by C. L. Coffey
He left me there, mouth open, as he left.
There was a five in the morning? For waking up? I was nocturnal—I worked in nightclubs and the graveyard shifts.
Speechless, I pushed open the door and stepped inside. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. Considering how much I suspected the fees were for this place, what I stepped into really shouldn’t have surprised me, but I couldn’t help but stare.
The room was designed for two people with twin bunk beds; however, the bottom bunk was a sofa—and they weren’t metal frames with cheap mattresses. Not that I would have complained if they were.
That in itself would have been cool, but these were really heavy looking pieces of furniture. Both sofas were covered with a navy-blue fabric and a bright turquoise cushion at each side. The beds were matching too, with identical navy quilts which had a thick, bright turquoise stripe at the bottom of it. I turned, pulling open a door. Instead of a closet like I expected, it was a small bathroom.
It was obvious which side of the room was mine. Leigh-Ann’s was filled with personal items. Books and photographs lined all the shelves, and at the foot of the bed was her own desk, covered in more books and notepads. Her closet door was open, crammed full of clothes.
Returning to my side of the room, I looked around at the bare surfaces. Even if I had brought the few personal items I did own, there wouldn’t have been much to put out. My gaze dropped to my shoulder bag on the floor beside the desk. The last time I saw that thing was in the diner in Vegas.
I walked over to the desk and slumped in the chair as I reached down for my shoulder bag. I opened it and found all my pencils and sketchbooks still inside. My mouth turned up into a smile.
Gabriel was a thoughtful kidnapper.
I sucked in a deep breath before blowing it out slowly.
What had I got myself into?
Reaching for the brand-new textbooks, I opened one up and leafed through it. Last I checked, students had to buy their own textbooks. Were they lucky here and had them supplied? Or, more accurately, was it included in their tuition?
This was an opportunity of a lifetime for me, and there were thousands who would have been grateful for it, but I couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. A school for nephilim, run by a centuries-old saint, with an archangel who couldn’t decide whether to kill me or not. Oh yeah, don’t forget he also wanted to tutor me.
Could this get any weirder?
I’d like to meet anyone who didn’t have butterflies in their stomach.
My attention fell on my closet. One of the doors had a mirror, and I caught sight of my appearance for the first time since I left my apartment. My hair was a mess, falling out of the ponytail. My clothes torn, and there were blood stains on them. I frowned, staring down at my jeans. Also ruined.
No wonder Pinnosa looked so disapprovingly at me. I would have done the same thing. I moved over to the closet and stared at my reflection.
I don’t look dead.
Had I really died that night? And I came back to life, but as what? I didn’t feel any different than I had before the accident.
The girl staring back at me from the fancy mirror was not the same girl as yesterday, and I wasn’t entirely convinced I liked what she had become.
I flung the door to the closet open—more to stop looking at myself than to examine the contents—but couldn’t help my eyes widening at the uniforms hanging inside.
There were white blouses with three-quarter length sleeves, navy and turquoise tartan skirts, and matching navy blazers. It was very Catholic schoolgirl. I pinched the top of my nose.
“College. When did colleges have uniforms?” I asked the blazer. I’d been to many schools and none of them had uniforms. On the plus side, the only clothes I had were the ones I was wearing, and they were ruined. At least I had some clothes to wear.
There were towels and toiletries in the closet, too. With a sudden desire to get out of the ruined clothing and into a hot shower, I grabbed a handful of items and made my way to the bathroom. I was almost at the door when one of the photographs on Leigh-Ann’s side of the room caught my attention.
I moved back over, picking the photograph up from the shelf. It was a family portrait, and surprisingly, despite not having a TV in our apartment for months, I still recognized all four people in the photo.
I couldn’t remember the last time we had a TV. Mostly because it was difficult to move with us, and after a bus journey from Mississippi to Texas, we’d had to leave our last one in the apartment.
The diner had a television that was always on. That’s how I recognized Senator Colin Sinclair. Next to him stood his beautiful wife, Kelly-Ann, who didn’t look a day over thirty. In front were the twins, Leigh-Ann and Harrison. Taking into consideration they obviously weren’t identical; they really didn’t look alike. Leigh-Ann had inherited her mother’s nearly white blonde curls, whereas Harrison was like his father, with black hair and blue eyes, and ridiculously good looking.
This is the guy I’m supposed to protect?
It wasn’t the family resemblances that held my attention, though. It was the fact that even though Leigh-Ann was right in the foreground of the photograph, she was desperately trying to shy away into the background. She was the shortest one in the frame, and there was something pixie-like about her.
I wrinkled my nose and set the photograph back down, trying to remember everything I could about the family. Which wasn’t much. They were from Dallas, and Kelly-Ann was an ex-Miss World winner. My gaze drifted back to Harrison. He was fine.
“This is my charge?” I asked the photograph. When I didn’t get a reply from the inanimate object, I set down the photo, turned and ducked into the shower, wondering how on earth I was going to befriend a girl who seemed to be the polar opposite of me.
I picked up a pair of pajamas and went into the bathroom to clean up. My intention of having a quick shower went down the drain with all the water I used up. I had never had a shower like this one before. The water pressure was amazing, and despite being in there for ages, the hot water never ran out.
So this was how the other half lived?
When I did eventually get out and wrapped a towel around me, I felt a lot better. It was late and I was hungry, but I didn’t dare leave the room. Instead, I pulled on the pajamas.
I stepped out of the bathroom and came face to face with my new roommate. I knew from the photographs she was short, but standing in front of her then, by comparison, she was really tiny. I mean, she was probably about five foot four, but because she was next to me, she felt closer to five foot.
She stared up at me with wide eyes. “Who are you?” Her southern drawl seeped through her irritated tone instantly.
“Kennedy.” I gave her what I hoped was a bright smile. “I’m your new roommate.”
From her reaction, I might as well have told her I was there to burn her teddy bear.
“I don’t think so,” she told me, surprisingly firmly. “Don’t get too comfortable.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
I held my hands up. “Pinnosa assigned me here. If there was off campus housing, trust me, I’d take it.”
I wasn’t sure how I would have been able to afford it, but I was still uneasy about staying in a college with a secret agenda of reforming nephilim.
Leigh-Ann shot me a dark look, her lip curling up. “I told Dean Pinnosa I wasn’t having any more roommates.”
Before I could respond, Leigh-Ann disappeared from the room. I blinked, quickly replaying the scene in my head. I had been polite, I had smiled ... okay, I had just appeared in her room, but it wasn’t that bad, was it?
I sat down on the sofa under my bed and curled my legs up beneath me. Gabriel and Pinnosa had decided we were to share a room, so no amount of complaining was going to change that. I leaned back and decided to wait for her to come back.
At some point, I must have fallen asleep because when I woke, the room was dark. I pulled myself up from the sofa a
nd switched on the lamp. It had one of those fancy energy saving bulbs, so it took a moment to warm up, but it was still bright enough to force me to squint at the small clock next to it: 4:45 a.m. I glanced over at the other bed. It looked like Leigh-Ann hadn’t returned.
Since I had to meet Gabriel soon, my thoughts of where Leigh-Ann had gone were pushed aside. I gave myself the once over in the mirror. Tired, but acceptable. I yawned. I’d probably had ten hours of sleep, but five in the morning. was still an unpleasant experience.
I opened the closet and stared at the uniforms hanging inside of it. Admittedly, they weren’t the style of clothing I’d ever choose to wear, but they were brand new. Something I’d rarely had before. Seeing as the other option was my pajamas, I quickly dressed in a uniform.
Stepping back to look in the mirror, I realized it didn’t look that bad. No matter how much I tilted my head, it was still a school uniform, but it was flattering and maybe even a little comfortable.
After scraping my dark hair back into a ponytail, I left my room. I walked down the stairs, appreciating how magnificent the stairway was as I descended into the main entrance. This place wasn’t a college, it was a castle.
That had me wondering if the building had turrets. When I’d arrived here yesterday, I’d been paying more attention to Gabriel and the fact that we had, moments before, been in a different state. Other than the building being really old, I’d not appreciated the details of the architecture. Seeing as I still had time before meeting Gabriel, I pushed open the front door and stepped outside.
It was winter. Back in Vegas it was cold, especially at night, but it rarely dropped below freezing. Here, I could see my breath in the air. Gabriel had said Colorado—were we in the Rockies? That would explain the snow. It was still too dark to see how far up the mountains we were but given the fresh blanket of snow covering the grounds, I suspected, it was quite high up.
Someone had cleared the snow from the path as there was only a thin layer of snow over the top. If I was careful, it wasn’t going to go over the tops of my shoes. I just needed to get far enough away from the building.
The sun wasn’t up yet, but the grounds were well lit with security lights. I don’t know why I had such a desire to explore outside, but I wandered along the path, looking out across the grounds. The place felt like a setting of a Disney movie.
Although I’d spent the last few hours alone, outside, it was calming and gave me an opportunity to think.
I wasn’t the type to have opportunities like this drop into my lap. This seemed like a good college—and if it wasn’t, it was still a college. Four years, and I could graduate and get a better paying job. Plus no student loans.
Of course, that then led to the question, if I wasn’t paying for this with money, what exactly was I paying with? What was the true cost of this place?
I was lost in thought when Gabriel appeared out of nowhere. With a small yelp, I fell backwards into a bush, which I quickly discovered was holly.
“Holy crap.” I yelped, trying to detangle myself.
Gabriel offered a hand and I took it, allowing him to pull me out. As soon as I was upright and staring at him, I nearly jumped back into the bush. With his arms folded now, he scowled. “Remind me,” he said, calmly. “What did I say yesterday about the cussing and blasphemy?”
“Don’t?” I offered. “But–”
Gabriel held up a hand. “Kennedy. You’ve been here less than twelve hours. I was hoping you could have gone a little longer before breaking the rules. Do you even realize what’s at stake here?”
“No.” I shook my head. At his raised eyebrows, I raised a shoulder. “You mean aside from you trying to decide whether or not I’m important enough to keep alive?”
Gabriel took a deep breath and glanced away. Finally, he looked back at me and unfolded his arms. In the dim light, I hadn’t noticed that he was holding a pair of boots and a thick coat.
“What’s that for?” I stared at the items in his hands. “I obviously don’t need them.”
“I know.” In spite of his declaration, he kept his arms outstretched.
I stepped to the side so I could see him better in the sparse light the college offered from behind us.
He was still wearing a pair of black cargo pants and boots, but this time, he wore a thick, black woolen coat I knew he also didn’t need.
When I realized he wasn’t going to let it go until I took them, I accepted the boots and swapped them for the ballet shoes. As I stood upright, he stepped behind me and draped the coat over my shoulders. I turned my head as his hands brushed against my neck, pulling my hair out from under the coat.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
“Follow me.”
Without waiting to see if I would follow, he set off walking back towards the college.
I took off after him, with my long legs, I easily kept up with his stride.
Instead of heading back into the building, we followed the path to the back and under a large archway. It opened to another snow-covered courtyard. From this angle, I could see the U-shape of the main building.
The fourth side of the courtyard was taken up by two separate buildings. The smallest was a church, which was where I expected Gabriel would take me, but instead, he led me to the other. This one, I discovered, was a gym.
I stood in the doorway, looking back out at the courtyard.
“You’re frowning.” Gabriel glared at me.
I nodded. “What do you expect my major to be?”
“Protecting humans.”
Of course. “And here I am doing an exemplary job of protecting myself,” I muttered. Gabriel didn’t seem to hear me as I glanced around the gym. “I’ll bite. Why are we here?”
“We were supposed to start your training,” Gabriel said. “But clearly, you didn’t dress for the occasion.”
I looked down at my uniform, then back to him. “Exactly what kind of training do you have in mind?”
“Not the same kind we’re going to do now.” Gabriel ushered me in and closed the door behind us. He led me to a back office where he hung up his coat up on a rack before he took a seat behind the desk.
I sat opposite and shrugged off the coat.
“I was going to get you started in combat training, but given the circumstances, I think it would be prudent to inform you of what’s expected of you, and perhaps, we should also have a little history lesson. Tell me what you know about the angels in New Orleans.”
I shrugged. “I thought it was a hoax. I didn’t really pay that much attention.”
Gabriel nodded. “I suppose we should start at the beginning then. Back when the planet was young, God created angels to help Him and man. At one point, there were enough angels for every man on earth. When Lucifer fell, we lost a third of our brothers and sisters along with him. For a long time, we could cope. Until recent years, the population on earth exploded and suddenly, we were outnumbered.”
That bit I knew. I remembered sitting in a class a few schools back, listening to the teacher as he explained that at the beginning of the 1800s, the world’s population was about one billion. Only two hundred years later, it had shot up to 7 billion.
“And you didn’t make any more angels?”
Gabriel shook his head. “Not until last year. It’s hard to find people who meet the criteria, never mind dying at the right time, and of course, choosing the right option. To date, you are the third who...”
“I didn’t say yes,” I realized then. “And I haven’t died yet.”
Gabriel looked away. “The greatest gift ever given to a human is free will, but I stand by the fact that you are not completely human.”
“You keep saying that,” I said. “And you keep telling me that I’m a nephilim. So what? Hitler was German. By your logic, you’re saying all Germans are evil.”
He looked back at me. “The nephilim are the offspring of a fallen angel and a human. Angels and humans are not allowed to be together.”
�
�But why?” I didn’t understand any of that. “What’s so wrong with it? Sixty years ago, black and white people weren’t allowed to marry. You pull that one today and it’s racism.”
“The color of our skin is not what makes us different, Kennedy. Angels don’t have skin. We’re not even the same species.”
I stared at him, looking him up and down. “You look human from here.”
“This is a vessel. It was Father’s gift to us, so we could protect man.”
“So, you’re saying if I eventually decide to become an angel, I’ll have to possess another body?” I frowned. Even to me, that didn’t exactly sound ethical.
“Of sorts. While angels can use living humans as vessels, we don’t.” He watched me carefully, waiting for a reaction.
Quickly, I considered what he had just said. “You mean I need to possess a corpse?” That idea had my stomach turning.
“To be an angel, yes.”
“What’s wrong with this body?” It was too tall, and my legs were too skinny, but my body wasn’t that bad.
He realized what I was suggesting and quickly shook his head. “There is nothing wrong with your body. It’s currently not an issue with you being alive.” He frowned, staring at me like I was some weird science experiment.
Excuse me for surviving that car accident. One I’m pretty sure he had a hand in causing.
He took a long breath, settling back into his leather seat as he steepled his hands together in front of him. This was the first time he really seemed older than he looked.
“It might not be possible for you to keep that body. Normally, a person dies, they’re asked if they want Eternal Happiness or Eternal Life–”
“To go to Heaven or to become an angel?”
Gabriel nodded.
“You said yourself, I never said yes. To either option. But what if I choose the first? What if I choose Heaven?”
“You’re a nephilim, and nephilim do not go to Heaven.”