Angel -
Chapter 7
LUDI
I had just finished getting feeling into my legs when Dad orders us to run quickly to the big yellow house while stuffing the goat’s leashes into my hands.
We run as fast as we cam, and barely make it before a car drives by. I’m not sure why we’re hiding from the car, but Dad seems pretty nervous for us so I don’t ask.
A tall, silver-blonde haired lady comes bustling in to see what the commotion is about, and Lora and I race to hug her.
“Mom, I’ve missed you like crazy!” I cry-say.
“I’ve missed you too, but what on earth is going on right now?” Mom squeezes us then pulls back, frowning at Dad. “They should be in school. And who are these two? And why do you have the goats? And how come you made it here, when I took our car?”
“We’ll explain later, I promise,” Dad says. “Can we put the goats somewhere?”
Mom nods, and with a wave of her hands, a small padlock appears in the middle of the room to our left, which looks like a living room.
I lead the goats over there and I can hear hushed voices behind me. My suspicion reaches a point. What are they talking about?
Speckle baaahs at me like a sheep, and I can’t help but smile. Despite the godly war about to happen, a goat can cheer me up with a simple baah.
“Ludi, Lora, who are those two kids?” Mom asks as I stand back up and turn to them.
“They’re friends from school,” I say. “Erin and Grayson. Erin’s half-Centaur, and Grayson-well, we think he’s just normal, but I didn’t know that Erin was a centaur so he could be anything.”
Grayson looks less than thrilled at this.
“Well, I’m Clara Crous, Ludi’s mother, as you most likely guessed.” Mom smiles, reaching a hand out to my friends. Grayson and Erin take turns shaking it with smiles.
“Ludi, if you walk down that hall, the last door on your right is a large room you all can bunk in for now,” Mom says, her eyes looking up to Dad. They harden. “Take Erin and Grayson. I’m going to talk to Lora and your father for a few moments.”
I can’t help but think that this means no good for Lora. But I do as I’m told because Mom said it so dang nice.
Erin and Grayson follow me down the hall, where I push open a white door and look into a room that can only be this big with the help of magic.
“Wow. I’m guessing that the room is this big because of magic?” Grayson runs inside it and twirls around once, his arms spread wide.
“Yup.”
“Your parents have magic?” Erin asks me, her voice sounding incredulous.
“Yeah. Mom and Lora use it a lot, but I’ve never read a spell in my life and I don’t think Dad has, either.” I walk in after Grayson, Erin following me.
“There’s enough room in here for a horse!” Erin exclaims.
Grayson and I both crack identical grins which we share with Erin. Soon we are giggling.
“So, that lady-your mom she’s an angel?” Grayson asks, sitting on one of the four beds lined against the walls.
“Yeah.” I say, sitting on the floor and playing with a loose thread on my sock.
“So you’re part angel, or whatever,” Erin says. “No wonder you’re always so kind.”
I blush. I can’t help it. “Well, I mean, I’m not the nicest. There’s a demon in me, too.”
“Yeah, but you can’t tell there is,” Grayson waves his hand. “You’re clearly more angel.”
I swallow. They’re getting closer to the one fact Lora and I can’t tell them.
Erin seems to see my sudden discomfort. “Ludi? What’s wrong?”
I look at her. There’s no way I can keep this from them. I have to tell them. I owe it to them after dragging them into all this craziness.
“I read it in a book,” I say, pulling out my bag and opening it to reveal Hybrid Slaves - What you need to know. “It’s the only book that talks about demon/Angel hybrids. It says that our type of hybrids are always born in twin form, and one of the twins will turn out angelic, and the other… well, you can guess.”
Erin and Grayson both pale instantly.
Then one speaks.
“This is insane.”
“I know, and I apologize,” I say sadly to Grayson. “I wish it were different. But the author is an expert. He should be right. And… and I think that the demon twin is- is Lora.”
Erin seems to have lost her voice.
“Your sister is a demon,” Grayson states, more to himself than to me.
“Not yet ” I say, the awful word yet pounding in my head. “But I’ve read the signs.. and she shows them all. I’d hoped I could help her, that I could fix it and we could both be Angels together. That was before today, anyway.”
“What happened today?” Erin asks as if she can’t believe she’s asking.
“Lora attacked a girl today,” I say. “Using her full hybrid form. Flames, tail, horns, wings. All that. Dad’s number one rule was to never show your form in public, and I thought it was to keep us safe from the world. But I figured it out - it was to keep the world safe from us.”
At that moment, we hear my sister’s voice yelling from behind our closed door.
“No! We can’t just sit here and do nothing while heaven is turned into Hell!”
Lora sounds desperate. I hear Mom next.
“Lora, I know how you feel-”
Dad interrupts her. “We have no choice-”
“No! We always have a choice! The good one and the bad one! You’re choosing to hide while others could die! Innocent people!”
Erin covers her ears. Grayson flinches at the loud words.
“It’s for you and your brother’s safety,” Mom says, her voice firmer than I’d ever heard it.
“Our safety?” Lora yells. “Our safety?! What about everyone else in the world?! They’re just people! We’re hybrids - we can save ourselves, but out there - they can’t!”
“Lora, that’s enough,” Dad says. “Into your room. Now.”
There’s stomping, and immediately Erin, Grayson and I rush to the other side of the room just as the door flies open to reveal a very angry Lora.
With a loud huff, she stomps to a bed with a red bedspread. Grayson and Erin are looking at her fearfully. I suppress a groan.
Thankfully, Lora is too angry at Mom and Dad to question my friends. Angry at Mom and Dad… speaking of which, what had we just heard? Lora got mad at our parents for… what, exactly? Mom had said it was for our safety. Right after Lora had said that they were choosing to hide, when thousands of innocent people would die…
I realize that the sun has set, and with a jolt in my stomach I realize how crazy my life has become in under two days. We slide into the beds-Lora in a red blanketed one, Grayson with orange, Erin with blue and me with a pale yellowish colour blanket. And soon, Grayson’s snores fill the room and I fall asleep to the white noise.
I wake up to sunlight being filtered through the closed curtains. Sitting up, I see that everyone is out of the room already. No one bothered to wake me up? I think.
I have the room to myself, though, and I don’t have school in the morning anymore. Maybe I can sleep in.
Nope. A moment after my head hits the pillow again, Lora bursts into the room. “Mom’s homeschooling us again,” she says. “Hurry up, you’re already late!”
With a yelp I leap out of bed. I never want to be late for Mom’s lessons. For one she uses magic to make her classes more interesting.
I speed out of the room and rush into the living room. But no one’s there. I hear giggling, and Erin and Grayson are sitting at the table eating jam toast.
“Lora!” I yell.
She comes in grinning. “Yes, my loving, caring and beautiful brother?”
I can’t help but laugh once. “It’s not funny, I really thought there was school today!”
Lora sits down, and suddenly looks sad.
“What’s wrong Lora?” I ask.
“Well… I don’t like hiding from our problems.” Lora says. “I don’t like hiding from the world while it’s in danger.”
She looks at Erin and Grayson, and I wave her on. “I told them- I had to, they had the right to know.”
Lora hesitates. Then she opens her mouth and a flow of words erupt from it. “I don’t want to be a demon or a devil I want to be good I want to be an angel or a Angel or at the very least an ordinary human being-” she inhaled “- but hiding like this isn’t good. I feel like I’m going evil by not helping the world.”
I gape at her, and I’m not the only one.
“Have some toast,” Grayson says weakly.
“I’m sorry we have to put you through all of this,” Lora says to my friends.
“It’s better than math every day,” Erin grins nearly as weakly as Grayson.
Lora doesn’t look cheered up. I pat her shoulder.
“We’ll save the world, you’ll see.” I say.
“But will we? If Mom and Dad finally let us out of this lockdown, will we be able to save the world?” Lora shakes her head. “It’s unlikely, according to No You Can’t.”
“Well, maybe the Angels don’t need our help.” Erin says, a piece of toast in her hand. “Maybe they can solve their own problems. Without us.”
Lora gives her a look. “The Angels don’t even know what Salan is planning.” And she gets up and walks out without eating anything.
I chase after her. She’s by the goats in Mom’s large living room.
“Lora?” I say tentatively.
Lora looks up from petting Spot and Speckle. “What’s up, Ludi?”
“What’s up with you?” I ask, sitting beside her. “You ran from the breakfast table.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She says calmly. “I don’t like being trapped in a house.”
I look at the little black goat, Speckle. “Yeah, I kinda guessed you wouldn’t like it. But what else can we do?”
Lora turns to me with a sparkle in her red eyes. “We escape,” she says mischievously.
I blanched. “What?!”
The sparkle disappears. “It’s okay, I knew you wouldn’t like the idea.” She says sadly. “I just-you know, it was just an idea. Stupid idea. I should have known it wouldn’t work, thousands of books say so, like No You Can’t and Don’t read this - It Doesn’t Have Escape Tips, Go Do Your Work Like A Good Slave.”
“No no, I like the idea!” I say without thinking, hoping to bring that sparkle back. “It’s- um, it could use some thought?”
“I know that,” Lora snaps. “Just an idea right now. If you really like it I’ll try and get a plan going.”
“I don’t know,” I say slowly. “Mom and Dad’ll get mad.”
“So, saving the entire world will make our parents angry which is why you don’t want to save it.” Lora’s back straightens, her curly auburn hair sparking.
“No,” I say. “But- are we really able to save it? Like you said. We’re just four kids. Well, two hybrids, a centaur and a kid. And maybe the Angels don’t need our help. Like Erin said.”
Lora rolls her eyes. “Well, we can at least warn the Angels, can’t we?”
I nod. “That wouldn’t be too bad. Yes. Warn the Angels. Can-do.”
“Excellent.” Lora grins and stands up. “I’ll think of one immediately. Tell Erin and Grayson, will ya? Quickly. Mom and Dad will wake up soon.”
She leaves, and I stand, too. We’re going to escape from our… well, house-arrest. Into a world doomed for war. To warn Angels.
But I’m certain that whether we warn the Angels or not, Lora would leap into the fight and try to single-handedly end the inevitable war.
“Grayson, Erin.” I say to the kitchen. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”
“But why would you bring us?” Erin asks.
I rub my forehead. “You’re asking that question? You’re my best friends.”
“Yeah, but,” Erin says. “We’re not hybrids, we’re just kids.”
“You’re a half-centaur.” Grayson reminds her, and she blushes.
“Well, yeah… but I’ve never been in my centaur… form before.” Erin says. “All I can do is read the planets.”
“All you can do is read the planets?” Grayson says incredulously. “Erin, you made a prophecy. You told Ludi that heaven and hell would go to war, and you’re - well, hopefully you’re wrong but you’re a half-centaur so I’m pretty sure you’re right. Being able to read the planets is a really cool skill.”
Erin smiles somewhat sadly. “Yes, but I won’t be any help in the day.”
“That’s enough of self-pity,” I say firmly, putting a hand on Erin’s shoulder. “You’re going to be amazing. All we’re doing is warning the Angels, remember. You’ll be fine.”
Erin looks at her blonde side ponytail. “I sure dang hope so.”
“Shh,” Grayson stands and crosses the room quickly and puts his ear on the door. “I think your parents are getting up, Ludi.”
Not a moment after he says this, the door flies open sending Grayson across the room.
“Oops, sorry Parkers.” Dad says, walking in.
“It’s all good,” Grayson gasps and rubs his elbow.
“Ludi, are your friends feeling welcome?” Dad asks.
“Like a really long sleepover.” Erin nods with a half smile.
“I’m real sorry about the situation and taking you from your homes.” Dad sighs, shaking his head. “I- I hope there will be a time when we can all go home again.”
He turns and walks out. Erin and Grayson look at me, their faces made of stone.
“We need a plan.” Grayson says.
“Alright, I don’t have anything yet,” Lora hisses in a low voice to me. “But I’m working on it, okay?”
“Hurry up,” I whisper. “I don’t want Grayson and Erin to be stuck here for too long. They’ve texted their parents saying they’re at a last- minute sleepover, and I’ve got their parents’ numbers. I’m pretending to be Dad, just to make sure their parents don’t try and take them again.”
“Maybe we should take them back,” Lora says, looking away. “Maybe we should let their parents take them home. It’s not fair they have to deal with this. It’s not fair at all.”
“I know, but they’d never allow us to.” I say. “We brought them into this, and they think they can help us a lot.”
“It would help if Erin could transform,” Lora grumbles.
“Yeah, well she’s a girl. It’s probably different. Centaurs are all male, aren’t they?”
“They are.” Lora agrees. “But she’s a half-centaur. Not pure centaur. So it might be different.”
“I’ll talk to her. We’ll work it out together.” I say, standing up.
Lora nods. “And I’ll read a few books and see if Grayson’s still a pure human. He could be part vampire, for all we know.”
Grayson, a vampire? He’s the most tanned kid I know. But it would be cool to have a vampire friend, I know that. I jog across the hall to Erin. “We’re going to the living room and we are going to help you turn into a centaur!” I say smiling.
“Is this Lora’s idea?” Erin raises an eyebrow at me.
“Yup!” I skip to the living room.
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