Fallen Academy: Year Three

by Leia Stone

“But…” I tried to argue and fell flat.

  She reached out, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “But there is something you can do to repay me.”

  “Anything,” I breathed. If she helped me escape, I’d give her my kidney if she asked for it.

  “In order to get through the portal, you’ll need to kill Mathias. Once you go through to Earth, you’ll be in Demon City, Los Angeles. I need you to get my wife and son, and get them across to Angel City. Get them citizenship.”

  Raphael would help me. I knew he would.

  “Consider it done.” I nodded.

  She let out all the breath she’d been holding. “Okay, then you need to do everything I say. I’m getting you out of here.”

  I’d wanted her to say that to me since I’d arrived here, but hearing the words right then had no big effect on me. This place had killed some emotional part of me, and now I couldn’t feel properly. Or maybe it was because I knew I’d be leaving Sera, something I had been through before, and couldn’t fathom ever dealing with again.

  ‘It’s all right, love. I promise,’ Sera assured me.

  No, it wasn’t all right. Couldn’t I sneak her out somehow?

  ‘I think cutting his finger off would alert him to your escape,’ Sera added dryly.

  A thought struck me.

  “What if I took the box Sera’s in but didn’t open it. Figured out some way to open it once I’m up there.” I pointed to the ceiling, which I also thought of as Earth.

  Raksha shrugged. “We might be able to pull that off, but you’d never get it open, and he had me put a tracking spell on it.”

  I groaned. “Well can’t you take it off?”

  She raised one eyebrow. “If we want him to know I let you out of here, yeah.”

  Oh. Good point.

  “Won’t he know when he realizes your family’s been moved?”

  She shrugged. “He might, but he knows I favor you and that you, in turn, have grown close to me. He’s commented on it. You are good, so I’m hoping he suspects you’ve done it of your own free will, to make things right after stabbing me. To assuage your guilt.”

  I shuddered. “I am not stabbing you. I’ll just punch you and knock you out.”

  She nodded. “Do that too.”

  Oh my God, how real did she want this to be? Did she want me to kill her?

  I’m not freaking stabbing her.

  Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I froze, but Raksha stood, and smoothed her shirt before walking over to unlock it.

  “Good afternoon, Doctor,” she said to someone I couldn’t see.

  Doctor. I clamped my legs shut as my heart thumped wildly in my chest.

  Raksha peeled the door back, and in walked the healer demon I’d seen only once before. On the day Lucifer slit my throat.

  He glanced over my bruised and battered body, then held up the clipboard in his hands. “Brielle Atwater. Twenty-one years old?”

  Had my birthday passed on Earth? That thought alone gutted me.

  “Yeah,” I croaked.

  “What’s your blood type?” He peered at me with his sickening yellowy eyes.

  “No idea,” I replied honestly.

  He grumbled before writing down something.

  “When was your last period?” he asked then, and Raksha’s eyes widened.

  “She’s due any day now,” Raksha intercepted.

  Was I? I’d had two periods while down here—I remembered because I’d needed to ask Raksha for tampons.

  He raised one eyebrow. “Lift your shirt. I need to scan you for internal injuries, and things of that nature.”

  Things of that nature, my ass!

  I rolled onto my back, and felt a sharp pain stab between my shoulder blades as I did. It was then that I remembered the acid burn there, and my poor wings.

  “Are you going to heal her?” Raksha snipped, stepping up to my side protectively.

  He glared at her. “Possibly.”

  I peeled my shirt up to expose my stomach, and his hands came out, palms spread wide and fingers splayed. A warm reddish-orange color emanated from his palms as he ran them down my body, stopping to hover over my pelvis area.

  My gaze met Raksha’s, and we shared a knowing look. Healer demons could basically see right through you like an X-ray.

  After a moment, he gave us a small smirk. “Yes, I can heal her today.” He scribbled something on his clipboard, and Raksha peered at it.

  When she read what he wrote, the color fled from her face.

  Oh shit.

  ‘If he touches your hoohah, throat-punch him,’ Sera directed me.

  ‘Oh, I’ll do more than that.’ I wasn’t sure if this particular demon had balls, but if he did, I was going to find them and detach them from his body.

  A rich cinnamon smell filtered through the air when his healing powers flooded my body; it was like being wrapped in a warm blanket. I had no idea how demons could heal, though some said it was because they were created by Lucifer’s hand, and since Lucifer was once an angel, he could bestow that power. The smell of demon healer magic always reminded me of my father, and what we went through trying to save him.

  My muscles started to relax, pain ebbing out of them and away from my body. I sighed in contentment, realizing how much pain I’d been in before, now that it was going away.

  After I lay there for a long time, letting the healing take place, he was finally done.

  “She’ll need bed rest for the remainder of the day, but by tomorrow she’s permitted light exercise,” he told Raksha before leaving.

  She nodded, walking him out of the room. Only when she returned and locked the door, did I see the true terror in her gaze.

  “What is it?” I squeaked.

  Sitting down beside me on the bed, she brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “In two days, you’ll be ovulating. We have less then forty-eight hours to get you out of here.”

  My heart pounded in my chest at the thought of Lucifer trying to have a baby with me. I was guessing there was no artificial insemination down here, and he’d try to force himself on me.

  “I’m scared,” I croaked.

  She reached around and grasped both sides of my face, forcing me to look into her powerful gaze, her red demon slave mark practically glowed.

  “I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen to you.”

  Something dark crossed her face then, and I wondered if someone had forced themselves on her at one time.

  I didn’t know what to say. I felt sick but also hopeful that after all this time in Hell, I might actually be going home.

  Chapter Twelve

  The very next day I was awoken urgently, Raksha shaking my shoulders. “Brielle!” she whisper-yelled in my face.

  Blurry-eyed, and still in a fair amount of pain, I sat up. The healer demon had healed the major things, like my broken wings and my acid-burned back, but my body was still covered in bruises. Every single muscle ached.

  “What is it?” I asked quietly.

  She was breathing rapidly. “The Dark Prince plans to… with you tonight. He’s asked to have you over for dinner. Alone.”

  My eyes grew wide as bile crawled up my throat.

  “Tonight?” I was hoping to have one more day. I needed a plan to get Sera out with me.

  “You have to leave today. At breakfast you’ll steal a kitchen knife, and then we’ll go on our walk to the red door. You’ll attack me, and when the red door opens, you’ll kill Mathias and leave.”

  I’d wanted nothing more than to get out of this place since the moment I’d gotten here, but now that I was presented with the option, I was nervous and unsure if I could do this.

  Raksha shook my shoulders again. Hard. “Get your shit together, Brielle! Do you want to have a baby with the Devil?”

  Oh God. When she said it like that, I nearly vomited.

  ‘I like her,’ Sera chimed in my mind.

  Sera. I needed to find a way to bring her. I
had to do it.

  ‘You can’t, and it’s okay. I’m okay with that.’

  Tears formed in my eyes as I nodded to Raksha. “I can do this.” I toughened my resolve. “And when I get through the portal, I’ll go straight to your family. I’ll fly them over the border wall if I have too.”

  That time it was Raksha’s turn to tear up. She nodded once, her lips trembling. “You’re a good kid, you know that? I tried not to like you. I tried to stay… detached.”

  Before she knew what hit her, I pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. Every bruise in my body screamed in protest, but I squeezed her as tight as I could, knowing that once we went out there, we couldn’t act like friends, and this might be the last time I was able to truly show her what this meant to me.

  When I released her, she had tears streaming down her face that she quickly wiped away.

  “When you meet my wife, she won’t trust you. She won’t go with you, unless you tell her I told you to do this.” Raksha took her tan index finger, and ran it from my forehead down to the tip of my nose. It was an intimate gesture that the two women must’ve shared together.

  I nodded in understanding.

  “You grew up in Demon City, right? You know the apartment building off Rosecrans with the green canopy?” she asked.

  I nodded. It was super run-down. “By the gas station,” I confirmed.

  “That’s the one. She’ll be in apartment 3B.”

  Now that I had an address, and two other people depending on me, it boosted my confidence and nervousness simultaneously.

  “What about Sera? Can you help me get her?” I had to try.

  She shook her head. “Your weapon is the key to Heaven. He guards it with his life. There’s no way you’re getting that today. I’m sorry.”

  The surety of her words broke my heart. A physical ache exploded in my chest, doubling the pain I was already feeling.

  ‘It’s okay. We’ll be reunited. I have no doubt,’ Sera whispered.

  ‘I’ll come back for you. I’ll form an army and come for you,’ I promised my dear friend.

  ‘Don’t you dare. You go up there and live your best life. Don’t worry about me. I waited a decade alone in a cabinet for you. I can wait another decade until circumstances are better.’

  At her words, I burst into tears because she was totally saying goodbye. She was giving me permission to leave her down here.

  “I’m sorry, but we don’t have time for this.” Raksha hauled me to my feet, forcing me to stand.

  ‘Don’t think about me right now. The best thing you can do for me is get yourself out of here,’ Sera encouraged.

  “When we walk out those doors, you need to act like everything’s okay. You can’t cry or act jumpy. Our lives depend on it. Do you understand?” Her words were clipped, back in her typical Raksha mode.

  Swallowing hard, I nodded. “I can do this.” Reaching up, I wiped the tears from my eyes and pushed down every single emotion I was feeling.

  “Okay then. It’s time for you to take your bath.” She unlocked the door as though it were a normal day.

  Lincoln, I’m coming home.

  His blue eyes were the only thing I thought about for the next half hour.

  After I was bathed and Raksha had busted out my old cane, we walked to the dining hall where the others ate their meals.

  I had a slight limp from the bruising, but with each step my tired and creaking bones were getting more fluid. I had no idea how many days I’d been asleep after conjuring that Celestial ball and passing out, but the demon healing had patched up the worst of my beating.

  As we walked past Lucifer’s office, I found myself drawing nearer to the door.

  Sera.

  Raksha quickly grabbed me under the armpit, and steered me into the dining hall with a firm hand.

  I just had to let it go.

  When we walked inside the busy breakfast hall, a hush fell over the group, and all eyes landed on me.

  You bastards.

  I’d never forget how they attacked me. Every single person in that room was a vile creature, hell-bent on doing whatever the Dark Prince wanted. No matter the cost.

  With a clenched jaw and a prison-yard stare, I limped to the breakfast buffet. I wanted to reach out and throat-punch the Abrus demon nearest to me, but thought better of it.

  I’m getting out of here. Today.

  That was my mantra.

  When we stepped up to the food line, Raksha paused, scouring the table to look at the different items.

  When her gaze fell onto a tray of tough-looking hunks of ham, she loaded two of them on her plate.

  “I’ll need a steak knife,” she told the chef behind the counter.

  Looking up, the chef smiled at Raksha. “Sure thing.”

  As she handed Raksha the knife, I saw a purple haze of magic slip out from Raksha’s palm, and jump into the chef’s.

  Raksha quickly stuck the knife under her plate, balancing it with one hand, and smiled at the chef.

  “Things going well, Mer? How have you been?” She asked her.

  Meredith looked bewildered for a moment, shaking her head. “Oh, hi, Raksha. I’m doing okay. How about yourself?”

  “All good.” Raksha responded, then glopped a heaping spoonful of eggs on my plate.

  What the holy hell just happened? Did Raksha make that woman forget giving her the steak knife?

  I didn’t have time to find out, because then we were moving. Raksha walked to the same table we always ate at—the one with the demon-gifted Dark Mage who’d attacked me. Raven. She looked worse for wear to say the least—if that was any consolation. I was surprised she was alive, to be honest. Half her face and the right side of her arm had been burned, both of which were now covered in thick bubbly scars.

  So that’s what happens when you fall into a Celestial orb.

  The moment we sat down, Raven stood, giving me an epic stare-down. “I’ve lost my appetite,” she declared, before leaving dramatically.

  I stared at my food, not daring to look up and into the eyes of my enemies. I needed to play it cool for another couple hours, and then I was freaking out of here.

  Raksha and I ate in companionable silence. With each bite of her thick ham, she moved the sharp knife back and forth, then set it next to her napkin. The others made small conversation with her, saying they’d heard the demons had fully taken over Inferno City.

  Hearing about the war just made me think of Lincoln and my family. Was everyone all right? The last time I’d seen Lincoln, he’d had scars on his wrists and seemed in a pretty bad place. How much time had passed? Time was different down here, so I had no idea what was going on up there.

  I was so stuck in my head that I nearly jumped when Raksha nudged my left thigh with the base of the knife. My eyes widened as I reached down and clasped my fingers over hers, taking the sharp serrated blade under the table.

  What do I do with it? I thought, panicked.

  ‘Shove it in your boot, obviously!’ Sera instructed.

  Oh yeah, right. It’d been so long since I’d had a weapon that I didn’t know how to handle it. The weight and feel was good in my hands—light and deadly, just like Sera. Lifting my leg under the table so it didn’t look like I was leaning down, I slipped the blade into my boot and pulled my sweat pants over it to cover it.

  ‘I don’t think I can leave you,’ I told her again. There had to be another way, something I could do.

  ‘Brielle, if you were to try and get me, and it cost you your chance out of here, I would never forgive myself.’

  I sighed, and decided not to say anything more.

  We sat there a long time, Raksha chatting people up leisurely like she wasn’t about to help bust me out of here. It was a weird feeling trying to act calm when I felt so frantic inside.

  What would I say when I saw Lincoln again, or Shea? “Hey, I’m alive”?

  ‘That’s a start,’ Sera mused.

  God, I was going to miss her in my head.


  “All right, duty calls.” Raksha stood suddenly, grabbing her plate.

  My heart cranked up a notch in my chest as I stood as well.

  Please don’t let the knife fall out.

  Raksha went over to the chef on our way out and handed her a fork—something she never did, as we usually put our utensils and plates in soapy buckets by the door. “Thanks, Mer.”

  The chef nodded and took the fork, throwing it in a sink behind her, before carrying on with her duties.

  I glanced behind me to see the entire table watching us.

  They know. Oh God.

  ‘No they don’t. Calm down,’ Sera pressed.

  The moment we left the cafeteria, we turned down the hall to see Lucifer coming out of his office. I actually jumped, a small squeak escaping me.

  He looked up at me and sneered. “Brielle, how are you feeling?” His voice was like honey, and yet, I wanted to brandish the stolen knife and slit his throat.

  “Pretty awful,” I admitted, trying to play it cool.

  He nodded, giving my body a quick once-over. My palms started to sweat under his gaze.

  “Well, I’ll see you for dinner tonight. I have a little business proposition for you, to make your time here more useful,” he purred.

  Having your demon baby is a business proposition?

  Gross.

  “Okay,” was all I could manage.

  He nodded and started to walk away before stopping and turning back to face us. “Where are you off to, Raksha?”

  Raksha stiffened the slightest bit. “Daily chores, sir. The red door to fetch your packages, and then I’ll bring Brielle for her nap. I’m trying to build up her fitness endurance again after the downtime.”

  He nodded curtly, waved at us in dismissal, and then spun back, disappearing around the corner.

  The moment he left, Raksha booked it, with me hot on her heels.

  My escape plan was officially in effect.

  God help me.

  Chapter Thirteen

  As we made our way past Lucifer’s office, I tugged on Raksha’s shirt and stopped. “Wait. He’s not there. We can grab Sera.”

  She spun, fury overtaking her face. “It’s magically locked. You have to let your blade go.”