Revenge of the Angels by Jennifer Ziegler

Author:Jennifer Ziegler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2015-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Domestic Tranquility

Darby

My favorite thing to do at Christmastime is lie under the Christmas tree with all the lights off except for the colored, blinking strands on the tree and watch the patterns they make on the ceiling. It always seems magical — as if I stepped inside a kaleidoscope — and I can feel the joy and peace and merriment that everyone sings about during the holidays.

But when we came home after confronting Lucas, I didn’t feel those things. I lay there and watched the blue, green, gold, and red dance on the ceiling, and I waited for those happy feelings to spring up inside me. Only they didn’t. All I could do was fret and feel guilty.

The Neighbors have been like grandparents to us, and it makes me want to go all Dawn-like on whoever took the St. Nick candy container. But the worst of it is, I hate thinking that someone we know, maybe even another neighbor, might have done such a thing. I didn’t like the thought that someone in our town — maybe someone on our block, or someone we went to church with — might have taken Mr. Neighbor’s family heirloom. I don’t like looking at people we’ve known our whole lives and wondering if they could have done something so mean. And if we ever find out who it is, the first thing I’ll do is ask them why. Because I need to understand their reasons, even if I don’t agree with them. Otherwise the world doesn’t make sense.

“So … what’s supposed to happen?” Dawn asked beside me.

The three of us had felt so icky after we grilled Lucas that afternoon, and after the fiasco of gift shopping, that I told them about my lying-under-the-tree trick. Apparently, it wasn’t working on them, either.

“If you focus on the patterns, you forget everything and just feel peaceful and content,” I explained. “Do you feel anything?”

“Well … the floor hurts my back,” Dawn said. “It’s itchy, too, from all the needles that have fallen off the tree. That’s pretty much all I’m feeling.”

“I like it better this way,” Delaney was saying. After about two minutes, she had given up lying under the tree and was now spinning around while staring at the lights on the ceiling. “This way makes the designs swirl.”

“If you knock over this tree, Delaney, I won’t be responsible for what I do to you,” Dawn warned as she slid out from under the tree and got to her feet. “We don’t need anything else to go wrong.”

“Fine.” Delaney stopped spinning, staggered backward a couple of steps, and plunked down on the sofa. She looked a little cross-eyed.

I stood and brushed the needles off my clothes. “Well, that was a bust. Sorry it didn’t help.”

Dawn reached over and patted my arm. “It’s all right. It was nice of you to suggest your weird habit to us.”

“And I got to invent a colorful swirly spin,” Delaney said.

We heard the creak of the swinging kitchen door and Dad poked his head out.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.