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“And apparently, you didn’t,” Olivia commented, “George why did you stop watching Claudia?”

“It wasn’t my assignment.” George avoided the gaze of those around him.

“But you
said you would watch over her. You promised Marty.
You said Marty and I were too attac
hed to Claudia to be objective.
You said you’d keep her safe.” Olivia looked at Marty, her eyes telling him to calm down.

“I had to stop.”

“Why?” I want
ed to know now.
George reluctantly lifted his head and looked at Marty, not me.

Marty answered the question.
“He started to fall in love with you, too.”

Several angels gasped and
George hung his head in shame.
George, the angel who had referred to Marty’s love for a human as an abomination
, had committed the same crime.
The other
angels seemed frozen in shock.
I looked up at Marty for reassurance an
d he gently kissed my forehead.
Alfie was the first angel to speak.

“We can deal with this later.
What are we going to
do about the current situation?
I know time is almost frozen down there while Claudia has passed out, but she
has to return at some point.”

“It’s fine, let him murder me and then I can become an angel,” I said.

“No.” Marty was resolute.

“Claudia,” Alfie gently touched my arm, “we can’t stand by and allow you to be murdered.”

“This man needs to be stopped and he must be punished for his crimes,” George finally spoke again, looking directly at me, “Claudia, I am so sorry.”

Marty ignored him and turned to me, “Claudia, do you think you could fight Sam off and get away?”

I shook my head.
“No way, he’s much stronger than me an
d he’s already pinned me down.
I can’t get away from him.”

“Why don’t you just appear in the room and fight him, Marty
?” A female angel I didn’t know
asked.

“Nina, you know any action I take has to be realistic if we’re going to go to the police – I can’t alter his mind if he is
to be punished for his crimes.
He might not play by
the rules, but we have to.
There’s no plausible reason for me to appear in his house – as far as he’s concerned, nobody knows where to find Claudia.” Marty sighed.

“I could ring the doorbell, do the old selling makeup routine?” Olivia suggested. “Then when he comes to the door, Claudia can get safely away.”

“Do you really think he will stop what he’s doing to answer
the door?”
Marty trembled as he spoke and he rubbed my arm prote
ctively.
I could tell he was livid at the thought of Sam’s actions.

“Perhaps Claudia could scream loudly and then I’d have a reason to run into the house to find out what was going on?”

“Olivia, please think it through – it’s late at night, so why would you be selling make up; you’re a woman on your own, so why would you risk your life just because you heard screaming; and how do you convincingly overpower him when you’re even smaller than C
laudia? There’s no logic to it.
However we rescue Claudia, it has
to be logical.
Why would somebody be near this parti
cular house so late at night?”
Marty was becoming terse as he grew more tense.

“The dog walkers,” I blurted out.

“Pardon?” Alfie’s manners were impeccable, ev
en in this stressful situation.
I could se
e why he was Marty’s friend.
I liked him, he was the def
inition of cool in a crisis.

“I saw some dog walkers in the park near Sam’s house a few
minutes before he attacked me.
I did scream but they were too far away to hear.”

“But if they were in the park at this time of night, it would be realistic for
other people to be there, too.
And those people might be near enough to hear Claudia scr
eam, and to run to her rescue.
I could certainly do with a late night stroll in the park and I wouldn’t mind giving this Sam man a quick punch either!” The angel named Nina was speaking again.

“Angels would run to her rescue – normal peo
ple would only call the police.
It could be too
late by the time they arrive.
We’ve got to think of a way to get Claudia out of t
he house and into the park.”
Alfie had clearly had the same thought as Nina and seen the pit falls already.

“Claudia, are you sure there’s no way you could escape from him?” Olivia was looking at me with great concern in her eyes, “we really can’t go in to the house to rescue you.”

“I did kick him in the balls,” I immediately regretted my choice of words, “sorry, testicles, in the kitchen, but I’m
not sure I could manage it now. He’s on top of me.
I’m trapped under his body weight.”

“If only you had a weapon…” Nina mused.

“The key.
The
car key, it’s still in my hand.
I
could try to stab him with it.
He has my hands held down, but if I can get one hand loose, I might be able to do some damage.” I looked at Marty, then glanced around at the other angels.

“You’d have the element of surprise, certainly.” Alfie had a different look in his eyes to the other angels – a look of excited hope.

“I hate to think
of you taking such a big risk.
What i
f you can’t get your hand free?
What if it doesn’t hurt him enoug
h to break his grip on you?
There must be another way.” Marty gently stroked my face.

“Don’t you think one of us would have thought of a better way, if there was one?” I gave him a bitterswe
et smile.

Olivia spoke up, “I think this is the best course of a
ction.
Marty, you should be walking in the park, very close to the house – taking a late n
ight stroll, as Nina suggested.
Claudia, as soon as you get back into your body, you will try your hardest to get your hand free and stab him with the car key, usin
g all your force.
As soon as you can get away, run
straight to Marty in the park.
Marty, if she doesn’t appear within one minute of arriving back in he
r body, you go in and save her. Use any power necessary.
I don’t care if it means he can’t be punishe
d.
Just keep Claudia safe.”

“What about the rest of us?” George asked.

“Marty should be the one to save her.” Olivia tipped her head back slightly, as though she was thinking of something else to say.

“I will be right outside, you will be rescued, one way
or another.
I won’t allow any harm to come to the woman I love.” Marty kissed me.

“My guardian angel.” I smiled at him.

“Are you ready to leave the clouds
?” Alfie asked me and I nodded.
“Don’t worry, you’ll go straight back into your own body, Marty will guide you, he won’t let you get lost.”

“Claudia, I never asked,” Olivia said, “exactly how old are you?”

“I’ll be nineteen next month,” I replied. “Why do you ask?”

She smiled, but there was a strange look in her eye
, a look I’d never seen before.
She took a deep
breath before she answered me. “Just curious.
Good luck, Claudia.”

Marty took my hands in his.
It f
elt like we’d never been apart.
If I did die tonight, at least I could die happy, knowing I’d been able to s
ee my true love one last time.
We stared into each other’s eyes and began to drift down
for the battle that awaited us.

Chapter 35

Marty guided me as we began t
o gravitate back down to Earth.
We couldn’
t take our eyes off each other.
All our moments together see
med to have an expiration date.
Every moment together had been
taken using borrowed time.

“Marty, if this doesn’t work…I need you to know that I never stopped loving you.”

“I know. I’ve always known. I could feel you in here.”
He mo
tioned to his chest, his heart.
“You’re a part of me.”

“It’s almost time, isn’t it?” I could sense the Earth looming below us.

“Yes, remember as soon as you’re back, you need to fight, try to stab him and run out of the house,
if you can. I will save you, I promise.
I will not allow any harm to come to you while I’m on the Earth.” H
e kissed me passionately.
“That will not be our last kiss.”

We drifted slightly lower and then
he let go of one of my hands.

“Just keep headin
g down – you’ll see your body.
I’ll only wait for one minute, if
you’re not out, I’ll be there.”
He let go of the
other hand and blew me a kiss.
I pretended to catch it in m
y hand and held it to my heart.
He smiled and drifted off
in the direction of the park.

I passed through the ceiling of Sam’s
house and into the guest room.
It was as though someone had p
aused the action in the room.
His body was on top of mine and I had to pass
through it to re-enter my body. It made me feel sick.
As soon as I was back, the action restarted.

“Oh, Princess, don’t go to sleep, this will be so much better if you’re awake.
”
He took one of his hands off o
f my wrist and slapped my face.
The pain made my e
yes water, but I had my chance.
My f
ree hand contained the car key.
Before he realised what I was doing, I forced the car key i
nto his side with all my might.
He recoiled in pain or shock and moved his weight to one sid
e, leaving one of my legs free.
I moved as much as I could from out underneath him, but his iron g
rip on my wrist didn’t release.
I plunged the key again
, this time aiming at his face.
The sharp tip of it scraped down his face, immediate
ly releasing a stream of blood.
He tried to pull me back and I swung the key again, this time at the arm
that was pinning down my wrist.
I hit a muscle and his grip
loosened, finally releasing me.
I moved as quickly as I could, out of
the bedroom, clumsy with fear.
I could hear him swear and knock something off of the bedside table, then a few seconds later I heard him moving after me as I fled dow
n the stairs and into the hall.
A gunshot rang out behind me, but the bu
llet missed me.
I flung the front
door open and ran to the park. I was nearly there. Everything would be OK now.

I could see Marty, his figure the m
ost beautiful sight to behold.
I screamed to him, to warn hi
m that Sam had a gun with him.
I nearly reached the safety of his arms, the place that felt like home, when
a pain in my side stopped me.
It felt like a burning punch and I keeled ov
er, unable to continue moving.
I looked down at my waist and saw a red patch c
reeping across my white dress.
The pain increased to a stabbing ache, almost li
ke being poked with a javelin.
I realised what
had happened; Sam had shot me.
Then a fear, far more painful than any injury, awoke in my heart – the
fear that Marty could be hurt.

Marty reached me quickly,
terror etched across his face.
He didn’t
have time to ask me how I was.
S
am was approaching us rapidly.
Marty scooped me up in his strong arm
s and raced towards the woods.
Even carrying me, he was faster than Sam, and he managed to pu
t a large distance between us.

“Claudia, I’m so sorry, I s
houldn’t have waited so long.
How bad is it?”

“It hurts, but you have to get away – save yourself.”

“His bullets won’t hurt me.”

Relief washed over me.
No matter what happ
ened now, Marty would be safe.