The wooden furniture was so heavy and ornate that I felt like I’d stepped back in time. There were four long rows of tables set for royalty, with candlesticks, flowers, covered silver platters of what I assumed was filled with mana, and pitchers of Holy Water spread out in the centers. There were also bottles of wine—both white and red.
People in big chairs sat in front of each place setting. At the far left table I recognized the princesses Darra and Tari, along with some of the students from the academy, including Samantha and her cronies. Samantha watched me with the smuggest look ever. I wanted to wipe it right off her face. But my mood lightened when I saw Leia and the rougarou pack at the other side of the room. Leia even gave me a small nod of encouragement.
We’d come a long way since they’d attacked us and dragged us into their bar in New Orleans.
On the closest platform, perpendicular to the four long tables, Annika, Jacen, the mages, Noah, Thomas, Jessica, and Bella sat at a table facing the crowd. Annika looked worlds away from the depressed girl I’d met in her quarters. Wearing a brilliant gold dress that matched her eyes, makeup, and a regal up do in her hair, she appeared confident and poised. Like a true leader. No one would have been able to guess how much despair she’d been in a few hours earlier.
Iris was the only one standing. She motioned to the empty seat next to Noah and nodded for me to come forward.
“Lastly, this is Raven Danvers,” she said, facing the crowd and projecting loudly enough to be heard in the back of the room. “A gifted human from Venice Beach, California.”
No one clapped, and my stomach instantly felt like it dropped to my feet.
The shocked, wide eyes and open mouths staring back at me made it clear that they hadn’t been prepared for the fact that a human was staying on Avalon. There were a few murmurs and shifting seats, but for the most part, everyone was quiet.
I’d been so worried that one of them would try to turn me into a snack that I hadn’t stopped to think that they might not want me there.
I walked over to my seat, and for the first time in my life, I understood what people meant when they called silence “heavy.” Because every step I took as the citizens of Avalon watched me like I didn’t belong there felt like trudging through quicksand.
When I reached my seat, I didn’t sit down. Instead, I placed my hand on the back of it and faced the crowd.
I hated that they’d clapped for everyone else, but not for me. I deserved better than that. I was also getting sick of explaining my existence here to everyone. So I might as well do it now, when I had the attention of everyone on the island. Then I could move on and be done with it.
“You all think I’m going to die,” I said with a small laugh. “Don’t you?”
“Sit down,” Iris murmured from where she stood nearby. From the concerned way she was looking at me from the side of her eyes, she clearly thought I was about to lose it.
But the people at the long tables started nodding and answering my question, confirming that yes, they did think I was going to die. A few of them said I should go back home. That I wasn’t safe on Avalon.
The more that they spoke, the more others felt comfortable chiming in, too.
“You’re all wrong.” I stood straighter and gazed down at them, shutting them up. “Like Iris said, I’m a gifted human. My gift is determination and stubbornness. The vampire seer Rosella sent me here so I can enter the Angel Trials and become a Nephilim. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
I scanned the crowd to see their reactions. Some people were starting to nod in agreement, but not everyone looked convinced.
I wanted to convince them. So I continued, “The lives of people I love depend on me succeeding. The future of the world depends on me succeeding. Without Nephilim, you have no hope in beating the demons. So you better support me. Because right now, I’m the only chance you have. Especially since I’m determined to enter the Angel Trials and survive.”
I stared out at them, daring them to contradict me. They didn’t. Because what I’d said was true, and they all knew it.
Then, one person stood and started to clap. Darra. I could tell her apart from Tari because she had gold woven into her braids and Tari had silver. Her belief in me sent confidence shooting through my chest.
Another person stood and started clapping, then a few more, and then a few more, until the entire room exploded into applause. Even Samantha and her cronies were standing. Probably because they didn’t want to be ostracized by remaining seated, but oh well. I’d take the win.
Heat rushed to my cheeks. I wasn’t sure what else to say from there, so I sat down in my seat.
Noah leaned closer to me and gave me an encouraging smile. “You did great,” he said. “I’d say they love you as much as I do, but that’s impossible, since no one can ever love you as much as I do.”
I totally would have kissed him right there if every citizen of Avalon wasn’t watching. Instead, I took his hand under the table and held it in mine. Warmth and love poured through my body the moment our skin connected.
Ever since imprinting on Noah, I never ceased to be amazed about how much emotion could be conveyed with a single touch.
Jacen stood from his seat in the center of the table. Everyone quieted, and all eyes went to him. “Thank you, Raven,” he said, giving me a respectful nod before returning his attention to the crowd. “The Earth Angel and I fully support Raven’s decision to enter the Angel Trials, and we’re glad to see you supporting her, too. Now, with that out of the way—let’s eat.”
He sat back down, and Iris joined her sisters on the other side of our table. Once everyone in the room was seated, Annika removed the lid from the platter in front of her. As expected, it was full of mana.
That was apparently the cue people needed to remove the lids from the platters closest to them, too.
Holy Water and wine were poured, bread—well, mana—was broken, and everyone talked excitedly amongst themselves. The entirety of the banquet hall was aglow in warm candlelight from the chandeliers overhead. Iris sure did know how to host a feast.
The mana tasted like pizza, and it was the best pizza I’d ever tasted. I would have paired it with red wine, but I needed to be up early for my first day of training tomorrow morning. Sunrise. Ugh. Best to stick with Holy Water tonight.
“Earlier, I was worried when you told me you were entering the Angel Trials,” Noah said once we’d started slowing down on our food. “I still am worried. But I hope you know that I know you have to do this. And that I’d never stop you. Because what you said about you being our best chance at beating the demons is right. And I’m going to do everything I can to support you and help you succeed.”
“You better,” Thomas said, his eyes dark as he looked at Noah and me. Apart from politely answering a few of Jacen’s questions about the technology he planned on bringing to Avalon, Thomas had been quiet for the majority of the meal. This was the most emotion I’d seen from him since we’d arrived. “You’re our only chance to kill Azazel and free Sage. We’re counting on you not to mess this up.”
Way for him to put on the pressure… as if I wasn’t feeling it already.
“By ‘mess this up,’ you mean you’re counting on me not to die?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “Exactly.”
“Don’t worry.” I wished I could channel the surge of confidence I’d felt when I was trying to convince the entire banquet hall to believe in me. “I’m going to do my best. I swear it.”
He nodded, and that was that.
But despite what I’d said to the crowd, I couldn’t help wondering—was my best going to be good enough?
22
Kara
The past day had flown by in a blur.
After Harry had killed the supernatural that had been waiting for us at the riverbank, I’d led him and my twin brother Keith through the woods toward the nearest small town.
Harry had robbed the first empty house we’d come across. A
cabin that looked to be a summer home. There wasn’t much cash inside, but there were clothes we could wear instead of the white outfits given to us at the Haven. The clothes were a bit big for Keith and me, but with a bit of digging, we found some that worked.
More importantly, there was a truck. The people who owned the cabin were apparently super trusting—or we were just in a safe area—because they’d left the keys to the truck in the garage. Which made it easy for Harry to steal.
I hadn’t wanted him to steal. I’d asked him not to. But then he’d pointed out that we needed a car. It wouldn’t be long until the supernaturals from the Vale wondered where we were and found the body we’d left behind. If we stayed on foot, they’d smell our trail. Then we’d be right back where we started. Except we’d be in big trouble, since Harry had killed one of their men, and I’d helped us escape.
This truck would save our lives. So I guessed I was okay with Harry stealing it.
We made a few stops in random places along the road to town, including places not on the way. There, we got out and walked around for a few minutes. Harry claimed if we left our scent in a bunch of random places, it would throw off any supernatural trackers.
Eventually, Harry found a local bar a few towns away. There, he bet on games of darts and pool, using his gift of perfect aim to win every time. No one paid much attention to “his kids”— Keith and me—sitting in a nearby booth. They were too amazed by Harry’s ability to win every game.
Once we had enough cash, we hit the road again.
I wanted Harry to drive us to the nearest police station. But what were we going to tell them? That we’d been kidnapped by a demon, held in a bunker, teleported by witches to India, teleported again to a hidden vampire kingdom in the Canadian Rockies, and then denied entrance to a mystical hidden island called Avalon?
No one would believe us. Worse, Harry thought the authorities would assume he’d kidnapped my brother and me.
He worried the entire way to the nearest city, Banff. Especially because without identification, it was going to be impossible for us to get back to the US. He ultimately decided we needed to have our families come to us and bring us our birth certificates and stuff to get us back home.
He stopped at a convenience store to buy one of those disposable phones, but he hadn’t used it yet. Because he still wasn’t sure what he should say to our families. If we told them the truth and the authorities made our story public, the supernaturals would easily find us again. Then we’d be right back where we’d started.
“There needs to be a witness protection program for humans,” Harry muttered. He was on edge, continuously looking out for cops even though the owners of the truck hadn’t been to their cabin in months and wouldn’t know to report their truck as stolen. “Something to get us back to our normal lives after what we went through.”
“Maybe we should have gone back to the Vale,” Keith finally said. “They might have helped us get in touch with our families.”
“They wouldn’t have.” Harry glared at him through the rearview mirror. He’d insisted we both sit in the back, even though we were twelve and one of us could have sat in front. But my brother and I had wanted to sit with each other, so we hadn’t pushed it. “They’re monsters—all of them. Abominations. You heard what Mary said at the Haven. She wanted to turn us into vampires. Immortal, soulless creatures doomed to Hell. She made it sound like it was our choice, but she was lying. If we’d stayed there—at either the Haven or the Vale—we would have been at their mercy. You kids were lucky you were with me at that riverbank so I could get us out of there.”
I stared out the window at the passing mountains, not saying anything for a few seconds. Because I’d learned about creatures like these in Sunday school. Witches, vampires, shifters… they were all monsters. Just as bad as the demons. They might have acted nice to us, but that was all it was. An act.
Since the day Keith and I had been kidnapped, we’d been praying for help. In the bunker together, we’d prayed every night before bed. When we’d first learned about the Earth Angel on Avalon, we thought she was the answer to our prayers. That was why we’d agreed to go to Avalon in the first place. Surely an angel would help us.
But Avalon had denied us.
Maybe Harry helping us escape was the true answer to our prayers.
I reminded my brother as much, and he agreed.
“You kids still believe in God after everything we’ve been through?” Harry asked.
“Of course.” I reached for the cross necklace I always wore. The demons had taken it away from me in the bunker, but the witches had returned it to me in the Haven. “Don’t you?”
“I don’t know what I believe anymore.” He turned up the volume of the stereo, not leaving it up for discussion. The car only had one of those ancient radios in it, so there was more static than actual music.
None of us spoke for a few minutes.
“When will we get to see our parents?” I eventually asked.
“Soon, kid,” he said. “Soon.”
Once we arrived in Banff, Harry drove us to a motel near the airport. It was one of those grungy motels that had a lit up neon sign saying, “vacancy” near the side of the road. If it hadn’t been for the sign, I would have thought it was abandoned.
“Not the nicest place ever,” he said as he pulled into a spot. “But hopefully they won’t care that we don’t have IDs.”
The person working the check in counter did ask for ID, but he was willing to forget about it when Harry handed him an extra wad of cash.
Harry got our key, and we walked silently to the room. It had worn carpeting, stains on the beds, and smelled like mothballs.
I wished we were home and not here.
“Are you kids cool with sharing a bed?” Harry asked, since there were only two beds in the room.
“Sure,” Keith said. “I don’t sleep much, anyway.”
That was my twin’s gift. He only needed about two hours of sleep each night. My parents had gotten him checked out by so many doctors, but he had no abnormal brain activity, so none of them could figure out the cause. Eventually my parents chalked it up to a blessing from God and left it at that.
I was just opening the nightstand drawer to see if there was a Bible inside when two people appeared in the room. A man in ripped jeans and a leather jacket, and a pale woman with jet-black hair that flowed to her waist.
Supernaturals. They’d found us. I didn’t know how, since we’d taken so much care to cover our tracks, but they were here.
The man moved to Harry in a blur and cuffed his hands behind his back.
I screamed and ran to the door. But the woman blocked my path, grabbing me.
I saw the man holding onto Harry and my brother, then the dingy motel room disappeared, and I was sucked into darkness.
23
Kara
I appeared in a big living room a second later. The woman was still holding onto my arm. The man appeared nearby, holding onto my brother and Harry. There were two other men standing by the door, guarding it. One of them was younger and meaner looking. The other appeared to be about my dad’s age, and I could have sworn he looked at me with a flash of pity. It was replaced by a blank expression a moment later.
There were leather sofas in the room, and a big window looking out to the mountains. Everything in the room was dark brown, like a cabin. I quickly used my gift to pinpoint our location.
Los Angeles, California. Right in the Hollywood Hills.
“I want them turned,” the leather-clad man who had taken Harry and Keith said to the nicer looking man standing by the door.
“I can turn the man,” he said. “But the children are too young. They won’t survive it.”
“Derrick,” the leather-clad man said the name with little patience in his tone. “Turn them. Now.”
“Turn us into what?” I asked, panic rising in my throat. Because I had a dreadful feeling he meant turned into a vampire. Like what had happened
to Jessica.
He ignored me. I looked around at everyone else in the room—Derrick, the woman by my side, and the other guard at the door—but they ignored me, too.
Struggle flashed in Derrick’s eyes, but he walked toward Harry anyway.
Harry tried to run, but the leather clad man held him by both arms. My brother hurried to my side, trembling with fear. The woman let go of my arm, apparently not deeming me a threat. But she remained close to my side.
“Wait,” the leather clad man said.
Derrick stopped walking. “Yes, Azazel?” he asked.
Azazel. This was the greater demon Raven had told us about. The one who was in charge of bringing us to the bunker.
I curled my hands into fists. I hated Azazel with every fiber of my being.
I’d prayed for an angel to save me, but had been delivered into the hands of a demon.
Maybe Harry was right to doubt God was listening to us.
“I want to find out what their gifts are first,” Azazel said. “I already know Harry’s gift—he was on high alert at the bunker because of it. But I don’t know the kids’. It would be impulsive to put them at risk if their gifts might be useful.”
Derrick nodded, clasped his hands behind his back, and waited.
“Hold him down,” Azazel instructed, motioning to Harry. “Make sure he doesn’t try to run. Not that he’d get far. But we don’t want to cause a commotion when it isn’t necessary.”
Derrick did as instructed and took over the job of holding down Harry. He was like a zombie, mindlessly obeying Azazel’s every command.
With Harry off his hands, Azazel walked closer to my brother and me, kneeled down to be at our level, and smiled.
The smile was obviously fake. It sent chills up my arms.
“What are your gifts?” he asked, looking back and forth between the two of us. “And I recommend you get out with it. Otherwise we’ll have to do this the hard way. That would be fun for me. But not for you.”
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