by L. L Hunter
“We’re ready for you, Scarlett,” she said. The brother’s eyes met, chocolate brown and ice blue, a storm brewing between them. Dyston kept a firm hold on Scarlett, he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight, especially near Lakyn.
“I’m coming with her,” Dyston announced.
“Don’t worry little brother, she’ll be safe with me,” Lakyn told him, his face showing a snarky expression.
“I. Am. Coming.” Dyston repeated more firmly and slower this time. He stepped in front of Scarlett.
“Very well, but we must hurry,” said Ariel.
They rode the elevator up one level. As soon as the doors opened Scarlett thought she was in The Realm of Fire; all the walls, floor and ceilings were made of painted white wood. It was a colossal space, almost bare, except for a raised platform in the centre, with what looked like an altar on it. Scarlett was so busy admiring the bright vastness of the room, that she hadn’t observed Ariel placing a large white bowl on the altar. She glanced at Dyston, whose black leather jacket and green t-shirt were a striking contrast to the white backdrop. He was watching her. She knew that he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight this time. She stole a glance at Lakyn, who was staring at her as well, until Scarlett met his eyes, and he averted his gaze to Ariel.
“Can you please step forward Scarlett,” said Ariel. Scarlett took a step away from Dyston, towards the altar.
“Wait, what exactly does this blood ritual do to Scarlett?” asked Dyston, Scarlett paused.
“It makes her choose.” Ariel told him.
“Choose? You never said anything about a choice.”
“Silly boy, every angel has to choose at some point. And for Scarlett, that point is now. Scarlett please, come forward.” Ariel produced an ancient looking scroll and placed it on the marble table.
“What do I have to do?” Scarlett asked, when she was standing in front of the altar.
“Its quite simple, all you have to do is give me a drop of your blood on the dotted line,” she pointed to the scroll, and then produced a silver dagger.
“I don’t remember an oath which involved the spilling of blood,” said Dyston, moving to stand behind Scarlett, who reached out and took the dagger.
“Just a single drop will suffice,” said Ariel, watching intently like a cat watching a mouse. Scarlett ran her finger along the blade and it cut her instantly, a single crimson drop fell to the snowy marble. Time seemed to slow down as everyone stared at the blood, whose shape was impeccably round. Scarlett closed her eyes, and an image appeared in her mind, which she involuntarily began to draw. As she did, she heard multiple gasps.
“Scarlett, what are you doing?” asked Dyston
“No!” cried Lakyn, who seemed to recognise the image she was tracing in the blood. She opened her eyes and looked at what she had done. There, on the altar top, she saw an assemblage of circles, sharp angles and Latin symbols.
“Where on earth did you learn that?” Ariel asked, “stop!”
“It was given to me,” explained Scarlett, placing her palm to it, causing everything to disappear.
Chapter Twelve
Dance
It was the most intense white light, even brighter than the room they were in, and Scarlett was blind. She didn’t know exactly what she had done, but she knew it must have been pretty powerful and important if she had received it in a dream. A good dream, the kind that was full of Dyston, not a nightmare, full of screaming and angels burning. She felt around and soon realised that she had fallen on the floor. Did she pass out? She searched blindly, feeling in front of her. Until her fingertips came across something warm, she felt hair and skin. She groped and discovered that it was an arm. She moved her fingers to the right and found cool leather. Dyston? Dyston had been wearing a leather jacket. She kept moving her fingers up the arm until she met a shoulder, followed by a face, and then lips. She traced the lips with her thumb, and felt a warm breath caress it. And then she heard a moan escape from them.
“Scar,” grunted the voice, and she realised that it wasn’t coming from inside her head.
“Dyston?”
“Scar, what happened? Where are we?” he grabbed for her.
“I’m here. And I don’t know, I can’t see.” She took his hand.
“Me either,” said another voice. They weren’t alone.
“Lakyn?” She tested
“Yeah.” He coughed weakly, “come to me so I know where you are.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes.”
“No.” Dyston said at the same time, “I’m sure you’ll heal yourself.”
“How nice you are, little brother.”
“My pleasure, after how you treated Scarlett.”
“How-”
“-Guys please,” interrupted Scarlett, “no fighting over me.”
“What did you do? Do you know what that was?” said Lakyn, it sounded accusatory.
“Not really,” she told him. She could’ve lied but she didn’t have the energy for it, “I just did what I was told to do.”
“Who told you? That was an Angel’s Ward, a very powerful protection insignia, you could’ve killed us!” growled Lakyn. That was the moment their sights came back to them.
“What the-” said Lakyn, finding his feet near the ladder that led to the first floor of the library.
“We’re back in the library,” Scarlett stated.
“How is that possible?” asked Dyston. He was sprawled out behind her, his back against the maple tree. Scarlett had her body half turned towards him and was still holding his hand.
“The ward must have transported us back to the Academy.”
“Next time, before you do something, look before you leap,” grumbled Lakyn, escaping through the wooden doors slamming them in his wake. Scarlett turned towards Dyston who met her eyes, two shades of brown. He brushed a stray hair from her face.
“Shall we go?” he asked.
“In a minute.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.
~
Dyston refused to let his fingers be removed from Scarlett’s; he pulled her to him as soon as they were inside her bedroom.
“Dyston I need to tell you something, stop for just a second, I’m not going anywhere,” she laughed, as he ran his fingertips through her sunrise-coloured hair.
“Sorry,” he pulled back just enough to look at her, “I feel as though you will.”
“Well right now I’m not. This is important.” She stepped out of his embrace. Dyston just stared at her; he looked like a statue, a fierce angel statue.
“What is it?” he asked, his voice cautious.
“When I said I persuaded Lakyn, I didn’t just ask him as you said, it wasn’t simple.”
“Yeah?”
“I, um-” she hesitated. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t look at him. She took a deep breath, and when she could finally speak everything just exploded.
“I kissed him thinking he would soften and tell me what I needed to know, but I got scared because he caught me looking at his key collection, so everything happened at once, and I-” Dyston cut her off by putting a finger to her lips.
“Was that it? You just kissed him?”
“Well, no I… Dyston I’m so sorry.” She only realised that she was crying because her cheeks were damp. Dyston stepped forward and wiped them with the hem of his shirt.
“Don’t cry please. As I said before, I’m selfish and everyone’s selfish, because we all want you for ourselves. So really, I’m just one of the greedy people. It’s probably why my wings have stayed black.” He spoke with almost no emotion. He truly was a statue.
“Dys…”
“No, don’t speak. If you don’t want to be with me, you could’ve just said so.” His finger remained on her lips, tasting salty, still coated in her tears.
“Get ready for the dance, it begins in half an hour,” he whispered. And then he left, lifting his cobalt wings through the bi-fold doors and into the stormy
sky. There was a crack of thunder and flash of lightening, and then he was gone, leaving Scarlett alone with wet cheeks and her heart in her hands.
“But I do want to be with you,” she whispered, but there was no way he could have heard it. She shivered and closed the doors more forcibly than she intended. They rattled, mirroring how her body felt at that very moment. Scarlett then remembered the dance. She had seen posters around the Academy for days, but never engrossed her self in the information. Dances, balls and proms weren’t her thing, she never attended her high school’s formals or discos. The image only resurfaced now because of Dyston’s words.
“The dance starts in half an hour.”
She cursed. She didn’t have anything to wear. She hurried to her closet, but something metallic caught her eye over by the bed. She turned and saw an amazing gold and bronze-coloured sequin gown that looked to be about knee-length, and accompanying it was a black lace-covered half-face mask and matching kitten heels. Scarlett recalled that the poster had also mentioned a theme, and that theme was Masquerade. As she picked up the dress to admire it, something dropped to the carpet. She looked down and noticed a tarnished vintage gold locket no bigger than the home button on her iPhone. She quickly scooped it up and turned it over in her hand. Then out of the corner of her eye noticed a piece of paper, hidden partially underneath the mask. She pulled it out and opened the note. It held familiar calligraphy. It read:
“Wear this tonight and save me a dance—L.”
She felt cold all over. Lakyn had left this for her. The majority of her brain wanted to throw it away, but the less rational side of her brain wanted to wear it and dance with both brothers so she could tell them exactly how she felt. She showered quickly and dressed in the beautiful gown, leaving the locket to last. What was he thinking? She thought. She pushed the thought away as she slipped on her shoes and put on the mask. Scarlett then made her way to the dining hall-turned-ballroom for the dance of her life.
~
The ballroom was packed by the time she arrived. Scarlett pushed her way through the crowd until she saw a familiar face, several familiar faces to be exact. Even with masks on her friends were unmistakable; Thomas and Delilah were dancing to an upbeat song and were joined at the waist, her arms around his neck, his on her hips. Emer waved at Scarlett, pecked Joshua on the cheek and made her way over.
“I’m so glad you’re back!” Emer threw her arms around Scarlett, “And safe, we were so worried.” She giggled and let Scarlett go, “You have to fill us in eventually,” she added.
“I will I promise. Where’s Kat?”
“Here I am,” said Kat, joining them. She wore a short red layered dress-roaring twenties style. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, held in place by two chopsticks, and her lips were painted cherry red. She also held a red metal mask in her hand. She looked stunning.
“Has Jacob seen you like that?” Scarlett smirked.
“Of course, I haven’t left him until now.” She looked over to where Jacob was standing, “Dyston just arrived.”
Scarlett followed her gaze to where he stood with Jacob near the stage, where a DJ was busy spinning records. Their heads were bent in close like they were having a secret conversation. She very much wanted to go over there and find out what they were talking about, but she didn’t move.
“Aren’t you going to dance with him?” asked Emer, adjusting her glittery pastel green dress that had ridden up.
“Um no, things aren’t good between us right now.” Said Scarlett. She didn’t break her gaze from him.
“Oh, what happened? Did you guys have a fight on the trip?” asked Kat
“Yeah, my fault. I did something I very much regret.”
“Like what?” Asked Emer, who was now fixing up her bleached blonde hair. It hung around her shoulders in loose ringlets. Scarlett gazed around but couldn’t see him anymore.
“I kissed Lakyn,” she finally said, half lying. She felt it was better if not everyone knew the whole truth, she didn’t want to seem promiscuous.
“Oh My Gosh!” exclaimed Emer.
“You kissed Lakyn? But why?” Kat said in a hushed voice, not that many could hear her over the throbbing bass.
“I needed him to take me to the Realm of Lights to find Dyston, I did it for him,” she defended.
“Great, now Lakyn probably thinks he’s in love with you. Jacob told me he’s a womaniser,” said Kat
“He can think whatever he wants, it doesn’t change the fact that I have feelings for Dyston and I cheated on him.” All of a sudden her voice sounded very loud and all eyes had now turned to Scarlett. She awkwardly realised that the music had stopped. She glanced at Kat and Emer who were looking at something over Scarlett’s shoulder. She followed their gaze, and realised that Lakyn had been standing behind her. He and Dyston looked identical, except for their eyes and hair; Lakyn’s hair was a bit longer and shaggier. But she knew this was Lakyn because ice blue peeked out from behind a black velvet mask.
“How long have you been there?” she asked.
“I see you got my gift. You look beautiful,” he told her, his eyes taking in every inch of her.
“I didn’t wear it for you.”
“I know, you’re wearing it for my brother. But guess what? He won’t dance with you.” He leaned in close so that she felt his breath on her face.
“I won’t dance with you if that’s what you’re asking.” She stepped back.
“You should stop saving yourself for him. After all, you didn’t for me,” he smirked, taking a hold of her arm.
“Bastard. You know, it’s the biggest regret of my life, sleeping with you,” she spat. She tried to pull away, but his hold was tight.
“But you did it anyway, you sacrificed your virtue for the hope of saving your guardian angel, poetic,” he chuckled
“Do not mock me. Let me go.” She pulled harder.
“You heard her, let her go,” said Dyston, who had just appeared beside her, his hard brown eyes not leaving his brother’s face.
“Oh look, reinforcements have arrived,” joked Lakyn.
“Stop being an ass and let her go, now, before I make a scene in front of the whole school.” Dyston’s words were fierce and cold; they chilled Scarlett to the bone. Lakyn finally dropped his hand but his eyes never left Scarlett.
“Have a nice night,” he told her, and then he was gone. She turned to thank Dyston but he was also gone. She looked over the sea of heads and spotted him retreating out the doors leading to the garden. Scarlett pushed her way through the gyrating bodies and ran after him.
“Dyston!” She called. He was standing on the stone steps that led down to the pergola. It was covered in twisting greyish-brown vines, its blossoms long dead for the winter. He had his back to her and he didn’t turn as she approached, he just continued watching the array of fairy lights twinkling throughout the garden.
“Dyston?”
“You look stunning tonight. Did he buy you the locket as well?”
“Probably, I found it with the dress. Look I know I shouldn’t have worn it, but I didn’t have anything else.”
“Its alright. Did you really want to dance with him?”
“No, I wanted to dance with you, I was looking for you,” she whispered. That was when he looked at her.
“I had a duty to fulfil.”
“A duty? To who?”
“To the Academy. Look I have to go.” He unfurled his wings.
“Wait, can’t we just… I saved you a dance.” She took him in, his pristine black and white suit with tails, his slicked-back dark hair, which was now starting to curl at the sides and over his forehead. He wore a black wire mask that held diamonds in either corner above his eyes. It made his opal irises stand out immensely. He was tall, dark and mysterious.
“Alright, one dance.” He took her hand and led her to the pergola. Someone had hung a red Chinese lantern from the roof it set a seductive mood. He held her close, his hands positioned in the traditio
nal ballroom pose. Scarlett grabbed them and set them on her hips, putting her own around his neck.
“You’re pulling away from me,” she told him.
“You wanted me to.”
“No I didn’t, I just felt we were moving a bit fast.”
“You didn’t move too fast for my brother,” he muttered under his breath, but Scarlett caught it.
“Look, that was a ploy, I had a plan. And I knew you were in denial,” she told him. He took his hands off her waist and put them on her face, his lips only millimetres from hers.
“I just wish that I could go back in time to before I had met you, so we can start over,” he whispered, his words felt like a punch in the gut.
“Maybe we can start over.”
“Yeah,” he let her go and walked to the entry of the pergola, “Maybe.” Then he took to the sky and didn’t look back.
~
Scarlett didn’t want to return to the ball, she felt soulless, like Dyston had ripped it out and flown away with it. She wandered back up the steps towards the ballroom but didn’t go inside. Instead, she kept walking alongside the building until she came to a set of French doors, which she heard a voice coming from inside. She pressed her ear up against the door and listened.
“Has production started?” Asked the voice, it sounded a lot like Lakyn. There was a pause where someone on the other end spoke, and then Lakyn spoke again.
“But I need five thousand in a week,” another pause, “yes just the tips, I have a way of getting the tears.”
Scarlett’s heart leapt into her throat, he was manufacturing Tear Tips.
“The Archangel? Yes I have the girl, I can do it.”
Scarlett couldn’t believe her ears, he was planning to harvest tears from her. She peered into the room; it was dark apart from a desk lamp that cast a halo of light over Lakyn, who sat with his feet on a desk.
“Tomorrow, I will have her.” He hung up and looked in her direction. Scarlett threw herself against the wall, making herself as flat as possible. She felt his presence nearby and realised he must be at the glass. She inched back towards the ballroom doors hoping that she hadn’t been noticed.
