by Ember Hollis
“Have been out to get you too?” Pandora says blandly.
I frown and nod. My cheeks are burning now, and it’s a challenge for me to keep my eyes steadily fixed on hers. But I’m telling the truth? Why does it feel so… so embarrassing to admit all of it?
Pandora sighs and pulls out a sheet of paper from a pocket deep in her robes. “One, you carried a human weapon to school on your first day, using it to threaten two Horsemen, two, you violently killed a dove right in front of the whole school during lunch, three, you instigated a student’s loss of control in SP&E resulting in their missing class for three days, four, you trespassed into the vampires’ quarters in the Ballroom, five, you tried to seduce an unwilling Horseman, six, you attacked yet another Horseman using your roommate’s power, and seven, you went off on your own to hunt down the Fallen angel when you knew you were needed back at the campsite to help with the unicorns, putting yourself in grave danger, and causing a diversion that resulted in most of our unicorns being unattended and thereby falling to Darkness,” she lists, before looking up at me.
“Now I know that the powers the Four wields can sometimes affect our students’ behavior, and that they aren’t fond of angels,” she gives me a knowing look, “But it looks like you’ve been stirring up trouble from the very first moment you arrived. If they were truly out to get you, why is it that every single one of them has had a violent or…” she frowns and purses her lips as she glances back at the paper, “undesirable encounter, with you as the instigator?”
I shake my head in disbelief. “No, that’s… none of that was my intention. It just looks that way, but believe me, I would never… I would never have willingly done all of that.” I shut my mouth with a snap, knowing just how pathetic I sound.
Pandora blinks at me slowly, then shakes her head and reaches into another pocket.
“I want to believe you, Miss Ramsey. But when it’s all put together, and when I find this being sent out all over the school with a stamp marking it as coming from the pneumatic tube in your dorm room…” she trails off as she hands me what looks like a photograph on parchment paper, “Well, everything starts to look like the sort of behavior from someone who’s crying out for attention.”
My jaw drops when I see what’s painted in glossy colors on the paper. It’s me, sitting up on the stone altar of the Ballroom in a seductive pose, disheveled and barely clad with two male vampires caressing me and my lips locked in a deep kiss with a female vampire. From the position the image is illustrated, it looks like I’m staring straight into the eyes of the viewer and flaunting the fact that I have three people pleasuring me.
“This happened,” I say with a shaking voice. “While I was out of my mind from taking in a unicorn’s Darkness, and after Vivette, Briley, and their posse ambushed me and trapped me in the Ballroom with the vampires. I’m the victim here, not anyone else, and I would never, ever, show these pictures to anyone. Not ever. This was a setup, you have to believe me.” My eyes begin to prickle with tears, but I widen them and force the tears back, fighting to hold her gaze and not look away.
Pandora looks solemnly at me for a long moment, before shaking her head. “You know, I really want to believe you. After all, I know what it’s like to be blamed for unleashing all the ill that’s happened or ever will happen in the world, when that’s the last thing I meant to ever happen.”
“But… you still don’t believe me,” I whisper. I crush the paper in my fist, wishing I could do the same to all the people who’d hurt me and led me to this situation.
Pandora sighs. “Only time will tell, I suppose. I could suspend you and let the school have some time to calm down after the recent events… it might give you a break too, if what you’re saying is true…”
No! I’m surprised by how much the idea repels me, but it’s the last thing I want right now. Getting suspended after everyone’s seen the picture would almost certainly give them all the completely wrong idea.
“But I see you don’t favor that option,” Pandora smiles slightly at my expression. “Well, then we’ll just have to keep you with us, won’t we? At least for now.” She looks off into the distance distractedly, then glances back at me before bending down to sketch a few more symbols on the spell circle. “You may go, Heaven.”
“But… what about the angel? Wasn’t I suppose to meet him?”
Pandora glances up with sharp eyes. “Yes, but that was before this picture was sent out in such a public manner, Heaven. I haven’t made my mind up yet whether you are innocent in all of this, but whichever the case may be, you can be sure that you do not want to make such a bad first impression on one of your kin. After one of their own chose to Fall right here at Pandorax, I won’t be surprised to learn that they’ve started keeping an eye on us. No, it would be far better for you and the academy if you stayed in the background for now. We will need help to recover from losing our unicorns, and I do not want to chance it being denied to us. So please remember this and try to keep yourself out of trouble. Do your best to avoid all such situations and I might be more inclined to believe you next time.”
I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes forth. In the end, after a disapproving glance from her secretary who silently holds the door open for me, I exit Pandora’s office and return to my classes.
Chapter 7: Heaven
“So? How did it go?” Sybil asks excitedly at lunch time. “How did the angel look like? Were his wings bigger than yours? Did he have more than two? Or was it a ‘she’?”
“You know,” I sigh, “I wish I could tell you. But I didn’t see him. Or her. Or it…”
“What?” Sybil draws back, shocked. “But you went to the Headmistress’ office, didn’t you?”
“Yup. I spoke to her, and she thinks everything that’s happened is my fault.” I shrug. “Or at least, she doesn’t believe that I wanted no part in it. And because of this,” I retrieve the picture I’d kept, crushed into a ball in my skirt pocket, “She decided I’m not good enough to speak to the angel. So I had to leave before they came.”
I bite off a spoonful of peas and chew it sullenly. I’d really been looking forward to meeting that angel. One of my kind who was genuinely good and pure. I’d wanted to ask them why all of this had happened. How Mikael had Fallen and what I was supposed to do now that he was gone. I’d needed to know whether what I’d done to him was right, or whether it made me a terrible daughter, and someone who’d rot in hell for the sin of killing her own father. But it seems I’ll have to wait. Either that, or pray the usual way, into a void of silence. Because no matter how large or white my wings are, or how much angel blood runs through me, things are still the same deep inside. I’m still Heaven, the thieving, misbehaving girl who wasn’t there for her mother, who stabbed her father, and who has no clue if she is or will ever be in God’s good graces.
Though it’s most likely that I won’t. What’s the point of being angel-blooded when I still don’t know what’s the right thing to do?
“By Zeus,” Sybil murmurs, interrupting my thoughts. “This is…” her eyes dart from the picture to me, wide as dinner plates. “This is you.”
“It happened while you were away, remember? I told you, I got forced into it.” Even though she already knew about it, it seems that seeing really is believing, because Sybil is looking at me now as if she’s just seen a new side to me. She blushes now at the pointed look I give her, then nods silently.
“Hey, angel,” a voice growls out over my shoulder. I sigh, then turn to see Malek standing behind me. His accusing eyes pin me down like twin laser beams. “Am I going to have watch out for something like this too?” he shoves another copy of the painting under my nose. “You didn’t bring a recording spell into my room, did you?” he glares at me fiercely, as if expecting me to whip out another picture of us in his bedroom. “ I don’t want to end up on that wall even if you do.” He gestures to the posters that line the far wall of the dining room. To my horror, almost all of them are picture
s of me, plastered over the usual notices for announcements.
Just like that, my temper snaps.
“You know what, Malek,” I say, “You know very well I didn’t do what I did with you on purpose. You want to kill me, remember? I wouldn’t choose to ever come near you even if someone paid me a billion dollars, or you were the last boy on earth, so give it a rest, will you?” I push my chair back hard so it squeals on the floor, then grab my tray and empty it in the nearest basin.
As I turn to leave the cafeteria, I see Malek still looking at me. Maybe I’m imagining it or something, but his expression looks more confused than affronted… and maybe even a little hurt.
Nonsense. He probably just wanted to rub my face in what had happened, just like the rest of them. I dismiss any doubts and stalk out of the room, matching his gaze with a glare of my own.
* * *
After the encounter with Malek, I make my mind up to take Pandora’s advice and keep myself out of trouble, specifically by avoiding the Four and their rabid fan club as much as possible. Luckily for me, Chiros unknowingly cooperates when he assigns us our exercise in SP&E.
“I’m really busy today, so I want all of you to pair up and take turns to help each other practice a skill that you find challenging. You are allowed to choose your own location and method, as long as you stay on this mountain and don’t harm the environment or your partner. Horsemen, you will pair up with each other. The rest of you are free to choose your own partner, as long as they are of equal strength or have complementary skills to help you hone your own abilities.”
Sybil slithers over to my side. “Fancy helping me out with my aim?”
I’m glad she chose me to partner with, but there’s a glint in her eye I don’t quite like. “What do you have in mind?”
Ten minutes later, I’m right at the cliff’s edge with a bag of sticks slung over my shoulder and my wings stretched out over my head. It’s the same cliff I fell over while riding the unicorn, and while I’m not usually afraid of heights, I’m getting a foreboding sense of déjà vu.
“Is it too late to change my mind?” I yell down at Sibyl, who’s perched in the tallest tree bordering the meadow below me, with her tail wrapped tightly around its trunk.
“You still owe me for Knox, remember?” she yells back. “I’m eating twice as much as normal thanks to the curse he laid on me after he woke up! If this keeps up, I’m going to need new uniforms!”
I sigh deeply and nod. I still haven’t met Knox face to face, thanks to some ninja moves I pulled in the corridor whenever I saw him and pure dumb luck, but I have no doubt that the time will come when we cross paths. Needless to say, I’m not looking forward to it. “Fair enough!”
After another sigh, I close my eyes and clutch the bag tightly to my chest. Flying is something that should come naturally, and did come naturally, the first time I tried it. But launching into the sky from the ground versus diving off a cliff with a bag of sticks weighing you down are two entirely different things.
“You can do it, Heaven,” I tell myself. “You wanted a second chance… well, now you’ve got it.”
I step up to the edge of the cliff. My heart is pounding so hard, I can barely hear anything else, and the ground seems to quake under my feet. Just do it quick, before you pass out and become the world’s first angelic pancake!
“Come on, Heaven, I’m growing a beard waiting for you,” Sybil teases me.
I grin, then with a soft cry, I make myself leap over the edge.
There’s a split second or two when I’m sure I’m going to die. My stomach flips into my mouth and wind resistance slams against me, jerking my arms and legs back. Then, my wings come apart and start pumping like twin turbo engines, and all of a sudden… I’m flying.
“Whoooooooo!” I hoot at the top of my voice. The ground is skimming by like a movie reel on fast forward, but I catch the gleam of Sybil’s silver scales amid the blur. She’s laughing and clapping for me, and the sound of it warms my heart and makes me grin.
I take a loop around the mountain and look down to see the other students dotting the landscape in pairs, fighting, racing, or performing magic with one another. Flying makes the world feel like a larger and smaller place all at the same time. I can’t help marveling at the rush of wind in my hair, and the sense of freedom that comes with it. I didn’t realize how trapped I’ve felt this past week, but now that I can fly, I feel like I can go anywhere and do anything anytime I want. It’s an uplifting feeling that helps brush away a bit of the depressing grayness that has seeped into my world of late.
After another turn and a steep dive through a dewy low-hanging cloud, I loop back to pass over Sybil. She’s waiting for me, with a hand on her sunglasses. When I come close enough, I lop a stick the length of my arm so that it arcs close to her, and watch as she tries to petrify it in mid-air. She misses the first one, but as we practice, her aim becomes better and better, until I start to give her more challenging targets while executing complicated turns in the air.
In no time at all, I’ve run out of ammunition and Sybil is calling for a time-out.
“I need to take a break,” she calls out to me. “My eyes are starting to get tired and I need water.”
I nod, then swoop off to enjoy some uninterrupted flying. I’m starting to get the hang of it, and to trust my instincts in the air. The trickiest part is when the wind blows hard then suddenly changes direction or just stops. That’s when I have to adapt quickly, or risk being blown off course or falling. The cliff side and the area beside it where the forest begins is a good place to practice with this sort of wind, so I turn away from the meadow and descend to fly at a lower altitude over the trees.
I’m practicing a tricky loop-the-loop when I notice that I’m not entirely alone in the sky. Behind me is a little dove with ruffled white feathers and a reddish beak. It trails me closely, like a faithful tail as I come out of the loop, then swoops up to flutter around me like a butterfly checking out a fresh blossom.
“Hello,” I say, holding out my hand to the bird. “You’re a curious little thing, aren’t you, you little cutie—” I jerk backwards and shake my hand violently just before the dove alights on my index finger.
“What the hell?” I murmur, eyeing the bird’s cloudy eyes and broken feathers along its tail. The thing is almost too damaged to be in the sky, and yet it’s kept up with me. In fact… the way it looks is incredibly familiar… as if… it’s the exact same bird that I’d stabbed just days ago!
I suck in a deep breath, then look down between the trees below me. If Bane is trying to lure me into a trap, I’m not going to fall for it. But there’s no sign of his tall figure lounging between the trees. Instead, a cold, clammy feeling descends on me when I finally notice where I’m flying over.
The pit I was trapped in is almost directly below me. And… I can see something white stirring at the bottom of it. I make up my mind to just fly away and ignoring whatever Bane is up to. But as I execute the turn to make my way back, a sudden breeze passes over me, and I find myself forced lower over the trees. So low that I glimpse a tiny little four-footed figure, struggling to clamber out of the top of the pit.
“No…” I gasp, recognizing the baby unicorn. “That’s not… it can’t… why would he…”
There’s only one way to find out.
I swoop down to the ground a few paces away and hide behind some trees as the little unicorn keeps running up the steep make-shift platform of interwoven vines and twigs. The dove that was following me darts forward, along with other small winged creatures. Together, the undead animals push and pull the unicorn until it makes its way out and collapses onto the ground. My heart goes out to it as I watch it pant. It died so recently that it almost looks alive. Except for the reddish spot where its little horn is missing, and the wounds at its neck.
The sight of its injuries fills me with regret and anger. Why is Bane doing this? I look around furiously, expecting to find him somewhere close by, with a col
d grin on his face while he uses the unicorn to taunt me. How could he do something so cruel?
I’m about to step out to call him out and force him to face me, when a twig breaks somewhere between the trees opposite me. I hold my breathe as Bane’s silvery white hair emerges from the shadows, along with the golden horn and silvery mane of a dainty mare.
The majority of its body is marked by a huge purplish splotch of Darkness, but as soon as I see it, I know that this unicorn will never turn into a Nightmare. It’s obvious from the slit on its throat that Chiros and the others gave up on it and had the unicorn put down before it succumbed to Darkness. My stifled breath transforms into a heavy lump as I realize that this must be one of the unicorns that we lost because I disappeared last night, and I take a step back into the shadow of the forest to make sure that no one sees me.
“Is that the foal then?” Christian says when he appears too, bringing up the rear behind the undead unicorn.
Bane opens his mouth, but before he can answer, the mare spots the little unicorn and immediately quickens its pace to get to it. It nickers plaintively and she rushes to bend her nose to nuzzle its back and head, carefully avoiding its wounds. The sight of the mother and her baby reuniting brings tears to my eyes, which overflow down my cheeks when I notice how she pauses at the spot where its horn should be.
I did that. The hot lump in my throat and the rushing blood in my ears makes me almost miss Bane’s next words.
“He is,” he says to Christian. “She wouldn’t rest until she found him. Hopefully they’ll be content now that they’re together again.”
A long moment passes with the unicorns still nuzzling at each other. Then, the mother unicorn starts to lead her baby off into the forest. Christian sighs and steps forward. “Looks like they’re not. Here, let me at him.”
