Angel Eyes

by Nicole Luiken

  Then I looked up my team’s score. My team had also gotten credit for getting five people to safety (650 points) plus bonus points for starting out in third-class (500 points).

  And that was when things got interesting. Maryanne had received a bonus for every passenger she’d woken up, but Tad had received an equal penalty so the numbers cancelled out. However, the rafts built at my suggestion had saved the lives of fifteen VR characters.

  Small enough numbers in the face of a disaster as large as the Titanic's where thousands had drowned. But enough to make me feel proud. The 1500 bonus points were nice, too.

  Our grand total: 2650.

  To my pleasure, Jazzy was ranked twenty-second. She’d made it off on the third life raft, but only received a 50 point bonus for starting in second class and an extra 50 points for talking to a historical figure.

  Sahan was listed as drowned, incurring a huge penalty, though he’d earned a few points acting as translator for some women travelling third class, who had been saved. His status was also listed as PENDING. Uh-oh, that couldn’t be good.

  Further investigation vindicated the lump in my stomach. Apparently, the ruling wasn’t clear whether he still belonged to my team or not. Jazzy had formally declared herself a team of one, but Sahan hadn’t. His negative score might still be attached to my team’s.

  I felt a slow burn of anger: Tad had lied to me. I should’ve checked myself instead of taking his word for it.

  Sure enough, as I watched the ruling came in on Sahan and my team’s numbers dropped to fifth place. No millions for us then, but enough to inject some extra money into my business in addition to the free publicity and ensure that Gerry and Ron could pay their education debt and be free.

  I ought to have been pleased. Instead the thought of returning to school and business as usual left me feeling oddly unsatisfied and out of sorts. Things felt unfinished.

  My feet took me to Catherine’s office. She welcomed me inside, but I didn’t sit down.

  “Nations Against has had a setback, but they aren’t going to go away,” I said.

  “No, they aren’t,” she agreed sadly. “Do you want a new identity?”

  I shook my head. “No. I’m not going to hide. I’m not looking for help—not that you haven’t been wonderful,” I added quickly. “And I don’t want to play savior.” Doing so smacked of setting myself above the rest of humanity. But I did want to do my part. Certainty flowed into me. “I want to help you. If Ultraviolet needs a bodyguard or an undercover investigator, give me a call.”

  Catherine sat back, surprised, but smiled warmly. “Thank you for the offer, Angel.”

  I flashed her a grin. “I—We—“ I savoured the word. We. Mike and I working together. “We’ll give you a family discount.”

  She laughed, low and pleased. “I’ll hold you to that.”

  I paused at the door. “Oh, and keep an eye on the younger sibs for us?”

  “Will do.”

  Chapter Twenty-four

  ANGEL

  Trying to be patient with Mike was driving me crazy.

  Four days had passed since we’d left Catherine’s. Four days of spending almost every minute together, attending college classes, eating supper every night, cuddling on the couch, steamy kisses… but no ring.

  When was he planning to give the darn thing to me? Christmas? I’d never last that long. I was already fighting the urge to search his room. The suspense was killing me, especially since I still didn’t know what kind of ring it was.

  Unable to stand it anymore I called a war council of me, Maryanne and Wendy. Wendy and I had lunch together at our favourite pizza joint—when Dr. Hatcher arranged scholarships for me and Mike, I’d picked the same college Wendy was attending. Maryanne, frantically busy with picking up the reins at her father’s company, attended via Holoconference.

  It was a little weird to see her in a formal blazer with her hair all sleeked back, but she played the role just as convincingly as she had 1960s co-ed, only relaxing once her assistant had left the room. We chatted a little about Wendy’s recent email from Carl and Maryanne’s tense-but-ultimately-successful morning meeting with one of her dad’s VPs, before I explained my problem.

  “Do you think Mike bought the ring as a prop to sway the Golden Ticket audiences and make the Cull?” I asked. The thought made me cringe.

  “No way,” Wendy said, setting down her slice of pizza. “He’d have bought an onyx ring to match your Evil Clone. The ring’s definitely for you. Mike’s crazy about you.”

  “Thanks.” I forced myself to sound upbeat.

  Wendy nudged me with an elbow. “So I guess we know what your answer is going to be?”

  I nodded. I was going to say yes, wasn’t I? “If he pops the question. It might be just a promise ring.” Which would be a disappointment in most ways, but a relief in others.

  I hated the ambivalence I was feeling. At this point, I just wanted it to be over.

  Wendy cast me a sympathetic glance. “Hang in there.”

  “He’s probably just waiting for a special occasion,” Maryanne offered.

  I still wasn’t willing to wait until Christmas, and I couldn’t think of any dating-anniversaries in between now and then. I needed this to be over with.

  All right. If Mike was waiting for a special occasion, I’d just have to manufacture one. The decision made me feel better.

  *MIKE*

  “You idiot.”

  Mike stopped halfway across the grassy quad when Wendy stepped into his path. She stared at him, her face flushed under her cap of short dark hair, then punched his shoulder with her fist.

  “Ow! What was that for?” He rubbed the sore spot and scowled. The day had already started off badly. Angel had been upset for the last few days and trying to hide it.

  He didn’t know what was wrong. Had she changed her mind about wanting him to work for her company? Was it some kind of aftermath to finding out she had a clone?

  “That’s for being an idiot,” Wendy said, chin thrust pugnaciously forward.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The ring, dummy, the ring. Why haven’t you given it to Angel yet?”

  His jaw dropped. “How do you know about the ring?”

  She rolled her heavily made-up eyes. “You flashed it on HoloTV, remember?”

  His stomach clenched. “Does Angel know?”

  She lifted her brows. “Duh.”

  He swore. “What should I do?”

  Wendy folded her arms, but from her purple-lipstick smirk she was enjoying his panic. “I would suggest begging. On your knees. Tonight. She’s planning a fancy supper and—”

  “No way!” Mike rejected that plan. “If I propose tonight, she’ll know you tipped me off.” Crap. He began to pace, ignoring the dirty looks he received when other students had to veer out of the way. “I can’t screw this up.”

  Wendy’s face softened. She squeezed his shoulder. “She loves you. It’ll be all right.” Her palmtop chirruped. “Gotta go. I’m late for Art History.”

  Mike had class, too, but he didn’t move, his mind racing. His first instinct was to go all out on his date with Angel tonight. Order champagne and put the ring in the fluted glass? Fly to Paris? Disneyland?

  No. Nothing cliché. He needed to show Angel how special she was to him. How no one else in the world knew her better than he did.

  Why she shouldn’t dump him for being an idiot.

  *ANGEL*

  Mike was an idiot. I fumed silently to myself. I’d made reservations at a posh restaurant and now we were going to be late because he’d lost his keys.

  “They were in the pocket of my jeans,” he told me over his shoulder. “They probably fell out while I was doing laundry. Help me look?”

  I’d zipped myself into a red cocktail dress, had my hair pinned up and curled and was wearing strappy, red heels. The last thing I wanted to do was crawl around on a dirty cement floor. “I’ll just wait outside,” I said, but Mike tu
gged me inside the darkened laundry room.

  Dark, that is, except for three red candles that smelled of cinnamon.

  My heart tripped faster.

  While I was still blinking, he pulled me into his arms and kissed me. I melted against his chest. All he had to do was touch me and the world vanished.

  “Remember kissing in the laundry room at Maryanne’s birthday party?” he asked huskily between nibbles on my neck.

  I shivered. “Yes.”

  In the candlelight his violet eyes were dark. “Afterward you said if I betrayed you, you’d carve my heart out with a dull knife.” Another string of kisses.

  My hands fisted in his jacket, holding on for dear life while my head spun.

  “You were so fierce and beautiful and smart. That’s the moment when I fell in love with you.” Holding my gaze, he took a small box out of his pocket and sank to one knee.

  I stopped breathing.

  “I love you, Angel, and I don't want to ever be without you. Will you marry me?”

  My throat ached with emotion. I looked at him, so handsome and yet tough in his black silk shirt and tie, and saw everything I’d ever dreamed—and it scared me half to death.

  I’d been waiting and waiting for this moment, but now that it was here I had more than cold feet, I had frostbite. “Wait!” I moved a step back to stop myself from throwing myself in his arms.

  Mike froze. Oh, God, the expression on his face… He thought I’d rejected him. “I love you,” I said quickly. “You have to know that.” Tears pricked my eyes.

  “I’m sensing a ‘but’ here,” Mike said grimly. He got back to his feet.

  I knew I was screwing this up, but I had to get it all out there on the table. “I love you, but what about Dr. Frankenstein?”

  Mike shook his head in disbelief. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  I took a deep breath and tried again. “Doesn’t it ever bother you that we’re doing exactly what he wanted us to do? He set us up to fall in love, get married and have babies. I want to be with you, Mike, but I’m scared. What if it’s a mistake? A trap that we’ve fallen into.” Dr. Frankenstein’s last laugh.

  “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!” Mike said harshly.

  Two more tears rolled down my face. “I’m sorry,” I choked. I backed up another step toward the door. The walls were closing in on me. I needed air.

  “Oh, no, you don’t.” Mike moved to block me. His eyes were stormy with emotion. “I’m no letting you give up this—us—for something a dead man said.”

  I lifted my chin even though my heart was breaking. “Get out of my way.” I reached into my purse for some Knockout.

  “So what if we met because of Dr. Frankenstein? Don’t forget he also kept us apart for umpteen years. And we are not doing what he wants. You think he wanted us to bring his program crashing down around his ears and escape?”

  I stopped crying. Put like that… “Well, no.”

  “He sure as hell didn’t,” he said forcefully. “Putting us together in the same immersion wasn’t some diabolical master plan, it was his fatal mistake. Don’t you see? Dr. Frankenstein would hate for us to marry because he knew that together we’re unstoppable.” He kissed my palms.

  The vise around my lungs loosened. Mike was right. Putting us together had been Dr. Frank’s fatal mistake. Together we were stronger. Together we’d done so much: escaped our prison, beaten a Loyalty chip, saved Gabriel.

  If anyone tried to mess with us or any future hypothetical children of ours we’d beat them, too.

  The only way Dr. Frank could truly win was if I let my fear of him dictate my actions.

  So what did I want?

  The answer was simple. I wanted Mike. Always.

  My spine straightened. “Give me the ring.”

  “Why?” Mike regarded me through narrowed eyes.

  I grabbed for the box, but he hid it behind his back.

  “Why do you want it?” he asked, as we tussled for it.

  “Because it’s mine.” I seized his wrist.

  He stilled. “Does that mean you’re changing your answer?”

  I pried the box out of his fingers and dug out the ring. Triumphantly, I slid it on my finger, admiring the marquise-cut amethyst. “It’s the same colour as your eyes.”

  “Angel, don’t tease,” Mike said hoarsely. “Say the words.”

  I threw my arms around his neck on a burst of exuberance and kissed his jawline. “My answer is: yes, yes, yes.” I punctuated each word with a kiss.

  "You won't regret it," Mike vowed, capturing my lips.

  As I kissed him back with all the passion singing in my heart, I knew that no matter what hurdles life threw us Mike and I would face them the same way. Together. Forever.

  Unstoppable.

  Michelangelo.

  The End