Celestial Secrets, E. Dandrow Mosolovich [read aloud TXT] 📗

and picked up her pen and started to write in the answer to number one. Soon her pen was flying across the page, a few seconds per question. She smiled to herself; she had had nothing to worry about. The test was pretty easy, to her anyway, and she finished relatively early. Going over each and every one twice, Kelly was finally satisfied with her answers and put her test on the teacher’s desk.

Picking up a book to read while she waited for the other kids to finished, Kelly became absorbed with the story and so didn’t at first hear the bell. Shocked out of her fantasy by books slamming and shoes squeaking on the floor, she got up and gathered her school books. Yelling an “Au revoir!” (Good-bye) to her French teacher, Kelly hurried to her locker so she could get to lunch on time.

Fortunately for them, Kelly and Sharon’s lockers were right next to each other, and they regularly met up and walked to lunch together. So Kelly wasn’t surprised to see her friend leaning against her locker, hanging around, waiting for her, nor did she think it odd to see Sharon’s guardian angel fluttering next to her.

However, Kelly was

surprised to see Leviathan, the demon of envy, whispering into her friend’s ear. Sharon’s angel (Isda, angel of nourishment) stood by looking anxious while Leviathan’s enemy, the angel Barchiel whispered in the other ear trying to sway her from the demon’s words, and it strongly reminded her of the cartoon version of your conscience, the one with the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other.

Kelly was also frightened for her friend. What had happened in the fifty minutes they had been apart that Leviathan had any reason to tempt her? Then Isda looked up and saw Kelly. The angel’s eyes begged the girl to help. Walking over to her friend, Kelly clamped a hand on Sharon’s shoulder, shocking the girl and causing her to spin around to see who would greet her in such a way. When she saw Kelly, Sharon laughed nervously, and mock scolded her friend, wagging her finger in Kelly’s face.

“Now why’d you go and do that, Kelly? You could have given me a heart attack. What would you do then, huh? You’d miss me, right?” Kelly played along with the charade, and pretended to think about it.

“Nah, I’d think life with you gone would be quite enjoyable,” Kelly said.

“Hey!”

“Kidding, kidding!” Kelly held up her hands in surrender, and the girls laughed together at their little play. Grabbing their lunches, they went to the bathroom for a quick touch-up and potty break.

While Sharon was in the stall, Kelly continually glared at Leviathan, who had still not left. She very much wanted to give the imp a piece of her mind, but she couldn’t, not with Sharon within hearing range. Isda fluttered about, glancing from the demon and mortal back and forth like someone watching a tennis match.

When Sharon finally emerged from the stall, she washed her hands and proceeded to go out the door. Turning back to Kelly, she stopped, confused as to why her friend wasn’t coming with her. Thinking fast, Kelly smiled and said,

“You go on; I just need to do a little more touch up. I’ll be right there.” At her friend’s dubious look, Kelly hastened to assure her that she would be right behind her. Satisfied, Sharon went out the door, Isda behind her. Leviathan tried to follow, but Kelly grabbed his extraterrestrial form and yanked him back.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she hissed in his ear, determined not to let him go until he told her why he was hanging around her best friend.

The little devil wiggled and squirmed, trying to get away. Eventually he wrenched free from her grasp and turned, snarling at his captor. His black, leathery bat-wings stretched out of and folded into his back like living things with minds of their own. Lighting his body on fire, the demon hissed in Kelly’s face, showing fangs that dripped purple goo as a forked tongue flickered in and out of Leviathan’s mouth. Kelly knew not to touch the strange goop; it was poison.

Then, just like that, the flames and wings disappeared, and in their place was a shirtless man with black jeans, and his light brown hair was pulled back in a pony tail. Black eyes stared at Kelly stonily, and Leviathan smiled charmingly at her, but she knew what hid behind those lips. The imp had showed it to her himself just moments before.

“What do I owe the honor?” Leviathan hissed. “It is not every day I get to meet the one who is driving the Master crazy with your…holy deeds.”

It was plain ‘holy deeds’ was not the term the demon was looking for. Ignoring the hostility in the demon’s words, Kelly demanded,

“What right do you have to follow Sharon around? What has she done to attract your attention?” Thanks to her years of helping the angels and discouraging evil spirits, Kelly had learned the ways of the Ancient Laws God had set down before the angels and demons concerning their conduct with each other and when demons could attack a mortal’s mind. Regarding the Seven Deadly Demons, only if a human thought of the Sin or it entered their heart were they allowed to whisper in their ears and urge them to more.

Leviathan smiled, flashing his fangs and flicking his tongue. Looking mightily pleased with himself, that dratted imp said proudly,

“I have every right to plague her. My domain, envy, has entered your friend’s heart and contorted her thoughts. By the Laws, she is my prey, and when I get done with her, she will be fair game to my brothers.” Kelly frowned. Leviathan had not told her what had caused Sharon to feel envious, and that’s what she wanted to know. She said,

“Well, that’s all well and good, but why is she jealous? What happened? That’s what I want to know.” The demon stepped closer until he was in her face. Looking around the bathroom, as if trying to catch eavesdroppers, he whispered softly in her ear,

“Your friend is resentful of your fame with my brother.” Kelly jerked back so fast she almost fell. Catching herself, she stared at the envy demon. What he had said made no sense. She knew that the demons and Fallen were none too pleased with her handiwork, but why would Sharon care? On second thought, why and how did Sharon even know

about her gift?

“What do you mean, she’s jealous of ‘my fame with your brother’? Who is your brother?” Leviathan suddenly looked nervous, and it was obvious he shouldn’t have told Kelly about that. Not wanting to stick around, the imp turned around swiftly, and headed toward the door, as if to walk out, and said,

“If you will excuse me, more envious hearts are calling me, and I cannot do my duty with you blabbering at me.” Kelly narrowed her eyes. No way was she letting him go. Rummaging around in her pocket, she cried out in triumph when she pulled out her weapon: a vial of holy water, the St. Anne’s Church label on it.

Leviathan froze in his tracks and stiffened, as if he could sense what she had just taken out of her pocket. Turning around super fast, the demon snarled and tried to lunge at the girl, but recoiled when he caught sight of the vial. Just the mere presence of a blest object made him nauseous.

“You have been with a priest,” he hissed, his voice noticeably quieter.

“What was your first clue?” Kelly said sarcastically. “The fact that I can’t bless water or the label on the bottle?” She got a pained snarl in response.

Stepping closer to the agonized demon, the girl sprinkled some of the holy water on him, making him scream like a banshee. As Leviathan’s skin began to bubble and sizzle, turning a horrid red color and giving off a putrid stench, Kelly said the words that would banish him for a time:

“Ateh Malkuth ve-Geburah ve-Gedulah le-Olam.

Amen.” With a scream loud enough to shake the heavens, the Deadly Demon of Envy fell through a hole in the floor down into a dark abyss.


Chapter Three

Sharon waited outside the girls’ bathroom for her friend. The girl looked at her watch and saw that that lunch was almost practically over. Worried at the amount of the time Kelly was spending in there, she was about to open the door and get her when the Gardner girl emerged and smiled sheepishly at Sharon. Kelly, apologizing for spending so much time in there, walked with her best friend down to the cafeteria.

Catching up to a girl they sat with at lunch every day, Monica Bakalowitz, the three of them chatted and ate their lunch. Since Sharon’s lunch consisted of an orange and half a tuna sandwich, she was able to finish hers fairly quickly. Still feeling hungry, she gladly helped herself to Kelly’s pudding when she offered it to give the girl room for her peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, apple, and large cookie. Monica had already finished her chicken salad.

“Guys, don’t look now,” Monica warned “but there’s total hunk at three o’clock, and closing in.” Sharon and Kelly turned their heads to see Luce walking over to them. While Kelly laughed at Monica’s attempts to tame her unruly red curls and batted her beautiful green eyes at Luce, Sharon groaned inside. He was probably just coming over to be with Kelly. The girl shook her head to clear it. She was determined not to let a petty thing such as a guy ruin Kelly and hers fourteen-year friendship.

“Hey Luce,” Kelly greeted. He flashed her a smile, and acknowledged the other two girls with a nod. Attaining permission, the boy slid in next to Sharon, who scooted over to give Luce room. Monica, who was also next to Sharon, inhaled sharply, and her eyes became as round as saucers.

You are so lucky,

she mouthed to Kelly, wishing desperately to be on her side of the table, so Luce would have to look at her, too.

But Luce’s attention was fully focused on Kelly, who was trying to bring the other girls into the conversation, but her fellow orphan always directed it back to a subject just they could discuss. While she was flattered that the boy liked her, Kelly felt uncomfortable with his obvious ignorance of her friends.

Isda and Douma, the angel of silence and Monica’s Guardian, frowned at Luce’s behavior, and Isda said to Kelly that she was doing the right thing, not claiming the attention for herself. Douma nodded. That made the girl feel a little bit better, but not much, so she was immensely relieved when the bell rang.

After lunch she had chemistry, which Luce also had. Unfortunately, Sharon had math that period, but Monica was in Kelly’s class, so that was good. She didn’t think she could handle being with just Luce for a whole fifty minutes.

Waiting for Monica to meet her at the door, Kelly confronted Luce about his rudeness to the two other girls during lunch period. The boy seemed surprised that she was bringing his behavior up, and also confused at her question. But then Sam smiled. His mouth stretched into a creepy grin, and Kelly was a bit disturbed by his reaction.

“What are you talking about, Kelly? The only woman I saw was you.” Kelly sighed. She couldn’t believe this; he was trying to