by Janni Nell
“Leave my sister alone.” I lowered my head like an angry bull and rushed at Demelza. She side-stepped and I crashed into the cave wall. Bounced off. Fell to my knees. Dizzy. Demelza’s eyes gleamed. Her nose twitched with the scent of victory.
My chest burst with pain and rage. Crazy rage. I sprang to my feet, fists clenched, feinted left and hit out with my right. She was unprepared and I scored a direct hit to her jaw. I launched myself at her again, kicking, aiming for her kneecap. She didn’t move, but when my foot was inches from her knee, my ankle suddenly twisted as though it had been grabbed by a giant hand. I yelped, lost my balance, came crashing down. My ribs jarred and I almost blacked out with pain.
I could hardly bear weight on my ankle, but that didn’t stop me. I struggled to my feet, limping toward her, ready to punch if she dropped her guard. She cocked her head as though she couldn’t believe I was dumb enough to keep fighting. I half expected her to burst into maniacal laughter, but she didn’t. With the smallest of movements, she pointed her little finger at me. A stream of colored light shot out, surrounding me in a sickly glow. Orange and purple? Couldn’t she come up with a better color scheme than that? The colors twisted around me like rope, lifted me off the ground and smashed me down again.
My out-flung arm saved my face but my chest smashed into solid rock, shattering Casper’s moonlight pendant. Tiny shards of glass pied my chest. Moonlight streamed from the pendant, surrounding me in a smooth creamy pool a million times brighter than normal moonlight. It spread like a stain toward Demelza. She shrieked when it touched her withered flesh. Shielding herself with her arms did no good—the moonlight was too strong. Demelza crumpled to her knees. She never moved again.
Well, it’s kind of hard to move when you’ve been reduced to a pile of sodden dust.
I was congratulating myself on a job well done, when Lily screamed, “Allegra, the baby’s coming out!”
I hurried into the cave and knelt beside her. Her cheeks were red from the effort of pushing. Sweat beaded her forehead. When I held her hand, she said, “No—help the baby.”
I got into position between her thighs. She gave a final push and the blood-soaked baby slithered into my hands. It looked stunned. Then it started to scream.
Oh my! Oh gosh! Bloody hell! This baby, wrinkled, red and squalling, was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
“Is it a boy?” asked Lily.
I wasn’t sure how she’d react to the news so I said gently, “You have a daughter. Are you very disappointed?”
She beamed. “Of course not. Don’t tell anyone, but I secretly wanted a girl.”
I wasn’t sure this baby girl would thank her when she learned her name was to be Daisy Rose Lily. But my sister had evidently changed her mind. “I’m going to call her Allegra.”
“Huh? Are you sure?”
Lily nodded. “Maybe she’ll be tall like you. I always envied your height.”
“Really?”
“Didn’t you know?”
“Of course not. I thought you liked being sh—um—petite. So you actually want to call your daughter Allegra?”
She nodded emphatically. “Allegra Lily, so she’ll have the best of both of us.” My sister and I had a kind of bonding moment where we both teared up and said the things loving sisters say. Then Lily spoiled the moment by saying, “You have to cut the cord.”
“With what?”
Chapter Twenty-One
As it turned out I didn’t have to cut the cord. Casper arrived armed with the appropriate tools—I mean instruments. Apparently an obstetrician at the Angel Awards had given him instructions on how to clamp and cut the cord. Casper had swiped the instruments from the nearest hospital and, being a good angel, he intended to return them later.
After he’d attended to Lily and wrapped little Allegra in something fluffy that looked like a piece of cloud, I went outside with him. “You were late,” I said. “I could’ve been killed.”
“Nope, you did fine without me.”
“Tell that to my broken ribs.” Funny, but they weren’t hurting anymore. I tested my weight on my ankle. It felt good. Normal. “How come I’m healed? Was it the moonlight from the pendant?”
“Concentrated moonlight has the ability to make anything that is wrong right again. So it healed your injuries and got rid of Demelza.”
Had it also helped me repair my relationship with Lily? I was tempted to ask, but decided it was better to believe Lily and I had worked it out by ourselves.
“Gee, Casper, it would’ve been helpful if I’d known the moonlight could defeat Demelza. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“The Powers-That-Be would’ve considered that helping.”
“And giving me the pendant wasn’t helping?” I asked.
“Not so long as you didn’t know how useful it could be.”
“That’s crazy.”
He shrugged. “We should get Lily to a hospital.”
“And call Mom to tell her about little Allegra.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Allegra—that’s what your sister called her baby?”
“You got a problem with that?”
“Not at all,” he said, trying not to laugh. “Lily’s in for a bumpy ride if her daughter turns out like you.”
Maybe, but at least Lily didn’t have a bumpy ride down from The Hollows. Casper carried her very gently. We couldn’t call for assistance because our cell phones had been fried by Demelza’s magic. We had to wait until we arrived at the hospital to call Mom. When Lily had finished speaking, she handed me the phone.
Mom said, “It’s a miracle.”
“Yeah,” I said, “I was there when little Allegra was born.”
“I wasn’t talking about the birth—although birth is always miraculous. I was talking about Steven. Two hours ago he suddenly became normal again. He’s back to his old self.”
I didn’t make the obvious crack about normal for him being a lying, cheating politician. As politicians went, I supposed he was one of the better ones.
Yikes…what was happening to me? Was being an aunt making me soft?
Mom said, “I’m very proud of you Allegra.”
“Excuse me?”
“I know it was you who helped Steven.”
“Oh right, you mean defeating Demelza.” Yep, it had been exactly two hours ago when the moonlight had turned her to dust. “No problem, Mom. It’s what I do. I mean I am a para—”
“There’s no need to mention the P word. Whatever you had to do, I’m very pleased you did it. And we’ll say no more about it.”
“Yes, Mom.”
When I hung up, I looked around for Casper but he wasn’t there. It was two days before he returned.
I was sitting with Wanda in an airport coffee shop, waiting for our flight to San Diego, when he strolled up wearing his kilt and the too-short T-shirt he’d borrowed from Steven.
“Hi,” I said, and reintroduced him to Wanda. They’d met once or twice before but I wasn’t sure she remembered him.
She looked him over, taking in the kilt. “Ooh, a souvenir from Scotland? For me?”
“Down girl,” I said, watching Casper’s face for signs that he was interested in her. Luckily he didn’t show any interest at all. I relaxed.
Wanda stood up and announced she was going to the restroom.
When she’d left us alone, I asked, “What happened to your tux?”
“I didn’t need it anymore. The Angel Awards are over.”
Oh no. So that’s why he’d chosen to appear at the airport. It was that old thing about breaking up with someone in public so they won’t yell or cry or try to kill you. Not that killing Casper would work, since he was already dead. Oh, and he wasn’t my boyfriend either, so this wasn’t exactly a breakup. I tore a packet of sugar to pieces while I waited for him to give me the bad news.
“Don’t you want to know if I won?” he asked.
Not really. Can’t we just sit here for a while and pretend we’re just a guy an
d a girl?
“Allegra,” he began.
I didn’t hear him because I’d seen someone I recognized. A beautiful woman with long dark hair and violet eyes. She was talking to a young mother of triplets.
I pointed her out to Casper. “She looks just like Elowyn.”
“Oh her,” said Casper. The violet-eyed woman felt him watching, glanced over and waved. He waved back. “That’s Demelza. The Powers-That-Be have put her on guardian angel duty.”
I laughed.
“No, really,” he said.
I stopped laughing. “It’ll take her about a million years to earn enough credits to enter Heaven.”
We watched her smile at the young mother and pick up one of the squalling triplets, gently cradling it in her arms.
Casper said, “I don’t think it’ll take that long.”
Demelza and her morsub moved on. I drank my coffee in silence. Casper said, “Don’t you want to know if I won?”
I couldn’t put it off any longer. “Did you?”
His eyes sparkled. He smiled, showing those perfect white teeth.
“You won, didn’t you?” I said, trying not to look as miserable as I felt.
“Well…”
“Stop drawing this out. Just tell me.” My mind raced, trying to pare a goodbye speech, trying to condense everything he’d meant to me over the years into a few sentences. Trying to express the blackness of the hole he’d leave in my life when he departed.
I started to say, “I can’t bear—”
He broke in. “I didn’t win.”
“Didn’t? Did you say didn’t?” My heart soared, ricocheted off the nearest planet and crashed back into my chest. Thump. Thump. Thump. No more Angel Awards for another year. Belatedly, I tried to look disappointed by his loss. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you?”
It’s best to maintain a dignified silence on certain subjects, so I said, “I guess Henry the Eighth took the prize?”
“Nope, there was an upset. The winner was Caligula.”
“That’s just wrong.”
Casper nodded. “There have been quite a few protests.”
“From you?”
“Oh, I’m happy enough with the result.” Actually he looked very happy indeed.
“So what happens now?” I asked. “With us, I mean.”
“Well, I don’t know about you but I’m off for my long overdue vacation. As a consolation prize for not winning an Angel Award, I have the use of a yacht for the next month. I’m sailing somewhere warm and tropical.”
“But you’re still my guardian angel? That’s great, because Wanda and I have to clear out our apartment and, as you know, cleaning apartments can be pretty dangerous work.”
“Oh no,” he said, holding up his hands in the classic defense position. “I’m due a vacation. In about ten minutes I’ll be on my yacht sipping an ice cold fruity drink.”
“Do you think you should go? I could be in danger. My coffee might be poisoned. Or that little old lady over there could bash me with her umbrella. Or—”
“Gotta fly. My beach towel awaits.” And he was gone, leaving me with nothing but the dream of my own tropical vacation.
But, wouldn’t you know, my next case did take me to a tropical island. It wasn’t exactly a vacation, but I ended up on the very same island where Casper’s yacht was moored.
Funny how things work out.
About the Author
After growing up in a beachside suburb of Sydney, Australia, Janni Nell traveled overseas, working in the UK before returning to Sydney, where she now lives with her family. When Janni isn’t writing, you can find her line dancing or working in her vegetable garden.
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9167-0
Copyright © 2011 by Janni Nell
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One