Blessed: Academy of the Seraph

by Brandi Elledge

  I slapped him on the back. “Hey, kidnapper, what are we doing? You don’t look much like a sightseer.”

  He bounced me hard on his shoulder as the other Rock scouted ahead of us. “We go to the academy.”

  “The academy is in a national park? Besides, this is stupid. They made a mistake.”

  “No, the academy is hidden. And no mistake. Do you see trees? They not make mistake with you.”

  My head swiveled to the tall, scraggly trees. They looked like they were about to be uprooted as they leaned at an unnatural angle, but as soon as we passed, they straightened.

  I dug my elbow into his back and propped my chin up. “Nah, bruh. That’s on you. I have never seen trees do that before.”

  He just grunted.

  “So, Dick, how long until we are there?”

  “It is Richard.”

  “Semantics.”

  “Girly, want to sleep again?”

  I kept my mouth shut after that.

  After an hour hike, Tweedledee and Tweedledum cut off the trail and headed into the forest. The hair on my neck stood up as they got closer to where the air seemed to thin. Behind a huge boulder, the air was completely shimmery. The first Rock, Dan, walked toward the shimmery air and disappeared.

  The other Rock set me on my feet. “Don’t worry; if you not blessed, you won’t go through. Then you can stay here and feed the wolves.”

  “Charming.” That was the last thing I said before he tossed me toward the boulder.

  I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact of me hitting the unmovable object, but it never happened. Instead, I fell through the air then, for the second time in one day, I hit the ground, landing right beside where the first Rock stood.

  “Oh, and what, you couldn’t break my fall?”

  The muscular oaf just shrugged. “You call friend Dick.”

  “If the boot fits, you have to lace it up and wear it.” I dusted myself off as the second Rock landed on his feet in front of me. “Oh, and speaking of Dick, here he comes now.”

  Dick glowered at me, so I gave him a wink. “Sugar, did you miss me?”

  The second Rock, AKA Dick, hid a smile as he tossed my duffel bag to me, and then each of the Rocks grabbed me by my arms and started shuffling me forward.

  Exactly twenty hours later, I stood with one duffel bag in front of the Academy of Seraph. It was designed to look heavenly, like paradise or the Garden of Eden, but I knew differently. The building was a gigantic chateau made of stone and bricks that sat on a vast amount of land. The landscape was probably the most amazing thing I’d ever seen, yet I refused to be impressed. This grand estate was all smoke and mirrors, in my opinion. I bet there were a ton of skeletons in the closets.

  As we walked down the cobblestone path, I noticed the multitude of gardens surrounding the house. The floral scent carried all the way to where I stood.

  One of the Rocks nudged me forward, and it took everything I had not to hiss at him like a feral cat. Just because I wasn’t fighting right now didn’t mean that I had given up hope. I would find a way to break out of this place. I just needed to keep my cool. Maybe learn everything about them that I could. Then I would run.

  If there was one thing I was good at, it was surviving.

  I kept my head held high as the Rocks ushered me across the campus. It was dark outside, so there weren’t too many students strolling about. There were two girls on the same path as us who wrinkled up their nose at me, looking at me like I was scum. Maybe it was the dirt-stained clothing, or the grass stains on my face.

  I gave them a nod, and their lips curled up in disgust. Boo. It looked like I wouldn’t be winning Miss Congeniality. There went all my hopes and dreams.

  We entered a building, then dumb and dumber took me to what seemed to be the school library. They handed me off to a familiar, handsome face that I had never wanted to see again.

  The commander tilted his head at me in greeting. “I assume you had safe travels?”

  “If being forced against your will to leave your current residency, board a plane, then take some kind of nature walk just to fall through a rabbit hole when your name is not Alice and you don’t enjoy adventures, and then, to add more suffering, you have to deal with two boring bozos like the ones who escorted me here is considered safe, then yes, it was peachy.”

  He gave a sigh as he took my raggedy duffel from me. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”

  “Nope. And why should I?”

  His green eyes traveled the length of me, as if he was looking for wear and tear. Seeming to be satisfied, he said, “Let me show you where you will be staying.”

  “But I don’t want to stay here. You’d think angels would be big on the whole free will thing.”

  “We are big on free will. However, you are being extremely difficult.”

  “So, it’s only free will if I operate the way you want me to operate? And difficult?” I screeched, causing a couple of students to stop in their tracks to look at the new kid.

  His eyebrows rose at my tone. “Yes, difficult.” He took a couple of steps closer to me until there was but a few inches between us. Oh great, the commander even smelled divine, but I wouldn’t be fooled by a pretty face and matching smell.

  I cocked my head back, so I could still see him.

  “We started this school for a reason—to give hope and options for all demis who have enough power that will cause them to be hunted by the darken. We are here to help the fully blessed, too. They have to learn who they are, how to control their powers, and what choices they’ll eventually have to make.”

  I rolled my eyes. “And the hell with free will, huh? What if we don’t want to be any of the above? And what if the choices we want to make have nothing to do with this stupid school?”

  “A girl I once knew was just as stubborn as you. I learned with her that sometimes you have to drop a matter for a little while then revisit, so I suggest we do that. Now, if you are done making a spectacle out of yourself, please follow me.”

  I looked around the library. He was right; there were a couple of students gawking.

  Holding my shoulders back, I begrudgingly followed him as we exited the main building and took a small, paved path to a smaller brick one. We entered through double doors and went up a winding stairwell. I took my sweet-ass time as I clomped up the stairs.

  “These are the dorms.” He pushed open a door leading to a room that was tiny and basic but clean. I had lived in so much worse. He set my duffel bag at the end of a bed. Another twin bed was against the other wall. “You’ll have a roommate.”

  I just nodded. I had bigger problems than who would be rooming with me.

  He handed me an envelope. “In there, you’ll find your classes. They begin tomorrow. They were supposed to begin yesterday, but I guess you had some loose ends to tie up.”

  “Yep, that was it.”

  “Today, you should rest and try to adjust to what your new life will be like.”

  I snorted.

  “Gabriella, I didn’t make the rules, but I do have to enforce them. It’s for your own good. You’re not safe out there. Not if you have been blessed.”

  I wasn’t safe here, either.

  He gave an impatient sigh. “I read your file. Your complete file.”

  My eyes flashed to his. That was a major violation of privacy.

  He held up a hand. “As commander and leader of the seraph army, it’s my job to read everyone’s file. I noticed that you’ve had a bit of a tragic past. You’ve bounced around from home to home. At least here, you’ll have a constant.”

  “Until when?” I snarled. “I’ve heard things, you know.” Not really, but I’d seen what the angels were capable of. “I might not know all the behind-the-scene happenings, but I know enough to understand that I’m not safe here.” I tilted my chin up in defiance. “Tell me, when’s the last time a demi or fully blessed enrolled at your academy just to die by someone from the rivaling academy? Last yea
r? Last month? How about last week?”

  His eyes turned to steel. I must’ve hit a nerve.

  I glared at him with all the rage I could muster. “I’m here. Not of my own free will, but by your command.”

  His eyes flashed with anger. “Understood. But understand this, your room is four levels up. Unless you’re immortal, if you jump out of this window, it will kill you.”

  Oh great, the Rocks, Dan and Dick, had shown him the video. That was a tad humiliating, but who cared? I didn’t.

  I glared right back at the handsome beast. “I don’t have anything else to say to you. You’re dismissed.” I held the door open for him, and as soon as he cleared the threshold, I slammed it so fast it barely missed his heels.

  I threw myself on my new bed in a fit of tears. When I had no more room to wallow in my own self-pity, I gave a merciful laugh. I, Gabriella Arien, had just dismissed the commander of the scariest, most feared academy in the world. I might be in murky water, but I had balls. Here was to hoping that my bravado kept me alive instead of getting me killed.

  I accidentally fell asleep from exhaustion. It was rare to dream about the angels. Ninety percent of the time, I had dreams of myself in a different time. They were weird dreams of people whose faces were murky, but there was no doubt that they loved me. Those dreams were always discombobulated and left me feeling depressed. Then there were the dreams of the academies. One dream I was being tortured until my voice was hoarse. I begged and pleaded, but no one came to help me.

  Tonight, though, I dreamed of fifteen beautiful angels who had good intentions but broke the rules. They came down from heaven with a plan, but before returning, they realized that their new enemies, the fallen, the darken, had decided to counterbalance all their efforts.

  “How did Lucifer know what we had intended?” one of the archangels whispered.

  Gabriel shook out her beautiful, long hair behind her then began to rub her temples. She was always my favorite angel. There was something about her that was so comforting. “Because someone told the fallen our plans.”

  “I bet it was Camaella,” Ariel said.

  Camaella came around the corner and clapped her hands together. “Looks like you all have it figured out.”

  “Why would you betray us to the enemy?” Azrael asked.

  I already knew the answer to that. I had seen in before. She was tired of the way things were being ran in Heaven. She hated the fifteen archangels. Gabriel’s beauty, Jophiel’s condescending smiles and, more than anything, the way Sandalphon had turned down her affection. Her heart still clenched every time he made eye contact with her. She had practically thrown herself at him, and what had he said in his not-so-gentle rebuff? Oh, yes, angels weren’t made to feel love. Perfect Sandalphon had made it clear that he wouldn’t be breaking the rules anytime soon. Except, he did. For the humans.

  Camaella shrugged carelessly. “Who cares for the reasoning?”

  Abbadona, the angel who had been in charge of the fallen angels and currently the fifteen archangels, was nearing. They could all tell by the atmospheric pressure change.

  At the look of fear and horror on the archangels’ faces, Camaella smiled. She hoped that the head angel of the seraphim would make them pay, just like he had with her friends, the ones who they now called the darken. She no longer cared if she fell, too, as long as the precious archangels were thrown out of heaven, as well.

  Abbadona showed up at the gate in a ray of light so bright that the other angels had to cast their eyes downward. The head angel’s long, blond hair blew behind him, as if it was caught in the wind. His light blue eyes widened as they settled on the angles before him.

  “What have you done?”

  Uriel’s eyes shifted to his feet with shame, causing Camaella to smirk. She had never liked him, with his meek personality and soft-spoken voice, always praising those around him. Such a bore, acting like he was building up their self-esteem. Instead, Camaella knew Uriel was really judging them.

  Abbadona circled the angels, stopping before Michael. Laying a hand on his shoulder, Abbadona closed his eyes and breathed in the smell of human scent. Then Abbadona took a step back, disappointment coloring his face. “What have you done? What have you all done?”

  Gabriel shook her head. “We have disobeyed, and we will gladly expect whatever form of punishment you choose to hand out, but it’s not what we have done that is concerning. It’s what she has done,” she said, pointing at Camaella, “that might damn us all.”

  The dream started to fade, and I was thankful.

  An overwhelming sense of grief filled me. I wasn’t sure what the angels had done, but I knew from the bottom of my heart that they were going to be punished to the extreme.

  The sound of my new prison opened. Then the door slammed shut, causing me to groan. If that wasn’t enough of an assault, the lights switched on, causing me momentary blindness.

  “Oh, girl, you look like shit.”

  I looked up to see a girl who looked like a tiny pixie stroll into my room. Her black hair was swept to one side. The left side was short compared to the right, considering her hair was cut at a sharp diagonal. The tips were dyed red. Her eyebrows were tweezed, perfectly showcasing her baby blues.

  “Who are you?”

  Her mouth dropped open. Then she started tap dancing on the floor. “She’s talking to me. A girl like you can see a girl like me.” She sang “A moment like this” while she did a couple of dance routines that made Fred Astaire look amateurish, then she plopped onto the other twin bed. “So, my name, you ask? It’s Remariey. Call me Remy for short, doll face. So, talk to Mama and tell me what’s got you looking like a hella mess. Was it a boy? Was it a hot boy? Eek. Tell me, err-thang.”

  “Um. Are you my roommate?”

  “Duh. And just FYI, you are going to love me. Like, you are going to wonder at some point what you did pre-Remy.”

  Remy was super weird. But I liked weird.

  “Well, I’m sure glad we got that all cleared up. And it’s nice to see a friendly face. I saw a couple of girls in the courtyard who were staring daggers at me.”

  “Oh … em … gee. Do you want me to verbally bitch-slap them? I’m the queen of that, baby, so don’t try to go after my crown. But I’ll let you assist me from time to time.” She crossed her ankles while she studied me. “Yes, I have a feeling this is going to be a dream team. Now, let me explain these bitches real quick. There are two academies that search for kids like us, right?”

  I nodded.

  “And recruits are recruits. It’s all game, baby. And because it’s a game, everyone wants to win. Until everyone knows exactly who you are and what you’re capable of, they will see you as a threat. You could be a powerful fully blessed that could be a game changer, or an evil darken that hides under their beds to murder them while they sleep.” She made a dramatical noise. “Regardless, you have to watch your back while you’re here.” She ran a manicured hand over the mattress that did not have any linens on it. “Let’s start this everlasting relationship by you telling me why you have mascara on your face.” Her cute nose turned up in the air like a German Shepard. “And do I smell heavenly cologne? Yum. Who’s been in here?”

  I pushed back the mess that was my hair. “Cologne? Oh, that must’ve been the commander.”

  Remy splayed a hand over her chest while fanning her face with the other hand. “No, you did not just say the hottest male to ever walk the earth was just in my room.”

  “Yep.”

  Remy studied me with a different appreciation. “Yeah, yeah, I see it now. If your hair was brushed, the mascara was off your face, and you didn’t have that drool caked on your chin, you would be smoking hot.”

  I wiped my chin with my sleeve. “I might not be at my best right now.”

  Remy came to sit next to me. “Talk to Mama. Was it that masculine beast that smells divine?”

  I shrugged. “He did have me brought here against my will. I don’t want to be touched o
r blessed. I don’t want to be a part of this world.” A tear streaked down my face. “I have these horrible dreams.”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh … em … gee, you’re a dream walker!”

  “Um, yeah, I don’t even know what that is.”

  “Interesting.” She tapped a finger on her chin. “You can be all tight-lipped right now, but I can promise you that you will be telling me all your dirty secrets within a week, because people just can’t resist me.”

  I wiped my nose with my sleeve. “I’m not being secretive. I just really don’t know what the hell a dream walker is. I get vivid dreams; that’s it.”

  She cocked her head to the side, her red tips swinging over a shoulder. “Hmm … Your powers haven’t manifested all the way yet, so you could be a dream walker. I don’t know for sure, though. How about the verdict is out on that blessing?”

  “Not a blessing. The dreams are horrible. More like a curse. So, what have you been diagnosed with—”

  She burst out laughing. “Yeah, no one will be able to tell how much you hate anything touched by an angel. But I agree, enough with you. Back to me. Obviously, by just looking at this fabulous face and great body, you can tell I’m fully blessed. By the lovely Ariel herself.” She batted her eyelashes. “But I mean, look at this bone structure. You can so tell I’m fully blessed, right?”

  I laughed. “Definitely see it now.”

  “Of course you do. I’m thankful that whatever darken angel that got to me after Ariel did was obviously attractive, as well.”

  “You’re so humble.”

  She rolled her blue eyes. “Maybe that’s the bad trait the darken had—narcissism. Anyway, I always knew that I was fully something. I mean, anything this hot can’t be a demi. I’m going to take a stab in the dark here and say you’re fully blessed, too. Even with snot dripping out of your nose, you’re gorgeous.”

  “I don’t want to be blessed. I just want the hell away from this school. This isn’t my war.” I thought about something. “So, if I’m not strong enough, they will kick me out of the academy?”