Dominion (Guardian Angels) - By Melody Manful Page 0,28
to myself than to him. I didn’t wait another second before hurrying out the door. I couldn’t believe I had allowed Sarah to plant the idea that Tristan liked me into my head. Now that I knew he didn’t, it kind of hurt a little, even though I never really did believe her in the first place.
I walked slowly to the teacher’s lounge to ask Mr. Bernard if we could act out the scene. I was ready to beg him to change his mind if he said yes. On my way, I decided to call Sarah and set her straight—Tristan definitely didn’t like me.
RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL
*Gideon*
“What a shame, that all we ever learned to do
was to live and wait to die.”
Melody Manful
“Did you two nerds win the Nobel Prize yet?” I asked the moment I reached Tristan.
I’d met Abigail in the hallway on my way back, but she couldn’t see me because I was invisible. I’d watched as she made her way to the teacher’s lounge. I wanted to follow her, but I spotted Tristan lingering in front of the classroom door and changed my mind.
Tristan reentered the classroom and I followed. “Not yet,” he answered, and for once, he didn’t sound like happy Tristan. I didn’t care to ask what was wrong with him.
“How did it go?” he asked as if we were having a friendly conversation.
Since I had nowhere better to be, I played along. “Oh, cool. Jake and I had a ‘who can finish his bottle of water first’ competition, and guess who won?” I sat down on one of the chairs. “Me.”
I pulled a new phone from my pocket and tried to work it; I had to have one in order to seem normal.
“How’s that coming along?” Tristan asked, and I looked up to see him eyeing the phone in my hands. He walked over to where I sat.
“Who are you, the phone police?” What was wrong with this guy? I wanted to punch him in the face, but I needed him around for my big plan.
I went back to studying the phone, trying to locate the settings, but I wasn’t sure which part of the screen I was supposed to touch. How did humans have the patience for these?
“You know I’m not going to give you a chance to hurt the girl, right?”
Finally. I thought he was never going to bring her up. “We’ll see.” I propped my legs on my desk.
“Please don’t hurt Abigail. She has enough problems of her own and—”
I faked a laugh, cutting Tristan off. “You mean the fact that her father is part of the CIA and everyone thinks he’s dead?” I asked. “That doesn’t sound like a problem to me.”
I knew Abigail feared me. Throughout the day, she’d been looking as if she’d seen a ghost whenever her eyes met mine, but I wasn’t worried. I was certain that before sunset, Abigail Cells would be dead.
My first impression of Abigail was that she was intentionally clueless. And then I thought she was brainless and irritating. I still couldn’t figure out how she knew my name before I’d even introduced myself, but none of that mattered since she’d be dead soon.
“I know the Elders thought I’d be a challenge for you, but you don’t have to be here just because of what they think.”
Was he kidding me with this? He thought he was a challenge?
“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m here because I want to be, your highness.”
“I know you want to hurt me,” Tristan said as if it were something new. “I don’t…”
Tristan’s lips kept moving, but I tuned him out.
“Okay, all right…that’s cool.” I should have brought some pillows for this show. He could talk for hours.
“You’re not even listening to me.”
“And we have a winner.” I snapped my fingers, turning myself invisible, and disappeared.
When I reappeared in front of the school, I observed as Abigail waved and smiled from inside a black limo. Other students watched intently. The adoration she received was ridiculous. A second later, Tristan appeared beside me, and we flew invisibly behind the limo as it pulled away.
I had one problem, and it was the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about when Abigail’s hands and mine touched. I tried to push it out of my mind, but I couldn’t. For some reason, when our hands touched, I felt as if Zeus had thrown one of his lightning bolts my way. Seconds later, I felt something different—a new, empowering feeling.