by Ember Hollis
But a unicorn’s horn isn’t any more pure than its hoof or its blood. And Mikael definitely didn’t have hands that were small enough to leave this sort of hand print on the unicorn’s head. Which can only mean that… Heaven was the one to tear its horn out. And she’d done it swiftly and strongly enough to literally snap the bony horn right out of the unicorn’s skull. No mean feat, even given that it’s a baby.
My eyes slide over to Heaven where she’s still slumped boneless against the werewolf. There’s no trace of any claw marks on her face now, and her skin is as luminescent and smooth as its ever been beneath the coating of blood. She’s going to come out of this looking as perfect as she ever did. But I can tell that the little angel’s finally growing into her wings. No matter how helpless she seems to be, it’s obvious what she truly is. Looks like I’ll have to keep an even sharper eye on her.
Chapter 5: Heaven
“Heaven! Heaven! Can you hear me? Are you okay? What did he do to you?”
Noah’s face is the first thing I see when I come out of the daze. His hazel eyes burn with concern, and I’m immediately overtaken by guilt.
“I’m okay,” I reply. I reach a hand to cover his where it’s touching my face. It doesn’t hurt anymore, and when I move to trace where my flesh had been torn, I feel only smooth skin. “I’m not hurt.”
“But you were, just a moment ago,” Noah says in awe. “You healed… right before our eyes!”
The unicorn blood. Somehow, it had healed me… either that, or it had helped me heal myself.
I glance over to the baby foal. It’s covered now, by a white linen shirt, but I remember what it looked like. How it felt. How it… tasted. “I…” I blink rapidly. “He… he made me and then I…”
“It’s okay,” Noah reassures me. “Everyone will be here soon. We’ll get you out in no time.”
I allow them to hover over me, while I try to process what just happened, and what I’d done. The unicorn is dead. And most likely, so is Mikael. I’m single-handedly responsible for the deaths of both my Mom and Dad. Has there ever been a more sinful daughter than me?
Whatever high I was riding burns completely away as the gravity of what I’ve done comes crashing down on me. But no matter how my heart aches, I can’t find it in myself to feel sorry for Mikael. I hate what I’ve done, but I won’t miss him.
“Angel.”
I flinch at the word, then realize that it’s only Malek addressing me. “What?”
“I can carry you up,” he tells me, gesturing to the top of the pit. “Or you can ride on the werewolf’s back.”
“Yes, I’ll change immediately,” Noah says hastily, getting to his fours.
I stand, then hesitate. Maybe it’s because of what I’ve just done, or the fact that the cuts on my face healed without any effort on my part. Whatever it is, I feel more powerful. More confident, and sure of what I can do. I don’t know if its due to my partaking of the unicorn’s blood, or whether the life or death situation I’ve just survived helped me become aware of it, but I feel like something important inside me has changed.
“No, that’s okay,” I tell Noah, though his eyes have already begun to glow gold, and fur is sprouting all over his body. “I’ll do it myself.”
He gazes at me in confusion, but I just close my eyes.
I don’t quite know what I’m doing, but when I reach for it, I feel my power. It feels like I’m calling out to a friend I know is just in the other room. It stirs within me, swirling just below my skin, and with my guidance, it pools at my back, right between my shoulder blades. A soft sound like crumpling paper and silk brushing against skin reaches my ears, and slowly, I feel my skin splitting across my back to allow my wings to emerge. It’s painful, but not as painful as the first time, and before I know it, I’m standing in the pit, shadowed by two huge wings arching over my head.
“Whoa…” Noah says in a low voice as he leans back to take all of me in.
I should be happy that my wings actually appeared, but all of a sudden, I’m filled with a terrible fear. I squeeze my eyes closed, dreading the sight of my own feathers. What if… after what I did… they’re black?
“Well done,” a familiar voice tells me. I look up, and in the process, glimpse the tips of my wings. They’re covered in the whitest, most fluffiest feathers I’ve ever seen, and not even the sight of Bane’s piercing gaze looking down at me can detract from my feeling of utter joy and relief.
“I told you I gave them back to her.” Knox emerges beside him. “Though it took you long enough to realize it.” He looks at me like I’m some sort of specimen on display, then nods in approval. A spike of annoyance rises in me at the gesture.
“Not that she needed them.” I turn my head and spot Christian looking down too, from the other side of the pit. “I told you I’d find you, little lamb. Now all we need to do is wait for that Fallen to return. You can leave it to us to deal with him.” He smirks at me arrogantly, and the sight of his grin makes the blood in me boil even more.
Without warning, I launch myself into the air. My wings are a little unsteady, but that doesn’t stop me from whipping up a storm of air that blows the Four and Noah back.
“Wait for you? You’ll deal with him?” I exclaim scornfully from the sky as the Four stare up at me. Trust them to take credit for absolutely nothing! I might have hoped they’d help me when I had nothing else to depend on, but now that I’ve gotten my abilities back, there’s no way I’ll cozy up to these bullies. “Thanks, but no thanks. Mikael is dead, and I killed him.”
A sense of righteous fury burns through me at the skeptical expressions they all share, and I wallow in it, using it to help drown out the hollow guilt and sadness that’s hounding me. “Believe me or not, I don’t care. But you’d better leave me alone, or I’ll do to you what I did to him.”
I shoot them a final warning glare, then spin in mid-air to head back to the castle. Every wing beat brings pain with it, but I refuse to show any weakness and descend back to the ground. Besides, with all the pain in my heart, the ache in my wings is nothing more than a physical distraction, one which I’ll gladly tolerate.
* * *
“Oh my God, you’re back!”
Sybil launches herself at me in a tangle of snake tails and fuzzy hair. I’ve caught her just after a bath, and she smells divine compared to the blood and dirt I’m coated in, but she still hugs me so tightly, I struggle to breathe. I don’t care though. I’m just so glad she’s happy to see me.
“I would have gone with Noah to find you, except that Chiros made me leave after he found out I petrified Knox,” she explains. “I tried to tell him it wasn’t by accident, but he didn’t listen to me. I snuck out to look for you anyway, but then I heard they found you. I thought you’d come straight back. Where have you been all day? And are you okay?”
“I’m okay. Chiros wanted a debriefing, and Madam Kahili wanted to check me for injuries,” I tell her. I don’t really want to repeat what I told them, but Sybil doesn’t let up. She follows me all the way from our room to the baths, which is deserted since everyone is at dinner. We occupy a jacuzzi and I end up telling her everything, even about the unicorn tear, which I’d forgotten to mention to Chiros.
“I lost it anyway,” I shrug when she gasps. “I lost track of it, but it must have fallen out of my mouth at some point. It’s probably somewhere in the dirt at the bottom of the well.”
“But unicorn tears are super rare,” Sybil protests. “You should go look for it!”
“Does it have any magical properties?” I ask hesitantly. As precious as the tear is, I don’t really want to return to that place if I don’t need to. All I want is to put everything that’s happened in the last twenty four hours behind me.
“Uhm…” Sybil frowns. “Not that I’ve heard of… but I’m no expert on supernatural animals.”
“Then it can stay there,” I say decidedly. “It was really pretty, but it shows how much the unicorn suffered, and I don’t really wan
t it after all. It would just be a reminder of how I failed to protect it.” And what I did when I was out of my mind from drinking its blood.
“Okay,” Sybil nods, accepting my decision. “Anyway, I’m so glad this is all over. The castle will be peaceful again, now that the unicorns are safe. And no one will dare to disturb you once word of how you defeated a Fallen angel gets out. Just wait and see, everything will be much nicer around here from now on.”
I glance at her and try to smile. “Actually…” I pause, wondering how to express what I’ve been thinking about ever since I came back. “I’m considering leaving Pandorax.”
“What?” Sybil jerks upright, her writhing coils causing the water beneath us to churn. “You’re not serious?”
“Kind of,” I admit. “I mean, I only came here because Mikael wanted me to. And after what he did, I don’t really feel like doing what he wanted anymore. I’m only staying until an angel emissary drops by to talk to me about what happened. After that… well, I guess there’s no reason to stay.”
“But what about learning how to use your powers?” Sybil shakes her head. “What about becoming a Nephilim?” She lowers her voice. “Is this about the Four? Because… if you’re going to give up on yourself just because they’ll be harder on you now that you have your powers back—”
“That’s not it! I’m not afraid of them anymore. Not that I ever was,” I add hurriedly as my face begins to burn. Some of the things the Four did to me will haunt me for years, I’m sure. “There’s nothing they can do to me that will hurt me more than what Mikael did. And even that still doesn’t compare to what losing my mother felt like.”
“Maybe,” Sybil says. Her eyes are so knowing that I have to look away. “You’re different now, I can see that. And I believe you when you say you’re not afraid of them. But… I think that you’re still running away, aren’t you?”
She inches closer and reaches out to gently touch one of my wings. They’re so huge, they would take up all the space in the jacuzzi if I decided to spread them, and the water droplets clinging to the feathers glitter like tiny diamonds in the soft light of the room. “These wings are so pretty, but you’ve barely even looked at them.”
“It’s hard to see what’s directly behind me. I don’t exactly have eyes at the back of my head,” I snap, ignoring the fact that there’s a full length mirror on a wall close to us. Sybil draws back, hurt, and I immediately feel terrible. “Sorry, I just… I…” I say, shaking my head. “I didn’t mean to yell at you.”
“It’s okay,” Sybil glances at my wings again, then looks down to fiddle with a scale on her tail. “You know, Heaven, I didn’t always have my ability to turn people to stone. For a long time, I just thought I was a normal lamia, like everyone else in my hometown. Then one day, when I was nine, my brother attached a rubber spider to one of my braids for a practical joke. I was so angry when I found out… I wanted nothing more than to get back at him for freaking me out. So I glared at him and whipped him with my tail. The next thing I knew, he was lying on the ground, with his tail turned to stone and half of it cracked into a dozen pieces.”
I turn to gaze at Sybil. Her blue glasses are misted over, but I can tell she’s struggling to hold back tears. “He turned back to normal a few minutes later and started bleeding everywhere. Then the doctors came and saved his life. But to this day, he still struggles to sit up and propel himself. He’ll never match your running pace, let alone the speed most lamia can achieve by slithering.”
“And… don’t you hate yourself for that?” The quiet words, along with the bitterness accompanying them surprise me, even as I say it. “I’m sorry,” I add quickly, “I didn’t mean—”
“No, I don’t,” Sybil answers anyway. “I regret what happened, but it was an accident. Something that happened because I didn’t know how to control my powers. Something that might happen again, unless I learn,” she tells me pointedly.
I shake my head. “Mikael was a full-blown angel with years and years of experience when he Fell. I’m just a half-angel, and a barely grown up one at that. Every day I feel the temptation to take revenge on everyone who’s hurt me. Staying here is a recipe for disaster!”
“Yeah, but you’ve lasted this long without succumbing to Darkness, even after taking more than your fair share from the unicorns. And Mikael started out as a perfect angel, didn’t he?” Sybil huffs. “He never had to suffer the way you’ve suffered, or the way I have. We know the worst thing that could happen, we’ve actually seen it and felt how it affects everyone around us, which is why we’ll never let our abilities or our passions get the better of us. Unless we give up now and don’t even bother to learn how to control ourselves. If you do that, then no matter how far you run, you’ll just be delaying the inevitable. Staying and fighting is the only way to defeat our fears.”
I stare at Sybil, loving and hating her for being so wise and yet so preachy all at the same time.
“You say it like it’s so easy!” I growl at her finally, flicking one my wings so it sprays her with water.
Sybil scoffs, though her lips curl into a smile. She knows she’s won me over.
“Right. Which is why I hide from those bullies every chance I get,” she says, drenching me with a splash of her own. “It’s super hard, I know. But please stay, Heaven.”
“Okay,” I relent with a sigh. “Just for you. Because us freaks need to stick together to survive, don’t we?”
Sybil starts to frown at the word, but when she sees me grin, she smiles back softly instead. “We sure do.”
Chapter 6: Heaven
The angel emissary is scheduled to arrive the next day during Alchemy. I’m grateful for it, since everyone hasn’t stopped staring at me the whole morning. I know it’s not my wings, because I dismissed them before going to sleep. Sleeping on a bed of feathers sounds super comfy, but it’s actually not, not when the feathers are attached to your own bones with your own blood capillaries running between them. After tossing and turning for an hour and getting a terrible case of pins and needles, I finally caved and sent them away. Since nothing else has changed, I have no idea why everyone is staring and whispering behind my back, and when a metal cylinder pops out of the pneumatic tube beside the blackboard, interrupting Professor Wisteria’s lecture to request for my presence in the Headmistress’s office, I get up and leave the classroom gladly.
Despite all the trouble I’ve gotten into lately, I still haven’t actually met the Headmistress of Pandorax Academy. From what I’ve gathered by listening to Sybil and other students, she doesn’t seem to spend much time at the castle, foregoing the humdrum routine of everyday life at the academy to travel the world. It makes me nervous to meet her now, especially since she only returns when something urgently requires her attention. The urgent issue being me and my encounter with Mikael.
I arrive at her office, deep in the heart of Pandorax at the top of a central tower in the castle. Her secretary, a tall, handsome young man with watchful green eyes opens the door, letting me into a vast chamber that seems larger on the inside than I would have initially expected. All the furniture is pushed to the edges of the room, and mid-morning light streams in through a rose window high up on the far hall, illuminating a huge spell circle that’s drawn in multi-colored chalk on the floor.
Crouched at the far end of the circle is a young girl with long, chocolate brown hair and skin as pale as snow. She looks up at the sound of my footsteps echoing on the stone floor, and straightens to face me.
“Well, well… I take it you must be Heaven,” she says in a soft, sweet voice. “Nice of you to be on time.”
That’s our Headmistress? I struggle not to gape at the sight of the girl walking towards me. She’s dressed in a simple Grecian white gown, with her hair flowing free down her back except for where its tied into loops beside her ears. Her dainty frame, and the tender, gamine look about her reminds me of the well-known 1960s model, Twiggy. But as she nears me and I get a better look at her dark, doe
-like eyes, I get a sense that she’s far more mature than she looks.
“Yes, Headmistress,” I say, nodding my head politely. “I am she.”
“You may call me Pandora,” she says, smiling when I lose the battle with my self-restraint and gape. “Yes, I see you’ve heard of me. As I’ve heard of you.”
“You’re our first half-angel in more than a hundred years,” she continues, walking around me to look me up and down. “ I was skeptical when Chiros told me he’d received your application to join our school. I thought he was mistaken. Surely you were just another child of the Nephilim. But no, you truly do have the luster of the angels about you.” She cocks her head at me, then narrows her eyes. “A luster, as well as something… else.”
My face heats up at her reference to Mikael’s Fallen status. Surely it’s not contagious?
“I don’t—” I begin, wanting to deny any link to him, but Pandora keeps talking as if I hadn’t said anything.
“Let’s just get down to business, shall we? I wanted to talk to you personally, because it’s just been one week since you started here at the academy and yet I’ve already received multiple reports of bad student behavior involving you. Not only that, our unicorn herd has diminished by more than half, and we’ve had a Fallen angel use our premises as a hunting ground, both of which incidences, I hardly need to say, are again linked back to you.”
I blink rapidly, trying to figure out what to say in my defense, while she looks at me with a stern, unfathomable gaze.
“Headmistress… Pandora…” I say, stumbling over the words. “I know how it looks, but believe me when I say that none of this was my doing. I would like nothing more than to be left alone. But ever since I arrived, the Four have been out to get me, to make me leave. And because they’re paying so much attention to me, the girls—”
