I become aware of a hand on my arm, someone gently trying to get my attention. Half asleep, I register some things I don’t normally wake up to. My head is resting on my folded arm, but my arm is resting on something soft and crumbly, something that gives easily. I take a breath, and taste salt on the air. Faint bird calls meet my ears.

There’s a breeze rustling my hair. I can hear a repeated rushing sound, a push and pull of some kind. My cheeks and nose are cold, but the rest of me is nice and warm.

I open my eyes and find Aiden awake, on his side, blue eyes studying me. His fingers on my arm are presumably what woke me up. They’re resting on the curve of my elbow, his thumb smoothing back and forth over the fabric of my flannel.

He stirs when he sees me awake. “Hi.”

“Mmm.” I yawn deeply, rubbing my eyes. “Hi. What time is it?”

Aiden nods up at the sky. “Check the clock.”

I sit up, letting the blanket drop to my lap, and look around. Aiden sits up by my side.

We’re on one of the higher sand dunes, and the beach is spread out before us. The sun is just starting to rise, kissing the ocean with fiery orange light. Dusky blue clouds, not yet hit with the approaching sunshine, make airy smudges across the sky.

“Oh,” I mumble, and Aiden laughs softly, dropping his head to rest on my shoulder.

I move to snuggle closer to him, share in his warmth. The beach grass surrounding us is wet with networks of sparkling dew, some of which I’m pretty sure is on my face, and in my hair. The water is choppy today, whitecaps rolling up to break on the shore.

“Was hoping you might know,” Aiden says, “What we’re doing on the beach, under a blanket, at this hour?”

“Right. Yeah. Fair question.” I brush some sand from my face. “Well, you passed out here. And then I tried to move you, which was, um - comical? Is that the word I’m looking for?”

Another quiet laugh from Aiden. “Probably.”

“Yeah, gave up on that pretty quickly, but I didn’t want to call anyone, because I’d have to lie about what we were doing here, which - you know. So I summoned Kasey, and asked her to stay here while I went home and got dry clothes for you, and a blanket for both of us. Super glad that no one caught me taking your pants off, on the beach, in the middle of the night, cause I thought that might look suspicious-”

“Oh, my god.”

“But I figured, if someone did see, then when you woke up, you could explain that it was nothing weird, and that I actually take your pants off all the time, just normally when you’re - conscious.”

Aiden huffs out another laugh, tucking his head beneath my chin. I fold my arm around his broad shoulders, push my nose into his chestnut hair.

“Look at you,” he says. “Jamie ‘I-Hate-Camping’ Keane, camping in the great outdoors, didn’t even bring a tent.”

“One-time deal,” I tell him firmly. “And only because there’s no such thing as a beach bear.”

Aiden sits back. “Wait, so - you really slept here with me? All night?”

“Yes, but it was an accident.”

Aiden raises an eyebrow. “How so?”

“I was trying to stay awake, I didn’t mean to sleep at all. I just wanted to - watch out for you, while you did.” I shrug, embarrassed. “Failed at that, clearly, but in my defense, I didn’t expect to be able to fall asleep on the b-”

I break off as Aiden tips forward, takes my face in his hand, and teases his lips over mine.

“I love you,” he murmurs, against my mouth.

My cheeks, which were cold before, now start to burn. I kiss him back, gathering a handful of his sweater into my fingers.

“I love you, too.”

Aiden smiles, then hesitates. “Did I imagine it, or did you say - the kid-?”

“Yep, he’s fine. His name is Charlie, and he’s back with his mom.”

Aiden’s shoulders sag in relief. He sits back, looking out at the ocean again.

A few sandpipers go scurrying past us on the beach, tidying their downy feathers with their beaks, pecking at the sand. The sun is slowly climbing higher, and the little birds start to call out to each other, singing as they hop their way to the water.

Aiden dusts off his hands. “We should probably-”

I press a finger over his mouth, my eyes catching on something. “Hey. Get down.”

We both sink lower in the grass, and Aiden follows my gaze to the hotel.

We’re far away, but we can still see the pool where we rescued Charlie last night. Standing right next to it, alone, is his mom.

She’s wearing a coat over her pajamas, and she’s peering down at the sand around the pool. Looking, I realize, for footprints.

I think we should be okay. I did a pretty decent job getting rid of our prints after the party came to its abrupt end last night. I smoothed over some, then walked on the others, confusing them, making our path up to the dunes impossible to sort out from the rest.

Charlie’s mom does a slow lap of the pool, searching every edge for a discernible set of prints to follow. When it becomes clear that she won’t find any, she retreats back towards the hotel.

Then she pauses, gazing down into the pool. She takes off her coat, drops it onto the sand. She steps off the edge and plunges into the icy water.

I start to sit up, but Aiden grabs my wrist.

“It’s okay, she’s not in trouble. I would hear it.”

She breaks from beneath the water, shivering, something held in her hand. It’s the toy car, the one Charlie lost in there last night.

She climbs out of the pool, pulls her coat on over her soaked pajamas. She takes one last look out at the sand, then goes back into the hotel, the little car clutched to her chest.

Aiden lets out a held breath when the door closes after her.

“We should get going,” he says, checking his watch. “I’m gonna be late for work.”

I don’t know how he can think about work at a time like this. While he gets to his feet and gathers up the blanket, I sit there watching the ripples in the pool grow smaller, until the surface is flat and peaceful again.

In all the chaos, it’s only now occurring to me what this morning would have been like for that family, if Aiden hadn’t been here last night.

“Jamie, come on.” He tosses his head in the direction of the parking lot. “Let’s get you home.”

I get to my feet and let him lead me back to the car.

Sometimes I forget how used to this stuff Aiden is. Maybe because I’m still not.

The combination of a hot shower and the warmth of my own bed lulls me back to sleep right away. My dreams are filled with toy cars, and dark, windy beaches.

And a saltwater pool, shining with golden light.

~~~~

When I wake up a few hours later, I decide to swing by City Hall and visit Aiden. I want to see how he’s doing, after everything that happened last night.

I don’t find him in his office, and the archives are locked up. Fortunately for me, there’s someone in City Hall who knows everything, and I wouldn’t put it past her to somehow know Aiden’s current location.

Her office door is open, but I knock anyway. “Gabby?”

She’s sitting at her desk, a pen threaded through her fingers. Her chin is propped on her palm, and she’s staring out through the window.

I try again, a little louder. “Gabby.”

She blinks, twisting to look at me.

“Oh, Jamie.” She sets the pen down, then rubs her eyes. “Hi.”

“Hey.” I step inside, closing the door after myself. “Is everything alright? You seem sort of - far away.”

Gabby picks up her coffee, gets to her feet, and comes around to the front of her desk. She leans back against it, looking up at me with her head tipped to the side.

“Let me guess. You came to visit Aiden, but you couldn’t find him, so you’re here to ask if I know where he is?”

“Jesus!” I press a hand to my chest, indignant. “How do you do that? It’s scary!”

“I sent Aiden home,” Gabby explains, “After I found him asleep at his desk.”

“Oh, no.” My heart drops. “It’s really not - he’s just tired, Gabby, he's been-”

“No need for all that.” She waves a hand, her silver bangles jingling. “He’s not in trouble. I know my employees, and I know that Aiden wouldn’t fall asleep at work because he felt like slacking off. He clearly needs some rest. I hope I didn’t overburden him, between his regular work and the exhibition.”

I find myself hit with a huge rush of affection for Gabby. I resist the urge to pull her into a grateful hug.

“No, I don’t think you did,” I tell her. “You’re right, he just needs rest.”

Gabby nods, but she still seems distant, distracted. It would barely be noticeable on anyone else, but Gabby’s eyes are normally so sharp and focused. To see her like this is strange.

“Are you okay?” I ask again.

“Yes. I just - have a lot on my mind.” She meets my eyes, an accusatory expression spreading over her face. “I know that you and Aiden weren’t honest with me, by the way.”

“What?” I feel my face heating up. I can think of a number of different things Gabby might be referring to. “What, um - what are you talking about?”

“Yesterday, Jamie, I got a call from the salvage company that pulled my car out of the river. The car I crashed on my way into Ketterbridge. I’ve been putting off going to see it. The prospect made me queasy, I don’t know why. But today was the last day they could hold onto it. I had to go see it this morning, and decide what to do with it.”

I’m not sure where this is going.

“Okay…?”

“You two,” Gabby says, stabbing a finger at my chest, “Led me to believe that when you rescued me, all you did was open the door and pull me out. You made it sound very simple, and easy.”

“Did we?” Oh, god. I wish desperately that Aiden was here. He's the one who came up with the revised version of what happened, the version that we told Kent and Gabby. “I mean, it was, um-”

Gabby holds up a hand, and I fall silent, fidgeting with the sleeve of my flannel.

“Jamie. The car was totaled. It sank to the bottom of the river. The airbag was blown, and my makeup was all over it. The window was shattered. The salvage guys found a rock inside the car, and they think it was used to smash the glass. And one of the sideview mirrors was broken off. Like someone was holding onto it, they said.”

That someone was me, when I was trying not to get torn away by the current. I don’t remember breaking it off, but I must have damaged it.

Gabby is waiting for me to say something.

“Right, so - the thing is-” I knead my palm anxiously. “You know, that night was crazy, and - um-”

Gabby softens, watching me with a mixture of fondness and exasperation.

“Look, I appreciate that you two didn’t want to scare me, but you could have told me the truth.”

I finally land on a bit of allowable honesty. “I’m really sorry that we lied to you.”

“Don’t be sorry,” she groans. “I’m saying I didn’t appreciate - quite how...” She fades off, twisting her bangles around her wrist. “I owe you both a much bigger thank you than I realized.”

“Hey.” I give her arm a quick squeeze. “You’re fine. Honestly.”

Gabby nods slowly, her eyes clouded again.

“I just can't stop thinking about how lucky I was. So lucky that you and Aiden happened to be there. Almost unbelievably lucky.” She looks up at me, then shakes her head, coming back to the present. “I must have a guardian angel, don’t you think?”

She says it jokingly. I start to smile, but then feel my face go blank.

Out of nowhere, a wave of realization curls over my head, about to crash down on me.

My heart stops.

“What?” My voice comes out sounding strange, even to me. “Gabby, what did you say?”

She tilts her head to the side, confused. “I said I must have a guardian angel.”

I stare down at her. I don’t know what’s happening to my expression, but Gabby is obviously concerned.

“Jamie? Are you okay?”

“I’m - I’m fine. I’ve gotta run, I’m sorry. I’ll see you later.”

“You sure you’re alright?” Gabby calls after me, but I’m already walking, and I don’t stop until I get to my car.

~~~~

My head is spinning, doing up the math.

Aiden, beneath the boughs, his fireflies drifting around us. That night when I kissed him, when he led me away from the Fling Thing and into the forest. He was explaining that the tree was the source of his power.

How many are there? I’d asked.

Not a lot. Not anymore. They’re called Guardian Trees.

Who have we saved since Aiden came back to Ketterbridge? Four people: Gabby, Ralph, the woman in the crosswalk, and now Charlie. For the first time, I try to imagine it as they experienced it, not as Aiden and I did.

Gabby herself said that she felt like a guardian angel was watching over her.

For Ralph, it was an old friend arriving just in time to stop a baseball bat from rearranging his face. Aiden told me that the incident at the bar had the potential to be fatal, but Ralph doesn’t know that. He’ll never know that he was snatched back from death at the very last second.

The woman in the crosswalk. To her, Aiden was a voice, a shout that made her look up just in time to dodge the car that would have hit her. She didn’t see us, not for one second. She knows that the voice saved her, but she has no idea where it came from. By the time she thought to look for the source, there was no one around.

And Charlie. If he remembers anything from last night, what will it be?

A flash of golden light. Two glowing eyes. And two hands, reaching out to save him.

~~~~

I let myself in without knocking. I go straight to Aiden's bedroom.

It’s bright and airy in here, afternoon sunlight spilling in through the open windows. Aiden is in bed, in sweatpants and a t-shirt, but he’s not sleeping. He’s holding the new poem that I gave him, and he’s sitting on top of the covers, reading it. As always, one strand of chestnut hair has escaped into his face.

He glances up, then does a double-take.

“Hi.” He smiles warmly, reaching for me. “What are you doing here?”

I walk over and sit down on the bed, my heart hammering.

“Can I guess what you are?”

Aiden straightens up and ruffles my hair, a teasing look on his face.

“Are you gonna try vampire again? If you want me to bite your neck, you can just ask, Keane.”

I know that I could probably ease into this better, but I can’t wait any longer.

“Aiden, are you a guardian-?”

His playful smile vanishes instantly, and his blue eyes go wide with surprise.

“-angel?” I finish, my voice rasping.

There’s a silence. Aiden stares at me, blinking hard, his jaw tensed. I stare back, holding my breath, waiting for my answer.

Aiden drops his gaze to the bedspread. He makes a quiet, ragged sound. Something like a laugh, but not quite.

“Seriously, Jamie? After everything I’ve put you through, you actually think I’m an angel?”

“I’m wrong?” I sit back, dazed. "Really? I was so sure."

Aiden sets the poem aside. He hesitates, then gathers my hands into his.

“No, you’re not exactly wrong. When people think of guardian angels, they are thinking of us, but they don't have it right. We’re not angels. I'm definitely no angel.” Aiden takes a deep breath, and his eyes lift to meet mine. “But... I am a Guardian."