Angel (or is it Maria?)

Chapter Seven

"I'm home!" Maria's voice rang through the hallway and reached her mother's ears. Her mother sat on the living room couch, wearing magnifier glasses and her hair up in a ponytail. She was doing a crossword and the gears in her mind were visibly turning.

"Ah, honey!" she laughed, whipping her hair out and flinging her activity and glasses. "How was your new school?"

"Great!" Maria grinned, thumping merrily into the living room and dropping her backpack. "You were right, mom, everyone's really nice there! Except for this one girl, Allysa—"

"The fire demon?" Ms. Maxwell interrupted sharply.

"Yeah. Why, d'you know her?"

"Only by reputation, but . . ." her mother sighed gravely, " . . . you'd do best to stay away from her."

Then she brightened. "Have you made any friends yet?" she smiled.

"Yes, I think . . . these girls named Tara and Ariel—"

"Oh, dear! That's just wonderful! And how were your classes?"

"Tough, strange, and awesome."

"Glad to hear it!" Ms. Maxwell got up and walked over to the pantry. "Spaghetti for dinner?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's great."

That night, sleepy and full, Maria collapsed into her bad. Her mother pulled the covers up to her chin and kissed her on the forehead before turning out the lights and exiting the room. Maria felt so . . . different. So much had changed in just this short amount of time—she'd gotten a new mother, she'd transferred schools, she discovered she had powerful magic . . . and she had friends!

On this happy thought, she drifted off to sleep . . .

Blackness unfolded around her. Then hands pulled it apart . . . stretching the blackness . . . pulling it away . . . ripping it . . . farther . . . farther . . .

SNAP.

Angel was in her dream now. And her mother was there. Her old mother. Ms. Lane!

"Angel . . . she whispered with a mournful look on her face, " . . . it's me."

"You!" Maria snapped accusingly. "What do you want?"

Her old mother hung her head. "Oh, Angel . . . I want you back. I love you, and you don't understand. I never got a chance to explain."

Then she added, "It's not what it seems."

"Don't understand?!" Maria shouted. "I understand enough to realize you've been lying to me all these years, and you tried to kill me a few nights ago!"

Ms. Lane groaned. "I did not try to kill you . . . oh, goodness . . . is that what you've been thinking?"

"Well, yeah!" Maria huffed. "Are you saying . . . you didn't?"

"No! Of course not—only your mother!"

Maria nearly exploded. "That's just as bad!"

"Calm down, calm down! It's not! Your mother deserves it!"

"No, she doesn't!" said Maria. "She saved me—from you! And unlike you, she told me the truth!"

"Oh, honey. She most certainly did not tell you the truth! I'll explain, just listen!"

Her old mother waved her hand quickly and a misty slide appeared. "One of the things your mother has lied to you about is magic. Magic is evil." the slide showed a little girl licking a lollipop happily. "Magic people used their power for terrible things; to get what they wanted, however they could; not caring about others; not caring about those in their way." The slide then changed to another little girl with ponytails glaring at the lollipop-licking girl. Then she whisked the lollipop away from the girl, right out of her mouth, and sent it whizzing into her own. "Hey!" the girl who the lollipop belonged to cried, shedding a tear. "Give that back!"