I cast a look over at Hannah, who was busy writing her essay. Maybe she was onto something. If I were blessed by the seven archangels, I’d have to assume that it was Uriel’s gift that allowed me to help Hannah grow stronger.
I skimmed over Zadkiel, who looked like a Viking with long red hair and his long, bushy beard. Apparently, his gift was the gift of kindness and forgiveness. Definitely wasn’t touched by Zadkiel. I could hold a grudge like no other.
I skipped over Haniel and went to Raziel with his dark hair, black eyes, and tanned skin. He was small in stature and extremely attractive. He was listed as the most knowledgeable of the angels, always knowing the correct answer.
Raguel almost looked dainty because of his angelic features. His blond hair and blue eyes sat in a pretty face. He was the logical one. The angel of justice.
Michael was labeled as everyone’s favorite bodyguard. He was handsome with his long, brown hair and golden eyes. Strength and power were behind his smile.
Jophiel was gorgeous with her umber skin and shiny black hair that hung to her waist. Her gift was confidence and finding beauty within.
Chamuel, the one that Sandalphon had said was extremely protective of me, looked like a soldier. He stood tall and proud, well over six-foot-four, with massive shoulders. I lightly touched the image of yet another angel who had blessed me, and my heart clenched. I wish I could remember him. Below his image, it said one of his strengths was intuition. I remembered all the times I relied on my intuition to keep me safe, and I silently thanked him.
Jeremiel’s skin was as dark as midnight, and his smile was as bright as the sun. How unfair to not remember that smile. He was a dream walker. Remy had been right. There was a good chance that I was a dream walker, too.
The twins were last. They both looked a little like the comic hero Thor. Metatron was a little less muscular and a few inches shorter. He gave the gift of energy.
Last, but not least, was Sandalphon. I studied his picture, seeing the commander in him. Same bone structure and physique. Sandalphon and his twin both had blond hair and blue eyes. Meanwhile, Finn had the most amazing shade of green eyes that I’d ever seen. I didn’t know why this bothered me, but it did. Maybe it was because they seemed so familiar? I wondered if I had dreamed of him before.
I elbowed Hannah. “Hey, did you know that the commander comes from Sandalphon’s line?”
Hannah shook her head.
“Yeah, well, he does. But does he look like him? I mean, other than the bone structure?”
“Dude, you’ve been memorizing the commander’s bone structure?”
I rolled my eyes. “Just answer the question.”
“No, he doesn’t look like Sandalphon.”
“Hannah, do you know who all the fully blessed at the school are?”
She tapped her chin with a finger. “Maybe. I mean, a lot of kids have been touched at some point by the archangels and or the darken.”
“What’s a lot?”
She shrugged. “I think there are four hundred at this school, and half of those are demis, so two hundred.”
“That’s a lot of power under one roof.”
“Yeah, but you forget that not all of the darken are powerful, and some of the archangels were weak in power, like Haniel. That’s why they give us our power level when we come in.”
I sat back in my chair, thinking. Sariel had said that I didn’t even have a number that could be given to me. I had a horrible feeling that I wasn’t going to be able to hide who I was for much longer.
When class was over, Hannah and I parted ways, and that was when I saw Trev leaning up against some lockers. His hands were in his pockets, and Marlie-Beth was all over him, looking like she was two seconds from ripping off his clothes. He smiled at something she said, and I couldn’t help my eye roll. Was this the same boy who had tried to kiss me yesterday?
Shaking my head, I walked toward the locker rooms and changed into my training attire for hand-to-hand. I was stretching when Trev came out of the boy’s locker rooms. He came over and sat right next to me.
I had to bite my cheek so that I didn’t say something catty about him and Marlie-Beth. After all, it wasn’t any of my business.
Remy flew into the gymnasium and plopped down right in front of me. “Geez. This place smells like ass.”
Trev started talking, but I wasn’t paying attention as Remy was almost blocking Trev with her body. “Okay, so I went through all of Mrs. Fields’ journals, right? By the way, I think she found the penises I drew, because the old bat had someone come ward her room. Like I would intentionally want to go back in there. It’s probably the first and last time that old girl will have anyone willingly go into her room. Anyway, I checked Mr. Montgomery’s room and came up with nothing but some naughty magazines. Who’d have thought he was a perv? Same thing with Mrs. Gregory. I mean, not the naughty magazine bit, but there were no books. Well, there were books on weapon training, but not books on anything to do with the academies. But baby, I got lucky in Dr. Howler’s office.”
I couldn’t say much, so I raised my eyebrows and nodded silently, begging her to continue.
“So, here is what I found—”
“Gabriella?”
I turned to Trev. “Yes, sorry, what?”
He laughed. “I only had to say your name five times. You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said, have you?”
I gave him a sheepish look.
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
Remy was pissed that she had been interrupted, and the feeling was mutual.
“Sorry, I’m just tired. What do you need?” I didn’t intend for that to come out impatient and bitchy, but it did.
“Need?” His forehead wrinkled. “I don’t need anything. I just wanted to see how your day was going, that’s all.”
“Um, good. Well, I mean as good as any day can be here at this hellhole.”
“Do you want to warm up together?”
No, not really. I wanted to hear what Remy had found.
I hesitated for a second, causing a look of confusion to come across Trev’s face.
“Ugh,” Remy said. “I’ll never be able to tell you the scoop with this overachiever interrupting every five seconds. I’ll find you at lunch.”
I said to Remy, “Okay, sounds good,” but it was Trev who was beaming.
“Okay, I’ll go get us a couple of jump ropes.”
Trev tried several times to make small talk, but I wasn’t feeling it. My mind was somewhere else. Maybe Remy had found something that would answer one of the several questions that I had about the academies.
The class seemed to last forever before Mr. Montgomery finally dismissed us.
I changed clothes as quickly as I could and was exiting the locker room at the same time as Trev. I put my head down as I barreled past him so I wouldn’t get stuck talking. Hopefully, he didn’t see me. I needed to get to lunch quickly. I knew my ghost would come through for me.
Usually, lunchtime was my favorite because I could sit and relax under my tree with the mountains as my backdrop, but I was too anxious to relax today. After I got my tray, I debated whether to eat inside where there was a ton of kids or sit outside and take the risk of getting ambushed by the crew.
The hell with them. I refused to let them take my favorite place from me. Plus, it would be easier to communicate with Remy.
I arrived at what I had deemed my tree to see Finn sitting there with a book in his lap.
“Wh-what are you doing?” I stuttered.
Without looking up, he said, “It looks like I’m reading. What are you doing?”
“Sorry, that was rude. I just meant that I’ve kind of started to think of this as my spot, so it just surprised me to see someone else sitting under it. Especially you.”
Finally looking up at me, he said, “Well, it is a big tree. I think two can fit under it.”
Well, great. Remy was supposed to be meeting here, and now all she would be th
inking of was the commander’s nice ass. I didn’t know why my best friend was so focused on that one part. I mean, it was great, but there were other excellent parts, too.
While he flipped a page in his book, my gaze traveled up his muscular thighs stretched out before him and up to his torso that had to be magnificent under that cotton shirt. I mean, everything else on him was fan-flipping-tastic, so why wouldn’t his abs be, as well? My eyes roamed over his bulging biceps. I felt myself getting hot as I made my way up to study his profile.
Finn coughed uncomfortably. His jaw was clenched, and he was squeezing the book he had in his hand so hard that the pages were almost ripping from the spine.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He slowly turned his head to look at me. “You find me attractive?”
Um … What the hell kind out of the blue question was that?
“It was a question I would like an answer to.”
I narrowed my eyes. I had asked once before if he could read my mind, and he replied I was just easy to read.
Feeling confident in that, I said, “I have no clue why you would ask such a question.”
One corner of his mouth lifted as he gave me a knowing smile. “That’s fair.”
I scanned the courtyard for Remy. The commander was acting super strange, and my friend couldn’t show up a moment too soon.
Finn chuckled. “Are you wanting out of my presence?”
I swiveled my head back toward him. His green eyes started twinkling with amusement. A girl could get lost in those for days.
“I’ve always hated the color of my eyes.”
“Um, I’m sorry?”
“Maybe I can readjust my thinking if you’re that enamored with them.”
I pushed my tray off my lap, scooting back as far as I could until I felt the bark eating into my back. Did he just hear my thoughts? I quickly went through all the archangels’ powers. I was damned sure that mindreading wasn’t a gift of any of theirs. So, how in the world had he known my thoughts?
Finn leaned in close to me, whispering, “That’s a good question. Which is why I’m here today. Any more dreams?”
I was freaking mortified. He was so reading my mind.
I was pissed as I quickly started going through all the things I had thought about when it concerned Finn to see if I should be embarrassed. I had just analyzed every glorious inch of him, and I was pretty sure that would classify as embarrassing.
I barely bit back a groan at the arrogant smile on the commander’s face.
“Dreams?” he prompted.
“Yeah, I saw Camaella crying in all her shame, and I saw my wedding day.”
He sat up straighter. His brows came together as he leaned into me. “Say that one more time.”
My head fell back against the bark of the tree. “Apparently, I was married at some point. I dreamed of the day my mother, Gabriel, helped me get dressed. Then the dream faded into Camaella crying on the floor.”
“That’s all you saw?” He sounded almost disappointed.
“Yep. I keep thinking: what if I left a whole family behind when I died?”
We sat there in silence for a few minutes, with me wondering about who I left behind and Finn frowning over who knew what.
I finally broke the silence. “Can you at least tell me if you hear my thoughts all the time?”
Finn hesitated, looking as if he was taking a moment to weigh his words. Finally, he pointed up to the leaves above us. They were blowing so hard on the branches that they looked like they were shaking. “Would you say this happens when you’re agitated or stressed?”
I nodded.
“Then, when those emotions come to you, you’re at your weakest, and it’s easy for me to pick up on what you’re not saying.”
“So, just when I’m agitated?”
He gave me a nod.
“Well, that’s not saying much because, since I’ve been at this place, I’ve been stressed and agitated.”
He laughed as he closed his book. “You can keep me from your thoughts. I almost hate to tell you how, though.”
I gave him the stank eye. “Spill it.”
“Build a wall in your mind; make it as high as it will go. Then I won’t be privy to your thoughts.” He pulled a long leg in and propped an elbow on it. “There are four weeks until your birthday on New Year’s Day. I want you to be prepared as much as possible, but I just don’t know if there is enough time.”
“Because …?”
His green eyes flashed to mine. “Because—” Without taking his eyes off me, he said, “Your friend is here.”
“You can see Remy, too?”
He shook his head. “No, your other friend.” He looked at my lips, causing my heart to skip a beat. “I’ll just take my magnificent physique somewhere else.”
That was it. I was going to officially die of embarrassment.
Finn was chuckling as, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Trev walking up to where we were sitting, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Finn.
Finn stood up, almost towering over Trev. Both guys stared at one another for what seemed like forever before Finn gave me one last look then walked around Trev. After a couple of moments of silence, Trev decided to take a seat next to me, right where Finn had been sitting.
His handsome face looked harder now, like he was clearly upset but fighting hard to conceal it. “I could see the intensity in that conversation from a mile away. Want to tell me what it was about?”
He wanted me to tell him about a private conversation I had been having? Why would it be any of his business?
Seeing Marlie-Beth fawn all over him might have made me a tad pissed with Trev.
I shrugged. “Oh, nothing in particular.” Just the commander calling me out on my private thoughts. Damn him.
He narrowed his eyes, and I thought for a second that he was going to call me on my B.S., but then he just put his hands on his knees and said, “Okay, cool. Just checking to make sure you were all right. I wanted to see if you’d like to join me for lunch, but I forgot I had to do something, so I’ll just catch you later.”
I picked up my tray from the grass and said, “Sure. Later.”
Before he walked away, Trev said, “Be careful who you trust, beautiful.”
One could only assume he was talking about the commander.
His words weighed heavily on me. The commander had been telling me not to trust anyone, too. Maybe he was also including himself.
I believed that Finn was truly trying to protect me, but I guessed I could just be a secret weapon for him to use further on down the line. I needed to keep my guard up.
Once again, I scanned the courtyard. Where the hell was Remy? I needed company and dreaded eating the rest of my lunch in solitude.
Since Remy looked like a no-show, I picked up my tray and went to find Hannah. I knew exactly where she would be—outside of the library with her nose stuck in a book.
Magic class with Dr. Howler was always a bore for me as I sat beside Hannah, pretending not to have any gifts. If I let on that I could do half the things I could, then everyone would connect the dots and know I wasn’t just the demi I was pretending to be. But you’d think that I would need to get better at the gifts I currently wielded. How was I supposed to prepare for a battle against the darken if I didn’t practice? I was beyond frustrated, and my agitation was making Hannah’s plant leaves lean toward me.
She kicked me under the table. “Cut it out, will you? Someone might notice.”
Just about that time, the commander came busting through the door. I watched as his eyes roamed the classroom, stopping when he saw me.
“Dr. Howler, I need to see Gabriella for a moment.”
All the kids snickered as I made my way out to the hallway, gently closing the door behind me.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yeah, why?”
He folded his arms over his chest. “I was next door, observing Mrs. Fields’ class. She swears
that one of the students is changing the class grades. By the way, you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“Nope.”
He narrowed his eyes but let it go. “Anyway, I could hear your thoughts from the next room.”
Note to self: get better at building walls.
The thought that I was being that loud was upsetting.
“First off, do grades really count here? I mean, I know that there is something awful coming my way and soon. I feel it. I seriously doubt the grades are going to count. Maybe we do need the knowledge, and maybe we need the training, but seriously? Grades?”
A smile stretched over his face as he rocked back on his heels. “Actually, yes, grades do count. Failing in there means that you could fail outside of the academy when you go up against a demon or, worse, a darken. Now, you want to tell me what’s wrong?”
“Okay, maybe I am frustrated. I’m sitting in that class, but I’m not allowed to participate because, if I do, I might accidentally show my hand, and everyone will know that I’m not just a demi, but you say I have to get stronger. You see the dilemma?”
He let out a sigh. “I do. So, what if, during this time, I meet you at the cabin to train?”
His cabin twice in a day?
“What about the library? It’s right across the hall. And is there any way that Hannah could also come?” I felt my cheeks flushing as I rushed to explain, “The kids were snickering when you called me out here, and then I’m already meeting you for additional training once a day.” Lord, I was blushing. “You know, kids talk.”
He took a step toward me, closing in on me, and I tilted my chin up to look at him. My body was reacting to him in a way that I would die of mortification if he knew what I was thinking. Unfortunately, I hadn’t nailed the whole building a wall inside my mind thing yet, so instead of thinking of how badly I wanted him to dip his head and kiss me, I made myself think of puppies. They were cute and cuddly, and everyone loved puppies.
Blessed: Academy of the Seraph Page 13
