He looked at me. There was something in his eyes that told me there was more to this story, more than he was willing to discuss. He had seen far more than I had thought he had. I was trying to protect him from the reality about myself, only to discover that he already had an idea about such possibilities.
What was I supposed to say to his story? It meant that I now knew of two half-angels in the world. It meant more to me then he could possibly imagine. It meant that I was not alone, that there were more like me out there.
Though this Helen had felt safe enough to tell him her secret. I wasn’t sure he was quite ready to handle mine. I mean, it’s one thing to say ‘Hey, I’m an angel,’ but it’s quite another to say ‘Hey, I’m a demon.’ How would he take it if I told him that I was both, that my blood was a mixture of what was light and what was dark? Would he be able to believe me? And I didn’t have the wings to convince him as she did. I did, however, have the flames…
“Do you still hear from her?” I asked softly as he resumed his place on my stomach.
“From time to time she sends me updates on where she is and what’s going on. Mostly from untraceable IP addresses. Everything is masked, and the email address is never the same. She said they were coming back to Midvale soon as something important is going on. She said others would be coming too, some good and some bad.” He sighed. “You know, you’re the first person I’ve told all this too. Now I’m not the only one protecting her secret.”
“I will carry it to the grave,” I promised.
I said it even though I knew I was going to be telling my mother at least part of his story when I got home. I was sincere in saying that I would protect her secret, however, if only because by doing so I also protected mine.
Something pinged in the back of my mind. There was a familiarity to this final bit of information that Adam had just shared. Could she have been the person who had made that mysterious phone call? Thinking about it there and then turned my brain into mush; I would have to ponder it further later. If it had been her, then she was in trouble.
“Thanks,” said Adam, closing his eyes.
I waited a few minutes before speaking again, allowing him time to think about the mysterious girl with the wings. Then I shifted under him.
“You ready for Halo?” I asked.
“Hells yeah! It’s about time!” He jumped off me and rushed to the TV to set up the game.
****
After three hours of nonstop Halo, my fingers had finally had enough of pressing buttons on the controller. Adam let out a huge yawn, which made me realize that it was probably time to leave. I checked the clock on my phone and grumbled. It was already past midnight.
“You need to get to bed,” I said, putting the controller down.
“Naw, I have a few more games in me yet.” He looked at me with bloodshot eyes.
He was pushing himself. He didn’t do well when he pulled this. I had seen the outcome of a lack of sleep, and the Adam it produced was not the Adam I wanted to be around.
“I think you really need to get some rest. You look about to fall over.” I laughed and gave him a playful poke.
“All right, all right. I’ll go to bed, Mom,” he joked.
Adam walked me to my car, gave me a warm hug, and sent me on my way. I was driving home with the radio turned down low when my phone suddenly went crazy in the cup-holder. I picked it up and nearly dropped it when I saw who the caller was.
Could it really be him?
I was staring at the image saved in my phone of my dear, lost Wesley.
I fumbled to answer before I missed the call.
“Hello?” I breathed into the phone, half afraid it would be Miranda on the other end.
“Dawn?” The voice was panicky but definitely Wesley’s.
I fought to keep the tears from pouring down my face.
“Wesley?” It came out as a choked whisper.
“Dawn, I got away for a moment. She doesn’t know I have my phone.” There was a crackle on the line. “She knows what you are. She knows that she was wrong in her initial assumption. She’s hunting the others as we speak. She wants to burn Heaven and Hell.” He was rushing his words, and it was hard to understand what he was saying.
“What do you mean, burn Heaven and Hell? How is that even possible? What does she think I am? Wesley, where are you?”
“She’s going to kill all of your kind. That’s all I can say. I have to go, Dawn. Find the others before she does!”
He was gone. The call had lasted barely thirty seconds, hardly enough to quench the fire in my heart. It hurt so much to remember how he had run away. Now he was warning me of danger. And it sounded serious. My heart sank. I put my phone down and completed the drive home, trying not to think of the boy with the blue eyes, and of his brilliant smile, and of the never-ending pain in my heart.
