Night World : Dark Angel Chapter 3

first it looked standardised a speck, indeed like an insect on a lightbulb, then like a kite. Gillian watched, in any casef right handened to run, until it got stringent enough for her to realize what it re completely in completelyy was.It was an angel.Her fear drained away as she stared. The figure seemed to shine, as if it were do of the same light asthe spread over. It was tall, and had the shape of a perfectly formed human. It was walking, only somehowrushing toward her at the same time.An angel, Gillian thought, awed. An angelAnd then the mist cleared and the shining faded. The figure was standing on the grass in front of her.Gillian blinked.Uh-not an angel, after all. A young big cat. Maybe s til nowteen, a year sometime(a) than Gillian. And drop deadgorgeous.He had a face like some ancient Greek sculpture. Classically beautiful. Hair like unburnished gold. Eyesthat werent blue, but violet. Long golden lashes.And a terrific body.I shouldnt be noticing that Gillian th ought, horrified. But it was disenfranchised not to. now that his clothes hadstopped shining, she could see that they were ordinary, the kind either true cat from earth might wear. Washedand faded jeans and a white T-shirt. And he could easily have done a commercial for those jeans. Hewas well up built without beingness over-musdy.His only flaw, if it could be called that, was that his expression was a little too uplifted. Almost too sweetfor a boy.Gillian stared. The being looked back. After a moment he spoke.Hey, squirt, he say, and winked.Gillian was startled-and mad. Normally, she was shy about harangue to guys, but after all, she was deadnow, and this person had struck a raw nerve. Whore you calling kid? she said indignantly.He just grinned. Sorry. No offense.Confused, Gillian made herself nod politely. Who was this person? Shed always heard you had friendsor relatives come and go out you. But shed never seen this guy sooner in her life.Anyway, hes definitely not an angel.Ive come to help you, he said. As if hed heard her thought.Help me?You have a choice to make.That was when Gillian began to notice the door.It was right behind the guy, approximately where the mist had been. And it was a door but it wasnt.It was like the luminous outline of a door, drawn very faintly on fine air.Fear crept back into Gillians mind. Somehow, without necking how she knew, she knew the door wasimportant. More important than any function shed seen so uttermost. Whatever was behind it was-well, maybebeyond comprehension.A different place. Where all the laws she knew didnt apply.not necessarily bad. Just so powerful and so different that it was scary. Good can be scary, too.Thats the real gateway, she thought. Go through that door and you dont come back. And purge thoughpart of her longed desperately to see what was behind it, she was still so frightened that she felt dizzy.The thing is, it wasnt actually your time, the guy with the golden-blond hair said quietly .Oh, yes, I should have known. Thats the clich, Gillian thought. But she thought it weakly. Looking atthat door, she didnt have room left in font for cute remarks.She swallowed, blinking to clear her eyes.But here you are. A mistake, but one we have to deal with. In these cases, we usually leave the decisionup to the individual.Youre saying I can choose whether or not I die.To put it sort of loosely.Its just up to me?Thats right. He tilted his head slightly. You might want to animadvert your life over at this point.Gillian blinked. then(prenominal) she took a few steps away from him and stared across the supernaturally greengrass. She tried to think about her life.If youd asked me this morning if I wanted to stay alive, at that place would have been no question. But nowNow it felt a little like being rejected. As if she werent reliable enough. And besides, seeing that shedcome this far did she really want to go back?Its not as if I were anybody special there. not smart like Am y, a straight A student. Not brave. Nottalented.Well, what else is there? What would I be going back to?Her mom-drinking every day, asleep by the time Gillian got home. Her dad and the constant arguments.The loneliness she knew shed be cladding now that Amy had a boyfriend. The longing for things she couldnever have, like David Blackburn with his quizzical smile. Like popularity and love and acceptance. Likehaving people think she was interesting and-and mature.Come on. Theres got to be something good back there.Cup Noodles? the guys region said.Gillian turned toward him. Huh?You like those. Especially on a cold day when you come inside. Cats. The way babies smell. Cinnamontoast with scores of butter, like your mom used to make it when she still got up in the morning. Bad monstermovies.Gillian choked. Shed never told anyone about most of those things. How do you know all that?He smiled. He really had an extraordinary smile. Eh, we see a lot up here. then(prenominal) he sobered. Anddont you want to see more? Of life, I mean. Isnt there anything left for you to do?Everything was left for her to do. Shed never accomplished anything worthwhile.But I didnt have much time, a small wimpy voice inside her protested. To be quashed immediately by astern, steady voice. You think thats an excuse? Nobody knows how much time theyve got. You hadplenty of minutes, and you wasted most of them.Then dont you think youd split go back and try again? the guy said, hi a gentle, prodding voice. find oneselfif you can do a better job?Yes. tout ensemble at once, Gillian was filled with the same burning shed felt when she got out of the creek. Asense of revelation and of purpose. She could do that. She could change completely, turn her life in awhole new direction.Besides, there were her parents to consider. No matter how bad things were between them now, itcould only make it worse if their daughter suddenly died. Theyd blame each other. And Amy would personateone of her guilt c omplexes for not waiting to drive Gillian home from schoolThe thought brought a little grim satisfaction. Gillian tried to quell it. She had the feeling the guy waslistening.But she did have a new perspective on life. A sudden feeling that it was terribly precious, and that theworst thing you could do was waste it.She looked at the guy. I want to go back.He nodded. Gave the smile again. I thought maybe you would. His voice was so warm now. Therewas a quality in it that was like-what? Pure love? Infinite understanding?A tone that was to sound what perfect light was to vision.He held out a hand. Time to go, Gillian, he said gently. His eyes were the deepest violet imaginable.Gillian hesitated just an instant, then reached toward him.She never actually touched his hand, not in a physical way. Just as her fingers seemed about to meet his,she felt a tingling shock and there was a flash. Then he was gone and Gillian had several odd impressionsall at once.The first was of being unfixed. De tached from her surroundings. A falling feeling.The second was of something coming at her. It was coming very fast from some direction she couldnt point to. A place that wasnt specify by upor waste or left or right. And it felt huge and winged, the way a hawks shadow must feel to a mouse.Gillian had a wild impulse to duck.But it wasnt necessary. She was moving herself, falling away. Rushing backward through the tunnel,leaving the meadow-and whatever was coming at her-behind. The huge thing had only registered for aninstant on her senses, and now, whizzing back through the darkness, she forgot about it.Later, she would realize what a mistake this had been.For now, time seemed compressed. She was alone in the tunnel, being pulled down like water down adrain. She tried to look between her feet to see where she was going, and saw something like a deepwell beneath her.At the git of the well was a circle of light, like the view backwards through a telescope. And in thecircle, very tiny , was a girls body trickery on the snow.My body, Gillian thought-and then, before she had time to feel any emotion, the bottom of the well wasrushing up toward her. The tiny body was bigger and bigger. She felt a tugging pressure. She was beingsucked into it-too fast.Way too fast. She had no control. She fit perfectly in the body, like a hand slipping into a mitten, but thejolt knocked her out.Oooh something hurts.Gillian opened her eyes-or tried to. It was as hard as doing a chin-up. On the second or third attemptshe managed to get them open a crack. Whiteness everywhere. Dazzling. Blinding. Where ? Is itsnow? What am I doing lying down in the snow? Images came to her. The creek. Icy water. Climbingout. Falling. Being so coldAfter that she couldnt remember. But now she knew what hurt. Everything. I cant move.Her muscles were clenched tight as steel. But she knew she couldnt stay here. If she did, shedMemory burst through her. I died already.Strangely, the realization gave her stre ngth. She actually managed to sit up. As she did, she heard acracking sound. Her clothes were glassed with solid ice.Somehow she got to her feet. She shouldnt have been able to do it. Her body had been cold enough toshut down earlier, and since then shed been lying in the snow. By all the laws of nature, she should befrozen now.But she was standing. She could even shuffle a step forward.Only to realize she had no idea which way to go.She still didnt know where the route was.Worse, it would be getting dark soon. When thathappened, she wouldnt even be able to see herown tracks. She could walk in circles in the woods until her body gave out again.See that white oak tree? Go around it to the right.The voice was behind her left ear. Gillian turned that way as sharply as her rigid muscles would allow,even though she knew she wouldnt see anything.She recognized the voice. But it was so much warmer and gentler now.You came back with me.Sure. Once again the voice was filled with that imposs ible warmth, that perfect love. You dont thinkId just leave you to wander around until you froze again, do you? Now head for that tree, kid.After that came a long time of stumbling and staggering, over branches, around trees, on and on. Itseemed to remainder forever, but always there was the voice in Gillians ear, guiding her, encouraging her. Itkept her moving when she thought she couldnt possibly go another step.And then, at last, the voice said, Just up this ridge and youll find the road.In a dreamlike state, Gillian climbed the ridge.And there it was. The road. In the last light before darkness, Gillian could see it meandering down a hill.But it was still almost a mile to her house, and she couldnt go any farther.You dont have to, the voice said gently. Look up the road.Gillian saw headlights.Now just get in the middle of the road and wave.Gillian stumbled out and waved like a mechanical doll. The headlights were coming, blinding her. Thenshe realized that they were slowing.We did it, she gasped, dimly aware that she was speaking out loud. Theyre stoppingOf course theyre stopping. You did a great job. Youll be all right now.There was no mistaking the note of finality.The car was stopped now. The drivers side door was opening. Gillian could see a dark figure beyondthe glare of the headlights. But in that instant what she felt was distress.Wait, dont leave me. I dont even know who you are-For a brief moment, she was once again enfolded by love and understanding.Just call me Angel.Then the voice was gone, and all Gillian could feel was anguish.What are you doing out-Hey, are you authorize? The new voice broke through Gillians emptiness. Shehad been standing rigidly in the headlights now she blinked and tried to focus on the figure comingtoward her.God, of course youre not okay. Look at you. Youre Gillian, arent you? You live on my street.It was David Blackburn.The knowledge surged through her like a shock, and it drove all the strange hallucinations shed be enhaving out of her mind.It really was David, as close as hed ever been to her.Dark hair. A lean face that still had traces of a summer tan. Cheekbones to die for and eyes to drown in.A certain elegance of carriage. And that half-friendly, half-quizzical smileExcept that he wasnt smiling now. He looked shocked and worried.Gillian couldnt get a single word out. She just stared at him from under the icy shroud of her hair.What hap-No, never mind. Weve got to get you warm.At school he was thought of as a tough guy, an independent rebel. But, now, without any hesitation, thetough guy scooped her up in his arms.Confusion flashed through Gillian, then embarrassment-but underneath it all was something muchstronger. An odd bedrock sense of safety. David was warm and solid and she knew instinctively that shecould trust him. She could stop combat now and relax.Put this on watch your head here, use this for your hair. David was somehow getting everythingdone at once without hurrying. Capab le and kind. Gillian found herself inside the car, clad in hissheepskin jacket, with an old towel around her shoulders. Heat blasted from the vents as David gunnedthe engine.It was wonderful to be able to rest without being afraid it would cancel out her. Bliss not to be surrounded bycold, even if the hot air didnt seem to warm her. The worn beige interior of the Mustang seemed likeparadise.And David-well, no, he didnt look like an angel. More like a knight, especially the kind who went out indisguise and rescued people.Gillian was beginning to feel very fuzzy.I thought Id take a dip, she said, between chattering teeth. She was shivering again.What?You asked what happened. I was a little hot, so I jumped in the creek.He laughed out loud. Huh. Youre brave. Then he glanced at her sideways with keen eyes and added,What really happened?He thinks Im brave A glow better than the heated air enveloped Gillian.I slipped, she said. I went into the woods, and when I got to the creek- Suddenl y, she rememberedwhy shed gone into the woods. Shed forgotten it since the fall had put her own life in danger, but nowshe seemed to hear that faint, pathetic cry all over again.Oh, my God, she said, struggling to sit upright. Stop the car.