Scrabble

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

“Why?”

“Because I want to know,” Megan shot back, angry at Anthony’s pointless question. “And it was a deal, remember? I do what you want me to do and you answer my question. Live up to your part of it, Anthony.”

The archangel looked perplexed. His blue eyes wandered over to Gizmo and Megan watched as the two of them stared at each other. For the first time, she saw resemblance between them; the way they stood – as defiant as ever – and the way they gritted their teeth, the way their foreheads were creased, the way their eyes concentrated. It was so similar in such a different way.

And for the first time, Megan noticed a new emotion emitting from Gizmo. One of confusion, and one of hurt. She couldn’t help but be confused greatly.

“Go on,” Gizmo spoke softly, causing Megan to jump at his unexpected response, “Tell us, Anthony. Who is Deal?”

“He’s here, isn’t he?” Anthony asked abruptly, his posture not changing in the slightest. There he stood, his hands behind his back, all prim and proper, looking in control of the situation. But he wasn’t. Megan was sure of that.

“He is,” she confirmed, “Who is he?”

“He must’ve already told you that,” Anthony responded calmly, “Deal isn’t one who can resist tooting his own horn.”

“Blowing his own trumpet,” Gizmo added quietly, “But whatever, same thing.”

And then Anthony and Gizmo did the weirdest thing Megan had ever seen the do. They exchanged a small, miniscule, barely visible smile.

“The suspense is going to make me spontaneously combust,” Megan announced, “So just spit it out. It can’t possibly be that hard.”

But apparently, for Anthony, it was that hard, considering the fact that he took a little less than three minutes to speak up again.

 “Everyone has their enemy,” he began, “And sometimes you have the most unexpected enemy. Which is probably what Deal is to me. An unexpected enemy.”

Gizmo stiffened visibly beside her. And in that moment she knew, she just knew, that this meant much more to Gizmo than she could fathom.

“You can say we were classmates, except getting homeschooled together doesn’t exactly qualify as being classmates. But we were friends all the same. Him being the only boy who was my age in a mile’s radius, we spent a majority of our childhood in each other’s presence.” Anthony took in a deep breath and let it all out slowly.

“And then we grew up. Things changed. Our families weren’t in the best of terms and all of a sudden we hated each other. And I wish I could say it wasn’t my fault, but I had things to do with it too. And so did he. Deal Fallon. He went and got himself a job as the Keeper of Purgatory and things began to go downhill from there. Downhill for me, that is. He was enjoying his life in purgatory. The gates of heaven were blocked for years because he was keeping all the souls for himself. Was a bloody mess.

“I was the one who helped him out of it,” he spat out, obviously regretting his decision, “Thought we could have a fresh start. And we did, for about two seconds, until he gave me the ‘fortunate opportunity’, as he put it, of being the Archangel of Death. And he didn’t just give me that, oh no.” He laughed a tiny, bitter laugh. “He gave me a reputation to live up to.”

Megan could feel Gizmo moving beside her. Confused, she turned to see him slowly retreating away from her. His face was blank, plain, unreadable.

“It’s my turn,” Gizmo spoke softly, “Megan finished her task, and now I have a task to do, don’t I? What’s my task?”