Weeping Angel: Malvada (Book 1 of the Weeping Angel Series)

Chapter L

"Hello, love. What can this old man do for you?" Henry greets me, his deep voice gruff and raspy like sandpaper grinding against each other.

"I wanted to talk to you about your book on cryptid creatures." And now, we wait.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three. Four. Five.

I glance at Mason, who shrugs.

"Why?" Henry finally speaks up. "What brings you to my book?"

My breathing seemed to stutter in my lungs before I let it go, the tension slowly leaving my body. I begin to explain everything that happened when my mom bought Malvada to the research we did in the library on Saturday and about the ripped pages in his book.

"Malvada? Is that what you call her?" Henry asks with amusement.

"Yeah," I chuckle awkwardly. "It means evil in Spanish. It's a code word, so she doesn't know we're talking about her."

"Then you're just dumb," Henry deadpans. "Do you really think Malvada is that oblivious?"

"No," I answer after a moment. "But, I do know she messed with your book before we got to the library."

"Your sister tried to impose. No wonder she's in the hospital. It's more alert than before," He growls.

"Then you know what I'm going through!"

"Of course, I do!" He exclaims, growing irritated. "Why do you think I retired and isolated myself? Why do you think I swore to never do anything related to that evil thing? She's feeding off new families every time!."

I look at Mason, unsure of what to say. He sighs and leans closer to the phone. "Pa, please, you have to help us. Only you know what to do."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot risk losing another son or anyone else in my family! You should know better, Mason," Henry states, the coughs coming out of him for raising his voice too much.

I wanted to pull my hair out. This isn't going well.

Gabby mouths, "Choking dream," and my eyes widen with realization, thinking this could convince Henry.

"Alright, listen. Not too long ago, I had a horrible dream with Malvada. I remember constantly blinking, and then she was choking me to death," I choke up, my hands unconsciously trailing up to my neck, rubbing the spot where I felt her fingers closing in on my air supply. She has possessed my mom and maybe even my sister! I don't even want to know who's next-"

"I understand that, but how can you guarantee my safety if I tell you everything? My grandson's safety will be at risk," Henry affirms, and I open my mouth to say something, but I'm tongue-tied.

He had a strong point; I was already putting everyone's lives in danger, but we're all involved in this equally, so it wouldn't be right to tell anyone to back out, and they wouldn't. We're just that confident that we won't let Malvada hurt each other at all costs.

"I know I can't guarantee anyone's safety. What I do know is that I'll do whatever I can to keep us all safe because we're going to defeat Malvada before she even thinks about hurting anyone else," I tell him, crossing my fingers in my lap.

Mason backs me up, "Pa, if we work together, then Malvada can't hurt anyone. Not me or dad or even you."

"You're our only hope, Tío," Gabby pleads.

I could picture Henry pinching the bridge of his nose, debating to tell us what we deserve to know. "You're all in this, huh?"

"Duh," Ethan says.