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Although she hadn't been asked to, Natalie still felt obligated to go and feed Noir the morning after they left.  It wasn't the kitten's fault that her owner had more than the average amount of personal demons, after all.  No pun intended.  When she reached the apartment, she found the kitten sitting in the middle of the living room, looking remarkably lost without an Adon to cuddle.  Without hesitation, she went forward and scooped up the pathetic-looking thing.  "Don't worry, Noir, he'll be back soon..." she murmured, rocking her slightly.

After a few minutes of consolation, she set the kitten down and went searching for kitten chow.  As she went through his cupboards, she reflected on what she'd just said.  Without Adon, that odd feeling in the back of her mind was almost gone...but on the other hand, she felt extremely uneasy.  If he didn't come back soon, she'd be forced to admit that he'd run into problems--and problems for him definitely mean problems for her.  Besides...though he could be infuriating at times, she'd grown somewhat fond of the man.  She didn't want anything bad to happen to him at least.

Once Noir's bowl was filled, she was quite content, with or without Adon.  This seen to, Natalie left her to her breakfast.  It wasn't until she was halfway down the stairs that she realized that she was going to be extremely late to school.  The resulting hurry was probably the reason that she didn't see her second cat of the day until she'd already tripped over it.

She frantically gathered up all of the papers and such she'd dropped, then turned to the cat.  Strangely enough, instead of darting or scratching her for the indignity it had just suffered, it just looked at her with what she could have sworn was amusement.  Tentatively, she reached out and scratched behind one ginger ear--her peace offering.  The cat's slitted green eyes slipped shut, and a deep purr tremored through him--because it really did seem to be more of a he--and Natalie kept her hand there for just a moment longer, enjoying the soft vibrations.  Then she realized why she'd been hurrying and quickly set off again.  She didn't have to look behind her to know that she had a purring shadow.

************

Natalie slid into class just as the bell was ringing.  She went and sat down as quietly as possible, cringing slightly at the glare the substitute was giving her.  She glanced over next to her to see Naomi also giving her a strange look.  "What is it, Naomi?" she whispered to her friend, making sure that the sub didn't notice.

"You weren't at our meeting place today..." Naomi responded softly.  "And now you're late.  You're never late.  Are you okay?"

Natalie shifted guiltily in her seat.  She had quite obviously been neglecting her friend during the furor of the past few days.  "I'm sorry...I was just doing something else and I completely lost track of time," she admitted.  "Did I keep you waiting?"

Naomi shook her head.  "No.  I went on without you.  I thought that you'd gone to school early or something..."

Natalie winced and slid down in her seat a bit.

"And how are you doing with Mr. Smith?"

Natalie blinked.  She'd somehow forgotten that Adon was as much a part of her school life as her private one.  "Oh...much better.  Thanks, Naomi," she said, giving her friend a little grin.

Naomi just nodded and went back to her notes.  The worry on her face did not abate, but she did not look back over at her friend.

********

Class that day went by somewhat uneventfully, and even Natalie had to admit that Adon was much more interesting that their strict substitute.  She had a feeling somewhere in the back of her mind that the man up in front of their class was going around the time period in circles.  In fact, she could almost swear that he'd repeated himself a few times already.  She wasn't entirely sure, though--after all, that would require paying attention.  She spared the window a sleepy glance, then turned her attention back to Mr. Whatshisname.  It took her a few seconds before she registered what she'd just seen.  When she had, though, she swiveled her body around so quickly that she very nearly fell out of her chair.

The boy sitting on the windowsill merely laughed.  "I was wondering when you'd notice me.  Really, you humans are so unobservant..."

Natalie noticed with a vague sense of wonder that the rest of the classroom had come to a silent stop and used this chance to look the boy over.  He couldn't have been much more than eight or nine, but he held himself more assuredly than she'd ever seen an adult attempt to.  He surveyed her shocked face with what was unmistakably amusement in very green eyes.  The eyes matched with hair several shades redder than her own reminded her of pictures she'd seen of mischievous pixies when she'd been small, and his expression did nothing to negate that impression.  What was much stranger, though, was his position in the window.  It took her a moment to place exactly what was wrong with it--until she noticed that he really was in the window.  He was sitting on the sill and the brick siding of the school as if there had never been a bit of glass in-between, and with every lazy kick of his legs, his incorporeality became even more pronounced when his feet simply passed through the wall on their way back.  However, when he pushed himself off the ledge, his feet made a little tmp as they hit the floor, and she was forced to wonder just how solid he really was.

"And right after Adon told you to be careful, too!" he continued, either not noticing or ignoring her confusion.  He strode across the classroom confidently, his footsteps contrasting sharply with the way that he passed right through students and desks alike.  "Natalia, you really need to listen when he tells you things.  It's for your own good, you know.  After all, your enemies come in all shapes and sizes."

He was so close now that she could see the flecks of gold in the back of his eyes, but she could still do no more than blink at him.  There was something so ethereal about the whole situation that she found it hard to believe that she wasn't dreaming--though she had no doubt that this was very real.

He reached out to wind a strand of her hair around a finger that seemed almost too long, and gazed down at it with an expression that was probably as pensive as he ever got.  "Close enough to do this?  Why, you could be dead by now.  Silly girl," he murmured.  He curled his finger in, giving the strand a quick yank, causing her to wince in pain.

Almost as if the pain had released her from the confusion hazing her mind, she yanked backwards.  "Don't touch me!  Just who are you, anyway?" she snapped, her hand coming up to swat away his in reflex.

His pleased smile shocked her more than the way her hand went right through his.

"Well, if you'd been on time, maybe you would have heard me introduce myself," came the testy reply.

Natalie immediately looked towards the source of the voice.  The old substitute glared at her from the front of the room.  When she looked back to where the boy had been standing, there was nothing.  The only thing that remained of her encounter was her outstretched hand, which she quickly drew back.  "Um...sorry, sir..." she murmured softly, turning to face forward in her seat.

As the substitute started the sentence that had been interrupted over, Natalie looked down at her notes, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.  She read down through them again, trying to get back into the rhythm of the class and stop shaking (something that she hadn't even realized that she'd been doing) when she spotted something wrong.  There, at the bottom of her page, was something written in old-fashioned, sloping writing.

Ah, but that would be telling, now wouldn't it?

*******

Natalie found her gaze drawn again to the window where the boy had appeared.  Every time she started to pay attention in class, she recalled the boy's words and immediately glanced over in a sort of paranoid fashion.  This time she saw nothing but clouds.  Which recalled the memory of the boy with the added realization that the three stories up to their window had obviously not been a problem for him.  Just what could he...

"Natalie!"

Natalie jerked out of her thoughts and was out of her chair before even registered that it had only been Naomi trying to get her attention and not any obviously inhuman boys.

Naomi regarded her silently.  "...I was just going to tell you that the bell rang...  Nat, what's wrong?  Really, I mean.  You're not acting...normal, I guess..." she murmured softly, her hand going out to grip Natalie's.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Natalie responded shakily.  She pulled her hand free and set to gathering her bag.

Naomi was one step behind her as she retreated from the room.  "Oh, and you expect me to be content with an answer like that?  First you get so upset by a teacher that we've never met that you start crying--and I've almost never seen you cry--then, once he's gone, you start being late for class and yelling at nothing...  And now you're telling me that I would never believe what you have to tell me...all that means is that you have trouble believing it yourself.  If that's the case, then you probably need my help more than ever, and I won't abandon you when you're like this!"

By this point, the girls were out of the school, but they were still attracting stares.  Natalie noticed this with some discomfort, and finally stopped to look at her friend.  "Fine.  I'll tell you...but only under two conditions.  Number one, we have to go some place with less people.  Number two, you have to promise not to get me committed.  Promise?" she asked Naomi, holding out her pinky the way she had in grade school.

Naomi looked at the outstretched finger with some apprehension, but linked it with her own all the same.  "Of course, but Nat..."

Natalie shook her head, cutting Naomi off.  "Come on, then," she said, grabbing her friend's hand and pulling her along with her as she turned to go.

Home...no.  Sam wouldn't like that.  School was definitely out.  Public cafes and such were wrong, too...  Finally, Natalie decided on a small playground a small distance from the school.  Usually it was swarming with little kids, but this time of day, parents were just getting home from work and were far too tired to look after their children.

If Naomi felt that all this deliberation was unnecessary, she didn't say so, but only followed her friend to their destination.  When Natalie took a swing in the back of the playground, she took the one next to her...and then waited.  She knew that prompting her friend to start would not help matters any.

Natalie drifted back and forth silently in the swing.  She knew already that it would take awhile to arrange her story.  Not only would she need to decide which parts to tell, but also how to tell them...  She let one hand fall from the chains suspending the swing as she let out a long breath...and immediately snatched it up again when she felt something cold and wet brush against it.  She squeaked a little and glanced down to see the cat from that morning looking up at her expectantly.  "Oh...it's just you..." she murmured.  She picked him up and set him on her lap.  Somehow, stroking his fur calmed her down just enough to get her started on her story, and the purring that emanated when she did so gave her the courage to continue.  "Naomi...you remember that story I told you of when I was little and I got lost?"

Naomi smiled a little and nodded.  "Oh yes.  You and your angel," she hummed out.  "That was right about when your brother started being so overprotective, right?"

"Yeah, it was, actually...  I'd forgotten about that.  But Sam isn't really the point..."

"And Mr. Smith is, presumably?"

Natalie ducked her head a little and hugged the cat a little tighter, much to his displeasure.  "Yes.  He was the angel."  Naomi said nothing to this for so long that she felt forced to add, "Except that he's not really an angel, of course."

"So...he was the guy who helped you find your way home when you were little?  Wow.  It's amazing that you recognized him.  No wonder he didn't recognize you too, though...  Ten years is a long time..." Naomi murmured to herself.

"Except that he did recognize me."

Naomi blinked at her a few times.  "Really?  Then why didn't he say anything?  It's not like it would have caused any problems or anything..." she said slowly, as if trying to puzzle this out in her own mind.

"It's because he didn't want me to remember.  Naomi...the thing that happened that day...it wasn't good.  Remember how I described him?"

She nodded quietly.  "Great, broken, black wings and the most sorrowful look you could imagine.  I remember you calling him a fallen angel...and I remember thinking that a fallen angel is really a demon..."

"Exactly."

Naomi gave her a very sharp look.  "What do you mean, exactly?" she asked quickly.

Natalie shifted a little bit and gave the cat an absent scritch when he meowed in protest. "I mean...  I finally got him to explain, Naomi.  He called himself a demon...and he proved it."

The very air itself seemed to tighten at these words.  Naomi had stiffened beside her, and even the cat seemed to sense the tenseness of the situation, because he abruptly stopped purring.

"What do you mean?" Naomi asked, the words small and quiet as they came from her.

"He showed me his wings, his claws, his tail.  His sister--that girl who came into our class--she did, too.  They're completely inhuman..." Natalie replied softly.  "Inhuman...but very beautiful.  I'm sure that you'd think the same thing if you saw them in their real form.  It's hard to explain...their ethereality, I mean..."

The air seemed to still somewhat as she waited for her friend's reply to this.  The minutes passed in pensive silence, and she couldn't help but worry a bit when Naomi continued to look away from her instead of remarking on her confession.  The cat, seemingly sensing this, suddenly arched up into her hand and gave her a demanding miaow.  With a little breathless laugh, she started skritching behind his ears again, and once again took comfort from the little tremors he emitted as she did so.  It was this that gave her the drive to go on despite Naomi's silence.  "It was kind of hard to believe at first...but he didn't give me a lot of time to let it sink in...  Apparently, there's some kind of otherworldly plot against nature and humanity and God knows what else going on in his world.  He got caught up in it, and had to come here...and then he accidentally got me involved, too."

"Just now?" Naomi's voice was calm, simply asking for the holes to be filled.

Natalie breathed a sigh of relief at her friend's words, and went on. "No.  Back then, when I was little."

Naomi turned and gave her a blank look.  "He involved a five-year-old in another world's destruction?" she asked for confirmation.

"Not on purpose," Natalie protested.  Then, after thinking about it for half a second, amended her statement.  "Or not without reason, anyway."

"What possible reason could he have for putting a child in that sort of danger?" her friend asked.

Natalie was quiet for a moment.  She didn't blame him for what he'd done, but she was finding it hard to justify his actions to another person.  "He had to, Naomi...  He was dying, and he had to keep something safe.  So he gave it to me.  I'm sure that if there had been someone older or more experienced or anything, he would have given it to them...but he had no choice.  I remember his desperation..." she murmured, shutting her eyes against the memory.  The cat nudged her hand softly with his nose, either wanting to comfort her, or more scratches.  She told herself that it was the former.

"And so now you've got other things after you and that thing you have?" Naomi asked, swinging just a bit and watching the tracks her feet made in the dust.

"Apparently."

"So what's he doing at the moment?" she pressed.

Natalie immediately looked down to hide the worry she knew had to be in her face.  "He's gone back to his world to take care of matters..."

At this, the silence fell again.  The only sound was that of the cat purring contentedly, not understanding nor caring about the gravity of the situation.

Naomi chuckled a little, humorlessly.  "So it's demons, huh?"

Natalie glanced over at her quickly.  "Do you believe me?"

Her friend wouldn't meet her gaze.  "I'm not sure...  I know that you needed to talk that out...but...it's demons, Natalie.  It's a little hard to believe.  Besides that...I'm willing to believe you, but really...what reason do I have to believe him?" Naomi asked.

"Because he's not the only strange thing that's happened lately."

Naomi just gave her a sideways look, encouraging her to continue.

"Today in class..."

"When you yelled?"

Natalie nodded.  "Yeah.  There was a kid there...a couple years...well, he looked a couple years younger than us...  He told me to watch out for myself, basically..."

"A little kid that no one else could see warned you?" Naomi asked, cocking her head to one side.

"Threatened me, more like..." she grumbled.  Little shivers went up her spine just thinking about the encounter.  That child had been one of the more unsettling things to ever happen to her.  If Adon had had to deal with people like that on a regular basis...it was really a wonder that the man wasn't mad.

Naomi looked thoughtful for a moment.  "So you definitely believe in this whole story?"

"Eurgh.  It's not like I have much choice, Naomi..."

"Then neither do I," her friend said firmly.  "I still don't know whether this is true, but if you think that it is...well, I'll be here for you if you need help.  Now...give me some more details about this!"

******************

The momentary elation that she'd felt when Naomi had offered her help had long since left her by the time she turned onto her own street later that afternoon.  In fact, she had a queer, queasy feeling in her stomach that seemed to warn of tough times to come.  She found herself glancing down at the cat keeping pace beside her often, if just to reassure herself that she was not alone.

However, all of the company in the world probably wouldn't have made her feel any better when she saw what was sitting on her doorstep.  Her heart leapt into her throat as she recognized the red hair and the way that the leaves stopped rustling.  "You again..." she said, meaning for the words to sound arrogant and self-assured, but only managing a sort of faintness.

He smiled at her, amused.  "Yes, me again.  Tell me, Natalia...do you really expect the support of another fourteen-year-old girl to help you?" he asked, crossing his legs and leaning forward from his perch on her front steps.  She only had enough time to realize that he was talking about Naomi before he continued, "If anything, you've just gotten her involved in a battle that she can't hope to hold her own in.  And I thought that Adon said you were kind..."

Natalie bit her lip and shook her head.  "I didn't involve her in anything.  She doesn't even believe me..." she insisted, very aware that she sounded to be convincing herself instead of the runt on her doorstep.

He propped his head up on one hand and watched her levelly with a smirk that she was sure had infuriated many.  "She believes enough to come to your aid if she thought that you needed it," he pointed out.

Natalie shook her head again, more vehemently this time.  "She would do that no matter what.  She's my friend."

His eyes narrowed slightly.  Somehow that slight action was enough to bring a serious light to the situation, no matter how relaxedly he still reclined.  "Yes, she's a kind girl...but...” His voice lowered dangerously.  "Kindness won't help her at all in a battle with claws and magic.  Make sure that she knows that."

She was about to make a swift retort when she realized the implications of his statement.  "Are you...worried about her?  Or are you threatening her?" she asked, hackles rising at the thought.

Instantly, that carefree look was back on his face and he gave her a mischievous wink.  "Oh Natalie-Natalia...  Always wanting free answers.  It's a pity that dealing with demons is never that easy.  Ah, well...be on your guard.  All shapes and sizes, remember."

And then, once again, he was gone.  Natalie looked down at the cat, who looked back at her with a kind of question in his eyes.  Sighing shakily, she just picked him up and went inside.

Description
Although she hadn't been asked to, Natalie still felt obligated to go and feed Noir the morning after they left.  It wasn't the kitten's fault that her owner had more than the average amount of personal demons, after all.  No pun intended.  When she reached the apartment, she found the kitten sitting in the middle of the living room, looking remarkably lost without an Adon to cuddle.  Without hesitation, she went forward and scooped up the pathetic-looking thing.  "Don't worry, Noir, he'll be back soon..." she murmured, rocking her slightly.

After a few minutes of consolation, she set the kitten down and went searching for kitten chow.  As she went through his cupboards, she reflected on what she'd just said.  Without Adon, that odd feeling in the back of her mind was almost gone...but on the other hand, she felt extremely uneasy.  If he didn't come back soon, she'd be forced to admit that he'd run into problems--and problems for him definitely mean problems for her.  Besides...though he could be infuriating at times, she'd grown somewhat fond of the man.  She didn't want anything bad to happen to him at least.

Once Noir's bowl was filled, she was quite content, with or without Adon.  This seen to, Natalie left her to her breakfast.  It wasn't until she was halfway down the stairs that she realized that she was going to be extremely late to school.  The resulting hurry was probably the reason that she didn't see her second cat of the day until she'd already tripped over it.

She frantically gathered up all of the papers and such she'd dropped, then turned to the cat.  Strangely enough, instead of darting or scratching her for the indignity it had just suffered, it just looked at her with what she could have sworn was amusement.  Tentatively, she reached out and scratched behind one ginger ear--her peace offering.  The cat's slitted green eyes slipped shut, and a deep purr tremored through him--because it really did seem to be more of a he--and Natalie kept her hand there for just a moment longer, enjoying the soft vibrations.  Then she realized why she'd been hurrying and quickly set off again.  She didn't have to look behind her to know that she had a purring shadow.

************

Natalie slid into class just as the bell was ringing.  She went and sat down as quietly as possible, cringing slightly at the glare the substitute was giving her.  She glanced over next to her to see Naomi also giving her a strange look.  "What is it, Naomi?" she whispered to her friend, making sure that the sub didn't notice.

"You weren't at our meeting place today..." Naomi responded softly.  "And now you're late.  You're never late.  Are you okay?"

Natalie shifted guiltily in her seat.  She had quite obviously been neglecting her friend during the furor of the past few days.  "I'm sorry...I was just doing something else and I completely lost track of time," she admitted.  "Did I keep you waiting?"

Naomi shook her head.  "No.  I went on without you.  I thought that you'd gone to school early or something..."

Natalie winced and slid down in her seat a bit.

"And how are you doing with Mr. Smith?"

Natalie blinked.  She'd somehow forgotten that Adon was as much a part of her school life as her private one.  "Oh...much better.  Thanks, Naomi," she said, giving her friend a little grin.

Naomi just nodded and went back to her notes.  The worry on her face did not abate, but she did not look back over at her friend.

********

Class that day went by somewhat uneventfully, and even Natalie had to admit that Adon was much more interesting that their strict substitute.  She had a feeling somewhere in the back of her mind that the man up in front of their class was going around the time period in circles.  In fact, she could almost swear that he'd repeated himself a few times already.  She wasn't entirely sure, though--after all, that would require paying attention.  She spared the window a sleepy glance, then turned her attention back to Mr. Whatshisname.  It took her a few seconds before she registered what she'd just seen.  When she had, though, she swiveled her body around so quickly that she very nearly fell out of her chair.

The boy sitting on the windowsill merely laughed.  "I was wondering when you'd notice me.  Really, you humans are so unobservant..."

Natalie noticed with a vague sense of wonder that the rest of the classroom had come to a silent stop and used this chance to look the boy over.  He couldn't have been much more than eight or nine, but he held himself more assuredly than she'd ever seen an adult attempt to.  He surveyed her shocked face with what was unmistakably amusement in very green eyes.  The eyes matched with hair several shades redder than her own reminded her of pictures she'd seen of mischievous pixies when she'd been small, and his expression did nothing to negate that impression.  What was much stranger, though, was his position in the window.  It took her a moment to place exactly what was wrong with it--until she noticed that he really was in the window.  He was sitting on the sill and the brick siding of the school as if there had never been a bit of glass in-between, and with every lazy kick of his legs, his incorporeality became even more pronounced when his feet simply passed through the wall on their way back.  However, when he pushed himself off the ledge, his feet made a little tmp as they hit the floor, and she was forced to wonder just how solid he really was.

"And right after Adon told you to be careful, too!" he continued, either not noticing or ignoring her confusion.  He strode across the classroom confidently, his footsteps contrasting sharply with the way that he passed right through students and desks alike.  "Natalia, you really need to listen when he tells you things.  It's for your own good, you know.  After all, your enemies come in all shapes and sizes."

He was so close now that she could see the flecks of gold in the back of his eyes, but she could still do no more than blink at him.  There was something so ethereal about the whole situation that she found it hard to believe that she wasn't dreaming--though she had no doubt that this was very real.

He reached out to wind a strand of her hair around a finger that seemed almost too long, and gazed down at it with an expression that was probably as pensive as he ever got.  "Close enough to do this?  Why, you could be dead by now.  Silly girl," he murmured.  He curled his finger in, giving the strand a quick yank, causing her to wince in pain.

Almost as if the pain had released her from the confusion hazing her mind, she yanked backwards.  "Don't touch me!  Just who are you, anyway?" she snapped, her hand coming up to swat away his in reflex.

His pleased smile shocked her more than the way her hand went right through his.

"Well, if you'd been on time, maybe you would have heard me introduce myself," came the testy reply.

Natalie immediately looked towards the source of the voice.  The old substitute glared at her from the front of the room.  When she looked back to where the boy had been standing, there was nothing.  The only thing that remained of her encounter was her outstretched hand, which she quickly drew back.  "Um...sorry, sir..." she murmured softly, turning to face forward in her seat.

As the substitute started the sentence that had been interrupted over, Natalie looked down at her notes, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.  She read down through them again, trying to get back into the rhythm of the class and stop shaking (something that she hadn't even realized that she'd been doing) when she spotted something wrong.  There, at the bottom of her page, was something written in old-fashioned, sloping writing.

Ah, but that would be telling, now wouldn't it?

*******

Natalie found her gaze drawn again to the window where the boy had appeared.  Every time she started to pay attention in class, she recalled the boy's words and immediately glanced over in a sort of paranoid fashion.  This time she saw nothing but clouds.  Which recalled the memory of the boy with the added realization that the three stories up to their window had obviously not been a problem for him.  Just what could he...

"Natalie!"

Natalie jerked out of her thoughts and was out of her chair before even registered that it had only been Naomi trying to get her attention and not any obviously inhuman boys.

Naomi regarded her silently.  "...I was just going to tell you that the bell rang...  Nat, what's wrong?  Really, I mean.  You're not acting...normal, I guess..." she murmured softly, her hand going out to grip Natalie's.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Natalie responded shakily.  She pulled her hand free and set to gathering her bag.

Naomi was one step behind her as she retreated from the room.  "Oh, and you expect me to be content with an answer like that?  First you get so upset by a teacher that we've never met that you start crying--and I've almost never seen you cry--then, once he's gone, you start being late for class and yelling at nothing...  And now you're telling me that I would never believe what you have to tell me...all that means is that you have trouble believing it yourself.  If that's the case, then you probably need my help more than ever, and I won't abandon you when you're like this!"

By this point, the girls were out of the school, but they were still attracting stares.  Natalie noticed this with some discomfort, and finally stopped to look at her friend.  "Fine.  I'll tell you...but only under two conditions.  Number one, we have to go some place with less people.  Number two, you have to promise not to get me committed.  Promise?" she asked Naomi, holding out her pinky the way she had in grade school.

Naomi looked at the outstretched finger with some apprehension, but linked it with her own all the same.  "Of course, but Nat..."

Natalie shook her head, cutting Naomi off.  "Come on, then," she said, grabbing her friend's hand and pulling her along with her as she turned to go.

Home...no.  Sam wouldn't like that.  School was definitely out.  Public cafes and such were wrong, too...  Finally, Natalie decided on a small playground a small distance from the school.  Usually it was swarming with little kids, but this time of day, parents were just getting home from work and were far too tired to look after their children.

If Naomi felt that all this deliberation was unnecessary, she didn't say so, but only followed her friend to their destination.  When Natalie took a swing in the back of the playground, she took the one next to her...and then waited.  She knew that prompting her friend to start would not help matters any.

Natalie drifted back and forth silently in the swing.  She knew already that it would take awhile to arrange her story.  Not only would she need to decide which parts to tell, but also how to tell them...  She let one hand fall from the chains suspending the swing as she let out a long breath...and immediately snatched it up again when she felt something cold and wet brush against it.  She squeaked a little and glanced down to see the cat from that morning looking up at her expectantly.  "Oh...it's just you..." she murmured.  She picked him up and set him on her lap.  Somehow, stroking his fur calmed her down just enough to get her started on her story, and the purring that emanated when she did so gave her the courage to continue.  "Naomi...you remember that story I told you of when I was little and I got lost?"

Naomi smiled a little and nodded.  "Oh yes.  You and your angel," she hummed out.  "That was right about when your brother started being so overprotective, right?"

"Yeah, it was, actually...  I'd forgotten about that.  But Sam isn't really the point..."

"And Mr. Smith is, presumably?"

Natalie ducked her head a little and hugged the cat a little tighter, much to his displeasure.  "Yes.  He was the angel."  Naomi said nothing to this for so long that she felt forced to add, "Except that he's not really an angel, of course."

"So...he was the guy who helped you find your way home when you were little?  Wow.  It's amazing that you recognized him.  No wonder he didn't recognize you too, though...  Ten years is a long time..." Naomi murmured to herself.

"Except that he did recognize me."

Naomi blinked at her a few times.  "Really?  Then why didn't he say anything?  It's not like it would have caused any problems or anything..." she said slowly, as if trying to puzzle this out in her own mind.

"It's because he didn't want me to remember.  Naomi...the thing that happened that day...it wasn't good.  Remember how I described him?"

She nodded quietly.  "Great, broken, black wings and the most sorrowful look you could imagine.  I remember you calling him a fallen angel...and I remember thinking that a fallen angel is really a demon..."

"Exactly."

Naomi gave her a very sharp look.  "What do you mean, exactly?" she asked quickly.

Natalie shifted a little bit and gave the cat an absent scritch when he meowed in protest. "I mean...  I finally got him to explain, Naomi.  He called himself a demon...and he proved it."

The very air itself seemed to tighten at these words.  Naomi had stiffened beside her, and even the cat seemed to sense the tenseness of the situation, because he abruptly stopped purring.

"What do you mean?" Naomi asked, the words small and quiet as they came from her.

"He showed me his wings, his claws, his tail.  His sister--that girl who came into our class--she did, too.  They're completely inhuman..." Natalie replied softly.  "Inhuman...but very beautiful.  I'm sure that you'd think the same thing if you saw them in their real form.  It's hard to explain...their ethereality, I mean..."

The air seemed to still somewhat as she waited for her friend's reply to this.  The minutes passed in pensive silence, and she couldn't help but worry a bit when Naomi continued to look away from her instead of remarking on her confession.  The cat, seemingly sensing this, suddenly arched up into her hand and gave her a demanding miaow.  With a little breathless laugh, she started skritching behind his ears again, and once again took comfort from the little tremors he emitted as she did so.  It was this that gave her the drive to go on despite Naomi's silence.  "It was kind of hard to believe at first...but he didn't give me a lot of time to let it sink in...  Apparently, there's some kind of otherworldly plot against nature and humanity and God knows what else going on in his world.  He got caught up in it, and had to come here...and then he accidentally got me involved, too."

"Just now?" Naomi's voice was calm, simply asking for the holes to be filled.

Natalie breathed a sigh of relief at her friend's words, and went on. "No.  Back then, when I was little."

Naomi turned and gave her a blank look.  "He involved a five-year-old in another world's destruction?" she asked for confirmation.

"Not on purpose," Natalie protested.  Then, after thinking about it for half a second, amended her statement.  "Or not without reason, anyway."

"What possible reason could he have for putting a child in that sort of danger?" her friend asked.

Natalie was quiet for a moment.  She didn't blame him for what he'd done, but she was finding it hard to justify his actions to another person.  "He had to, Naomi...  He was dying, and he had to keep something safe.  So he gave it to me.  I'm sure that if there had been someone older or more experienced or anything, he would have given it to them...but he had no choice.  I remember his desperation..." she murmured, shutting her eyes against the memory.  The cat nudged her hand softly with his nose, either wanting to comfort her, or more scratches.  She told herself that it was the former.

"And so now you've got other things after you and that thing you have?" Naomi asked, swinging just a bit and watching the tracks her feet made in the dust.

"Apparently."

"So what's he doing at the moment?" she pressed.

Natalie immediately looked down to hide the worry she knew had to be in her face.  "He's gone back to his world to take care of matters..."

At this, the silence fell again.  The only sound was that of the cat purring contentedly, not understanding nor caring about the gravity of the situation.

Naomi chuckled a little, humorlessly.  "So it's demons, huh?"

Natalie glanced over at her quickly.  "Do you believe me?"

Her friend wouldn't meet her gaze.  "I'm not sure...  I know that you needed to talk that out...but...it's demons, Natalie.  It's a little hard to believe.  Besides that...I'm willing to believe you, but really...what reason do I have to believe him?" Naomi asked.

"Because he's not the only strange thing that's happened lately."

Naomi just gave her a sideways look, encouraging her to continue.

"Today in class..."

"When you yelled?"

Natalie nodded.  "Yeah.  There was a kid there...a couple years...well, he looked a couple years younger than us...  He told me to watch out for myself, basically..."

"A little kid that no one else could see warned you?" Naomi asked, cocking her head to one side.

"Threatened me, more like..." she grumbled.  Little shivers went up her spine just thinking about the encounter.  That child had been one of the more unsettling things to ever happen to her.  If Adon had had to deal with people like that on a regular basis...it was really a wonder that the man wasn't mad.

Naomi looked thoughtful for a moment.  "So you definitely believe in this whole story?"

"Eurgh.  It's not like I have much choice, Naomi..."

"Then neither do I," her friend said firmly.  "I still don't know whether this is true, but if you think that it is...well, I'll be here for you if you need help.  Now...give me some more details about this!"

******************

The momentary elation that she'd felt when Naomi had offered her help had long since left her by the time she turned onto her own street later that afternoon.  In fact, she had a queer, queasy feeling in her stomach that seemed to warn of tough times to come.  She found herself glancing down at the cat keeping pace beside her often, if just to reassure herself that she was not alone.

However, all of the company in the world probably wouldn't have made her feel any better when she saw what was sitting on her doorstep.  Her heart leapt into her throat as she recognized the red hair and the way that the leaves stopped rustling.  "You again..." she said, meaning for the words to sound arrogant and self-assured, but only managing a sort of faintness.

He smiled at her, amused.  "Yes, me again.  Tell me, Natalia...do you really expect the support of another fourteen-year-old girl to help you?" he asked, crossing his legs and leaning forward from his perch on her front steps.  She only had enough time to realize that he was talking about Naomi before he continued, "If anything, you've just gotten her involved in a battle that she can't hope to hold her own in.  And I thought that Adon said you were kind..."

Natalie bit her lip and shook her head.  "I didn't involve her in anything.  She doesn't even believe me..." she insisted, very aware that she sounded to be convincing herself instead of the runt on her doorstep.

He propped his head up on one hand and watched her levelly with a smirk that she was sure had infuriated many.  "She believes enough to come to your aid if she thought that you needed it," he pointed out.

Natalie shook her head again, more vehemently this time.  "She would do that no matter what.  She's my friend."

His eyes narrowed slightly.  Somehow that slight action was enough to bring a serious light to the situation, no matter how relaxedly he still reclined.  "Yes, she's a kind girl...but...” His voice lowered dangerously.  "Kindness won't help her at all in a battle with claws and magic.  Make sure that she knows that."

She was about to make a swift retort when she realized the implications of his statement.  "Are you...worried about her?  Or are you threatening her?" she asked, hackles rising at the thought.

Instantly, that carefree look was back on his face and he gave her a mischievous wink.  "Oh Natalie-Natalia...  Always wanting free answers.  It's a pity that dealing with demons is never that easy.  Ah, well...be on your guard.  All shapes and sizes, remember."

And then, once again, he was gone.  Natalie looked down at the cat, who looked back at her with a kind of question in his eyes.  Sighing shakily, she just picked him up and went inside.