But to his astonishment, Vero watched as the scrawny angel placed his hands on the SUV’s rear bumper and pushed it ahead four feet. He then turned and pushed on the van’s front bumper with his super strength, moving it back far enough to create a parking space for the sedan. The van and SUV had rolled only a few feet, so the humans passing by on the sidewalk never detected a thing. They were too wrapped up in their own lives to notice the supernatural goings-on.
The gray car backed into the space. And then the driver got out, threw a few coins into the meter, and looked at his watch. “Thank God,” he said and hurried off.
“How did you do that?” Vero asked.
Pax held his head high, proud of his accomplishment, “It’s nothing you can’t do.”
“How old are you?” Vero asked.
“Ten.”
Pax saw the look of disbelief on Vero’s face.
“Yes, I’m small for my age,” Pax said.
“I didn’t say anything,” Vero said.
“But you were going to.”
Vero heard his prayer assignment try to hail another cab. “Can you teach me how to do that?” Vero asked desperately. “Please?”
Pax glanced over at Raphael, who was standing on the curb observing them.
Raphael nodded.
“Okay. Let’s find a cab,” Pax said.
Impressed by their nonverbal exchange, Vero asked, “Can you read my thoughts too?”
“Only sometimes,” Pax said. “The first thing we need to do is find an empty cab.”
Then Pax stepped off the curb and walked directly into oncoming traffic. Vero was impressed with Pax’s confidence. Vero hesitated, afraid to leave the safety of the sidewalk.
Pax yelled to him, “Come on! They can’t run you over! Remember, you’re still in the Ether!”
The Ether was a difficult concept for Vero to embrace, and especially as an eighteen-wheeler headed straight for him. Pax wasted no time and stuck his head right up next to the windows of cabs and peered inside. He quickly moved from cab to cab. Vero waited for a taxi to stop at a light and then looked into the backseat for passengers. But they all seemed to be filled — businessmen and women on their way home, a woman who was already late to catch a plane at the airport, a man with two small children who were fighting over a piece of gum.
Vero didn’t realize the light had changed from red to green. Panic gripped him when the traffic accelerated, and the next thing he knew he was being run through by trucks, cars, vans, and even bikes. So many vehicles struck him, he lost count. But not a single one of them hurt him. All Vero felt was a whooshing of wind through his body.
“I got one!” Pax yelled.
Vero saw Pax waving to him a block south of where he stood. Pax jumped into the backseat of a cab and motioned for Vero to follow. Vero ran over, but he was too slow. The cab pulled up to the curb to pick up a man wearing a business suit and holding a leather briefcase.
“Don’t let him in!” Pax shouted to Vero. “You’ve got to stop him!”
Pax quickly locked the backseat door while the businessman tried to open it. The man tapped the window and motioned for the taxi driver to unlock the door. The driver released the unlock button, but Pax kept his index finger on the lock. The businessman tugged at the door again, but it still wouldn’t open.
“The thing must be stuck,” the driver said. Then he unfastened his seat belt and stepped out of the cab to examine the lock. Pax panicked.
“Hurry up! Get rid of him!” he said to Vero.
“How? I can’t do anything!” Vero said. “Cars just drive right through me!”
“When we’re answering prayers, we get incredible strength and can manipulate matter,” Pax said. “You have the ability!”
As the driver jimmied the lock, Pax continued to hold the button down, completely frustrating the driver. Vero hesitantly pressed his index finger on the metal clasp of the man’s briefcase, but it wouldn’t unfasten. His finger went right through it.
“Don’t be so wimpy!” Pax said. “If you will it, it will happen!”
Meanwhile, the businessman gave up and opened the front passenger door. “I’ll just sit up here,” he said to the driver.
“You’re gonna lose the cab!” Pax yelled at Vero.
Realizing it was now or never, Vero pressed down hard on the briefcase latch. Instantly, the lid sprang open, and the man’s papers flew out and were quickly snatched by the wind.
“I did it!” Vero yelled triumphantly.
The businessman ran off, chasing his papers.
“That was harsh ruining his papers,” Pax said to Vero through the open cab window.
“It was all I could think of,” Vero said. “You told me to hurry up.”
The driver got behind the wheel, and the cab started to take off, leaving Vero standing on the curb.
“Hey! Get in here!” Pax shouted.
Vero sprinted after the taxicab.
Pax stuck his head out the window, cheering him on. “Come on! You’re an angel! We move faster than New York City cabs!”
Raphael stood on the curb watching as Vero chased after the yellow cab. When a man jaywalked across the street, the cab slowed for a moment and Vero caught up to it.
“Help me get in!” he called to Pax.
Vero dove headfirst through the open backseat window. But before he could get all the way inside, the cab sped up again, so now his legs were sticking out in traffic. The cab changed lanes. A cement truck traveling in the opposite direction clipped Vero’s right foot. Finally, Pax pulled Vero into the cab.
“Thanks.”
“Your petitioner is up ahead,” Pax said. “But there are three other people flagging down cabs, so we need to be sure the driver picks her.”
“How do we do that?”
“Plant suggestions in his mind. You’re allowed to influence him, but you can’t direct him.”
Vero was puzzled. What did that mean — influence but not direct?
“Whisper in his ear, tell him to notice that lady in the brown suit. But you can’t go any further than that.”
Vero looked at the man’s ear. He was an older man with hair sprouting from his earlobes. The thought of whispering into his ear wasn’t too appealing.
“Isn’t there some other way?” he asked Pax.
“Not that I can think of.”
Seeing no other option, Vero resigned himself to the task. He leaned forward. There wasn’t a divider separating the front seat from the backseat, so Vero put his mouth close to the man’s ear. It was worse than he’d expected. Not only had stray hairs sprouted, but also yellow crusty wax lined the outside of the man’s ear canal. Vero nearly gagged, but he managed to get out the words, “Look at the lady in the brown suit.” He quickly sat back.
“There. Done,” he said to Pax.
Vero sat tall in the seat feeling proud of himself. Mission accomplished. But then, to his dismay, a huge moving van pulled up in the right lane and tried to pass the cab.
“Oh no!”
Vero knew the moving van would block the cab driver’s view of the woman, and he became alarmed. Suddenly, he felt a tingle run through his body, giving him confidence. Was this the extra strength Pax spoke about? Vero impulsively reached over the front seat and yanked the steering wheel to make a hard right.
“You’re not allowed to do that!” Pax yelled.
The cab swerved in front of the moving van. The van slammed on its brakes. Pax gripped the seat in front of him, bracing for an accident. Vero glanced behind him and saw Raphael pulling back on the rear bumper of the moving van. The van safely skidded to a stop. Pax and Vero caught their breath.
The driver of the moving van shouted a fair amount of swear words at the cab driver who looked totally bewildered. He had no idea what possessed him to cut in front of the moving van.
Raphael shot Vero a disappointed look. Vero felt humiliated. As the moving van drove off, the cab driver glanced over at the sidewalk and saw the woman in the b
rown suit standing on the curb under some construction scaffolding. The woman dashed over to the taxi and climbed in the back.
“Fifty-fourth and Lex, please,” she told the driver breathlessly.
Vero and Pax climbed out the open window, and the cab drove on down the avenue.
“I hope wherever she’s going it was worth the effort,” Vero said to Pax as they watched the cab blend into the sea of yellow taxis. “It amazes me that God would bother with cab rides and parking spaces.”
“You’re famous!” Kane shouted at Vero as he walked across the green field of the Ether.
Vero saw Kane and the other young angels walking toward him.
“No one screws up that badly on their first prayer attempt. To save one person, you almost took out two!” Kane laughed.
Vero blushed. He knew he’d messed up big time. But he was also angry about having been thrown into the situation without any guidance. He’d only just learned a few weeks ago that he was a guardian angel. No one had explained any of the rules to him. How could he be expected to know what to do? Vero felt ripped off.
When he thought he was just a regular kid, his main responsibility was to keep his room clean. Now he was expected to save lives! It was incomprehensible! The enormity of it weighed heavily upon him.
“He’s only messing with you,” X said to Vero.
“No, he’s right. I don’t know what I’m doing. I just wish someone would explain everything to me.”
“It’s on a need-to-know basis here. They give out knowledge one tiny morsel at a time.”
“Why?”
“Because they have to make sure you’re ready for it. If you’re not able to understand it, lies and deceptions can seep in. It goes all the way back to the garden of Eden,” X said. “Adam and Eve wanted to know everything all at once, so they ate from the forbidden tree of knowledge. Look what happened to them.”
“Yeah, but there are still some things I need to know now, like how do I defend myself if the maltures attack again?”
Every head turned in Vero’s direction.
“What?” he asked.
“You were attacked on earth?” X asked.
“But we’re supposed to be protected from the maltures when we’re there,” Pax added, sounding a bit fearful.
“Uriel had to defend me or else they would have gotten me,” Vero said.
“What did they look like?” Ada asked in an awed whisper.
“They were covered with fur and scales. They had rows of sharp yellow fangs. And each one had a single eye that went all the way through the head.”
Ada gasped.
“But the scariest thing was . . . you could feel hatred and rage coming out of them. Like that hated and rage made up their very essence.”
Everyone was silent for a moment.
“Has anyone else been attacked by them?” Vero asked the group.
“None of us,” X said.
It was hard to imagine X in a wheelchair on earth. With his striking dark features and his strong build, Vero couldn’t imagine him looking frail. Yet at that moment when X talked about the maltures, Vero definitely saw fear in his eyes.
14
THE TRACK STAR
Vero heard beautiful music as he and Uriel walked through a meadow of waist-high wildflowers. Their petals swayed with the soothing rhythm. As the melody grew louder, soon the flowers’ stalks also followed the beat. They were dancing! But the sight of dancing flowers brought him no enjoyment.
Sensing Vero’s thoughts, Uriel said, “Have faith, Vero. The answers will come in time.”
“Why haven’t the others ever seen a malture?” Vero asked.
Uriel stopped walking, turned and placed both hands on Vero’s shoulders, and looking Vero squarely in the eyes, said, “Do not be afraid, Vero. You are far greater and stronger than you know.”
“But they attacked me!”
Uriel considered. He stared hard into Vero’s eyes, making sure he had his total attention. “The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is fear.”
Vero contemplated Uriel’s words as they resumed walking.
“When I first came to the Ether, I told you I was home. How did I know that?” Vero asked. “Have I been here before?”
“All living things spend time in the Ether before it’s their earth time.”
“So why didn’t I remember the Ether when I was on earth?” Vero asked.
“You do as a baby, but gradually the memory fades.”
“But why?” Vero asked.
“Because you must rediscover it, and return of your own free will. The knowledge of the goodness of the Ether exists in every living thing.”
“But the Ether isn’t heaven?”
“It’s the middle ground between heaven and the lake of fire,” Uriel said.
“Lake of fire?”
“Where darkness reigns.”
“But everything I’ve seen in the Ether is wonderful,” Vero said.
“You’ve seen but only a small part of the Ether.”
Vero looked to Uriel. “What do you mean?”
“Lucifer’s demons and maltures are also here in the Ether, and they would love nothing more than to dig their claws into a young angel like yourself.”
Vero felt his stomach churn. “Am I special? I heard the other angels talking.”
“We are all special to God,” Uriel said sharply, and Vero knew not to probe any further. “It’s time for you to go back. You’ve learned enough for your second training.”
“But wait! I still have tons of questions!”
“You feel like you haven’t learned enough, but I disagree.” Uriel motioned with his hand for Vero to explain what he’s learned.
“I learned to fly better. I met some of the other angels. I now know what a prayer grid is — ”
“I could have told you all of that,” Uriel interrupted. “But what did you learn about yourself?”
Vero paused and looked down for a moment, then said, “I learned there’s so much about myself that I don’t know . . . but I want to.”
Uriel slowly nodded, “Well said. And by the way, your petitioner got the job.”
Vero gave him a curious look.
“The prayer you answered. The cab driver got her to the interview in time.”
“Really?”
Uriel nodded.
“Uriel, one last thing . . . when I was flying past the three waterfalls, why couldn’t I get close to them? Some sort of invisible force stopped me.”
“That, Vero, is for another day.”
Uriel smiled and then wrapped his wings around himself and disappeared.
Vero looked down at the dancing flowers. They finally brought a smile to his face.
“Mom would love to see this,” he said to no one, allowing the soft petals to caress his fingers.
His mom adored flowers. It was always so easy to buy presents for her birthday or Mother’s Day. Flowers of every kind delighted her. He wished that someday his mother could stand where he now stood and dance with the wildflowers.
Vero realized he missed his mother. The last time he’d seen her, she was dropping off Tack and him at the movie theater.
The next thing Vero knew, an elbow jabbed him in the ribs causing him to stumble backward into a closed elevator door.
Vero opened his eyes in time to see a group of preteen girls headed his way.
“Dude, is my hair sticking up?” Tack was unsuccessfully attempting to flatten his protruding tuft of strawberry-blond hair.
Vero grabbed the wall to support himself. It took a few moments to regain his balance. He didn’t remember the transition back to earth being so jarring.
“What’s wrong with you?” Tack asked.
“Just relax!” Vero hissed.
How could Tack be so concerned about something as trivial as his hair with all that was going on around him? But then Vero reminded himself that for Tack, nothing had changed. He hadn’t just been shown a completely new
vision of the universe. At the moment, the most important thing in the world for Tack was that group of girls who were walking toward them.
“Since when does Davina hang out with Hollow Legs and Monkey Arms?” Tack whispered to Vero, but not nearly as quietly as he’d intended.
“Hey, Vero. Hey, Tack,” Davina said.
“We heard what you called us, Tack,” Sasha Wyburn said.
Sasha had earned her nickname because she could eat more than anyone else in the school — even Tack — yet she remained thin as a rail. So the other kids assumed the food must be stored in her long legs.
“Yeah, Tack,” Amanda Farkas chimed in. “And I don’t have monkey arms.”
Amanda got her nickname because of her gangly arms. She was the go-to girl whenever a teacher needed a light bulb changed or something retrieved off a high shelf.
Amanda gave Vero a once-over as he clung to the wall, still trying to adjust, “What’s wrong? You look like you’re going to be sick.”
Sasha eyed Vero, “Yeah, he does. It’s probably because he just got a look at Tack’s awful hair.”
Tack shot Vero a silent plea for help, but Vero was too disoriented to respond.
“Let’s go,” Amanda said to Sasha, and they walked away.
Davina lagged behind.
“Vero, you okay?” She seemed genuinely concerned.
“Yeah, probably put too much butter on the popcorn.”
“What did you think of the movie?”
Her question caught Vero off guard. He’d totally forgotten about the movie, so he said the first thing that came to mind.
“It was great. I’d see it again.”
“Really? I saw that movie last weekend, and there’s no way I could ever sit through it again. I thought it was so impossible,” Davina said. “I couldn’t wait for it to end.”
Vero felt like an idiot. Why’d I say that? He could feel the heat building in his face.
Then Danny appeared around the corner and locked eyes with Vero.
Perfect, Vero thought. Would Danny try to start something here? In front of Davina?
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