Page 19 of When the Angel Falls First

Like that time on the beach. The memory flooded my mind…

“I have powers that help me do my job. Only for good, I promise, if that’s why you’re looking at me funny.”

“Wait, go back. Never mind powers and whatnot. Did you really just say you’re an angel?” She shook her head as if she saw an apparition. “What kind of job does an angel have? Don’t they just… float around and play harps all day?”

I snorted, amused by her innocence, her curiosity. “Not exactly. There are guardian angels, messenger angels, and then the more specialty types. I’m a cupid.”

“Hold up.” She sat bolt upright. “You’re serious? You expect me to believe that you, an average twenty-year-old native of Federal Way, Washington, are not only a real-live angel, but a cupid of all things? The little naked guy who flies around with the bow and heart arrows?” Her voice went up angrily the longer she spoke, and I cringed back from the fury and disbelief turning her aura an unusual shade of burgundy.

“It’s the truth, Josie. I need to be honest with you. We’ve gotten closer, and I can’t hide my nature anymore.”

“Right. Is this your move? The thing you tell girls to get them to?—”

Horror washed over me as I realized what she was insinuating. “Josie, no. I’ve never told anyone on Earth this before. We’re not allowed to tell humans.”

“Are you even twenty years old? Or are you actually an immortal, alive since the dawn of time?”

“Not quite that long.” I ran a hand awkwardly over the back of my neck. This was going terribly, but I had no idea how to fix it.

Her eyes widened. “I was joking! This can’t be happening. You must think I’m the most gullible girl in town to believe this kind of bullshit.”

“Never. If you’re willing, I can show you?—”

“Stop. Just stop right there.” She pushed herself up off the picnic blanket, shaking her head. “This is too much, Caleb. Really. I need some space.”

“Josie, please. I can prove it. Let me show you.”

“If you think some five-dollar magic trick is going to fool me, you’re dead wrong.” She walked away with a look of disdain, leaving a gaping hole in my chest where she was supposed to be.

I shook my head, dissolving the painful memory. It had only gotten worse from there, with the clarion call coming a week later, and all that followed.

No, I couldn’t go back, and I couldn’t make those mistakes again. We were only friends, and that would have to be enough.

“I’ll pick you up at seven?”

“It’s a date.”

Everything in me longed to stay. But I walked out the door.

NINE

Josie

As I saton the edge of my bed, fussing with the hem of my skirt, Gatsby padded over to me, purring softly.

“You like the outfit?” I reached down, running my fingers through his soft fur, and he nuzzled into my ankle. “Don’t worry, it’s not even a real date, Gatsby.”

Unless we happen to find ourselves in a compromising position, bodies crashing into each other as he goes deeper with every thrust…

I smacked my own forehead to banish the vision.

“We’re just two friends hanging out. Nothing to get worked up about.”

I was trying to convince myself more than the cat, but the bundle of nerves in my stomach disagreed. Matilda and Heathcliff screeched in a game of tag, knocking over my mug of chamomile tea and taking down a lamp by the cable. Poor things weren’t yet adapted to apartment life, but could I blame them? They’d been uprooted from the shop—the place they’d called home—and had to adapt from ruling the dominion to fitting into my one-bedroom apartment.

I sighed,standing up to look at my reflection in the full-length mirror in the corner of my living room. There I was, dressed up in a stylish skirt and a casual top, trying to look laid-back, put together, and sexy as sin, but awash in a flood of chaotic emotions at the same time. The physical appearance completely incongruous to how I felt. I had to appear chill and confident, even though my insides screamed I was anything but.

I met my own eyes in the mirror, a mix of apprehension and determination staring back.

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