Captured: Academy of the Seraph Page 6

  I wiped a hand down my dress. The look on his face, with Remy’s premonition, had me sweating.

  He stopped before two huge, golden doors. Before he opened them, however, he leaned down and whispered into my ear, “Show no emotion. None. If you do, we’re screwed.”

  I steeled myself and said a silent prayer that whatever was behind those doors allowed me to keep a façade of being calm. I thought of the tiny boy in the cell. I couldn’t blow it. He needed out.

  It wasn’t the fact that I was behind enemy lines and was going to attend a party hosted by a freaking maniac that shook me. It was the fact that I wasn’t expecting the sight before me.

  Music blared from the sound system, and it wasn’t by a well-known composer, but lyrics spouted from a famous rapper who had recently passed away. The lights were turned down low as a strobe light pulsated to the beat. It caused my eyes to strain and would more than likely give me a bigger headache than the one that I was currently sporting. There were almost a hundred students and faculty gathered in a not so large space that was nowhere as big or nice as the gymnasium back at the Academy of Seraph.

  Trev steered me around the crowd and toward the back of the room. Once I got up close, I could see that the wallpaper was peeling in the corners here, too, and the floors had deep grooves and scratches in them, making my shoes skid on the worn-out floor. The furniture scattered here and there looked like yard sale finds, so who knew if the academy was monetarily struggling, but my guess would have been a sound yes.

  “Low on funds?”

  “Well, the headmistress can’t create money.”

  I jerked my head toward his as I tried my hardest to blend in with the wallpaper. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He whispered in my ear, “The commander can create illusions to where things look like money, or the people believe that it is money. Not sure. I’ve never seen him do it, but I know that is how his school is so well-funded. The headmistress, even with Thalan, is not as strong as the commander.”

  Wow. Finn could create money? That was a pretty neat trick to have. I mean, the world was quickly turning to shit, so I wasn’t positive that trick would come in handy in the future, but then again, what did I know? I was a newbie at all this.

  The headmistress went up a small riser to a narrow platform where an actual DJ stood. The lights around his table illuminated her as she strutted toward him. I had never been to a club, but between the sticky floors and the smell of sweat, I was pretty sure I hadn’t missed out on much.

  The headmistress gripped a chair that the DJ handed her then climbed up on it and shook her whiskey glass. She had changed into a short dress that was just as sheer as her long one. The bloodred color matched her lips.

  “We party here tonight, under the full moon, to give thanks to the ones who have helped us along the way. We are also having a change of plans. We’ve decided it’s time to pay gratitude. Tonight’s sacrifice will be a welcoming one.” She smiled brightly. “After all, if we want to remain the best, we must continuously grow our army.”

  Sacrifice? That woman better be talking about goats.

  I looked around the room to gauge everyone’s reactions. Trev’s fists were clenched beside him, most of the students had stopped smiling, and Ezra, who had been making his way toward us, looked ready for murder.

  The headmistress turned slightly to her left while balancing on the chair and nodded at two guards dressed all in black. They both walked toward the left, where a colossal curtain hung from the ceiling. My anxiety went up as they began to pull each side back, and the crowd started shuffling their feet; some with nervous anticipation, and some looked downright fearful.

  Once the curtains were pulled back, a glass barrier that ran the entire length of the wall was revealed. The glass was at least eight inches thick. It looked like a shark aquarium, minus the water and sea life. We all stood there, waiting for what, I did not know.

  For a moment, the cold air left me, and I knew Remy would get a closer look at what was behind the glass.

  “Don’t be shy, love,” the headmistress called. “Please, everyone, give her a warm welcome.”

  Who was she talking about?

  Some of the crowd broke out into shouts and cheers, whereas the other half looked like they were a turtle trying to hide in their shell. Whatever was behind the glass wall, the room was divided on how they felt about it.

  A minute later, a monster that one could only imagine in their nightmares flew at the glass. It was over six feet tall but so skinny that its ribs were protruding. Its ashen body was so pale that I bet, if the lights were on, you could see its veins, and it was completely hairless. A long, black nail made a screeching sound on the glass as it paced in front of its audience. When its black eyes searched the crowd, I immediately remembered Luna’s words and cast my eyes downward, staring at the parquet floor.

  Ezra joined us against the wall. Trev had taken a step in front of me while his brother covered my other half.

  Ezra whispered, “Who is she pointing at?”

  How did they even know that that being was a she? It had no lady parts, and it sure as hell better not be pointing at me. My I-no-longer-care tank was past empty. I was running on fumes. Empty. I didn’t want any more damn curve balls thrown my way.

  Trev tensed beside me as a curse word flew from his lips. My curiosity could take no more. I had to see.

  I bent my knees to peer through a small crack between the brothers. The crowd had parted, and there was no mistaking that the wendigo was pointing at a girl who stood alone, as everyone started to back away from her like she carried the plague. That cotton candy pink hair, I would recognize anywhere. Luna.

  The same two guards who had pulled back the curtain to showcase the wendigo approached her. They grabbed her arms and started to pull her through the parted crowd. Her head was down as she snarled at them both like a rabid wolf. Light pink hair flew around her shoulders as she bucked against her captors, and when she finally connected with one of her guards in a head butt, she tilted her head back in laughter. She met the brothers’ eyes and, for a moment, she quit fighting the brutes who were dragging her. Then the moment was over, and she was back to being a hellcat.

  I was getting a sick feeling, understanding what the headmistress had meant when she had said sacrifice, and I also knew this girl wasn’t a willing participant.

  Ezra balled his fists. “What are we going to do?”

  Trev shook his head. “We knew, at some point, it would be one of us.”

  Ezra shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet like he was ready to pounce. Trev, on the other hand, hadn’t moved an inch since Luna had been dragged up the riser steps to stand before the headmistress, who was giving Luna a malicious smile. I had so many damn questions.

  “We don’t know how the wendigo makes its choice,” the headmistress started, “but it is clear that the choice has been made. The wendigo desires our dear Luna.”

  The crowd started applauding, while the headmistress leaned forward and whispered something into Luna’s ear, making the girl go pale. The guards then dragged the hellcat down the steps and tied her to a chair directly in front of the glass wall.

  Trev backed us into a corner. “We can’t let the wendigo have her. If it were one of us tied to that chair, she would be breaking necks.”

  “We need a plan,” Ezra said, “and it will have to be a damn good one, or we are all dead.”

  The cold air had returned and swirled around the three of us, letting us know that Remy was back. We couldn’t see her, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t hear her.

  “That is exactly what the hell I have been saying all this time. I swear you two are hot. Like some good genes run in your family. Congrats on your faces, but seriously, is there a freaking brain between the two of you?”

  Ezra jumped almost a foot as he looked around. “What did I just hear?”

  “That’s a friend of Gabriella’s,” Trev informed him.

&nb
sp; “Hello, hot stuff,” Remy said.

  Ezra’s eyes grew round. “Am I hearing a ghost?”

  I was squished between both brothers, my arms touching them. “Yes, if I touch you and wish you to see her, then you can. I can’t see her with my powers bound, so I’m assuming that you both can’t see her either. Apparently, however, I’m still somehow allowing you both to hear her.” I rubbed my forehead. It could be that my body was trying to shed this binding naturally.

  “Just wanted to clarify that we’re talking about a ghost, correct?” Trev asked.

  Remy sighed. “Why are the pretty ones always so dumb?”

  When an older gentleman, closer to us in the back, turned to look at us, out of the side of my mouth, I said, “Hush.”

  Ezra was mumbling to himself about uncanny powers, making Remy laugh. They were so going to get us caught.

  Once Luna was restrained with some sort of cuffs that made her hiss, the guards stepped back.

  Ezra said in a low voice. “The wendigo will be released at the end of the party, when the clock strikes midnight.”

  The crowd was loud, so I was praying no one heard us.

  “What happens when that thing is released?”

  Trev said, “It will either kill her if it thinks her powers aren’t grand enough or turn her into a wendigo if it deems her worthy.”

  I didn’t know about Luna, but I would go with option one if I had a choice.

  “Well, boys, what are you thinking?”

  “We need to come up with something quick,” Ezra said.

  “The problem is, if we rescue her, what will it be for?” Trev questioned.

  While everyone’s attention was enamored with the beast that was stalking its glass enclosure, now was the perfect time for me to ask a few questions.

  “Explain,” I said.

  “We are all marked, remember? We can’t leave here without permission. So, if I betray the headmistress by saving Luna, then what? None of us, other than you and Remy, can leave.”

  “So, we really need to kill the one that put the marks on all of you to begin with?” I asked.

  “Yeah, and Trev got a hint of who that person was today,” Ezra said.

  “Thalan?”

  They both scoffed.

  “No, we wish,” Trev said. “If that was the case, we would have all been freed long ago.”

  “So, who do we have to kill?” Remy asked.

  That’s my girl. Loyal should have been her middle name.

  “I talked with Thalan today,” Trev said. “Since I am the head of the headmistress’s guards, he was cluing me in on their plan of action. He said that the most powerful of wendigos, the original, isn’t allowed to make an appearance because she’s too valuable. He said that she is the one that put the mark on—” He stopped talking as a young drunk guy walked in front of us. Then he resumed. “This powerful wendigo is the one that marks us.”

  Man, my head was throbbing. “How do you get your marks?”

  “It’s a serum that is injected. Then our mark appears.”

  If everyone here had a mark that tied them to this academy and there was no chance of escaping, they would have to stay and fight to the death.

  I looked around at the crowded bodies. There was no way we would make it out of here alive. For a greater cause, we either let Luna die to keep our mission a secret, essentially saving many others, or we bring out the big guns.

  “Unbind my powers,” I whispered. My gut was telling me that now was the time.

  “Thalan will know that you are more than we are pretending you to be,” Trev said.

  “Maybe I am more than you think that I am.”

  The brothers exchanged a look over my head while Remy whispered, “Burn this mother down.”

  “How close does this Thalan have to be in order to sense what I’m capable of?”

  Ezra shrugged. “Two feet? He can’t pick up on anyone’s powers from a distance; that’s for sure.”

  I nodded. Good. We could work with that.

  The wendigo was ramming into the glass, causing several people to jump back from the partition. Others who felt more secure taunted the wendigo.

  “So,” Remy said, “is there just the one behind the glass?”

  Trev tilted his head toward the pacing wendigo. “Behind the glass wall, there is a pit that remains closed. The headmistress opens it when she wants to allow one wendigo out for sacrificial purposes. Down the pit is where all the wendigos live. It’s like a plane that is neither here nor there.”

  Ezra said, “We need someone who has, um … been extra blessed by the angels.”

  I knew that no one other than the archangels, Finn, and my best friends knew about me being blessed by multiple angels, so he could only be talking about the Flaming Sword.

  I pinched Trev’s back, making him flinch. “Oh, and you just thought I would be the girl who would go behind the wall, down into the pit, and kill the queen of scary-ass wendigos?”

  “You are our only hope,” Ezra said. “Plus, we didn’t find out until recently who or what put the mark on everyone. And that what? It just happens to be down in the pit?”

  “Um, how about hell to the no,” Remy said. “Crawling into pits housed by wendigos to kill the boss of those things? That’s going to be a hard no.”

  “She can do it.” Trev looked at me. “I know you can.”

  Maybe he was right. Would Uriel, someone who supposedly loved me like an uncle, come to me and lie to me if he thought it would get me killed? Would the other archangels, including my own mother, not try to steer me from this path if they felt that I couldn’t ride out the journey? There was no doubt in my mind that Uriel was telling me that this might not be the path I would have chosen, but it was a path my conscience could handle. Chamuel had said that everyone needed me. This was what I was born to do—help those who needed it the most.

  “Here is what we are going to do.” I didn’t know why I was taking charge, but here I was, laying it out. “Bring Thalan over here. Let’s get the greetings over with. Then unbind my powers. We will do our best to dodge Thalan while we are here. We have three hours to come up with a plan.”

  “If the headmistress realizes what we are up to, then we are done for,” Trev warned.

  “Speak for yourself, pretty boy,” Remy said from somewhere in front of me.

  Ezra chuckled. “Pretty boy, huh?”

  “Yeah, Trev’s the Liam to your Chris, Mr. Hemsworth.”

  “So, basically, you’re saying I’m the hotter brother,” Ezra stated.

  Through my teeth, I gritted out, “Children, right now is not the time for a beauty contest. And while I’m on it—”

  The headmistress interrupted me by having the DJ turn down the music while, once again, she climbed back on her chair. She tapped on her glass and cleared her throat before saying, “One last thing before I let you get back to the party. If you all will take a look at the back wall, our lovely Gabriella, the one looking as if she would rather be anywhere other than here, has come to join our ranks.”

  I gave a finger wave to numerous faces currently staring at me. I didn’t have it in me to smile.

  “Gabriella,” the headmistress continued, “is going to lure the commander to us.”

  A stout man with rolls under his neck who was directly in front of the risers said, “The commander would never willingly give us something that could kill him.”

  The headmistress glared at him. “Yes, I’m aware. But it seems as if our Gabriella has a special hold over the commander, and she has agreed to become a darken.”

  The man scoffed. “Are you just going to lure him here, hoping he won’t slaughter all of us in the process?”

  Ooo … The headmistress was getting mad now. “No, Gerald, I am not.” Her eyes found the three of us in the back. “I’m not stupid. After we take care of dear Luna here, we will have Gabriella take on the mark, binding her here to the academy. If the commander wants his alleged soulmate back, he will ei
ther tell us where the Flaming Sword is, or he’ll have to kill the one who allowed us to put the mark on her in the first place. The ones of us who are privy to that information”—she gave him a pointed look—“should know that in itself is an impossible feat. Regardless, if I can just get him close enough to the academy, none of this will matter.”

  Questions were being asked, but I tuned all of them out. Why would she need Finn close to the academy? She’s no match for him. If she thought to put a mark on Finn, she was crazy. He would never allow that, and there was no way in hell I was going to be permanently stuck on this campus.

  The headmistress put a hand up in the air and halted all talk. “Enough. We came here to celebrate another month gone and”—she cut her eyes to Luna—“to have a sacrifice. Eat, drink, and prepare yourself for a night to remember.”

  Cold air whipped around me. “What are we going to do?”

  From the side of my mouth, I said, “First, we save Luna. Now get Thalan over here.”

  The music was turned back up to ear-bursting levels while the lights flashed to the pulsating beat. I cradled my bandaged hand to my chest, not because it hurt but because I was literally about to have a panic attack. I felt like I kept trying to beat a level of Jumanji only to have someone roll the dice yet again.

  As Trev leaned up against the back wall, the cold air would weave in agitation between us every once and a while.

  A few minutes later, Ezra brought Thalan to stand in front of me. The headmistress was hot on their trail.

  “Thalan,” Trev started, “I’d like to introduce you to Gabriella and for you to see if there is anything that we missed that might help us against the commander.”

  The man was reed-thin and stood a few inches shorter than Trev. His black hair was slicked back from his face, showcasing an oily forehead and hawkish nose. His thin lips peeled back as he showed his disgust over me.

  “Boys, I don’t know what it is you expect me to see, other than a waste of being blessed. She must be a low-level demi.” Then he gave me a disdainful look. “Enjoy the party tonight, darken, because you will not be invited to any more. Only the intermediate powers and up get the privilege.”