OMG! WTF! FML! I'M SORRY I TOOK SO LONG!

*takes a deep breath* Woo! Glad I got that off my chest. Anyways, I'm here, I finally have the chapter, just don't kill me please! :{

Ch. 3
Not Yet…

Jack's P.O.V.

Silence followed North's words as soon as he spoke. Once he had spoken, none of us said anything. We were all waiting for the same thing; Melinda's response. Now, I don't know her that well yet, so I wasn't sure what to expect from her. Whether or not she'd be happy(like the others wanted) or upset(like I had been). Of course, if she got upset I would try to talk with her, since I've been in her shoes before. But, I wouldn't force her to make a decision, either.

As the silence continued I turned to look over at Melinda. Now, I at least expected her to be surprised, but that wasn't what I saw. In fact, she didn't just look surprised, she looked speechless. She stood there, her arms held at her side, her whole figure completely still. Her eyes were slightly wide, and her lips barely apart. After a moment she closed them, and I saw her throat flinch slightly as she gulped.

"Um…I, uh…"

I sighed. I had a feeling of what was coming. Before Melinda could say more I walked forward to address the others.

"Guys, listen, you don't need to force this down her throat or anything, okay? She might not even want-"

"Um, I'm sorry," I heard Melinda speak softly from behind me. "But…how do you know I'm good enough?"

I blinked several times after I heard that. Did she really just say that? I slowly turned my head around to fully look at Melinda. She was holding her hands together, her brows slightly furrowed, and a confused look on her face. I couldn't believe it. She wasn't confused be cause she was upset or something, she just didn't think that she was…good enough. Was that really it? She didn't think she was qualified?

"Of course you are good enough!" North bellowed, making both me and Melinda jump. "Manny would not have chosen you if you were not!"

Melinda blinked. "Man in the Moon? He…chose me?"

"That's how we were all chosen," said Tooth. "Manny creates us for a reason, and he chose us to be Guardians for a reason."

"And he makes no mistakes," added Bunny. "Ah mean, Jack's still a bit rough, but…"

"Watch it, Cottentail!" I snapped at him.

"Boys!" Tooth said sharply, then grinned at Melinda. "Don't worry, they're always like this."

"Oh, I have no doubt," Melinda said, sounding a little more like herself.

Bunny folded his arms, grumbling to himself. I rolled my eyes.

"Ahem, as I was saying," North turned back to Melinda. "You have been chosen to be one of us- to help us protect the children of the world. We protect their lives and belief in us."

"No pressure," I added simply.

North raised his brow at me, but Melinda covered her mouth as she giggled softly. I smiled at her, she grinned back at me.

"Um, excuse me," Tooth piped up. "But, as far as I know, none of us really know what you can, well…do…"

Melinda raised an eyebrow, looking confused at Tooth's statement. A second later she let out a soft 'Oh,' and after that she started chuckles loudly. We all stared at her, wondering what was so funny.

"Well, depends on what you want to know," she said, still smiling after her chuckling ceased. "Like, you need to as certain questions. 'Can you read minds,' 'Can you see through walls,' 'Can you fly…'"

"Can you?"

She turned to look at me. "What?"

"Can you do any of those things?" I asked her.

"Oh… Well, I can't really read minds," she said matter-of-factly. "But I can look into memories. Oh, and yes, I can fly."

"What?" I stared at her. "But…how?"

She looked over at me, a smirk widening on her dark lips. "I'll show you."

Melinda lifted her hands up and removed her white scarf from her neck, gently setting it on the ground. She looked down at herself and raised her hands before starting to unbutton her jacket. She continued to unbutton until it was completely opened, and when it was, she slid the garment off her figure, showing the her sleeveless shirt that only had a strap around the back of her neck to keep it up. As soon as she set her jacket on the ground I saw it. Over her shoulders and down both her arms, ending at her wrists, were several dark lines that looked almost like tattoos. At first glance they resembled just simple curved lines, but then she turned so her back was to us. The top half of her back was completely uncovered by her magenta shirt, but that wasn't what made me stare. On her back, the black lines all connected to form what were obviously wings- Angle wings, to be specific.

While the design and the details of the wings were incredible, that didn't fully tell me how she could fly. But before I could ask her what she was doing, the black lines of her 'tattoo' began to glow white. I blinked several times, not sure if I was seeing things. But as I saw the others staring at her in amazement I knew that it must real. I glanced back as the image of the wings grew brighter. It seemed to glow so bright that it was almost as bright as a star before something else happened. The wings seemed, if it was possible, to become more solid. It was as though the image was rising off of her skin. Suddenly, Melinda arched her back and the wings swung off her figure in one, giant swoosh!

I jumped back a few feet, my arms going out to catch my balance. In fact, I'm pretty sure we all jumped a bit, but I was too focused on the site in front me to care.

The wings were completely stretched out, reaching and incredible wingspan. They were pure white, almost like snow. But as they shifted in the small bit of sunlight coming in from the windows, the tips of each feather shimmered with multicolor shine, like they were made of rainbows. The wings stayed stretched out for a few more moments before slowly starting to close up behind Melinda's back. She then turned to look at us, a smile on her face.

"Pretty cool, huh?" she said, sounding cheery.

Sandy nodded almost excitedly, smiling as he started clapping. North placed his hands on his hips and let out a hearty laugh. Both Bunny and Tooth just sat there(Tooth hovered), their jaws still hanging opened. I however, couldn't stop staring. In all my three-hundred years I've never seen anything like this with any spirit, and I knew quite a few by now.

"That's awesome!" I said after a few seconds.

Tooth cleared her throat. "So," she started. "You're…an angel."

Melinda turned her head slightly, gazing at her wings as one of her hands stroked the feathers. "In a way…yes," she said, then she nodded at the moon. "At least, that's what he told me."

"So, what does an angel like you do, exactly?" asked Bunny.

"Simple really," Melinda said, turning to face him. "My main job is to give specific children certain gifts with music. Whether or not they sing or just have a gift for playing an instrument varies with each person. But, whoever I- for lack of a better word- "bless" with their gifts are incredibly gifted, and will remain so for the rest of their lives," she smiled widely. "That's why I'm living in Burgess. There's a new couple in town, and the woman is going to have a baby soon. I need to be there when he or she is born so I can bless him or her."

There was silence for a few moments. Then it was broken.

"That's…incredible!" sighed Tooth.

"Blimey," breathed Bunny.

"Amazing," I said simply.

Sandy smiled brightly, clapping his little hands excitedly. Melinda giggled slightly. I was just as amazed as the others, but I really didn't have anything else to say. After a moment though I gave a small chuckle.

"That explains it," I said. "I mean, for a second I thought the wings on your back were tattoos or something."

Melinda raised her eyebrows as she chuckled. "Please, that's crazy," she paused, then added, "My tattoo is nowhere near as big as my wings."

All of our head snapped over to her. Surely she was joking, right? I mean, I know I was. How can a spirit even get a tattoo to begin with?

"Your…what?"

"Yeah. I have a tattoo."

Before we could question her more she lifted her hand up and pulled the top-left part of her shirt down enough for us to see the solid black tattoo on her chest. I couldn't see it well so I walked towards her a bit to get a closer look. I was surprised. The simplest way to describe it was that it was a heart-shaped music note. The best way to describe it was by saying that it looked like a treble clef and a base clef put together. Except that the treble was turned upside-down so that the two connected to form a heart.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Melinda said as she pulled her shirt back up. "Not sure where it came from, though. I've had it since I was, er…reborn, so to speak."

I nodded, and looked up at her. Melinda seemed amazing so far; both as a person and spirit. What she did was incredible, she was kind and funny, and the others seemed to like her already. But, for some reason, there was one little question that was lingering in my head.

"Do you live anywhere?"

Melinda blinked. "Pardon?"

"Do you live anywhere?" I repeated. "I mean, when I first met you I brought you to some crummy, old motel. Do you, like, have a home or something?"

To my surprise, Melinda's smile fell. Her wings even seemed to have faltered. She hung her head low and fiddled with her hands. I stared at her, confused.

"Melin-"

"Please," she cut me off. "Could you… could you just call me Linda?"

I blinked, not sure how to respond for a second. I gave a small grin, and nodded.

"Sure…Linda."

She nodded, and cleared her throat. "Well, um… I, uh…" she shook her head, and sighed. "Ah, forget it. I don't have a specific place to live."

I blinked. "What?"

"No. I just go wherever I'm needed and I find somewhere to stay until my work is done. It's actually pretty simple, to be honest."

I stared at her in confusion, surprised at the casualty in her voice. It was like she didn't think it mattered if she had a specific home or not. That she didn't care if she didn't…belong anywhere. I wanted to ask her why she thought like that- why she didn't have a place to call home. But, I felt that now wasn't a good time. Plus, this was only the second time we had met. I didn't necessarily have the right to ask her something so personal as that. So, instead I just nodded.

"Yeah, okay…"

"So!" North boomed out. "What you say, Melinda? Ready to become Guardian?"

Melinda looked up at North, an unreadable expression on her face. She folded her hands behind her back and slowly walked up in front of North. Her chest rose as she took a deep breath.

"Not yet."

Though I wasn't looking at them, I could practically feel the others' questioning stares. I was making one, too. I mean, what exactly did Linda mean by 'not yet?'

"Don't get me wrong," she said quickly. "I think that it's a great honor that the big guy actually wants me to join you guys. Really, I do. But…I just don't feel that I've earned it yet," she held her hands together. "So, if it's alright with you…I'd like to at least prove myself first before I signed up for this."

I blinked as my mouth dropped to the floor. Prove herself? Why would she need to prove herself? Manny had chosen her specifically for whatever reason, why wasn't that enough? I felt my brows furrow as I opened my mouth to retort, but North cut me off before I could even speak.

"Very well!" he boomed loudly. "If this is how you feel, then prove yourself you will!"

"You don't have to do that, you know," said Tooth gently. "I mean, we all had already proven ourselves when we were chosen. We didn't have to do anything once Manny picked us."

"We're also thousands of years older and more experienced, Tooth," said Bunny, and he grinned over at Linda. "If yah really wanna prove yourself, then I'm behind yah, shelia."

Sandy stood still, scratching his chin while making a look of concentration. A few seconds later he smiled and gave Linda two thumbs up, nodding. Linda gave a soft giggled, and slowly turned to face me. The others followed suit, turning their gazes upon me. I eyed them all questioningly, but when I looked at Linda I gave her no funny looks. She was biting down on her rosy-red lip, her hands fiddled with each other, and there was a deep, pleading look in her eyes, as though she were begging me without using words. She really wants this, doesn't she? I asked myself. I sighed, leaned against my staff, and nodded.

"Sure thing."

Linda gasped as she beamed at me, and for the first time since I had met her, my heart suddenly skipped a beat.

There, yah happy? Now, i have no idea when i'll be able to update on this story, but i'll do my best. Also, if you wanna know what Linda's tattoo looks like, click on the link below.

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