Chapter 14

When Danny, Hades and I reached topside we were met by a torrential downpour to match my less than optimistic mood. We stepped out of the crypt and almost instantly our clothes were clinging to our bodies in a way that left nothing to the imagination. I hugged Danny to my body in an attempt to protect him from the elements as I splashed through the waterlogged grass towards the nun with angel wings.

The nun in question was dangling my car keys from her forefinger as she stood before the front door of the church. Droplets of water beat against my skin in a relentless icy wave of water as I rushed to join her in the dry alcove. I offered the angel a smile as I accepted the keys from the woman’s outstretched hand but soon turned my attention away when I felt her gaze penetrating deep within me. It brought to the surface all of the emotions that I was afraid to face and I had to shy away before I could be consumed with my nightmares once more.

“Thanks for looking after the car,” I spoke awkwardly as the heavy patter of rain beat down upon the roof of the alcove like hooves stampeding over our heads. “I hope there wasn’t any trouble.”

The angel merely bore her gaze into the side of my face, an unrelenting stare that continued to burn into me long after she looked away.

“No trouble.” The woman finally responded before she inhaled deeply and let out a sigh. “Your friends are here. And I was told to remind you of your job. I don’t need to remind you how essential it is?”

The angel didn’t wait for a response; she merely turned on her heel and disappeared into the shadowy interior of the church. I frowned at the blackness left in her wake before shrugging and looking out into the courtyard for any sign of my friends. As I peered through the sheets of water pelting down before me, I vaguely noticed that Hades was no longer with us but soon batted the thought away as the ground vibrated underneath my shoes. All too soon, I was filled with the persistent feeling that I was no longer alone.

Spinning on my heels, I turned to face the two figures that had sprung up from nowhere. Smiling I waved at the pair and beckoned them over to the shelter but they only walked slowly with their arms stretched out to their sides and their faces tilted to the skies. Pure revelry was the only way to describe the looks upon their strangely hued faces. Calantha and her best friend were embodiments of the earth – living, breathing and talking embodiments that in all their strange leafiness were incredibly beautiful.

“Hi Calantha,” I called out waving my arms to drag the woman’s steadfast attention from the grumbling grey skies overhead.

“Holmes! And little Danny too.” Calantha called out jovially when she was almost toe to toe with the sodden pair. She had barely stilled before her arms were outstretched to the waiting toddler.

Danny leapt from my arms and into the waiting vines which held him dotingly as the young boy chattered on about everything and anything.  The two of them had formed a strange bond when Lucius and I had to run off and save the world the previous year. It made me feel rather strange because even after all this time, which in toddler years is a life time, the pair of them was inseparable. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel that I had changed somewhat and though I loved him more than anything in the world, the amount of times I had been apart from him had created – a distance between us.

I shook my head to remove the melancholy thoughts. I then leaned forwards to hug Calantha’s best friend who had taken great pains to show me their fashion once upon a time but ultimately failed to leave any lasting impression upon my wardrobe. A smile was firmly on my lips as we pulled away and regarded the pair with fondness.

“Are you both sure it won’t be too much trouble to take care of Danny?” I questioned as I brushed my fingers over my son’s hair to try and flatten down the sodden mess of dark hair before giving up when it just stuck back up once more.

“No trouble at all Savannah,” Calantha reassured as she tickled Danny’s chin to earn her some giggles.

A throat cleared and my attention was brought to Calantha’s friend who had her arms folded across her chest and was staring pointedly at her friend. Reprimanded Calantha met my gaze once more and I sucked in a sharp breath at what I saw hidden within the depths of her eyes. She looked rather sickly.

“I have no trouble looking after Danny,” she reaffirmed when she caught the expression upon my face. “But there’s something you should know… something big is going down. It’s even bigger than last year. I can feel the earth protesting at the changes they are causing. It’s not much different to morning sickness as you humans call it. I constantly feel the need to regurgitate my meals.” The tree like woman shuddered and then offered a wan smile that offered no comfort.

“Okay, big bad stuff is going down.” I let out a weary sigh. “Nothing good seems to happen lately, does it?” I questioned not really expecting an answer but the woman with a head of green hair like vines merely cocked her head to the side and offered me one of those looks.

I almost let out a frustrated growl. She knew something I didn’t and I would be lying to myself if I didn’t admit that it bugged the hell out of me.

“We best be off, the men are all over-working themselves to keep the world in balance.” Calantha cut through my thoughts with a grim smile. “Just be warned, if it doesn’t improve soon we should all be prepared for the worst. The earth hasn’t been this uneasy since before the existence of deities.”

The two earth people shuddered delicately before giving hearty waves and stepping back into the rain. And then they, along with my son, quite literally melted into a nearby tree and disappeared from view.

Lifting my gaze up to the rolling mass of grey above me, I decided against waiting for the rain to stop and made a dash for the car with my key held firmly in hand. However the storm didn’t seem to like that as the pellets of water pelted down harder and harder so that as I fumbled to get the key into the lock, the slick key fell from my grasp and landed in the muddy puddle at my feet.

“I have the worst luck in the world.” I muttered to myself.

Crouching down, my nose wrinkled when I put my fingers in the dirty brown water and combed through the murky depths for my keys. I shuddered in disgust as my fingers caught the hoop of the key ring and I yanked them free. But the little victory was short lived, my hand was browned by the water and clumps of mud that looked like diarrhoea; not to mention the fact that my clothes were completely soaked through. I probably looked like a drowned rat.

After finally unlocking the door and getting out of the driving rain, I plugged in the keys and cranked up the heating as I finally took notice of how cold I was. I shed all of the clothes I possibly could without being completely indecent before I remember why I had returned so early and handed my son over to his very devoted babysitters.

My fingers shook with cold as they released the clasp on the glove compartment and pulled free the documents I had obtained from Angel HQ. The very tips of my cold fingers trailed over the cover of the file with much dread before I reluctantly pulled it open. The first thing my eyes fell upon was a girl, no more than sixteen with a beaming metal filled smile upon her face. I stroked the picture and smiled to myself before I allowed myself to take in the rest of the details.

Most of the details were generic – name, age, place of birth – the kinds of things that most places ask you to fill out when it is really none of their business. But what drew my attention what the little slip of glossy paper sticking out from behind the fact sheet. Pulling it forth, my brows narrowed in confusion before my mouth dropped open into an ‘O’.

‘Big Sister Mentoring Programme’ was emblazoned across the front of the leaflet in snazzy writing while the rest of it went into detail about the company motto and their aims to help the younger generation. I thought it was more generic crap but I understood that it was my opening. Obviously it was the only way I could become the guardian angel to this girl’s life without looking like a weird child stalker. I shuddered at the consequences of such a thought and returned my attention to the leaflet, or more importantly the precise and elegant scrawl along the top of the paper. It detailed my project’s address and contact number.

“No time like the present.” I muttered as I put the car in gear and pulled away from the gateway to hell.

My thoughts however lingered on the happy teen in the photo and how she, this Nicole Armstrong, had managed to get caught up in all of this. I shivered and turned the music on full blast to drown out such ponderings. I still had at least three hours before I reached the small isolated town where this teen lived, and as the old adage goes, only time would tell. 

Sorry it's a little short. I wanted to start the next chapter off with the meeting so I had to cut it off here. Thank you for all of you patience !!