Free Taking Angels (The Angel Crusades) by CS Yelle

sitting
across from us.
“Not from before,” I sighed, “I ran into him a few
times volunteering at the hospital and today, literally.
“Really? How embarrassing,” Cassie
commiserated with me.
“Tell me about it,” I said, grimacing.
“You should introduce us,” Trish went on boldly.
“I can’t.” I panicked, looking back at her, terror
threatening to erupt.
“Easy.” Trish put a comforting hand on my arm.
“I didn’t mean right now.”
“You’re really into him, aren’t you?” Elisa asked,
serious.
“I don’t know.” I frowned in thought. Was I? I
wasn’t too sure. The prospect of what he’d done to me
and what I was doing now; what it meant made me
uncertain how to act.
“That’s pretty fast.” Elisa raised an eyebrow.
“Wow, if Elisa thinks it’s fast, it must be,” Trish
laughed. “She gives a cheetah whiplash the way she
jumps from one guy to another.”
“Hey, don’t mock the system.” Elisa glared.
I pulled my gaze from Allister, with difficulty, to
look at Trish and Elisa. “What system?”
“Oh, Elisa uses a system to read when it’s time to
move on,” Trish sighed.
“I developed it over the years and it works very
well.” Elisa shot Trish a glare. Her face softened as she
turned back to me. “You see, Britt, all relationships have
stages. During these stages, the connection between two
people is at different levels.”
I took a bite of my sandwich and shook my head.
“I don’t follow.”
“The first stage is the honeymoon stage. Both
people trying to please each other. The next stage, I call
the transitional stage. If it’s good, both people will be
fighting to hang on to the honeymoon stage for all their
worth. The next stage…”
“The dump-them-stage, Cassie and I call it,” Trish
interrupted, getting a daggered look from Elisa and a nod
of agreement from Cassie.
“The couple stage,” Elisa emphasized, “is too
comfortable for me. When two people start to take each
other for granted. And as you know, I should never be
taken for granted.” She pushed out her chest and flicked
her auburn hair with a flourish.
“So how long do you stay with a guy?” I asked.
“Each guy goes through the stages at a different
rate. So far, Tommy is still in the honeymoon stage. But
Billy Jasper went through the honeymoon stage in a week
and the transitional stage in a day, so…”
“You only went out a week?” I gaped.
“Hey, you have to know when to get out.” She
shrugged, taking a drink of juice.
I took another bite and turned back towards
Allister and his sister. I felt a connection to these two
strangers. I looked at them, pushing the idea they were
the angels from my mind and considered them as people.
It didn’t make them less fascinating. Allister Parks held
some inherent mystery I wanted to figure out. But a part
of me wasn’t sure I would like what I discovered.
I stared at them throughout lunch, scolded many
times by the girls for being so obvious. Angelina and
Allister didn’t appear to notice, only looking our way
once more as they stood to leave.
I shook my head, clearing the crazy feelings from
my mind. Get a grip, I told myself, he’s just a boy. Still, I
had a hard time convincing myself the truth of it. He and
Angelina were something more…but what?
We went to the rest of our classes and then home
after school, disappointed to find the Camaro already
gone from the parking lot when we left. I expected to see
him as we drove past their house, but again, the house
appeared lifeless.
With a mountain of homework after the first day, I
toiled away at it until late that night. Subconsciously I
wanted to stay awake as long as possible and maybe be
too fatigued to dream. When I finally clicked the light off,
my heavy eyelids unveiled my dream like the opening
curtain to a play as they lumbered shut.
    I stood in a house, a kitchen to be precise, looking
into a family room from the darkness. I saw the back of a
woman’s head as