Ryan sat on the tan couch in the living room anxiously and Miss Aldridge walked in. "Go rest. I'm going to work. Grace will make dinner later."
"Mom, I need the cologne for the phantic. I just saw it."
"If you asked me for it, I'd give you it, but you didn't. You have to pay the consequences for this behavior, Ryan," she said peevishly.
"Mom, the phantic made me do it. I need the cologne bad."
"No. Rules are rules."
"I won't do it again. I'll do extra chores."
"No." She went outside and locked the front door.
Ryan dropped on his bed and stuffed his face into the pillow. Then he searched his pocket. The nurse left the piece of chalk in it still and he put it on the bedside table.
He sat at his desk and turned on his tablet. He went to www.eljorian.org and clicked "Rules to Join":
Angelkins need to know how to sing a song in one of the styles of music from their phylum or in the case of acebees, dance to join our organization.
Ryan shook his head and read:
To set up an audition, the angelkin will need a parent or guardian present if under the age of eighteen and must be at least thirteen.
At the audition via live video, the counselor will see if the performer is indeed an angelkin. Then the counselor will allow the angelkin to perform and let him or her know if he or she has enough talent to banish a proprietary.
The counselor may request the angelkin sing a different song to make the perfect fit. This doesn't apply to acebees who usually audition once.
After they join, angelkins can banish at least one proprietary in their phylum. Some may be capable of all three proprietaries, but that is rare. Acebees only have to banish one.
Angelkins can perform the angelkin rituals found on the website and access angelkin events, local happenings, and Eljorian Times, the newsletter.
Angelkins do not have to accept employment to join. If an angelkin wants employment, he or she will be hired as a house angelkin and called upon to sing or dance via live video to victims of proprietaries. Compensation will follow.
Counselors have the right to accept or reject certain songs and will be present during appointments.
If you believe a proprietary or proprietaries are attached to you, select "Seek An Angelkin".
Ryan clicked on it.
He typed his name, address, birthday and what he experienced regarding his proprietaries in the on-line form and clicked. A window opened:
Thank you for your information, Ryan. Please select available appointments from the list below for a consultation with a counselor and send it. Then download the messaging application provided. During the consultation, a counselor will identify and determine how many proprietaries are attached to you.
Ryan checked three days and times and hit "Send" and downloaded the app. He read the response window:
Thank you for your selections. A counselor will message you as soon as possible.
Angelkins only banish one proprietary per appointment and the counselor will suggest when another appointment can be made.
---
Ryan sat at the kitchen table with Grace and he ate the watery spaghetti and meatballs hungrily.
"Have you ever met Aunt Marianne?" he asked.
Grace looked at Ryan strangely and munched a dinner roll. "When I was little."
"What was she like?"
"She was nice," said Grace.
"Was I born?"
"Yes," she said.
"Did she visit us?"
"Once."
"Why doesn't she see us anymore?"
"She lives too far away," said Grace.
"How come she never calls?"
"Mom doesn't want to talk to her."
"Why?" asked Ryan.
"They had a fight or something."
"About what?"
"I don't know," she said, chewing a meatball.
"Where does she live?"
"Los Angeles."
"Was she born there?"
"No," said Grace, sipping tea from a mug. "Dad was."
"And Mom?"
"She was born in Chicago with Aunt Marianne."
"Did she ever live in Los Angeles?"
"Many years ago with Aunt Marianne."
"Do you think Aunt Marianne with visit us again?" asked Ryan.
"I don't know. Why do you care about her all of a sudden?"
"Mom's got a lot of pictures of her," he said, looking down.
"Yeah, I know."
Ryan ate a piece of bread sadly. "Do you have a bottle of perfume I can have?"
"I don't wear perfume. You can ask Dad."
Ryan sulked.
---
Ryan checked his tablet in his room. Counselor Stacey Jones messaged him, asking for a confirmation for a video consultation tomorrow at seven pm.
Ryan clicked "Confirm":
Greetings Ryan, you will be meeting with Counselor Stacey Jones from Eljorian, League of Angelkins. Mrs. Jones is a founder of Eljorian and a Marble Angelkin of the Burwolf Phylum. She has the ability to see all proprietaries. If you're unable to keep your appointment, kindly hit "Cancel" in this app no later than six pm tomorrow evening.
Thank you,
Mr. Anthony Elmund, Head Counselor
and Founder, Eljorian, League of Angelkins & Marble Angelkin of the Ergbear Phylum
---
Rain poured outside the next morning and Mr. Ross arrived later than usual. In the car, Ryan asked him for a bottle of cologne. He dropped Ryan off in front of the wide veranda at the school entrance.
"Hit up Dolores for whatever she's got and wait for me in the corridor."
"Come on, Dad," said Ryan.
"Go. I have to park the car or kiss the cologne good-bye."
Ryan headed into the empty, cafeteria kitchen reluctantly and lingered a while. He watched the cafeteria clock. The bell rang in five minutes. Ryan took the lid off of a hot pan at the stove and found red, breakfast potatoes heating in it.
He grabbed a plastic spoon and a styrofoam cup and filled it fast. Vice Principal, Lee Holden rushed in, talking with Dolores and Margaret.
Margaret gasped and Dolores covered her mouth, waving for Ryan to leave. He dashed to the corridor and bumped into Mr. Ross.
"Thanks," said Mr. Ross, grabbing the cup and he ran.
Ryan jogged to his locker, dumping the backpack and sat in his chair in Homeroom right before the bell rang.
Vice Principal, Holden walked in and scanned the room, fixing his eyes on Ryan. He spoke quietly to Mr. Connelly.
"Ryan, I checked you in on time," said Mr. Connelly. The vice principal would like to see you in the corridor."
Ryan swallowed his heart and met him outside the door.
"Where are the potatoes I saw you take without gloves?" he asked.
"I gave them to my dad."
"Why?"
"He was hungry."
"Can I look in your backpack?"
"Go ahead."
He waited while Ryan opened his locker. The vice principal unzipped the backback and zipped it back. "Where's your dad now?"
"In his car, eating the potatoes," said Ryan.
"You're not allowed to take food from the school kitchen unless Dolores gives it to you first. It'll be detention next time." He slammed the locker door.
Ryan sat down in Algebra sadly. Chase wobbled in after the bell rang, gripping a crutch with a book in his free hand. He eyed Ryan in a confrontational way and sat in the seat behind him clumsily.
"Feeling better?" asked Chase. "Your dad needs to get his own potatoes."
"Why do you want to know what happened?"
"You're weird like me."
"I don't like it when you read me," said Ryan.
"If you want, I'll talk to Dolores."
"Don't."
"Too chicken to stand up for yourself?" said Chase.
"Why do you care?"
"You heard what I said to my mom on the phone at the hospital and you probably saw where Doctor Marcos moved me. But you didn't warn me. Don't tell anyone or you're dead."
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Ryan.
"Ryan and Chase, class has started," snapped Mr. Bailey.
"Remember what I said," whispered Chase.
---
Ryan ate lunch with Sloan, Jamal and Pablo in the cafeteria and complained about Chase.
"Where did he go?" asked Jamal.
"Somewhere bad," said Sloan.
"I didn't see anything," said Ryan.
"He shouldn't 've got mad at you," said Pablo. "You got hurt too."
"You can't see everything," said Jamal.
"I'm glad you made it," said Sloan.
"You're lucky your dad was there," said Jamal.
"It was the entity," said Pablo. "That thing wants you dead."
"Now Chase does," said Ryan.
"You tried to help him," said Jamal. "He'll get over it."
Dolores came to the table. "Hi Ryan, I had to throw the potatoes out. School rules - I'm sorry. I don't have anything extra today."
Ryan saw a vision in color in his mind of Dolores crying in the corridor. Principal Pearson handed her a printed form.
Ryan realized she liked Mr. Ross and planned to give him food instead even if he complained about him. Someone catches her somehow and the principal fires her.
"That's okay. I ate already," said Ryan.
"Maybe tomorrow," she said.
"Maybe," said Ryan.
Chase hobbled over to Ryan on his way to the lunch line. "Didn't tell her, huh? Figures."
"Chase," said Ryan. "Meet me in Homeroom early tomorrow. I want to tell you something."
Sloan stopped eating and looked up.
"Oh. Good," said Chase with a grin. "I'll be there."
---
Mr. Ross drove Grace home and headed to Everett Towers downtown. He parked on the street.
"Here's the keys. I got 'a watch the car. Unlock the gate with the silver key and open the door with the gold one. My colognes are in the bathroom. Just take the one you want."
Ryan struggled with the key at the gate, fighting with it until he turned it. He dodged a heavy man walking a white Pomeranian in the hallway and climbed the stairs to the second floor.
He opened the apartment door easily and slipped the keys in his pocket. The phone rang and he ignored it, hurrying into the bathroom.
He opened the vanity cabinet, finding four bottles of used cologne on the shelf. He took the one that looked the fullest.
The answering machine played a standard greeting and beeped. A man spoke.
"Jack, it's me. I'm sorry to hear that Ryan went to the hospital. He needs to read that book. Make sure he does. Call me at home."
The answering machine ended the call and Ryan jumped inside with joy, locking the apartment door. Someone showed concern about him and his book. He closed the apartment gate fast.
"You got a cologne?" asked Mr. Ross.
"Yeah, thanks," said Ryan. "But I have this strange feeling about Dolores. Maybe we should skip a day tomorrow."
"You think so? Well, maybe," he said.
---
In his room, Ryan placed the cologne on his bedside table.
After dinner, Ryan waited at his tablet. At seven pm, Counselor Jones messaged him:
Hello, Ryan. Please click this message to start your consultation.
Ryan accepted and a large window opened and the tablet, camera light came on by itself.
Counselor Jones sat at a table in front of glass, patio doors. The sun shined warmly in the background and palm trees grew in a large backyard.
Ryan admired the pretty, black woman. She wore a yellow, summer dress. Her curly, black hair rested on her shoulders.
"Hi, Ryan. I'm Counselor Jones. It's about five pm here in California. How are you doing?"
"I'm okay," said Ryan. "I think I have three proprietaries on me."
"I see and you're thirteen?"
"Yes."
"You live with your parents?"
"Just my mom."
"Where is she now?"
"At work."
"Okay. I'm a school teacher and I can consult you without a parent or guardian present, but since you're thirteen, the angelkin I find for you won't be able to perform for you unless your mom is present. Understand?"
"Yes."
"Good. I'm using special glasses called jimels to see everything clearly. She put a pair of glasses over her eyes with yellow shades. "I see you have the mimlock . . . yes and two more. Okay . . . a phantic and . . . yes - a banelor. Do you know what they are?"
"Yes."
"And what they can do?"
"I know."
"Alright, I'm contacting an angekin from the Ergbear Phylum for your mimlock."