Captured: Academy of the Seraph

by Brandi Elledge

  Finn looked exhausted. His jet black hair stood up every which way and, paired with the stubble on his chin, it gave him a savage look. There was no pretty scene before me. No calm, beautiful lake or a blanket laid out. We were in some woods that looked vaguely familiar.

  “Why are you looking for me?” His voice was scratchy.

  “A better question is: why wouldn’t I?”

  He ran a hand over his tired face. “Gabriella, this form is extremely hard to control. There is a spell that is so darkly woven in it that I’m having a hard time remembering who I am.”

  I went over to him, grabbed his hand, and led him to a tree. He put up minor resistance as I dragged him down to the ground beside me. I then rested with my back against the tree and told him, “Lay your head on my lap for a minute.”

  He hesitated but did as I asked. I ran my fingers through his hair as I talked.

  “Finn, an archangel visited me. She explained that the more powerful a blessed was before being turned into a wendigo, the more they would struggle. I’m proud that you’ve been able to maintain a part of who you are this long. I understand that you are trying to protect me. I searched for you initially to try to convince you to come back to me, but I come to you tonight because I have to tell you something important. I need to let you know that the headmistress is looking for you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She can’t get back into the academy. Not without a fight. She knows that she is outnumbered. I don’t think she can make more wendigos. Not fast anyway. So, her only option is—”

  “Me.”

  I nodded. “There is a good chance that she hasn’t put together the pieces. I can tell you from experience that the wendigos that I’ve brought over, or witnessed being brought over, haven’t had the power you have. All of the ones we have turned back have been demis or fully blessed, ranging in different power levels, but none are close to your range.”

  A rage like no other came into his eyes. “If she thinks she can use me to fight against you, she has another thing coming.”

  I loved how protective he was of me, even if it meant that personality trait was what was causing him to be away from me right now.

  I ran my hands through his hair. This was what I wanted more of—moments just like this. His head in my lap, looking at me like I was the most priceless thing in the world. It would be nice if we could have moments like this without the wendigos and crazy people, like the headmistress or Camaella, who were always trying to kill us, but I would settle for stolen dreams.

  Just thinking of the fallen angel had me wincing.

  “Finn, I might have forgotten to tell you something, but in my defense, you’ve been busy being a wendigo, so really, it’s not my fault.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “Before I was kidnapped, I dream walked to Camaella.” I could see he was getting agitated, so I quickly said, “Nothing happened. I mean, when she saw me, she recognized me. She thinks that I just didn’t die, but there is a good chance that she’ll piece it together.”

  He squeezed the bridge of his nose. I waited for him to say something, but he just sighed. When he opened his eyes, there was frustration behind them.

  “Are you mad at me?”

  His brows came together. “No, Maka. I’m pissed that you have so many people coming after you, and I have this urge to hide you away.”

  I bit my lip. “I can’t hide, Finn.”

  “I know,” he said, and then we were both quiet for a few minutes before his green eyes began to twinkle. “Even as a wendigo, do you want to know what hasn’t changed?”

  “What?”

  “The wendigo can still pick up your thoughts when you’re agitated or have extreme emotions. When I fight the wendigo, I can even tell what you are thinking.”

  I smiled down at him. “And you like knowing what I’m thinking?”

  He reached up and grabbed the back of my head, pulling me down to him. “I really like how dirty your mind gets when your thoughts stray to things that you would never say out loud. When you think you are going to die if you don’t get to touch me, those are thoughts that I want to hear again.”

  My lips barely met his when he began to convulse on my lap. I watched in horror as his beautiful green eyes turned black.

  He grabbed my hand that was still tangled in his hair and roared, “Wake up. Now!” He then sat up in a crouch before he grabbed me and threw me a few feet from him. I landed on my back, sticks and rocks jabbing into me as I rolled onto my feet.

  “Now, Gabriella. I need you fully awake now!”

  I was rooted to the spot, unable to move. I knew I should heed his warning, but I panicked and was unable.

  He groaned as the veins in his neck bulged. “She is commanding me to wake. I can’t wake in this form, and if I turn into the wendigo here, in this state, I won’t be able to control him. Go, Maka. Please, I’m begging you.”

  I took a few needed deep breaths as I tried to exit the dream world. It was always so much harder to do so when someone wasn’t helping me wake up.

  With one hand, he threw energy at me, and that was enough to help me tumble out of the woods where I had found him.

  I ran down a black corridor, trying to wake myself up. I couldn’t see or hear anything, but I could sense something chasing me. I felt the heat of its breath and the icy touch of its fingers as it didn’t capture me but pushed me forward. Then nails ripped into my back, causing me to wake with a scream on my lips.

  Trev and Remy were leaning over a blessed lying on the ground with nothing but a blanket covering her. The three of them looked at me in shock. Then Trev and Remy immediately left the girl and ran to me.

  With shaky hands, I pushed a lock of brown hair out of my face.

  Remy looked me over as she wiped the sweat from my face with the sleeve of her shirt. “Holy balls, what happened?”

  I pulled my knees to my chest and rocked.

  Trev pushed my hair out of the way. “Why is your back bleeding? It is healing quickly but there is no doubt that there were some deep gashes just moments ago.”

  “I saw Finn in my dream.”

  “He attacked you?” he asked in shock.

  I shook my head. “No. He transformed into a wendigo in our dream state and chased after me. I’m not sure if he drew blood because he was trying to push me away from him or if it was to help me wake up. Either way, he saved me.”

  Remy nodded like she had never lost faith in the commander. “Of course he helped you. That’s good news.”

  I looked at both of them. “The bad news is the headmistress found him. He could be on his way here.”

  Trev cursed, and Remy winced.

  All hell was going to break loose, and it was going to be because the boy I loved was going to bring it with him.

  Within minutes, Trev had the others in the gymnasium, and then I caught everyone up on the dream. Afterward, everyone was lost in their thoughts. I didn’t have to tune into Haniel’s gift of psychic power to know that they were trying to gauge how screwed we were.

  Ezra leaned up against the golden doors. “We have fully blessed seniors here at the academy. I think we should put them on the roof and let them shoot fire arrows at the commander.”

  I glared at him. He rolled his eyes before he shrugged. “It’s not like he can be killed. Also, wendigos hate fire. It might deter him enough that it’ll buy us more time.”

  Remy scoffed. “It’s statements like that, along with the over usage of the word meh, that got you dumped in the first place, playa.”

  “I’m confused as to why we care that Finn is coming here,” said Hannah.

  “Because,” Remy started, “if Gabriella is forced between turning Finn back to Finn or killing him as a wendigo, the first is going to win. And, if that happens, there is a good chance she dies, according to an archangel. If she dies, the rest of us are probably toast, too.”

  Hannah shook her head, reddish-orange curls
bobbing every which way. “I didn’t know. Why did no one tell me?”

  I glared at Remy. If she said one snarky thing like “that’s classified, best friend crap right there,” I was going to hit her in her best friend face.

  She knew exactly what I was thinking, too, as her electric-blue eyes widened before she narrowed them into slits.

  “We’ve all been super busy dealing with stuff, but that’s no excuse,” I said. “Sorry, Hannah.”

  Appeased, Hannah nodded.

  “So, let me get this straight. Finn is way more powerful than the other wendigos that we’ve been bringing over to change?” Luna looked pale from the last bout of people she had helped turn back into the blessed. Her cotton candy pink hair was all over the place, and she was in pajamas.

  I nodded. “And he grows more powerful every day.”

  “Great,” she commented. “We can’t kill him. We can’t change him back. There’s a potential that he could come here and kill everyone, including the children, or worse, change them into wendigos. We can’t leave the building because everyone here is marked, other than Gabriella, Remy, and Hannah, so we are sitting ducks with no options.” Her voice had climbed so high she was almost shouting. “None?”

  “Whelp,” Remy said, “that about sums it up. All we need is an iceberg and Leonardo DiCaprio while some old dudes play the violin, because this ship is taking on water.”

  “Shit, shit, shit!” Luna started pacing.

  “The ghosts won’t be any good to us. They can’t physically hurt anyone, but the animals can, and the headmistress might be so freaked out that she turns tail and runs. How close exactly does the headmistress have to be from a wendigo to control them?” I asked.

  Trev shook his head. “Not sure. I know she has always been within shouting distance when they are released. I think the ones that aren’t as powerful can be a good bit farther from her, but she should be in the general vicinity.”

  “When the commander came in here and tore all of the headmistress’s guards to pieces, did she command him to attack you?” Ezra asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And she was close by?”

  I nodded. “She was about fifteen feet away at the time, but he was able to disobey her command.”

  Ezra shared a look with his brother. “Then it is safe to say that she’ll need to be close by to make sure he follows her commands. He is too strong.”

  “If it was any other wendigo, she might be able to be a safe distance away, but not with this one,” Hannah pointed out. “Forget how powerful he is. He loves Gabriella too much. The biggest battle will be the one he wars with himself, and the headmistress knows that.”

  The chubby ghost, who was going to be one of the watchers for me, came flying into the gymnasium.

  Luna made the sign of the cross. “I don’t know if I will ever get used to this.”

  The ghost gave her a wink. “The name is Lane. If you ever decide you want to go for a walk on the wild side, call me.”

  Poor Luna excused herself. “I’m going to go check on the children; make sure everything is okay.”

  Ezra and Trev laughed as she left.

  “Lane,” I said, “did you see the headmistress?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, she’s traveling with this huge-ass wendigo, but that’s not even the crazy part. She is having a hard time controlling him. He went crazy on her. I’m talking bat-shit crazy.”

  “Do you think that they are heading here?” I asked.

  “I don’t know where else they would go. When she woke him up, they were in the woods a good distance from the lavender fields.”

  “Thanks, Lane.”

  He saluted me. “I’m going to go chill. I’m drained.”

  We watched him walk through the wall.

  “You three ladies are the only ones who can go past the lavender fields,” Trev pointed out.

  I nodded. “She won’t expect us to come to her.”

  Ezra shook his head. “No, she won’t. If you could take her out before she got anywhere close to the wendigos here, that would be for the best. The commander wouldn’t be able to infect anyone here either.”

  “She doesn’t know that you have gifted the power of the Flaming Sword to others,” Remy said. “Imagine how surprised she’ll be when the commander can’t infect me or Hannah.”

  “So, it’s settled. We leave now.” Remembering how Finn carried me in the air, I said, “I can fly with you, Hannah.”

  She gave me the first genuine smile I had seen from her since she had arrived at the academy. “I have been waiting to pay that bitch back.”

  Trev said, “You might need to walk to the lavender fields to try and conserve as much energy. Flying with someone is hard to do.”

  Hannah’s face dropped.

  I said, “I would feel Finn if he was nearby. We have time to walk. If you’re okay with that.”

  Remy put a fist in the air. “Yass.”

  Trev said, “The only way to the academy is through the lavender fields. All roads lead there. The blessed no longer have their wings while they are in the wendigo form, so the commander can’t fly to us, and there is no way he can scale the backside of the mountain to get to us. The headmistress won’t be too far away from the commander, especially if he is hard to control.”

  “Okay.” I nodded. “Lavender fields it is.”

  We didn’t wait around. All of us were anxious to end the reign of terror that the headmistress had created. And, without her, we wouldn’t have to worry about the commander attacking the blessed here at the academy.

  Trev and Ezra helped us pack a bag full of food, water, and weapons. Then they each waved us off with a look that was half-encouragement and half-uncertainty, not knowing if we would be able to accomplish the goal we set out to do or not. The truth was that I wasn’t entirely sure either.

  “My feet hurt,” Remy complained.

  I rolled my eyes. “You could go into ghost form and glide your ass there.”

  Hannah chuckled. “She’s just worried we will talk crap about her the moment she leaves.”

  Remy nodded. “It’s true. I don’t really want to walk anymore, but I have some serious FOMO going on.”

  She had a fear of missing out, and I feared that I would strangle her if she didn’t quit complaining soon.

  She whined again over a rock that was in her shoe. “Guys, did you ever think we would be here? A willowy giraffe, a reluctant student of the blessed, and a ghost, all carrying the Flaming Sword, as we meet up with a boyfriend who is now a wendigo? Will the reunion be a happy one? Nope. It’s going to be three levels above being admitted to a psychiatric ward. But here we are, enjoying our girls’ trip, catching up on life. Good times.” She stumbled on the path. “Son of a mother trucking back end of a donkey.” Stopping us yet again, she pulled her shoe from her foot. A rock came tumbling out. “That’s it! I’ve had it. All good things need to come to an end, too.”

  Hannah nodded. “Yep, and short goodbyes are the best.”

  Remy glared at her before she ghosted us. We waited until the cold air around us moved farther along.

  “Thank God,” I said.

  “Heard that!” Remy shouted.

  Hannah chuckled.

  I threw my arm around her. It was taking us a while to get to the lavender field. The truth was that Remy could have been there in seconds, and I could have used my wings. But, since I had never carried someone before, we were trying to save as much energy as we could and I wanted Hannah to be a part of this. I wanted to make her feel as valuable as she truly is we were walking.

  “Thanks for coming with us,” I said.

  She gripped my fingers that were wrapped around her waist and gave them a gentle squeeze. “I’m fine.”

  “Never said you weren’t. But … if you need to ever talk about—”

  “I know.”

  I followed her lead and dropped the subject.

  We were nearing the end of the forest. The area to the right of m
e looked exactly like where I had earlier dream walked to Finn.

  Hannah caught my sigh. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  I shook my head. “What a pair we are.”

  “You’ll get him back.”

  “How can you be so certain?”

  She lifted a shoulder. “I have never seen two people who were made for each other more than you two. I have a feeling this will just bring you guys closer. True love never dies, my friend. It can morph, it can evolve, but disappear? Never.”

  It seemed like we all had issues that we wanted to table for the time being. I didn’t think that it made us weak. Sometimes, people were like hard boiled eggs—a hard shell that could take a little cracking, but if you kept chipping away, the whole surface pulled off. In my heart, I fully believed that, once Remy saw how good her life was and truly believed it, then and only then would she be ready to talk about the night that she died. And, once Hannah came to terms that she would bring something just as great to this group that we had formed, with or without her wings, she would be willing to talk about what she had gone through when the headmistress had taken them from her. Only time would help her. For me? Well, I wasn’t willing to talk about Finn being a wendigo and how afraid I was of losing him until I had him back in my arms.

  My heart tightened the moment we stepped into the lavender fields, and I knew.

  Finn was close.

  “Remy,” I said, “disappear. Your goal is to find the headmistress.”

  Hannah stayed close beside me as we both scanned the land on the other side of the field. There was nothing.

  A frown came upon my face as the strings around my heart loosened. Finn was moving farther away, and I recognized an emotion coming from him that was so unlike him.

  Fear.

  He was panicking.

  I turned in a circle, scanning for him, the headmistress, or both, but there was nothing.

  “Hannah,” I said, “this is the only way to the Empowered Academy, and wendigos can’t fly, but I could swear that Finn is veering off the land to the west of us, farther from the academy. Am I missing something?”