Guardian Angel

Chapter 19

I was walking alone in the garden outside the manor. That's funny. I don't even remember getting up this morning. The sky was dark and storm clouds were rolling in above my head and the wind was picking up. I couldn't explain it but I felt like I wasn't alone. Also, the garden felt different. There was an ominous feeling encircling me. I heard a boom of thunder and saw a purple streak of lightning illuminate the sky. I shivered a bit as the wind seemed to pick up. Then every muscle in my body tensed up. My hands clenched into tight fists. I stood there frozen with adrenaline pumping through my veins. I didn't even blink. I was completely surrounded by dark, shadowy figures. I couldn't see any faces. I only saw bright red eyes and dark figures. Then they began to make the circle tighter around me. All of these figures must have been two feet away from me when they stopped. "These have to be demons," I muttered. "I can't think of anything else they could be." My fists were so tight that my knuckles were white. I could feel myself sweating. I had never faced this many demons before. Suddenly the figure of an older woman approached me. The dark shadow of this demon stared at me with her devilish red eyes. She bent down to my level. I'm not very tall. "Welcome to hell," she hissed. She backed away immediately as another figure stepped toward me. This one looked like a younger man. His red eyes glowed brighter than the rest of the demons. He punched me in the stomach causing me to drop to my knees. As I tried to catch my breath I noticed that something was forming on the ground. I staggered to my feet to see the demon who had punched me standing even closer. I looked back to the ground to see a pentagram forming. It was glowing all around me. I looked back to the demon. He had a large sword raised over his head. "Goodbye," he said with an evil smirk on his face. He knocked me down onto my knees again with a swift kick to my rib cage as the crowd of demons chanted some sort of incantation. The pentagram grew brighter. I looked up as tears streamed down my face. The demon smirked again and then brought the sword down onto my neck. I sat up in my bed screaming. My heart was pumping and some tears escaped my eyes. I breathed a huge sigh of a relief. "It was only a dream," I whispered, still out of breath. "Actually more like a nightmare." I looked outside my window to see the sun peaking out from some clouds. It's morning and the terror is over. Then my eyes widened. "What will my grandparents say about the mess from last night?" I whispered. I sprang out of bed and rushed downstairs. I was puzzled by what I saw. The mess was gone. The windows were fixed and everything was clean. I stood there wondering if last night was a dream too, but then I remembered my amulet. It was definitely real. I turned around to see my grandparents approaching me. "Scarlet," said my grandmother. "We have some news for you." Grandfather handed her a note. "Unfortunately," she said, "We found this note stating that Laura has resigned." I laughed a little. "Yes. Resigned," I muttered. "That's a good way to word it." "We do have some good news however," stated grandfather. "In her place we have hired two new staff members." He gestured to a door and out walked a short, young blonde girl in a maid uniform and a tall, dark-haired boy in a white shirt, navy blue vest and black trousers. Their eyes met mine and we all smiled a bit. "Scarlet, we would like you to meet our new maid and our new gardener," said grandmother. "Andrea and Garren Thompson." They both bowed to me respectfully and I caught them winking at me. I winked back. "We hope you will get along with them well," my grandfather said to me. I smiled. "I am sure we will," I stated. "I feel like I know them already."