“Emmy, just stop defending him,” Reese said to me. Only an hour ago, Jay had dragged me out of the Marley concert and back to the Guardians’ home.

When we arrived, I convinced Jay to break a Splash so I could read it, just for fun. It was a big mistake.

There in bold print was the Sage’s warning that Marcus would betray his team and that I would somehow be the end of him.

All at once they started to lose it. They felt angry and blindsided, that is, everyone but Ameana. I had a feeling she already knew about it.

When Marcus comes home, he’s going to be greeted by a mob of very pissed-off Angels. I wanted to be there for him, but Reese Blinked me away.

“Reese, calm down. There’s no way Marcus is Turning. And I’m sure the reason he didn’t say anything is because he didn’t want you to worry. It must have been so hard for him to have to hide it from you guys.”

And for the first time since I met him, Reese yelled at me.

“Hard for him? You’re actually worried about him?”

“Reese I—”

“No. I have always been on your side, but this is ridiculous. People are going to die and all you can think about is putting more energy into a guy that doesn’t want you, it’s pathetic.”

I ran. Fast. I heard him call my name, but I didn’t stop.

I went upstairs to my apartment and locked the door.

When I got to my room, he was standing there.

“Go away,” I snapped.

“Just wanted to let you know that it’s just me watching you tonight.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.” He went towards the door.

“You really think I’m pathetic?”

“Emmy, if the Sage is right—which he always is—billions of people will die.”

“Why do you keep saying people will die, over and over like I don’t know?”

“We want you to understand what’s at stake.”

“I know, and I’m doing my best not to freak out, run down the street naked yelling, The end is here!”

“Naked, huh?”

“Reese.”

“Sorry, just had a mental image. I’m an angel, I’m not dead.”

“Yeah, how exactly does that work?”

“End of the world and that’s what you want to know about—angels and sex?”

“Yeah,” I said jokingly. He didn’t return my smile. The current situation weighed heavily on him. He sat down on my bed and lowered his head. I went over to him.

“Why don’t you go back to the house and sort this out?”

“I can’t leave you alone.”

“I’m gonna babysit my neighbor’s son, Ben. Nothing’s gonna happened to me.”

“No, I can’t leave you alone.”

“Marcus won’t care. He’s too busy with Ameana.”

“Now that was a whole 10 seconds.”

“What?”

“You didn’t mention his name for ten seconds. That was kind of nice.”

“What does that mean?”

“That means there are other guys in the world and they deserve a chance with you.”

He moved in close and kissed me, parting my lips with his tongue. His kiss was tender but firm. It was so unexpected I couldn’t even think. A few seconds passed, but it seemed like our kiss was in slow motion.

He pulled away when he was done. My mouth was still open from shock. Reese kissed me. I didn’t really know what to do with that. He was Reese, my friend. But that kiss was nice. It tingled down my spine. What does that mean?

“Em? Are you in there?” Reese asked.

“Yeah,” was all I could manage to say.

“I should have asked before I…. Are you mad?”

“No….”

“I’ve watched you pine for Marcus and it’s kind of been killing me.”

“Oh.”

“I just wanted you to know that there are other angels, angels who have been wanting, waiting, to kiss you.”

“Reese….”

Before I could think of what else to say, he Blinked away.

I sighed. This is getting way too complicated. Luckily for me, I had to babysit Ben tonight, so at least I had something to distract me.

I knocked on the door and his Mom opened up for me. As she rushed out, she thanked me and said Ben was in his room. I locked the door behind her and went looking for him. I saw his sweet face down the hall by his room.

“Hey, where’s my hug?” I ask him.

He ran toward me with a big smile. As we hugged, he took out a Taser and shocked me. I hit the floor hard. The last thing I saw was my favorite four-year-old transforming into a grown man.