Calling the Shots (10 page)

Chapter Eight

M
y homecoming felt completely unreal.

I sat in the back of the Agency limo, watching familiar landmarks flow by in the velvety dusk, and breathing the celestial air with its haunting scent which is almost, but not quite, like lilacs. But I wasn’t really here.

I kept seeing Honesty in the middle of Sunset Boulevard, shivering in the California sunshine.

Back at the dorm I found a note on my door.

I hadn’t allowed myself to miss my soul-mate too much while I’d been gone. It would have been too painful. Now I was suddenly desperate to see her.

I needed a shower and change of clothes but I couldn’t possibly wait that long, so I immediately banged on her door. There was a long pause. Eventually this mad curly bed-head poke out.

“Tada!” I said, laughing.

“Omigosh, Boo!” she shrieked. “It feels like a lifetime!”

We jumped up and down, hugging each other.

Lola said, “I’m going to give you two options,
carita
. Option A, you catch up on your beauty sleep like a good sensible angel, or Option B, you, me and Sweetpea hit the Babylon right away and you do the beauty sleep thing later. What do you say?”

I slapped her palm. “Option B for Babylon! I’m beautiful enough already.”

Lola sniffed the air. “Beautiful yes, but also strangely stinky.”

“I’ve been hanging out with hoodlums and hobos,” I said. “What do you expect?”

“Ooh,” said Lola. “Tell me more.”

She followed me into my room and we yelled scraps of news to each other as I showered.

Over the sound of rushing water, Lola told me about the tribal princess she’d been minding in ancient Persia or wherever. “Her tribe breeds herds of fabulous horses and they travel with them from place to place. When they’re not killing people from other tribes, the men are really spiritual and romantic. They give their sweethearts roses and recite love poetry. The women are as fierce as the men,” she explained. “They all ride like demons, even tiny kids.”

“I met a girl who can ride like a demon too,” I yelled, thinking of Ruby Rio.

“Was she your human?”

“Uh-uh. Um, actually my human is kind of complicated,” I said lamely. I suddenly felt unable to put my 1920s experiences into words. I put on my fluffy robe and blow-dried my hair, and didn’t say another word about Honesty.

Possibly Lola guessed how I felt, because she flung open my wardrobe door and said tactfully, “OK, girl, what are you going to wear?”

I threw on some jeans, a T-shirt which said Little Miss Naughty (when in doubt go for the classics!) splashed on some Attitude, my fave heavenly fragrance, and I was ready to go.

Lola and I headed down to the Babylon Cafe arm in arm.

We found Reuben at our favourite outdoor table.

I thought he looked a bit tense. As a pure angel, Reuben often finds Earth a real shock to his system, so I said sympathetically, “Was it really tough?”

He shook his head. “Actually it was great. I’m looking after this little cabin boy who got mixed up in the Napoleonic wars. Um, Mel, before I get into that I’ve got something to tell you.”

I was busy figuring out which delicious fruit punch to have. The Babylon does about a zillion varieties. “Yeah?” I said vaguely. “What?”

“Orlando thought you’d rather hear it from me.” Reuben sounded so worried that I looked up. “Brice is back,” he said.

I put down my menu. “No way!”

“Yes, way,” said Reuben. “He’s practically the first person I saw when I got back to school.”

“They actually let a fallen angel back into our school?” I thought I might be sick.

Reuben nodded unhappily. “I knew you’d be upset.”

“I’m not upset! I’m sick to my stomach, I’m, I’m…”

“Upset,” Lola supplied helpfully.

All my feelings burst out in a rush. “It’s outrageous! Brice can’t just waltz back and call himself an angel after the things he’s done. After the things he did to you, Reuben!” I reminded him angrily. “OK, so we saw a different side to him when we met him in the future. And OK, so he’s not one hundred per cent evil, but that
hardly
qualifies him to be an angel!”

I saw Reuben absently fingering his scar under his tunic, a souvenir of the savage beating Brice gave him in Tudor times. The Sanctuary angels could have healed it totally, but Reuben insisted on keeping it. He said he wanted to show all his mates that he was hard but I think it was more of a reminder to stay focused; you know, an angel warrior kind of thing.

I was still waiting for my friends to show me some sympathy, but there was just a long awkward silence.

Then Lola said, “Who knows, maybe Brice has changed? Maybe he’s gone through his evil PODS phase and come out the other side, and from now on he’ll be an absolutely incredible celestial agent.”

“Oh, please,” I snapped. “Are you one of his little groupies now?”

She looked hurt. “Hey, I’m your best friend but don’t push your luck.”

“Let’s not talk about this now,” said Reuben quickly. “We’ve only got a couple of days off. Let’s just have fun, OK?”

It’s all right for them, I thought
. Brice hadn’t been their cosmic stalker. They had no idea how insecure I felt, knowing I could walk into any one of my favourite heavenly haunts and find my worst nightmares looking back at me.

When I finally climbed into my economy-size bed, I was still completely freaked. It’s not surprising that I had a really disturbed night. I kept dreaming I was back on Earth. I saw Ruby hanging up her glittering costumes in the new apartment, and Lenny came and gave her a kiss.

Honesty was standing at the window staring down into a sunny courtyard, and I got the weirdest feeling she was missing me. I tried to tell her I was coming back, but as soon as I heard my own voice, I woke up.

I must have been doing some unusually hard thinking in my sleep, because I didn’t feel nearly so anti-Brice next morning as I had the night before.
You’re such a hypocrite
, I scolded. You don’t go riding in on your high horse every time a human makes a mistake. T Caleb Jones must have been into some heavy stuff to get put in Singsing, but he came out of it, and now he’s like this streetwise guru.

I found myself remembering what Michael said; that we couldn’t be effective guardian angels unless we had flaws, unless we genuinely understood human suffering. Well, Brice was flawed all right and he’d suffered in ways I’d probably never know.

Maybe one day Brice would evolve into a streetwise guru angel? Or maybe not. Either way, it was his and the Agency’s business, not mine.

I was just getting dressed, when Lola came to find me. We decided to pick up some picnic goodies from Guru and spend the day on the beach, getting our strength back for phase two of our GA assignments.

We lay on sparkling white sand in our bikinis, soaking up the rays, and listening to the soft hush-hush of the heavenly waves.

Suddenly Lola said, “I love being a guardian angel, but have you noticed how you’re never off duty, even now you’re back home?”

“Even when you’re asleep!” I said ruefully.

My soul-mate sat up. “Did you dream about yours too?”

“Only all night long! Actually I’m kind of missing mine.”

“Me too,” Lola admitted. “It’s weird. I didn’t even like her at first!”

“Ditto,” I giggled.

See what I mean? Lola and I are totally kindred spirits. We can say absolutely anything to each other, and the other person will understand.

She suddenly reached out and patted my hand. “Michael would never have let him come back, if it wasn’t right,” she said softly. She didn’t have to say who she meant.

“I know,” I said. “I’m trying to be more mature, OK? That’s what the angel business is all about, right? Evolution, trees, diamonds and whatever?”

By the time I got back to school, I felt totally at one with the cosmos. Orlando was right, I thought, I had needed a break. But now I was going back and I was going to be the best GA Hollywood has ever seen!

I was just figuring out what to pack, when the phone rang beside my bed. It was Michael. “Sorry, I should have called, but I’ve been tied up.”

“I know, don’t say it. My old century,” I sighed.

“Could be,” he said humorously. “But I’m here now. And in your opinion, how is Honesty doing?”

I took a breath. “In my opinion? Not great. Orlando thinks she accidentally tuned into a PODS wavelength. She’s totally withdrawn inside herself and I don’t think just sending vibes is going to bring her out.”

There was a pause. Then Michael said, “I think you’d better come down and pick out a suitable outfit, Ms Beeby.”

I gasped. “You are kidding! You don’t mean…?”

“You’re saying that Honesty needs a friend. I happen to agree with you, which is why I’m giving you official permission to materialise.”

Chapter Nine

I
‘d only materialised twice before. The first time I stupidly did it without permission, and almost got myself chucked out of the Academy. The second time I even more stupidly dived through a wormhole into the future and materialised by pure accident.

Now for the first time I was materialising with the Agency’s blessing, which is practically unheard of for a trainee.

The Agency style adviser showed me and Michael all the delicious clothes I had to choose from and I’m afraid I got totally over-excited! We picked out two authentically aged outfits, one to wear and one to pack in my real 1920s suitcase. After that I had to choose chemises and stockings and whatever. I think it was the underwear which suddenly made it seem real.

“Michael, I don’t think this is going to work,” I panicked. “As far as the Bloomfields are concerned, I’m a stranger. I can’t just like, move in with them.”

“We’ve been doing this kind of thing for quite a while, you know,” Michael assured me with a smile. “I think you’ll find it will all work out.”

But when I stepped on to planet Earth a couple of hours later, my knees went weak with stage fright.

Can you believe I found myself outside the exact same Spanish-style apartment building that I’d seen in my dream? I could hear a dance tune playing on a crackly radio: “Not much money, oh but honey, ain’t we got fun!”

A warm breeze rattled the fronds of the palm trees. The wind was surprisingly strong. Suddenly a red feather boa came snaking through the air and wrapped itself softly around my head.

I disentangled myself and saw Ruby and Honesty running out of the building. They started picking up pieces of glitzy circus clothing. I was just about to rush up to say hi, when I remembered. DUH! They didn’t actually know me yet!

Then, quite spontaneously, Ruby said, “Could you hold this a moment?” and dumped a heap of clothes in my arms. “I was airing my costumes, and the wind blew them off the balcony,” she grinned.

I took a couple of microseconds to assimilate the good news - that I was now 100% visible to the human race.

Ohh, this is better
, I thought happily, and my nerves instantly melted away. I was so thrilled to be able to chat to them in my visible form, that I spoke right from the heart. “I can’t believe it! I’ve always dreamed of going to Hollywood, and finally I’m really here!”

I saw Ruby register my lonely little suitcase. “Got any folks?” she asked sympathetically.

I shook my head. “I guess you could say I’m kind of a free agent,” I said, which wasn’t exactly a lie.

“Stop with us, till you get fixed up,” she said impulsively. “Your mama won’t mind, will she, Honesty?”

Honesty took a faltering step towards me. I was astonished to see wondering recognition in her eyes. “Have we met before?” she said softly. “I feel like I know you from somewhere.”

I suddenly felt really shy. “I don’t think so,” I told her. “I’ve probably just got one of those faces.”

But inside I was going,
omigosh, Honesty recognised me!
I had so much respect for angel vibes after that, I can tell you. I didn’t have to try to win Honesty’s confidence. It’s like she just
knew
she could trust me.

Honesty even said I could share her little box room, if I didn’t mind the nocturnal gurgles from the hot-water tank. She thoughtfully emptied out two of her drawers and made some space in her closet, and while I put my things away, she told me what everyone in the family was up to these days.