by Lan Chan
I couldn’t even process what he was saying. “Blue!”
You could have fried an egg on my face. I got up because if I didn’t, I suspected he would keep making a scene. “What are you doing here?” I hissed. “Aren’t you supposed to be on guard in Rivia at the moment?”
“Sit down.”
He’d left me the seat beside the monstera. As I sat, I funnelled a little hedge magic into the plant’s big Swiss-cheese-style leaves until it rearranged itself to hide part of my body.
“Put it back or I’ll cut it off,” he said.
“Will you stop ordering me around? And if you dare touch the plant, I will castrate you.”
“Haven’t you done that already?” He was grinning again. There was a maniacal edge to it. He picked up my fork and handed it to me.
I snatched it from him. “We’ve talked about this,” I said. Reaching out, he covered my hand in his, fork and all.
“First of all, we didn’t talk about anything. You just have an aneurysm every time I come near you in public. I allowed it because it seemed like things were settling here for you. But I’m not going to stand by while you get terrorised.”
“I am not being –”
“What did you have in your backpack the other day? I heard it beating.”
Damned supernaturals and their hearing. “I can handle it.”
“So can I.”
I blew out a frustrated breath. “You can’t just swoop in and fix everything for me. That’s not how life works.”
He gave me a menacing grin. “Maybe not in the human world.”
If I thought it was just lunch that would be a problem, I was dead wrong. He showed up out of nowhere to my next Exorcism class. Instead of coming inside, he perched on the outstretched branch of a eucalyptus opposite the waist-high windows. He had a paperback with him, but nobody was buying it.
Andrei grimaced at me. “My, my,” he said. “Somebody is overreacting.”
“That’s funny,” I said. “Why no present today?”
“Do you miss them, squirt?”
“Sure do. I need all that Popescu DNA to enhance my summoning spell.”
At this point, I was only half-kidding. I could tell he was starting to half-believe me too because his demeanour changed completely. He lost interest in me for the rest of the lesson. I thought that was probably the worst of it until I turned up at Magic Resistance the week after. I was standing there in front of the portal biting my bottom lip. All of a sudden, Kai scooped me up and stepped through with me.
I almost jumped out of my skin, but we were through so quickly I didn’t have time to be afraid. Of all the classes, I thought for sure he would avoid this one.
Chanelle looked like she wanted to peel the skin from my face. Kai turned to me, effectively blocking her from view. “I have to take care of something with the Dominion,” he said, his green eyes dancing. “I’ll be back to pick you up at the end of class.”
“This is not funn –”
He kissed me. It was a quick peck, but it had the intended effect. Professor Montgomery could not have been more useless. If it were in Weaponry and Combat, Professor Eldridge would have cuffed him across the head. All the professor did was clear his throat and start explaining to us the many ways in which portals could be opened and closed. Unfortunately, for me, you needed high magic for that to happen.
I spent the whole lesson eyeing the others and feeling irritated that I couldn’t perform this very essential feat of magic.
“Can you please make your face less scary?” Evan asked. “Kai’s coming back soon, and I don’t want him to think I’ve done something to upset you.”
“If I go and stand in the corner, which is about as useful as I can be this lesson, he’ll think someone did something to me anyway.”
Evan laughed. I liked hanging out with him. He had a nice accent that I could listen to all day. “It’s nice to see him lively again. For a while there, I thought he was going to get stuck that way.”
“If only someone would just get stuck in another dimension,” Chanelle sniped from too close by for comfort. She’d been teleporting all over the place all lesson.
“Nelle,” Evan said. “Can you please keep your distance? I don’t want to accidentally send you somewhere.”
He said it with such mundane politeness. She reacted like he’d spat in her face. “I haven’t forgotten, Evan.”
When she was out of earshot, I whistled. “She hates you almost as much as she hates me!”
If I didn’t see the hesitant click of his fingers as he opened and closed the portals, I would think it didn’t affect him at all. “She doesn’t hate me,” he said. “She’s just confused about what it is she wants.”
I didn’t know if he really believed that or if he was just telling himself so because he was too nice to accept that Chanelle was a bitch.
The lesson was almost over when Kai returned. I made it a point not to engage him. This time he seemed content to just stand by the sidelines and watch while we finished up the lesson. There was something reserved about the way he stood there with his back against the wall like he was searching for something.
“What’s wrong?” I asked after we went back through the portal to Dominion Academy.
“Nothing,” he said. “It’s just always disturbing to meet with the Dominion guards.”
I didn’t have much time to ponder on it because when I arrived back at the dorm, Sophie was on a call to her parents.
I waved at Nora and Mani as I closed the door. “Oh good,” Nora said. “You’re both here. The Human League has finally agreed to meet with the Council.”
I sat down hard on my bed. Sophie groaned. “Is there any word on whether the Council will bend on this issue of exposing the supernatural world to the humans?” she asked.
“They don’t really have much of a choice if that’s the way the Human League want to go,” Nora said.
“Unless they decide to do what they’ve always done and silence the humans,” I said.
Nora pursed her lips together. “The human world is a different place now. I don’t think the Council paid humans enough attention. Now they have the internet and instant social media. If anyone in the League goes missing, there will be trouble.”
All in all, their jobs sucked balls. It wasn’t something that I ever wanted to get myself entangled in. A voice kept piping up that if I bonded with Kai, I would be tied to the Council for the rest of my life. A week later, Jacqueline handed us invitations.
Neither of us was very excited to be cordially invited to the Council get-together with the Human League. It was another story for the Evil Three.
“I thought you guys were meant to despise this stuff!” I said while we walked to Magical Artifacts.
“Why would we despise a big, fancy party?” Harlow asked.
“I don’t mean the party,” I said. “I mean the whole Council thing.”
“We’re coming around to it,” Winnie said as she unashamedly eyed Trey. “Besides, doesn’t this mean we get to go to Rivia to buy a dress? Sophie’s been telling us about this Madame Familiar and I’m dying to see what it’s like.”
Trust fashion to be the thing that bridged the barrier between species. I only agreed to go with them because I had a birthday party to plan and I needed to go to Rivia for that anyway.
“You ready?” Sasha said as we approached the front door of Pantheon.
I nodded.
But I hadn’t been ready.
When he pushed open the door, I came face to face with a mural. It ran along the entire wall opposite the entrance. It depicted the prophetic scene from Magic Resistance class. Smack bang in the middle of it was the spitting image of me holding Morning Star in one hand and Max’s severed lion’s head in the other.
25
As much as it irritated me to have Kai hovering around, the effect of his presence was immediately noticed. I knew the other kids were still talking behind my back. At least they kept their distance so there was the illus
ion of peace. He’d backed off when the snide remarks died down. There was no way he could go MIA on his duties forever. But the lingering threat was always there. That threat seemed to be enough to dissuade most people.
There were only two people I knew who wouldn’t be scared to pull something like this. I didn’t think it was Andrei. He liked to dig at me, but he did it quietly because I had a feeling he despised the rest of the supernaturals as much as they despised me. So that just left Chanelle. The counter was still there beside the mural. Chanelle’s margin of approval was growing even more pronounced.
Sophie had turned her head away from the image of Max’s lifeless body. “Let’s go,” I said.
I sat through Magical Artifacts like a lead balloon. I’d read through the entire section on Lucifer. I’d also borrowed a bunch of other books related to the same topic. Most of it was speculation. Today we had moved on to something called Gabriel’s Key. I had zero interest in it until Professor Avery made us open the page in our textbook. The picture that jumped out was a ring, not an actual key.
“Why is it called a key if it’s a ring?” Alison asked.
“You would know if you did your homework,” Professor Avery admonished. Like the boys, the Evil Three seemed to have chosen this subject purely because I was going. Judging by Alison’s shrug, she wasn’t concerned about how well she did.
“The ring is referred to as a key because it allows the user to magically open or close any portals they wish,” Professor Avery said. “Even if they’re not magic users.”
Diana sat up in her chair at the same time I did. My hand shot up in the air.
“Where is the key now?” I asked without waiting for the professor to call on me.
This produced a smile from her. “Funny you should ask,” she said. “The key was given over to the Nephilim Council to govern. It is currently in Tiberius’s possession.”
Of course it was. Why would the universe make me aware of something of this magnitude without kicking me in the teeth at the same time?
I was on my way to Exorcism class later on in the week when Kai caught up with me. He’d been mysteriously evasive since the mural went up. “I’ll make her take it down,” he told me.
“Don’t,” I said. “I’ll handle it.”
“Blue.”
“Stop. You’re probably the reason it went up in the first place.” He stood there brooding. The scar on his brow stood out as he frowned. I kept thinking about Evan’s conviction that she wasn’t always like this. It made me think she’d spent so much time trying to get Kai’s attention that it didn’t matter whether it was good or bad attention at this point.
“I have to get to class.”
He reached out for me. I sidestepped. “You can’t protect me from everything,” I said. I blinked back the vile image of me holding the severed head of a friend. I couldn’t think of any reason on Earth or Hell that would ever push me to kill Max. But I couldn’t deny that in the heat of the battle, I hadn’t felt anything besides the urge to do Lucifer’s bidding. A compulsion. If I was susceptible to vampiric magic, there was no way I could resist the command of the Morning Star.
I practically ran into the classroom. The ring box on my desk was too much this morning. I suspected Andrei had people spying on me so that he could stay one step ahead. Heck, I wouldn’t have put it past him to sneak into the class unseen. I swiped it aside. It dropped like a poisoned apple onto the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Andrei raise his brows. I didn’t have time to deal with that today.
Both professors entered the classroom. I flexed my hands and balled them into fists. In my head, I went over the words of light one more time. Ever since Professor Suleiman had said we were close to being able to start the practical portion of the class, I had been practicing my pronunciation every waking moment. They were the last thing I thought of when I closed my eyes. I recited the words to myself when I took care of my chores in the Grove. The nymphs thought that I was nuts.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Professor Mortimer said, “get yourselves ready. We’ve had two new possession cases overnight. They’ve been moved into the secure wing at the prison. The Dominion has given us permission to attend as they attempt to exorcise the demons.”
A flutter of excitement thrilled through me. That dimmed a little as Professor Mortimer waved his arms and opened up a portal right at the front of the classroom. Not this again.
I shut my eyes and forced myself through. Phew. Still here.
“Everybody over this way, please,” Professor Suleiman said. I made a beeline for him.
Professor Mortimer was speaking to the female guard in the administration office. After five minutes he waved us forward. We went through yet another long corridor in the top floor that opened into the observation room. It was the size of a football field.
Once inside the room, we were flanked by at least half a dozen Dominion guards. I felt Andrei pull up beside me, but I was too busy taking in the scene in front of me. There was a glass observation wall between us and the patients. That didn’t detract from the abject misery of it. There were a dozen or so patients in the beds lined up against the two sides of the room. Each bed was ringed in an arcane circle that glowed in transparent silver motes all the way up to the ceiling.
Some patients were asleep. Others had their eyes open, staring up at the empty air. The two closest to the glass wall were the only ones making a fuss. They clawed and spat at their bindings. Their mouths open into dark, gaping holes. It was like the start of every one of my nightmares when I’d first been put into the foster homes.
Despite the cold that splintered through me, the room itself was heated via an everlasting flame. It roared inside the fireplace against the far wall. Fire was often a deterrent to demons, so its presence wasn’t unexpected.
Every patient was strapped down with bars of light across their chest, knees, and feet. Their bindings glowed orange.
A golden-haired Nephilim teleported into the room. She had a long face and even longer figure. Two mages in red cloaks stepped up beside her.
“Who can tell me why we are unable to leave these humans in the care of their own species?” Professor Mortimer asked.
I knew the answer before the Fae girl stuck her hands up. “They have been deemed volatile but the Dominion,” she said.
“And what makes them volatile?” the professor prodded.
“Their demons are actively trying to use their essence as a way of trespassing on this dimension.”
“Why don’t we just put them down?” one of the boys asked.
“Because we’re not in the business of killing humans,” Professor Suleiman said.
“Why can’t the Nephilim just exorcise them with their angel blades?” the boy kept pressing.
“Because to exorcise the demons at this stage would automatically kill the human host.”
“It makes no sense that these humans are susceptible and others aren’t,” one of the other girls commented. “Why don’t they fight?”
“Why indeed?” Professor Mortimer threw out to the class. There was a momentary silence. I’d read ahead in the textbooks. On the weekends when everybody else was resting, I was in the library trying to figure out the reason why Nanna’s demon hadn’t been able to break her. There was no consensus in the supernatural community about why some humans were possessed and others not. But I had an inkling. Transfixed by the sight of the struggling patients in front of me, I was speaking before I even realised what I was doing.
“It’s because these humans have given themselves over to the demons,” I said. I could feel their gazes turning to me, but I was riveted to the slow walk of the Nephilim as she entered the room with the mages. “They’re not more susceptible. These humans wanted to let the demons in.”
Nanna had no choice in the matter. Her mind had tried to fight the demon. These humans had made a deal with the demons for their own personal gain and the demons had betrayed them. Now it was too late and they were fighti
ng for their lives. I shuddered to think of what might happen if the Human League got their wish and humans became aware of the presence of demons. Would they give up their humanity for a shot at power? I thought of Randall sitting in the Terran hospital and I knew it was a resounding yes. When you had nothing, there was nothing to lose.
I couldn’t take my eyes off where the Nephilim was approaching the new patient to the left of the room. He was a man in his mid-forties. His eyes were sunken. The skin around them was sagging and bruised. His frame was nothing more than skin and bones. They’d taken away all his clothes besides a tattered white singlet and his boxers. Everything else would be a hindrance. While he thrashed around as he was, there was the possibility he would use his clothes as a way to either hurt himself or the staff.
One of the orderlies at Nanna’s psychiatric hospital had explained that to me during a visit. Understanding why something had to be done and liking it were two vastly different concepts. I tried to find something in him that would provide a reason why he would have surrendered himself to the demon. I kept thinking there would be something to rationalise why he’d done this. But there was nothing. At least not anything apparent.
“Who can tell me what the Nephilim guard is doing?” Professor Mortimer asked.
The Nephilim woman had produced her angel blade. Like Astrid’s, it was a short rapier that hummed in a bright yellow.
“She’s attempting to make the demon uncomfortable,” the girl who first spoke said. “The presence of an angel blade can often irritate a demon enough that it will voluntarily leave its host.”
I didn’t realise I had my fingers crossed until the man threw his head back and gave a harsh laugh. My hand cramped. I had to pry my own crossed fingers apart and massage them until they stopped throbbing.
Having failed to agitate the demon, one of the mages in the room signalled to the everlasting fire. A portion of the flame jumped and separated from the blaze on the hearth. The mage caught the lick of flame and gathered it in the palm of his hands. He tossed it from one hand to the other like he was juggling it. The sound was slightly muffled, but it was so deathly quiet on this side I could hear him chanting a spell.
