RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL
*Gideon*
“What a shame, that all we ever learned to do
was to live and wait to die.”
Melody Manful
“Did you two nerds win the Nobel Prize yet?” I asked the moment I reached Tristan.
I’d met Abigail in the hallway on my way back, but she couldn’t see me because I was invisible. I’d watched as she made her way to the teacher’s lounge. I wanted to follow her, but I spotted Tristan lingering in front of the classroom door and changed my mind.
Tristan reentered the classroom and I followed. “Not yet,” he answered, and for once, he didn’t sound like happy Tristan. I didn’t care to ask what was wrong with him.
“How did it go?” he asked as if we were having a friendly conversation.
Since I had nowhere better to be, I played along. “Oh, cool. Jake and I had a ‘who can finish his bottle of water first’ competition, and guess who won?” I sat down on one of the chairs. “Me.”
I pulled a new phone from my pocket and tried to work it; I had to have one in order to seem normal.
“How’s that coming along?” Tristan asked, and I looked up to see him eyeing the phone in my hands. He walked over to where I sat.
“Who are you, the phone police?” What was wrong with this guy? I wanted to punch him in the face, but I needed him around for my big plan.
I went back to studying the phone, trying to locate the settings, but I wasn’t sure which part of the screen I was supposed to touch. How did humans have the patience for these?
“You know I’m not going to give you a chance to hurt the girl, right?”
Finally. I thought he was never going to bring her up. “We’ll see.” I propped my legs on my desk.
“Please don’t hurt Abigail. She has enough problems of her own and—”
I faked a laugh, cutting Tristan off. “You mean the fact that her father is part of the CIA and everyone thinks he’s dead?” I asked. “That doesn’t sound like a problem to me.”
I knew Abigail feared me. Throughout the day, she’d been looking as if she’d seen a ghost whenever her eyes met mine, but I wasn’t worried. I was certain that before sunset, Abigail Cells would be dead.
My first impression of Abigail was that she was intentionally clueless. And then I thought she was brainless and irritating. I still couldn’t figure out how she knew my name before I’d even introduced myself, but none of that mattered since she’d be dead soon.
“I know the Elders thought I’d be a challenge for you, but you don’t have to be here just because of what they think.”
Was he kidding me with this? He thought he was a challenge?
“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m here because I want to be, your highness.”
“I know you want to hurt me,” Tristan said as if it were something new. “I don’t…”
Tristan’s lips kept moving, but I tuned him out.
“Okay, all right…that’s cool.” I should have brought some pillows for this show. He could talk for hours.
“You’re not even listening to me.”
“And we have a winner.” I snapped my fingers, turning myself invisible, and disappeared.
When I reappeared in front of the school, I observed as Abigail waved and smiled from inside a black limo. Other students watched intently. The adoration she received was ridiculous. A second later, Tristan appeared beside me, and we flew invisibly behind the limo as it pulled away.
I had one problem, and it was the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about when Abigail’s hands and mine touched. I tried to push it out of my mind, but I couldn’t. For some reason, when our hands touched, I felt as if Zeus had thrown one of his lightning bolts my way. Seconds later, I felt something different—a new, empowering feeling.
“Felix, is my mother home?” Abigail asked. After about fifteen minutes of driving, the limo was arriving at a luxury mansion that stood on a cliff in front of us.
“She’ll be late today,” Felix answered.
An automatic metal gate opened the moment we reached the mansion, allowing the limo onto the patterned concrete driveway. Topiaries lined the driveway leading toward the two-story mansion looming ahead of us. I noticed a tennis court behind the trees to our left and an iron-and-marble gazebo decorated with Greek caryatids on our right.
A water fountain bubbled in front of the main entrance to the house. In the middle of the fountain, a life-size Greek marble sculpture of a woman held a large scalloped shell with both hands as water overflowed it. Underneath the sculpture, streams of water spiraled high into the air, reaching the shoulders of the woman before falling back into the basin.
The limo parked in front of the mansion and Abigail stepped out, saying, “Thanks for the ride.” Then she walked toward a baroque-inspired covered portico.
Tristan and I followed her into the house. The first thing I saw when we entered the grand foyer was the double wrought iron staircase. The two-story, sky-lit foyer boasted a vaulted ceiling, which was crowned with intricate moldings. I looked down at the contrasting marble-and-stone floor.
“Do you want something, Miss Cells?” Ben asked.
“No, thank you,” Abigail answered politely.
I turned from her to look at some pictures of her and a woman who I assumed was her mother. I imagined the other miscellaneous people in the portraits were also family.
“Call us if you need anything,” Felix said as he walked in and stood behind her. Abigail nodded and passed through an opened door across the room. Tristan and I followed.
The room Abigail entered was classic. It looked like one of those fancy human restaurants, very tidy and unique. There was a long dining table in the middle and a flat-screen TV hung on the wall beside a glass cupboard filled with gilded silver plates.
Abigail didn’t stop when she entered the room; she went on and opened another door. A woman with dark hair and a sunny face was already in the next room, standing behind a deluxe double oven. “Hi, Morgan.” Abigail greeted the woman, who I assumed was the house help.
“How was school, honey?” Morgan walked over to Abigail.
“It wasn’t bad.” She made her way to a chair.
There was a glass door close to where Abigail sat, and from where I was standing, I could see a veranda behind her. Two chairs sat on the veranda as well as a little glass table. A swimming pool was just beyond the veranda. I glanced at Abigail as she wordlessly gazed at the pool. She seemed lost in thought because she didn’t even notice when the woman placed a sizeable bowl of ice cream in front on her.
“Are you okay, honey? You look a bit tired.”
“I’m fine, Morgan.”
Liar.
“Well, eat your ice cream. I made your favorite—strawberry-vanilla swirl.”
The ice cream looked disgusting to me. Seriously, I didn’t know why humans enjoyed eating all that rubbish. We angels had a different appetite, while the Lumenians gained strength by feeding on the happiness and love around them, the Grandinians grew strong by feeding on the weakness, sadness, and pain of others. I, on the other hand, inflicted pain and fed off it.
Abigail ate three spoonfuls of her ice cream without looking at it. Morgan watched her silently from behind the counter.
“The children’s hospital called,” Morgan said. “They can’t wait to see you Friday.” Suddenly, Abby’s face lit up.
“I can’t wait, either,” Abigail said with a smile. She ate another spoonful of ice cream. “I ordered them new books and toys. They should be here tomorrow.”
What a waste of space she was.
Abigail’s phone beeped. She grabbed it, glanced at the screen, and smiled. As she read through the message, her face clouded. I looked over her shoulder and glanced at the message.
411!!!! It’s on. 2nite. Concert at 8:00 XD. C ya soon. Kiss, UR BFF Sarah *w*
“Thanks for the ice cream, Morgan. I have some homework to do.” Abigail said and hurried out of the kitchen.
Tristan and I followed her up the double staircase and into her bedroom.
Abigail’s bedroom was a roomy suite, which included a small sitting area containing a bookshelf, sofa, TV, and another shelf packed with DVDs and CDs. There were two open doors that could be seen in her room, one led to her walk-in closet, the other to her bathroom.
A pair of french doors led to a balcony with tall columns. The view overlooked the beautiful garden below.
Abigail went into her bathroom minutes after she entered her room. The shower turned on, and I walked out of the bedroom and onto the balcony, where I decided to pass the time by pretending I didn’t notice Tristan’s presence at all.
All angels were supposed to give humans privacy when they were having private moments. This meant that whenever they were undressed, we gave them their privacy. Since I only came to Earth to kill them, that part wasn’t my problem.
“Where is it?” Abigail shouted from inside her closet. I walked back into her room.
Tristan walked into the closet. I vacillated but followed a few seconds later. Abigail was carelessly throwing her clothes around when we entered. She was already dressed in a black tank top and a simple pair of skinny jeans.
“There you are!” She pulled a band T-shirt out of the mess. Abigail put the shirt on and dialed a number. A familiar voice, Sarah, told Abigail they were coming to get her soon, and operation “Sneak Abigail Out” was in action.
After Abigail ended the call, she hurried into her bedroom. Looking into her schoolbag, she took her watch out and put it under her pillow. She then started yanking off the bed sheets one by one.
Once the sheets were on the floor, she carefully placed them back on the bed, one after the other. Laying her pillows in a line down the bed, she then situated her sheets over them. As soon as she did this, the bed looked like someone was sleeping on it. She smiled to herself and went out on the balcony.
After a while, she sat on the railing with her hands tightened around the stone edge as she dangled her legs. Tristan went out, too, standing a few steps away from her and staring into the distance. I saw this as an opportunity.
I wanted to kill Abigail at the concert while she was having fun, but I was bored and hungry. I looked at her questioningly, wondering what harm I would choose to do to her. It took less than five seconds before the best idea occurred to me. I smiled, and without looking at Tristan, I walked closer to Abigail. Without a second thought, I shoved her hard from the balcony railing.
She screamed as she fell.