by K. C. RILEY
He rolled his eyes. “Pffft.”
Sister Clara countered. “I think what Sarah is trying to say is how do you know what peace is without war? How do you know what joy is without sadness? How can you truly experience one feeling without knowing the other? Can good exist without evil, light without darkness, love without loss?”
“Whatever,” was the last thing he said.
While I didn’t want to admit it, I had to agree with him. Did I really need death, destruction, and misery to understand happiness? I voted for a big fat NO.
Sister Clara continued with the lesson. “Back to Eve.”
Sarah raised her petite hand. “I think it goes deeper than what Enoch outlines. I think Gadreel, the serpent, or whatever, was captivated with Eve. I mean, why did he spend so much time talking with her and not Adam? Something about Eve intrigued him. I think he was in love with her.”
A couple of the guys puckered their lips with kissing sounds. Sarah ignored them.
“The Codex Rose.” Sister Clara’s voice brought the room to a dead silence.
Sarah furrowed her brow. “The Codex, what?”
“The Codex Rose. Legend has it that Gadreel fell madly in love with the first woman created. It wasn’t an apple that awakened Eve, but a kiss, one that ignited both light and shadow from within her being. While she genuinely returned Gadreel’s love and affection, she also struggled with an inner darkness, her own shadow, Lilith, the mother of shadows. The struggle destroyed her. Gadreel was devastated by what he had awakened within her. After all, he was responsible for not only the fall of his lover, but the fall of man, God’s creation. Before Gadreel was cast from the garden, he wrote The Codex Rose, a book of alchemy bound in the skin of angels and sealed with an amulet anointed with Eve’s blood. At her death, he performed a spell, one that would bring her soul back to this realm until she could finally defeat her dark side. That would be the day Eve would become an angel lifting the curse on mankind. In the meantime, Gadreel would wait for the love of his life. Some say he’s still waiting.”
“Sounds like an awful fairytale,” I blurted. On one hand it was enchanting, Eve in love with an angel. I had never heard of such a thing. But on the other hand, Eve in an endless battle with herself as Lilith was just depressing. And poor Gadreel. I couldn’t imagine watching the love of my life die over and over without being able to do a damn thing about it.
“Perhaps that’s all it is, a fairytale. Then again, perhaps not.” Sister Clara spoke with an edge of mystery in her voice. “The book was last seen in the great library of Alexandria, Egypt before the temple burned to the ground. At least that’s how the fairytale goes.”
The door slammed startling everyone. I turned and the Jerk was gone. He had just gotten up and left. Strange.
Somewhere along the line the topic settled back to death. We spent the rest of the class discussing the fall of man as the reason why death existed in the first place. That brought the inevitable to the surface, the guilt that knotted in my stomach. If I hadn’t pushed my mom to answer that stupid phone she would still be alive. On top of that, she was buried somewhere here in Shadowick and I still hadn’t gone to her grave. I just wasn’t ready.
As I held the tears back, the bell rang.
Sister Clara closed her book and removed her glasses. “All right, everyone, don’t forget to read chapters five through ten of your text. We’ll be wrapping up the fall of man and talking about the Grigori and the daughters of Cain next.”
Daughter of Cain. Witch. The sound of a gun going off rang through me. I almost jumped out of my seat. “Did you hear that?” My heart was beating in my throat.
“Miss Maverick, are you all right?”
I looked around at everyone staring at me and gathered that no one else had heard what I had, a gun going off. “Uh. Yes. Nothing. I mean, you mentioned the Grigori. I…I’ve never heard of them.”
“The Grigori are the eighth order of angels,” Sister Clara replied. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“The Watchers,” a boy name Christopher added. “You know, an advanced race of beings that came down and taught man all kinds of shit.”
“Language, Mr. Burrows.”
“Yeah, the ones that got busy with Cain’s daughters and had hybrid alien babies. Giants and witches,” another guy added.
Everyone snickered, but the words Daughter of Cain and Witch stayed stuck in my head. I couldn’t place the familiarity.
“That’s enough, class. I will see you all tomorrow.” Sister Clara sighed.
My stomach squealed with hunger pains as I gathered my books.
Out in the hall, someone called out my name. Christopher.
Christopher was the All American Boy Next Door type, a total Ken doll—clean cut, golden eyes, perfect teeth, perfect body, perfect hair. Perfect everything. Too perfect. “Hey, Maverick, make sure to read chapter five, the one on Enoch, it reads like total sci-fi, you’ll love it.”
“Don’t have the book yet, but I’ll make sure to read it when I do, thanks.”
Christopher winked.
All Saints was getting stranger by the minute. But, so was I. Hearing gun shots in the middle of class? What the hell was wrong with me?
The closer I got to the Dining Hall, the more my stomach hollowed into my back. Chefs in tall white hats and uniforms flipped burgers, omelets, stir-fried vegetables, and anything else my stomach could dream of. Students grabbed whatever they wanted from stations set up like all-you-can-eat buffet bars. I couldn’t believe it. There were no registers and no one taking lunch tickets. And students were piling their plates as high as they wanted. Insane.
The race was close between one gourmet burger with mushrooms, grilled onions, and blue cheese or the thickest Belgian waffle I had ever laid eyes on. Honestly, lightly-browned crisp pockets drenched in butter and syrup was a no-brainer.
After getting my tray, I scanned the room for a place to sit. Something told me that the way people were staring wasn’t because I gawked around the food station like a New York tourist. There were students I recognized from Zander’s party and morning classes, but most I didn’t know at all. They kept looking at their phones and then looking at me, looking at their phones and looking at me. I tried to keep up the façade of Josie and Cassie’s makeover, but it was cracking fast. Self-consciousness clawed at my heels as I picked up the pace to find an empty table, eat, and then disappear.
The room got warmer by the second. Eyes and whispers closed in around me, and not the ones that were in my head.
“Over here.” Cassie waved from two tables down. And thank God.
With a sigh of relief, I went and sat next to her and Josie.
Like the cat that swallowed the canary, a mischievous smile curled over Josie’s face. “Hey there.”
“Hey.” What was she up to?
I glanced at the waffle on my plate that screamed to take a bite, but everyone was still staring. I didn’t have to guess why if they all knew about Crown Hill.
Josie was about to explode at the seams with something she wanted to say. “They’re staring about what happened at the party.”
“Of course, they are.” I groaned. It was worse than I imagined.
“No, you don’t understand,” Cassie said.
“For God’s sake, just tell her already. Never mind, I’ll do it. Here.” Josie handed me her phone.
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
A close-up of my lips about to kiss The Jerk was smeared all over the page. I was back to hating All Saints and everyone in it all over again.
“Just keep reading,” Josie said. “It gets better.”
Easy for her to say. My cheeks heated through several more shades of anger and humiliation.
Late Friday night, former golden boy, Jake Patrilo, ran into the arms of one wasted Lizzy Maverick, aka new girl, saving her from drowning in an empty tub...yes, empty.
And what about the ex? If you’re out there, Meghan, sorry, girl. What does she h
ave to say about the kiss...
Ex-girlfriend? It was official. I was dead. “We never kissed,” I tried to explain.
“But you were about to.” Josie grabbed her soda and slurped through the straw. Loud.
I read through more of it. At least the stupid blog didn’t mention being in an institution, and while I knew I’d catch hellfire from Meghan, I much preferred wasted over crazy.
I had more to say, but hellfire wasted no time.
I peeped over to the source of the flames. Meghan twirled her fork in a plate of spaghetti until she stabbed a meatball with it. She did it all while vaporizing me to bits with her eyes.
I handed Josie her phone. “Who writes this stuff?” I tried to take a bite of the waffle on my plate as my appetite dwindled at the thought of being stabbed to death by a fork full of spaghetti. Or suffocation by a meatball.
Josie shrugged.
Cassie bit into a burger that looked delicious and placed her hand over her mouth. “The school keeps taking it down. But whoever it is always finds a way to put it back up. I wouldn’t worry about it. No one reads it much.”
“Are you kidding, it’s practically viral,” Josie said.
Cassie shot her a look.
“Oh, right. It’s total trash, girl. Don’t listen to me.” Josie scrolled further down the article. “No one reads it. No one at all.”
I finally managed to get a couple of bites of waffle into my mouth. The crisp was soggy, and the taste completely gone. But something else stirred in the gurgling emptiness of my stomach. The Jerk had a name. Jake Patrilo. He was also nowhere to be found in the Dining Hall. “What’s the story there anyway? With Jake?”
Josie peered up from her phone as it kept pinging. “I swear, there hasn’t been this much excitement since they found Riley’s body in the woods.”
“Really?” Cassie reached for a fry off of Josie’s plate. “Don’t be drab.”
“What?” Josie asked.
“Who’s Riley?” I said while still wondering why they had completely ignored my first question.
“Jake’s twin sister.” Cassie covered her mouth. “She went missing like six months ago.”
“Crap.”
“Yeah. The police found her body up at Shadowick Mountain about an hour away from here,” Cassie said.
Josie pointed to my plate. “Are you gonna eat that bacon?”
“Um, no. It’s all yours.”
“Yeah. It was awful,” Josie added. “The strangest thing was when they found her, they said her hair was completely white from fright. Even stranger was the autopsy.” She then leaned in and whispered. “They said her heart was missing. No cuts, no bruises, anywhere on the body. How does that even happen? Personally, I think she ran into The People Under the Lake.”
“And that’s enough creep show for today,” Cassie interrupted.
“The People Under the Lake?”
Josie looked around again. “The legend goes there was some kind of hippie cult up on the mountain that practiced magic. The last spell they conjured was so dark the mountain swallowed the entire place and everyone in it to the bottom of the lake. It’s been haunted ever since. Which is why no one goes there. Ever. Everyone around town knows the story. Just ask. I can’t imagine what Riley was thinking going up there by herself?”
I should have completely left it alone. “That’s awful.”
“Yeah,” Josie said. “And poor Jake went from like All Saints god to demigod to mortal. The light went out, you know.”
I did know.
“He quit the team and now just sort of hovers in the shadows and corners of school,” Cassie said. “Keeps mostly to himself these days.”
“Poor Riley.” I felt horrible and didn’t know what else to say.
“Totally sucks,” Josie said. “I can’t imagine sleeping in her room. What’s that got to be like?”
There was a thump under the table as Cassie glared at her.
“Ouch,” Josie hollered. “Oh, crap. Like I said, don’t listen to me. I’ve got a big mouth.”
“Are you saying Riley’s room is my room?”
They both shrugged.
Was it morbid? Yes. Would I sleep at night? Well, I wasn’t sleeping much, anyway. At least things were starting to make more sense. I thought about how Jake helped me out of the tub and defended me at the party. I then thought about the douche I ran into earlier in the morning. Was he mad at me for the stupid article, which I had nothing to do with, or was he someone afraid for a girl running in the woods by herself? Someone that reminded him of his sister. And, crap, someone that was now living in his dead sister’s room.
I felt bad for the guy. “And so, what’s the deal with Meghan? Are they a thing?”
“Word is they’ve been on and off for the past two years, but mostly off,” Cassie said. “And don’t mind Meghan, she’s just jealous.”
“Oh, he’s not my type,” I quickly lied.
“Ha, you mean tall, hot, and brooding?” Cassie asked.
Josie stirred her straw in her glass and eyeballed me. “He was definitely your type last night,” she said under her breath. “By the way, is that a new shade of pink in your cheeks I see?”
“We’re just teasing,” Cassie said. “You plastered on the front of a blog about to kiss Jake is really not a big deal.”
I lowered my head to try and hide my face. Even if it did suddenly get hot in the room, Jake was still a bonehead. Maybe. I was desperate to change the subject. “So, did you ever find out what happened to Zander?”
Josie huffed. “No. I mean who hosts a party they don’t show up for? And two, I’m completely done with college men, at least for the moment. Too flaky. But don’t worry, Jake is all yours if you can get past the dragon.” Josie nodded toward Meghan.
My cheeks burned. I couldn’t take it anymore.
“But, I do have some news bigger than the article.” Josie grinned.
“Well? Spit it out,” Cassie said.
“Not yet.” Josie looked directly at me. “But someone here is going to owe me big in spite of that little outburst in my car last night.”
I had that coming.
Josie paused for a moment. “All right. What the hell? So I know you’ve got the whole fear of drowning thing going on and swim class is in like two periods. But don’t worry. I have come up with the perfect solution.”
I never told Josie about being afraid of water. “How did you know?”
“I read about it in a magazine before I went to bed last night. Anyhow, post-traumatic stress. It’s like some event that happened in the past that shows up at any moment based on a trigger. You’re trigger is water.”
Maybe Josie was on to something.
“Are you?” Cassie asked. “Afraid of water?”
“Not so much afraid of water, as I am afraid of drowning in it,” I said. “Always have been.”
There was no way I was going to mention seeing my dead mom’s ghost, hearing a phantom kid giggling behind a closed shower curtain, or the shadow that tried to drown me in the tub. I placed my hands under the table and swallowed the nightmare back down where it belonged.
“No worries,” Josie said. “And don’t you dare think about skipping class or running off to the nurse’s office.”
So much for plan B.
“What are you up to?” Cassie took the last fry off of Josie’s plate.
“You’ll just have to wait and see.” This time Josie smiled like she had swallowed a whole cage of canaries.
I was already anxious enough. And it was getting harder to breathe. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you guys at sixth period.” I gathered my trash onto my tray and got up. “I’ve still got more books to get, and I want to stop by the library.”
“Yeah. Okay. Stay out of trouble.” They both nodded toward Meghan.
Ha. Staying out of Meghan’s way was at the top of my list.
Somewhere between the Dining Hall, Grendel Hall, Hansel Hall, Wilmington Hall, and Gooding Hall, I decide
d there were just too many halls. With a map, I finally found my way back to the bookstore and then the library.
Opening the door to Griffith Hall was like stepping into the Notre Dame Cathedral. The high buttress ceilings of the library hall intercepted tall cathedral-style windows and stained glass that let in not only the day but also the light of something divine. The glow of century-old chandeliers, almost as big as the hall itself, added to the warmth of the place. I couldn’t help but gape at the Italian marble floors, the antique chairs and sofas, and the rich red wooden tables and glowing shelves that were stacked with books older than Methuselah himself.
I had thirty minutes left before the next class period and found a seat by a dormant fireplace big enough to fit a horse. The quiet was much welcomed as I curled up in a cozy armchair and pulled out my book for class, the one on the story of Enoch. Christopher was right. It read like pure sci-fi.
According to Enoch, there were two hundred angels known as the Grigori assigned to watch over the growth of humans after the fall. Either the Grigori weren’t happy about the job assignment or got bored being away from home, wherever that was. Regardless, they disobeyed orders from the head man and taught humans science, astronomy, weaponry, and war. They taught women beauty, horticulture, and magic.
The more I read, the less they sounded like angels of light playing harps on floating clouds and more like an advanced race of corporeal beings from another planet. They would have to be corporeal on some level if they could reproduce. Right? Anyway, as a result of interbreeding, their human wives gave birth to giants, and not the gentle green ones that showed up on vegetable cans. These giants were cannibals.
The worst of the angelic order was a general named Azazel. Intrigued, I inched my fingers further across the text. It was said that Azazel was responsible for revealing the eternal secrets of heaven to man and that he was the main cause of evil in the world, giants. As punishment, Azazel was bound hand and foot and cast into a pit of darkness somewhere in a place called Dudael. As for the giants, they were all destroyed by a great flood orchestrated to cleanse the earth.
