“I told you to follow us,” Kane said.
“Well, you could have warned me. What was that? Some kind of force field?” Vero asked.
“I guess,” X said. “Not just anyone is allowed to drink those waters. You have to be invited.”
Vero rubbed his head. It hurt. And exercising his wings depleted a great deal of his energy. He was wiped out.
“Can we take a break?” Vero asked.
“Down there — in the clearing!” Kane shouted.
X and Kane landed gracefully in a wide-open spot ringed by trees, which overlooked the valley below. Vero tried to imitate their landing technique, but he hit the ground with a loud thud.
“You have to flap hard and get your feet in front of you before you land,” X said.
“Once again, thanks for the timely heads-up.” Vero rolled back to a sitting position. He felt a slight push between his shoulder blades, and then his wings vanished.
“Why do they disappear?” Vero asked.
“Because we’re not flying. But they’ll come back when you need them,” Kane said. “You’ll also build up stamina for flying. The first couple of times really drain you.”
“How long have you guys been coming to the Ether?” Vero asked.
“We started together. This is our fourth time,” X answered.
“Do your earth families know you’re guardian angels?”
Both men shook their heads no.
“Sometimes it cracks me up . . . like the other day, my little sister’s kite got stuck in a tree. I climbed the tree to get the kite, but my dad’s practically having a heart attack because he thinks I’m gonna fall out of the tree and kill myself.” Kane laughed. “He’d definitely have a heart attack if he could see me flying.”
“I feel bad for my mother,” X said. “Back on earth, I’m in a wheelchair. But Mom takes really good care of me. She has to feed me when my arms spasm, and I can’t even hold a fork. Lots of times I hear her crying in her bedroom. It breaks my heart that she can’t follow me here to the Ether and see me whole and know that I’m all right.”
Vero thought of his own mother. It would be such a relief to tell her he was an angel, just so she wouldn’t worry anymore.
“Then why do they do it this way?” Vero asked. “Why do we grow up with human families who have no idea who we really are? Isn’t that sort of mean?”
“Our mission is to protect and guard humans, so we need to live among them. We need to understand their world,” Kane said. “At least that’s what Uriel says.”
“But we live among humans for only a short time — until we finish angel training,” X added.
“When is that?” Vero asked.
“I guess when we know everything we’re supposed to know.”
“Angels know everything, so won’t that take forever?” Vero asked.
“First of all, only God knows everything,” X said. “There’s a ton of stuff that even the archangels don’t know. But once we have all the knowledge we’re supposed to get, we leave our earthly lives for good.”
“How long does that take?” Vero asked, picturing his own family.
“It’s different for everyone, but most leave before they turn eighteen in earth years,” X explained.
“What do you mean? I won’t be with my family ever again after that?” Vero asked.
Kane and X exchanged glances.
“Yeah,” Kane said. “They’ll believe you died. Right now we can go back and forth between the two realms, and no one knows. But when you become a full-fledged angel, your body will stay on earth. They’ll think you’re dead and have a funeral for you. The whole thing.”
Vero’s head sunk to his chest. The thought of his parents having to bury him made him feel sick. He could visualize his mother sitting in the front pew of their church, weeping inconsolably while his father stoically held her. Even Clover would mourn his passing. Deep down, he knew his sister still loved him.
“But that’s not fair,” Vero protested.
“That’s the way it is,” Kane said.
“But Vero,” X began, his voice sympathetic, “the hope is that one day, many years from now, you will all be together again.”
Vero understood what X was telling him, but it still bothered him to know that his family would suffer.
Kane stood up. “Come on, we have to go,” he said.
Vero and X stood up as well. Kane’s wings opened and then X’s. Vero touched his back. He couldn’t feel any wings.
“My wings?” he questioned, pointing to his back.
“You might need to take a running start until you get it down,” X said.
Vero backed up a ways and then sprinted toward the edge of the bluff. He boldly leaped off and instantly became airborne. Soon he was streaking like a beam of light across the Ether.
Vero, Kane, and X flew into an area that resembled an ancient Roman coliseum, but rather than being made of stone, this structure was made out of crystals. The walls were transparent, and thousands of angels of every age sat in the bleachers. The angels were looking down at what would be the arena’s field, only it wasn’t a green playing field. It was a massive grid full of lights in every possible color — brilliant, vivid colors that reminded him of the Lite-Brite he and Clover used to play with.
Suddenly a burst of light shot up from the grid, and an angel caught it and flew off with it. This happened again and again, continuously, as angels caught bullets of light and then flew away.
Vero hovered close to Kane and X. “What is this?” he asked.
“A prayer grid,” Kane said, leading them to three empty seats. “Uriel wanted us to show it to you.”
They flew to the seats and sat down. This time, Vero’s landing was adequate, if not graceful. Vero watched with fascination as the bright beams shot up like geysers into the waiting hands of the receivers.
“What are they doing?” Vero asked.
“Catching prayers,” an older voice said.
Vero turned and saw an angel smiling at him with the same violet eyes as Uriel’s. His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and his round face was friendly. Vero felt immediately at ease with him.
“Welcome back, Vero,” the angel said. “It’s been awhile. I’m Raphael.”
Vero stuck out his hand to shake Raphael’s.
“Oh, I don’t do that,” he laughed.
Raphael then grabbed Vero and hugged him, totally catching him off guard. He squeezed Vero so tight that Vero was momentarily winded. Raphael squashed Vero a few more times and then mercifully let him go with a playful slap on the back. But the pat was hard enough that it made Vero cough.
“You’re looking good, Vero. Earth has been kind to you.”
“You’re the archangel Raphael?” Vero choked out.
“I don’t like to be so formal. I’m just Raphael. We all got such a big kick out of your book report . . . everyone except Uriel, of course. You nailed him good!”
Vero couldn’t help laughing; Raphael was easy to like.
Suddenly, a bright ray of light sped toward Vero, and without thinking, Vero reached up and grabbed it.
Astonished, Vero looked at the beam that was now illuminating his palm. He had no idea how he’d caught it. It was as if his hand had a mind of its own.
“Let’s go.” Raphael stood, suddenly serious, and grabbed Vero’s arm. They flew off together, and in a flash they were sitting on a bench on a busy city sidewalk. Vero watched yellow cabs zip past them as they tried to speed through red lights. Impatient drivers laid on their horns. People crisscrossed sidewalks and streets in haste. Storefronts with elaborate window displays tempted pedestrians. Bike messengers weaved in and out of traffic. Horses pulled tourists in carriages.
“Are we in New York?” Vero asked.
Raphael pointed to a crowd of people walking past.
“They’re in New York. You’re not,” Raphael said.
Vero was confused. How could he be sitting on a bench in the middle of the ci
ty, yet not be there?
A rather plump woman pulling a small cart filled with groceries approached the bench. She was breathing heavily when she parked her cart and sat down on Vero.
“Hey! I’m sitting here!”
Raphael chuckled. “Let me help you out.”
Raphael kicked the woman’s shopping cart so it rolled a few feet away from her. She leaned forward to retrieve it.
“Quick! Now!” Raphael shouted.
Vero saw his chance and jumped up and away from the woman before she could sit on him again. He looked back at the woman, studying her.
“She can’t see us, can she?”
“Not at all.”
“I knew she sat on me, but I didn’t feel a thing,” Vero said. “We’re still in the Ether, aren’t we?”
“Yes. And if you want proof, just close your eyes.”
Vero hesitated.
“Come on, shut them tight,” Raphael commanded.
Vero closed his eyes.
“Concentrate hard. Pray to see beyond the limited scope of human eyes.”
Vero clamped his eyes even tighter. He tried to block out the sounds and commotion of the busy city, but it wasn’t easy. His mind wandered. He grew frustrated and opened his eyes again. Nothing had changed.
“I can’t do it!”
Raphael stood before him, his playful disposition now gone. He bent down in front of Vero to block out any distractions. Vero could see a fervent conviction in Raphael’s eyes as he lowered Vero’s eyelids with his thumbs.
“The truth is there, and you must open your eyes and heart to it,” Raphael said, coaxing him in a calm, yet resolute voice.
Vero concentrated as hard as he could. He cleared his mind of the world around him. One by one, the distractions of the city fell away. He had a single thought, and that was truth. The need to know the truth consumed him.
Raphael removed his thumbs, and Vero opened his eyes. The sight before him knocked him back against the bench. Everywhere he looked in this bustling city, there were angels — thousands of them — radiant noble angels protecting and assisting humans in their everyday endeavors.
Vero watched as an angel caught an elderly man in his arms, saving the man from a nasty spill after he failed to see an uneven sidewalk.
As a group of schoolchildren crossed a busy intersection, massive angels stood with their arms locked shoulder to shoulder, forming a solid line to prevent any cars or buses from breaking through.
Men and women wearing business suits walked into buildings through revolving glass doors, and the angels kept step with them.
As a little boy climbed a tree, an angel followed him on the branch below, his arms stretched out to catch the boy if he should fall.
A homeless man wearing threadbare clothes lay on the sidewalk napping, and an angel cushioned his head while stroking his hair.
Two deliverymen unloaded their rig, and angels stood in the back of the truck, holding up several crates to keep them from collapsing.
A woman opened her purse to pull out a tissue, and an angel quickly spread his sheltering wings around her, preventing a devious-looking man from seeing the loose dollar bills in her purse.
Angels attended to every single person no matter how mundane the task. And the humans went about their business, never suspecting a thing.
But it wasn’t only people that the angels protected. Godzilla-sized angels, taller than skyscrapers, stood around soaring buildings and kept guard at every corner. Other angels stood knee-deep in a river supporting a bridge span.
Vero was overcome with emotion. The immense outpouring of love these angels held for the humans caused tears to well up in his eyes.
Raphael placed an arm around Vero’s shoulders as a mother pushed a stroller past them. Her baby girl, only six months old, sat smiling at the brightly colored mobile hanging above her. As the mother stopped in front of Vero, the baby reached out her arms and tried to grab him. At first Vero thought it was just a random act. But when the baby made eye contact with him and held his gaze, he suddenly felt exposed.
He turned to Raphael and said, “I thought people couldn’t see us.”
“That’s true for most. But babies need to be gently eased into this world. Angels offer comfort during their transition. By the time she’s a year old, she’ll no longer be able to see you.”
In her excitement, the baby giggled and stretched her arms toward Vero. It was the most innocent of gestures, and Vero was powerless to resist. He smiled and held out his hand, and the little girl took it in hers.
To the mother it looked as though her baby was grabbing for the mobile.
13
A CAB IN RUSH HOUR
Vero walked with Raphael down the busy city street, dodging throngs of people and their angels, trying to make sense of it all. Some angels acknowledged them, but most stayed focused on the humans entrusted to their care. Vero’s mind flashed back to the snake incident in his science class.
“There’s no such thing as hysterical strength, is there?” Vero asked.
“Nope. It’s us,” Raphael told him. “Now we’d better see what prayer you caught.”
Vero abruptly stopped walking. He was completely caught off guard.
“I forgot about it,” he said, feeling ashamed. Vero looked down at his hand. The ray of light was gone. “I must have dropped it.”
Raphael laughed. “Do you think a prayer is like water that drips through your fingers?”
Vero didn’t know what to think.
“Prayers are precious to God,” Raphael explained. “None are ever lost.”
Raphael took Vero’s hand in his and turned it palm up. Vero’s eyes went wide when a hologram of a woman appeared in his hand. She looked to be about thirty-five years old and wore a business suit. She had an anxious look on her face as she desperately waved her hand in the air. Vero felt her anxiety.
“She’s in trouble,” Vero said.
“Get closer,” Raphael said softly.
Vero leaned into the image of the woman. He put his ear close to her mouth, and he heard her desperate plea.
“Please, Lord, let me get a cab,” the woman said.
Vero jumped back upon hearing her request.
“A cab! A crummy cab is her prayer request?”
“By the time a prayer shoots up from the prayer grid, God has already decided to grant it,” Raphael told Vero firmly. “It’s your job to carry it out without question.”
Raphael gave Vero an intimidating look that left no room for discussion.
Vero knew he had no choice. Somehow he had to flag down a taxi for the woman. It didn’t seem like some Herculean task except for the fact that out of the thousands of cab drivers in New York, not a single one could see or hear him. Vero balled his hand into a fist, and the hologram of the woman vanished.
“How can I help her? Even if I stand right in front of a cab and scream at the top of my lungs, it’ll just drive right through me. And besides, aren’t we too late anyway? She must have asked for that cab awhile ago.”
“We’re not bound by time,” Raphael said. “Look. There she is.”
Raphael nodded his head toward a woman standing on the edge of the sidewalk.
She was waving her arms at passing cabs. Seconds ago, Vero held her in his hand, and now she was standing right before his eyes. It was amazing and freaky at the same time.
“The key is to make it happen so it appears seamless to humans — like nothing out of the ordinary. Go on now. Get her that cab.”
Vero hesitated. Raphael smiled and gave him a gentle push toward the woman.
Vero approached tentatively, trying to buy some time while he figured out what to do. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind, so Vero wildly waved his arms like a mad man at every passing cab. Raphael chuckled and shook his head. As Vero jumped around, he failed to look behind him and bumped into someone, knocking him to the pavement.
“Hey! You knocked off my glasses!”
Vero turned a
nd saw a familiar young angel sitting on the sidewalk behind him.
“Pax?”
“You’re going to make me fail my mission,” Pax said, as he put on his glasses.
Pax made a comical sight with his oversized glasses and his extra-large ears, but then Vero remembered Ada’s comment to Pax about Vero: He doesn’t seem so special. Was Vero somehow different from the others? More importantly, was he a disappointment?
“You need to move,” Pax said.
Vero quickly stepped out of the way.
“Sorry,” Vero said. “What are you doing anyway?”
“I need to keep this parking space open for the right person.” Pax got up and stood between two parked vehicles on the side of the street. In font of Pax was a big SUV, and behind him was a delivery van. There was about four feet of space between the back of the SUV and the front of the van. Vero noticed that although those two vehicles were parked so close to each other, there was also three or four yards of clearance in front of the SUV and behind the van. Had those drivers parked better, there would be plenty of room for a car to fit between them.
Vero looked at the spot Pax had called a parking space. Even a motorcycle couldn’t fit there!
“That’s not happening,” Vero informed him.
A sporty little red convertible slowed down as its driver eyeballed the space. Pax stood his ground in the spot, stared at the driver, and whispered, “Go away. It’s too small. There’s nothing here for you.” The driver then quickly sped up, realizing she’d never squeeze her car into that tiny spot.
“See?” Vero announced. “I think you need to find a new space.”
A gray nondescript four-door sedan crossed through the intersection and was headed their way. Pax sprang into action when he saw the car.
“Here he comes!” he shouted.
Vero watched as the sedan slowed down while the driver scanned the area, hopeful for a parking space. Vero felt bad for Pax because he was certain he was failing his mission. He wondered what happened when guardian angels failed their tasks?
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