Demon

Natalie

Gabe starts chasing after him. “Dad, we’re going to play with Jonathan,” I yell up the stairs, then follow them out the door.

I’m somehow able to catch up to Gabe, and grab his hand. “Wait, wait,” I tell him. I see Jonathan running as fast as he can down the street and turning around the corner.

He swings around, his eyes wild. “Shouldn’t we catch him?” he asks, breathing heavily.

“Yes,” I tell him sadly, “yes, we are going to have to talk to him. But we don’t have to chase him. Angel knows where he is. He can’t get so far away that Angel won’t hear him. We’ll find him. Let’s just follow along, and give him time to calm down.”

Everything I feared has come true. The Jonathan Project has blown up in my face. I had told Jonathan that when Demon came back, this might happen, but I had no idea how bad it was going to be.

I can’t believe what Angel has been doing. He is so stricken with grief that he can barely speak to me. Tears are streaming down his beautiful shining face, his features contorted with crying. I hear him sobbing. I don’t understand what is happening, but I know that it is bad. I think that Angel has realized something awful happened to Demon when he disappeared, and he is feeling guilty about it.

If only I could touch him, he would feel better. I’ve learned that.

But of course I can’t. Never.

I look at Gabe, who is confused and upset. At least we can try to learn what is going on now, if Angel can calm down enough to talk to us.

“Let’s walk,” I tell them.

Natalie’s

As the boy disappears around the corner, followed by the terrifying figure of the enormous demon trailing behind, Natalie manages to bring some calm to the disastrous situation.

She tries to soothe both of her companions, her brother and I, with her quiet suggestion that we just walk along behind, giving Jonathan the space he needs to calm down. Once Demon is removed from our presence, he should be able to check his emotions, and Jonathan will recover.

She sets an unhurried pace, relying on me to guide them to wherever Jonathan is fleeing. This I can do, at least, until I can gain control over my countenance and my voice. We walk in silence for a brief time.

She watches as I try to manage my emotions. I feel ashamed for having lost myself so thoroughly in my grief and shock.

“It’s fine,” she thinks to me, her love and acceptance washing over me. “You can feel whatever you need to.” She wryly looks up at my face. “I wish I could offer you a tissue.”

It makes me smile. My sweet little one has reversed our roles, trying to bring solace to me.

Gabe has been waiting impatiently, until his sister seems ready to talk. He sees her relaxing as my emotions finally calm. “So,” he says, “anyone want to tell me what just happened?”

We have rounded the corner where Jonathan passed out of our sight, and he is not on the next street either. I know, though, that he has only turned the next corner, and is slowing his pace as he proceeds. I sense that both he and Demon are calming, regaining control. His destination, I realize at the same time as he does, is the neighborhood park. He believes that he can sit quietly there, and try to come to terms with whatever just happened.

“Jonathan is going to the park,” I inform Natalie. “And yes, I will explain all to you and your brother.”

“Jonathan is heading to the park,” Natalie repeats to her brother. “Angel is going to tell us what happened while we walk over there.” She looks up at me, evaluating, then turns back to Gabe. “He was so sad when he saw Demon that he started crying, but he is feeling better now.”

Gabe looks flabbergasted at the idea of a Guardian crying. “What? Why?”

“Just start from the beginning,” Natalie instructs me. “Tell us the whole thing. Start with why you seemed actually scared when Gabe opened the door.”

“Scared?” squawks Gabe, mirroring the feeling. Natalie reaches over to hold his hand as they walk down the street. He feels better. Of course. Even now, she uses her gifts to help, to heal.

I wish I could avoid telling her the whole story. But of course she always knows when I withhold information. And furthermore, she needs to know the entire truth. Our actions have had consequences we never imagined, and she will need to understand this going forward with her life.

Gabe’s

Angel glances at me before proceeding, and I indicate that he should go on. My beloved will be able to adapt to the new information. I will help him.

“I was alarmed, my dear,” Angel responds, “because Demon has transformed his appearance. It is now … unusual.”

The Seer senses her brother’s confusion. She clarifies for him, “Remember, Angel has told us that Guardians can look like anything they want. So I guess Demon has decided to change his look.” She turns back to Angel. “What do you mean by unusual?”

Angel is reluctant to proceed, but he realizes that this will actually be the easiest part of the conversation to come. “He has transformed his image to reflect his name. Demon.”

Natalie’s nose wrinkles. “You mean, like, he actually looks like a demon now? Why did he do that?”

My beloved widens his eyes. “Really? What do demons look like?”

Angel attempts to answer all of the children’s questions. “He realized after he returned that Jonathan, in learning the name you had assigned to his Guardian, has begun picturing him as an actual demon. Therefore, Demon chose to affirm that vision by manifesting an image that corresponded.”

Once Natalie repeats this information to Gabe, whose mind whirls with more questions, Angel continues. “There are, of course, no actual demons. Such creatures are an invention of the human mind, alongside other mythological deities and similar beings. However, Jonathan has seen images of these in places such as books and movies. His memory of these images informed the picture that grew within his mind. Demon shaped his matter to coincide with what Jonathan imagined.”

“It’s the same with you,” Natalie whispers, comprehending our nature more deeply, “isn’t it? You look like this because I pictured you as a guardian angel.”

“Yes, darling, this is your image of me, shaped so that what you beheld when you saw me reaffirmed your idea of what I am to you.”

“But Demon knows that Jonathan can’t see him. Why would he bother turning into a demon?”

“Like all Guardians, Demon wishes to feel a kinship with his beloved human. He decided to affirm Jonathan’s view of him. It may seem strange to you, but it does make sense.”

“Well,” Gabe blurts out, not understanding or even caring much about Demon’s reasoning. “I want to know what it looks like!”

“Very well,” Angel concedes, “I will describe the image. The demon that Jonathan’s Guardian is projecting is large, taller than a human adult. It is shaped roughly like a very muscular human man, but it has red skin, wings, horns, claws, fangs, cloven hooves, and a tail.”

“Oh, God!” Gabe exclaims, after Natalie conveys this description. “Really?” He lets the image form in his mind as well. “That’s super scary, but actually, kind of cool, don’t you think?” he asks his sister.

She raises her eyebrows and stares at her brother. “Cool? Honestly?” She shakes her head and gives a little laugh. “Okay, sure, I guess.”

“Seriously!” Gabe tries to convince her. “What do you want to bet, that after we sort everything out and Jonathan is talking to us again, that he thinks it’s cool too?”

“Huh,” she says, tilting her head to the side. “Actually, I think you’re right.” She grows sad again. “Assuming we can ever fix this.”

Demon himself, of course, is aware of this entire conversation. In other circumstances, he might find himself amused to hear himself so discussed. Not today.

We are in the proximity to Demon which allows Guardians to sense each other and any humans nearby. Natalie is aware that we are within this distance. At the end of the street we are traveling along, we can see the park entrance. “How are they doing?” she asks Angel.

Demon and Jonathan have reached the park, where the boy is sitting on the ground against a wall, his arms wrapped around his knees, staring silently into the distance. They have both regained their composure. Once Demon was away from the Seer, the emotional turmoil subsided, and he was able to re-focus his attention on the needs of his Guarded. He whispers to Jonathan words of comfort and peace, and apology. He knows that it was his outburst that created the boy’s distress.

“Jonathan is sitting quietly in the park, lost in thought. Demon has become calmer. His frenzied emotional response has settled.”

“I guess you have to explain that to us next,” Natalie says. “Just because he looks like a demon can’t be what made you all so upset. I know there was a lot more going on.”