I kept silent. It was bad enough when Vesta had mistaken me for my brother earlier. Did I have to tell Liz? I just kept my mouth shut. I don't know what made me think that would work, though.
"Jake?" she called out through the silence. Her voice echoed against the elegantly painted walls. "I know you aren't sleeping. Stop pretending."
"I can see that there's no way to escape this," I sighed. "Adrian is my twin brother, and a shameful one at that. He was exiled from Heaven after people found that he wasn't supposed to be there. He had tricked his way there. What a dirty rat!"
"So why do you think he might have passed through here?" Liz asked. Well, that's when I figured out that she had heard most of the conversation. But how? She was sitting across the room, and Vesta and I were talking quietly!
"I'm not exactly positive," I replied. "I barely knew him when he was exiled since I was still in training to become a Guardian. All I remember about him is that we hated each other. We mixed about as well as oil and water."
"So . . . would he want to kill you?" Liz questioned. "Wait, no. Angels are immortal. So what's the next closest thing?"
"You," I answered. It was true. If my assignment was killed, I'd be out of a job and in major trouble.
"Oh, ok," Liz said. She showed no sign of feeling when she talked. I could tell she was scared, but she didn't let it bother her too much. She didn't say another word after that, so I assumed that she fell asleep.
I was exhausted myself, so I fell asleep too.
Before I get on with this next part, let me clarify that angels do not dream. They've got something called an awakened eye. It allows an angel to see around even while asleep. Now that I've cleared that up, I'll continue with the story . . .
Visions of darkness and evil swirled around my mind. Something was wrong. Something was in the very room in which Liz and I were sleeping. What was it? Whatever it was, it was haunting my thoughts. I realized that I could not see around the room. It was like my awakened eye was shrouded in a curtain of deceit that could not be removed. This kind of thing never had happened to me before.
I tried to wake up. It was hopeless. It was like trying to force out a scream when you're paralyzed in fear.
All of a sudden, I was released from my struggle. I woke up. Looking around wildly, I saw that Liz was standing beside my bed.
"You know, it's really hard to sleep when you're stirring like that."
"Why?" I asked, still in a daze. "What was I doing?"
"Crying," Liz responded simply. "And I think you were talking in some mumbo jumbo language. At least it didn't make sense to me. You sounded frightened, so I woke you up."
"What did I say?"
"You said 'pravus' over and over again. It was pretty strange."
"Pravus means 'evil' in Latin," I explained. "Most angels can speak Latin when they're reborn."
"Jake, you're really starting to scare me. To tell you the truth, I'd like to be a normal girl right about now."
She looked at her feet. She silently slunk back into her bed and went to sleep. I sighed. I wasn't exactly shocked. Liz had had a tough day. Things just kept going from bad to worse. I knew in my heart Liz was starting to lose her trust in me. I decided to go see Vesta for a drink. Not only could I really use a pick-me-up, I was really thirsty after my mouth was so dry from the pravus incident.
I sat on one of the red bar stools. Vesta turned with a drink in hand.
"Here you go, hun."
She handed me a big glass of fruit punch, my favorite drink at the time. I don't know how Vesta knows these things. I didn't even say anything. I guess she's just a natural bartender. I drank it slowly. I wanted to savor every sweet, refreshing drop.
"Is something wrong?" Vesta asked me while observing my behavior.
"Well . . . where do I start? My assignment got stabbed, I had weird evil visions, and now I don't think Liz trusts me. I just don't know what to do anymore."
"If things are going so badly, shouldn't you be with your assignment?" Vesta pointed out.
"Good heavens! You're right!" I almost shouted. I chugged the rest of my fruit punch and ran back to Liz.
I looked at Liz's bed. There was some sort of dark figure beside her. It looked like it was a cat, but I couldn't tell what it was because the lights were off. It jerked its head around and glared at me. Its glowing red eyes punctured my thoughts. Before I could say anything, it leapt from the bed and sprinted out the door.
Liz's arm hung limply over the side of her bed. I inspected it carefully. A bite mark was on her wrist. It seemed like once I spotted it, it disappeared. It was very strange, I'll tell you that. Luckily, I sensed no change in Liz's aura, so she was fine.
I looked at the clock. It was already 6 AM. I had only been gone for five minutes. Then again, a disaster can strike in a matter of seconds.
I decided to sit on my bed and wait for Liz to wake up.
She arose at 7 o'clock on the dot. It must have been routine for her.
Liz looked at me and muttered, "Ow."
Other than that, I wouldn't have had another indication about the bite. She looked at her wrist, but saw nothing there. Liz looked like she needed an explanation with the confusion in her eyes, but turned away as if she didn't want to know.
I moved over to her bed. I reached out to turn her to face me, but she turned without me needing to make her.
"Why does my life stink?" she asked quietly.
"It doesn't," I answered. "If it did, I'd be a pretty lousy Guardian. Anyway, you're alive, aren't you?"
"Barely," she said under her breath.
"Well, if you're alive and you've got a friend, I'd say your doing all right."
"Friend?" she repeated slowly.
"Me. A Guardian is always there for you. Matches aren't selected at random, you know. The Angel Order handpicks Guardians to go along with their assignments. It wasn't just chance that you're with me."
All of a sudden, Liz did something strange. Straight from her depression, she burst out in laughter.
"You saved me from the exploding microwave!"
"That's right!" I laughed. "I remember that!"
"I always wondered why the whole house didn't burn to the ground," Liz told me, "but now I know. I wonder who put something in there that would make the whole microwave blow up like that? What was in there, anyway?"
"I don't know what was in there, but I have a hunch that my brother did it."
