lollie?” I asked anxiously. “I can take it back, you know.”
“Are you kidding!” she shrieked. “This isn’t a T-shirt, babe. It’s our cosmic mission statement!”
And she leaped into the air, giving a cheeky che
erleader twirl as she came down, and for an instant I saw the message glittering on the T-shirt that was my birthday present to her. Two words which for me and Lola, totally sum up what being an angel is all about. Flying High.
About the Author
Annie Dalton has been shortlisted for the Carnegie medal and won the Nottingham Children’s Book Award and the Portsmouth Children’s Book Award.The twelve Angel Academy books (previously known as Agent Angel), became an international best selling series. Annie lives overlooking a Norfolk meadow with a ruined castle, in a row of cottages that were rescued from bulldozers and lovingly rebuilt by a band of hippies.
www.anniedaltonwriter.co.uk
Also by Annie Dalton
Urban Fantasy Books
Night Maze
The Alpha Box
Naming the Dark
The Rules of Magic
Angel Academy Series
Winging it
Losing the Plot
Flying High
Calling the Shots
Fogging Over
Fighting Fit
Making Waves
Budding Star
Keeping it Real
Going for Gold
Feeling the Vibes
Living the Dream
The Afterdark Trilogy
The Afterdark Princess
The Dream Snatcher
The Midnight Museum
Swan Sister
Friday Forever
Zack Black & the Magic Dads
Ways to Trap a Yeti
Cherry Green, Story Queen
Invisible Threads co-written with Maria Dalton
World 9 stories
Ferris Fleet the Wheelchair Wizard
How to Save a Dragon
Moonbeans stories
Magical Moon Cat: Moonbeans & the Dream Cafe
Magical Moon Cat: Moonbeans & the Shining Star
Magical Moon Cat: Moonbeans & the Talent Show
Magical Moon Cat: Moonbeans & the Circus of Wishes
Credits
Cover Illustration by Maria Dalton & Louisa Mallet
Lily Highton
Alistair Johnston
Juan Casco
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
About the Author
Also by Annie Dalton
Credits