~Chapter 25~

   A cliff. A man-made one. I've seen this cliff before. It's here in town. It's made of beautiful blue tile and has water running over it. It's a man-made waterfall. Down at the bottom of the waterfall is a knee-deep pool of water, surrounded by a ledge which people like to sit on like a bench.

   This fountain is at the center of the town park. It also happens to be where Adri and Caleb had their first official date.

   There they are, standing at the top of the waterfall, in the water, instead of on the sides like they're supposed to be, just as Adri described it to me the day after.

   So, if this is their first date...why am I seeing it? This is the past, not the future.

   ...Or is it?

   Sure enough, this doesn't look like a date. They aren't holding hands. In fact, they're yelling.

   What on Earth is going on?

   Wait.

   What is THAT!?

   Caleb has a sword!! Who gave him a sword!? And why's he pointing it at Adri!? Caleb don't!!

   Adri, of course, ducked and ran out of the way when Caleb lunged at her. She then screamed at him with tears in her eyes, no doubt trying to reason with him.

   He hesitated.

   And up came the man who ruined everything. Kris, right? That's his name? In Caleb's hesitation, he ran up and shoved Adriana off the cliff, sending her falling and screaming.

   "CALEB!!"

   I sprung straight up in my sleeping bag, screaming bloody murder.

   "Liliana! What's wrong!?" Adriana had been jolted awake by my scream. I looked to my left to see Adri sitting up, hair matted from sleep, eyes tired and worried. I took a moment to catch my breath.

   "Nothing," I said. "Just a bad dream." Adri sighed and plopped back onto her pillow.

   "Jesus, you scared me."

   "Sorry," I murmured.

   "Well, we're supposed to get up in about 10 minutes anyway. No harm done. Let's get ready for school."

   "Um...Yeah, okay." Adriana got up and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. I stayed seated in my sleeping bag, still shaken.

   That was no dream...

~Chapter 24~

   "This is bad, we need to act soon." I looked at Kris. There was that look in his eyes that told me he was thinking of something bad. "He's too smart, he's going to figure out I've been lying soon. He's already suspicious, I can tell. So I need to change things before he changes back."

   "What exactly are you going to do?" I sat down at the table with him. When he looked up at me, for a second it appeared as if he were looking at me the same way he'd been looking at Caleb. Why?

   "I don't really know. I'm thinking we kill Adriana, but then we'd need to act fast and kill her as an angel too. That way she's stuck oblivious to all of this once again for 14 years. And in that time, we can defeat them."

   "But if we kill Adriana...I don't know if Caleb is against her so much that he would be okay with that. I mean...he still loves her, he'd probably kill you for killing her. And you're not an angel, Kris. You wouldn't come back."

   Kris knew I was right, I could see it in his eyes. He contemplated for a minute. "Maybe we can get him to kill her."

   "What?"

   "Think about it Daisy! It could work! We twist his mind a little and make him mad and maybe we can get him to fight her! He's rash like that, he'd fall for it, but she's too loving, she wouldn't fight him, so she'd be killed!"

   That's terrible! Turning him against his love is one thing, but then getting him to kill her!? Kris, what happened to your heart!?

   "But what could you possibly say to get him to be that mad?"

   Again Kris thought. Then the spark in his eyes came to life that told me he knew what he was going to do. And  that I wasn't going to like it. He smiled at me. "Not what I say. What she says."

~Chapter 23~

   "Hey Lil?"
   "Sup?" Liliana asked through a bite of ice cream. We'd been watching movies and eating junk food all day and now we were on the Cherry Garcia ice cream.
   "What exactly can you do?"
   "What?" she asked with a confused expression.
   "You're protector powers. What are they?"
   "Oh..." She put down the ice cream and pressed pause on Indiana Jones. "You realize the whole point in me coming over here was to get your mind off all that stuff right!?"
   I winced at her sudden anger. "I'm sorry, it's just something that occurred to me...sorry..." I picked up the remote and pressed play again. We sat there in silence for a few seconds until Liliana pressed pause again.
   "I can read minds, see the future, and move things without touching them."
   "For how long?"
   "Few years."
   "Oh wow..."
   "Yep," she said as she pressed play again. We watched for nearly a minute when i pressed pause again.
   "Wait! So when you got that A on that pop quiz that EVERYBODY ELSE failed in chemistry-"
   "Hey, that's not fair! The answers happened to be in my vision that morning!"
   "Lil!!"
   "Sorryyyyyy!"
   Finally, for the first time in a week, I laughed a true, full-hearted laugh, and it felt good!
   Maybe this is possible...
   Maybe.

~Chapter 22~

   It didn't work...
   Still, every single night, Adri's soul called to me through her dreams. She kept replaying that scene, over and over again, and every single time she cried for hours on end.
   "It's all part of the trick. She's learned the secrets to dreams, they're fairly simple to manipulate actually. She's trying to convince you that this really hurts, but you, my friend, are smarter than that." Kris's lecture of how I shouldn't give in to the dreams was starting to get old. If I wanted, I could mimic him word for word, as it's exactly the same every time. Don't give in and It's all a trick.
   A trick...
   Is that all it ever was? A trick?
   Part of me didn't believe that.
   But I couldn't tell if that was the part of me that was still slightly hopeful, or the logical part of me.
   Or both...
   "Yeah, yeah, that's enough out of you," Daisy said as she stuffed Kris's mouth with garlic bread. He glared at her. "He's heard the same speech for the past week, I think he gets it already." Kris looked at me. I gave him the 'yeah kinda' shrug.
   "By the way, this is amazing Daisy, thank you," I said as I took a bite of spaghetti. This past week I'd discovered Daisy was a great cook, always making delicious food, every single meal. Pretty surprising for a teenager.
   Although, she's probably been a teenager for a long time...I suppose she's had a lot of practice.
   "Oh, well, um, no problem..." Her cheeks became bright red. She's also quite modest.
   "Well, I'm going to sleep, hopefully." I got up and walked to the room they'd given me. Laying down felt good on my tired back, but I didn't catch much sleep. Every time I drifted off, all I heard was Adri's screams. I eventually gave up and got up to go get a drink of water. Voices in the kitchen stopped me from opening the door.
   "I don't understand why you're doing this though..." Daisy said.
   "He'd never go along with it if I didn't, he loves her," Kris replied. They're talking about me.
   "And she loves him..." Daisy whispered.
   "What he doesn't know won't kill him."
   I staggered away from the door.
   Adri loves me. Is that true?
   The entirety of my body screamed YES!
   But if so then...Why is he lying to me?
   What else has he lied about?
   Have I even heard a single truth since he brought me here?
   Who is Kris?

~Chapter 21~

   Why can't my visions come sooner than they do!? Always in the early morning! No no no can't see tomorrow the night before, oh no! That would make things too easy!!! Ugh!! Woke up this morning to see Adri crying and Caleb flying and black as night feathers and harsh words and god! It hit me so hard I started crying just for Adri's pain!
   Now I stood at the corner of her street where in my vision I saw Caleb speak to her, then turn and leave. I walked down the street where I saw her walking with those terrified eyes. Knocked on the door she had stepped out of and shown a sad smile to the sky. Then the girl who's eyes were still red from the tears that she had no doubt just wiped off her face opened up the door and looked at me with those sad eyes.
   I walked right past her into her house. "Okay, I've got pizza- half olive and half pineapple, just how you like it-"
   "Lil-"
   "-two giant bags of Doritos-one nacho cheese and one cool ranch-"
   "Liliana-"
   "-four tubs of Ben&Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream, and two boxes of Oreos."
   "That's great, but-"
   "I also stopped by Blockbuster; I got Peter Pan with the real people, Pan's Labyrinth, the first three Indiana Jones movies, and the first four Harry Potters. I know it sounds pretty vigorous, but I think we can watch 'em all if we get right to it. Now come on, get out your sleeping bag, we're going all out sleepover here."
   "Liliana!"
   After finally setting everything down, I looked up at her. "What?"
   "What about school? It's Tuesday. Not only that, but it's still 9 a.m! What are you even doing here? You should be at school!"
   "So should you! And yet you're not. Don't worry about explaining, I already know," I pointed to my head, "I understand why you don't want to go to school, and there's no way in hell I'm leaving you alone. Plus, come on, missing one stupid day isn't going to hurt me. Now do you plan to stand there and just stare at me, or are you going to help me set up the movie and get this sleepover started?"
   Adriana looked at me in amazement for a few moments, as if searching for something to say, but eventually her eyes got watery. She just walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me, crying into my shoulder.
   "I love you, Lil," she said between sobs. I stroked her hair.
   "Love you too Adri."

~Chapter 20~

   She's crying, I thought. Part of me wanted to rush back to her, put my arms around her, tell her I'm sorry, that it's all okay, that I'm here for her... That I'm here...
   But I didn't.
   I couldn't. She wasn't there for me when I needed her. That showed it all. She never truly loved me, these tears are just her frustration, her wishing that she could get me back on her side... It's all for the war.
   Right?
   "NO!!!"

   The pain and suffering in her scream was like snapping a cord somewhere inside me. It hurt. A whole damn lot. Physically and mentally.
   And it also woke me up.
   Damn it. Another of those dreams. According to Kris, they're sort of real. Adriana is trying to contact me through my dreams, make me feel sorry for her, make me believe her and come back. I guess our spirits are connected that strongly through the past life.
   I took a deep breath. That's not going to happen.
   In some dreams she tells me I'm not really me right now. Well, she's wrong. Like Kris said, she never knew me in the first place. Didn't love me, only used me. Like Kris said.
   I got up and walked out to the kitchen area where, like every morning, Kris and Daisy were already up. Daisy was making something that smelled good and Kris was just sitting at the table, waiting. When he saw me, he smiled.
   "Good morning Caleb."
   I grunted in response as I sat down and held my head in my hands.
   "Had another dream?"
   I nodded.
   Kris was quiet for a while, then said, "I might know how you can get her to stop."
   I looked up at him. He looked cautious and maybe a little fearful, though I wasn't sure since he never seems scared of anything.
   "There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about actually."
   At this I sat up. Is the mysterious Kris finally going to reveal a few secrets? Tell me what's happening?
   "You remember I mentioned a war, right?" Kris asked slowly, as if choosing his words carefully. Daisy left the stove and whatever she had been cooking and sat down beside Kris, eying me curiously.
   "Yeah...?"
   "Well...I'm not exactly sure how to explain this..." Kris looked to Daisy for help.
   "It's no ordinary war," she said, "it goes back to your past life. That's about when it started."
   "What countries is it between?" I asked, wondering how on Earth Adri could be mixed up in a war. Peace-loving Adri.
   Kris and Daisy looked at each other. "Not countries," Kris said.
   "States?"
   "Think bigger..." Kris murmured.
   "Continents?" No way, this would be in the news or something.
   "Bigger..." Daisy whispered.
   "There is no bigger unless you're aliens or something."
   "Um...not exactly..."
   "We're...sort of..." Kris and Daisy shared a look. "Dead." Kris said.
   I just stared at them blankly.
   Then I tried to laugh.
   But they were completely serious. "What."
   "Long ago, we died, and our souls went to Hell. We're demons. But you, Caleb. You died long before us, and were an angel, married to Adriana, as king and queen of Heaven. But you were being deceived by her. She was good at first, that's why she was of Heaven in the first place, but she became corrupt with power, and used you. See, Heaven and Hell had once coexisted. We were at peace, no war, no agitation. Really, we were all contempt with our afterlives. But then I realized Adriana's corruption. I saw that she was deceiving you, and was going to warn you. But before I could, Adriana waged war on Hell to stop me. But, knowing that angels would reincarnate were they to be killed, I took one last desperate attempt to save you. I distracted the rest of Heaven with a main attack, and in the meantime, went directly to you and Adriana. I attempted to kill you, so that your soul may be saved and reborn without her evil, but she got in my way. I was going to simply take her prisoner so that her immortal spirit would not cause trouble, but I accidentally killed her, causing her to reincarnate. And after that, you tried to kill me, since you loved her, so in self-defense, I had to kill you. I kept a small hope that maybe she would not be tainted in this life, but it appears that she was. This is why I stepped in to save you from falling for her tricks once again. Yes, I purposely killed you with negative and hateful feelings towards her and your own love to make you become a demon like us, but it was only to save you, and hopefully end this damned war once and for all. With you on our side, we may have a chance to defeat them and finally restore the order that once was."
   I stayed silent for a long time while I soaked it all in.
   I wasn't so sure I trusted his words. It all seemed to correlate with the images I had in my head, his story of Heaven and the war and him killing us, but something didn't seem right. I couldn't see his face in the images. Why? Why couldn't I see his face?
   "So what does this have to do with my dreams?"
   "Well," said Kris, "you can go tell Adriana to stop it in person. See, you have the ability to visit Earth. Demons aren't trapped in Hell, just like angels aren't trapped in Heaven. We can visit and look like normal humans. So, you could visit Adriana and tell her to stop calling you."
   See Adri? Am I ready for that? It's been kind of hard without her, am I ready to face her yet?
   "How?"

~Chapter 19~

   "Caleb... Come with me," I said, hand outstretched towards him. The look he gave me was severe, scary.
   "When will you let it go?" He asked. "I don't love you."
   I fell to my knees as he walked away, tears streaming down my cheeks. "NO!!" I yelled after him, but he kept walking, going, leaving, fading into the distance, leaving me alone to fade into the darkness surrounding me...

   I sprung straight up from my bed, heart racing, gasping for breath, just like you do in those dreams where you just died and wake up the second you're about to hit the ground after falling off a cliff or something. Another one... I sighed and shut off the alarm clock that I realized had been what woke me up in the first place. Another stupid day of school I have to get up for... Not like I'll learn anything. I haven't been able to focus at all, ever since Caleb... ever since Caleb left me...
   Caleb...
   After finally getting up and ready for school, I opened the front door to my house, expecting to see the rain that had been plaguing the sky for the past week. Instead, I found a beautiful clear blue sky, with only a rainbow betraying the secret that there had been rain. Well, at least there's nice weather today... If nothing else...
   I stepped out into the daylight and began my walk to school.
   And then I saw him.
   At first I thought I must be imagining things. Then I considered that maybe I had somehow been transported back in time a month or so. Hell, I'm the reincarnation of the queen of Heaven, why not? But it wasn't. I wasn't imagining things, nor had any time leap happened.
   Caleb was standing at the corner of the sidewalk, waiting for me, just like he used to every morning.
   There's no way...
   His eyes found me and stayed on me as I approached him. "Caleb...?"
   "Adri." His voice was flat, emotionless. It stung, but the very familiarity of it healed a little cut inside me. Only a little one.
   "Are you really Caleb?" I asked cautiously. Is it really possible that maybe he came back? Made the change? Realized the truth?
   "I'm always really Caleb," he said with a little condescension. All those questions I just asked? No.
   "No," my voice cracked with the coming tears, "the last Caleb I talked to wasn't really him. And neither are you."
   Finally some real emotion came to his face. But, it wasn't the kind of emotion I wanted. He became mad at this statement. Rage and annoyance thick in his voice, he asked, "And how would you know Adriana!?" I winced at my full name. So serious, so formal, so...hurtful... "How would you know what's really me and what's not!?"
   My instinct to yell back kicked in. "Because I know you! I know you better than anyone else!" The tears broke free from my eyes.
   "No you don't! You never knew me Adriana! This is me! Right here, right now, this is me!" He paused, I said nothing. "Whoever you thought you knew doesn't exist." His voice had calmed a little bit, but the anger was still present. "So stop looking for him."
   Before I had a chance to respond, Caleb turned from me and walked away, quickly turning the corner. I rushed after him, but when I ran around the corner, I didn't see Caleb. I saw a demon. A sick portrayal of Caleb, with feathered wings sprouted from his back, the slick black of night. He turned his head to glance back at me with cold, piercing eyes, then took off, leaving me alone to fade into the darkness that I almost wished was surrounding me.