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The Child - Seven were translucent. He was transfixed, unable to move, until the two beings came to either side of the bed. Then he found himself floating between them as they maneuvered him right through the wall and out into the dark night. Gliding above the ground, they continued down the street and stopped at the deserted schoolyard half a block away. By this time, Ted was able to look around a bit, and off in the distance he saw two more angels moving toward him, with a young girl between them. It was his neighbor and schoolmate, Jill, and she looked as frozen and bewildered as he did. The angels positioned the two young people face to face, and one angel stepped between them. It placed its hand over Ted’s chest for a moment and then moved it to the space over Jill’s heart. A strange voice sounded in Ted’s head: “We have merged your souls.” Ted didn’t understand what this meant, as if his mind was unable to function, so he just nodded mutely. Suddenly, a brilliant light flared up around them on every side, blinding him. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his bed, shivering. And for the rest of the night he lay awake thinking about the strange event and the hooded angels. Nothing about the experience made any sense. Not, that is, until the next day. At school, the moment Ted saw Jill he felt a rush of emotion as strong as a physical jolt. Yesterday he wouldn’t have given her a second thought, but today he adored her. Totally, completely, and painfully. The scene with the angels came back to him, and he knew that somehow he and Jill had been marked for each other, des- tined to be together. Their love was designed and created by a heavenly source, he realized, and surely Jill must know it, too. But she walked on past him without a word. And although Ted immediately thereafter put all his energy into pursuing her, Jill just didn’t seem to care about his burning love. Ted was crushed. He lost interest in outside activities, ignored his schoolwork, and withdrew from his friends. Yet driven, all through junior high and high school, Ted tried his best to draw Jill to him. He carried her books after class, sat Masquerade of Angels 52 The Child - Seven beside her in study hall, dogged her from a wistful distance, but all she ever gave him in return was casual friendship. Through those adolescent years, Ted ached for her. He watched her with other boys, flirting and dating as all the other girls did, and still he loved her. Once in desperation, Ted tried to get Jill to talk about that night in the schoolyard. “Don’t you remember?” he asked. “How the angels put our souls together? For heaven’s sake, Jill, how could you ever forget it?” “Stop it,” she said, “don’t talk about such crazy things. That’s too weird.” “But what was it all about?” he pressed. “What did the angels do to us? I can’t believe you don’t feel the same way they made me feel about you. They merged our souls!” His look pleaded with her for some sign of understand- ing, but all he felt back was her growing discomfort and ang- er, even a hint of fear. “T mean it, Teddy,” she warned, “you better quit talking about that. I don’t want to hear it. Just leave me alone.” Bewildered by her denial, Ted backed away at last. Mere friendship wasn’t what he wanted, so he withdrew. But in their senior year, when Jill broke up with her boyfriend, she sought Ted out again, and this time he relented. They even dated sporadically, but without the least hint of romance. Once he resigned himself to being only friends, a different kind of closeness steadily grew. He took no chances, never again mentioned the night with the angels, and tried to feel satisfied that Jill now trusted and relied on him as her confid- ant. From time to time he thought about the merging of their souls, wondering why the magic of the angels hadn’t worked with Jill. His high school years passed in this way, and no one was aware of Ted’s loneliness. Outwardly, Ted was jovial and content, no different from the other students. But his nights, his dreams, set him apart. One recurrent dream always seemed compelling, even portentous. The first time it came to him was shortly after the angels took him to the schoolyard, and it recurred three or four times a year after that. The dream always seemed the same. Ted found himself Masquerade of Angels 53