Blessed: Academy of the Seraph

by Brandi Elledge

Remy moved swiftly beside us, not bothering to go around students, as she passed right through them. They must’ve felt the strange energy that swept through them, but not being able to see Remy, they all just gave me a weird look.

  Remy was pacing as I reached a hand out to her and said, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me?”

  She started to say something when Hannah said, “What? That wasn’t your fault. Don’t be ridiculous.”

  Remy rolled her eyes at Hannah, even though it wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t see my ghost bestie.

  As soon as we entered my room, I sat cross-legged on my bed and put my head in my hands. This place sucked.

  Hannah put her tray down on the only desk in the room then sat next to me, rubbing a comforting hand over my back. “It’ll get easier.”

  “Ha,” Remy said as she continued to pace our tiny dorm floor. “No, it won’t. Then again, what do I know? I’m just the chick who got murdered.” She kicked the end of her old twin bed, causing it to move an inch.

  Hannah’s orange eyebrows lifted to her hairline. “Um, what the hell was that?”

  I pointed to where Remy stood with her hands on her hips. “My roommate, Remy. She’s a ghost.”

  Hannah’s eyes grew wide as she stared too far to the right of where Remy actually was, causing Remy to roll her eyes. “Um … First, you don’t tell me that you spent the morning with the commander, and now you’re saying that you can communicate with the dead?”

  “What do you mean, you spent the morning with the commander?” Remy shrieked. “I am five seconds from cutting a bitch. This is clearly best friend material here, and I am so tired of being shafted. I swear someone better start talking and soon.”

  “Yeah,” I said to Hannah, “Remy’s also temperamental.”

  Looking at Remy, I said, “I’m sorry for a lot of things.” Then I quickly explained what Jase had said the night of the ceremony, and I told her about the demons that me and Hannah had come across. “And I spent the morning with the commander because …” What could I say? “Well, he thinks that maybe more than one archangel touched me, and he’s worried what that could do for my safety. He wants to perform a binding spell so he can keep tabs on me.”

  Remy’s blue eyes flared. “You are moving way too fast for me. I’m still stuck on the part where you left your BFF. Thank God I didn’t get matching tattoos with you. Total waste of ink, biotch.”

  I looked over at Hannah, who was just staring wide-eyed, gaping at me and then the empty space.

  Remy laughed. “And apparently, orange-is-the-new-red here is stuck at me being a ghost.”

  “Yeah, listen. guys. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I left and almost got Hannah killed by demons, and I’m sorry I haven’t been a great friend. Forgive me?”

  Remy rolled her eyes multiple times. “No need to be dramatic, but I do appreciate the groveling.”

  I laughed at my crazy-ass friend then looked at Hannah who was still zoned out. “It’s important that you don’t tell anyone about me being able to communicate with the dead. Also, we can’t tell anyone about me being touched by more than one angel.”

  “Okay.” Hannah’s eyes were roaming the room frantically, as if she was still unsure of being in the same room as a ghost. Her shoulders were rigid as she sat there, trying to act like she was cool with it all. “So, let’s talk about this ghost for a second.”

  Remy came to sit next to me, and as soon as her leg brushed up against mine, Hannah screamed, “I can see her!”

  “Wait—what?” Remy said. She hopped off the bed and stood right in front of Hannah, waving a hand in front of her face.

  “Where did she go?” Hannah asked.

  Remy looked at me with disappointment.

  Was Hannah able to see her because we had been touching?

  I stood up and grabbed Remy’s hand.

  Hannah covered her mouth with her hands. “I can see her again.”

  Remy’s blue eyes met mine. “Your touch gives others the power to see me. I can be real again!”

  I smiled. “Yeah, Pinocchio, you’re a real girl.”

  Remy held up a hand. “Shut it. This is no time for jokes.”

  Hannah’s orange curls bounced up and down with excitement. “I can see a ghost! I can hear her, too!”

  “Wait,” I said, “you can hear her?”

  “I like big butts,” Remy said.

  Hannah’s long nose scrunched up. “Dude, not needed info.”

  Remy clapped her hands. “Oh, this is great. I mean, I think it’s great.”

  “Why wouldn’t it be?” I asked.

  “Okay, so I’ve been going through Mrs. Fields’ notebooks when she’s asleep, like Nancy Drew asked me to,” Remy began.

  “That’s not really what I asked of you,” I said.

  “Do you want to hear what I found out or not?” Without waiting for a reply, Remy continued, “So, apparently, the Empowered Academy takes in the fully blessed who are for the darken side. Well, there is a deal amongst the demons that, if they come across what looks to be a human that has a brilliant light, they are to bring the person to the Empowered Academy for a huge finder’s fee. You, my friend, are high up on the power chain. If anyone knows that you have this kind of power, you’ll be kidnapped or dead. Demons would be all over that shit.”

  “That’s what Finn said.”

  An overplucked eyebrow rose. “You’re on a first-name basis with hotness?”

  “Wait—the demons that night said you were fully blessed; are you?” Hannah asked. “I mean, how else are you able to do these things? Most of us don’t have powers like this until we’re eighteen. I’m so confused.”

  I shrugged. “I’m demi, but I guess because I’ve been touched by more than one archangel, it’s given me a leg up.”

  Remy waved an arm above her head. “Guess who read a journal about the blessed from Mrs. Fields’ nightstand? Here’s a hint: she’s adorbs, totally dreamy, and if she were non-transparent, she would be a walking fashionista.”

  Hannah said, “Is she always like this?”

  “Yep.”

  “Whatever,” Remy scoffed. “So, listen up, my little freak and carrot top, this is what I’ve learned. There is a huge beef between our commander and theirs. It was implied that the Empowered Academy will do whatever it takes to make sure that this academy doesn’t retain high-level blessed. That’s probably why I was killed, and it’s probably why you were being targeted, Gabriella. I’m not sure if anyone truly bought that whole you’re-a-demi-but-we-don’t-know-from-which-line spiel that the commander gave us.

  “I don’t know how the darken get ahold of the students here. It’s all hush-hush and, to be honest, I don’t think that old bat, Mrs. Fields, knows, either. I read every piece of paper regarding the academies that she had in her room and her classroom, and then I drew penises in all of the journals.” She lifted one shoulder. “I was bored, and it was fun.”

  Hannah pulled her curly hair back from her face and tied it up. “This is so deep. I’ve been here for almost two years, and I’ve never heard of anyone that could see ghosts or knew that the feuds between the academies was leaking behind these walls and killing kids here. I feel like I’ve stepped into a soap opera with freakishly hot supes walking around, hoarding dirty little secrets.”

  Remy giggled. “That sounded more porn-ish. And to be fair, I think there has only been two students to die—a boy died a day before I did. So, maybe the commander has a hold on things now.”

  “How, though?” I asked. “Literally all is welcome here. There is no way to tell who is evil and who isn’t.”

  There was a knock on my door.

  “We’ll talk later,” I said. “But remember not to tell anyone about this ability or my abnormalities.”

  Remy pointed a stern finger in Hannah’s face. “These pouty dead lips are sealed, so she’s talking to you, my freakishly large, fascinating giraffe.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes. “I think I liked it better when I
couldn’t hear her. Of course I’m not going to say anything.” Poor Hannah looked confused, scared, and excited all at the same time.

  Whatever was going on at the academy was more than either of us could probably handle.

  When there was another knock, I dropped Remy’s hand and opened the door. Trev stood there, leaning against the jamb, sporting a black eye.

  “Hey, beautiful. Heard you were back.”

  Remy appeared behind Trev. She narrowed her eyes before she turned to me, holding a finger over her mouth.

  “What happened to your face?” I asked.

  He touched his left eye that was almost completely shut. “Oh, this? The commander said he slipped. That guy is such a prick. What did I ever do to him? Besides trying to look for you when you disappeared? He gave me an order to head back to campus, and I declined.”

  Remy gasped in horror. “How dare the hotter male mark this fine specimen’s face? Does the commander know no boundaries? Also, does goldilocks here know about how you and my new pet giraffe almost got killed?”

  I shook my head at Remy but remained eye contact with Trev. “It looks like it’s just not our week.”

  He smiled. “You’re telling me. I heard what happened.” He shuffled his feet. “Why didn’t you tell me what a student had envisioned?” I could see the hurt on his face.

  Biting my lip, I said, “I panicked. All I could think about was running. I’m sorry.”

  Remy went to pass him, but then she poked her head back into our room. “I’m focused on the grass that is under that hot commander’s feet, so I no longer care if goldilocks here goes commando. However, if the info of his undergarments or lack of just happened to fall in my lap, I wouldn’t turn away such juicy gossip.”

  I hid my smile as I watched her float down the hall. My girl had issues.

  “So, what’s up?”

  He raised his eyebrows at Hannah, who casually sat on the bed. He gave her a mock bow. “I was going to see if you wanted to walk to the next class together?”

  “Um, sure.”

  I looked over at Hannah. “You know that conversation we had earlier, can we finish it tonight?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. Meet you back here around three?”

  I had to meet Finn around then. “How about five-ish?”

  She gave me a thumbs-up as she hopped off my bed then squeezed past Trev.

  I shut the door behind me, taking a deep breath and trying to act like everything was normal.

  As we walked, his shoulders began to relax. I joked with Trev on the way to magic class and thought about how I needed answers, and I wasn’t leaving Finn’s until I had a few.

  For whatever reason, I felt like I was in quicksand, slowly losing a battle that I wasn’t even aware of why I was in it to begin with.

  The whole rest of the day at school went without incident. The crew left me alone, which was a Godsend in itself. Trev asked me a couple of times if I was okay and, each time, I just nodded. I was good as could be expected. He wanted to know what had happened when I was outside of the academy , and his face turned to stone when I told him of the demons , though he tried to pretend he wasn’t upset that I left and was attacked .

  He then asked how the commander found me so fast, and I just shrugged. I couldn’t tell him that I had some kind of beacon inside of me. That would be confessing I was manifesting into my powers more quickly than I should have been. Powers that I technically shouldn’t have, considering I was a demi. He didn’t seem satisfied with my answer, but he let it go.

  The day seemed to drag by. I tried so hard to focus on all my classes, but my mind kept wandering back to one question. Why me? Why would seven archangels, possibly eight, try to pour energy or their essence or whatever it was into me?

  After all my classes were over, I made my way down the hall, in a hurry to get to Finn’s. The commander would have answers for me.

  I ran straight into a warm body.

  “Umph.”

  Trev laughed. “Where are you going to in such a hurry?”

  “I have an additional class with the commander.”

  He narrowed his brown eyes. “Do you and the commander have something going on?”

  “Like romantically? Um, no. Plus, I’m sure there are rules against those type of things. I mean, he’s the commander here.”

  “He seems really into you, though.”

  “Yeah, well, we don’t have anything going on.”

  I could tell he was still confused as to why Finn would give me special attention, but I couldn’t speak of my lineage or how I was literally the freaking Flaming Sword. Therefore, I found myself hedging the truth.

  “Because I’m so different, you know. They haven’t figured out which line I come from, which is unheard of. Supposedly, this is the first time Sariel has ever been confused. I think he is trying to help me find out who I am.”

  He clenched his jaw. “Why are you meeting him at his place? Why not in a classroom at school?”

  Why was it his business? Was he jealous?

  “He has some items that might give us answers, but he doesn’t like those items to leave his place. He’s very particular.”

  Trev snorted. “I have some downtime; let me walk you to his place.”

  I started to argue, but that path was long and secluded, and after the confrontation that I’d had with the crew, it was probably in my best interest to not go anywhere alone.

  “Sure. That’d be great,” I said as a I hefted my heavy bag over my shoulder.

  As we walked out of the building and toward the commander’s house, I tried to start a conversation several times but, although he was smiling and nodding, I could tell he wasn’t really listening. Finally, we came upon the commander’s cabin. Thankfully, no one had tried to ambush us along the way.

  I turned to Trev to thank him when he closed the distance between us and put one finger under my chin, tilting my face up to his. His voice was low as his eyes searched my face. For what? I didn’t know. “I need you to know that I like you. Like, really like you.”

  I was in shock. I didn’t know what to say. I had been thrown into this world with so many unanswered questions, and then there was the brooding commander that I felt a crazy kind of chemistry toward. Of course I thought Trev was hot. Who wouldn’t? But I guessed, with all the chaos surrounding me, I hadn’t thought of him in a boyfriend kind of capacity.

  Now he was lowering his lips to mine. Was he going to kiss me?

  I put my hands on his chest to create some space between us. Did I want him to kiss me?

  I felt the heat tug in my belly, alerting me that Finn was nearby, and all of a sudden, being in Trev’s arms didn’t feel right.

  My eyebrows came together in confusion when I heard a door opening then a voice clearing. I backed away from Trev to see Finn standing in the open door, his shoulders so wide that he took up all the space. He was staring at me with a look of disappointment that left me feeling guilty when I had nothing to feel guilty over.

  “Um …” I said to Trev. “Thanks for walking me here. After what happened today at lunch, it made me feel better.”

  I wasn’t sure if he had heard me, since he didn’t ask what had happened at lunch. Instead, he said, “No problem. Anytime.”

  Finn crossed his arms over his chest. “How’s the eye?”

  Trev didn’t respond; he just stood there, staring at the commander. Then he looked at me and winked with his good eye. “I’ll see you around, beautiful.”

  I watched as he walked back down the path, whistling a happy tune.

  The commander cleared his throat as he stepped to the side, letting me into his home. He grabbed my bag from my shoulder, balancing it with two fingers, easily holding the weight that I had been straining under. “So, you two are an item?”

  Didn’t Trev just ask me something similar a minute ago?

  I studied Finn as he moved silently into his living room, dropping my
bag by the couch before he started to build a fire, even though it wasn’t cold outside. He was stunning with his midnight black hair and piercing green eyes. He was a little taller than Trev, and just a tad bit more muscular. And, where Trev looked like an Abercrombie model, this man looked like he belonged on the cover of a romance novel, wearing nothing but a kilt.

  I mentally slapped myself for comparing the two. I didn’t have time to notice one boy, much less two.

  He must have felt my eyes on him, because he looked at me from over his shoulder. I was grateful he hadn’t seen me giving him a once-over a second ago. Just thinking about the possibility made my cheeks grow warm.

  “No, Trev and I are just friends,” I finally answered.

  “It didn’t look that way.”

  “With all due respect, Commander, it’s not really your business, is it?”

  He grunted. “I overheard you say that something happened to you during lunch today. What happened?”

  I quickly told him of Devon and the rest of the crew.

  His eyes smoldered before he said, “This is why we should do the binding. I could have felt your panic.

  “I have a feeling it will not get easier for you. When you turn eighteen, it’ll be even harder for you to hide your powers. The ones that have decided to be on the darken’s side will know that you are special.”

  I gave him a nod. I was on the same page. However, just being bound to someone sounded equally as scary as being hunted by the darken. Okay, well, maybe not equally, but it was definitely terrifying to think the commander would be able to read all of my emotions. I felt a blush start to creep up my cheeks.

  He cocked his head to the side and stared at me as I began to worry my lip between my teeth.

  “Just give me until tomorrow to make a decision about the whole binding thing, okay?”

  He stood slowly, and I raked my eyes over the length of him. Total perfection was what the commander was.

  I rolled my eyes. Great. I was lusting after the teacher. That was definitely not good.

  The commander let out a low laugh. “I’d love to be privy to your thoughts for a day.”

  Yeah, and he would be if we bound our souls together.