『Guardian Angel』»〈skephalo〉

VII

•zak•

I woke up in some sort of vehicle.

Once my consciousness came to me, I opened my eyes. The image was blurry, but I saw the ceiling of someone's car, giving me the feeling that I was laying across someone's backseat. I sat up slightly and saw Darryl leaning over me, hovering his hands over my chest. Out of his palms was some sort of golden light that shone over my chest, causing my chest to glow a deep yellow.

"Oh my, you're awake!" Darryl exclaimed, once he saw me sit up. He kept his hands hovering over me. The light from his palms made my chest feel warm and cozy.

"Where am I?" I asked hoarsely. "What happened?" The memories slowly came back to me, how Finn watched me collapse in front of him. I remembered how George must've poisoned me.

"Oh, you fainted from dark energy overwhelming you. It's like the demon purposefully knocked you out," Darryl explained. "Finn let out a shot of surprise, that's when George found you," He informed me. "By then I sensed some sort of danger. Guardian angels can do that, when their assigned mortal is in trouble. From there I found you in George's arms, bringing you to Jack's car. Now we're here."

I looked over, that's when I saw George in the passenger seat. My heart beat began to speed up. I know what he is. I know what he's done. "Zak? What's wrong?" Darryl asked me, as I stared into George's eyes.

"You poisoned me!" I snarled at George, causing the boy's eyes to go wide. "You think I wouldn't find out? I grew sick from the drink, but I've drank alcohol before. You're the one that served me the drink!" I shouted. "Darryl said he sensed energy from you!"

"Zak!" Darryl scolded. "George is not the demon!"

My heart raced faster, my breathing picking up. "How do you know?!" I asked Darryl.

"Because he's a guardian angel! Like me!" Darryl exclaimed. "He's Jack's guardian!"

I froze. The realization slapped me in the face. That's why George was always around Jack. It all made sense again. "W-What?" I whispered. "Wait... but what are the chances that two angels are in the same place?"

George simply smiled at me. "There are demons at this school. It's not every day that a situation like this occurs."

I rubbed my face. Around that time is when I noticed Jack was sitting in the driver's seat, nervously tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. When I made eye contact with him, he finally spoke up. "Why was Zak the one attacked?" He finally asked the question that was drifting through everyone's minds. "With all four of us involved in this case, that means at least four people at that party knew that there was a demon there. Why did it attack Zak?"

"Suppose the demon was trying to send a warning," Darryl proposed. "Perhaps, it somehow found out that Zak and I knew, then it realized that Zak was the weaker one of the two."

"You mean it's telling us to back off?" George asked. "That's ridiculous. The demons should know that angels never back down. Not until our duty is finished."

Darryl nodded. "I know. But maybe, this demon thinks it's more powerful than us both combined."

The weight behind Darryl's statement slowly sunk into my chest. A demon that was more powerful than two guardians combined? Who knew there was something so strong in the universe? It was scary to think about, since I knew that the prevailing demon was not on our side.

"Do you guys have any leads so far?" George asked Darryl and I, prying for some sort of explanation.

I closed my eyes, trying to remember the notebook that I had on my desk. I opened them when a name came to mind. "You know how I live right next door to Clay?" I asked George and Jack. They both nodded. "Well, I happen to be able to hear whenever his Jeep starts up. Here's the thing, every night around 8pm, he leaves his house to drive somewhere."

George raised his eyebrows. "That's... suspicious. He hasn't mentioned anything to me about any late night stuff," He replied, running his fingers through his hair. "Maybe he goes grocery shopping?"

I laughed. "No way. His mom does the shopping." I sighed, biting my fingernails. "Maybe we should confront him about it? You know... before coming to conclusions about it."

"That sounds like the best idea," Darryl agreed. "But for now, we need to get you back home. I'm not sure if you're fully recovered from when you passed out."

Jack ended up driving Darryl and I to my house, where they dropped us off after saying our goodbyes. Darryl helped me to the living room, where I sat down on the couch. "Do you want some popcorn?" He asked me.

I giggled at his question. "Is that the only thing you know how to make?"

Darryl looked down at the floor sheepishly. "It's the only thing I've seen you make... so... yeah."

I smiled. "Sure. I'd love some popcorn."

After Darryl made us both popcorn, he started playing the movie Iron Man 2. It was only appropriate since I showed him the first one already.

While that was playing, he seated himself next to me, setting the popcorn bowl on his lap. I reached over and grabbed a handful, tossing them into my mouth. Together, we watched the action movie until we fell asleep.

A/N: how nice was that plot twist? mwahahaha... >:)

who do you think the demon is?