Angel (or is it Maria?)

Chapter Four

"Mother?" Angel cried. "Why are you here?

"Why, I'm here to rescue you and take you with me!"

"Rescue me? I don't need rescuing!" Angel said indignantly.

"Tsk. Of course you do," her mother said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "By the way, why is it that you never mentioned the fact that your mother was magic as well? I mean, I knew already, of course, but—"

"She?" Angel interrupted, jabbing a finger back at her mother. "She who? You mean . . . my mom?"

"Yes, of course, Maria," Ms. Maxwell said, looking down at Angel (or was it Maria?) as though she were a small child who was not very smart in the least.

"Wait . . . you mean . . ." suddenly it seemed to dawn on her mother. "You mean . . . she hid her magic from you?"

"Of course not! She wouldn't do something like that!" Angel said, frustrated. She crossed her arms. She glared. She rolled her eyes.

"Maria . . ." Elena Maxwell said gently, like she was trying to explain something ridiculously simple to a small child who was not very smart in the least. "She is magic. We folks like me and her can . . . sense other magic."

Angel sighed with frustration. She was mad. "She's not magic!" she shouted.

Suddenly, she heard a faint hissing sound. Her mother's eyes bulged at something behind her. Angel tentatively turned around slowly.

Then she screamed.

Behind her stood her Ms. Lane—except it wasn't Ms. Lane anymore, not at all. It was a creature lit with fire from head to toe, with red skin, a sharp nose and pointed ears, and eyes that looked like they were burning inside themselves. Her eyebrows arched high, angrily, and her long, clawed fingers curled into balls.

"She's a fire demon! RUN!" her mother cried urgently to her. "I'll take care of it!"

Angel did as she was told. Running, she could hear screeching, growling, and the sound of magic being released from her mother's fingers. She ran all the way over to where the door once was and stood there, panting. She turned around and saw her mother shooting golden misty fire at her mother, who appeared to be struggling to walk against it, almost as though the gravity had been turned up. "Arrrrrrrgh!" her mother shouted, panting. She pulled one hand back and continued shooting the magic at Angel's adoptive mother, who got closer, just a little bit, with every step. She rubbed her free hand frantically. "Come on, come on!" Angel heard her say. Suddenly, it seemed her work prevailed. She stuck her hand out and released the spell holding her mom back, who leapt up ferociously. And then—

ZAP!

"YIPE! YIPE! YIPE!"

Her mother was engulfed in a neon green casing. She seemed to be momentarily frozen in the position she had been in while leaping up.

"Take this!" her mother shouted with all her might as the light coming off the spell grew brighter and brighter. Angel turned away just as her mother released the spell and the fire demon fell to the ground weakly.

Maria was sitting on a couch. So was her mother. They were at Ms. Maxwell's house.

"I know this was a big shock to you, and fire demons are really scary to anyone. I know just how it feels to lose someone you love," her mother said sympathetically.

Maria lifted her head sadly. Tears streamed down her face. "Oh, what will I do?" she sniffed. "She was the only one I had!"

After a few moment's pause of nothing but Maria's quiet sniffling, her mother whispered in her ear, "Well . . . now you have me."

Angel looked up at her slowly. Then she hugged her. "Thanks, . . . Mom," she said.

"Oh, sweetie!" Ms. Maxwell cried happily, hugging her back.

"I love you, Mom."