Ryder's Angel

Chapter Fifteen: Can't Be Trusted: Danny

Chapter Fifteen: Danny

The days, weeks, passed, and as they did, things got better. My class was very eager to learn.

Today, it was learning to beat your opponent, one-on-one. Kelsey and Ginger were together one day.

The others sat around the room with the two girls in the middle. The red-haired Ginger grinned wickedly and vanished. Kelsey stood there, unsure, but when Ginger startlingly appeared behind her and grabbed her neck – the official way to win a mock battle for mutants – Kelsey screamed. Some of the guys chuckled, but Kelsey shot them murderous looks as she went to sit in the circle.

But I clapped. “Nice performance, you two. Who’s next?”

They got better and better with each passing week, but on the other hand with Angeline, it was undecided. We were on good terms, if not enhanced, but she still wouldn’t give me an answer. But I knew better than to bring it up again. It also made me uncomfortable just to see her stomach slowly getting larger. Soon Angeline will break, soon the secret will slip…

And it happened sooner than I thought.

On the last day of her second month, and our first month here at Miss Sadie’s New York Orphanage for Mutants, I was teaching my thirteen-years when there was a timid knock on the door. I was in the middle of pinning Riddle to the ground as a wildcat while the others cheered and Riddle tried to scorch my fur. But as soon as the knock sounded, all noise and action ceased.

No one ever knocks on the doors during training, not even Miss Sadie.

I jumped up, human again. I helped Riddle up, muttering praise. I went to the door anxiously, with my students behind me. I turned the handle and smiled.

“Angeline.”

Her smile was timid, and when she saw the kids, her eyes flickered with something close to fear. “Hi…” was her whispered greeting.

Kelsey pushed her way next to me and smiled very widely and very friendly. “You must be Angeline. Master Danny talks about you all the time. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Next to her bewilderment, there was amusement in Angeline’s face as she glanced at me. Her hands were by her stomach.

I felt the heat rush to my cheeks as I pushed Kelsey away. “Okay, Kelsey, that’s enough.” When the rest of them went back sulkily into the room, I offered Ang my hand and kissed her cheek. “Glad you decided to come, love,” I whispered. I really was – I was overjoyed; my heart was racing and I felt like a little boy with a new toy.

She smiled. “Me, too.”

I took her to the front of the room while the students sat on their mats. Marc gave a gasp as he read Angeline’s mind. I saw her bit her lip. I squeezed her hand to let her know it was alright. “Okay, everyone. This is Angeline, my girlfriend.”

“Hi,” she greeted breezily.

“Hi, Angeline!” Kelsey chirped. “My name is Kelsey and I can manipulate emotions.” Her face became thoughtful. “Right now, you’re really nervous. Hmm, I can fix that…”

Suddenly, as Kelsey spoke, Angeline relaxed hugely. Her expression was almost dreamy with Kelsey’s little spell.

“I’m Marc,” he piped up before anyone else, “and I can read minds. What an…interesting…secret you have, Mistress Angeline.” Though still relaxed, Ang’s eyes flashed. “Don’t worry; I think it as my own rule to not tell what is best kept secret.”

Ginger, Riddle, and the rest of the eight introduced themselves, but Kelsey took her place at the top again, asking, “So you’re an angel?”

Her face wasn’t so dreamy anymore, but she was calm. “I am.”

The murmur passed around the room, and Angeline glanced at me.

“No, no,” Marc said. “It’s okay, nothing that bad. Apparently, you don’t know either.”

“Know what?” Angeline sat in a chair, still holding my hand.

“Angels are really rare these days,” Kelsey murmured sadly, as if she didn’t want Ang to hear.

Angeline swallowed, unspeaking.

“Angels are the most powerful in the mutant world. They’re all immortal, and the best…tool…for for humans’ doing,” Riddle told her.

“Really?”

Ginger nodded sullenly. “Yes. And from what we eavesdropped on Miss Sadie, there’s hardly any left – maybe about five.”

“I’m…endangered?”

Marc nodded. “I’m sorry, Mistress Angeline.”

There was a mournful silence. The first noise was her medical anklet, beeping shrilly. I knelt quickly in front of her, holding her face. “Ang, Ang, its okay, relax.”

But Ang’s shoulders were already slumping, for Kelsey was standing beside me.

I took Angeline up in my arms and started for the door. “I’ve got to take her to the infirmary. Go tell Miss Sadie what happened. See you guys tomorrow.”

They didn’t say anything as they did as they were told, and I climbed the stairs and up the elevator. Blu was waiting with Veronica at his side, both their faces grim. But Dr. Blu took one look at her and nodded. “We heard. She’ll be fine.”

Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks – they went by. Angeline came out of her shell more and more with each passing week. Mostly she sat at the end of the stairs with our family, listening to their adventures at the orphanage, or wandering the halls. But if she wasn’t there, she was with me while I taught. She offered very good advice and even showed the kids her abilities. They were absolutely awestruck. But her stomach kept growing.

And as Angeline kept walking the halls, she didn’t seem to notice – but I did, I noticed them: the stares, the distrustful glances. They seemed to say, who are you? What are you doing here? You’ll put us in danger. What’s wrong with you? Yes, the inhabitants were unfriendly, even the younger kids, for most of them knew now that she was a rare angel that was hunted like a dog by the humans.

The rumor was that most of them think the humans will track Angeline and get inside the orphanage, not only capturing her but the entire population here. I also heard the Miss Sadie said without any fear that it was perfectly impossible – for her generations of ancestors put their own powers over the place in some way to protect it.

But Angeline, on my advice, ignored them and kept smiling. She greeted them as if they were her friends, she waved, all the while her hands were at her stomach. Yet though she braved this, she wasn’t ready to face everyone at the same time, at dinner. Usually she just ate with me in our room, but on occasions we settled in an old dining area with our family. Things were well for them, but they kept us on tabs if we missed anything. But it was all the same: Angeline can’t be trusted, she should leave. Our misfit family, nor Miss Sadie or Dr. Blu, wouldn’t have it. We kept our anger inside, but someday it would snap.

But the months kept going, and soon it was December – December, the month of Christmas.