The Silver Horn of Adorini

Slowly, as silently as a goldfinch landing on a branch, Ella knelt in the lilies of the valley and peered carefully through the pink azalea blossoms, as her younger brother, Kieran, ran about Grammy’s backyard, searching for her hiding spot. Suddenly, Ella noticed a glimmer of silver under the lilies of the valley.

Kieran knelt beside her, not talking, but staring also at a small silver horn as Ella moved the lilies aside with her hand.

“It’s clean. Pick it up,” Kieran said. “I don’t think it’s dirty. Blow it and see what it sounds like,” he said, looking at his big sister.

Ella held a small and shiny bugle, maybe eight inches long. It felt just right in her hand, and she felt a surge of excitement blowing into it. She pictured herself calling an army to her side with this horn.

Ella blew a long note on the horn, and it sounded like singing and shouting, more than music, and suddenly a smiling girl stood in front of Ella and Kieran.

They looked at each other and looked at the girl.

“My name is Adorini,” she said, still smiling. “That horn is mine. Usually you don’t see the horn, or me. Your eyes often startle me, Ella. I didn’t just drop my horn on the ground. I accidentally dropped it into time.”

Kieran and Ella didn’t know if they were in a dream, or if this was magic, or if this was how things were always supposed to be but rarely were.

Adorini looked from Ella to Kieran and said, “You are wondering how I know you. I’ve known you all your lives. I think you do know that, in a way,” she said. Still, Ella and Kieran were silent, just staring at Adorini.

“Yes, you’re exactly right Ella. I’m your guardian angel,” Adorini said, responding to Ella’s thoughts. “I use my horn to call for help if you are getting into trouble.

“Yes, Ella, Kieran has a guardian angel also. His name is Teleos,” Adorini said.

“No, Kieran,” Adorini responded to the question in Kieran’s mind. “He doesn’t have a silver horn. He uses a sword.”

“Is his sword made of silver?” Kieran asked, finding his voice at last.

Adorini answered, “No, it’s made of fire. He is standing right behind you. He’s always right behind you, Kieran.”

Teleos smiled at Kieran, and Kieran wasn’t afraid, even though Teleos’ eyes were also made of fire. “I am always here to fight for you, my beloved Kieran!” he said.

Adorini and Teleos turned suddenly, looking to the East. Ella and Kieran couldn’t see them and wondered if they had left, or if a bright ray of sunlight simply blocked them from view.

Then, smiling at the children, Teleos said, “We soon must go, but first we want to tell you some things, things that will grow inside you over time. Just let these words be planted like seeds in you for now.

Let these words be planted like seeds in you for now.

“Kieran, some people may tell you to only stay in the moment, but that is not helpful advice. No, you should always be attentive to where the moment is headed. If you focus only on this moment, you will be more easily swayed by temptations and likely to be pulled into bad choices.”

Adorini knelt in front of Ella and said, “No, Ella, this is not how I always look, and no, Kieran, Teleos does not always look that way, either. This is the way that we are appearing to you today.

“And Ella,” Adorini continued, “you and Kieran do not only look to us the way you do now that we are with you inside a moment of time.

“To me, Ella, looking at you is something like looking into shallow, sunlit water, and closely watching the activity of all the life in the water. Or, it’s like looking at an abstract painting of bright colors, but the colors are alive, and they move, and they take different shapes as I watch. We can see you as you are outside of the boundaries of time. There are different parts, or levels, of what you are.

“The lower level is your emotions.

“Thinking is the next higher level. How you learn to think will help you guide and control your emotions, but they are not the most unique parts of who and what you are, Ella and Kieran.

“I know you will not understand these things now. You may not understand them for years, but it is important that I tell them to you. How many times will you speak face to face with me, or with another angel?

“The next higher part of you is your will—that is, your intentions, your determination, your decisions to act.

“There is a higher part of you that lifts your will higher still, and that is what you call beliefs, or faith. Faith attaches your will to the best kinds of choices.

“The strongest and most unique part of you is your will, so that is the part we watch most closely.

“There are other angels who are unclean. They are bad, and they want to hurt you. That is why God has us watching over you. These unclean angels do try to influence your feelings and your thoughts, but what they mostly want to control is your will and your faith—the things you believe.

“They come closer and seek to move your will, and that is when I blow my horn, and when Teleos draws his sword, and we fight them. Partly we fight them by touching your faith and will with ours, and that can help you turn away from bad actions that you may feel tempted to do.

“Ella and Kieran, after this you may not see us, and you may not sense our presence with you, but we will always be there. Just keep talking to us, like this. We will hear, and we will help.”