you encounter the enemy?”
Koji shook his head, then turned his face so he could meet the Guardian’s eyes. Tears still streamed from his eyes. “I was simply drifting when he found me.”
“He?”
“Ephron,” Koji answered in a tremulous voice. “Oh, Tamaes, we have to tell the others! Ephron needs our help!”
The story continues in Book 2: The Hidden Deep …
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Do you believe in angels? What has influenced your perception of them? Why do you think they exist?
2. In Chapter 2, Harken says, “You can learn a lot about a person from what they choose to read.” What books have you read recently? Do they say something about you? Have they influenced what books you’ll reach for next?
3. Prissie turns to various people for advice and information before getting closer to the angels in Jedrick’s Flight. Where do you turn when you have questions? Are search engines enough? Who do you trust to give wise counsel? Is no advice better than bad advice?
4. Baird and Kester are so different from each other that Prissie thinks they wouldn’t make a good team. How much common ground do people need to get along? To work together? To be friends?
5. Where’s your comfort zone? What happens when you leave it? In Prissie’s case, how do you know when broadening your horizons is a good thing (like allowing Milo to introduce her to Baird) and when new experiences cross a line (like dabbling in fortune telling)?
6. Do Prissie’s pie-baking aspirations seem too old-fashioned? Compare and contrast her goals with Ransom’s. What’s the difference?
7. Harken remarks that when people are faced with something that doesn’t appeal to them, they often refuse to acknowledge it. If you don’t believe in something, does reality change?
8. Prissie asks Koji if being invisible is lonely. What do you think?
9. Can you sympathize with Prissie’s problems with her girlfriends? What kind of advice would you give her?
10. In Chapter 10, Kester says, “Do not rely too heavily on appearances. They are not the most important consideration.” If not, then what is?
THRESHOLD SERIES
THE
HIDDEN
DEEP
BOOK TWO
1
THE NAMING DEBACLE
Milo cut through the air, skimming across shifting beams of light with what looked like reckless abandon. However, this angel had learned caution. Though there was joy in his flight, he continuously scanned above and below for signs of danger. Just off his flank, a flare of dusky purple revealed the presence of his armor-clad companion. Taweel flew with his sword in hand, ready to defend his teammate.
“Race you back!” Milo challenged, folding outstretched wings and streaking through a sky as blue as his eyes.
With a soft grunt that may have been amusement, the Guardian followed.
Just north of the small town of West Edinton, the Messenger banked into a steep spiral that ended with an expert flick and fold, then he climbed back into the driver’s seat of his old green car. Checking his reflection in the rear view mirror, Milo ran his hand over short-cropped blond curls and buckled his seat belt across his mailman’s uniform. As the engine rumbled to life, Taweel leaned down to peer through the open window.
“We’ll try again after I finish my route,” Milo promised. Then he put the car in gear and took off down the road, kicking up gravel and a small cloud of dust.
Prissie and her next-younger brother Beau climbed onto the white-painted plank fence that stood behind the twin mailboxes at the end of their long driveway. An oval-shaped sign showing an overflowing basket of apples proudly announced, “Pomeroy Orchard,” and the block letters on the pair of red and white flags on either side of the gate let people know the apple barn was open for business.
Throughout the summer months, afternoons had found Prissie right here, waiting for the mail, but today was different. Today, she was waiting for the school bus. Settling onto her perch, she crossed her ankles in a ladylike manner and smoothed the skirt of her pink and white sundress. “It shouldn’t be much longer,” she remarked, gazing off in the direction of the highway.
Beau nodded. He never said much. To be honest, Prissie was a little surprised the thirteen-year-old had volunteered to join her. He usually buried himself in a book or spent time on the computer after school. Their bus had dropped them off nearly an hour ago, but they were waiting on Zeke and Jude, who would be arriving on the elementary bus.
Six-year-old Jude was going to school “for real” this year. According to him, kindergarten was just