by Karen Duvall
She giggled. “Cool. Thanks.”
“You’re very welcome.” I turned my attention to Dale, the blonde with blue eyes so pale that I worried how well she could see. “You strike me as a happy person.”
She brightened. “Oh, I am. My glass is always half full.”
“Great.” I smiled. “Then you’ll love this charm.” I held up a small book the size of my palm. It had a cartoon drawing of a laughing mouth on the cover and the title World’s Best Jokes. I held it out to her.
She frowned. “That thing’s older than I am,” she said.
I nodded. “It was published in the fifties and is one of thousands just like it, but don’t let the cover fool you.” I flipped through the pages. “It was once owned by a comedian who dabbled in magic. He used it in nightclubs whenever his stand-up routine bombed. Kept him in the circuit for years.”
Dale glanced sideways and gave the girl with the ring an envious look. “It doesn’t turn into a pretty ring, does it?”
I chuckled. “Sorry. No.”
She shrugged and accepted the book. She thumbed to the middle and recited, “What do you get when you cross a shark with a snowman?”
One of the girls smiled and said, “No idea, but I think you’re about to tell us.”
Dale chuckled. “Frostbite.”
That had to be the lamest joke I’d ever heard. But every girl in the room, except for Dale and me, burst out laughing so hard they were crying. They couldn’t even talk.
“I think you can guess what this charm is for,” I told her.
She scowled at the hysterical girls. “Distraction?”
“Exactly.”
Another minute passed before the girls sobered.
“Again, this charm doesn’t last long so you need to act quickly. Make sure you’re prepared before you leave ’em laughing.”
Dale nodded and continued flipping through the book.
I handed a box of tissues to one of the girls, who took one to blot her eyes before passing it on. “Remember that if you tell one of the jokes without the book in your hands it won’t do anything. You have to hold the charm for it to work.”
“Got it,” Dale said.
Now it was Xenia’s turn. She gazed up at me eagerly, her crazy hair more disheveled than usual. I was surprised to see she’d cleaned the gunk off her eyes, which were the color of storm clouds. I hadn’t realized her eyes were so big, and the dark circles beneath them made them appear even bigger.
“Xenia, I have a special pen for you,” I said, studying her expression. She appeared excited, and that was no surprise. Who wouldn’t be excited to get a magic charm of their very own? “It holds invisible ink.”
“So I can write secret messages?” she asked.
“Not exactly.” I gave her the pen. “Your messages won’t be invisible, you will.”
He mouth gaped open. “I sure could have used this as a kid.”
I smirked. “I bet you could. But it’s not meant to help you get away with stealing. It’s meant to help you get away if you’re attacked, or to hide you if you’re acting on behalf of the order. Understand?”
“Oh, yes.” She uncapped the pen. “I can write on anything?”
Nodding, I said, “Sure, but paper is probably best.”
Xenia jumped up from the floor and trotted to the kitchen. She returned with the small notepad Aurora kept by the phone and scribbled something on a page. Right away her body began to fade.
“Wow!” Dale peered at the space where Xenia had stood a few seconds before. “She’s gone.”
I removed the mental shield from my eyes and stared hard at the spot where Xenia had disappeared. I saw her as a misty ghost, the particles of her essence shimmering like tiny, incandescent moths.
“Yep,” I said. “Totally gone. And to come back all she has to do is destroy whatever she wrote.”
I waited for her to do that, but she didn’t. At least not right away.
“Can I have the same charm?” one of the other women asked.
“Sorry, there’s only one.” I sighed with relief when Xenia reappeared again.
“That’s the coolest thing ever,” Xenia said, her eyes sparkling with wonder. “I love this!” She scribbled something again and disappeared again. Only this time she didn’t come back.
I’d admit to having made a mistake if I didn’t see her, but I did. Yet I pretended not to.
“Uh-oh,” I said, infusing my voice with concern. “Xenia? Are you there?”
I saw her misty form, but it stood still, waiting. I guessed she waited to see how far her little trick would go. That was her style. And I played along.
“Is something wrong?” one of the girls asked, her freckled face pinched with worry.
I turned my back on Xenia’s misty form so she wouldn’t see me mouth the words, Everything’s fine. Xenia is right behind me.
I hoped the girl would take the hint. A twinge of surprise flashed across her face before she recovered her worried expression. “Can I do anything to help?”
I shook my head. “I’m sure Xenia’s okay. You and the others can take a break and we’ll resume class tomorrow.”
Her smile was so frozen I could have chiseled it with an ice pick.
As the young women dispersed, I kept my eye on Xenia’s “ghost.” She didn’t move for a couple of minutes and then crept to the front door. She couldn’t open it without revealing herself so she must have been hoping someone would open it for her.
I walked purposely toward the door and lifted the drape from one of the windows to peer outside, pretending to look for something. Then I opened the door and called, “Xenia? Are you out here?”
That’s when she whooshed past me to get outside. She stood on the front porch and lifted her vaporous arms to the sky in triumph. I wanted to laugh, but I couldn’t let on that I knew. This game wasn’t over yet. I had to see what she planned next.
She walked down the steps and headed for the road.
Aurora came to stand beside me in the doorway. “You better do something.”
“I know.” And I should do it fast before Xenia got beyond the protection of the wards.
I stepped off the porch and trotted toward Xenia’s retreating form. “Xenia! You can stop now. I’ve been able to see you all along and so has Aurora.”
She stopped and turned around to face me, hands on hips. “Can you hear me, too?” she asked.
I nodded. “The charm only makes your appearance vanish along with whatever you’re wearing. Anyone could hear you.”
She popped from invisibility into full view. “Wow, that was a kick in the ass.”
Though I felt tempted to really kick her in the ass, I swallowed my irritation and heaved a relieved breath. “I doubt the wards would have allowed a ghost to come or go on either side.”
Xenia frowned. “What would have happened if they stopped me?”
“Death, more than likely.” My grandmother stood beside me and raised one eyebrow, staring down at Xenia.
A tentative smile played at Xenia’s lips. She laughed. “Then it’s a good thing I was only pretending.” She pointed at my sweater and said, “Is that the same little frog from the storage room?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Wow. It even lights up,” she said.
I gazed down at the tiny jeweled frog clinging to my sweater. Ruby most definitely was twinkling, and that meant only one thing. Someone was lying and it sure wasn’t me.
* * *
“How did you know?” Xenia asked. “I thought my acting skills were pretty good.”
“They were,” I told her. We each sat on one of the beds in our room and my grandmother had taken the chair by the window. “But Ruby has an uncanny sense for the truth. When someone lies, she twinkles.”
“Will I get the pen charm back?” she asked.
“Maybe.” I glanced at my grandmother, who dipped her chin in a quick nod. “You’re not entirely on board yet, Xenia,” I added. “If this behavior kee
ps up, we can’t trust you.”
She lowered her head to stare at her lap. “I understand.”
“You need more time to adjust,” I told her.
“The knighthood isn’t for everyone,” Aurora said. “It’s not unusual to question a calling as demanding as this one. We’ve turned away squires in the past.”
“Good to know I’m not the first to be on the chopping block.” She stared anxiously at my grandmother. “You’re not turning me away, are you?”
Aurora shook her head. “No. At least not yet.”
“Xenia, why have you been ignoring the Arelim?” I asked.
Her eyes rounded with surprise. “How did you know that? My relationship with the Arelim is private.”
I tilted my head to one side, then the other. “It’s private unless something you’re saying, or not saying, affects the knighthood.”
She frowned, a spark of the rebellious girl from yesterday flashing in her eyes.
“We all have a relationship with the Arelim in some way,” I said. “When you hide something from them, you may as well be hiding it from your sister knights, too.”
“It’s none of your business,” Xenia muttered, the volume of her voice barely loud enough for anyone but my grandmother and me to hear.
“Is there something you need to talk about?” Aurora asked. “I’m a good listener and I’m always here for you girls. I promise whatever you say will stay between us.”
“What’s the drama this time?” asked a tired voice from the hallway.
I jerked around to see Rusty standing there, her red hair a matted mess, her eyes puffy from either lack of sleep or crying. What had Harachel done to her? “Rusty, are you okay?”
She yawned. “I’m fine. Just sleepy.”
She didn’t act hostile toward me or anyone else and I hoped she wasn’t carrying a grudge.
“Welcome home,” Xenia said, her tone not a bit welcoming.
“Thanks, normie,” Rusty said in a voice equally chilly. “Hey, Aurora. How’s Natalie?”
“No change,” Aurora said. “Not for a couple more hours, anyway.”
“Oh? What happens in a couple hours?” Rusty asked.
Aurora looked at me, then back at Rusty. She stood up from her chair and said, “Come help me in the kitchen and I’ll tell you what we have planned.”
“Sure,” Rusty said, her eyes a little dazed. I wondered if hypnosis was part of Harachel’s method for calming her down. Her reaction time was slow and her movements appeared sluggish. From the look my grandmother gave me, she was thinking the same thing. I hoped that meant Harachel had a reprimand coming, and not just for his treatment of Rusty. He also had some explaining to do about his role in Xenia’s recruitment.
I was about to ask Xenia for her thoughts when I noticed she was gone. I rushed out into the hall to see her emerge from the bathroom. I hadn’t even seen her leave.
I must have looked panicked because she said, “Chill out, Chalice. I had to use the bathroom. Sheesh.”
“After the stunt you pulled today, can you blame me for being cautious?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I can.”
I had really hoped to develop a rapport with Xenia, but it hadn’t happened yet. I thought that because our backgrounds were similar—growing up without family and struggling to survive under adverse conditions—we’d have a lot in common. We did, but it wasn’t enough. Her heart was more callused than mine. Even so, I had no intention of giving up.
eleven
I’D GET TO SEE AYDIN TONIGHT, AND I wouldn’t have to sneak around to do it. My heart did a little flip against my ribs at the thought. He’d be welcome at Halo Home with a chance to become a real hero. He already was a hero as far as I was concerned, but a few others still needed convincing. I doubted Rafe would ever be won over. Aydin could save a bus full of children from a raging fire while rescuing a litter of kittens from a tree and Rafe would still call him a winged devil.
Quin passed out the ghost-repellent charms after dinner. The squires were ecstatic with their new treasures, as well they should be. The pendants were gorgeous, but their ability to ward off questionable specters was even better. I just wished one would work on me.
“Look at the center of this crystal,” a squire said, her face lit with wonder. “It’s like tiny stars are floating around inside.”
“Don’t look too closely,” I warned. “Unless you want to go into a trance.”
She quickly released the Celestine to let it dangle against her chest. The others did the same.
“So what happens next?” Dale asked.
“We wait a few minutes for the wards to be switched,” my grandmother said. “That will allow the ghost form of the gargoyle Aydin to get through and help Natalie escape the mental fog that’s holding her prisoner.”
“Aren’t gargoyles evil?” Xenia asked.
I rolled my eyes. “As a general rule, yes. But remember the story I told you? Aydin saved my life by letting his curse change him into a gargoyle like the kind he and I were bonded to. He’s a good man.”
“So what?” Xenia’s brows knitted in confusion. “It doesn’t change the fact that he’s a monster now.”
Holy crap, was everyone’s head as thick as Rafe’s? “Yeah, it does, Xenia, because Aydin pledged his allegiance to the knighthood nearly a thousand years ago. His physical appearance doesn’t change the man he is. He’s devoted to us and our cause.”
“And what exactly is our cause?” Xenia asked.
She should know the answer by now. “To protect humanity from evil, supernatural and otherwise.”
She shrugged. “How about saving hungry kids who live on the streets?”
“That goes without saying,” I said, shocked she would ask such a thing.
“I used to be one of those kids.” She crossed her arms with such force I heard her shirt rip at the seam.
I knew what Xenia’s problem was: she was scared. Scared of Ayden, scared of ghosts and demons and intimidating angels that could kill you as easily as look at you. I’d felt that way once, but I had to suck it up to survive. Xenia would have to do the same.
The squires, Rusty, Xenia, Quin, my grandparents and myself stood facing the window in Natalie’s bedroom. Natalie slept so deeply we often had to check to make sure she was breathing. We had a clear view of the road and the perimeter of Halo Home’s property, so when the angels gathered there it was easy to see who was in attendance. I recognized Rafe, of course, so I assumed the others must be knight guardians as well. Harachel swaggered while pacing back and forth like a caged animal and I wondered if he didn’t feel comfortable in the human realm. I had a fair idea what he would become after fathering Rusty’s child.
The angels spread out along the property’s boundaries and extended their wings until the tips of their feathers touched to create an unbroken circle. I counted at least a dozen angels, yet there had to be more I couldn’t see. The Arelim had a natural glow to begin with, but now they pulsed with such brilliance it turned night into day within a ring of linked suns.
I glanced at the Celestine charms worn around the necks of everyone in the room, including Natalie. They started glowing with pale blue light and tiny sparks flew out from the crystals. The ghost-repellent spell must be reacting to the new wards.
The luminous circle dialed down a few watts and I blinked. Bright light would normally hurt my eyes, but angel light didn’t affect me in the slightest. I could even see through it to the road beyond, where a handful of misty figures gathered.
“Oh, shit,” I said to no one in particular, but my grandmother responded with a nod.
“I see them, too,” she said.
They were ghosts looking for a new haunt and had probably been hanging around for a while. We’d never noticed them before due to the wards that kept them out. There was nothing stopping them now. Or so they thought.
“You see who, too?” one of the squires asked as she narrowed her eyes while gazing out the window. “The
angels? They’re beautiful and they’re everywhere.”
“Mmm-hmm, yes, the angels, that’s exactly it,” I told her, not wanting her to panic. There was no sense getting the girls worked up over something that couldn’t bother them. As long as they wore their charms, they’d be fine.
“Can you ladies do me a favor?” Aurora asked. “Keep your ghost-repellent charms on at all times, even when you go to bed at night.”
“Why?” Xenia asked, her tone wary. “What’s out there?”
“Nothing for you to worry about,” Aurora said.
Xenia stared down at her charm. “If you say so.”
I saw one extra large, winged ghost in the middle of the others and it was all I could do to stop myself from hopping around like a lovesick teenager. Aydin was on his way here.
“Okay, here he comes,” Aurora said as she followed my gaze.
His presence didn’t go unnoticed by the angels, who stepped back to create more distance between them. They knew who he was and what he was. For them not to react would be like asking a lion to ignore a tiger. They were natural enemies with an instinct to fight if provoked.
I ran out of the room and down the stairs as fast as my short legs would take me, which was pretty fast. I sprinted out the door and practically ran right through Aydin, whose transparent gargoyle body stood waiting. He expected me to come. I doubt he expected what I was about to ask.
I nodded and said, “It’s okay. They want you here. We have an important favor to ask.”
Aydin hesitated and turned to look at the ghosts wandering onto the property. The angels had seen them, too, and didn’t appear to care. Aydin did. He spread his wings as if preparing to attack any specter that came too close.
I waved them off. “Ignore them, Aydin. They’re not important, but the woman inside is. We need your help.”
Aydin had witnessed the attack on me, but he hadn’t seen the episode with Natalie. I quickly explained what had happened and that she had been in a coma for almost a week.