CHAPTER 10
Boys Will Be Boys
Kenny had arranged for Eren to stay with the family of one of the altar boys while his mother recovered in the hospital. It was hard for Eren, since his family had been here on vacation, so he was far from home with his mother in the hospital. Luckily, the altar boy in question was one Marco Bodt. The boy had a sweet, friendly personality and could get along with anyone.
Levi remembered the first time he saw the boy.
Marco was four years old, and with dark brown, almost black, hair and eyes and freckles splashed across his cheekbones, the kid was nothing short of insanely adorable. He was also stuck in a drainage pipe. It never ceased to amaze the demon as to the kind of trouble children could get themselves into.
Marco was just trying to follow his puppy. The puppy fit all the way through . . . Marco, not so much. To the boy's credit, he didn't panic. He just sat there with his lower half sticking out the end of the pipe, waiting for someone to find him. The situation became even more humorous when the puppy came back around and decided to lay down on the boy's bottom to take a nap. Some help that was!
Levi flew down from his perch high in a nearby tree to get a closer look. "You know, kid. One of these days your parents are going to embarrass the hell out of you by telling this story to your girlfriends. And I assure you, with a face like that you'll have tons of girlfriends."
"Y' really think so?"
The demon was taken aback to have received an answer. "Can you hear me?"
"Yeah. Can you get me out? I'm stuck. Pleeeeeeease? Can you get Chauncey off my bum-bum?" Marco wiggled his butt for emphasis. The dog was undeterred.
Levi chuckled as he picked the puppy up from his comfortable bed. "I don't think Chauncey likes having to leave his nice warm bed."
"I'm not a bed! I'm a boy!"
"Really? 'Cuz all I see is a pair of legs that could belong to anything."
"The rest of me is stuck!"
"Well, let's pull you out and see if you really are a boy." Levi took firm hold of the boy's hips (relieved that he could hold on to the human) and pulled him back out of the pipe. "Well, well! You are a little boy!"
"Told ya!" Marco grunted as Levi dusted him off. "WOW! You got wings!"
"Yes I do," Levi chuckled as Marco walked around him to get a better look.
"Can I touch 'em?"
"You may."
Levi shivered as the boy touched the surprisingly sensitive skin of his wings. I forgot the skin was so sensitive back there! Shit that tickles!
"Can you really fly?"
"I can."
"WOW!"
"Marco! Time to come in and wash up for supper!"
Marco grabbed up Chauncey. "Bye, mister! I gotta go eat supper. Thank you for unstucking me!"
Levi chuckled at the memory as he watched Marco and Eren playing hide and seek with several other neighborhood children. Chauncey, now a full grown golden retriever, was making the game difficult for the hiders since he kept giving their hiding places away.
It had been two months since Eren had come to stay with the Bodts, and Levi was here with Kenny, because it was finally the day when Eren and his mother would be able to travel back home. Marco was sad to see his new friend go, but happy that Eren was finally with his mother again. Marco had lost his ability to see arcs and demons as he'd grown older. But he still remembered the demon that had freed him from a drain pipe.
Kenny had been enthralled when Marco had told him about the 'angel with black wings' that had pulled him out of a pipe. There was no doubt in the priest's mind that the 'angel' in question was Levi. So Kenny told Marco all about the demon and how he had saved the priest himself and was the wielder of Volpl and even showed Marco the tears he had kept. Once Marco was older, he drew a picture (a surprisingly accurate picture at that) of the demon that had helped him that day and gave it to Kenny. The priest treasured the picture of the one he considered to be his dearest friend.
It came as no shock when Marco got himself into trouble . . . again. Levi was in his favorite spot, high on the roof of the church beside the bell tower, reading. Levi liked high places – always had – especially rooftops. He noticed Kenny rushing out to his car muttering, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! Will you ever learn, Marco?"
Curious, Levi set his book aside, spread his wings and followed the priest. Kenny stopped in front of an elementary school playground. There was a large crowd of people there, including the fire department and the police, and an ambulance, and a news crew . . . What in the hell is going on here? Levi landed on top of the play set that had swings, monkey bars and a twisting tube slide. He couldn't help but notice a pair of sneakers sticking out the top of the slide. As he looked around, he recognized all of Marco's high school friends, but no Marco.
The demon looked once again at the sneakers, realizing all at once who the belonged to. He roared laughing so hard that he actually fell off the set and onto the ground. Levi sat on the soft sandy ground and continued laughing. "What is it with you and small pipes, Marco?" The thought of the teenager trying to go down the small slide was just too funny to contain. "What in the hell were you thinking?!"
"Jimmy dared me to do it!" the poor teen wailed from within the confines of the slide. "We were playing truth or dare!"
"And I suppose if Jimmy had dared you to jump off a bridge you'd have done it?" Kenny scolded.
"No."
Levi, still laughing, decided to have a little fun with this. He heard Marco panicking when he heard the fire crew start up a saw to cut the boy out. Levi's magic had gotten strong enough that he didn't need incantations as much anymore. With a simple snap of his fingers, a large crack formed along one side of the slide with a corresponding crack on the other side. Then the entire bottom half of the slide fell way. Marco landed with a loud "OOFF!" on the ground.
The teenager's face was a brilliant red, making his freckles stand out even more. "Just think, Marco. Some day your parents will be telling this story at your wedding reception!" Levi laughed.
Two years later, it happened again. This time, however, it was because of a sink hole. Levi happened to fly over an open, dry waste space when he noticed a pair of legs sticking up out of the ground. That's odd. It's nowhere near Halloween, and this is out in the middle of nowhere, so they can't be decorations. The legs were moving some as Levi landed nearby to investigate. Then he recognized the sneakers. "Damn it, Marco! What is it with you and tight spaces?!"
Levi was surprised when he got a muffled response. "Say that again! I didn't hear you!" the demon called out.
He was able to barely make out the words, "There's a kid down here!" Levi decided to take the risk and grabbed a hold of Marco's ankles and pulled backwards, his powerful stroking wings giving him extra pull. Marco finally came free, but along with him, came another small child.
"What happened?" the demon asked.
Marco turned to look at him and his mouth fell open. "Levi! It's you!"
"Yeah, it's me. So what happened?"
Marco shook his head, then answered. "I was out here with my cousin looking for rocks for his collection when he suddenly just fell out of sight into this sink hole. I reached in to grab him, but couldn't get myself out again. Am I ever glad you came along! Uncle Ian and Aunt Carolyn would have killed me!"
"Uncle Ian?"
"Yup. Ian McFlaherty II – my mother's brother. He's named after my grandfather. Grandpa said he could see the supernatural to when he was a kid. That's probably why I can see you," Marco explained.
So Marco is the great great grandnephew of Brian Wentworth and Ian McFlaherty's grandson. Small world!
"Who're you talkin' to, Uncle Marco?" the little boy asked.
"Oh, that's right, you can't see him, can you Danny?"
"You'd better get that kid home and into a bath," Levi told Marco. "And do me a favor. Don't go getting yourself stuck in any more holes!"
Two years later, Kenny and Levi watched proudly as Marco headed off to seminary to become a priest. "Guess you won't have to worry about your parents embarrassing you at your wedding, will you?"
