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

flirt with her! She looked up sharply then, just now realizing Sam’s choice of words.

“Woman?” Now Luce blushed a bit. He hadn’t thought she would pick up on that. But then he went back to the cool bad boy type, and grinned at her.

“Well, you’re eighteen aren’t you? Or close enough?” When Kelly nodded slowly, Luce exclaimed as if it were obvious, “Then you a woman!”

“And Sharon and Monica aren’t?” Luce didn’t get a chance to answer, because then Monica came bounding over. Just before she got here, Kelly looked at Luce and said,

“We will

finish this conversation.” Sweeping her a mock bow, the boy said,

“Your wish is my command.” Kelly frowned. She had a feeling she needed to stay away from the teen, but something else told her that he wasn’t going to let her keep her distance.

Chapter Four

Luce kept sneaking secret looks at Kelly when she was busy talking to her friend. It was obvious that she was trying to ignore him, but it didn’t help that he brushed his hand along her leg every once in a while. The girl tensed up every time he did that, and it made him laugh inside. She was so vulnerable, so fragile, but there was spirit in her.

The horse gets broken eventually,

Luce thought darkly, and I’ll be the one to do it.

(--)

Luce saw the obvious relief on Kelly’s face when he decided to sit in the back, whereas she chose a spot in the front. Monica decided to sit next to him, a shy, yet flirty smile on her lips. She started bombarding him with the usual questions when you meet someone for the first time. He answered as pleasantly as he could, but the fact was that the girl bored him. He turned his head to the front of the room, hoping Monica would get the hint and leave him alone. She did.

After class, Luce watched Kelly following a freshman male. A football player, by the looks of it. Tapping his shoulder, Luce read Kelly’s lips as she spoke to the boy.

David,

Kelly’s lips said, I hear you’re going to Brad’s party tonight. I didn’t think you liked him.

The boy, David, stared at her. Luce saw the shock and confusion on his face. It was almost taboo for a senior to associate with freshmen, whether or not they played a sport, so this was a real treat. Reading David’s lips, Luce watched the rest of their conversation.

Why do you care? Are you going?

Kelly shrugged nonchalantly.

I might. Maybe I could go with you.

She beamed at the boy, and David looked like he wanted to kiss her feet. Just don’t do anything rash. Brad isn’t worth it.

Then the girl turned away on her heel, leaving the dumbfounded freshman behind to go to her next class.

Luce looked down at his schedule. Next class was English. Same one as Kelly’s, he knew. He smirked. He was getting rather fond of the girl. Maybe he should ask himself over her house. No; too soon. Or was it? The boy really wanted to get to know her better.

Then Luce frowned. What was he thinking about? Why did he think he could accomplish anything at her house that he couldn’t here at school? It didn’t make sense. Shaking his head to clear it, Luce ran until he met up with Kelly. The girl frowned slightly, but then plastered a fake smile on her face, pretending that she was glad he had popped up. Luce smiled at her in return, but his was as false as hers, no real warmth.

“So, Kelly, when would you like to continue our conversation?” This caught her off-guard, but she quickly recovered. She chewed her lip as she thought. Blurting out the first thing that came into his head, Luce said,

“Why don’t I come to your house?” At her frightened expression, he added tauntingly,

“We can do it right after school, when it’s still light out. You can even wait till your daddy gets home.” When he said ‘daddy’, Kelly’s eyes opened wide, and they shifted to glare at him. Steamed, she said in a voice full of venom,

“My father is dead, and so is my mother, and my little brother, too. I thought an orphan like you would know not everyone has the typical family life-style. But I guess I was wrong.”

Then she stormed toward the classroom, leaving the shocked boy in her wake.

(--)

Kelly brooded all through English. She couldn’t believe that Luce was so shallow-minded. And teasing her like that!

So she went out of her way to avoid Luce. When he went to sit in the back, she stayed in front. As part of a project, they had to pick partners, so Kelly asked a girl she had seen around school, Hailey Cooper. As far as Kelly Gardner was concerned, she would have nothing to do with Luce Daemon.

After class, Kelly hurried out of the room, not wanting to stay in the same room as that boy. She heard him call her in hall, but she ignored him, merging with the crowd to get to her locker. She needed some girl talk with Sharon.

The Kelly stopped abruptly. What was she doing? Didn’t she promise herself she would never exclude or ignore someone? She wasn’t one to hold grudges, but that was what she was doing, over some silly misunderstanding. Yes, her family’s deaths were a sore spot for her, but she had no right to treat Luce like he was lesser than she was.

So she turned around to find the boy almost directly behind her. He stepped backwards a little bit to give each of them room. Luce gave her a shy smile, embarrassed that she had caught him so close to her. But Luce’s embarrassment was soon replaced by surprise when Kelly said.

“You can come over to my house tomorrow; just call first.” Kelly got a marker out of her pocket and wrote her house and cell phone numbers on Luce’s arm. Then, with a wave of her hand, she went off to her locker.


Chapter Five

Kelly was extremely relieved to see her best friend waiting for her at their lockers. Sharon took one look at her and opened her arms for a hug. Kelly gladly accepted.

"What happened in English?" Sharon asked. Kelly backed away, ending their hug, and sighed.

"I got real mad at Luce, and then ignored him during class. But, in the hall, I realized I was being a jerk-"

"You were not!" Sharon interrupted.

"-and then I stopped and talked to him." Kelly paused. She knew that Sharon had a bit of a crush on Luce, and she wasn't sure if she should her friend about her and Luce's 'date.'

"Sharon...I have a...hypotetical question for you." Sharon blinked. She hadn't expected that. But she would listen to her friend, so she nodded.

"Ask away," she said.

"Okay...if you had a best friend, and you knew she liked this boy, but the boy liked you instead, and you kind of asked him on a date despite your friend's feelings...what do you think the friend would say?"

Sharon thought. She knew that Kelly wasn't talking about a hypotetical situation at all, but she would play along. She put a hand on Kelly's shoulder.

"Hypotetically, I think think the friend would say, go for it, girl." Sharon smiled at Kelly, and the angel whisperer, a term Kelly had applied to herself at age twelve, was immensly relieved.

"Thanks, Sharon." Just then the bell rang. The two hugged again quickly, and then Kelly went off to catch her bus.

On the ride to her house, Kelly wondered if inviting Luce to her house had been such a great idea. She hardly knew anything about him, and he didn't have a Guardian...could he also be an angel whisperer?

But, that red aura Kelly had seen when she'd first met Luce made Kelly shiver. She was sure she hadn't imagined it.

So what was it? She couldn't normally she auras, the colors around a person that tells what emotion the person is experiencing. She had sometimes seen a yellow or white light around the Guardians, and a blue light that surrounds the Seven Archangels. Even demons had auras, mostly black, and Fallen had blood red around them.

Suddenly Kelly's gut clenched. Demons had red auras around them. Luce had had a black aura around him. Could it be...? Was he really...?

What had Kelly invited into her home?

(--)

"Gran, I'm home!" Kelly called. She dropped her bookbag in the dining room and went into the adjoining room, the kitchen, where the smell of cookies wafted throughout the whole house.

Kelly smiled. Gran's homemade choclate-chip cookies were amazing.

"Hello, sweetie. How was your day? Pass your French test? Well, silly me, of course you did. You're a smart little cookie," Gran said, turning to give her granddaughter a hug.

Meghan Kent was a small woman with dark skin and bright blue eyes. She had puffy white hair, and always smelled of baking. Today she wore a plain white apron to cover her rainbow flower skirt and green blouse. She loved Kelly, but was strict on important things, like homework and eating right.

"I'm pretty sure I did okay. I don't know why I was so worried; it was actually kind of easy. And, speaking of cookies, may I have one?" Kelly said, reaching for one already.

Gran laughed and slapped Kelly's arm with the spatula she had on hand. Then she lifted a cookie of the tray with the utensil, and gave one to Kelly.

Kelly plopped down on a stool at their counter, and told her grandmother about her classes, and then mentioned Luce.

"There's this new boy at school," she said nonchalantly. Gran, scooping dough onto a cookie sheet for a second batch, nodded for her to go on.

"I have him in all my classes, except French and social studies. And...I think he likes me." That got her grandmother's attention. She she paused, put down her spoon, turned to Kelly.

"Oh? Do you like him?" Kelly though about it. She had concluded that her thoughts about Luce on the bus were due to nerves about inviting a boy to her house, but she still wasn't quite sure what she felt about the new boy.

"I guess. He's seems...sort if dark, y'know? Like he has this big secret that he wants to tell someone but he can't." Gran nodded, like she understood.

"I would reckon we all have secrets," she said.

A cold, wet nose on the back of her leg made Kelly look down and smile. Her cute little Yorkshire terrier, Colonel, was trying to get her attention. She bent down and picked him up, laughing when he licked her nose.

"Well, I'm going to get some homework done. I'll take Colonel up with me," Kelly said to her grandmother. Gran nodded once more.

Kelly did her homework at her desk, Colonel sleeping peacefully at her feet. Well, tried

to do her homework would be a better term. Her thoughts were consumed by Luce and the mystery he had presented. The possiblity of him being...unhuman was strong. The aura, the sinister feeling she got when she was near him, the way he only paid attention to her, and the fact that he didn't have an angel near him...

"No!" Kelly said out loud,