by Cara Wylde
“It’s peaceful out here, isn’t it?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin. That voice. I recognized it, despite not having heard it too often. Francis Saint-Germain. I turned toward him, and saw him standing there, a few feet away from me, hands in his pockets, staring in the distance. Oh, the guy can sneak up on someone alright! The moon was waxing, growing bigger and brighter every night, and its soft, gentle light fell on his perfect features just right. In the sun, his hair was a rather plain shade of brown, but in the moonlight, I could see streaks of silver here and there, dancing and shifting in his hair as he moved ever so subtly. His gaze fell on me, and something stirred in my chest. My shoulders relaxed, and I suddenly didn’t feel as cold. While in the presence of Sariel, GC, and Paz my guard went up, in Francis’s presence, I felt like there was nothing to fear. He wasn’t going to hurt me. He couldn’t hurt a fly.
“Yes,” I finally said. “I didn’t know this place existed.”
“Now you do.” He made a long pause, his gaze moving back to the horizon. When I thought he wouldn’t speak again, he added: “Do you plan on coming here often, now that you know about it?”
“Mmm… I don’t know. Maybe. It’s kinda’ nice to be away from…” I waved in the direction of the Academy. “All that.”
“It is. I come here every night. I don’t mind if you join me. I have one condition, though. I enjoy the silence, the sound of the waves hitting the shore, and the hoots of the owls as they claim their territory. Not a man in sight. The incessant chit-chat of bipeds, supernatural or not… non-existent. I like it that way.”
I gulped. While I agreed with him, I would have probably phrased it differently.
“I’ll just… go inside and check the worth scoreboard.”
I didn’t wait for his reply. I moved quickly, feeling like an intruder. This was his special place, and I had invaded it.
The chapel looked exactly how I expected it. Religious murals covered the walls and the ceiling entirely, and statues of saints guarded every niche and cranny, candles lit at their feet. In front of the altar, there was a tall gold statue of Christ on the cross. It looked like everything was made of gold, precious wood, colored glass, and expensive marble. The chapel was large, too, almost as big as a regular church. There was a long, Persian carpet embroidered in the colors of the Academy that covered the floor between the two rows of benches. I advanced slowly and carefully, even though the place was empty. Apparently, not many students liked to spend their evenings in the Holy Chapel. I wondered whether they preferred the Unholy Chapel, seeing how evil ninety-nine percent of them were, or they just stayed away from the two chapels entirely.
On the wall to the right, between a statue of Saint Augustine and one of John the Baptist, I found the scoreboard. My eyes traveled down the list quickly, until I found some familiar names. Sariel seemed to have one of the best scores, followed suit by Pandora, Klaus, Francis, Pazuzu and GC. Well, good for them! It appears I’m at the bottom of the list. I sighed and plopped onto a bench, my eyes still glued to the numbers. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand how I had only 50 worth points, when my total after passing the test had been 100, just like everyone else’s, and then the Mythology professor took 30 points. When had I lost the other 20 points?! And why had no one told me they were taking them?! This is so unfair. And it wasn’t that it was unfair. It was stupid and demoralizing. According to the scoreboard, I was the most unworthy student at the Academy. On day one! Most of the other students had their 100 points intact, and only some had managed to gain more. Paz was one of them for having answered the PE professor’s question correctly.
“Don’t worry about it, you’ll recover.”
I jumped in surprise. How had Francis snuck on me again?! Was it like a special ability of his? The guy moved like a cat! He sat next to me, and I scooted a bit farther, still feeling like I was the intruder here.
“I don’t even know when or why I lost another 20 points,” I pouted.
“And you’ll probably never know. Some professors are transparent, others… not so much.”
“Shouldn’t there be a rule that says professors should always tell a student when they give or take away points?”
He shook his head impassively.
I looked at his name on the list. He had 140 worth points. Decent. Sariel, on the other hand, had 230. What the hell had he done in just one day of school to boost his worth score, practically, through the roof?!
“These numbers look fishy,” I said. I stood up to leave. As much as I kind of liked spending time with Francis, I had to get to my room and start on the Mythology paper. I would probably have to pull an all-nighter and try to finish it even if I didn’t have to present it the next day. Just in case some other professor got a chip on his shoulder and hit me with extra homework. Better safe than sorry. I wanted the paper about Nergal and Ereshkigal out of the way.
“Good night,” Francis said.
“Err… Good night, Francis.”
“Maybe you’ll join me again tomorrow evening.”
My heart started beating a tad faster. Was the mysterious, impenetrable Francis Saint-Germain asking me to hang out? Wow! I really didn’t know what to say. On the other hand, maybe it was a good idea to make friends with one of the Mighty Jerks. Yes, the Mighty Jerks was a good name for their clique. They considered themselves mighty, alright. Sariel with his heavenly lineage, GC with all his “look at me, I’m a false god” shtick, Paz who clearly thought of himself as superior because he was Satan’s son, and Francis… Francis Saint-Germain. I had no idea what his deal was, because he really didn’t talk much, but I knew that the air of mystery, privacy, and secrecy he adopted was meant to show that he was above everyone else, too. I still preferred him over the others, but I wasn’t going to lie to myself that his whole act didn’t seem a bit fake.
“Maybe,” I breathed out as I hurried down the aisle.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Oooh, Patricia (or Patty, as I called her) had literally saved my ass. Breakfast, lunch, dinner – it didn’t matter. I didn’t have to set foot in the dining hall to eat, and the kitchen staff had taken such a liking to me, that I even started to drop by for snacks. Things were looking up for me, and it was all thanks to the wonderful people who worked for the Academy. The maids, the servants, the cooks… Even the gardener! I had a fresh bouquet of flowers on my desk every day!
As for studying, I avoided the library. Everyone studied and did their homework there, so naturally, it wasn’t the place for me. I either took the books to my room, but I got lonely on weekends, so I made a habit of carrying my study materials to the kitchens, where I claimed a small table in a corner as my desk, and did my thing while I chatted with whoever was there, working. Usually, it was Patty, who was quite the genius when it came to decorating pies, cupcakes, and all kinds of other desserts.
Also, my presentation about Nergal and Ereshkigal had gone great! Mr. Halo had been quite impressed, in fact, and he’d awarded me 50 worth points. Apparently, I had saved him the trouble of teaching the lesson about the two Sumerian gods of war, death, and pestilence, and when students made his life easier, he was a real sport. I was back to 100 worth points, and I had no intention of declining ever again.
Life was good.
The only thing that was stressing me out was that Mabon was approaching, and there was no way I could skip the celebration in the forest. I was constantly thinking about a way to extract myself, but nothing came to mind. With so many mages around, I couldn’t fake sickness. Unless I got genuinely sick, I couldn’t convince the nurse to lock me up in the infirmary the night of Mabon.
I had to share something about myself or of myself before the Academy. That killed me! Or, better said, if it didn’t kill me now, it would kill me for sure on Mabon. What could I possibly share that wouldn’t provoke the Violent Death Cabal to tear me to pieces? At least, we were supposed to do the sharing exercise with our own Cabal, so I was slightly r
elieved knowing that Lorna, Pandora, and the others wouldn’t be anywhere around when my turn came. Maybe, if I stuck close to Francis… Or I could kiss GC and ask him to be my bodyguard for the night, since the offer was still on the table. Paz would probably be more than willing to help, too, but his price was much higher than GC’s. He wanted a late-night date, so he could get back at Pandora. Dangerous. Both GC and Pazuzu are dangerous. It was decided. I was going to sit next to Francis. If I could. Fingers crossed.
Two weeks went by, and I was mostly fine. Klaus sat with me when we had classes together, and when we didn’t, either GC or Paz would lurk about, making the girls jealous, and drawing too much attention. Those were the days when I feared Lorna the most. And for good reason. One Thursday, as I came in late for the Mythology class (which didn’t happen often, but Patty made me lose track of time), I stepped over the threshold and got bombarded with paper spitballs. Fucking perfect! How old were these guys?! Five? That was mostly the Righteous Death Cabal’s doing because of Lorna. Sweet Lorna – insert sarcasm. She hated me with a passion, even when Sariel wasn’t there.
Then, one Monday, I sat in my usual spot at the back of the class in Geography, only to realize that I couldn’t get up when the class was over. I mean, I could, but not without ripping my red tights to pieces. Which, eventually, I had to do. There was no other option. I didn’t have time to go to my room and change, so I took them off in the bathroom, stuffed them in the bin, and went to the next class with my legs bare under the much-too-short uniform skirt. That got me everyone’s attention! GC and Paz both sat next to me for the first time, arguing over who was going to steal the first kiss from the sexy human with bare legs. Sariel called me kuchka more than usual, and that made Lorna laugh her head off. At least, Mrs. Morgan took 10 worth points from her when she got too loud. Which wasn’t enough, really. When the professors took points from me, it was usually at least 20! The moment the class was dismissed, I ran out of the room and straight to the north tower, hoping no one from the Violent Death Cabal would be headed to their room, too, climbing the spiral staircase behind me, because they would certainly see everything up my skirt. And I meant, everything! What had possessed me to put on a thong in the morning?! It was going to be granny panties from then on.
But, as the days passed, my taste for revenge decreased. I still wanted to get back at Lorna and her clique, but the truth was that their pranks were getting old and stale. They hadn’t been able to come up with anything too humiliating or dangerous, and I was able to avoid them most of the time, anyway. I still hadn’t forgotten that first dinner, when she’d smacked me in the face with roast and potatoes, nor the morning when I woke up in a bed full of dead cockroaches. But the memories were fading, and the classes, assignments, and mandatory bibliographies were taking up most of my time. They were super interesting, too! So far, I had been able to get only straight A’s, and an A+ in Rhetoric for a speech aimed at a possible, hypothetical person who wanted to call up Death (A.K.A. a Grim Reaper) before it was their time. I nailed it so hard that not even Lorna dared to bully me for the rest of the day. I would have thought nerds and straight A students would be despised at Grim Reaper Academy just like they were despised back at my old high school, but it appeared to be quite the opposite situation. All the students here were striving to get good grades, even doing extra assignments to impress the professors. Now I understood why worth points would end up being so important at the end of the three years. With everyone getting only A’s and B’s, how the hell would the Academy decide who was going to be one of the twenty-two Grim Reapers, and who was going to go into research and teaching? Yeah. Worth points…
I went to the Holy Chapel to check the scoreboard every evening, and almost every evening, Francis was there, sitting in silence. Sometimes we made small talk, other times we didn’t even exchange a glance.
“Why do you think they put up the scoreboards in the chapels?” I asked him one evening.
He shrugged but hazarded a guess anyway. “I don’t see how else they could make the students go to church at least once in a while. Most of them are agnostics. They don’t really believe in either God or Satan.”
“How could they not? They exist. Right? As in… they exist as people, as… supernatural beings.”
“It’s not that. That they exist is obvious. They both have sons and daughters all over the world. They don’t believe in their powers and supremacy. In their rule over mortals and immortals alike.”
“Oh. That doesn’t make much sense, either.”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t have to. It is what it is. We don’t have to understand everything that happens in this world.”
“And you? You’re not agnostic?”
He was silent, and when five minutes passed without an answer to my question, I stood up and went to my room. I made a mental note about how religion seemed to be a hard subject for Francis, although I wasn’t sure how it could help.
Busy with classes, engrossed in my work, thinking about Francis every day, I had let my guard down. Friday night, after having been to the chapel first and then stopped by the kitchen to get my dinner and share the latest gossip with the staff, I headed back to my room later than usual, when the other VDC students were also returning to their dormitories. I bumped into Sariel when I least expected it. For some reason, he was coming out of the narrow corridor that hosted my humble room, along with a dozen other smaller rooms filled with cleaning supplies, clean sheets and towels, and broken furniture waiting for someone to repair it.
Sariel smashed right into me, full force, toppling my food tray on purpose. Mushroom soup splashed all over the front of my shirt, legs, and the floor, and French fries and bits of grilled salmon rolled off the plate, onto my chest, and right off of there, too, stopping at my feet. I dragged in a breath and wiped my face with the sleeve of my uniform blazer.
“Well, look who’s here,” he snickered. “I don’t get to see much of you lately. You’re not eating with your Cabal. That’s very offensive. You know that, right? What message are you trying to send? That we’re not good enough for you?”
I opened my mouth to say something, but he leaned in and stopped me with a finger pressed to my lips. I couldn’t believe Sariel was touching me! And why the hell was he on my corridor?! Only me and the maids have any business here. His touch was like a lick of fire on my lips. I wanted to pull away, put some distance between us, but I couldn’t move a muscle. I was entranced by his steely silver eyes. Flecks of blue and green sparkled in his irises when the light hit him just right.
“Oh, but it’s the other way around, isn’t it? You’re friends with the kitchen staff now, so it’s not that we’re not good enough for you, but that you’re not good enough to sit at the VDC table. You know your place.” He flashed me a smile, and for a second, he looked absolutely irresistible. Too bad he was a total douche. “But you see, trash princess, you’re making us look bad.”
Well, trash princess was certainly an improvement.
“I don’t follow,” I managed, and I could almost imagine my breath flowing through my parted lips and tickling his skin. It had some effect on him, because he straightened his back, his hands squeezing into fists at his sides. What’s his deal? For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why he was so angry.
“Don’t think for a second that I didn’t go to the Headmaster and demanded he kicked you out. At least half of the students’ parents have done the same. We didn’t sit on our asses these weeks while you were dilly-dallying with the staff, making a fool of yourself and our Cabal.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, doing my best to adopt a position of power. If I was still here, that meant one thing only: they had all failed.
“And?”
His eyes narrowed at me. He was fuming, and I was still clueless as to why. Maybe he just had a temper issue.
“The new Headmaster is useless. His first year as the head of the Academy, and he’s ruining everything the others h
ave built before him. It doesn’t matter. We don’t need him or the professors to get rid of you, trash princess.”
Professors? They were on my side, too? Then why didn’t it feel like it? By this time, I was pretty sure Sariel had gotten a bunch of things wrong. It was as if we were living in different worlds, seeing different things, and speaking languages completely foreign to the other.
I sighed and shook my head. “Why do you want me gone, anyway? What have I done to you that you hate me so much? Look, I’m not a threat to you. I’m at a huge disadvantage here. I have to do everything by myself, with my limited skills and knowledge, while you guys are freakin’ supernatural beings!” My voice rose slightly, as if I was actually excited for them, thrilled that they were all so damn special. “I know the mages use teas and potions for learning and better memory. I know you and all the other angels and demons already know what they’re teaching us in History, Mythology, and Anthropology. Hell! You’re better than me at Geography, because you have actually traveled and seen the world! This is my first time leaving my town, dude!” I threw my hands in the air, and my gesture took him aback for a second. “And next year, we’re going to learn the geography of Heaven and Hell. That is… if I make it to next year.” I mumbled the last words. “So, really. How am I a threat to any of you? I’m working like hell here trying to keep up, and no, the professors couldn’t give a rat’s ass about me. They keep taking my worth points away if I so much as dare to look out the window when they’re talking. And I’m doing my best.” I was starting to sound desperate now. Honestly, I was impressed that he’d listened to me thus far. “I’m doing my absolute best every day, I’m not giving up because this is legit the best thing that has ever happened to me, even with all the gratuitous bullying and crap you give me every day, but let’s be real for a minute.” I dragged in a breath. I didn’t want to say it, didn’t want to voice my biggest fear out loud, but maybe if I was honest with him, he’d finally see me as a person and cut me some slack. “I don’t stand a chance. You have powers, you’re privileged, many of you have been on this Earth for longer than I have.” I had no idea who was immortal and who wasn’t, though. Or what age they were. “I’m just a normal human. The most normal, boring human you’ve ever seen. I’m me, and you’re you. Tell me, Sariel, do you really believe that I could become a Grim Reaper and take your place?”
