PROLOGUE & CHAPTER 1

Prologue

            The cold wind blew through the angel’s dark brown hair as she watched the hustle and bustle that was happening all around her on the college campus.  For the moment, she was unbeknownst to the human eye as she walked alone, her head down, no longer paying attention to what was happening around her. 

            Had any of these young adults been able to see her, they would have pondered why she looked so sad.  They would have wondered what had happened to her to cause the beautiful brown eyes to look so distant, or her peaches and cream complexion to appear so drawn.  The students, of course, would not know she was an angel, one of God’s special messengers, but if they had known, it would only have added to their curiosity.  Why was an angel so full of sadness?  They would have no way of knowing that angels, too, sometimes lose their way, lose their assignments, or maybe even lose a friend.

            Though the angel didn’t know it, she was being watched.  Tess, her supervising angel, shook her head sadly at she watched her young charge from a distance, her mahogany face troubled as she felt the pain right along with her friend.  Tess wished that there were a way to help her baby, but she also know that was not His plan.  Her orders came from the Father and she already knew that she would not be very involved with this assignment, at least not at first.  She also knew that Monica, troubled as she was, would have to put her pain aside in order to be able to work this assignment, and that was where she came in right now.  Tess bowed her head and said a silent prayer to her Father, asking for help in finding the words and the strength to get Monica back on track.

But another angel was watching this scene as well, but unlike the other two, her face showed no signs of kindness or sadness.  Her lips twitched in an evil smile as her eyes remained focused on Monica.  This was an angel who could wreck havoc on the world when she wanted to and not have to answer to any guilt or grief.  But Kathleen wasn’t interested in harming any of the humans this time.  She was much more anxious to ruin Monica and now that her enemy was feeling so vulnerable, she knew that her plan could work. 

            Kathleen had been one of God’s angels long ago, so she knew the chances of Monica falling were far greater when her heart was heavy, and it would be Kathleen’s greatest victory to be able to cause Monica to fall from the Grace of God.  She had tried to do this before, but her plans had been ruined.  But being an angel of pure evil, Kathleen could always try again, and try again she would. 

“Hello, Miss Wings,” Tess approached Monica, immediately putting on her air of authority as she did so,

“You’re early today, aren’t you?”

            Monica looked up and managed a small smile, 

            “Hello, Tess,” she relied with her Irish lilt.  Though she smiled, she could not hide the pain that flooded her brown eyes and she quickly looked away.

            “Now, listen here, Angel Girl, “Tess began as she linked her arm through Monica’s and began to walk with her,

“You have an assignment to do here, so there isn’t any sense in dwelling in the past right now.  You need to have your head on straight, girl, to handle this one and I can’t send you into the battlefield to do God’s work if your heart isn’t in it.  Are you listening to me, Miss Wings?”

Monica sighed as she stopped walking and turned to face her friend and superior,

“Of course I am, Tess and I want to be able to do His work with a clear conscience and mind, but I just cannot stop thinking about last week and how awful it was and still is.  What am I supposed to do?”

“Well, first off, you need to stop blaming yourself for not being able to reach that woman.  You did the best you could and you and I both know that we can’t save them all, as much as we would like to.  Nancy was a woman who wanted to die, to take her own life because she was convinced that there was no other way out.  She had closed her ears and her heart to everything you were trying to make her see.  What else could you have done?”

“I dunno, Tess.  But maybe if I hadn’t turned away for those few seconds, then I would have had more time.  Maybe something would have hit home for her and her life could have been spared!  I cared about her so much and Andrew--.”  Monica fell silent, thinking about her friend.

“Andrew cared about her too, Angel Girl, and that was why he was upset.  Our Angel Boy is still working out his own problems with this, but he needs to put it behind him too, because he’ll be working on this assignment with you…”

“Oh, Tess, No!”  Monica’s eyes filled with tears as she looked away.

Tess looked shocked at Monica’s outburst and wondered if things weren’t worse than she had originally figured,

“What?  You decide whom you get to work with now?  I didn’t realize that the Father had left you in charge.”

“No, it isn’t that at all…it’s just that Andrew is so upset with me, how can we possibly work together now?  We can hardly even look at each other right now because we failed that last case so badly and he feels the same way I do…that I never should have turned away!  I wasted those seconds and because of that, Nancy took her own life and is never going to know God’s love for her. “

Tess frowned and drew in a deep breath before she continued,

“Well, you and Andrew are going to have to work this one out, Monica, because you are stuck together in this assignment and I don’t want to hear another word about it.  Now you both need to get over what happened and move on because there is a young lady on this campus that needs you.”

Monica’s eyes followed Tess’ gaze and came to rest on a young girl of not more than 23 years of age.  She was sitting on a bench, her eyes full of loneliness, as she watched the other students hurrying to their next class.  Her dark hair was pulled back into a smooth ponytail and as they watched, she pulled her jacket more tightly around her, shielding herself from the cool autumn air.  But as Monica looked more closely, she realized that this girl was also trying to hide her large frame beneath her jacket and books.

“That young lady is named Stacey and she needs your help.”  Tess began before being interrupted.

“What’s the matter with her, Tess?  She looks so sad and lonely.”

Tess usually would have scolded Monica for her lack of patience, but instead she saw the usual questions and persistence as perhaps Monica putting aside last week and finally being ready to face a new assignment.

“Well, Miss Wings, it seems that Stacey has built up a wall of loneliness around her because of the extra pounds she is carrying on her body.  She sees herself as not lovable or deserving of any friends.  You see, somewhere in that extra weight, Stacey has lost track of her soul.  She sees what everyone else sees, so that is what she has become.”

Monica’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she turned her attention back to her supervisor,

“I don’t quite understand, Tess. “

“Angel Girl, our Stacey just sees herself as an overweight entity, not really a person.  Now, you and I both know that things are not always what they seem and that it is the person inside that we grow to truly know and love.  But that is what Stacey is missing in the big picture.  She cannot fathom how someone could ever love her because of how she looks.  People like Stacey grow older and generally become one of three things.  They either one, lose the weight but never really learn to love themselves, two, withdraw further and further from society or three, learn to throw that weight around.”

Tess gave Monica a sidelong glance, seeing a mischievous glint in her eyes,

“Not a word, Miss Wings, “ She huffed, pretending to be insulted by her young charge’s indication of Tess’ own stocky figure.

“Aww, Tess, you know I love you,” Monica smiled, linking both of her arms through Tess’ arm.

“As I was saying…that is usually what those who battle the bulge become, but not always.  Some realize that even when they cannot love themselves, that there is still Someone up there who does love them, and then they can begin to heal.”

“So, my assignment is to befriend Stacey and make her feel better about herself then?”

Tess nodded her head,

“That’s the story I have so far, baby.  We’ll know the rest in His time.”

“And what about Andrew?” Monica’s eyes saddened a bit at the mention of her friend’s name,

“What is he to do?”

“Now, never you mind about Andrew.  You concentrate on your part of the assignment and he’ll concentrate on his.  You’ll know more when it’s time for you to know more.”

Tess hesitated for a moment before deciding to add one more piece of advice,

“Monica, just remember what I said about things not being always how they seem.  This is important, baby.  You have a special gift to be able to see people from the inside out and you need to hang onto that right now, alright?”

Monica looked at Tess, feeling puzzled by her words.  Hadn’t that always been a part of her special gift…truth? 

“Yes, Tess, of course I’ll remember.  I’ll see you later, right?”

Tess nodded her head and reached to give the younger angel’s hand a gentle squeeze,

“I’ll be back when you need me.”

With those words, she departed, leaving Monica alone.

Monica looked over to where Stacey had been just moments and she realized her assignment was now nowhere to be seen.  She sighed and started walking towards the dormitory, deciding that was as good a place to start looking as any.

Chapter 1

“Okay, Tess,” Andrew sat down on the concrete bench that Stacey had not long ago abandoned, and looked at his superior,

“You’ve told me all about Monica’s assignment, but haven’t told me anything about my part in all of this.”

“Well, Angel Boy, your assignment is a little different than what you are used to,” Tess began as she sat down next to him.

“Different?  Different how?”  Even as he asked this question, his eyes wandered around the campus, wishing he could concentrate on everything Tess was saying.

“Your assignment is not going to be a human this time, Andrew.  Your assignment is Monica.”

Tess finished speaking and now knew she had Andrew’s full attention for the first time today. 

“Monica?  Tess, I don’t understand—“

“I know you don’t understand, so that is why I’m going to explain to you what I can.  You see, Angel Boy, there is some kind of evil here…an evil that may affect Monica and everything she believes in.  Now I know there are some unresolved issues between the two of you right now, but you need to put those behind you for her sake.”

Andrew was silent for a minute, thinking about what Tess was insinuating.  A very big part of him was still very upset with Monica about the way she had handled their last assignment.  He knew that even angels weren’t perfect, but the assignment had been long and difficult, and to still lose in the end was not something Andrew took lightly.

But regardless of all of that, he was still very worried over Tess’ forewarning that Monica could be in potential danger.  Yes, he was upset with her, but he wouldn’t be able to bear anything happening to her.

“What do you mean ‘evil’, Tess?  She is here to help a very confused, very lonely young woman.  I don’t see where there is any danger in that.”

“No, you wouldn’t think so, Angel Boy, but things are not always how they seem.  I don’t have all the details of this assignment yet, but I know enough to know that Monica may be in need of an angel in the near future and that angel is you.  The only problem with that is that the two of you have some trust issues right now and those issues could put her into a lot of danger.”

Andrew sighed heavily and gave Tess a sidelong glance,

“I know, Tess, I know.  I keep trying to put it behind me, but I just cannot stop thinking about how Monica allowed herself to get distracted when she was revealing herself to Nancy.  That was all the time Nancy needed to pull the trigger on that shotgun and it was over.”  He shook his head sadly, his eyes flashing pain,

“But regardless of what happened last week, I would never allow any harm to come to Monica, you know that.”

“I want to know that, Andrew.  But I also know that sometimes when we allow ourselves to get angry with our friends that a lot of things can happen.  We never mean to let those we love get hurt, but sometimes our anger gets the best of us and when it does, it gets in the way of our true feelings and intentions.  Now, you and Monica need to get this worked out before it goes any further.”  Tess gave him her best “stern look” as she waited for him to respond.

“I know, Tess, I’ll talk to her as soon as I find her, I promise.”

“That’s good to hear, Angel Boy.  Now, I’ve got some things to do, but I’ll see you later.”  Tess stood up to leave, watching as Andrew rose also.

“Bye, Tess,” Andrew gave a wave as he set off to try and find Monica.

Tess watched her other “baby” disappear into the cool, fall evening, her eyes now showing her concern,

“Lord, Your will be done, but please take care of those two angel babies.”