Wide Awake - Academy of the Fallen Series

by Daniele Lanzarotta

  “What do you mean?” Hunter asked.

  “That you don’t trust us.”

  Hunter laughed. “I suppose you are right. That was not a rumor at all.”

  Ethan ignored Hunter’s comment and kept on talking, sounding almost desperate, as if longing for a friend… wanting someone to talk to.

  “Well, I just don’t understand how anyone would willingly come back to this place.”

  “It was necessary,” Hunter said. “What did you do to be sent here anyway?”

  “I guess you could say due to ethical issues… Anyway, one little incident that I will be paying for… well, for a long time.”

  Hunter didn’t ask any more questions. He had his own mistakes to worry about and he wondered whether Daniels had already made his choice on who was going to help him get Kayla.

  Hunter didn’t even expect to be told of what was happening, so he was surprised when he opened the door to find that the person knocking was Daniels’ assistant, letting him know that they had left. That was however, all of the information that he was given.

  Not long after the assistant left, there was someone else at the door.

  “Who is it?” asked Ethan, not bothering to get up. After all, he knew that whoever was out there wasn’t there for him.

  “It is Ember.”

  “Just go away, Ember,” said Hunter.

  “Come on, I heard things… I’m sure you want to know who left with Mr. Daniels.”

  Hunter thought about it, but thinking there was nothing that he could do to change what was happening, he decided it was best not to know. He also didn’t want to give Ember any information, well, any more information than what she had apparently managed to gather.

  “There is nothing that I want to know. Just leave.”

  He could hear the sound of Ember’s heavy combat boots as she walked… well, stomped away.

  “This is about a girl, isn’t it?” asked Ethan.

  Hunter ignored him.

  “Look, I get why you don’t trust them, well us, being that I’m a Fallen just like them, but you really shouldn’t stereotype. I just got here, I barely even talk to anyone, and I share your opinion on trusting most of the people here. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that you don’t have to trust me, but it would make things easier if you could give me the benefit of the doubt since we are sharing a room.”

  Hunter looked at him, “I’m sorry, but how can you even talk about trust, aren’t you here because of a little ethical issue?”

  “Yes, but it is not like that—“

  Hunter lay back down, ignoring Ethan.

  Ethan sighed. “I’m here because I – well, there was this girl…”

  “Oh save it. So what, you are like Ember then?”

  Ethan seemed appalled. “No! It was nothing like that. It wasn’t… lust, it was… Well, what I’m trying to say is that I shouldn’t even be here. I shouldn’t be one of the Fallen.”

  “Right! None of us should be here,” Hunter said in a sarcastic tone.

  Ethan was getting more and more frustrated, but he just wanted to tell someone. He wanted to have someone in there who could trust him, and most importantly, Hunter had been out in the ‘real’ world. He hoped that Hunter could help him get out and find the reason for him being there.

  So in spite of Hunter’s lack of interest, Ethan continued. “Before… I used to help people transition between humanity and the Otherworld, and sometimes, even past that. When they sent me to her… well, I was just supposed to help her feel better until it was time for her to move on. She was never supposed to see me, but she did. She was just so sad, so scared that I started to try and find ways to save her instead of doing what I was meant to.”

  Hunter was listening attentively. “Did it work?”

  Mr. Daniels suddenly walked in the room, interrupting their conversation.

  Hunter hadn’t even realized how long it had been.

  Hunter quickly stood up. “Is Kayla here? Is she okay?”

  “No, Hunter. She is not here. I have the others watching her, but I need your help.”

  “What do I need to do?”

  “It is Chase. He won’t allow anyone to go near her until he hears from you.”

  Hunter smiled. He could always trust Chase.

  “I need you to summon him,” Daniels said.

  “Mr. Daniels, with all due respect, we both know that he will not be coming to the Academy, no matter who summons him. I can go with you, I can help that way.”

  Daniels sighed. “Let’s go.”

  Hunter was surprised by how easy it was to convince Daniels to let him go.

  Ethan quickly intervened, “Can I go? I could help.”

  Daniels glared at Ethan. “You know very well you can’t leave the Academy, and you can definitely not be near that hospital.”

  Ethan felt frustrated and relieved at the same time, his first thought was ‘She is still alive’… his second thought was that she was likely still in pain, only now, he wasn’t there to help her and he didn’t know if anyone was.

  “If you are going, we need to leave now,” Daniels ordered.

  Hunter walked by Ethan who was still frozen in place, and following Daniels, he left.

  THIRTY-ONE

  Getting out of the Academy was the easy part. Daniels had arranged for a car, which they would definitely need to get Kayla to the church. The difficult part was that although Hunter had the ability to become invisible to human eyes, and so did the angels, Kayla would be seen, unless HE was able to shield her and that was almost impossible to accomplish. It just took too much from him and he had only done it once before, only for seconds.

  Once they reached the hospital, becoming invisible was what they did. It was nighttime, there was less staff, and visiting hours were definitely over.

  Hunter didn’t need to summon Chase. He was there, right next to Kayla, and he was telling her a story about Hunter.

  “What is going on?” Daniels asked.

  Chase looked at Hunter, ignoring everyone but him. “Just trying to keep her from going farther into the Otherworld. I noticed that talking to her about –“ he hesitated. “Talking to her helps.”

  “Can you help us getting her out of here?” Hunter asked Chase.

  “Doesn’t seem like I have a choice. But, as much as I hate to say this, I want to go to the Academy with you. You will need my help for more things than you can imagine.”

  “You are not welcome at the Academy, Chase,” said Daniels.

  Hunter faced Daniels. “He has been taking care of her. He has been taking care of your daughter, and this is how you repay him?”

  The two fallen angels who were there to help were surprised by the revelation that Kayla was Daniels’ daughter. As far as they knew, she was one of the haunted. Chased by demons and ghosts, much like they believed was the case with Hunter; only Hunter had been to the Otherworld and that made him different from the others.

  It wasn’t uncommon for the Fallen to go and get the haunted when things got out of hand. They would usually send one of the messengers to talk to the parents saying there was a clinic that could help and would transfer them to the Academy.

  At the Academy, they would be assigned one of the Fallen to watch over them. Once the Fallen was ready, them along with their haunted human would go back into the real world to face those creatures.

  “We should have known there was something,” one of the angels thought. “We never just take someone like this… without a plan, without precautions.”

  “Mr. Chambers!” Daniels warned him. “I told you, Chase is not welcomed there. We try to shield the ‘other’ kids as much as we can, him being there with approval will scare them... it will be madness. Now enough with this, we have to go.”

  Hunter knew that was an argument he would never win. “Chase, will you please help us leave the hospital? I will find a way to stay in contact with you.”

  “There is little I can do, Hunter. You will have to sh
ield her.”

  Daniels moved closer. “I can do that.”

  Hunter looked at him surprised. He thought that shielding others was something only he could do. Daniels tried. The others tried, but they all knew that wasn’t working.

  Chase just watched them, arms crossed and looking bored. “Hunter has to be the one to do it.”

  The fallen looked surprised. “Why? He is no stronger than us. If anything, he is weaker. Besides, he is only one of the haunted, he can’t do that.”

  Daniels just froze in place.

  Chase faced him. “Does it really matter why? You need to get her to the Academy, so just get on with it.”

  Daniels gave Hunter a nod.

  Hunter moved toward Kayla’s bed, carefully picking her up in his arms. Something about the way he did that, made Daniels feel awkward, but she was shielded as soon as Hunter picked her up, so he didn’t say anything.

  Hunter carried her to the car, followed by the others, including Chase. Hunter carefully put Kayla in the backseat. Everyone was already in the car, and somehow, the only seat left for Hunter was the passenger front seat. Hunter was barely able to get in the car. What he had done had weakened him even more than he anticipated.

  Before they drove off, Chase approached Hunter. “You need to be with her… I mean, all the time. There is a connection with the two of you. I could guess what it is, but I’m sure you will deny it. Let’s just say that whatever this connection is, it is keeping her from going deeper into the Otherworld.”

  Hunter couldn’t make sense of it. Looking puzzled, he nodded. Daniels drove off.

  No one said anything during the ride to the church.

  Once they got there, Hunter was too weak to carry Kayla, but either way, at this point there was no need to shield her.

  Daniels picked up his daughter, overwhelmed by how much she had grown; by how much she looked like her mother.

  They were just about to enter the church when Benjamin appeared, blocking their entrance.

  THIRTY-TWO

  Daniels couldn’t risk the fallen knowing more than they already did. As soon as he laid eyes on Benjamin, he ordered them to hurry through the side door and to wait for him inside the Academy.

  “But--?” One of the fallen started to protest.

  “I have this handled. Just go!” Daniels ordered.

  They did as they were told. Hunter was appalled by how Daniels had just put Kayla’s life in even more danger, all to just protect his family secrets.

  Benjamin let the others go. He seemed stronger now, much stronger.

  Daniels asked Hunter to hold Kayla, and then glanced at Benjamin, who stared at him with a certain satisfaction.

  “What do you want, Ben?”

  “You know very well what I want, Stepfather. Revenge for my father, of course.” Benjamin grinned. “Honestly, I wonder if I should add revenge for my mother to that list as well…”

  “Your mother is still alive, Ben. She just… left.”

  His grin grew wider. “Not surprised. Of course, I already knew that… but still…”

  “You already got your revenge, Ben. Look at your sister! What have you done?”

  “Well, Stepfather, you don’t seem as affected by it as I would have expected, and until you are… I will not be done.”

  “Ben—“

  “Don’t bother. I have other things to attend to for the next couple of months. Kayla here was of much help to me. Well, at least her friend and ‘mother’ were.”

  Hunter knew he was talking about Ashley and Kelly, and just the thought of it sickened him. He knew that one way or another, he would have to bring Daniels up to date on what had happened, especially about Ashley, and that her only chance would be to be brought in to the Academy.

  As if reading Hunter’s mind, Benjamin said “And don’t bothered bringing all of the ones affected by me into this place you have. Trust me, this place is not as protected as you seem to believe.”

  Benjamin looked back at the Academy, smiled, and left.

  THIRTY-THREE

  None of Benjamin’s threats worked on Daniels. He believed the Academy was strong enough to keep him out.

  Once past the main gate, Daniels carried his daughter in, looking at her as if she were the same little girl that he had to leave behind. He now wondered how the place that he tried to keep her away from, to keep her safe from, turned out to be the only place that could keep her safe. He just wanted her to have a normal life, but now, he was angry for wasting so many of those years that he could have spent watching his daughter grow up.

  They took her to the infirmary. After Daniels dismissed everyone, he looked from his daughter to Hunter, who watched her with concern and said, “We have much to talk about, but most importantly, what happened between you and my daughter?”

  Hunter looked lost. “Nothing happened, Sir.”

  “You are lying, there is something… some kind of connection.”

  Hunter sighed.

  “You think you love her,” accused Daniel.

  “No. I just – no, I don’t love her… not like that.”

  “You are right about that. You are too young for love.”

  “I just… I care about her, that is all.”

  The way he said it, Daniels knew he was lying. There was more to that.

  “Just go to your room, Hunter. You have classes tomorrow. Same schedule as before.”

  “I can’t, Sir. I have to stay with her. Chase said—“

  “Chase knows nothing, Hunter. Now, go! You can see her again tomorrow.”

  “But, Sir—“

  “Don’t push it, or you won’t be seeing her at all.”

  Hunter was frustrated but he left, going straight to his room.

  Ethan got to the room at the same time, and of course, he had already heard the gossip.

  “So, Mr. Daniel’s daughter, huh?” Ethan asked.

  “Leave it alone!” Hunter growled.

  Ethan put both hands up agreeing to just let it go.

  Hunter surprised him when he spoke. As if he had just woke up and realized his surroundings. “Mr. Daniels—“

  “What about him?” Ethan asked.

  “I always thought of him as just one of the haunted, how come he runs this place? How come he can do things that only the Fallen can?”

  Ethan shook his head. “From what I hear, you are the first of the haunted to ever realize that, which is incredible if you ask me. Anyway, Daniels plays both sides of the field. Why do you think he couldn’t summon your friend himself? He can sense, talk to and see him, but he can’t summon anyone. He is not one of the haunted. He may play like he is for his own weird reasons, but he is one of us.”

  Hunter gasped. “But Kayla, so she is a—“

  Ethan continued. “Yes, she is a Nephilim.”

  “But she can summon them…”

  Ethan looked impressed. “That must have been an ability that she mastered. That is very unusual, but not impossible. For some reason, I have a feeling you helped her with that.”

  Hunter turned around and went toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” Ethan asked.

  “If she is a Nephilim, she is even in more danger than I thought. She can’t be left in the Otherworld, they will all go after her.”

  “There is nothing you can do.”

  “I need to get to the infirmary. Can you help?”

  Ethan hesitated. “You know what kind of trouble I can get in for that?”

  Hunter was agitated, frustrated. “Look, if you help me, I will help you get out of here.”

  Ethan doubted that was true, that anything could be done, but seeing Hunter that desperate, he finally agreed.

  ***

  Daniels was no longer there, there was only one nurse, one of the fallen, and she was in the room with Kayla.

  While Hunter hid, Ethan walked in, telling her there was an emergency with Hunter in their room.

  The nurse took a look at Kayla, figured she woul
d be okay for a few minutes and left with Ethan.

  Hunter walked in the room and quickly approached Kayla, he held her hand in his and whispered in her ear. “Kayla, it is Hunter. I need you to come back. I need you to at least stay away from anything dark.” Ugh. ‘I wish there was a way to tell if you can hear me.’