Angel Evolution by David Estes Read Free Book Online Page A

her voice but didn’t care.
    “Don’t be offended, Tay…Taylor. I promise, I didn’t mean anything by it. It just seems that you worship the ground that Samantha walks on, when it should be the other way around.”
    “I don’t worship…wait, are you saying that you think I’m special? How could you even know that? We just met. And what do you mean by special? That I ride the short bus to school?”
    Gabriel laughed. “Not that kind of special. I just have a good sense about people.” They had almost reached the stadium. “Plus, you noticed certain things about me that other people generally don’t or can’t notice.”
    Taylor thought about this for a minute before asking, “So are you going to answer my questions about those things now?”
     

     
    Gabriel liked the way she noticed his word choice and turned it back on him. She was feisty. He thought this was a good sign; maybe she was the one who would change everything. He realized she had stopped walking and released his hand; her hands now rested firmly on her hips, as she waited for a response to her question. Gabriel stopped as well, pausing before speaking, choosing every word carefully.
    “Taylor, I think it might be best if I show you the answers.”
     

     
    She stared at him, trying to decipher his last statement, but with nothing making sense, she shrugged and waited patiently.
    He took a few steps back from her and closed his eyes. She watched intently, but with an amused grin on her face, wondering how long he would laugh at her after his prank was over. She had become used to the dull glow and the dilated eyes to the point where she had been unaware of these oddities for the last ten minutes, except maybe subconsciously. Now that she was watching him though, the luminosity of his countenance was the only thing that she was aware of.
    As if on cue, the outline of light around his body and head began to brighten. The light increased slowly at first, and then faster and faster until it was like she was looking into the sun. Temporarily blinded, she closed her eyes and put her hands in front of her face to shield them. Even with her eyelids and hands to protect her, she could still see the light, as it seemed to penetrate both skin and bones.
    Just when she was considering turning away from him, the light dimmed and Gabriel’s body was returned to “normal”, with only the dim glow surrounding his six-foot frame. “What the hell was that?” Taylor demanded forcefully.
    Gabriel raised his eyebrows; he seemed to be surprised by the ferocity of her tone. “That was me. That’s my body.”
    “You expect me to believe that? Because I don’t. I think that either my first guess was close to the mark or you have some kind of crazy light source hidden in your pocket. Which is it?”
    Gabriel continued to look puzzled as he asked, “What do you mean your first guess?”
    “Are you a bit slow? Earlier I mentioned a radioactive meteor, remember?” She didn’t try to hide her sarcasm.
     

     
    Gabriel couldn’t help but laugh now. He had never shown his full inner light to a human before, but he always expected something more like terror or amazement or even wonder, but not this. Maybe Taylor was special. He had told her that just to flatter her, but perhaps there was more truth to his words than he realized.
    “Are you laughing at me?” She glared at him.
    “No, no,” was all Gabriel managed to get out before he started laughing again. He realized that he had forgotten why he was even with this entertaining girl. Something about her distracted him from his mission. She continued to scowl at him. “I was just laughing because I didn’t expect your reaction. I thought you might be scared of me, but this gives me hope that you may not run away screaming when I show you my next trick.”
    “Oh great, there’s more. Look, I will only watch the next one if you promise to show me how you did it.”
    “Fair enough, I will show you all of my