by Cara Wylde
I doubted that was the problem. Pixies could do pretty much anything. Their magic was stronger than a mage’s. Sariel had probably pulled at her heart strings. My guys were proving to be good at that.
“Leave us alone, Corri.”
She twirled in the air, then poof! Disappeared in a cloud of pixie dust.
“What do you want?” I shrugged off my uniform blazer and dropped it on the couch, then went to the fridge to get a bottle of water.
“Don’t be so cold. I miss you.”
I squeezed the bottle too hard, and some of the water spilled all over my chin and chest. I miss you too, I wanted to say. I didn’t. I turned to face him.
“Sariel, you can’t be here. You can’t just teleport in my room whenever you like.”
“I gave you space. We all did. Plus, it didn’t bother you in the past.”
“It was different then.”
“I don’t understand what changed. Francis is sorry. We’re all sorry for forcing you to do the ritual in front of that stupid cult. Will you ever forgive us?”
“It’s not about that.”
“What’s it about, then?”
He knew. In that moment, looking into Sariel’s blue eyes, I felt like they were onto me. The four of them. They’d figured out a long time ago that I wasn’t upset about the ritual after the Yule Ball, but that I was hiding something from them, and it was easier to hide it if we weren’t together. Maybe they even knew what it was, and they weren’t saying it to my face because they wanted to give me a chance to come clean.
Stop it. They can’t know. Since when are you paranoid?
“Mila? What is it about?”
I sighed. “It’s personal, and I’m taking care of it. Family related.” Well, I wasn’t technically lying.
“Okay.”
We stayed like that for a while, looking at each other across the wide space of the living room. Finally, he gathered his courage and walked up to me. In his eyes, I could see how much he hoped I wouldn’t turn him down.
“Come here,” he said, and dragged me into his arms. I allowed it. “No matter what it is, we’re here for you.”
I closed my eyes as I nestled into the crook of his neck. I inhaled his scent – flowery, manly, and edgy at the same time. I wrapped my arms around his torso, and my fingers rested atop the bone stumps along his shoulder blades, where his archangel wings had once been. Even after all this time, it was still hard to grasp that my Sariel wasn’t an archangel anymore, that he couldn’t fly, that he’d been cast out of Heaven, all courtesy of my father. Valentine Morningstar. He’d caused too much pain, too much hate. He had to go down, and soon.
I pulled myself free. Sariel cupped my face with his hands and leaned in for a frugal kiss. I allowed that, too.
“You have to promise me you won’t come to my room uninvited.”
He nodded.
“Say it.”
“I promise.”
“Also, I know you four have been stalking me. Stop that. I don’t need bodyguards.”
“Mila…”
“Let me do this my way.”
He furrowed his brows and stepped away from me.
“We don’t even know what you’re doing, let alone what your way is! Why don’t you just grow up and stop being so tortured and mysterious?! We. Can. Help.”
“Is that what you think? That I’m being tortured and mysterious?”
“Come on, Mila.”
“No, say it. Say what you really think about me.”
Oh, I knew it wouldn’t be pretty, but I wanted to know. I needed to know what my ex-boyfriends were really thinking about me.
“Mila, we love you so much. We’d die for you, okay? You have to believe that.”
“But? There’s a ‘but’, I’m sure.”
“But since you become a revenant, you’ve been out of control. And we get it. I get it! You need time to figure out how to adapt to this new you. God knows I needed time to accept I’m not an archangel anymore. That I don’t have wings, I can’t fly, and I’m not welcome in Heaven – my own home. But I let you help me. I let you get close to me. And you made it all better. I didn’t only get a girlfriend who’s forgiven my horrible sins, but also three friends who support me and don’t care that I’m a Fallen One. Things turned around for me because of you, Mila. And them. Why don’t you just let us help you like you helped us? Whatever you’re doing, you don’t have to do it alone.”
“I’m not doing it alone,” I whispered.
“Lorna and Corri are helping you. Okay. That’s good. You have a powerful mage by your side, and that helps me sleep at night. But why are you cutting us out? We’ve been through so much together. No matter what it is…”
“Because this one is on me and no one else,” I said. “I love you too much to burden you with…”
“With what?”
I sighed and shook my head dismissively. “Just go, Sariel. I’m tired.”
“Mila…”
“Please. I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”
He ran his hand through his short blond hair. “I’ll take that as a promise.” When I didn’t say anything, he rolled his eyes annoyed and teleported away.
I waited a few minutes to gather my thoughts, then I pulled Corri’s bell from my school bag and rang it three times. The pixie zapped back from wherever she’d been hiding. Probably the kitchen.
“Yoli needs some motivation.”
“What do you mean?”
“So far, you, Lorna, and I have been her only contact with the supernatural world. The only proof that it’s all real.”
Corri scratched her chin. “I’m pretty sure her own dreams and experiences are also proof…”
“I want to bring her here this weekend.”
“Here where?”
“At Grim Reaper Academy.”
The pixie’s eyes grew twice as wide. “Sneak her in?”
“In and around. Why not? With your help, no one will know.”
* * *
It was trickier than I thought. I’d made Sariel promise he’d never drop by uninvited again, and I’d had countless talks with my other three exes about how it wasn’t okay for them to follow me. Lorna and Corri were in charge of keeping them away. A mage and a pixie could always make a powerful team. If they were on the same page, that was. To my annoyance, the page they were on today was along the lines of “Mila’s plan is shit, but we’re gonna help because we’re loyal like that”. Not very flattering, but at least I could count on them.
I teleported with Yolanda straight to my room. The maids had just cleaned it, so it looked rather nice and cozy. Spring had come at the Academy, and all the windows were wide open to let the sun and the bird trills in. When she saw the large living room, the open-space kitchen, the attached bedroom and bathroom, Yoli’s eyes filled with wonder.
“You live like a princess!”
“Not a princess anymore, since my father disowned me, but they let me keep the room. To be honest, I’m not sure why.”
“Can I see your old room?”
“It’s not as impressive, trust me.”
I took her to the Holy Chapel next, which was empty, as usual, and we checked the scoreboard, then stepped outside into the warm afternoon air. From up here, we could see the ocean crashing against the rocks, throwing white foam up the side of the cliff.
“It’s beautiful.”
“I have a theory,” I said. “The Holy Chapel leads here, and the Unholy Chapel leads deep in the forest. I think the chapels were built to serve any supernaturals who want to come and pray. Not that many pray these days. In my four years at the Academy, I haven’t seen anyone that’s not a student or a professor here. But I’m thinking… maybe the twenty-two Grim Reapers still come here from time to time. To meditate. I know that if I become a Grim Reaper, I’ll miss this place. Even if I’m not exactly allowed on Academy grounds, I’d come to the Holy Chapel to spend a few minutes.
Maybe check out the scoreboard and see who I’d like to mentor later.”
“What happens when you graduate? I mean… your generation. You’ll reap for two hundred years.”
“Yeah. Grim Reaper Academy will be closed. The professors will go back to their usual lives and return to teach the next generation.”
“I won’t be around then…”
There was so much sadness in her voice that it broke my heart.
“Hey. I’m human, too. It’s not so bad. Sure, I’ll have immunity from Death for the next two hundred years, but when it’s done, it’s done.”
She smiled bitterly. For a moment, our eyes met. She was shorter than me, but not by much. For her years, she was mature, and not just in behavior. One could tell she’d grow into a beautiful young woman. The signs were there.
“I want to go,” she said.
Her attitude had suddenly changed. I wondered what was wrong.
“So soon?”
“Let’s go to your room. I’ll show you something first.”
My heart started beating faster. She found her! Oh my God, she found my mother! I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, focused as hard as I could, visualized where we were and where I wanted us to be, and teleported both of us with a strained grunt. It was hard. I was practicing my butt off, and sometimes I was still worried I wasn’t going to get it right.
“Do you have the map?” Yolanda asked.
I pulled a bunch of papers from under my mattress. It was the best hiding place I could think of. If I’d been as fancy as Morningstar, I would’ve built a secret hiding box in the floorboard. I wasn’t. Plus, if Morningstar were to drop by while I was gone and look for my secrets, that would be his first thought.
Yoli spread them on the floor and spent a few minutes arranging them, as if they formed a puzzle. Finally, she pointed at one of the parallel universes she’d discovered in her dream travels.
“Here. I’ve been to this one three times. The first two, I only saw myself, years older. The third time, last night, I saw you.”
“Me?” I leaned over the map. “It’s in the future.”
“Twenty years in the future, yes. You knew about me.”
My shoulders dropped. “My mom is in a dimension that’s not that far in time from ours.”
“I’m sorry. I haven’t found her yet.”
With a sigh, I moved away from the map and leaned against the side of the bed, my interest significantly diminished.
“You knew about me,” Yolanda continued, “so you were more than happy to talk to me.”
“What did I tell you?”
“Your father’s story.”
I straightened my back, leaning slightly forward. Okay, we were getting somewhere…
“Well? Why is he so crazy and vile?”
“He had a rough childhood.”
I huffed. “Cry me a river.”
“His mother is an archangel, and his father was human. They had an affair, and Valentine was the result. But after she gave birth to him, she returned to Heaven and married an archangel. Her new husband didn’t approve of a hybrid in the family, so they ended up sending him to his father, on Earth. Valentine’s father, it appears, was a rich and powerful clan leader in Scotland. So, as a boy, Valentine had everything he could wish for. Except his mother’s approval. He used to visit her and her new family in Heaven, but he always returned home feeling bitter and depressed. No matter what he did, he just couldn’t be good enough for her and her family of pure-blood archangels. Anyway, his father died when his time came, and all his worldly possessions were passed on to Valentine. Since he was supernatural, with wings on his back and all, he couldn’t take over his father’s position, so he sold most of his land and castles, and kept one castle for himself to hide in. When he received the invitation to apply to Grim Reaper Academy, he’d been hiding from both the human world and the supernatural world for decades.”
“Huh. So what? Because his mother didn’t like him, now he wants to ruin everyone’s lives?”
“She’s still alive, I think.”
“I have an archangel grandma. Awesome!”
“He thought that if he became a Grim Reaper, his heavenly family would appreciate him more, maybe even accept him. So, he did. He made something of himself.”
“Let me guess. It didn’t work out.”
“No. After all, he was just one of twenty-two Grim Reapers. And once his two-hundred-year career was over, he’d go back to being just some nephilim, like before. Maybe a nephilim teaching at the Academy, but nothing special.”
I scooted closer to Yoli. “And what did he do to become special? In this parallel dimension you traveled to…”
“Err… I don’t know.” She averted her gaze. “I woke up.”
We were both silent for a minute. For some reason, I had the odd feeling that she wasn’t telling me everything. But why would Yoli hide anything from me? It didn’t make any sense. You’re being paranoid again.
“You have to go back. Find me again and get the end of the story.”
“It doesn’t mean that your father from this universe will do the same thing. You said it yourself: dreams aren’t prophecies. Things don’t happen the same in the parallel universes.”
“Yes, but they do happen similarly. It would be something, at least. An idea, a clue, a lead. Better than nothing.”
“But it helps, right? Knowing his story. Where he came from, how he thinks…”
I smiled and tucked a strand of blond hair behind her tiny ear.
“It does. Thank you. Just keep looking for my mother. I can’t explain it, but I feel like she holds the key to getting rid of him forever.”
Yoli nodded.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The truth was… Morningstar’s sappy story didn’t help me much. Sure, now I had the personality profile Headmaster Colin had asked me to put together. At least someone was happy. I could understand why he wanted to keep it all secret. Valentine Morningstar was ashamed of himself. He was ashamed that he was a hybrid, because his mother had taught him that he wasn’t good enough and he’d never be good enough, no matter what he did. Not even if he became the most powerful Grim Reaper the world had ever seen, which he now was. If she’d relented and given him her validation, then he wouldn’t have been walking around and scaring the shit out of people with crazy talk like: “The reign of Life and Death is nearing its end.” I was totally imitating his voice in my mind.
His heavenly family was not impressed. So, he was planning something big. Something not even his archangel mother would be able to ignore. But what was it? Except that it was going to be super bad for all of us, I was lost. And Yoli wasn’t giving me anything of substance. It didn’t help that the more I thought about her story, the more I felt like she was hiding something from me. Lying to me, even. I just needed her to find my mother already. Katia Angelov would know what to do. She’d been in love with him, and there was a fair chance that he might’ve told her about his plan. When they met, he was already in his third term of reaping. Whatever he was going to do, he’d been working on it way before I was born.
Time was running out. We were preparing for the final exams, graduation was upon us, and I still didn’t have the slightest idea about how I could retire my father and take his place as a Grim Reaper. Busy with studying and not failing tests, I ended up ignoring both Yolanda and my ex-boyfriends. I kept telling myself I’d have time for lustful love and sisterly love later. Most days, I felt like the executioner named Time had put a rope around my neck, and he was tightening it just a little bit every twenty-four hours. I was becoming restless. Soon, he’d pull the lever, the floor would disappear from under my feet, and I’d hang helplessly, my legs kicking.
What a dreadful image.
It was almost summer.
The Holy Chapel and the Unholy Chapel were the only places where I could breathe in peace, comb through my thoughts, turn within, and find specks of courage t
hat helped me survive another day. On this particular evening, after Literature with Professor Lovecraft, I felt like going to the Unholy Chapel. I walked up to the altar, looked upon the statue of the horned Devil, mockingly asked him what he thought about my dumping his son, then went to light candles for the two women who’d been my sacrifices in September and December. I wasn’t feeling very good, to be honest. I should have brought my third sacrifice to the Great Old One at least a month ago, if I were to keep up with my four-month-schedule, which was a stretch as it was. But since I wasn’t talking to Paz or the others, I didn’t have a good candidate to send down the well. Even if I were to try and find one, I wouldn’t know where to start. I guess I was in denial. At least, I wasn’t feeling as awful as the first two times, so maybe I could make it until graduation. Maybe.
But if you’re rotting, Mila, how will you have the strength to defeat Morningstar?
Didn’t I already know by now? If I were to defeat him, indeed, it wouldn’t be in battle. It wouldn’t be with scythes. How, then?
Maybe we can both do a Sudoku puzzle. But if my brain decomposes, he’ll beat me at that, too.
God, my future looked bleak!
I stepped out into the warm light of the sunset. The chapel’s second exit led into a clearing, deep in the forest. I remembered when Patty and I came here for the first time, and she showed me what she could do with her succubus powers. It was winter, and she’d made roses bloom.
A shuffle behind me. I rolled my eyes, expecting GC or Paz to pop out of nowhere and beg me to take them back.
“I told you to stop following me.” I turned around lazily, but when my eyes fell on my visitor, I froze in place. “You.”
Valentine Morningstar was pissed off. He usually looked grim and displeased with the whole wide world, but now he looked like he was about to murder me. For the second time.
I pulled the bell out of my pocket and called Corri. When the pixie appeared, I whispered to her: “My scythe.” She made it materialize out of nowhere. Must tell Mrs. Charon she needs to teach us how to summon our scythes. But that was stupid. Once Grim Reapers, we’d practically sleep in bed with them. As students, it was safer to leave them in our dorms when we didn’t specifically need them.
