Hi, Aadi here. This is so awesome! Mischa and I are here with Tabris from The Wrong Enemy by Jane Lebak.

[Aadi] Who or what are you? What are your vitals?

[Tabris] My name is Tabris, and I’m an angel.  (Specifically, I’m of the choir of Angels.) I used to be a high-ranking soldier, but I was pulled off my squad to become a guardian angel. That didn’t work out very well.

[Aadi]  That is so cool. What’s God like?

[Tabris stares at me blankly] 

[Aadi] Okay, so what part do you play in the story?

[Tabris] I’m the main character, and when the story opens up, I’ve already done the worst thing I’ll ever do. At least, I hope it’s the worst thing.

[Aadi]  How would you describe your book?

[Tabris] The Wrong Enemy is about what happens after an angel does the unthinkable. As such, you’d probably call it “fantasy” because you can’t see and talk to angels on a regular basis, but for me, it’s realism of the most realistic sort. There’s some spiritual warfare because the demons hate humanity and will do anything possible to harm them. But there’s also a lot of interpersonal relationships going on between the different angels, and there’s a lot of spiritual growth that needs to take place in my relationship with God.

[Aadi]  What’s the most important thing in your life right now?

[Tabris] Elizabeth. Hands-down. She’s a ten year old girl I’ve been assigned to protect as her secondary guardian angel, even though my first guardianship was a total disaster. I didn’t want to like her. I figured if I got attached to her, it would only be worse for her and for me. But I do. I love her, and I’m so scared of what’s about to happen next.

[Aadi]  Tell me about where you live? Who do you live with?

[Tabris] I live in Vermont with Elizabeth’s family and all their guardian angels. There are a lot of us, and it feels as if everyone is in everyone else’s business. Plus, most of the other household guardians don’t even want me around. But my longtime friend Mithra is there, and I’ve made really good friends with an Archangel named Miriael who’s guarding Elizabeth’s brother and used to be part of the Archangel Michael’s “special ops” team. He and I spar with swords on a regular basis, and that’s a blast.

[Mischa] Sparring with swords? That would be amazing to try.

[Aadi]  What do you hope nobody ever finds out about you?

[Tabris] Everyone already KNOWS the worst stuff about me. I walk into a room and everyone turns and stares. And although they try to be subtle about it, the other guardian angels try to slip themselves between me and their charges. Imagine your darkest secret ever, and then imagine it’s on billboards all over town so that whenever you go out your front door, people recognize you and know it without knowing anything else about you. That’s my life.

[Aadi]  What do you like or dislike about the other characters from your book?

[Tabris] Rachmiel is Elizabeth’s other guardian angel. He’s great but he drives me nuts. He wants to get to know me and be soothing and supportive and at the same time, I know he doesn’t like me. He wants to pry into every little detail of everything I’m feeling. Just leave me alone for crying out loud. It’s bad enough that we’re stuck together in this job. At the very least we should give each other space.

[Aadi]  What’s the worst thing you’ve done to someone?

[Tabris] My first charge was a boy named Sebastian. I…. I just shouldn’t have done what I did to him. I’m sorry. I miss him so much, and he’s never going to forgive me.

[Aadi]  What type of places do you hang out in?

[Tabris] There’s a pond out back on Elizabeth’s family property. We’re in Colchester, Vermont, and at night you can go out to the pond and it’s so still. There’s this crystal silence, and you can look at the stars and hear their music, and in those big vast spaces, in the silence, you can feel God so very, very present. I love it there. I try to go every night.

[Aadi]  What kind of weather is your favorite?

[Tabris] Cold and windy! Now you’d think I’d love Vermont for that, but it’s totally the wrong kind of air for aerobatic flying. It’s too thick. For real aerobatics, give me a polluted city like New York, and then turn on the wind and the thunder. Pump your wings until you crest the top of a thunderhead and then plummet down the other side, wings streaking like light and the gale blasting in your face, pulling up only seconds from the concrete ground….? Oh, yeah. That’s life.

[Aadi]  Do you have any magical items? Where did you get them?

[Tabris] It’s not magical, but at the very end of the story, God gives me a gift. I can use it however I want to, but I can only use it once, and there’s one thing I really want to do with it. But there’s something I need to do too, and it’s such a hard decision.

[Aadi] Last question. Who would play you in the movie?

[Tabris] Gosh, that’s the kind of question Rachmiel would ask. Are you sure he didn’t put you up to this? Elizabeth doesn’t watch enough TV or movies for me to answer that in anything resembling a coherent fashion. All her friends love Tom Hiddleston, though, so let’s say Tom Hiddleston.

[Aadi] Thanks for stopping by, Tabris. Come by anytime you’d like.