Once Dead, Twice Shy

CHAPTER 6

I'd only been to The Lowest Common Denominator, or the Low D as everyone called it, once before. My dad had taken me for pizza, and the casual eatery had been packed with college students either cramming for finals or relaxing after theirs were done. I knew he'd been trying to help me fit in, but pizza with my dad when everyone else was on their own hadn't painted the picture I'd been hoping to make. Maybe if I'd been able to go invisible that night, I might have had more luck making friends.

Smiling at the thought, I picked at a French fry. Josh was hungry again—or still, maybe—which was how a quick pit stop here had made it a convenient place to practice, seeing as the large hangout was nearly empty. That had been almost an hour ago, and I was starting to get anxious. Maybe it wasn't the amulet, as Barnabas had said. Maybe it really was me. I'd seen a black wing drift through the parking lot when Josh had gone to the little boys' room, and the panicked face I'd made trying to reach Barnabas's thoughts had put Grace into stitches.

We'd already been to the mall, and there was a new photo card in the trendy bag on the table, right beside my untouched soda and the fries. It was Josh's second plate, and he ate with a steady pace as he dipped fries in spicy cheese and watched me for signs of "ghosting," as he called it.

Afternoon light streamed in through the big plate-glass windows that looked out on the mall. Low D had once been a burger joint, but bowing to convention, they now served lattes and had free wi-fi access. There was a center space with coffee tables and cushioned chairs, and booths around the edges. A few people were plugged in, hunched over their laptops, and eating overpriced sandwiches and gourmet kettle chips as they surfed.

Lonely arcade sounds filtered out from the dark cave set to one side as the machines talked to themselves. Coming from the attached skate arena was the rumble of wheels where skaters tried their nerve and their boards on artificial hills and railings in the "snake pit." The sound of skateboards on plywood rose up through me like a second pulse of blood. Grace was at the register, resting in the bell that supposedly rang when someone in the snake pit jumped high enough to trigger it. One of the walls was a thick, scuff-marked sheet of Plexiglas, and hazy images moved beyond it in time with the rumbling.

I turned from the transparent wall and my gaze went back to Josh. My fingers were tingling, but I thought it was because I was gripping my amulet too tightly, not because I was close to figuring this thing out. Perhaps I'd been too optimistic thinking I could learn how to do something useful in so short a time, but I was tired of relying on someone else for my safety, and Josh had been willing to help. "Can you see me now?" I asked hopefully.

Josh's eyes met mine squarely, and I slumped. "I think you're trying too hard," he said.

Slowly I let go of my amulet. "We've only got a few hours left. It's not like this thing came with an instruction manual." Depressed, I ran my fingers over my wax-and-paper cup to wipe the condensation off. Barnabas had been less than helpful the time I'd asked him about it after a particularly frustrating night. He'd only said he "thought slippery thoughts" and that I'd better spend my time learning how to contact him if I needed help. Slippery thoughts. Yeah, and if I thought happy thoughts, I'd sprout wings and fly.

"You've only been at it for an hour. Don't be so hard on yourself. We've got a little time yet," Josh said, but his eyes were squinting in worry.

Time, I thought as I wadded my straw wrapper into a ball and dropped it. Maybe I should have tried to learn how to slow time, but that sounded way harder than going invisible.

"Don't worry about it," Josh said, but I could tell he was getting nervous. Meeting death was not something you could easily shake off, and the memory of Kairos standing in the moonlight with his scythe bared as I sat helpless in a smashed-up convertible drifted through me.

My hand went back to my amulet, and I held the stone, seeking assurance that even if it was a dark timekeeper's amulet, I was here and sort of alive. Waking up in the morgue and seeing myself on the table had been the single most frightening thing in my life. Even worse, I knew it was my fault for having gotten into his car to begin with, mega-cuteness aside. Kairos wasn't so cute anymore. I couldn't believe I'd kissed him.

I gripped the amulet harder. It had been with me for months now, the weight of it familiar and comforting. Without it, I wouldn't only be invisible, but insubstantial, able to pass through walls and closed doors. Black wing bait. Ghostlike. Maybe that was the key to it all. Not thinking slippery thoughts, but sort of finding a way to block the stone's influence.

Staring at the table, I sifted through my thoughts for the memory of that awful moment in the morgue. I'd been able to feel my heartbeat and the air move in my lungs as I breathed from reflex, but my body had been in the black body bag, unable to sense the coldness of the granite or the smoothness of the plastic surrounding it. I'd been divorced from it. The tie to my body had been broken. It just hadn't been there. And, scared, I'd run.

When I'd fled, the air had grown thin in me, like I was becoming as insubstantial as it was—almost equalizing. My knees had gone wobbly. The touch of real objects had hurt, as if grating upon my bone. It was only after Barnabas had come after me that I'd felt normal again. Only then had I been in a position to understand and recognize what I'd lost. With the lack of a body, the universe hadn't recognized me. That is, until Barnabas's amulet got close enough and it had something to grab on to again and bring me back in line with everything else.

Perhaps with the separation from my body, I'd lost what time and the universe used to pull me forward. Maybe the amulets were like artificial points that time and the universe could fasten onto and use to keep mind and soul in sync with the present. And if I could break those ties…

Anxious, I squirmed on the hard seat, believing I was on the right track. Eyes still closed, I fell deep into my thoughts and tried to see myself as a singular identity, tied to the present by the threads of the past. I could hear the noise around me: Josh slurping his drink, the jingle of the store's phone—and after months of learning how to concentrate, something finally went my way.

Excitement shot through me as I suddenly could see the line my life had made. Tense, I saw how I grew from a possibility to a presence, marveling at how my life wove in and out of other people's lives, and then the ugly snarl where I'd died, almost as if time or space were making a knot to hold itself together when a soul was cut out of it. It was as if the memory of others bound the darkness here where I'd left it, giving it shape by what was lacking, a ghost of a presence that burst suddenly back into existence when I had obtained an amulet. But now, time wasn't using my body to find my soul and carry it forward; it was using the amulet I had swiped from Kairos. The color, or maybe the sound, was different. It had been a dark blue up to the point when I had died, and then, an abrupt shift to a purple so black it had a tinge of ultraviolet in it. Like Nakita's.

My aura, I realized, wanting to drop everything and try to touch Barnabas's thoughts, but I brought my attention back. I felt myself shiver when I realized I could see my soul throwing lines of thought into the future—for thought must have to move faster than time. I could actually see the violet-colored lines extending from me into the future, pulling me on with the rest of the universe. What made it all work, what colored the lines from my death onward, was the amulet giving time something on which to fasten.

And if I could break some of those lines running from the amulet to the present, maybe I'd become invisible, like I'd been when I'd run from Barnabas in the morgue. Almost as if I wasn't wearing the stone even though it remained about my neck.

Anticipation made me shiver, and I unfocused enough of my attention to make sure I was still sitting with Josh and nothing was going on. This had to work. We were running out of time. I wouldn't destroy all the threads—just a few—and none of the lines that were pulling me into the future. Just the ones that tied me to this instant of right-this-second.

I took a slow breath that I didn't need, and as I exhaled, I plucked a thread that held me to the present. It separated like spider silk, making a soft hum of sound in my mind as it parted. Encouraged, I ran a theoretical hand between me and the present, taking out a larger swath. The rumbling from the snake pit seemed to echo through me. I could almost see the sound coming in waves in my imagination, passing through me to bounce against the far side of the booth.

"Madison?" Josh whispered, and my eyes flew open. I stared at the table, my fingers tingling. "It's working," he said, awe in his voice.

I inhaled as if coming up from deep water. My head snapped up and I stared at him. The sound of the skaters became real again, the imagined waves of sound gone but for in my thoughts. My heart pounded, and I felt dizzy, almost as if I was alive. Josh was staring at me, his blue eyes wide.

"It worked!" he said again, leaning forward over his fries. "You're back now, but I could see the seat behind you!" He glanced around to see if anyone had noticed. "It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Do it again," he prompted.

Relief filled me, and I shifted on the stiff cushion. "Okay. Here goes."

Nervous and excited, I settled myself with my palms flat on the table as I willed it to happen again. Eyes open, I stared at the sky visible through the front windows. My focus blurred, and I fell into my thoughts. I felt the stone's presence everywhere in my recent past, weaving a net to tie each moment of time to the next. It was easier now, and with a finger of thought, I touched the new violet web that had formed and made it shrivel and fall away. The sounds around me grew hollow and I felt the queasy sensation of going insubstantial. The thudding of my heart, even if it was only a memory, vanished.

"Holy smokes, Madison!" Josh exclaimed in a hushed rush of words. "You're gone!" He hesitated. "Are you…there? I don't believe this."

I concentrated, breaking a good number of threads as they shifted from the future to the present, making sure to leave enough to pull me forward. "I'm here," I said, feeling my lips move and hearing my words as if from far away. I brought my gaze to Josh, finding it easier with practice. His eyes were roving everywhere, focusing mostly on the seat behind me.

"Sweet," he said as he drew back. "I can hardly hear you. You sound creepy. Like you're whispering into a phone or something."

A tight hum at my ear told me Grace had abandoned the bell by the register. I turned to the bright light darting frantically about the booth, and my mouth dropped open. "I can see you," I whispered. "My God, you're beautiful." She was only a minute tall, even though her glow made her look softball-sized. Her complexion was dark and her facial features were delicately sharp. Gold shimmered around her to make her outline unclear, especially when she moved. I couldn't tell if it was fabric or mist. The blur of her wings made the hazy glow I'd been seeing.

Immediately the tiny angel came to a stop, focusing on my voice. She blinked in surprise, her eyes glowing like the sun. "I lost your song, Madison," she said. "I couldn't hear your soul anymore. Stop what you're doing. I can't see you."

It worked! I thought ecstatically. If my guardian angel couldn't see me, then neither would a reaper or timekeeper. "I'm invisible," I said, gazing at her in wonder.

"I can see that," she snapped, weaving in agitation. "Now stop it. It has to be a mistake. I can barely hear your soul singing. I can't protect you if I can't see you."

I moved my arm, seeing that it had a shiny white edge to it now, kind of what a black wing looked like on the end. Curious, I tried to pick up my glass. I shivered as the cold of the pop went straight to my bones, and I couldn't seem to tighten my fingers enough to get a grip. I wondered why I could sit on a chair without passing through, until I moved the balled-up straw wrapper. It must be that I was substantial enough to have some effect on the world, but not a whole lot. Taking a walk in a windstorm would probably be a bad idea. Maybe that's how Barnabas could fly.

"Madison, are you still there?" Josh whispered.

"Yes," I said, allowing a few more lines to remain as the future became the present. The angel sighed in relief, and Josh's eyes shifted to mine.

"Damn!" he whispered. "I can sort of see you. Jeez, Madison. This is bizarre. Can I touch you?"

"I wouldn't," Grace said as she hovered over the table, but I shrugged, and he reached out to put his fingers on my wrist. We both shuddered at the eerie sensation of contact. His fingers seemed to burn, and I jerked away at the same time he did.

"Cold," he said, hiding his hand under the table.

"Can you hear me better?" I asked, and he nodded. This had to be the weirdest thing I'd ever done. Destroying the amulet's threads as they turned from future to present was almost easy now. Like humming to background music when you're doing your homework. I'd done it. I'd finally learned something, and the relief for that was almost enough to make me cry.

"Excellent," Josh said, smiling as I went totally invisible again, much to Grace's disgust. "If you can do this, you can take that amulet for sure."

I laughed, and Josh pressed into the cushions.

"Don't laugh when you've ghosted like that," he said as he looked around the coffee shop. "It's really weird. Man, I'm going to have more nightmares."

I think I flashed visible for an instant when the front door opened, surprising me. I tightened my awareness on the amulet's threads, taking out a chunk of them and going dizzy for an instant until I steadied myself and fell into a pattern of destroying them in a smooth progression. I looked up when Josh stiffened, seeing two people angling toward us, a third still at the counter, ordering.

I froze, wondering what to do. They'd seen Josh here alone. I couldn't just pop back into existence. But then I made a face when I recognized the tall girl in a designer tank top and short shorts as Amy, looking like summer incarnate as she sauntered over with Len behind her. Parker was at the counter paying for everything as usual. All three were on the track team.

Amy hung with the popular girls. Nice on the surface, but I'd tried to be a popular girl at my old school long enough to know that surface was often just that. She usually went with Len unless she was punishing him for cheating on her. But after having seen Len in action, I didn't feel sorry for her at all.

Len was a big guy, and he liked to slam kids up against lockers when the teachers weren't looking, laughing and playing up to them like it was a joke so they would willingly trade the humiliation for five seconds of being noticed by the popular guy. Though he wasn't the fastest person on the track team, he was charming—especially in his own mind—and he treated girls like ice cream—sampling a new flavor each month for a day or two. He was good-looking enough that the girls he went after let him get away with it, a fact that irritated me to no end.

Parker seemed nice enough, but I had a feeling they let him hang with them because he put up with their abuse, hungry to belong. Seeing him paying for everything now made me ill. I'd almost been a Parker once, trying anything, enduring everything, even making excuses for others in my effort to belong. If not for Wendy, I might have caved and become that person. It wasn't worth it. Not by a long shot.

"Hi, Josh," Amy said cheerfully as she cocked her hip and put one hand flat on the table. "So where's Madison A-very-freaky-girl? Still pushing her bike down the road?"

Peeved, I scooted into the corner of the booth, cutting threads like mad to stay invisible.

Josh gave her a sour look as he did a hand-slapping thing with Len. "She's really nice, okay? Don't call her that anymore."

"Oh?" Amy sat, making me shrink back farther. "You're the one who started it."

I scrambled up and climbed over the seat to stand on the cushion of the adjacent booth when Len sat and Amy shifted down.

"That was before I got to know her," Josh said, his ears going red. "She's cool."

Amy scoffed, picking up my shopping bag with a pinkie and moving it closer so she could look inside. "Doing a little shopping?" she taunted, and if I could pick things up, I would have shoved a chunk of ice down the back of her shirt. "We saw you at the mall."

Josh's eyes scanned the room, looking for me, probably. If I was smart, I'd duck into the girls' bathroom, go visible, and come back. But I stayed. "It's Madison's. She's taking pictures tomorrow and needed a new card," he said, taking the bag back. "You should give her a chance. You'd like her."

"Doubt it," Amy said dryly, then took the iced coffee that Parker had brought over. "Where does she live? Hidden Lake? Like there was ever a lake in that middle-class slum."

My teeth gritted, and I snipped a rush of lines before I became visible.

"That's really classy, Amy," Josh said bitingly. I glanced at Parker, knowing he lived down the street from me. His lips were pressed together and he wouldn't look at anyone.

Amy brought her knees up, sitting sideways with her feet on the bench seat to look coy. "I think Josh is sweet on his new little friend. God! She has purple hair. What a freak."

Josh exhaled slowly, eyes down. If I hadn't already been dead, I would have died right then. My fingers reached to touch my hair, and I vowed to put a green streak in it next week. Beside me, I could see Grace starting to get angry, her eyes almost shooting sparks.

"I told you that you look better without these," Amy said as she took Josh's glasses off and set them on the table. "She's weird and a bitch," she said, so casually it shocked me. "You said it yourself. Why are you hanging with such a Meg!"

It sounded innocuous, but I was up on my Brit slang. It meant Most Embarrassing Gal or Guy. Great.

Looking pained, Josh glanced up. "I said that before I knew her, okay?" he said loudly. "What is it to you, anyway? Still mad about me dumping you last year?"

Len laughed, reaching to give Parker a high five. "Right before the prom!" he said, cramming three fries in his mouth. "If I'd had a camera, I'd be a millionaire."

My eyes widened. Whoa. He dumped her, then took me out? No wonder she hated me.

Amy's eyes narrowed. "Oh, for God's sake. She's so freaked that even the Goths won't have her. A total case!"

Len leaned forward with his arms flat on the table. "Amy's right," he said seriously. "You can do better than her. You're a senior."

A total case? He could do better? My emotions swung full circle, and I gritted my teeth, so ticked I could scream. I should've walked away. I should have walked away and not listened.

Grace's beating wings gave off a tight hum, and I heard her say, "There once was a girl from Lake Powell, whose mouth was something quite foul. The crap she did spew, like an overfull loo, till I smacked her right into a wall."

Depressed, I sank down in the seat of the next booth over, still cutting threads, still invisible. "That doesn't rhyme," I whispered, wiping under my eye. Damn it, I wasn't going to cry because of what Amy said.

"Maybe not," Grace said tartly, "but that's what's going to happen."

"Shake her off, dude," Len said. "Do it, or she's going to be hanging on you all year."

"You ever think I might want to hang with her all year?" Josh said angrily. "She's a lot more fun than you, so afraid of what everyone else thinks you can't even pick out your own clothes without calling someone. And that's her drink, weenis."

"I can't believe you brought her here!" Amy said loudly. "This is our place!"

I perked up, starting to feel better when Josh said, "Better go, unless you want to see her. You might have to be nice, and a smile would probably crack your perfect face, Amy."

Quietly I got up to look over the back of the booth seat. Josh was red with anger. Len seemed unsure, and Parker was clearly uncomfortable as he messed with his iced coffee. In a quick motion, Amy shoved her feet into Len to make him move so she could get out. "Later, dude," Len said as he and Amy stalked off.

Parker gave Josh an uneasy look and stood. From the front of the hangout/skate park, Amy mocked, "Bye, Josh," as she waited by the door.

I knew my expression was ugly as Parker followed Len to the door. Josh exhaled, then whispered, "Madison, I'm sorry. Are you still here? They're jerks. Don't listen to them. I said that stuff before I knew you. I'm an ass. Please come back. I'm sorry. I…I like your hair."

Frustrated, I scrambled over the back of the booth seat and slid down. The seat was still warm from Amy. Yuck. I focused on my amulet, taking a moment to let the lines form, violet threads from the stone, to me, and to the present, grounding me in a brand-new past. Josh's gaze darted to mine when I became visible, but I couldn't look at him. The guardian angel seemed to relax, going to sit in the light fixture, where her faint glow was lost. "Nothing like knowing your spot in the pecking order, huh?" I muttered.

Josh shifted uneasily. "They're idiots," he said as he pushed my drink back to me. "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have said those things before. I didn't know you then."

I fiddled with the straw, unable to meet his eyes. "They are your friends."

He shrugged. "Not really. Amy thinks her sweat doesn't stink. Len is a bully I wouldn't let pound me in third grade—we have a weird truce in which we pretend to be friends so he doesn't have to try to beat me up again. Parker…I think they let him hang around because they need someone to pick on, and he's so desperate to belong that he lets them."

I took a sip of my drink, shivering as the icy soda slid down. If this was who Josh hung with, no surprise he liked me. I was starting to feel better, though, especially when I heard a muffled yelp from the parking lot and saw Amy step back from Len's truck, her hand over her face. She was yelling something about her nose. Beside me, a haze of light giggled.

"Thanks," I said shyly to Josh. "For sticking up for me, I mean."

Josh's smile made my heart flip-flop. "Forget it," he said as he picked at his fries.

But I wouldn't. Ever.

His blue eyes met mine as he put his glasses back on. "And you can go invisible."

"Ye-e-e-ep," I drawled, suffused with a feeling of satisfaction. Leaning back, I laced my fingers and extended my arms, cracking my knuckles. It was hard to stay upset with jerks when you could go invisible. "Kairos doesn't have a chance. All we have to do is find a quiet spot, you distance yourself enough from me that black wings can sense you, Kairos shows up, and I slip in invisible-like and lift his amulet." I smiled. "Then we run away fast, and he'll have to leave until he can make a new amulet."

He laughed at the running-away part, and I felt good. Finishing his fries, he glanced at his watch. It had more buttons than a calculator. "So, we doing this?"

I glanced out the windows at the lengthening shadows. "Yup. Not here, though. Do you know of an alley or something?"

"Mmmm, how about Rosewood Park?"

Grace's hum grew louder, and she dropped down from the light fixture to hover inches before my face. "Madison, I'm just a first-sphere angel and all, but don't do this. Don't go invisible again. Wait for Barnabas. Please. It feels dangerous."

Waving her away, I said, "I can't wait for Barnabas. Besides, if you can't see me, neither can Kairos. You can't catch what you can't see."

"What about other things, Madison?" she asked, worried. "There are other things. If I can't see you, maybe something else can."

That was a nasty thought, and I sat back against the hard seat, pondering it.

"What did she say?" Josh asked, trying to see her by following my eyes.

I sighed dramatically to downplay her concern. "She doesn't want me to go invisible because she can't see me. Thinks it's dangerous."

An indignant harrumph filled my ear. "It's not that I can't see you. It's that something else might be able to."

Josh's eyebrows went higher. "I didn't know it wasn't safe."

"It's safe enough," I protested. "Besides, if we don't face Kairos now, what happens tonight? It's not like you can spend the night at my house. My dad's cool, but telling him we need to stay together so my guardian angel can keep you safe isn't going to work. Personally, I'd rather face Kairos now than my dad after I break curfew."

Josh made a face. "I don't especially want to get in trouble, either."

Frustrated, I took a sip of pop. I'd be grounded for a month if I didn't show up for dinner—if I was lucky. But Josh wouldn't make it through the night if we didn't do something. "Breaking curfew one too many times was how I got shipped up here," I said softly, almost to myself. "Besides, what will that get us? Come morning, when they track us down, you'll be yanked to the other side of town and I'll be locked in my room. Fat lot of good that will do us. No, we face Kairos now, while we have some choice of how and when."

"Madison, no," Grace protested, her wings going so fast I think Josh could almost see her glow. "Wait until Ron or Barnabas gets back. Do it then."

An exasperated noise slipped from me. "If either one of them were here, I wouldn't have to do it at all. That's the whole point!"

"But I don't think you're doing it right," she said, backing up slightly. "I should be able to hear your soul singing even when you go invisible, and I can't! Please don't do this."

"Either we do this thing now," I said, hoping Josh was getting the gist of this, "or we break curfew, buying us only the time between now and when our parents catch us. I'm not willing to risk Josh's life in the hope that Ron will be back by then. So unless you want to stay with Josh tonight, we have no reason to wait for Barnabas."

I froze and Josh looked up at me, wonder in his eyes.

"Hey, that's not a bad idea," I said, pulling forward in the seat as Grace hovered backward. "My guardian angel could go with you tonight. You'd be safe and neither of us will get in trouble."

"Huh?" It was a tiny utterance, sounding odd coming from a ball of light. "No. I've been charged to watch you. Ron himself set me the task to keep you out of trouble. Safe."

"Yeah, well, if you don't go with Josh, then I'm going to find Kairos and get into major trouble."

Josh leaned in conspiratorially. "What is she saying?"

Smiling, I tapped my fingernails on the table. The answer had been staring me in the face all afternoon, singing limericks. "If my guardian angel stays with you, you'll be okay. She can hide your aura, same as me."

"What about you?" Josh asked as Grace swung back and forth in agitation.

"I'll be fine!" I said confidently. "He doesn't know my new amulet resonance. Doesn't know where I live. They can't find me unless they find you first. And if they do, I'll just go invisible." I turned to the ball of light. "So you see, it's in my best interest that you go with Josh."

"No," she said forcefully. "It doesn't work that way. I was told to stay with you."

"And I'm telling you to stay with him!" I exclaimed, then lowered my voice as three skinny guys came out of the snake pit with their boards tucked under their arms.

The glowing ball of light came so close to my face I jerked back. "Look, missy," Grace said sharply, "you can't tell me to go anywhere. I have my order from Ron, and, baby, you're not Ron."

Frustrated, I leaned forward until she backed up. "Go with him, Grace," I intoned. "Now. Until I say different. Otherwise, I'm going ghost and doing this tonight."

"Grace?" the guardian angel whispered as her glow dimmed. "You gave me a name?"

Josh was starting to look uncomfortable, which I could understand, since he couldn't see her and it looked like I was yelling at him. Lips pressed, I glared at the glow over the table. I refrained from pointing a finger at the stubborn angel, but just. "Grace—"

"I'll go with him," she said, her glow briefly becoming brighter. It was meek and mild, and she shocked my next words right out of me. "Madison," she continued, "if you get me into trouble, I'm going to be so mad at you! I've never been a guardian before. You're my first charge, and if I mess this up, I have to go back to sensitivity training for the living."

I stared as Grace shifted a bare three inches to move closer to Josh.

"I'll stay with him," she said, her voice flowing like liquid.

Josh was watching my stunned surprise with an inquiring look. "What just happened?"

Puzzled, I straightened. "Uh, she's going to stay with you," I said, and he exhaled in relief.

Eyebrows high, he leaned back. "So…we're going to wait?"

I nodded, much to Grace's relief. "But not any longer than tomorrow," I added, and she bristled, if the orange sparks she was shooting out meant anything. "If Barnabas or Ron doesn't show by morning, then I'm going to call Kairos out. Take his amulet."

"Shoot 'em down. Do your stuff," Josh added, laughing. "Good. That will give us some time to come up with a plan better than ‘get him. Tell you what. I'll come over tomorrow morning to pick you up to go to the carnival, and we'll go out to Rosewood Park instead to take care of Kairos. That way, you can get your angel back right away."

"That sounds like a plan," I said, glancing at Grace as she made an odd noise: part disapproval, part evil planning, part frustration. I didn't like the deception, but what would I tell my dad? Hi, Dad. Evil Father Time is going to kill Josh. Not to worry, since I'm going to steal his source of power again. I'll be back before lunch. Kiss-kiss!

"I'll get you home then," Josh said, standing up and gathering his stuff. "Do you have my cell number?"

"No," I said, distracted as I thought over what just happened. Dang, I had given an angel an order, and she had taken it. Went from outright defiance to agreement. And as I drank the last of my pop so we could get out of there, I shivered.

Me commanding angels. That couldn't be good.