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little too early?”
    “You can’t seriously believe that these are fake,” I said, rustling my wings to push a gentle wind in her direction.
    “They look pretty fake to me.”
    “Do you want me to prove they’re not fake?”
    Her eyes lit up. “Could you?”
    “I could,” I admitted, “But I won’t.”
    She pouted and began to pick at her fingernails. “So, you’re a stalker who has an odd obsession with Halloween. Can I please have my sweater back?”
    “You aren’t the least bit confused about what happened in the past two days?”
    Finally a darkness crossed her eyes. I could see the fear behind her façade. Her voice was less than a whisper. “I was hoping I’d imagined it all. Angie said I did.”
    I nodded. It made sense. Ethan wiped Angie’s memories from JFK while she slept on the bus ride home. I had watched, but couldn’t make myself do the same for Hannah. It didn’t seem fair. Now I was second-guessing that decision. “Angie thinks you did,” I admitted, “But you didn’t.”
    “So a guy was really sucked into the earth, something seriously went nuts at the airport, and you really have the wings on your back.”
    None of it sounded like a question when she rattled it off, so I figured she believed it. I shrugged. “That sums it up.”
    “What does that make you? An angel?”
    I laughed darkly. “Not exactly.”
    “What are you then?”
    “I’m your Guard.”
    Hannah looked me over once, then met my eyes once again. “Well, you suck.”
    I’m pretty sure somewhere I had a smart comment. It just didn’t come out. There was nothing there but shock as she got up, pulled her leg into the room once more, and slammed the window shut.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    SEVEN
     
     
    Ethan ran behind me and yelled curses all the way to Hannah’s school, Shawnee High. “Have you lost your damn mind?!”
    Instead of responding to him, I pushed myself harder and created a wider distance between us. It didn’t seem to deter him. Instead, he just yelled louder. “Seriously, have you lost it? Because I can let Owen know, and he’ll give you a new Call just like that. Problem solved before it becomes a bigger issue.”
    That stopped me in my tracks. Ethan ran headlong into my back, pushing us both forward fifty feet. “Don’t breathe a word to Owen.”
    Ethan raised his hands in mock submission. “Hey, I’m just saying, let’s nip this thing in the bud, you know? Keep it a non-issue. You wouldn’t have to say anything about anything. Just tell Owen you’re tired of being stationed with me.”
    “I don’t need reassigned.”
    “Then what on earth possessed you to enroll at the school?”
    The bell rang about a mile away, signaling the five-minute warning before classes started. I hiked up the empty book bag on my shoulder and winked at him. “Felt like getting an education. I never got to graduate from high school, remember?”
    “You didn’t miss anything,” Ethan mumbled.
    I took off before he could say any more, but he yelled from behind me. “If you get lice or cooties or whatever from a human, don’t expect me to help you out!”
     
    The bell rang right as I slid into the seat behind Hannah in English. I heard her audible sigh, but ignored it. If she wanted to ignore me, that’s fine. I was her Guard; she wasn’t supposed to know about me, anyway.
    Somewhere in my mind, I knew I was playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse. No matter what, she would die. Pretty much no matter what, I was damned.
    No time like the present to play with something that was doomed from the start.
    “Today we will discuss what classics you want to read for this quarter’s book report,” the teacher said and raised her hand over the sea of groans. “You can choose your book, but you must make your case for why you believe it is considered a classic.”
    Of course every female in the class instantly began to whisper about Romeo and Juliet, while the guys just groaned. I leaned back in my