“Estelle.” Appalled at the appreciation on the newly-minted angel’s face for a pair of tight jeans molded over a firmly packed behind, Adriel sputtered, “What are you doing here. Stop that.” She leaned over to put her body between Estelle and the view. What made it even worse was Estelle appearing in the form Adriel knew best—an eighty-year-old with kind blue eyes surrounded by wrinkles born of laughter. That grandmotherly face ogling a man half the age she’d been when she took her last breath was not just unsettling; it was scandalous. “Gawking at mortals is not allowed.”
“Really? No one told me.” Estelle shrugged off the faux pas without an iota of repentance.
Since Estelle was in corporeal form, Adriel gave her a nudge. “Come inside and tell me everything that’s happened to you since we lost control of the bridge.” So many questions formed in Adriel’s mind that she knew choosing the most important ones was going to be impossible.
“He was flirting with you.” Estelle made no rush toward the door. Her comment sent heat flaring across Adriel’s face. What am I supposed to do with that information? Adriel wondered. Angels don’t date.
But then again, she wasn’t an angel. She didn’t think. Not anymore.
Completely unaffected by Adriel’s stare of rebuke, Estelle chuckled before going inside, where she stopped just inside the door. Shock sent her eyebrows skyward and rounded her mouth into an O. Watching Estelle take in the level of clutter—reduced though it was—of her current abode brought a grin to Adriel’s face
“The former tenant liked to collect things.” She kept her tone mild.
“So I see.” Estelle’s gaze searched Adriel for signs of distress and fear. In life, Estelle read people nearly as well as any angel. Gaining guardian status boosted the ability up to devastating.
“I’m sorry. These kitchen chairs are all I have available just now. I’m working on clearing the way to the sofa.”
Estelle opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it, and closed her mouth again. Her moment of discomfort set Adriel a little more at ease.
“Julius, he’s okay? What happened to the two of you after I…after it happened? You didn’t get into trouble because of me did you?”
“He’s fine. We’re guardians on a high profile case. Very important.”
Relief sagged Adriel’s shoulders. For days now, she’d carried the burden of knowing Julius and Estelle might have been called on to pay for her mistakes. Dropping that weight made her feel lighter than she had in days.
“How much trouble am I in?” A second passed. Estelle tried to cover the hesitation, but Adriel was no slouch in the people reading department either. “Just tell me. I can take it,” she said.
To her credit, Estelle made no effort at pretense. “Your situation has created quite a stir among the powers that be.”
“You should stay away from me.” It felt like an epic understatement when Adriel said it. Trepidation dried her mouth making the words falter. What she never expected was the look of surprise on Estelle’s face.
“What makes you say that?”
Now it was Adriel’s turn for wide-eyed shock. She gestured toward the room, “I’m a fallen angel, an abomination thrown out of my home to live here among the castoffs of an..” What would be the nicest word to use here? “Eccentric man. I’ve become human. The only thing I don’t understand is how I ended up here instead of in the dark realm.” Unexpected bitterness colored her tone, so much for having accepted her situation. “And why did it take three months?”
“Didn’t…” Eyebrows lifted into Estelle’s hairline. “No, you've had no contact with…anyone.” Adriel felt like a bug on a pin when Estelle circled the table to get up close and personal, looking for something inside her. ”There’s a block on your powers.”
“What powers? I’m just a mortal, right? You know, fallen angel. Cast out of heaven. No wings, no powers, just an unyielding hunk of flesh requiring constant care and attention. Showers, food, bathroom….activities.” Revulsion made Adriel cringe.
“I had no idea you were completely in the dark.” Instead of sitting back down, Estelle put a kettle on to boil for tea.
“Then why don’t you enlighten me?”
Cabinets opened and closed. A cup and saucer appeared at Adriel’s elbow while Estelle tried to find the right place to begin. “It’s complicated. Nothing like this has ever happened before. You’ve had some fleeting moments where it seemed like you still had access to your abilities.” It wasn’t a question, somehow she knew, and Adriel nodded.
“But you still don’t know what you are.”
“A human who occasionally enjoys some fancy extras?”
The force of Estelle’s annoyance felt like a living thing, making Adriel wonder if this was how her charges felt when she subjected them to her own annoyance. Maybe she hadn’t been as helpful as she’d always thought.
“That’s backwards thinking. You are an angel in a human body and I’ve been given the unenviable task of being your assistant or something. There are some ambiguities in my current job description.”
“Assistant? Don’t you mean guardian? For you to assist me, I’d have to be doing some kind of work and with my powers gone, I’m next to useless. You’ve been sent on a fool’s errand, Estelle. Go back to your high profile case. Leave me to my misery.”
Petulance earned Adriel a look that landed with an almost visceral blow. Estelle’s mouth firmed into a straight line. Adriel didn’t need to read her mind to know Estelle thought she was acting childish. She wasn’t wrong either.
Estelle’s power trickled through the air to tiptoe across Adriel’s limbs, leaving a line of gooseflesh in its wake. Each strand of hair on her arms lifted, and the skin on the back of her neck began to crawl. For the first time ever, Adriel felt guilty for having treated certain mortals to similar experiences.
“Stop that!” Loud in the otherwise quiet room, Adriel’s shout startled Estelle, and the energy dissipated enough to release the tightness in her throat. “Estelle, get hold of yourself.”
