I got it. I hated crying in front of people, too.
“I can’t imagine.” I bit my lip, unsure how to continue. Comforting people who were crying wasn’t one of my strengths in life.
But I had to say something more. It sounded like Annika had been through Hell and back. She looked like it, too. And while nothing could make it better, I had to try.
“It must have been so hard,” I said. “You were doing what you thought you had to do to save the world. And at the end of the day, they chose to drink from the Grail. They believed in what everyone on Avalon is fighting for—ridding the demons from Earth. Their deaths weren’t your fault.”
“Logically, I understand that.” She turned back to me, a glimmer of strength in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. “But ever since becoming an angel, I feel more than I did before. When they died, it felt like a part of my heart died, too. I went to the mages about it, and apparently it’s an angel thing. Angels have extreme empathy—it makes our emotions go on overdrive. It’s why angels choose to live in Heaven and not come down to Earth. There’s so much pain and sorrow on Earth. Angels would drown in their emotions. They’d be so lost it would make them useless. If it’s this hard for me on Avalon—which is technically slightly removed from Earth—I can’t imagine what it would be like going back there.”
“That’s why you holed yourself up in here?” I asked, looking around the chambers. The truth was, Annika didn’t smell completely fresh—my guess would be that she hadn’t showered in a few days. She’d clearly been hiding away in here. Probably reading, judging from the pile of books on her nightstand.
I recognized the book on top—it had been on my “to read” list back when everything was normal. I didn’t get much time to read for fun between all my studying, but I’d planned on getting it in over summer break.
That old life of mine seemed so far away now.
“It is,” she said. “I couldn’t take seeing any more of the humans die. So I shut down the human training center in the academy, had them all take memory potion, and sent them back to Earth.”
I flinched slightly when she said, “memory potion.” She really liked wiping humans’ memories, didn’t she?
But I pressed my lips together, stopping myself from saying anything snarky. Annika was clearly in a rough place right now. Snarkiness wasn’t going to help her feel better.
I needed her to feel better so she’d get her act together and figure out how to fix this.
“When was that?” I asked.
“A few weeks ago.” She shrugged. “I’ve lost track of time.”
Crap. This was not good. I needed to become a Nephilim to save my mom—and to save Sage and the others from Azazel. I couldn’t do that if Annika wouldn’t try to figure out what was killing everyone before me.
There had to be something she was missing. Some key to the puzzle.
“Was there anything similar about the humans who were dying?” I asked.
“No.” She shook her head sadly. “Trust me, I’ve been over this multiple times. There’s no pattern to the deaths. The only thing predictable is that every human who drinks from the Grail dies. Period.”
“Did any gifted humans drink from the Grail?” The possibility that this was the answer lit my chest up with excitement. Maybe regular humans weren’t strong enough to survive drinking from the Grail, no matter what.
“They did,” she said, and I instantly deflated. “Two of them. They died, too.”
“What were their gifts?”
She scratched her head, as if trying to remember. “Flexibility and… the ability to eat anything without gaining weight.”
“Seriously?” My eyes widened, distracted for a moment. “That’s an actual gift?”
“It is.” Annika smiled—a sad, wistful smile, but still a smile. “It wasn’t particularly useful on Avalon since mana fuels the body purely with what it needs, but she loved bragging about how she could put down insane quantities of food without gaining a pound. I think she made popular YouTube videos about it back on Earth.”
“I thought you recruited humans from the streets?” I asked.
“And from the Vale,” she said. “This girl—Kacy—had been brought to the Vale a few years before me. We knew each other in passing. I really thought she’d have the strength to pass the Trials. But she didn’t. Even though she was gifted, she died like the rest of them.”
“There must be something you’re missing.” I spoke faster now, trying to keep the panic from rising up in my voice. I didn’t come all the way to Avalon just to be told that the Angel Trials were impossible. “Some other reason why the humans are all dying. There has to be a way to fix this. The supernaturals on Earth are counting on you. The world is counting on you.”
“You think I don’t know that?” She stared straight at me, her gaze sharper now. “I’ve been trying to figure it out for weeks. I’ve found nothing. I’m going to keep my team searching for an explanation, because there has to be an answer out there somewhere. But until we find it, I think it’s best that you take memory potion and go back home.”
12
Raven
“Seriously?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing right now. “First of all, memory potion doesn’t work on me. Secondly, I came here to become a Nephilim. I have to save my mom. And I will save my mom. Rosella said as much. Maybe you don’t believe me, but you believe Rosella. Right?”
“Rosella didn’t say when you’d be able to become a Nephilim,” Annika said sadly. “It might not happen for years, for all we know.”
“No.” I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my palms. “I won’t accept that.”
“You really are stubborn,” she said with a small chuckle.
“It’s not funny.” I glared at her. “None of this is funny.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Her tone was as scathing as my own. “One by one, I watched my people die. Be stubborn all you want, but you didn’t see it. The way my blood poisoned them from the inside, welting their skin and making them cough up their organs until there was nothing left but pieces of them on the ground. The way they clawed at themselves to make the pain go away and begged for someone to help them. But nothing helped. Nothing but death.”
I hadn’t wanted to know the details of how they’d died. It sounded more horrifying than I’d imagined. But I stayed strong, determined not to let it shake me. Now wasn’t the time for that.
“You’re right—I don’t know what it was like to watch that,” I said. “But you don’t know what it’s like out there on Earth. Azazel is kidnapping gifted humans and doing who knows what with them. He’s turned the entire Montgomery pack into demon bound slaves. He’s a monster, and he needs to be stopped. But only a Nephilim or angel can kill a greater demon. So with no Nephilim here on Avalon, I guess you’ll just have to go to Earth and kill him yourself.”
“I can’t do that,” Annika said softly.
“Why?” I asked. “Because it’s too difficult for you to go to Earth with your angel empathy thing?” If that was it, she needed to suck it up. And I had no problem being the one to tell her that.
“That’s not it,” she said. “Yes, it would be difficult for me to go to Earth with my ‘angel empathy thing.’ But I’m stronger than you realize.”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m bound to Avalon,” she said. “When I arrived on this island, it was dead. Then I signed a contract with my blood and brought it back to life. Doing so bonded a piece of my soul with Avalon to bring it to its current glory. It blessed the island and made it impossible to locate. If I leave, so does the blessing that hides Avalon. Everyone here will be exposed and at risk. The demons will attack, and if they attack now… I’m not confident we have the strength to beat them.”
“So you’re just going to let Azazel get away with it?” I backed away from her, infuriated. “You’re not going to try stopping him?”
“I’m going to stop him,” she said. “
Just not yet.”
“If not now, then when?”
“Once I figure out what’s going wrong with the Trials,” she said. “Once humans are able to drink from the Grail and survive to become Nephilim. Once I start forming my army. Then, once all that is complete, I can think about defeating the greater demons. That’s how this war against the demons is going to be fought, and eventually won. One slow step at a time. It might take years, but we’ll get there. We have to get there. Otherwise, everything I’ve been through until now will have been for nothing. And I can’t accept that. I won’t accept that.”
Her golden eyes glowed brighter with each word she spoke. Finally, Annika was showing some of the confidence and determination I’d expected from the Earth Angel. It wasn’t what I’d wanted to hear, but it was better than nothing.
I could work with this, and with her. I had no other choice.
But I couldn’t become a Nephilim.
I leaned against the frame of the bed, frustrated and lost and confused all at once. How was I supposed to save my mom—and Sage—if I couldn’t enter the Trials and become a Nephilim?
It didn’t make any sense.
Then, when the helplessness of the situation felt like it was too much to handle, I remembered what Rosella had told me back in the Haven.
Whatever you learn when you get to Avalon—no matter how hopeless or impossible things might seem—you must always believe in yourself. You have a gift, Raven. When you put your mind to something, you can accomplish anything. Don’t ever forget that.
All at once, it clicked into place. Rosella had been trying to warn me. She knew Annika’s secret—that every human who had entered the Trials so far had died. Of course she knew. She was a psychic.
She knew, and she’d reminded me of my gift. Stubbornness. Determination. A drive to succeed no matter what. A drive to live.
The others might have died after drinking angel blood from the Grail. But I would survive.
At least, I’d try.
“What are you thinking about?” Annika asked.
I swallowed, knowing she was going to think I was crazy. “Rosella sent me to Avalon to enter the Angel Trials and become a Nephilim,” I said. “Before I came here, she spoke with me again in the Haven. She told me that when I got to Avalon, I’d learn something that would make it feel like my quest was impossible. Then she reminded me about my gift. About how it allows me to accomplish what others can’t. She told me that no matter what, I needed to believe in myself.”
“No…” Annika shook her head, like she knew what I was going to say next.
She was scared for me. I couldn’t blame her. I was scared for myself, too.
“Yes,” I cut her off before she could say more. “You trust Rosella, don’t you?”
“I do,” she said without a second thought. “I wouldn’t be here today if not for her guidance.”
“Well, Rosella sent me here to enter the Angel Trials, drink from the Grail, and become the first Nephilim in your army,” I said. “So that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
13
Raven
After my long chat with Annika, the Earth Angel had Camelia send for Violet.
The mage teleported to the room within seconds and fluffed out her purple medieval gown. She and her sisters were the only ones I’d seen wearing gowns around the castle. I guessed it was a mage thing.
“Your Highness,” Violet said to Annika, dipping into a curtsy.
Annika rolled her eyes. “I told them they don’t need to be so formal,” she said to me. “But they insist.” She flashed me a conspiratorial smile, and I gave her one right back.
If someone had told me a few hours ago that the Earth Angel and I were going to start becoming friends, I never would have believed them.
The world was so weird sometimes.
Violet simply stood there and waited for a command from Annika. If she was shocked by the Earth Angel’s messy appearance, she did a good job at hiding it.
“Please escort Raven to the human quarters in the academy and help get her situated,” Annika said to Violet. “She’s going to begin training for the Angel Trials tomorrow.”
The calm, pleasant look that seemed to be permanently plastered on Violet’s face fell to one of complete shock. “But the human quarters are closed,” she sputtered, looking from Annika to me and back to Annika again. “The Angel Trials are cancelled.”
“They were cancelled.” Annika sat straighter, sounding like a leader for the first time since I met her. “But I’m opening them again. For Raven only.”
Violet pressed her lips together, like she had some serious words to speak to the Earth Angel. But whatever was going through her mind, she must have contained it. “Very well,” she said simply, looking to me. “I was just about to fetch Jessica to get her situated in the academy’s vampire quarters. Since all the academy quarters are in the same building, we can pick her up on our way there.”
“Perfect.” Annika beamed at her, and then turned to me. “It was wonderful to meet you—again. I’ll see you tonight at the welcome banquet.”
“Do I need anything fancy for this banquet?” I glanced at Violet’s gown and motioned to the Haven whites I was still wearing. “Because this is all I have.”
“The academy will provide you with everything you need,” Violet said, her tone back to serene and calm. “Now, come along. Jessica’s waiting, and we don’t have any time to waste.”
Violet led me to a turret similar to the one where she’d given me my orientation, except at the other end of the castle.
“Why are we walking everywhere?” I asked on our way there. “Don’t you have the ability to teleport?”
“I do,” she said. “But it’s important that you get your bearings around here. You won’t always have a mage or a witch by your side.”
She led the way up the stairs of a spiral tower similar to the one from earlier. When we reached the door at the top, she knocked.
The door slammed open—right into her—and Noah rushed out in a blur. He reached for my hands, looking down at me with fear, worry, and love in his eyes. “Dahlia told us about the Angel Trials,” he said. “If you’re leaving, I’m going with you. We can go back to the Haven and talk to Rosella. There has to be another way to save your mom and Sage.”
“Noah,” I cut him off, speaking his name slowly. I felt his panic radiating through the imprint bond. “I’m not leaving.”
“You’re not?” His brows furrowed in confusion.
“You remember what Rosella told me in the Haven, right?” I asked. “That no matter how impossible things seemed here on Avalon, I needed to believe in myself? That my gift allows me to defeat crazy odds?”
“Of course I remember,” he said. “But those Trials… they’ll kill you.”
“They won’t.” I stood strongly, determined to make it true just by speaking the words. “Using your slicer to kill a demon should have killed me, but I survived. The same way that I’ll survive the Angel Trials. By using my gift.”
“Are you two done here?” Violet looked between Noah and me impatiently. “The Earth Angel has tasked me to bring Raven and Jessica to their appropriate quarters in the academy.”
Noah turned to Violet and puffed out his chest, towering over her. “I’m coming with you,” he said.
“No, you are not,” Dahlia trilled from their orientation room. “We’re not finished with your orientation yet!”
Noah ignored her and continued giving Violet his intense wolf stare down.
If he intimidated her, she didn’t let it show. “The Earth Angel specifically asked me to bring Raven and Jessica to their appropriate quarters in the academy,” she repeated. “If you have any grievances against this arrangement, you can bring it up with the Earth Angel at the banquet tonight.”
“I have ‘grievances’ against more than Raven’s sleeping arrangement,” he growled at her, before refocusing on me. “What do you want to do?” he asked.
&nb
sp; “I want to go to the academy,” I said honestly.
“How far is this academy from here?”
“Not far at all,” Violet answered happily. “It’s right behind the castle.”
Noah took a deep breath, tension tight through his body. “Fine,” he muttered. “Go get your tour of the academy. We’ll talk later.”
His words were heavy, and they held a lot of meaning—both that I could hear in his tone and feel through the bond. He didn’t want me entering the Trials. He thought it was too dangerous. He couldn’t bear the thought of me drinking from the Grail and dying.
“Deal.” I squeezed his hand for assurance. “I’ll be safe. I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
I swallowed, because he was right. When I told him I’d be safe, I meant I’d be safe for the night. As for through the Angel Trials… who knew what would happen?
The world suddenly felt like it was swirling around me, and I blinked to steady myself. I needed to take this one step at a time. If I thought too far ahead, the terror of what I was doing would consume me. Right now, I needed to focus on the present.
Which meant going with Violet to get situated at the human quarters in the academy.
14
Raven
Violet led Jessica and me through the hall of the first floor of the castle, pointing at doors and telling us where they led as we walked. We’d passed the ballroom, dining room, kitchens, library, meeting room, throne room, and a few other rooms Violet had rattled off the names of while hurrying us along.
The Angel Trials- The Complete Series Page 82
