How to Become a Guardian Angel

Amelia knew she was a guardian angel, despite the fact that she had never met another guardian angel and she had only been a normal, moderately well-behaved young woman in life. She knew this because she had watched over her little sister Melanie for the first two years of her life without incident. Surely, if trouble had come looking for baby Melanie, it had seen Amelia and steered clear away.

So imagine her surprise when, floating behind her family as they strolled through the market, she saw a crowd of hundreds of guardian angels. They were unmistakable. Each one was breathtakingly beautiful, with a golden glow and wings swaying gently behind them. They floated high in the air or hovered just above the ground and they all looked like they were waiting for something.

Melanie charged forward, laughing and clapping. Amelia wondered if she could see the angels too. After all, she could’ve sworn she’d seen her baby sister staring her directly in the eye so many times before. Of course, that could’ve been her own wishful thinking. Either way, she spotted a pile of broken glass in her sister’s way, so she passed through her. This sent a chill down baby Melanie’s spine, and she turned and ran crying back to their mother.

Then, Amelia noticed one of the angels staring at her. He had blond hair falling in waves past his shoulders and the gentlest face she’d ever seen. Could angels see ghosts? This one was smiling and waving. More importantly, could he see her blush in the green of her ectoplasm? No matter — this was no time for her to be a bashful. She was a guardian angel too, and she needed to know what her peers were up to. She shook off her nerves, stuck up her chin, and floated straight towards him.

“Hello, fellow guardian,” she said, “what is the purpose of this meeting?”

Already she felt stupid. This stiff, proper voice was not hers, and she didn’t even picture angels speaking this way. The angel laughed, and it was the lightest, sweetest, prettiest sound she’d ever heard, as if someone had tickled a nightingale.

“Dear ghost,” he said, “if you were a guardian angel, you would have known about this meeting for some time. Please, what is your name?”

“Ameli…el. Ameliel. I am the angel Ameliel.”

The angel only shook his head and smiled. She sighed.

“Fine, my name is Amelia, but I swear I’m a guardian angel. I’ve been looking after my little sister over there for a full two years and nothing’s happened! Just now I kept her away from that broken glass, look…”

She pointed. The angel nodded and laughed again.

“Well, fellow guardian,” he said with a wink, “there are two things you should know. One, we’re here waiting for the Guardian Gate to open and take us to the Silver Watchtower, where the true assembly will begin. Two, my name is Oriel, and I am absolutely delighted to meet you.”

He bowed. That’s when she noticed just how broad his shoulders were, and how his white wings were speckled with spots of black like a snowy owl. If it was at all possible for ectoplasm to melt, Amelia’s did. But since she was a dutiful guardian angel and not a boy-crazy schoolgirl, she collected herself.

“That’s perfect!” said Amelia. “Then I’ll wait with you all and join you at the assembly. You said it’s at the Silver Watchtower, right? Also, how long will it take? I don’t like being away from Melanie for too long.”

Oriel shot a nervous glance back at the other angels.

“You don’t have to worry about time, not at the Silver Watchtower anyway…”

He turned back to Amelia and leaned in for a whisper.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come. Our duty is to protect the living from…other spirits, so if they spot a non-angel up there…”

If Oriel had been any less courteous or beautiful, Amelia would’ve thrown a fit. As it was, she smiled and gave him a reassuring pat on the arm. She learned two things then: one, that ghosts can touch angels and two, that angelic arms are quite firm.

“Don’t worry,” she said, “I’ll explain everything.”

There was a bright flash and a deep rumble further into the market. Amelia whipped around in a panic, thinking that a bomb had gone off. She looked back at her family, who seemed unfazed. Little Melanie bounced happily in their mother’s arms, and her father was tussling her brother’s hair. None of the living seemed to notice the flash, but all the angels were flying towards it. She started to follow them when Oriel threw his arm around her.

“Stay with me!” he said.

Amelia saw the Guardian Gate up ahead. It was a ring of solid light that opened into a sky unlike any she’d seen on earth. That other sky was not quite night, not quite day. It was purple and swirling with stars and clouds all in constant motion. Just as soon as it opened, she and the angels went through and it closed behind them. She gasped in horror as she found herself floating in this strange, empty sky. She clung as tight as she could to Oriel.

“Where are we!?” she screamed.

“Beyond the firmament,” said Oriel, “but don’t worry, the Silver Watchtower is just ahead.”

Amelia and the angels flew together toward some distant, floating structure, and as they got closer she could make out its details. At the very top was a massive silver tower, true to its name, but below that was a cluster of other structures. There were high-windowed chambers that looked like temples, columned buildings that looked like libraries, and long, jutting smoke-stacks that seemed to belong to factories. Taking this all in, Amelia got the distinct impression that the angels had built down from the base of tower, seeing as there was no ground to stop them and no need to obscure the tower’s view.

They flew into a great doorway that lead into a vaulted hallway as wide as a train station. There, two angels floated above all the rest. One was a dark-skinned angel with a bald head and a stern expression. His robes were golden and his wings shimmered with every color imaginable. He watched the others as they entered. Next to him floated a hooded angel in a blue robe, constantly scribbling in a huge book that floated in front of her. Amelia shivered. She knew she stuck out like a green thumb and she willed the watching angel not to notice her.

It didn’t work.

“You!”

His voice shook the entire hall, and all the other angels stopped and turned to look at her. He was pointing directly at Amelia.

“Harahel,” he said to the scribbling angel, “tell me everything you can learn about this misplaced soul.”

Her book disappeared, and a new book appeared in its place. She flipped through the pages then stopped, pointing her finger precisely at the line she meant to read.

“Amelia Patenaude. Ghost. Died at 18 years of age by drowning. Hmm…”

Amelia wondered how much was in that book. She wanted to scream at her to stop reading it. It was bad enough that she’d mentioned her death already. She fought every day not to think about that night, and every day the memory fought back.

“Nothing else of note,” said Harahel. “Just a common ghost. Must’ve been wandering by when the Gate opened.”

“Or she was escorted in by a soft-hearted fool,” said the stern one.

He flew down to her. He stared at Oriel, who gulped.

“Amelia,” he said, “this is Marmaroth, leader of the guardian angels. He’s a very old angel and he’s quite a fan of rules.”

“You betray your own ignorance, Oriel,” said Marmaroth. “I have kept the Silver Watchtower strong since the beginning. Not by rules nor by exceptions, but by doing what is right. You will find, ghost girl, that I am fair, and that I serve to protect the innocent even when they would wander blindly into ruin.”

He snapped his fingers. Two other angels pulled Amelia away from Oriel and gripped her tight. Only then did she notice that she was actually standing on the floor, not just floating near it. She looked down. It was the same silver-colored stone that made up all the structures she’d seen outside, including the Watchtower.

“I’m not a ghost,” she said, choking back a whimper, “I’m a guardian angel. I look over my little sister Melanie, just like you all do with your people. She’s two years old now and I’ve kept her safe that whole time!”

“Amusing,” said Marmaroth. “Take her to a holding cell in the jail next door. We will question her after the assembly.”

The two angels dragged her away through a side entrance and out into a strange sort of street. She kicked and, at least to her thinking, reasonably plead her case all the way to the jail. The cell they threw her in was solid stone with a glass door. She quickly discovered that she couldn’t pass through either of them, and as the angels closed the door on her, she sat on the cot and huffed. She watched as they locked the door and made some comment about “her own safety” before flying off to join the assembly.

So much for explaining everything. She couldn’t decide who she was more angry at: Marmaroth for throwing her in jail or Oriel for not stopping him. Either way, she found herself choking back tears. It wasn’t just anger. There was a heavy helping of embarrassment, too. Two years she’d spent serving as a guardian angel, and still they could only see a ghost. What did she have to do to earn their respect? And what if they never let her go home — would they at least send another angel to look after Melanie?

She wondered, just for a moment, if she should have asked for permission first. But how? Through prayer? What if that took too long? Everything had happened so fast. She remembered it all in reverse. Flying home just in time to see baby Melanie’s birth. Before that, escaping the ecto-lock chamber where that old creep was going to try to suck her up. Before that, getting stuffed into that same old creep’s ghost-catching machine. Before that, wandering through the market, screaming at the top of her lungs, confused and terrified at being a ghost. Before that…

No. No, no, no. She wasn’t going to think about that night. Melanie. Melanie! She had decided to be her guardian angel because Melanie needed her and, she could now admit, she needed Melanie to pull herself back together. She was not just a random dead girl. She was a guardian angel. She was the cleverest, bravest, most tenacious guardian angel in the world. She would get out of this.

She laughed and brushed the ectoplasmic tears and snot from her face. It amused her to think that any outside observer would struggle to tell the difference between the snot and her own hand. She stood, and now that she had a moment to think about it, it felt weird. She went back to floating and thought back through everything she’d seen on the way in. There had to be some way out of the cell. The key! Oh, but what good was the key if she couldn’t reach the outside of the lock?

The lock. The key. How does one unlock a lock? Stick the key in the…

“Hole!” she shouted, then covered her mouth. Lucky for her, there weren’t any angels nearby to hear her. She floated down to the lock and looked straight through the keyhole. She giggled and clapped her hands. It was a straight shot, but it would be the tightest squeeze she’d ever made. Where would she start?

Hair does not normally an effective lockpick make, and in the strictest sense Amelia did not manage to pick the lock. However, by feeding a few strands of her ectoplasmic hair through the keyhole, she managed to start the process of oozing on through. It was neither comfortable nor quick, but it worked. When she was fully on the other side of the cell door, she silently flipped through the air and cheered.

She flew back out into the purple sky, shuddering, then back to the entrance hall where she and the angels had first entered, careful to creep around the edge of the wall. This made no difference, because the hall was now empty. She cursed, then paused. She could hear sound carrying from further down the hall. As she flew over, she found a giant door that was open just a sliver. It had to be where the angels were — she could already see their collective glow bursting through the door. She oozed through, careful not to push the door and make it scrape or creak.

Inside was a giant theater-like structure with angels seated or hovering all over. She didn’t have to worry about them spotting her, though, because they were all watching the stage. There, Marmaroth stood and spoke.

“…and that brings us to the final, most important task for this assembly. Let me replace rumors with facts. Yes, there is a new kind of demon lurking through Creation. No, we do not yet know for certain where they come from. Our researchers and scouts are tirelessly investigating this threat. What we have learned so far is that these demons are highly resistant to our normal powers and weaponry. That is why our armorers have created something new for you.”

He motioned to someone off stage. Two angels wheeled out a weapon rack filled with tall spears. They appeared to made of bronze or some other reddish metal. Marmaroth picked one up.

“This material has proven especially effective against this new threat, and it is equally powerful against your more familiar foes. Therefore, all guardian angels must take one. Before you ask: no, Amelia Patenaude, you cannot take one.”

All the angels turned to face the door. Amelia froze, then shook herself out of it. Before the two angels flying for her could catch her, she flung herself down to the stage and landed right in front of Marmaroth. The angels gasped, all except for Marmaroth, who only narrowed his glare. Amelia spoke in the loudest voice she could.

“If the innocent are supposed to trust you and all the others, let me ask you this: why have I gone for two years looking after my baby sister without ever meeting another guardian angel? I haven’t seen any of you looking after her, or the rest of my family, or even the rest of my neighborhood. It’s no wonder none of them seem to believe in you — you’re not around!”

“How dare you disrespect us like this,” Marmaroth whispered, filling the theater with his voice nonetheless.

“I dare because I want to help. You need to up your numbers to protect more people, and that means you can’t afford to be small-minded about who you pick!”

Marmaroth winced and rubbed his forehead.

“Very well, Amelia. If I cannot tell you your place, I will have to show you. Follow me.”

With that, Marmaroth flew out of the theater, spear in hand. Amelia followed, as did all the other angels. Should could hear them whispering behind her as Marmaroth lead them through the bizarre, winding streets outside. It was only then that she realized why the streets felt so strange to her: they were built on top of other buildings. All over there were gaps, and these gaps only lead to more structures below. The streets weren’t really the bottom, like one would expect of a street in a human city. Each street was just a layer — one of many. This, she realized, was the product of a city built entirely by flying citizens.

Marmaroth stopped at a large arena, landing right in the center and motioning for Amelia to join him.

“Prepare the hellhounds!” he shouted to another angel, who nodded and flew off.

Amelia watched as the rest of the angels settled into the seats above, then turned to Marmaroth as he addressed her again.

“To defeat the forces of evil requires cunning, courage, and strength in equal measure,” said Marmaroth. “I will grant you cunning. We will test the other two.”

Marmaroth smiled at something behind her. She turned and saw an angel lowering a glass cage.

“I take it you have never seen a hellhound before,” he said. “Go on. Take a look.”

Amelia approached the cage and peered inside. The beast’s flesh appeared to be the lovechild of ectoplasm and blood. It was thicker, darker, and it glowed red instead of green. Inside, she could see a shifting skeleton that only loosely traced the shape of a dog. Mostly, the bones formed jagged spines that stuck out through the flesh, ready to rip and tear the hellhound’s prey. Its eyes were two crackling fireballs. She bit back a scream.

“On the count of three,” said Marmaroth, “these three cages will open, and you will demonstrate what you truly are, Amelia.”

Three? Amelia whipped around.

“One.”

Indeed, there were two more cages behind Marmaroth. The angels hovered above them with their hands on the latches.

“Two.”

Amelia’s eyes went wide. She looked between Marmaroth’s awful smile and the spear in his hand. He nodded.

“Three.”

Amelia heard the cages swing open as Marmaroth thrust the spear into her hand and flew off. It was impossibly heavy. It fell straight to ground with a clang and almost pinned her underneath. She looked up. The hellhounds were circling her and snarling. She tried desperately to pull the spear back up, but it felt like trying to pull out the roots of a tree. She heard barking. Heavy paws smacked against her chest and forced her to the ground. She shrieked as the crimson, misshapen hound face sprung open to reveal a vortex of spinning teeth.

Then something rattled. There was a silver chain around the beast’s neck, yanking it away. She flew upright as the angels lead the hellhounds back to their cages, hovering well out of reach of their snapping jaws. Marmaroth picked up the spear. He made it look as easy as grabbing a broomstick.

“Your spirit is not as substantial as ours,” said Marmaroth. “That is why you are not, and can never be, a guardian angel. You were not made for such work and, for that, you should be grateful.”

He twisted the spear in the middle, and it shrunk down to the size of a butter knife. Amelia may not have had an angel’s strength. She was still working on her courage. But, Heaven help them all, she had cunning to spare. She snatched the tiny spear from Marmaroth’s hand, knowing exactly what she would do with it. The angel’s mouth hung open. Before his disbelief could turn to outrage, she fell to her knees and clasped her hands together.

“Please, Marmaroth,” she said. “I didn’t know the spears could do this. You’ve proven your point — I’m not as strong as an angel. But I’ll show you something I bet you never thought of, and it’ll make all your guardians twice as effective in battle.”

Marmaroth shook his head in silence. She was ready for him to shout her to pieces. She wondered if he might destroy her right then and there. Instead, he threw back his head and laughed a bellowing laugh. It shook the arena. When he at last collected himself, she could see the tears running down his cheeks.

“My sweet little ghost, you are already like nothing I have seen in Creation. If only for amusement, I will give you one last chance. Highest be praised, let nobody say this year’s assembly was dull!”

He nodded to the angels to ready the cages again, after they had just gotten the hellhounds locked back up.

“Truth be told,” he said, “I cannot imagine what you plan to do here. The spears shrink only for the sake of storage.”

Amelia inspected the tiny spear in her hand. Even at this size, it felt as heavy as a brick. She found the spot in the middle where it could twist, and sure enough it shot back to full size and fell right out of her hands.

“Just because something was made to do one thing, doesn’t mean that’s the only thing it can do,” she said.

Marmaroth smiled and floated off. He repeated his count to three while Amelia shrunk the spear back down. On three, the cages opened again, and the hellhounds came prowling. This time, Amelia stood at the ready and snarled back at them as they circled. She heard barking, and she whipped around to see the one behind her charging. It pounced, going right for her face. She put her hands up, tossed her head to the side, and twisted the tiny spear.

At full size, the spear impaled the beast straight through the mouth. The spear fell out of Amelia’s hands and the skewered hellhound fell in a heap. She reached down and shrunk the spear. The gutted hellhound heaved its last breath then scattered as a crimson, crackling mist.

She turned to face the other two. They had paused to watch, and their ears were folded down. When they saw her facing them, though, they both charged. She charged back, and as they got near she leapt in the air, pointed the tiny spear straight at the ground, and twisted it. The spear shot down and pinned itself upright as she swung herself around it, knocking aside both hellhounds in a swinging kick. She shrunk the spear and grew it again to pierce the heart of the one sprawled on the ground nearest her. As its mist scattered, she let the other one charge her. This one managed to pin her to the ground, but this only made it easier for her to jam the tiny spear in its eye and twist. As the last cloud of crackling crimson mist faded above her, she heard the angels erupt in applause. Marmaroth floated down, clapping and nodding.

“Three parts cunning, and not shy on courage either,” he said.

He helped her to her feet, then raised her up above the arena, presenting her to the angels.

“If evil dares to taught us with new threats, then let us confound evil with a new kind of guardian! Praise your new sister in arms, Amelia Patenaude!”

The angels doubled their applause, and it was nothing like the cheery cacophony of a human crowd. Their voices and their clapping hands became a song — a song with all the beauty and force of the sea. Amelia wept with joy. She threw her arms around Marmaroth and thanked him a dozen times for giving her one last chance. When the applause at last died down, Marmaroth lead her away, back through the winding, flight-friendly streets.

By his lead, Amelia found herself in some sort of grand office. Harahel was there, scribbling away like before, and Oriel was there too, beaming with pride and standing with his own new spear. Marmaroth took his seat behind the desk, settling back into his usual authoritative reserve.

“There is still much you will need to learn as a guardian,” he said. “Oriel here will observe your work and, at his discretion, allow you to observe his. When we deem it appropriate, you will return here, to the Silver Watchtower, to learn of our history and our greater purpose.”

Amelia was still buzzing and thumbing the tiny spear in her hand. She was too excited to hear much of what the angel was saying.

“I get to keep the spear, right?”

Marmaroth sighed.

“Yes, you get to keep the spear.”

He proceeded to rattle off a list of dos and don’ts, all of which Amelia knew she’d need to review with Oriel later. When he was done, he gave her a look that Amelia found all too familiar. It was the same look her father had given her the last time he’d seen her alive. It was a mix of concern, surrender, and, yes, love. Amelia looked down at the desk.

“It is not too late to turn back, little ghost,” he said. “Oriel can just as easily show you the way to the Hereafter. You can claim the rightful peace and rest that awaits all pure human souls. You need not bear the heavy load of a guardian.”

Amelia shook her head softly.

“I hear what you’re saying, Marmaroth, but this is what I need to do. My baby sister needs a guardian. I don’t blame you for not sending one. I’m sure you had your reasons. But I’m hers and she’s mine.”

Marmaroth exchanged a look with Harahel, who paused her scribbling. Amelia got the feeling that Harahel knew much more about her than she had mentioned earlier and had somehow shared it all with Marmaroth already. It bothered her, but she stuffed the feeling down when Marmaroth turned back to her and nodded.

“So be it.”

It was time for the guardians to return to their people. Oriel held Amelia’s hand and lead her all the way back through the purple sky to the Guardian Gate. The whole way, he repeated the story of Amelia’s marvelous battle, and conferred with the other angels that flew by to congratulate her. When they were at last back at the market, Amelia was shocked to find her family standing exactly where they had been before she left.

“But we were there so long!” she said.

“I told you,” said Oriel, “you don’t have to worry about time in the Silver Watchtower.”

She hugged him tight.

“Thank you for giving me a chance,” she said.

“I only gave you the one,” he said with a chuckle, “you kept finding more of them once you got there.”

Amelia had so many questions, now that she had come down from the rush of traveling to the Silver Watchtower and earning her place as a guardian. Those would have to wait, though, because now baby Melanie was trying to stick a whole walnut in her mouth. She managed to give her another chill and send her crying back to their mother again. When she looked back, Oriel winked and was gone.

“Must be another guardian trick,” she said, “can’t wait to learn that one!”