Follow the story of C. Angel.

Book 1 begins with her childhood up until age sixteen.

Christmas Angel Devito has known since she was four years old that she was sent from another planet to heal and help human beings. Shouldered with responsibilities that she doesn't remember accepting, she is thrust into a world that she doesn't understand. 

Beautiful, funny, sarcastic, and wise beyond her years, she walks to the beat of a different drum. She rules the school as a bully, dishing out her own sense of justice. She dreams of fire, motorcycles, and music as she searches for someone to understand her. 

Follow her journey as she discovers abilities that make her stand out, the struggle to find her place on earth, and her pursuit to be a guitar legend.

Genre: Fantasy, Magical Realism

I was sitting on the fence after feeding the chickens and doing some other assigned chores. I was wearing a pair of my favorite blue jeans. They were weathered and worn, and soft against my legs. I had topped them with a white tank top and a red plaid flannel shirt which I wore open. My shirt tails flapped in the breeze as I gazed across our land. My eyes were drawn to the mud on my pant leg. I wished that I’d worn a different pair of jeans because I hated it when my best clothes were messed up by ranch life. It wasn’t the only reason I was distraught. I had been feeling an emotional disconnect from my dad since the tornado incident. I felt odd and unloved.

I climbed down from the fence and walked back to the house with Yellow following me. I approached the swing set that daddy had set up for me years ago when I was a kid. I sat on one of the swings.

I heard the slightest whirring noise and glanced upward. A small space ship was landing. Yellow was barking but I must have blinked because now I was on the ship. I noticed that I was in a glass cylinder that apparently was a transporter. The doors opened and I stepped out. The room was huge and I gazed around it. There were no windows. A very tall human looking man looked down at me. He reminded me of Roger Moore as James Bond.

“James, I can’t visit for long because I need to be home for supper,” I remarked to him.

“There are some things you need to remember.” He replied instead. He led me to the engineering part of the ship where several beings explained to me the mechanics of the ship. “You are going to your home planet.” One of them told me.

“Am I dead?” I asked.

“No. We are here to remind you where you come from. Come, now.” James Bond said as he led me away.

We entered the transporter. My mind tried to focus as we appeared on the surface of the planet. It was beautiful! There were blue mountains and valleys and the sun was bright. Wait, there were two suns. I puzzled over that. I glanced towards James and was surprised again. He was a tunnel of dust. I looked down at myself and I was a tunnel of dust. It was startling but it was amazing too. I felt different. I belonged here!

I was shown the different aspects of our lives as tunnels of dust but glimpses of memories were already coming back to me. I met more beings who welcomed me. There were already several beings that I felt a stronger attachment to. How could I feel that kinship so easily here when I couldn’t feel it on earth?

“They are not you. We are you.” Is what I was told. As we communicated further and I saw more places and beings I became quickly accustomed to this planet and its people. I knew I was home.

I spent time feeling part of the planet because I wanted to soak it up, become part of it. The beings delighted in my feelings as they told me more and more about life there.  As I was just about part of the planet James said to me, “It’s time for you to go.”

“No!” I communicated back. I felt loved and accepted here. Why should I go back?

“You have a mission. You must go back. There are many beings you have agreed to help. When you’ve completed your mission, you will arrive back here.”

“No! I don’t know how to do that! I don’t have friends there!  I won’t..”  but it was too late. I was already back on earth.  “NOOO!!” I screamed and screamed but it didn’t take long for my throat to become raw.

Where was I exactly besides on earth, a planet where I was hated?  It was dark but I knew I was in a grassy field.  My eyes adjusted to the faint light from the sky. I sniffed the air. It smelled like our ranch. I let my inner guidance system lead me through the darkness.  I know I passed deer, birds, and all of the night’s creatures. I stumbled at times, got tangled in briars, and cussed about that because I was wearing my favorite jeans. There was no one to hear me except the creatures. The dark didn’t scare me. I was darkness.  I was one of the creatures of the night, a night stalker.

At my guess, it was at least twenty minutes before I heard and smelled that I was close to the barn. I saw now that daddy had left the light on outside the back door for me. I was really hungry now. I’d missed supper.

I tried the back door and it was locked. I sighed knowing that he was apparently really pissed at me by now if he’d locked me out. I’d wandered off and hadn’t told him. Actually, it felt like the wee hours of the morning. He would be beyond pissed by now. No wonder he’d locked me out. Hmmm, he’d never done that before. Maybe this is how my teenage years would be from now on, and I wasn’t even a teenager yet.

I went to the hiding spot and found the spare key, then let myself in. Now Yellow was barking his head off.  Great. That’s just what I needed on top of everything. “Shush! You’ll wake up daddy!” I scolded him as he bounced and bounced around me. He jumped up and put his feet on my chest. As a well-mannered dog, he didn’t normally do that unless I prompted him to. He was just exceptionally happy to see me.  It was a little odd but I patted his head and hugged him. He was whimpering now in his excitement but I knew he wanted to be barking. “Ok, ok.” I told him then, giving him one last hug. “I’m here. I’ll pet you more later.”

“Pumpkin?”

I looked up to see my dad standing in the doorway in a t-shirt and boxers. He looked dazed.

“Hey daddy.” I choked out in a guarded voice wondering if I was going to get my butt whipped. My screaming had made me hoarse.

“Oh my God, where have you been?” He exclaimed in sudden emotion as he was hugging me. “I had the whole town looking for you!”

“Just because I missed supper?” I asked in a confused voice. I hadn’t known that supper was going to be such a big deal, although my stomach was saying it was a big deal. My throat was raw too. Screaming had not helped it one bit.  I coughed a few times then.

“Supper? You’ve been missing for five days!” He exclaimed. He suddenly pulled away to look at me. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick! And you’re full of brambles. My God, what happened to you?”

I blinked a few times as I looked up at him. I’d been gone five days? I thought maybe it had been a few hours. I was really hungry even though my throat hurt. Where had I been? Well, I couldn’t even begin to tell him that.  “I don’t know, daddy, but I’m really hungry.  I was sitting on the swing behind the house last I knew, then it’s like I woke up in the back forty.” I replied as I teared up over it. Wow.  If only I could have stayed on my home planet.

He stared at me. I could sense his bewilderment among several other emotions. “Are you hurt? You look banged up.”  He didn’t wait for my answer and herded me toward the bathroom. He waited outside while I peed then he came in and looked me over. The briars had certainly scratched up my arms and caused welts and bleeding. And where was the flannel shirt I had been wearing? It was also a favorite of mine.

“Oh daddy, my jeans!” I wailed as I saw that they were ripped and dirty, and the bottoms of my pant legs were muddy. My shoes were muddy too.

“It’s ok, I’ll buy you new jeans.” He said soothingly as he hugged me some more.

I caught a glance in the mirror at my dirty tear-stained face and my messy hair. There were burrs in my hair. It was going to take work to comb them out. I imagined that would be Nancy’s job and that I would be miserable as she untangled my hair.

Daddy had me strip down to my underwear to look at me. He was finding black and blue marks as well but I figured all of that had happened on my trek in the dark. I’d fallen twice and stumbled a number of times.

“Do you really not remember anything that happened?” he asked. “I swear I won’t be angry. I’m just grateful that you’re home now.”

“No.” I lied in an exhausted voice as I leaned against the sink. “I was sitting on the swing by Yellow and then I was out in the field.”

“We need to get you to the hospital.”

I scrunched up my face. “Um, no daddy. I’m not hurt. There’s no need to waste our money on that.  Some iodine and band aids and I’ll be fine.”

Well, he wouldn’t be talked out of it but at least he let me eat some cereal. It was 4am.

Once I was in the examining room, I found that he had wanted them to examine me for evidence of rape.  That was my first experience with a gynecological exam. It wasn’t pretty. I couldn’t believe that women had to go through that on a yearly basis.

The next day the local tv news crew were in my face. They were sure that I was kidnapped by a predator but confused to why I was returned safely. They wanted so badly to have a sensational story to report while my dad just wanted to know what had happened to me.

My classmates knew that I’d run away. I remembered every detail of my disappearance but I knew better than to tell that to my dad or anyone else. I supposed that one good thing had come of it. Daddy had Nancy take me shopping where she’d let me buy three pair of jeans that I liked, three cool shirts, and a pair of new shoes. I’d even finagled an ice cream cone out of the deal. Well, I’d had to deal with the shopping but I figured since I was going to get a lot of new clothes that I’d deal with it this one time.

The police bugged us for a few days afterward. I repeated my story over and over again as if it would change from one hour to the next.  I was angry when I found out that they had thought daddy had killed and buried me somewhere.  Bob knew one of the local policemen and they finally dropped that theory, besides I was back. I wasn’t dead.

Daddy was real protective of me after that. If I wasn’t with him then I was to be in the house with the doors locked. That was a buzz kill. I thought of telling him about my alien abduction but then decided that it would only cause me more trouble. Who knew if the aliens would abduct me from inside the house?