The Next Death; Chapter 17

I stare up at the ceiling of my room, flicking my eyes to my clock for a second. Bearly five in the morning. Had last night really happened or had that been some weird fever dream? I glance over at my laptop. It's pressed back against the wall, but open, screen open to me. Slowly, I sit up, realizing I'm still wearing yesterday's clothes. I carefully scan my arms, there's no signs of any bites.

"Oh good!" That gentle voice from yesterday crones. I turn my head to find that ball of light fliting towards me from the top of my headrest. "I wasn't sure if that was you actually waking up or just you twitching." It circles my head once. "When you sat up, I knew for sure that you were awake. How do you feel? Are you okay?"

My eyes flick to my bedroom door, making sure it's closed. "What are you?" I ask the ball of light.

"I'm your guardian angel!" It replies with a giggle, doing what I can only assume is a twirl.

"My what?"

"Your guardian angel. My job is to protect you!" I stare at the orb as we both sit in silence. "What is your name by the way?" It suddenly asks.

I can feel my brow furrowing. "You're my guardian angel but you don't know my name?"

"Well, I would normally know your name by now, but since I attached to you, I haven't exactly been able to get close." It flits closer, circling my head again. "You had this weird aura, from your strange powers no doubt, that kept me from officially becoming your guardian until yesterday. It vanished and I was able to get close enough to complete the attachment. It's come back, but now that I'm officially your guardian angel, it can't get rid of me."

I don't know which thought is harder to process: my apparently having been blocking my guardian angel or the fact that I had a guardian angel. "I'm Elizabeth," I push off the bed, going for my desk. "So, um, how long have you been my guardian angel, . . . What is your name?"

"Oh, I don't have a name. I mean, I used to have one, I think, but I've since forgotten. I've only been your guardian angel for. . . one full day. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it for that whole day, especially when we wound up in that shop. I thought that reaper would have noticed me for sure."

My hand freezes over my journal. "Why is being noticed by a reaper bad?"

"I lost my last charge to a reaper, barely got away myself. The reaper didn't appreciate me interfering with the human's life and 'their time.'" The little orb huffs, "It's not my fault my job is to keep my charge alive."

"And who exactly assigned you to me?" Had this guardian angel been sent by Mr. Mors?

"I did! You found my talisman, so you won a guardian angel."

I slowly blink. "Your talisman?"

The orb bobs up and down. "It's this old necklace. It's super important to me, so please don't lose it. I'd hate to have to get a new talisman."

This is just getting weirder. I place my hand on the journal thinking guardian angel as I flip to the first blank page.

"Where did you get that journal?" The orb asks, flying closer to it. "It's a reaper's journal. Did you steal it from that reaper at the shop? I was so scared he was going to notice me, but he didn't seem to. He's rather oblivious for a reaper. Don't worry though, I won't let the reaper get you when they come for it."

"I didn't steal it," I tell the orb, "It was given to me."

"Oh. Well, its owner is still probably going to come looking for it. I'll protect you."

"Look, . . . I'm just going to call you Angel," I tell my guardian angel as the black letters begin scrawling themselves across the page. "Look, Angel, no reaper is going to come looking for this journal. A reaper gave it to me."

Angel is quiet for a second. "Did that reaper also give you your powers?"

"Sorta, I guess. Just. . . give me a second."

I begin scanning over the page.

Guardian Angels, the informal title given to Lost Souls by themselves. Lost Souls are relatively harmless. Like Rogue and Trapped Souls, Lost Souls are not ready to move on. Unlike Rogue and Trapped Souls, they have made the reason for their continued presence protection. After death, a Lost Soul will attach themselves to an object, their talisman. When this talisman is picked up by a living person the Lost Soul will attach themselves to that person as their Guardian Angel. Most will only intervene to prevent death or serious harm. Older, more vengeful Lost Souls will use any action against their person as a reason to intervene. Those Lost Souls tend to be unpredictable and can become dangerous when confronted. Lost Souls remain connected to the person they've attached themselves to until that human dies.

If you have come across one, report it to a reaper. You are not yet qualified to handle Lost Souls.

I look up at Angel. My eyes flicker between them and the journal. Was Angel one of the more dangerous ones? Hard to say. According to Angel, my power had held them away until whatever poison those things had had had worn it down.

Those things! "Last night! What were those things?" First things first, let's figure out which posed the bigger problem.

Angel floats in silence for a second. "Gremlins. Don't worry. I took care of them. You won't ever see them again." Angel bobs in the air in what I assume is their version of a nod.

"Right." I look bad down at the journal, flipping to the next page, scrawling words already starting to appear. A small picture of the creature from last night also appearing to the side of the text.

Gremlins are small lizard-like creatures. They are very sensitive to light, only coming out at night and residing in small, dark spaces. Gremlins live in small groups ranging from 2-5. Most will choose to reside in large uninhabited buildings, but every now and then, a group may choose to take up residence within a normal human residence. Humans cannot see gremlins, though they may be able to hear them, but will mistake their sounds for mice.

Gremlins often wreak havoc in the place they choose to live in, stealing random objects, moving things around, or even chewing up wires.

Gremlins have a poison that coats their teeth. While this poison tends to be relatively harmless to an adult, it can cause death in young children. It will cause fainting, nausea, lightheadedness, and blackouts. Symptoms and severity depend on the person.

If you suspect you have encountered them, DO NOT ENGAGE. Failure to eliminate will be problematic. Let a trained reaper handle them.

They had mentioned that they had a master looking for a human. Who did gremlins serve?

IF GREMLINS MENTION A MASTER CALL FOR ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY. REPORT INCIDENT.

I stare at the journal in shock. What master did gremlins serve?

The topic asked about is blocked to you at the moment. You are not ready.

I flip the journal shut. Of course. I really needed to figure out how the journal decided what I was and wasn't ready for.

Looking up, I study Angel. I obviously needed to tell Neal and Agatha about the gremlins, that was a given, even without the journal's prompting, but what to do about Angel. Angel didn't seem like the harmful kind, but I'd hate to be wrong. "What exactly is your purpose as my guardian angel?"

"To keep you alive."

"Okay, what do you consider threats to my life?"

"Life threatening situations?" Angel offers, sounding slightly confused by my question.

"Okay, but what would you do if say, . . . I was getting bullied?"

Angel is silent for a second. "Is this bullying causing you life-threatening physical or emotional duress?"

My eyes narrow as I cross my arms. "Let's hear your answer for yes and no."

"Well, if your life is in danger, I'll have to do something to get it out of danger. If the threat is physical, I'll get rid of that. If it's emotional, it's a little harder, but while I work on it, I'll keep it from sending you over the edge." Angel suddenly flies close to my face, causing me to pull back slightly. "I will not hesitate to fight you if you are the threat to your life."

"Um, okay," I nod slowly. "Good to know. And if the answer is, no?"

"Well, if your life isn't in danger," Angel begins, backing up to give me back my personal space, "I don't have to do anything. But I can do something if you'd like me to, so long as you don't ask me to maim or kill. As a guardian angel, it's my job to save lives, not take them." Angel's orb tilts up slightly. I imagine that if they had a body, they'd be puffing their chest in pride.

"What would happen if a reaper were to see you?"

"They would probably try to kill me."

"Riiiight." This wasn't looking too good. "So, like, do you have to stay near me at all times or are you allowed to go away sometimes?"

"Considering that you could die at any second, I cannot leave you alone. I can hide behind something solid when you want privacy."

"There's no easy way to say this. Remember how I told you a reaper gave me this journal and sorta kinda gave me my powers?"

"Yeah, why?"

"And you remember that shop I went to with that reaper that you thought was going to notice you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I sorta work there as a cover."

Angel is quiet for a second. "As a cover for what?"

"I'm death's apprentice and I'm being trained to take his place?"

Angel is silent. The silence hangs in the air. "Are you a reaper?" Angel's voice is barely above a whisper. There's a slight tremor to it.

"No, well, I mean technically I think I am, but I'm still human and I don't have all my powers yet," I hold up my hands. Angel twitches back and I quickly lower my hands. "What I'm trying to say is, I think I'm okay with the idea of you staying but I can't say the same for the others."

"And if they aren't?"

"Well. . . Neal didn't notice you the other day at the shop! The others probably won't notice you."

Angel's orb tilts slightly. They're clearly doubtful. "I also couldn't get close to you then because of your power. Our link wasn't manifested, so I couldn't manifest my presence. They'll see me."

I cross my arms as I purse my lips, thinking. I needed to come up with something. Angel seemed nice. I'd feel bad if they wound up dead dead because of me. It wasn't their fault they had wound up as my guardian angel. "I'll think of something. I have all day today and most of tomorrow. As long as I have a say in it, I won't let anything happen to you, Angel. You saved me after all. So long as you stay on your best behavior, I don't mind you sticking around."

Angel sits in doubtful silence. "I am a guardian angel. I am sworn to good behavior. I will protect you Elizabeth, no matter what."

There's a soft knock on my door. "Eliza?" Marc's voice calls through the door softly.

"Uh, yeah?" I respond, panic flooding my mind. Where could I hide Angel?

"Are you talking to someone?" The door cracks open as Marc peers in.

Despite Angel floating between us, his eyes are on me. I want to smack myself for panicking. Humans can't see guardian angels. I was panicking for nothing. "Nope, just talking to myself about homework. Didn't think anyone was awake."

"I was just on my way to get some sleep. I know you've been getting up early lately, but I wasn't expecting you to be up this early." He suddenly seems to realize I'm still wearing yesterday's clothes. "You fell asleep while studying again, didn't you?"

"Haha, yeah. I guess the old habit isn't as dead as I thought it was," I joke.

Marc chuckles. "Well, I'm going to go get some sleep. See ya later, Eliza."

I wave stiffly as he shuts the door. Burying my head in my hands, I let out a stifled sigh before looking back up at Angel. "I need to figure out a better way to talk to you. I don't want everyone thinking I'm talking to myself."

"As long as you don't stop talking to me, I'm good with anything! You're my first charge that could see and hear me and I rather like talking to you, though you are very odd."

"Thanks," I drawl as I walk to my dresser and pull out clean clothes. "Well, I need to get dressed, so if I could get that privacy you mentioned earlier, Angel, that'd be great."

Angel buzzes happily as they quickly fly to my bed and dive under the covers.