Heaven's Fury (Pandorax Academy #3)

by Ember Hollis

  Satisfied I turned to study the dragon blood. Most of them are male with scales lining their faces and the upper part of the torsos. They look well-built and their scales shine with a metallic light. They’re not as ethereally beautiful as the elves, but all of them are more good-looking than the average supernatural, and there’s an air of wildness about them that makes me think of Weres.

  The pegasi that the elves ride are also familiar. They look just like unicorns except that they have wings and no horns. The magic casters look exactly like humans for the most part, aside from the more eccentric taste in clothing that seems normal in the supernatural world. I skim over their figures until I catch sight of one in particular who seems a little bit more familiar than the rest. The witch’s features are Asian looking but its not just her face that arrests my attention.

  Somehow I feel like I know her. Even though I've never met any supernaturals before I came to Pandorax, there's always the possibility that I might have stumbled across them at some point while traveling all over the country with my mom, especially since many supernaturals know how to blend in with humans.

  I sneak closer to Pandora as she speaks to the lady, hoping to hear something that might jog my memory. I’m just in time to catch the tail end of their greeting.

  “—so sorry for your loss. Professor Hinako was one of our oldest staff members, and she will be greatly missed,” Pandora says, while the witch wipes a tear from her eye.

  “We were estranged,” the witch says in a choked up voice. “My sister and I were never really that close since we were born years apart. But I do appreciate you saying that. It makes me wish I’d gotten to know her better. I’m really happy to be able to help you out now that she’s gone. If you like, I can take over her class till you find someone else. I’m sure she would have approved.”

  “Thank you, Madam Hinako,” Pandora smiles sympathetically, “You’ll find that her room is exactly the way she left it. Feel free to reach out if you need anything, and we are very grateful that you’re willing to help take over her classes till we find a more permanent replacement.”

  Amelie, Meg and I exchange glances as Pandora moves on to speak to the other new arrivals.

  “Looks like the school will remain open after all,” Meg says with a loud sigh.

  I nod, relief flooding through me. “I really wouldn’t know where to go if it closed.”

  “Oh!” Amelie exclaims, eyes wide. “You could have both come to stay with me and my older brothers. They’re looking for mates, so they can be real dicks to pretty girls but I could have kept you out of trouble. The trick is to never tell them ‘no’ outright, so they never feel challenged to prove their mastery over you, but also not to give them too much encouragement, else they’ll immediately bed you and more likely than not, start dismissing you.”

  “Uh…” Meg’s eyes slide to me. “Maybe next time?”

  “Sure,” Amelie shrugs. “There’s always Beltane next year.”

  “Yeah,” I nod insincerely, while Meg mouths ‘Absolutely not!’ with a frantic shake of her head and rueful grin behind Amelie’s back. I know exactly how she feels. Getting mixed up with fae sounds even more complicated than surviving through the school year, and I’m still getting the hang of that.

  After the party has been properly greeted and everyone has been introduced, we proceed down through the castle for dinner. The cafeteria has somehow been decorated since I was last there so it looks less like a school refectory and more like an elegant dining hall, with large round tables scattered about, and boughs of evergreen leaves, acorns, and fairy lights lining the walls and suspended from the ceiling.

  I try to behave normally while I eat and chat with the other girls. Unlike before, the room is far less empty with the newcomers, and the mood is hopeful. But even though I’m relieved that Sybil and Noah will soon be wakened, I don’t feel as optimistic as everyone else seems to be, though I don’t really understand the reason why. Perhaps my dream is still troubling me.

  “Hey, Heaven,” Amelie pokes my side, making me jump. “Didn’t you hear what I just said?”

  I turn and smile at her, then listen to the anecdote she repeats just for me. Just as she gets to the end, a roar of laughter peals from a table at the front of the hall. It’s the one that the Four are sitting at, accompanied by Alya and several other newcomers.

  I look curiously at them. The Four are usually not as loud as this. Though I stare for long minutes, none of them seem to sense my gaze. It’s the first time this has happened. Usually they’re so attuned to me, taking every chance they get to put me in my place.

  But now, not even Christian deigns to so much as glance my way, even though he came to my room earlier today. It’s as if I’m last season’s plaything that they don’t even care to notice much less play with, now that new ones are here.

  I don’t want their undivided attention, far from it. But I did expect a little more… acknowledgment… considering how they’d treated me leading up to the Wild Hunt. Then again, perhaps this is the best situation for me and I should just move on and be grateful that all it took to get the Horsemen to leave me alone was my getting intimate with a couple of them.

  I’m stirring my mashed potatoes around my plate and going round in circles in my mind, trying to figure out how I feel about finally being left alone, when a disturbance pulls my attention back to the Horsemen’s table.

  I gape with everyone else as Briley shrieks and moves to fling a glass of wine at Alya’s face, only to have Christian grab hold of her wrist and squeeze it tightly to stop her. The harpy cries out, her face crumpling more from shock and hurt that he’d treat her like that than anything else. Knox holds a hand over the wineglass, refilling it, while Bane picks up his napkin and helps the Valkyrie clean up several stray drops of wine that had hit her with an unusual gentleness that immediately catches my eye.

  Then, Alya says something to Briley that makes her stiffen and open her mouth wide as if to shout back. But before she can, the blue-haired harpy’s gaze is caught by Pandora, who’s sitting in a nearby table with the older members of the visiting party.

  With a gulp, Briley flings her hair back of her shoulder. It’s the usual gesture of superiority that she and Vivette use, but there’s a nervous air to it this time. She says something to the table, which doesn’t get any response from the Horsemen, though Alya gives her a sweet but slightly patronizing smile. Conversation starts to resume again, except that nobody seems to be talking to Briley, who sits there with a frustrated and hurt look on her face as she gazes from one Horseman to the other.

  “What do you think that was about?” I ask Meg, who, like me, has also been scrutinizing the table up front.

  “I’m guessing the pecking order has changed, and Briley isn’t happy about that,” Amelie says simply. “Everything that Harpies can do, Valkyries can do better. It’s no wonder they never get along.”

  “Maybe you should keep your head down,” she continues. “She’ll be looking for someone to release her anger at, and you’re the perfect candidate.”

  “I’m not so sure about that,” I say with faux nonchalance, as I fiddle with my necklace. “Since the Horsemen seem to have forgotten I’m here, thankfully.”

  But just as I say that, Malek glances over to me, his golden eyes blazing as they meet mine. They drop down to my chest, and for a moment, I feel indignant at him daring to ogle me in front of everyone, and a little surprised that he’s the one who’s noticed me.

  Then I realize that I’m fiddling with the golden droplet necklace that Sybil had passed to me from him. With a blush that feels like it should melt my face, I drop the pendant, and it slides down to rest between my breasts. The sensation makes a tingle run across my skin as I wonder just how in tune he is with the necklace, that he even seems to know when I’m touching it.

  Is that how he found me earlier?

  I shift uncomfortably in my chair. I need to get the necklace back to Malek, but that means seeking him ou
t to return it, something I never thought I’d do.

  I’ll do it immediately after dinner, I resolve finally. The faster I sever all ties with the Horsemen, the happier I’ll be. Or at least, that’s what I try to tell myself, though I still can’t keep from glancing across the cafeteria at their table all throughout the meal.

  Chapter 10: Heaven

  Once dinner is over, Pandora stands to make an announcement. It’s short and to the point, containing an explanation of what happened during the Hunt and an update on what’s being done in the aftermath.

  Apparently they still don’t know how or who had opened the portal to the underworld, but Pandora is convinced that the Dome is strong enough to stop a second breach from occurring. She doesn’t mention how its been strengthened, but it’s clear from the look on Amelie and Meg’s face that it’s a result of their hard work with the surviving hellspawn.

  “—since we have suffered great losses and are currently still healing the injured, I have arranged for the final two rituals of Bacchadelia to be carried out in two day’s time,” Pandora says, in her quiet, authoritative voice. “Those of you who qualify will be notified to participate. Joining you will be our friends from Ever After Prep, who have generously agreed to donate their time and energy to keeping our school safe.”

  Loud applause rises above the crowd as everyone turns towards the new arrivals.

  “Though some of you will have lost friends and family, I must ask you to please keep to the normal school schedule in the mean time and not isolate yourselves in your rooms. Counseling will be available for the bereaved, but I also highly recommend that you follow your every day routines to keep yourself busy, and to do what you can to support each other and the school. The best way we can honor those who have fallen is to make sure their sacrifices weren’t in vain and to keep their memories alive with those who knew them.”

  Her speech ends soon after, and everyone gets up to leave.

  I rise to my feet too, but I don’t follow Amelie and Meg to the girls’ dorm. Instead, I head down the middle of the hall to reach Malek, tapping him on the shoulder before he can leave the cafeteria.

  “Hey,” I say quietly when he turns. “I thought I should give this back to you.”

  I hold out the necklace in my hand. The golden drop looks so delicate and cute that my inner magpie makes me feel loathe to part with it. Perhaps I also feel that way because I had felt safer wearing it. Though I’m still wary of Malek hurting me himself, somehow I know that if I’d truly been in need, he’d have come for me, though it was more a matter of him keeping to his word, than actually liking me.

  Malek silently picks up the necklace, his eyes averted from my face. As he does, I’m reminded of another time we’d stood here in a similar situation, when he’d wanted me to heal an injured dove.

  “Wait,” I say as he turns to leave. This time he looks at me, his golden eyes gleaming like molten gold in the dimming light of the deserted cafeteria. “Did you really hurt that bird?”

  “What bird?” His voice is low and dangerous, and I feel like swallowing my next words. But I push myself to continue, needing to know if I’ve misunderstood him all this time.

  “The dove. The one you wanted me to heal.”

  Malek hesitates. “Would you have refused to heal it, depending on who had hurt it?”

  I shake my head. “Of course not.”

  Malek blinks at me for a moment.

  “Then what difference does it make?” he scoffs, before turning his back to me.

  “Why do you even need to ask?” I shoot back at him. “I’m angel born. It’s my duty to protect other creatures and do what’s right, no matter what!” This is the first time I’m voicing the responsibility I’ve felt ever since I learned what I truly am, but even as the words leave my lips, I know them to be absolutely true.

  Malek pauses, not turning around. His wide shoulders stiffen and when he finally glances back at me, his face is a mask of furious anger and hate.

  “That’s what you’d think wouldn’t you? But you’d be surprised what angels will do in the name of duty,” he harshly. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave before they make you follow in their footsteps.”

  * * *

  I walk back to my dorm slowly, pondering what Malek had said. The only other angel I’d met in my life was Mikael, my father, who’d turned out to be a Fallen angel. He’d been aloof, almost cold, even during our reunion. Then, when his Fallen state had grown too serious to be concealed, he’d revealed himself as a violent, heartless predator who’d wanted nothing more than to drain the blood of pure unicorns, and even my own life’s blood, when he thought it could help heal him. I could only imagine what a true angel should be like. But surely they had to be exactly the opposite of what Mikael had become? In which case… what did Malek mean?

  I shake my head, deciding not to let the Horseman’s words get to me.

  “At least he’s not still trying to make me leave this school in a casket,” I murmur under my breath.

  “Talking to yourself? Are you so pathetic that you’re reduced to having imaginary friends?” a mocking voice sounds out of the shadows behind a curtain lining the hallway. “Why does that not surprise me, angel trash.”

  I spin on my heels and back away as the curtain flips back to reveal Briley. Her eyes are shadowed by smeared mascara and the blue feathers in her hair are ruffled untidily, with cobwebs in them.

  “What do you want?” I ask warily. Her best friend, Vivette is missing from her side. She’d been missing from the cafeteria too, I recall.

  “That depends,” she smiles sharply, her lips cutting upwards. “I want many things.”

  I suppress a sigh. It’s late and I’m still exhausted from all my exertions on the previous night. “No one’s here, Briley. There’s no need to show anyone how you’re more superior than me.”

  I meant it sarcastically, but Briley seems to perk up when she hears the words. She cocks her head to the side and sticks her nose higher in the air. “I knew you’d finally learn your place.”

  The urge to throw back a snide remark is almost overwhelming, and I feel like I should be canonized as a saint when I manage to bite back a retort. “Briley,” I say drily. “Tell me what you want, or leave me alone. It’s been a long day.”

  She presses her lips tightly together and looks away as she does a strange little swaying motion with her upper body and shoulders, as if she’s somehow debasing herself by deigning to speak to me, but can’t avoid it for some reason. “I want revenge.”

  I laugh out loud, breathlessly. “Excuse me? You’re the one who sent spiders and rats after me! I would have died if it hadn’t been for Noah, who by the way, is still knocked out in the hospital wing!”

  “It was a neat trick, wasn’t it?” Briley bats her eyelids proudly. “Vivette and I were on the cliff above, you know. You screamed like a stuck pig. And who cares about that pathetic Were. They’re a dime a dozen these days. They’re so disposable.”

  I glare at her, wondering how loud we’d get if I tackled her in the hallway right here, right now. Without her tribe of followers, I’m sure I stand a chance of getting a few good slaps in.

  So much for my Mother Teresa act.

  If she’d just stuck to insulting me, I could have borne it. But after what happened to poor Noah…. I take a step forward, deciding that I need to teach the heartless bitch another lesson. This wasn’t really stepping over the line. After all, wasn’t disciplining bullies a sort of community service?

  “But, I do admit that those rats were a lot larger than I thought they’d be,” Briley continues, glancing at her nails dismissively, as if she’s not even considering the possibility that I might attack her. “We just wanted payback for the wasps, not to get you eaten alive. So for that… I’m sorry.”

  I pause, completely thrown. “What did you say?”

  Briley rolls her eyes. “It’s because you’re so pathetic. You don’t even know any spells to use to de
fend yourself. Do you know how hard Vivette and I studied to get into this school? And then you come waltzing in through the halls, with no qualifications and nothing to prove your worthiness except for the fact that you’re an angel blood.” Her face twists and her tone turns snarky as she says the words. “What’s so good about that anyway? What makes you so special that they’d lower their standards just for you?”

  I stare at her, stunned. “I thought you hated me because of Christian.”

  “Oh yeah, that too,” Briley nods. “You don’t have brains, beauty, or anything else that could make you deserve his attention. You’re just a—”

  “A thrashy angel blood. I know, you hate me. So are we done now?” Shaking my head, I barge past her, not wanting to listen to another word.

  “Wait!” Briley grabs my arm.

  I frown and whirl back.

  “You’re right, I really don’t like you,” she confirms in a sulky tone. “But… I really, really hate Alya. She’s who I want to get my revenge on.”

  “What’s that got to do with me?” I jerk my arm away from her. Her fingers are tipped with nails that are as sharp as talons. It reminds me of the time she’d ambushed me with the other girls. I can still feel the sting of her slaps and scratches on my skin and scalp.

  “Well, I saw you looking at our table all dinner,” Briley offers. “So pathetic, like a kicked pup, everyone could see you sal—”

  “I assume you want something from me,” I growl through gritted teeth, “So don’t you think it’s a bad idea to insult me while you’re asking for it?”

  “I want you to help me get rid of her,” Briley says outright. “I want that bitch’s claws off of Christian and the rest of the Four.”