He took several steps closer to me, making Remy move in closer, too. We looked like we were about to have a powwow before a soccer game.
Trev whispered, “That thing you have that can kill even the most powerful—”
“For shit’s sake, man”—Remy narrowed her eyes—“tell me he doesn’t know about the thing.”
I bit my lip and nodded. “I didn’t tell him, though. Remember, he just witnessed it when I was dealing with Zack.” I had actually killed the boy, but I wasn’t at a point in my life where I could own that just yet. “And this might be a good time to tell you his brother knows, as well, about the thing.”
“You have got to be freaking kidding me,” Remy said. “Why don’t we just mark an X on your back or send out postcards in the mail, announcing what you can do? Maybe you could give out coupons and discounts during the holidays. Anyone who wants to take a selfie with the demi who carries the you-know-what gets fifteen percent off portraits today only.”
“Why have something if you don’t use it?” Trev asked, ignoring her. “I get why the commander wants to keep your secret, but if you play it safe, what is the point of having this power? Think of the people you can save.”
Uriel’s words, along with the other archangels, came to me as I took in the prisoners around me. Yes, I could escape, but could I live with myself? These people needed me.
I tilted my head toward the stooped-over old man who was still looking at us like ninety percent of the other prisoners. “He said something about how I wouldn’t get too far with the girls because they were marked. What did he mean?”
“We all carry a mark that resembles a feather somewhere on us. It keeps us bound to the academy unless the headmistress has given us special permission to leave the grounds. If you don’t have permission and you try to leave or escape, you will be hit with a pain that feels like your bones are melting. If you are mortal … like most of these people, you will die from the pain.”
I looked over his shoulder at his sisters. I could have hurt them, killed them by trying to take them from this place, and I didn’t even know.
He saw the look that crossed my face. “Don’t worry; I would have gotten to them before too much damage happened, and Ezra would have healed them. You were just trying to help.”
Remy rolled her eyes so many times that I thought they would bounce out of her head. “Oh, good play, lover boy, good play.”
“You are literally our Trojan horse,” Trev continued, still ignoring Remy. “You are the answer to our prayers.”
A small boy coughed from one of the cells to my left. His mom wiped his tawny brown hair from his brow. Then she jerked her gaze to meet mine. There was a silent plea in them. She didn’t know who I was, and she didn’t care. If Trev was putting his faith in me, then so was she. There was no masking the hope in her eyes.
“All of these people are being used by the headmistress?”
“Yes, and if their loved one dies while trying to complete a mission, then they will remain in these cells until their dying day.” He pointed to the mother and child who I had just observed. “Kass and her son have been in here since he was two. He is now five.”
I clenched my fists at my sides. How could a mother raise a child in an eight-by-ten cell? Did he even remember what it felt like to be out in the sun? Or chase other children? My heart wanted to see Finn, but that was not what it needed. It needed to help these people.
My exchange with Uriel came floating back to me. If I walked out of here right now and chose safety, I knew I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. These people needed me.
Remy saw where my train of thought was going and pointed a finger into Trev’s chest. “I don’t like you. I just wanted to get that out of the way.”
Trev bit back a smile. “Duly noted.”
Looking at me, he said, “I am a prisoner here. Those men, women, and children are captives too. I’m sorry that I was forced to hurt you. I’m sorry about a lot of things. I need you to stay so we can take down the key players together. Free these people. I can’t do it by myself. Do we have a deal?”
I took one more look at the little boy on my left. “Yeah, we have a deal. But if you cross me again, I can promise you that it will be your last day on earth.”
Trev nodded. Then he gave all his attention to Remy. “How did you get in here without setting off any of the school’s wards or alerting the guards?”
She narrowed her blue eyes. “I have my ways.”
“Well, whatever they are, I’m going to need you to carry a message to the commander.” He started walking toward the door. “Let’s get Gabriella back to her cell before the guards do their walkthrough.”
Grabbing each of his sisters by the hand, he pulled them toward the door. Then he knelt before them. “Ezra is showing your discharge papers to the guard above. He is waiting for you both on the next level. I want you both to walk up the stairs and go with him. In half an hour, the four of us will eat ice cream and celebrate. Okay?”
They both nodded and gave their older brother a quick hug before dashing up the stairs. He stood still for a moment, just breathing deeply as he tried to get his emotions under control. Once he did, he turned toward us.
I was mad at Trev, but my heart understood why he had done what he did. If I would have been in his shoes I would have done the same thing. Trev was a good person that was faced with hard decisions. After taking one look at his sister’s tiny faces that were filled with hope I knew that he made the right decision.
We walked back the way we had come, taking the flight of steps down to the lowest part of the building. Remy was uncharacteristically quiet. She gnawed her lip as she was lost in her thoughts. Trev looked like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. After witnessing all those desperate faces, I could honestly see why he felt that way.
Remy said, “This is so stupid. I’ll be shocked if the commander doesn’t kick my scrawny butt. You see one kid with big doe eyes, and your escape was nothing but a pipedream. And what if we are being tricked?”
Trev turned toward her. “I swear on everything that I love that this is not a trick. We need her. Our people need to be freed, and she is the key to their freedom.”
Trev paced the dirty corridor before he turned to both of us. “I think I know what you are capable of, Gabriella, and if I’m right, then that little boy, along with his mother, Kass, could be freed by tomorrow. He could be chasing fireflies after supper.” He stopped walking and came to stand before me. “I know you hate me now”—he gave me a boyish smile—“and any hope I had of making you fall in love with me is probably gone, but in order for this to work, I’m going to need you to trust me.”
“Trev,” I said at the same time that Remy started laughing.
I narrowed my eyes at her, and she threw up her hands.
“Girl, I get it. You’re a good person. You decided to stay and help strangers. I personally don’t have that affliction, but then again, I’m not winning any humanitarian awards. But just keep in mind the guy who lied to you—”
“I actually did tell her that I would do anything for my sisters. I also told her not to trust anybody,” Trev interrupted.
“Yep.” Remy looked at me. “And how many times were you darted, girlfriend?”
I shrugged. “I lost count.”
She laughed without mirth. “She lost count. That’s how many. Then you took her fingers. Look, she is going to help you, and I will be helping her, but ain’t nobody here has to trust you. Trust is earned, not given.”
Remy looked two seconds away from hitting Trev, so I cleared my throat as I walked back into my cell. I prayed I wasn’t making the biggest mistake of my life.
He was shutting the door and locking it when we heard footsteps.
Trev’s eyes widened in fear as he grabbed Remy by the arm and started pulling her toward a janitorial closet, but whoever was coming our way was coming fast, and they would never make it to the closet.
He stop
ped mid-stride when her wrist disappeared from his grasp. The look on his face was ludicrous at best. He was still trying to process what had happened when Ezra approached, his hazel eyes narrowed as he took in the panicked look on Trev’s face.
“What the hell is wrong with you, brother?”
Trev stood up straight. “Nothing. I thought I saw a ghost.” He laughed as he ran a hand down the back of his neck. “Why are you down here? And where are the girls?”
Ezra was still staring at his brother strangely. “Luna took the girls to get baths. They smell horrible. She said they would meet us in your room in thirty. Give us time to plan.” He tilted his head in my direction. “I came to ask you if the box made it to the commander yet.”
Trev nodded. “I’d think so by now. If not, any minute now.”
I looked at the space I had last seen Remy. Finn was going to go ballistic. I needed her to get to him before that box arrived.
Ezra took one more look at me before he sighed and walked back down the corridor to the exit. He was mumbling something about us all dying before he completely disappeared from our view.
Within seconds, Remy reappeared.
“I don’t believe it. How could this be?” Trev asked.
“I’ll catch you up to speed later,” I promised.
His brown eyes met mine. “Is this your doing?”
I refused to answer.
“Wow. You are way more powerful than I ever believed. Amazing.”
Remy snapped her fingers in front of his face. “What do you want me to relay back to the commander? I need to get to him before princess’s fingers arrive.”
“Yes, of course. Tell him what you saw here today in the cells. Tell him, if he will be patient and help us win this battle, I will help him with the war that is yet to come. Tell him that Gabriella has willingly agreed to help. I’m meeting with my friends now. We will come up with a plan then tell him what to do.”
Remy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, the commander doesn’t really like to be told what to do.”
“Remy,” I said, “just give him the message.” I cut my eyes to Trev. “Also, tell him my powers have been bound. It also did something to our bond, but reassure him that I’m fine. And tell him that, if my fingers don’t return when my powers do, he can personally kill Trev while we all watch.”
“Why exactly were her powers bound?” Remy asked.
“My brother did it at my request,” Trev said. “We had to. The headmistress has a powerful ally who can sense powers. If she knew how truly powerful Gabriella is, we would all be in trouble. We need Gabriella to be just an object that the commander wants, not an object that could kill the headmistress.”
To think, not so long ago, I didn’t want to be blessed, didn’t want powers, didn’t want to be a part of this world, and now I was aggravated that my powers were bound.
Remy grabbed ahold of the front of Trev’s shirt. “But you are positive that it can be undone? She will get her powers back?”
“Of course,” Trev said. “But, my brother is the only one who can undo it.”
“Or, if your brother dies,” Remy said, “I’m assuming that would lift the bind he put on her.”
“Well, yes. But I’d prefer my brother not die in order to lift the binding.”
“Regardless,” Remy said as she let him go, “I’ll tell the commander. That way, he can keep his options open.”
I tried hard not to laugh. My bestie was a savage. I needed to tell her that, according to the archangels, I could lift the binding at any time, but I didn’t want to say that in front of Trev.
Remy gave my good hand that was holding the bar a squeeze. “I’ll deliver this message, and then I’ll come back and keep you company.”
I should tell her no, but the truth was that I really didn’t want to be by myself. “Thank you.”
She disappeared, leaving Trev and me alone.
Trev turned the lock to my cell. “You will be saving a lot of innocent lives. Never forget that, okay?”
Well, that sounded omniscient.
“Go work out a plan so I can get out of this hellhole.”
He gave me a smile before he left the same way his brother had.
I went back to my corner and crouched down on the dirty floor. I either just made the best decision of my life or the stupidest. Either way, I knew that Finn was going to be livid.
I was pacing the small confines of my cell when I heard someone popping their bubble gum. I turned to see Remy rubbing dust off her fingers. Something was off about her body language. It was like she was trying to act chill.
“You’re back already?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s it? Just yeah? What did Finn say?”
She sighed. “Truth?”
I nodded.
“When I say it didn’t go too well, I mean it as an understatement. Your boy ran his fist through a tree. Like, an actual hickory tree. The scariest part is he didn’t even flinch. I almost passed out just from seeing the broken bones in his hand. But then, when I had the nerve to actually look at his face, I think I peed a little. Being a ghost, I no longer have that function, ya know, so part of me is like, ‘Whoop, whoop. Bodily functions again, yay,’ and then the other part of me is like, ‘Can I die again?’”
“Did you tell him why I did what I did?”
“Yeah, but dude, he can’t care about all these people when all he can think about is you.” She sat next to me. “It took him a minute to get himself under control, but he’s better now.”
I nodded. To have waited all this time for me to come back, just to feel like he lost me again … I could only imagine what he was going through.
“So, you made it before the box?”
“Yeah.” Her eyes widened. “Oh crap, I forgot to tell him that the box with a couple of your fingers was coming and to be prepared.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?”
She pointed a finger at me. “Don’t yell at me. I panicked. The commander is scary AF. Plus, Hannah was there, and you know how she is.”
“How is Hannah?”
Remy rolled her eyes. “The girl hasn’t stopped crying. It’s like a faucet that no one can turn off. I told her you were fine, and she screeched in my ear, ‘Fine? Fine?’ and then she started crying louder. You know who else isn’t fine?”
“Who?”
Her lips curled into a smile. “Dan and Richard. I think they grew really attached to you. They have done nothing but mope around since you left. It’s almost comical.” She bit her lip. “They will also flip when they see the box. I guess I need to go back and calm them down.”
I pictured the two meatheads in my mind. I called them “The Rocks” because they looked like Dwayne Johnson. To think of them pouting was hilarious.
“You think we made the right choice?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Before coming here, I went to the cells above you and looked around. You know that mom you saw?”
I nodded.
“She was pacing the small confines of that room while her son slept in a corner full of dirt and spiderwebs. That is no way to raise a child. They deserve better. I still don’t trust Trev, but if you’re the key to that child getting an actual room with a bed, then I say let’s do this. Together.”
I grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Thank you.”
“I just wanted to clarify something really quick,” she said. “Who do you love more—Hannah or me? I mean, say we were on a stranded island, and you could only save one, who would you pick? The girl who is awesome in every sense of the word or the freakishly large giraffe who could float an island with her waterworks?”
I laughed. “Oh, I didn’t know it was a competition. I can’t say both?”
“What kind of loser says both?”
I tapped a finger to my chin. “Well, Hannah doesn’t name call.”
“But she’s also not in a stinky cell with you either.”
“Yeah,” I said, “but she has been crying nonstop ov
er me.”
“Dude. Like, so much. It’s beyond ridic. Honestly, I’m in here with you not because I love you but just to escape her.”
I was laughing until she shushed me. “Someone is coming.”
“Disappear,” I said. “Right now, you are my secret weapon.”
She was gone before Trev rounded the corner with the headmistress.
She was petite and slim, with raven hair that fell to her bottom and swayed with every step she took toward my cell. She had a five-finger forehead, wide-set eyes, and thin lips. The only thing really going for her was her high cheekbones. Her black dress was so sheer I could almost see through it. Overall, she was average-looking, but the way she carried herself made one want to stop and take notice. Power. She reeked of power.
I didn’t say a word as she stopped right in front of my cell. I shifted my eyes to Trev, who was trying to convey some sort of message with his own eyes, one I wasn’t getting.
“It has been three days since you have been brought here, and we have not received word from the commander, even though our sources say that he has received the box. He should be here by now.” Her voice was loud and precise. “What is your relationship with the commander of the Academy of Seraph?”
There was a slight shake of Trev’s head.
Going with my gut, I said, “I don’t have one with the commander.”
“You obviously do, or Trev wouldn’t have reported back to me that you were the answer to weakening the commander,” she said.
“Headmistress,” Trev cut in, “if I may?”
She studied him for a brief moment then nodded.
“When I reported to you that the commander was infatuated with this girl, I didn’t realize that it was completely one-sided.” He cleared his throat. “This could work out even better than I imagined.”
Her nose flared. “What are you proposing? And know that, if you fail me, I will put your sisters back in their proper place. I’m sure they miss their cell.”
Just because I was closely watching, I noticed Trev clench his fists then release.
“I won’t fail you. Look at her.”
The headmistress took all of me in.
Captured: Academy of the Seraph Page 4