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Ace spun, his shock clear. His startled gaze shifted past Shoe to me as I came in, and his eyes narrowed. “Hey, Shoe,” he huffed, shoving the drawer shut and backing away. “You owe me a five. I was just looking for it.”

“Right,” Shoe mocked, shoving him from his desk with a single open hand. Head down, Shoe pulled the drawer open as Ace caught his balance. Shoe sifted through the clutter. His eyes widening, he looked at me as if he didn’t believe it, then tossed a laminated card to the desktop. “That’s your mom’s,” he said, and my lips parted at the hospital ID. I hadn’t seen that in my flash forward. “What are you doing, Ace?”

Instead of being angry, Ace rocked back with a satisfied expression. “Yeah, it’s my mom’s, and now it’s got your fingerprints all over it. Dumb ass.”

Shoe fisted his hands, coming forward a step. “You want to put it in the hospital? Are you crazy? Someone might get hurt. Give me the disc.”

Smirking, Ace sat on his bed, casual and infuriating in his black T-shirt, which was too thin to hide how skinny he was. “Too late. It’s already in.”

Too late? Had Ace been to the hospital already?

“You are a friggin’ idiot!” Shoe exploded, and I wished he’d tone it down. “All we wanted was the day off. Some notoriety. It’s a hospital, Ace! You’re going to kill someone! What’s wrong with you?”

Ace stood, and I took a step back at his ugly expression. “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? This is your fault. You’re ditching me, and you’re gonna take your hit like a man. It’s your computer. I don’t know nothing about it.”

Shoe shook his head, aghast. “This is because I’m going to college? What do you want me to do? Marry you? People grow up! Move away! I’m going to college, not the moon! You could go, too, if you wanted!”

I heard a soft click of heels outside the door, and I felt scared. But Shoe’s mother was walking away, letting them take care of their issues on their own. She clearly wasn’t ignorant of their friendship being on the skids.

Ace’s expression was ugly. “You ain’t going anywhere but jail, Richie Rich.”

I backed up to the window. I’d never seen so much hatred and bile in someone’s expression, and I couldn’t help but think that the idea of Nakita taking this guy’s life before he sullied his soul so far that he wouldn’t even ask for forgiveness wasn’t such a bad idea. I was thinking like a dark reaper, and I didn’t like it.

Shoe was white-faced with anger. “You were with me when I wrote it. I’ll tell them—”

“Tell them what?” Ace interrupted. “You trashed the school’s files. The disc I left in the hospital is the same program. It’s got your name on it, dude.”

Standing before Ace, Shoe started to shake. “You are an ass,” he said, and I gasped when he punched Ace. Right in the face.

“Shoe!” I shouted, but Ace was down, having hit the bed and slipped to the floor. Standing above him, Shoe shook his hand, swearing.

“You hit me!” Ace exclaimed, propped up on an elbow as he felt his mouth. “I’m freaking bleeding!”

“Yeah, and I’ll hit you again unless you come with me to the police and tell them what you did. I wanted to trash the school’s computer system, not hurt people!”

I already knew a trip to the police wasn’t going to happen, and I pulled Shoe back when Ace got to his feet, spitting blood on Shoe’s carpet. “You’re going to rot. Who are the police going to believe? It’s all on your computer.”

Shaking, I said in frustration, “I don’t think I can stop Nakita from killing you, and you know what, Ace? I’m not even a bit sorry.” I was, though. I ached for him to make a better choice. I knew he wouldn’t. Maybe Nakita was right. The seraphs targeted only people who refused to see the light, even if you taped their eyes open and stood them in the sun.

The almost-sound of spilling broken glass slid through my awareness, and a softball-size haze of light darted into the room from the open window.

“Grace!” I exclaimed, and Shoe looked at me as if I were nuts. Either something had gone really right with Barnabas and Nakita, or it had gone really wrong.

The globe circled Ace as if getting a scent, then went to perch on Shoe’s monitor. “Grace?” I questioned, suddenly unsure.

“Guardian angel two-T-four-five taking on a new charge, you lamebrain, dark-winged dark reaper,” the light said snidely. “You lose.”

My mouth dropped open, and I turned to the window when I realized what had happened. “No!” I cried, and my anger peaked when I saw Paul, smug and satisfied, standing in the bushes, his head level with the window.

“You idiot!” I exclaimed, and both Shoe and Ace turned to the window to see him. Damn it, this was my own fault. He must have been at the school, then followed us, waiting until I gave away who the mark was before assigning an angel to Ace.

“Done and done,” Paul said snarkily. “You lose, Madison. I saved this one.”

“Saved him for what?” I asked. Angrier than I’d ever been, I lunged to the window, grabbing his tunic and dragging him in.

“Ow! Hey!” Paul exclaimed, hitting the floor in a graceless pile. From the ceiling, the guardian angel was shouting, but no one but me could probably hear it. Shoe and Ace had drawn back, and I stood over Paul, wanting to give him a good kick.

“You stupid idiot!” I said, pissed. “I told you I was taking care of this! And you come in and muck it up! Why don’t you find out the entire story before you start making choices for people! Thanks a hell of a lot, Paul!”

From outside in the hall, I heard Shoe’s mom call out, “Honey? Is everything all right?”

Oh, crap!

We froze. Paul got up off the floor, his eyes wide. Ace was standing with his head craned back as his nose bled.

“We’re fine, Mom,” he called out with just the right amount of irritation, flexing his hand, which was now swollen from having hit Ace.

“Swell, swell, we’re all good here,” the angel chimed out.

“You guys want a snack or anything?” his mother asked, clearly concerned.

My estimation of Shoe’s mom went higher. She hadn’t burst in even when things were clearly not right. She was a cool lady for letting us work this out ourselves.

“No, Mom! We’re fine!”

Fine, fine. We’re all just spiffy keen.

No one spoke as her heels clicked away. Finally the guardian angel sighed, and Shoe put his back to his door, clearly frustrated. “Okay,” he said, looking at Paul. “This is my room, and I want to know who you are and what’s going on.”

I couldn’t tell him everything, but I stood in front of the window and crossed my arms over my middle. “This idiot just gave Ace a guardian angel!” I said, furious.

“Saved your scrawny butt,” the guardian angel said, and I gave it a dark look. It sounded different from Grace, but I doubted that I’d be able to name it and break the hold Ron had put on it. Not a second time.

Ace brought his head down and sniffed back his bloody nose. “I got a guardian angel?”

“Him?” Shoe yelled. “He just framed me for crashing the hospital computers tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I know. Ironic, isn’t it?” I said, uncrossing my arms and turning to Ace. “You can’t see her, but you just got a blessing from heaven—idiot. Nothing will touch you now until your scheduled death.” Turning to Paul, I couldn’t help myself and shouted, “Thanks a lot!”

This just wasn’t my day. Here I was supposed to be impressing the seraphs that dark and light reapers could work together to save the lost, and I had failed spectacularly. At least Barnabas could make everyone forget the last twenty-four hours. If he was okay, that was. The guardian angel buzzed me, and I wasn’t surprised as her wings came to a halt with the soft sound of sliding glass.