by G. Bailey
I eye Professor Bates with some mixture of worry and fear as she is crazy, and in every lesson with her, someone has ended up getting hurt. As much as I can figure out, she has no sense of personal space and loves to see people in pain. She walks down the steps and makes it quite clear we all need to follow after her. The steps are a little wet from the rain last night as we head down one by one, and Vesnia holds onto my shoulder. We finally get to the bottom and find a long cave. Professor Bates stops at the other end, standing still even as the harsh wind blows her cloak around her. I shiver as we get into a line in front of her like we do in class.
“Angels do not fall. It is in our blood, in our bodies, in our souls and the very essence of this class and what we can teach you,” she starts off and slowly turns to the side. We all stare out at the hundreds of little rocks, no bigger than four feet apart, floating around in the air. Sometimes they crash into each other, but mainly it looks like they are making small circular patterns in the wind. I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach before she even talks. “Today’s class will be learning the art of spear fighting on these rocks. Two of you will go out one at a time, and the goal is to get to the island in the middle. If you manage to knock your opponent off, you will pass this class for the rest of the year. If you fall off, you will die as no one will catch you. Do you understand?”
“Wait, what happens if we both don’t fight and just get to the middle?” I ask.
“There is only one course of rocks that get you to the middle, and they will not hold the weight of you both. You fight for the rocks, or you both die in the fall. If you both happen to work together and get to the middle, the first one to knock the other unconscious or dead wins,” she answers me, and I gulp. “As you spoke first, I believe you should fight first, Miss Lightson. Mr. Becker, you will be her opponent.”
“You can do this,” Vesnia firmly tells me, and I nod at her as I walk forward and wish it wasn’t Riley I had to go against. Especially when he is mad. I guess I’m not too worried, as I don’t think Riley would actually hurt me or try to kill me, no matter how mad he is. Professor Bates gets two spears, the ones we use in class, and hands them to me as we stop near the edge. The first rock is a step away, but the others are large steps. Riley has long legs, he is going to find this a lot easier than I am.
“Good luck,” I whisper to Riley and look up at him. He stares at the rocks like I’m not here and ignores me.
“Go!” Professor Bates shouts, and Riley moves first, stepping onto the rocks. He moves quick, and I step onto the rock after him. The rock wobbles under my feet, and the cold air threatens to push me off, but I make the big step onto the rock next to Riley’s. I see the one rock to the left and step onto it, my throat feeling clogged with fear as it shakes a little in the wind. Taking a deep breath, I decide to step onto the smaller rock right in front of me, and it’s pretty steady for a second before it tilts. I almost scream as I jump off it and onto the rock in front of me, landing face down. I crawl to my feet and look back to see Riley jumping from rock to rock to get to me. I look back, seeing four rocks in a diagonal line right up to the middle, and I know that’s the best way to go. But Professor Bates is right, they are too small for anyone to do anything but step on one at a time and jump. I lean back, bracing myself just as something hard slams into my face. I scream as I fly into the air, rolling but luckily sliding across a rock. I dig my fingers and feet into the rock to stop myself and look up, knowing Riley just hit me in the face with his spear. Blood pours out of my nose as Riley looks back at me and just smiles. He turns around and takes the four steps to the middle and places his hands in the air like a champion, just before I pass out.
Chapter 24
I wake up alone in a white sheet-covered bed, smelling nothing but cleaning products and feeling the pain of my nose, knowing I’m going to look like crap before seeing myself in the mirror opposite me on the wall. My nose is covered in purple bruises, and it was no doubt broken. Dammit, Riley. When did becoming an angel mean you get to be an asshat? I sit up, blinking from the bright light just as a healer in green robes like they all wear, comes into the room.
“You are free to go. The swelling and bruising will go down in a short time,” she tells me as she picks up a notebook from the end of my bed. I notice the notebook has my name on the outside of it.
“Is my friend Vesnia okay?” I question, needing to know if she got through the class okay. I couldn’t imagine a world without her in it at this point.
“The red-haired girl?” she asks as she scribbles on a notebook in her hand. “Vesnia was here, but she was ordered to return to class. You have the rest of the day off.”
“Thank you,” I say as she leaves the room. I make the bed before leaving the room and passing the empty rooms next door to mine before stopping when I hear a familiar voice.
“What’s wrong then?” Henry demands before coughing a few times. “The nose bleeds and vision loss were getting better until recently. Something has changed.”
“It seems you have become somewhat immune to this cure. We will have to search for another strand of the cure,” a nervous sounding healer man replies. So he is sick after all?
A few more coughs fill the room. “And until then?”
“Bed rest and no stress. We will find a way to stop this—”
“Before I die and my parents hunt you down, you mean?” he snaps, and I step into the empty room as I hear their footsteps. I knew Henry was ill, and the thought hurts my heart, because there is no way he can die. I wonder for a brief moment why a healer, an angel, would be scared of human parents?
“Why are you hiding in a room?” Master Gabriel’s voice makes me jump, and I knock a small plastic table over behind me.
“I wasn’t,” I mutter as I pick the table up and the papers that were on top of it. I put it all back together before smiling at Master Gabriel, which hurts my sore face. Master Gabriel searches my face, and a look of pity reaches his eyes for a second before he hides it.
“I was looking for you, Miss Lightson. I wondered if I could test your blood for something,” he asks, folding his hands behind his back.
Odd. Why would he want my blood anyway? Surely it’s like everyone else’s. “For what?”
“Say no!” Ren bursts into the room, floating in front of Master Gabriel so I can hardly see him. My heart beats fast as I run my eyes over Ren, searching for what, I don’t know. A ghost injury? A visual reason why he left me? I want to say a million things to Ren, like, “Hello. Nice to see you again. Where have you been? Why did you kill that vampire?” But I can’t without Master Gabriel thinking I’m utterly mad and talking to myself.
“Why? I ask instead and Ren moves to stand by the doors like he wants to run out of them or something, but his eyes never leave me.
“I was merely curious about your bloodline and ancestors. You remind me of someone, and I wish to know if it is simply a coincidence,” he answers me.
“And if I am related to this someone, will you kill me?” I ask, resting against the bed in the room.
“Of course he will kill you or have someone else do it. Light angels might not be able to lie, but they are masters at avoiding the truth. Do not ignore me, Kaitlyn,” Ren snaps, and I ignore the angry ghost just like he has ignored me for weeks.
“I will not kill you,” Master Gabriel answers. “I am on your side, Miss Lightson. That you can trust.”
I want to tell him I trust no one, and nothing, anymore. Since I’ve came to The Angel Academy, I feel like I’ve been dipped in a bucket of lies and death, and there is no one here to save me but myself.
I’m going to swim my own ass out of this bucket.
And figure out my own life.
“You can do the blood test. I don’t mind,” I answer more for myself. Maybe there is something in my blood that is an answer to why I can see ghosts, to why I’m not normal. I’m already in danger every day I’m at this academy, and it’s only a matter of time before they find ou
t I see ghosts. The end of The Angel Academy means going to earth and following a human around. Which means lots of new places and lots of new ghosts. I’m bound to freak out, and then everyone finds out anyway.
“Brilliant, I will go and get what I need and return,” Master Gabriel states and leaves the room, brushing by Ren who glares at him.
“Nothing good will come from this,” Ren warns, floating right up to me.
“Where the hell have you been?” I whisper shout, and more than ever, I wish I could hit him. “You don’t get to disappear and then come back making demands about my life!”
“Did you miss me?” he asks with a cocky grin, realisation flickering in his eyes. “Oh, you did.”
“You’re a ghost; there is nothing to miss,” I bite back.
“That says a lot about you more than it does about me,” he counters. God, I hate my ghost friend right now.
Why couldn’t I have an imaginary friend like all the other weirdos? At least he wouldn’t abandon me and come back all cocky and shit.
“Shut up,” I snap. “Why did you kill that vampire and then ignore me?”
His demeanour changes, and I can’t read him for a moment. “It’s safer if I stay away from you.”
“What if that’s not what I want?” I ask, and he shakes his head, stepping back.
“If you invite a vampire into heart, you will never get back out alive,” he softly warns me before disappearing once again.
Staring at the empty room, my words are only heard by me. “Too late.”
Chapter 25
“Did you really cook this?” I ask after swallowing another bite of the pasta and immediately getting another piece on my fork.
Thallon chuckles from the other side of the table. “I’ve been on my own here for years, and as much as the cooks at the academy are good, they only have a set meal. It’s nice to cook something different.”
“Well, I’m thankful,” I reply and finish off my food. Like the perfect gentleman Thallon is, he takes my empty plate to the sink and waves off my offer to help him wash up. After cleaning up the table, I move to his sofa and sit down, curling my legs underneath me. I watch Thallon in the kitchen, noticing how his crisp white shirt reveals a lot of his muscle underneath, and how his jeans suit him. His sleeves are rolled up as he washes the dishes, which is crazy sexy to watch, and his brown hair is curlier today, like he spent time in the pouring rain that’s now hitting the windows outside. Thallon Cross has the face and body of a heartbreaking boy, and for some crazy reason, I’m in his home, on a movie night date nonetheless.
“I have a gift for you. Well, two actually,” he tells me before disappearing into his bedroom and coming out a few moments later.
“I don’t have a gift for you,” I reply as he sits down and offers me two packets of Parma Violet sweets and a DVD of Jumanji, my favourite movie growing up. I only told Thallon about it in a passing conversation, and I can’t believe he not only remembered but got the DVD for me. I place the sweets and DVD in the middle of us before throwing my arms around his shoulders. “Thank you,” I whisper into his ear, and after a while, I pull back, meeting his gaze.
“I know it’s difficult to come here and leave everything behind. I wanted to make it easier for you with some home comforts,” he softly tells me. “And I’ve never eaten a Parma Violet or watched Jumanji.”
“We have to correct that right away,” I say with an excited chuckle. Thallon takes the DVD and goes to set it up in the DVD player as I open my sweets. I all but inhale a couple of the sweets before Thallon comes back. I take one out of the packet and hold it in the middle of my hand for him. He grins as he leans down and presses his lips around the sweet in my hand. The gentle touch of his lips makes me shiver and feel things I haven’t before for any guy. I mean it wasn’t like there weren’t guys at my school growing up, but they never wanted anything to do with me, and I assumed I wasn’t pretty for a long time. I stuck my head in books, and Riley dated half the school.
“They taste delicious,” he whispers to me, and I suspect he wasn’t just talking about the sweet. What the hell do I say back to that?
“I kissed Henry, and I’m feeling bad because of this”—I pause, waving between us—“I think is becoming more.”
“I can’t say I’m not jealous, but we never agreed to be exclusive,” he replies, but his eyes betray him. They get brighter when he is mad or angry or in this case, jealous.
I pause, knowing that the same anger and jealousy burn in me. “Can I be honest?”
“Yes, always with me,” he quickly answers.
“The thought of any other girl touching you makes me want to hunt them down and drop them off the side of the academy.” To my surprise, he laughs, and I end up chuckling with him.
“Kaitlyn, I have no interest in anyone else,” he starts off and then hesitates for a second. “I don’t want to scare you off, but I really like you. If you need to figure out whatever is going on with you and Henry, then okay. I’m not going to lie and say it makes me happy, as it doesn’t. It makes me want to rip his angel wings off, but I get that you need to search the connection you have with him as much as you do with me.”
“I’ve honestly never had a relationship or any sort of one before,” I admit to him. “You were my first kiss, and since then, I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“I’m honoured,” he replies, and I sense he is being sincere even as he smiles. “And for the record, we are on a date now, and this is our third date, if I’m counting right.”
“Do you include the game night with Ves?”
“I’m not sure, considering a night where your best friend ate all my food, nearly cried because she lost the board game, and then fell asleep on my sofa can be counted as a date,” he answers, and I laugh. “But I’m counting any time with you as kind of dating.”
“Kind of dating,” I chuckle. “I like that.” My laughs die off as we stare at each other, and I don’t know who moves first, but we kiss as I climb onto his lap. His hands sink into my hair as he deepens the kiss, kissing me like he is desperate for more. I glide my hands down his chest to his buttons, but he covers my hand with his, breaking the kiss.
“Kind of dating means taking this slow. As much as I want you, I want us to do this right more,” he warns me.
“Right?” I breathlessly question.
“You tell me when you want more,” he whispers to me, kissing me softly one more time. “And until then, I will try not to kill Henry.”
“Got it,” I whisper back with red cheeks. He grins, tugging me to his side as he presses play on the movie. The Angel Academy always seemed deadly, cold and downright terrifying most of the time, but in Thallon’s arms, it feels like home.
Chapter 26
Still smiling from my evening with Thallon, I slowly walk back to the academy to go to bed. Wrapping my arms around myself thanks to the cold air, I pause when I hear a noise. I turn around just as someone grabs me and shoves something over my head. I scream, lashing out with my hands, but someone grabs them tightly and shoves a hand over my mouth. Tears fall from my eyes as I’m pulled against a hard body, and then we are in the air, that weightless feeling hard to miss. I don’t struggle as I feel the cold air, knowing if I managed to get free, that falling to my death is a moot point. Eventually, my feet touch the ground, and something hard smacks into my face, knocking me to the floor.
“Don’t hurt her!” Riley desperately shouts, and hands slowly pull the covering off my face. I blink at Riley as he leans over me and offers me a hand, which I don’t take. Betrayal stings like a knife as I stare at my best friend, the realisation he just had his friends kidnap me coming to light.
“What is going on?” I ask as I crawl to my feet and nearly scream at the sight of Henry on his knees, blood dripping from the dozens of cuts on his chest and face. I go running to him, but Riley catches me, holding me locked to him. Oliver and his idiotic angel friends all stand around the room, and I pause when I see two wat
erfalls of fire. One is white, burning white fire pouring down through the rock, and the other is black fire, spitting harshly as it sinks down into the ground. I can’t stop staring at the black fire until Riley grabs my chin and turns my face to his.
“We are graduating early, baby,” he says, and I snap my head from his grip. I smack my hands against his chest until he lets go and nods to his friends. They rush over and grab an arm each, holding on tightly so I can’t move. They laugh between themselves, and I realise somehow Riley has become their little gang leader.
How did that even happen? He isn’t even an angel yet!
“Let me and Henry go. Why are you doing this? Whatever this is!” I shout at Riley. “I used to love you like a brother, and now you are ruining that!”
Riley looks back at me once, a cool and determined expression on his face. “Just watch.”
I stay frozen as Riley walks headfirst into the white fire, and time seems to stand still. Every breath of mine is laboured as nothing happens, and then Riley appears. He walks out of the fire, letting white embers drop off his new white wings with every step he takes. Only the white fire and the light angel don’t call to me, my gaze drifts to the black fire, wishing I could run headfirst into it.
Riley is laughing like a mad man until he suddenly stops, and his words are even crazier. “I am a light angel, and you are my mate, Kaitlyn Lightson.”
“Mate?” I question in a daze, still staring at the black fire.
Riley with his kind eyes and evil heart walks right up to me, and the hands holding me let go. Good little slaves he has there.
“Angels have soul mates, and the only way we can be together is if you become a light angel.”
“You’re not my soulmate, and I never want to be a light angel. I’m sorry, but I know what my choice is,” I tell him, feeling stronger than I am right in this moment.
