Ahh, hello everyone. I'm back with another chapter for Truly Sacred. In fact, this is starting a new arc. But what to call it, hmmm. How about we call this "The friendship arc"? Seems simple, but I feel as we get farther, it will be a good fit (unless some of the events that unfold in future chapters give way to other name ideas). Now, last we left off, Lincoln had some rough moments. He was bullied by Chandler while trying to do good at the local arcade...

Oh, and Ronnie Anne found out he and his sisters are angels. Thankfully, she seems to be agreeing to keep it a secret. But all that was nothing compared to the reveal that a demon is snooping around the area. Saying Lincoln is under stress is an understatement (word play not intended).

Now, let's see how things escalate from here.

Chapter 14

[Lincoln's P.O.V.]

I sat in the backseat of the van as Lori drove us all to our respective schools. As she did, I couldn't help but reflect on everything that happened back on Saturday. As if Ronnie Anne ambushing me and learning about what my family and I actually are wasn't bad enough, the pentagram Lana found in the forest was apparently fixed by a demon. Despite the panic from my sisters, minus Lynn, who seemed more angry than afraid, Lori had assembled us for a meeting after everyone had arrived back home.

She told us all that we couldn't really do anything at the moment because we didn't know exactly where the demon was. At the moment, the only thing we could do is increase scouting efforts across town to try and find them while spreading goodwill amongst the residents. She even assigned us all to a town wide search yesterday to see if we could get any clues. Unfortunately, none of us had found anything useful in tracking down the spawn of hell. Yet despite the severity of the demonic presence in Royal Woods, I was more concerned with Ronnie Anne. She got rid of the evidence and said she would keep the secret. But what if it was another form of deceit? Had I ruined my whole family's assignment? What would they think of me knowing I exposed our existence? What consequences would I face for this mistake?

"Lincoln!" I was pulled out of my daydream when Lori called my name. I looked up at her and she tilted her head towards the window on my left. Turning my head, I saw that we had already arrived at the elementary school. The younger sisters that also went here with me had taking the liberty of exiting though the other door and leaving me behind. I chuckled nervously as I grabbed my backpack off the floor of the car.

"Sorry about that. I guess I was a little distracted." I unbuckled my seatbelt was about to exit the van and follow the others, but quickly got stopped by Leni calling out to me from the passenger seat.

"Lincoln, wait!" She turned around in her seat and looked at me with concern. "Is everything okay? You seem kind of upset about something." She asked like the saint she is. I couldn't help but look away for a moment as she continued to gaze at me. All the while I began to squirm on the leather seat of the van. Alongside her talents as a healer, Leni always had an incredible talent for empathy and comforting those in emotional distress. Whenever she talked to someone, she was able to get to the root of their problems in record time and help them through it. Most of us agree she was truly blessed with that kind of gift.

"Are you worried about the demons?" She asked. I looked up towards her again. The problem she mentioned wasn't my biggest source of fear, but it was still eating at me somewhat. "Don't worry, Linky. It's okay to be a little scared of them." She tried reassuring me. Though it did little to help with my anxiety. I really wanted to talk about what was truly bothering me. But… could I? I had no idea how any of them would respond. "You just have to remember that there are lots of good people alongside angels like us." I let out a sigh.

"That's not really why I'm nervous." I confessed. I was nervous about what they would say if I mentioned anything specifically about Ronnie Anne and the evidence she managed to scrap together in one outing. Though, maybe that shouldn't be an excuse to vent out some of my feelings. A lump formed in my throat, but I powered through and swallowed it before spilling out some general information about my stress. "I'm afraid that a human or demon might get lucky and expose. I haven't exactly felt safe ever since the rancor." Leni's expression sank a little more when she heard what I said.

"Well, all we can do is just be extra careful." Said my second oldest sister. Luan then turned to face me as well with a smile on her face.

"If it will make you feel better, maybe Lori can go window shopping for some curtains and shutters. Right Lori?" She asked before belting out a laugh. While everyone else groaned, I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle alongside Luan. It did make me feel a little better. Lori gave me a glance from the rearview mirror.

"Actually, Lincoln. I was considering if I should do some window makeovers before you spoke up. Lily and I can go browsing once I drop everyone else off." She stated. I let out a sigh of relief as I opened the door to the van.

"Thanks, girls. That makes me feel a lot better. I'll see you all after school." With that, I walked out of the van and closed the door behind me. I ran towards the building as fast as I could. Despite the conversation being brief, I still felt like I should hurry so I'm not late for class. Unfortunately, I suddenly felt something catch on my leg which caused me to stumble. I almost fell down to the floor, but I was able to catch myself before I actually hit the floor.

"Better slow down, Larry. These halls are pretty slippery." I recognized the voice instantly. Turning around, I saw him.

Chandler.

I merely rolled my eyes and shrugged off his attempt to annoy me as I continued to my classroom.

…

The minutes ticked by rather quickly during the first couple of classes for the day. Before I knew it, it was already time for recess. Out of all the parts of a school day, I found recess to be the part I liked the most. Not out of a distaste for studying or anything, but because it allowed an angel like myself to further our altruistic mission. Unlike lunch, where we could only engage in conversation, we could invite others to play games or do things that normally would be very difficult just sitting at a table.

As I walked out a set of double doors and onto the blacktop, I took another good look at the playground. It was pretty standard for that of an elementary school. It had a jungle gym, slide, basketball court, a swing set, and some four-square courts. Speaking of the four-square courts, I saw Clyde and his friends in the middle of a game, bouncing around a green ball from one box on the ground to another. I took in a deep breath of fresh air as I walked over to them. I raised a hand up and waved as I called out. "Hey guys, can I join in?" I asked. They stopped playing as Liam caught the ball and they all stared at me with looks of concern.

I was confused by their reaction to me and spoke up. "Uh, is something wrong?" Clyde rubbed the back of his head before responding.

"We should be asking you that question, buddy." He retorted. My eyes widened upon hearing the heartfelt response.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. Why would Clyde be asking me something like that out of nowhere? I wasn't in any physical pain and I was keeping my emotions and stress hidden pretty well through out the school day. As I tried to figure out why they were worried about me, they started trading glances amongst each other. Almost as if they were silently discussing what to say next.

"You haven't heard? There were some rumors floating around about you." Zach clarified.

"Rumors?" I asked nervously. I tried my best to keep my composure, but after having a large secret get discovered by someone made it rather difficult. "What kind of rumors? Where did you hear them from?" I questioned in hopes of getting more information on the matter. I couldn't help but pray silently in my head, hoping that it wasn't about what I feared it could be. Liam cleared his throat.

"Well, I heard the news from Girl Jordan. Who heard from Blake, that they heard from Chloe, they heard from Stan, who heard from Kyle, who heard from Eric, who heard from Kenny, who heard from Wendy." Before Liam could continue from the list of names, he was cut off by Rusty as he put a hand over his mouth to silence him.

"The point is Lincoln. We know that Ronnie Anne met up with you over the weekend." He explained.

The words lingered in my ears for what seemed like an eternity. "Y-you all know about that?" I asked. All four of them nodded their heads. So many thoughts were swirling in my mind. How did this possibly leak out to everyone in school? Did Ronnie Anne herself start talking about it and go back on her word? No, she couldn't have. She didn't even have evidence to prove her discovery of my family being angels, let alone anything to gain from it. If not her doing, how did everyone find out about this?

"So what happened exactly?" Zach asked. Another shot of dread surged through me as he continued. "Did she try to get into another fight with you? Because they said you were on the ground like you were begging her or something." I shook my head rapidly.

"No, no we weren't fighting. We just… talked." I answered, trying to avoid specifics. Unfortunately, they weren't satisfied with the answer. Rusty took a few steps closer to me.

"Talked about what? Come on, man. After everything that's been happening with you and her, there has to be something juicy going on." He asked. I started to tremble as the pressure on me started to build. I let out a cough and reluctantly began to speak.

"It was about something… personal." I replied in an attempt to end the discussion.

"Personal how?" Clyde questioned. Instinctively, I tugged at the collar of my shirt as I started feeling hot. I wanted change the subject so badly but they were all so persistent with their questions. I couldn't think of a way to defuse the situation or work around their desire to know. I could just stay silent, but that would only fuel their curiosity and they could investigate like Ronnie Anne did. I felt so trapped and helpless.

I felt as if the world around me was fading to darkness as my dread kept rising. I felt like I was about to faint, but then I heard something that kept me from losing consciousness. "What's up with Lame-O?" I turned and saw Ronnie Anne standing behind me with her arms crossed. She rolled her eyes and walked in between me and Clyde's friends. "Let me guess. You're asking him about our chat over the weekend?" She questioned while turning her head to look at me. I nodded reluctantly, nervous about what she was going to do or say. "I bet their impressed that I agreed to teach you how to skateboard."

… Skateboard?

"Skateboard?" Everyone asked, sharing my confusion. Ronnie Anne smirked and turned towards the group.

"Yeah, I was riding by Lame-O's house and he saw me riding. He was impressed and asked me to teach him a few tricks. I blew him off at first, but I started to feel sorry when he got on his knees and begged me for help." I was speechless with what was coming out of her mouth. None of that happened at all, yet she's twisting the story up like a pretzel knot! Ronnie Anne elbowed me in the arm and gave me a smug look. "Kind of a one-eighty from that incident with your little sister, huh?"

"Is that true, Lincoln?" Clyde asked. I was about to deny the story, but quickly stopped myself as I realized the opportunity fate had given me. I couldn't tell lies that easily, that much was obvious. But there was one thing that stayed consistent from the real story and Ronnie Anne's version.

"Well, I saw her with a skateboard. And, yeah, I did beg." I confessed. The other boy's expressions turned to looks of sympathy. Rusty shook his head.

"Man, if you wanted help learning to skate, you could have just asked one of us. Heck, I was so good with wheels even in a bike gang for a bit." He stated. Everyone gave him an unamused look as he looked away in embarrassment. "Well, before they kicked me out last summer… I don't want to talk about it." Ronnie Anne chuckled a bit at his confession before grabbing my wrist.

"Well, I hope you don't mind if I borrow Lame-O for a bit. I told him we'd discuss my terms here at school." With that, Ronnie Anne began dragging me away from the group and towards a pair of dumpsters. All the while my friends looked upon me with either pity or confusion as I was taken away to another part of the playground. I know that this situation wasn't exactly ideal, but I couldn't help but feel relieved with the great stroke of luck the heavens sent my way. Though, I didn't have much time to relish the moment as Ronnie Anne practically threw me behind the dumpster once we were out of everyone's view.

Her mood soured instantly as she glared at me. "You are so damn lucky I came looking for you after I heard the rumors floating around! What was all that even about?" Ronnie Anne hissed at me. I took a moment to fully process what just happened. Ronnie Anne deliberately helped me keep my secret! She went out of her way to protect me! Needless to say, I was both relieved and astounded.

"Phew, that was so close. Ronnie Anne, no words can express how-."

"HEY! Don't change the subject, Loud! You answer me!" She cut me off while pressing a finger against my chess. "I thought you were on some secret divine mission or whatever. You said you wanted to keep the fact you and your sisters are you know what secret. Were you seriously just about to blab about everything?" She criticized. A pit formed in my stomach as the shame of my weak will hit me hard. With a heavy sigh, I nodded.

"Yeah, but it was all so much. They were so insistent on finding out what happened and I couldn't just ignore them."

"Didn't you consider just lying to them?" Ronnie Anne suggested. Oh boy, this wasn't going to be easy to explain.

"But, I can't lie." I answered.

"So you you'd just throw everything down the drain because of your moral compass?"

"No, Ronnie Anne. I mean I actually can't lie to anyone." I explained. As Ronnie Anne continued to stare at me, I looked at the ground and saw a tin can lying on the ground. "It's a thing about angels like me. A compulsion to always tell the truth. The only ways around it are precise wording or rehearsing answers to specific questions." I explained. "Like, if I was asked if I was a human, I could say yes. Unfortunately, that's about it." Ronnie Anne looked at me with a blank expression. I couldn't tell exactly what she was thinking at first. Though I didn't have to spend too much time guessing as she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long exhale.

"How am I the only one who's managed to find you out?" She groaned. I didn't really have a straight answer to the question. Ronnie Anne let out another sigh. "Okay, we need to fix this." She stated bluntly. I blinked as I silently focused on a single word in that statement.

"Uh, 'we'?"

"Yes 'we'. If you blab the truth about everything on instinct, then you'll drag me into the conversation. The last thing I want is people kicking down my door because I talked to you. So now, I'm going to teach you how to lie."

"WHAT?" I exclaimed loudly in horror. Ronnie Anne put a finger to my mouth and tried to silence me with a 'shush'. "Ronnie Anne, I can't possibly do that. To completely lie about something goes against the good morals I want to imprint on society." My words didn't deter her at all, though. She just kept going.

"Then what do you plan on doing if someone asks questions, I'm not around to save your ass, and you can't use those loopholes? Wouldn't that kind of ruin everything?" She countered. I wanted to shoot the argument down, but when I thought about it, the more I saw her point. I rubbed my arm nervously, somewhat embarrassed to concede the argument.

"Well, I mean, I guess you have a point. But it still sounds so wrong." Ronnie Anne raised an eyebrow, not even speaking a word as her eyes never broke away from me. As I thought about her proposal, I imagined a golden scale in my mind, with little stones being used to weigh the matter the more I thought of the pros and cons. My sisters' opinion if they found out? Definitely bad. Protecting our cover? Good. Ideas like this kept getting added to each side of the mental scale one by one.

"Well?" Ronnie Anne asked, pulling me out of my daydream. I groaned before I gave my answer.

"I guess learning to tell little white lies wouldn't hurt." I reasoned. Though, a part of me couldn't believe that came out of my mouth at all. Ronnie Anne smiled and gave me a punch in the arm.

"Great! We'll talk more at lunch. For now, if anyone asks about the two of us, just say 'It's a secret' and nothing more. Got it?" I nodded as Ronnie Anne turned away from me and started to walk away. Now by myself, I let out a sigh and looked up to the clouds in the sky.

"God, please give me strength." I pleaded before I walked away from the dumpsters to find Clyde and his friends to join them in their game.

Wow, I'm not giving Lincoln any breaks here, am I? Will Ronnie Anne's help be to his benefit or lead to his downfall? Well, you'll find out eventually.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go. I have something important to intend to. Perhaps I'll show you sometime...