Crossroads (37 page)

You see, honey, the only
way for Aden to get the Holy Spirit’s soul is if one who carries it
gives it willingly. You will never be fully in danger from Aden
because he can’t kill you to get what he wants, but he can hurt the
ones you love.

My powers were strong
once; but now that I’m old, they have weakened, and I won’t be able
to fight him. Since I wouldn’t help him by convincing you to give
up your soul willingly, he has taken my life. Don’t worry. I knew
this time would come sooner or later, but it was my honor to watch
over you. Because I knew I couldn’t be with you forever, I’ve asked
someone else to watch over you. You must be strong. Don’t ever let
him have your soul, even it means he will hurt the ones you love.
You must not, or humanity will be lost forever.

I know this is a lot to
take in, but I believe in you. You are strong, just like your
mother. I know you are sad that I have passed on. I know you will
miss me, but not as much as I will miss you. Some humans believe a
myth that when they pass away, their souls become a star. Though I
am not human, look for me up in the sky and know that you are not
alone.

As I have mentioned
before, you cannot fight destiny; humans search for the meaning of
life when it’s right in front of them. Everybody has a purpose,
even Earth angels. We all need to live as we do, and our purpose
will unfold naturally. Then it will be our time to pass on when it
has been fulfilled. Be strong. Move forward and live your human
life to the fullest, responsibly. I will miss you. I loved you as
my own.

Exhaling and sitting there motionless,
I took in Gamma’s words. I was practically holding my breath the
whole time. I couldn’t believe what I was reading; had it been the
first time learning about the existence of Earth angels, the
Twelve, the Royal Council, and the soul of the Holy Spirit, I would
have flipped. But the news didn’t strike me hard because Phillip
had already explained it all to me.

Regardless, she had just revealed
everything I needed to know about my life. Tears rolled down my
face. They were tears of frustration, tears of sadness, tears of
anger, and tears of hope. I felt completely worn out. I didn’t want
to believe it, but the truth was written in her letter. Michael was
right. Aden knew about me before I was born. He was waiting for
this opportunity for 18 years. He was waiting for a member of the
Royal Council to make a mistake. And who did Gamma ask to watch
over me? It didn’t matter. Aden was dead. I had my guardian angel,
and he was all that mattered to me.

Startled by Mom’s voice, I broke out
of my thoughts. “Claudia, are you ready?”

“
I’ll be right out, Mom,”
I replied.

“
Claudia,” she called
again.

I quickly placed the rest of Gamma’s
belongings in the box and placed the letter in my pocket. “Almost
done, Mom.” I was so distracted that I hadn’t noticed leaving some
things out. Just in the nick of time, I was done. Mom came through
the door. I could tell she had been crying. Avoiding eye contact,
she took the box from me. “Thanks, honey. I know this was hard for
you too.”

I placed my arms around her, and
suddenly she lost control. Although my eyes were glossy, I had no
tears to shed. My heart was aching not for Gamma this time, but for
my mom. Knowing the life she could have had was taken from her made
me feel extremely guilty. The husband and the children she could
have had were gone, all because of me. When she finally got control
of herself and her tears subsided, she slowly let go. We were
interrupted by a soft knock at the door.

I quickly wiped away the evidence that
my eyes were watery. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see
Patty. I was sure I had asked her to meet me at church, but maybe I
read the text wrong. Nevertheless, I was overjoyed to see
her.

“
Hello, Mrs. Emerson,”
Patty said politely.

Before Mom could say anything, I
grabbed Patty and squeezed her so tightly that she lost her breath.
It had been a while since I last saw her, and even though we texted
every day, it wasn’t the same. I was so happy to see
her.

“
Hello, Patty. It’s good
to see you again,” Mom said, giving her a hug after I let go.
“Someone missed you tremendously.”

“
Yeah, I have that kind of
effect on her. Too bad I don’t have the same effect on the guys,”
she said, laughing.

“
Well, I’m just glad she
has someone else to comfort her, besides me,” Mom said to
Patty.

“
I’m so sorry for your
loss,” Patty said to Mom. Her tone changed from playful to
serious.

“
Thank you,” she
said.

As Patty and Mom were talking, I
quickly walked out the door so Mom would get the hint that I wanted
to leave.

“
You girls be safe now.
Don’t come home too late,” she said, smiling. “Is Davin
going?”

“
Who?” I asked. I
practically choked. She had met Davin on the night of Ryan’s
birthday party. I didn’t tell Patty any details about the party,
only that I was going with Kristina and Maggie.

“
How many Davin do you
know?” Mom asked jokingly. “The friend who picked you up for Ryan’s
birthday party,” she reminded me.

“
Mom, no, no.” I shook my
head. “He’s just a friend. He’s not coming.”

“
Oh,” she said, looking
disappointed. “Too bad. He’s pretty cute.”

“
Who’s Davin?” Patty
asked, unlocking the door to her car. Patty had gotten a used car
like mine, only hers was silver.

“
Just a friend,” I said
quickly, like it was no big deal. I opened the door and sat
inside.

“
Another guy? Who else is
there?” she asked, raising a brow.

I could tell she was disappointed that
I didn’t tell her all about him. Since I didn’t respond to her
question, she didn’t pursue the topic any further. Not drilling me
with a whole bunch of questions was odd, and I wondered what she
was up to.

“
You okay?” Patty asked,
gluing her eyes to the road.

“
Yeah, I had to pack some
of Gamma’s things, and it was pretty hard on both of us. And,
I…umm…” How could I ever explain to her that Gamma was an Earth
angel?

Patty interrupted me as I continued to
search for the right words. “I understand. You’ve been through a
lot. But I just want you to know that you can tell me anything. I’m
here for you.” She placed her hand over mine.

“
I know. You’re my best
friend,” I said sincerely.

“
Good, because, don’t get
mad,” Patty said.

“
What did you do now?” I
asked softly with a frown. Knowing Patty, she had something up her
sleeve, which was usually meant to do something nice for
me.

“
Well, I told you that
there was a bunch of us going hiking…” She hesitated to say
anything else and started twisting a strand of her hair with her
left hand. She looked nervous.

“
And?” I asked, wanting
more explanations.

“
Well, there’s only going
to be the four of us.”

“
Oh, that’s fine,” I said.
“Who’s going?” I was thinking that she was going to name some
girls, but then I got a feeling that wasn’t it, since she was
acting weird again.

“
You, me, Andrew and his
friend,” she spoke quickly.

“
Who is his friend?” I
asked, knowing she knew that I knew only one of Andrew’s
friends.

“
Austin,” she said quickly
with a worried look. “I didn’t think you would mind…you see…other
people backed out. I swear, Claudia. There were supposed to be more
people.”

“
Since you didn’t do it on
purpose, that’s fine. I’ll be fine with it. He’s a little annoying,
but I have no choice. It’s too late to make you take me back
home.”

“
What do you mean
annoying?” she asked, looking offended. “He’s not annoying. He’s
cute, and I think he’s interested in you,” Patty said
enthusiastically.

“
I didn’t mean annoying,”
I said in a casual tone of voice, thinking I should pick my words
carefully. “I don’t want him to be interested in me.”

“
He’s been asking about
you.” She smiled, ignoring what I had just said.

“
Oh,” I said. Great! Now
it was going to feel like a double date. I would just have to be
polite and endure today. “Does he know that there will be only four
of us hiking?”

“
I’m sure Andrew told
him.”

“
I just don’t want to give
him the wrong idea,” I said firmly so she would understand my
point.

“
Sure, don’t worry. I’ll
make sure of it, but you two would make the perfect…”

I motioned my hand up. I knew what she
was about to say, so I stopped her and quickly changed the subject.
“So, what’s going on between you and Andrew?”

Grinning from ear to ear, she said
excitedly, “We’re dating.”

I’d never seen her so happy. I hoped
things would work out for both of them, because finding your true
love happened once in a lifetime if you were lucky. Two hours
passed by quickly. We spent so much time catching up that, before I
knew it, we were already at our destination.

Chapter 24

Austin and Andrew both opened the car
doors for us, greeting us like gentlemen. We exchanged hugs, and
they led us back into the same campground.

“
I told you we would hike
together someday,” Austin said in a friendly tone.

“
Yeah, I guess,” I said
with a smile. Deep down inside, I wanted to go home. I noticed his
oversized bulky backpack, and I wondered what on Earth he had
inside. He caught me staring at his backpack, and I quickly looked
down.

“
Here,” he said, placing a
backpack on my shoulders. “You have a flashlight, emergency kit,
snacks, solar blanket, and a bottle of water.”

“
All this for one day?” I
asked.

“
Yep!”

“
Thanks,” I said,
wondering if I should be thankful or upset.

“
Not a problem. Need to be
prepared, just in case.”

“
For?”

“
Just in case I decide to
keep you up here for a week.”

“
What!” I said,
surprised.

“
Just joking, Claudia. I
don’t think you would even survive past two days,” he said with a
smirk.

Feeling slightly offended, I was just
about to retaliate with a good comeback when Andrew interrupted our
conversation. “Ready to go?”

“
You lead,” Austin
insisted.

Andrew led the way and Patty walked
beside him. I started walking ahead of Austin, but he paced himself
quickly and walked alongside me. I knew this would happen; it felt
like a double date. I was just hoping that he didn’t think it
was.

He broke the silence. “Claudia, sorry
about Gamma.” He sounded sincere.

All of a sudden, I felt bad for not
calling, but he did say to call if I needed to talk. Since I
didn’t, my guilt disappeared as quickly as it came. “I didn’t call
because I was just—”

He interrupted and didn’t let me
continue. “It’s okay. I understand. Like I said before, I know what
it is like to lose someone. Don’t be sorry, it is me who is
sorry.”

I couldn’t believe how sweet he was.
He knew the right words to say, and I believed he was genuine. Now
I felt bad for being rude. Little by little, I opened up to him. We
started talking about school, and life in general. We were talking
and laughing when we finally reached our destination.

It was just as breathtaking as I had
seen it before. This was the same view I had seen with Michael, but
we were on the opposite side. Thoughts of Michael and the alkins
ran through my mind. I was missing Michael like crazy, but I didn’t
realize how much I missed Davin, Caleb, and Vivian too. I wondered
what they were doing. Even in the company of my best friend, I
wished to be with Michael and the alkins. I shook the thought out
of my head and told myself to enjoy hiking with my
friends.

“
So what do you think?”
Patty interrupted my thoughts.

“
It’s amazing,” I said.
How could I explain that I had seen this view before? I had to
pretend that it was my first time. The view was so magnificent that
I didn’t even have to fake my reaction.