by Jayme Morse
“True,” I agreed with a nod.
“Anyway, the important part is that she’s gone now. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t wish death on anyone, but Demon Blood Academy is a lot better off without a Crow as a professor.”
“Yeah, it sounds that way,” I replied.
At that moment, Zay came to a stop in front of a stream. “Anyway, we’re here.”
I just stared back at him with wide eyes. “You brought me all the way down here just to show me a stream?” Not wanting to sound ungrateful for the day I’d spent with him so far, I quickly added, “Don’t get me wrong. It looks like a perfectly nice stream, but I was just expecting…”
A smile tugged at his lips. “What were you expecting?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but not a stream.”
He chuckled. “There’s more to this than just a stream, believe me. It’s my favorite place in the whole world.”
“Have you even seen the whole world?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“Most of it. Enough to know that things like this don’t exist in the human world.”
“So, um, what is it if there’s more than just a stream?”
I stared into the water, wondering what I could have possibly been missing about it.
Zay glanced over at me. “So, I know this will seem incredibly challenging after just diving off a cliff, but there’s something you need to do.”
“Oh, boy. What now?” I asked nervously.
“You’re going to need to get wet,” he said with the most serious look on his face.
I rolled my eyes at him. “And here, you had me nervous that I had to pull a snapping turtle out of there.”
“Well, I mean, there might be a snapping turtle in there for all I know,” Zay replied with a shrug. When my eyes widened, he laughed. “I’m kidding. I’ve been in this stream dozens of times, and there are definitely no snapping turtles.”
“There better not be, or I’ll make sure it snaps at you, not me,” I replied with a giggle.
Then I bent over and unbuckled my shoes.
His eyes widened. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I glanced up at him. “I’m getting undressed. I’m not about to get my uniform or my shoes wet in this stream.”
“Completely undressed?” Zay asked, staring at me with what I could have sworn was a look of intrigue.
“No, not completely. But I’m not going to get my whole uniform drenched,” I replied as I undid my tie.
I wasn’t sure how I would feel about being around him in my underwear, to be completely honest, but I figured that it covered me as much as a bikini would. And we were going swimming, after all.
“Well, okay, then. I guess I’m going to take off some of these clothes then, too.”
He kicked off his own shoes and dropped his pants, revealing the Batman boxers he was wearing.
“Really? You wear Batman boxers?” I let out a snort.
“Hey, don’t judge. I bet you wear those pink girly panties with ruffles and shit.”
He smirked at me.
Like the type your girlfriend probably wears? I thought to myself.
“You’ll never know,” I told him with a smile. “These underwear”—I dropped my skirt, revealing the black cotton boy shorts I had on— “came from Demon Blood Academy.”
I felt his eyes scan up my legs and linger over the underwear I was wearing for a moment, before flicking back up to my face nervously.
“You should know that I didn’t bring you here to get you semi-naked. That wasn’t my plan at all.”
“Oh, I know. You thought I was one of those girls,” I replied matter-of-factly, just as he pulled his shirt off.
I found myself staring at his rock-hard chest, completely taken aback by how good he looked without his shirt on.
“Those girls?” He just stared at me, a look of confusion written all over his face.
“Yeah, you know. The type of girl who goes into a stream and gets her uniform wet,” I replied, shooting him a serious glance.
He rolled his eyes, just as I unbuttoned my shirt and tossed it to the ground, revealing the lacy black bra I was wearing. I had stripped down completely to my panties and bra, while he was wearing nothing but the Batman boxers.
I watched as Zay’s eyes fell on my chest before quickly darting away from me.
“So, we should, uh, probably get in the water now.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
Taking a few steps closer, I dipped one toe in the water and was surprised to find that it was warm.
Glancing over at Zay, I asked, “What’s in this water, exactly?”
“You’ll see,” he replied, shooting a secretive grin in my direction.
Rolling my eyes at him, I put one foot in the water—and then the other. I took a few steps forward and then, suddenly, I found myself being dropped into the center of the stream, which was apparently over my head.
I fell under the water for a few moments, but then I came up for air.
Gasping, I glanced over at Zay. “Are you really trying to drown me?”
“You can’t drown, remember?” Zay reminded me with a grin as he treaded the water next to me. “Consider yourself a mermaid without the tail. You can stay under water as long as you want now without any risk of drowning. Now, follow me.” He dove beneath the water.
I hesitated for a moment before diving in after him.
As I swam after him under the water, I couldn’t help but feel sort of creeped out that it was so dark beneath the surface. I knew that Zay had said there were no snapping turtles under here, but I got this eerie feeling that something dark and scary had to have been underneath the water with us.
Once we reached the bottom of the stream, Zay turned to me and held out his hand.
I grabbed onto it and then Zay dove further, tugging me along with him.
A strong current pulled against us, reeling us in. It made me feel like we were swimming through some sort of whirlpool.
It felt so strange to know that I had been able to hold my breath for so long. My human instincts kept telling me that I needed to get out of the water soon, but I didn’t feel like I was struggling to breathe at all. It was only more proof that I was nearly immortal.
Once we made it to the other side, I found myself in a stream… except this one was different. It was surprisingly clear and well-lit. It made me feel like I was in a pool on a sunny day.
Zay continued to hold my hand until we both rose above the surface.
The sunlight beat down all around us, and I heard the sound of birds singing in the distance. Flowers were blossoming all around us.
“Oh my gosh,” I whispered as I pulled myself out of the stream. “Where are we?”
His eyes flitted over to meet mine as he climbed out, too. “We’re in the Sanctuary.”
“The Sanctuary?” I just stared back at him blankly.
“It’s the realm where Angels go for their training.”
Chapter 16
Lux
I sat down on a rock near the edge of the stream and stared up into the pristine blue, cloud-filled sky. It was a stark contrast from the stormy skies at Demon Blood Academy. In fact, there were definitely way more clouds here than there even were in the human world.
“I like to come here sometimes to think,” Zay explained as he sat down on the rock next to me. “Don’t get me wrong. I love Demon Blood Academy. I’ve spent a lot of time throughout my life at the academy, but the stormy sky can get depressing.”
“That’s the truth,” I agreed. “I wasn’t sure how I would be able to handle it for the next three months or so.”
“Yeah, so this is the perfect escape.”
“How did you even know that the stream would take you here?” I asked him.
“Oh, you know, I just fell through it one day and ended up here,” he replied.
“Really?”
“No,” he replied with a laugh. “The stream is ac
tually a secret. My grandfather put a portal here to make it easier to get from realm to realm. No one at the academy knows about it.” He paused for a moment and then added quietly, “Besides Kassidy.”
“I see.”
I tried not to let my disappointment show on my face, but it was hard not to. I knew that I shouldn’t have been surprised that he had brought Kassidy here first, but it was hard not to get upset about it. It had just made me feel special to know that Zay had taken me to his secret spot.
“What’s the deal with you and Kassidy, anyway? Why can’t you just tell her that you don’t want to be her boyfriend?”
“It’s… complicated,” Zay replied with a shrug. It was obvious that he didn’t want to talk about it, but I found myself pressing, anyway.
“Complicated how?” I asked.
“Have you ever seen a Demon girl get pissed off?” Zay asked pointedly.
“I can’t say that I have,” I admitted.
“It’s not pretty.”
I just stared back at him with wide eyes. “You’re being serious? You haven’t told her because you’re afraid to awaken her inner Demon?”
“No, I’m actually kidding. I mean, yeah. Demons can get really pissed off, but that’s not really why I haven’t told her.”
“Then why?” I pressed.
He glanced over at me, the hesitation obvious in his eyes. At first, I didn’t think he was going to tell me anything, but then he began to speak.
“I’ve known Kassidy for my entire life, literally. She and I were born in the same hospital ward, just one day apart. I guess that you can say she’s my best friend… or she used to be, at least,” he replied. “We’ve recently begun to grow apart. But Kassidy and I sort of fell for each other.”
I felt my stomach sink a little. I should have known that, regardless of what he had told me before, he had feelings for Kassidy.
“It’s hard to explain the way I feel for her. It’s not necessarily the romantic feelings you would normally get for someone in a relationship. I mean, sure, I think she’s pretty, but…”
“But?” I pressed.
His eyes darted over to meet mine. “It’s a different type of attraction.”
Even though he didn’t say that it was a different type of attraction than what he felt for me, he didn’t need to. It was written all over his face and hidden within his words.
“I think she’s pretty and I just care about her in the way I would care about a good friend or a sister. But Kassidy...” He paused. “She wants us to be together, eventually.”
“Is that what you want?” I asked. “To be with her?”
“I was open to the idea before, but not anymore.”
My eyebrows shot up. “What changed?”
Zay’s eyes locked on mine. “I met you.”
I just stared back at him, unsure of what to say. It was the first time he had admitted that there was something between us, but what could I even say? I had only known him for a few days. Was that really enough time for either of us to know how we really felt about one another?
And yet, it was enough time.
I felt something different for him, something that I had never really felt before. It was way different from the way I had felt about Nick or anyone, for that matter.
Before I could figure out the right thing to say, he kept talking.
“I don’t want to hurt her. I don’t want to break her heart. I know I’m going to have to do it eventually, but right now, I’ve been able to stall her. Even if I wanted to be with her, we couldn’t be boyfriend and girlfriend—not at this point in time, at least. If anything was going on between us, no one at Demon Blood Academy could know. Kassidy and I aren’t allowed to be together.”
“Wait, why aren’t you allowed to be together?” I asked.
“Demons tend to have arranged marriages,” he began. “It’s a way to try to keep Demon bloodlines… pure.”
“Pure?” I eyed him curiously.
He nodded. “Yeah, the goal is to try to ensure that two ‘good’ Demons have children together. In theory, it’s believed that it will help prevent their offspring from being ‘bad.’ It doesn’t always work out that way, though. Two good parents could end up having the most evil, demonic child in the world. But it’s still the way our society tends to work,” he explained. “Our parents choose the Demon who we’re supposed to marry before we’re even born. Kassidy’s parents chose another Demon for her to marry, a Demon who’s not me. If her family ever knew that something was going on between the two of us… Well, let’s just say that it wouldn’t be pretty.”
“I see.”
There was only one thought that was going through my mind, a thought that I knew was probably crazy of me to even think.
If arranged marriages were a part of our world, that meant that Zay must have had a future wife already picked for him. And that meant that we didn’t even stand a chance in hell.
And it also might have meant something else, too.
“Do I have an arranged marriage?”
A weird look passed through Zay’s eyes. “I wouldn’t know. Only your parents would know.”
“And they ditched me in the human world like I was garbage, so I guess they wouldn’t have cared enough to do something like arrange a marriage for me,” I replied with a frown.
“That’s something you’re wrong about,” he informed me.
“How am I wrong about that?” I snorted. “When your parents abandon you at a hospital for someone else to take care of, it’s because they don’t care.”
“That might be true in most cases, but it’s not true in this case. Believe me.”
There was a serious look behind his amber eyes.
I just stared back at him for a moment. “How can you be so sure?”
“I just know. The reason they abandoned you at the hospital was for your own safety.”
“For my own safety?” I snorted. “There’s nothing safe about the foster care system, believe me.”
“Yeah, about that…” He paused, shooting a look of concern in my direction. “Are you okay?”
Pulling my knees to my chest, I shrugged. “Yeah, for the most part.”
“Were you ever… abused?” Zay asked.
Evan’s cocky grin came to my mind then, but I tried to push the thought of him away.
“I don’t want to talk about this,” I said, glancing over at Zay. “I just want to enjoy the sun.”
He stared at me for a moment before nodding slowly. “Okay.”
As I lay back on the rock, I said, “So, are you going to tell all the guys at the academy that you saw me in my underwear?”
Leaning back on his elbows next to me, he laughed. “I’m pretty sure they would all be jealous of me.”
“Think so?”
“Oh, yeah,” he replied matter-of-factly. “I mean, you are Lux Whitmore, after all.”
“What does that even mean?” I asked with my eyes narrowed.
“It means that—” he started to say, but at that moment, he glanced up at the sky. “Crap. We need to get out of here.”
“But we just got here,” I insisted. “Why would we leave already?”
“Don’t ask questions.”
Without any further explanation, he climbed off the rock and then scooped me up into his arms, tossing me over one shoulder.
I glanced up at the sky where he had been looking, spotting the only thing that could have caused him to react that way.
A red bird, circling the area above us.
Before I had the chance to ask Zay what was going on, he’d already dove beneath the water, carrying me with him.
Chapter 17
Zay
It was already happening.
I hadn’t expected it to happen this soon. Lux had only just arrived. But then I had seen one of them flying in the sky, hovering over us, as though it was ready to attack.
I was lucky that I had spotted it in time, or this day could have turned out a whole lot
worse. If I hadn’t noticed before it was too late, then both of our lives would have been in danger.
Part of me couldn’t help but blame myself. I knew that I should have known better. I should have known that the safest place for me would be near Demon Blood Academy. Even though I didn’t think anywhere was safe for her and the academy was full of different types of risks, there was one thing that the academy had that nowhere else in the world had.
And that was Kieran.
Kieran, who was quickly becoming one of the most powerful Demons in the world. Kieran, who was determined to make sure that he did everything in his power to keep Lux safe. Kieran, who was convinced that he needed Lux, that she shouldn’t get a decision in all of this. Kieran, who, for all his faults, would offer her the best protection possible.
I should have known better than to take Lux so far away from Kieran, especially after that incident with the Demon hunters in the cafeteria earlier that day. I wasn’t sure what I had been thinking, but I was pretty sure that there was only one explanation for my behavior.
I had allowed my emotions to take over in a way that I shouldn’t have. I had allowed the way I felt about Lux to get the better of me.
I should have just ignored the desire to get away from Demon Blood Academy and spend a few hours with her the way that normal teenagers would, because there lay my biggest mistake.
Me and Lux would never be “normal” teenagers. We would never be “normal,” period. It was a luxury that the two of us would never know. Our lives would always be tainted with darkness and secrets, intertwined with evil and lies. I couldn’t let myself lose sight of that. Not again. From now on, I was going to need to be more careful.
As I pulled myself and Lux through the other side of the stream, I breathed a sigh of relief. There was no way anyone could follow us through the stream. The nice thing about the stream was that it was only for those with Demon blood to use. My grandfather had made sure of that when he had created the portal. Demons could pass through it as they pleased, but anyone without Demon blood would just have to deal with staying stuck on the other side.