EVABELLE

Evabelle hadn't realized how hungry she truly was until their waiter placed her meal right in front of her. The aroma of hand smoked turkey met her nostrils and her stomach yowled in desperation. It took all she had not to stuff her face with the turkey melt, on a two grilled golden buns, slathered in a variety of sauces. It was so tempting to just rip into the sandwich allowing the sauce to drip down her face, and let her taste buds dance. But glancing at the two boys, who once again had their sweatshirts on to cover up their wings, she thought better of it. She didn't want to look like a slob in front of these two obviously well-mannered young men.

Aza on the other hand wasn't holding back. She shoveled her large grilled cheese with ham in like a vacuum cleaner set on high. "Ohhh," she moaned in delight, cheese dripping down from the corners of her mouth. "Dis' is so amaging.'" Her mouth was so full Evabelle was surprised she could get anything comprehensible out.

"Umm... Aza." Evabelle tapped the table lightly. She gestured toward the Anahalians. Lucis ate politely, and even Del who sat more casually ate with more refinement than Aza. But the spirited blonde, didn't care. With some difficulty she swallowed a particularly large mouthful and turned to Evabelle.

"I am starving. I can no longer ignore the urge to gorge myself." Then she turned to the boys, completely ignoring Del and speaking directly to Lucis she said. "Sorry Lucis for grossing you out. You obviously have much more self-control." Then she went right on stuffing her mouth to bursting point.

Del made a noise, so soft that Evabelle was the only one to hear it. "Obviously." They continued eating, Evabelle savoring each bite. Then Del spoke once more. "Are you sure that the phrase is 'you are what you eat'? I think, 'you are how you eat' may be more accurate here." There was no mistake for whom this comment was directed.

Aza's chewing slowed, her eyes glinting. She turned to Del, and Evabelle tensed nervous for what her impulsive friend was about to do.

"I'b gong to igore dat." Along with her retort, a nice spray of masticated grilled cheese flew from her overfilling mouth and onto Del's face. "Oops." Aza swallowed She grinned. "My bad. Here let me get that for you." Grabbing a napkin from the table and spitting on it with glee written all over her face, Aza reached out wipe his face, but with reflexive speed Del caught her hand.

"As much as I would love more of your revolting drivel all over my face," he twisted her arm around, squeezing her wrist causing her to release the salivated napkin right into the unfinished bowl of tomato soup that had come with Aza's sandwich.

Aza grimaced as the napkin began to soak up her soup. "Really!"

Del released her wrist, a cruel smile playing his lips.

Pinching the soaked napkin between her fingertips, Aza pulled it from her soup, but it was too late little pieces of it had broken off and were now sinking into the soup. "I was enjoying that." Aza spoke softly. Evabelle felt nervous. She had a feeling this was the calm before the storm.

Del put his arms behind his head, still holding his twisted grin as he leaned back so that his chair rested on two legs. "And now I find myself finally enjoying-"

Aza lunged and tackled the dark Anahalian out of his propped up seat and onto the floor.

Del's eyes widened as the two of the crashed to the ground, but he quickly recovered and got the upper hand. He flipped the small girl and pinned her to the, not so clean, tiles. "Really? That was your plan?" Del laughed coldly. "Just tackle the guy. Did you really expect to win?"

Aza struggled under his grip. "At least I managed to take you by surprise. Now get off!"

Del's smiled widened. "So are you saying that I've won?"

Aza glared. "Like I'd ever say that."

Del leaned down close to Aza's ear. "Then I guess you're going to be stuck here for a while."

Aza thrashed out harder, but Del didn't budge.

"Um... guys?" Evabelle looked around nervously at the people in other booths, who were turning their heads to stare. "Guy's please. Can't you..." She trailed off and glanced at Lucis for help, but he was thoroughly immersed in what appeared to be a bus schedule.

He nodded to himself. "If we can make the 6:00 bus, we should be able to make it to the Sanctuary before nightfall. We'll have to hurry, but I'm sure we can..." Lucis glanced up, seeing Evabelle's face he turned to see his brother tormenting Aza, whose face was red as she had refused to plead to Del no matter the cost.

"Stubborn little twit." Del laughed again. "Yield."

Aza shook her head. "Never. Not to you, freak!"

Lucis shook his head. "Great Angel feathers, I turn away for two minutes, and I find my brother on top of a poor innocent girl."

That got their attention. Del had frozen, then in a split second he sprang away from Aza and glared at Lucis. "You know just how to put things, don't you Lucis." He glanced back to Aza who had staggered to her feet, wheezing and clutching her side. "But I would never call that innocent."

Aza stuck her tongue out at him.

Evabelle gave Aza a reprimanding look. "Really, Aza?" She leaned in to whisper to her friend. "You're being immature, you know right?"

Aza stared at Evabelle. "Do tell me, how long have we known each other?"

"Umm," Evabelle thought for a moment. "About six years."

"And in that time period, when exactly have you known me to be mature. I'm still not even sure what that word means."

Evabelle shook her head and against her will a smile crept onto her face. "Aza, what am I going to do with you?"

Aza grinned. "You can keep trying to make me a respectable and refined young lady, but I'm going to be a strong and wild woman forever."

Lucis called them over. "We have to get going if we want to make the bus." Quickly he laid down some cash and ushered their little group out of the restaurant, with Evabelle wondering how in the world an Anahalian had US money.

The bus station was amazingly devoid of people. There was just an elderly lady who appeared to be sleeping on the waiting bench, and a young man looking as though he was a competitor of the Tour de France, with his bike shorts, tank-top, bike helmet, and of course his bike.

Evabelle was truly far from home. Bus stations were always more crowded than this. True most people just took a cab, but still.

Del went immediately to the bench and collapsed onto the opposite side of the older woman. He leaned his head back over the bench's headboard and closed his eyes. "I'm going to sleep while we wait."

Lucis followed his brother and sat calmly next to him. Glancing, up at the girls, he smiled. "We made good time; we're a bit earlier than I thought we'd be. I believe we should have about ten to fifteen minutes till the bus gets here."

Aza reached into her bag, pulling out her I-pod once more. She held out an ear bud to Evabelle. "Want to listen while we wait?"

Evabelle raised her hands and shook her head. "No thanks." She politely declined. She had experienced sharing ear buds with Aza. With Aza's crazy energy and her need to break out into wild dancing whenever music played, tended to just cause problems for them both.

Aza shrugged. "Suit yourself." She put the head phones in her ears and pressed play; it wasn't long before Aza started bopping her head and singing the lyrics out loud. "I'm on top of the world, eh! I'm on top of the word, eh!" After the head bop the rest of her began dancing. Soon she was running up to passersby's singing to them quite out of tune.

Del's eye opened a crack. He glanced over at Aza who was singing to some joggers, who were staring at her. He shook his head. "Is she always this embarrassing?" He put his arm over his face.

Evabelle sighed as she watched her insane friend get some ten-year-olds to sing along with her.

"Evabelle, do you want to sit down?" Evabelle looked at Lucis who patted the seat next to him.

The annoying flush of color lit her cheeks once more. Earlier she and Lucis had been getting along quite well, better than Evabelle could have imagined. It had been a short conversation, but it had been an actual conversation. He had made her feel calm, which was quite a feat. Yet now he offered the seat next to him, and she found her heart beating uncomfortably fast again. Brushing shoulders with a beautiful boy, she shivered.

Seriously! Evabelle scolded herself. Both of them had held me in their arms, and now I'm getting all worked up about shoulders rubbing! She shook herself. "Sure," inwardly she cursed at her voice for being unnaturally high at that moment. "Thank you," She stepped forward to take the seat when a voice cried out her name.

"Evabelle!"

Evabelle froze. It wasn't Aza. It couldn't be possible. There was no way he could be here. Slowly Evabelle turned to face the owner of the cry. There he was just a few yards away, tall and gangly, his brown mousy hair awry, and his glasses covering his hazel eyes that were wide with shock. CJ.

The last time she had seen CJ was when he was being dragged away by Sophie at the party that seemed as though it had happened eons ago. But here he was staring at Evabelle as if she was some sort of alien who had appeared out of thin air and she was pretty sure was doing the same to him.

Suddenly CJ leaned forward and started sprinting for her. Evabelle gasped as his arms wrapped around her, pulling her into an embrace. Evabelle could feel his body quivering against hers. Was he crying? For a moment, Evabelle couldn't move. CJ had never hugged her like this. They had had brief, slightly awkward hugs, just as friends, but this was as though he was seeing her alive and well after he had just been to her funeral. Still stunned, Evabelle slowly returned his embrace. "CJ." She breathed.

Already Evabelle had separated her world between the normal and the magic, her friend's and family's, and the Anahalian's. Aza didn't count because she had been with her the entire time. CJ on the other hand had never been involved. In Evabelle's mind, he was on the side of what remained normal in her life, but with two legendary beings behind her, and CJ who had just happened to appear out of nowhere, his arms holding her tight. CJ was right on the border line of crossing over.

Slowly, CJ released her, pulling away to look at her. There were no tears in his eyes, but they were oddly bright as they traveled the length of her face. He shook his head, finally. "I'm sorry," He whispered. "I'm just so glad to see that you're alright. I thought... I thought," His voice wavered slightly. Suddenly he stiffened his eyes on something behind Evabelle. CJ grabbed Evabelle, once more, and pulled her protectively against him. She could feel his heart battering against his rib cage, right through his t-shirt.

Evabelle turned her head to see Lucis, who had risen to his feet. He was standing, not in an aggressive manner, but CJ glared at him as though he was going to suddenly hurl himself at Evabelle. "Don't touch her!" He yelled at Lucis, whose expression had yet to change from subtle curiosity. "You were the one that took her."

A cold dark voice interrupted. "You mean saved her."

Evabelle twitched at the sound of Del's voice. He remained draped lazily against the bench, but his intense eyes watched them with cold severity.

CJ tightened his grip on Evabelle's arm. "And you're the one who took Aza."

Del sighed and leaned his head back again. "Yeah, I really wish I hadn't."

CJ bared his teeth. "What have you done with her you-?"

Lucis put his hand up. "Please calm down young man. We have not hurt Evabelle or Aza and nor do we have any intention to."

CJ gently pulled Evabelle behind him, putting himself between her and Lucis. "Yeah, right!" He spat. "I saw what happened last night. I mean sure you-"

"CJ!" Evabelle squeaked, cutting him off. She cleared her throat. "CJ, these guys saved me. It's okay, you don't need to worry."

CJ turned to face her. "Evabelle..."

"Wait a second," Del cut him off. "You're the guy who dumped punch all over me. You were with the whacked red-head."

CJ narrowed his eyes at Del. "Well, now I don't regret doing it."

They glared intensely at one another until Evabelle broke the tension. "Wait you spilled punch on him?"

"Where do you think this came from?" Del gestured at his sweatshirt where there was a faint stain splotch mark, Evabelle hadn't noticed before.

"CJ!" Exclaimed a voice.

Aza had pulled out her ear buds and was staring open mouthed at CJ. Then Aza was dashing toward them. Her sweatshirt she had been wearing earlier, that was now tied around her waist, flew out behind her like a kite. Her high tops slid a bit on the slightly damp grass as she ran. Finally she came to a screeching halt in front of them. "How... where ... when did you...?" She gasped and gestured her arms for CJ to answer her unfinished questions.

"Aza," CJ said, stunned once more.

"Well don't just stare at me." Aza snapped, recovering her breath. "How the heck did you get here?"

CJ glanced back at Lucis and Del. "This just can't be happening." He muttered.

Aza snapped her fingers in front of CJ's face. "Dude, I just asked you a question."

CJ turned back to Evabelle and Aza. He had begun to shake again. "How are you not freaking out?" He looked back and forth between them. Then his eyes widened. "Wait, you knew... How long have you known about these aliens?"

Del chuckled softly. "Who is this geek?"

"Shut up." Aza glared at Del. Then she returned her gaze to CJ. "But CJ I have no idea what you are talking about. We only met these guys last night."

CJ wrung his hands in frustration. "These guys have wings!"

At his outburst, Del snapped up to attention and Lucis stiffened. Del swore and glanced around at those around them. Evabelle followed his gaze. Luckily, no one seemed to be paying them much attention. The man with the bike was on his cell phone and the old lady didn't even stir from her sleep. Those passing by them didn't even give them a second glance. Del glared at CJ. "You better keep your geeky little mouth shut, you moron before I close it permanently."

CJ stared at Del defiantly, but Evabelle noticed his hands shaking slightly. True CJ was tall, but he was rather scrawny, not much muscle, or coordination. After Evabelle had seen what the Anahalians could do, CJ was right to be scared. "It's not like anyone would really believe it. They didn't believe Chloe or Sophie rambling on about it."

Several things occurred to Evabelle in that moment. "What are you talking about? How did you know that they have wings?" She asked, lowering her voice when she mentioned their wings.

Aza cut in at that point. "He was there when Lucis and Del rescued us, both he and Sophie." She looked at CJ. "What I'm wondering is though is, what do you mean they didn't believe Chloe or Sophie?"

CJ's stiff shoulders drooped as he turned to face Aza. "Well after everything last night, Chloe was rather hysterical, well I guess we all were, but Chloe ran back into the party and started screaming about winged boys and how you two had been kidnapped by them. And soon Sophie joined her, though she added something about fairies and a dragon, which really confused me, but really I was just too stunned to do much. Anyway, before I knew it there were cops and a camera crew and I have no idea when I actually went home. It just turned into a big blur of noise and people."

"Camera crew?" Evabelle whispered.

CJ nodded. "Yeah, they just kept bombarding us with questions about you guys. I don't remember saying much, but Chloe and Sophie went at it. Chloe was excited about the attention and Sophie was just bragging about how she knew that magic existed and whatnot. In the end everyone was laughing at us, calling us liars. The news guys seemed happy to have a crazy story, but I know Chloe threw quite a fit by the end of it."

Aza smirked. "I would have loved to see that."

CJ looked at Aza. Slowly he reached his hand out to touch her face where the bandage covered her scrape from the Annihilators. He stopped himself, just before his fingers made contact. "So they did hurt you." He murmured, dropping his hand to his side.

Aza shook her head. "No CJ. This wasn't done by these guys. It was..."

"I mean those monsters." CJ cut her off, shaking his head. "Those things you were protecting Evabelle from."

Aza's eyes widened slightly.

There was silence. Evabelle stared at CJ. He had seen them too? But Lucis had said it was strange that Aza saw them. The Sight was very rare. It was odd enough that one of Evabelle's friends had it, but CJ too?

Del put his face in his hands. "You've got to be kidding me."

~(Hey! Sorry the day of this update may seem rather abrupt. I just don't want to make these too long. Anyways PLEASE let me know what you think by commenting! And PLEASE vote if you liked it!! Thank you so much dearies!!!)~