by G. Bailey
“What is the last thing you remember, Miss Lightson?” he asks, and until then, I don’t know why I didn’t remember.
The car...it crashed, and then there was nothing but darkness until the pain of the fire. I was in the damn fire?
Did they drag me out of the car and bring me here? And why would the angels do that? I suppose I’ve always been worried my powers would put me in danger one day, but I assumed it would be because of a psycho ghost and not an angel kidnapping cult.
“Riley and I were in a car. I was driving, and I’m sure we crashed into something,” I mumble, running the last few moments of the crash over and over. There was something in the road, but I wasn’t looking. It was my fault. I snap my eyes to the angel. “Wait, where is Riley? Why aren’t I in a hospital? Where are my parents?”
“Please do calm down, Miss Lightson. Mr. Riley Becker is fine, and your parents are on earth, where they should be,” he starts to explain, and I feel like the ball is about to drop right before it actually does. “Miss Lightson, your human soul and body died in the car crash on the sixteenth of August 2019. It was a tragic and predestined accident that happened to twenty people at the exact same time all over the earth, and I am sorry for your loss. Now—”
I stop him because this shit sounds unbelievable. “How could I have died if I’m right here, you know, alive?”
“I was getting to that. Please don’t interrupt until the end,” he suggests, and I frown but keep quiet. “The angel birthmark on your thigh is called an angel blessing. Any baby born with an angel blessing will die between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one in a predestined tragedy. The young adult is then reborn in holy fire, and they become an angel in training, an opportunity to become something incredible. A blessing in death, you might say.” He points a finger into the air, and I look up, lost in the beauty of the white fire for a moment again.
“Are you suggesting I was reborn in that white fire and I’m now an angel?” I ask, and then I laugh. I’m still laughing as I stand up, shaking my head. “Right, you are crazy, and I need to go home now.”
He shakes his head, a serious edge appearing in his eyes. “My name is Professor Badhur, and I am one of the many teachers here at The Angel Academy. You will learn more in the welcoming ceremony ahead of you, but there is something important I must explain to you before that.”
“Which is?”
“The holy fire saved your soul, and now you owe a debt to the light above. If you try to run away, kill another angel or break any of the rules given to you, you will be killed. This is your second chance at life, Miss Lightson, do not fail at it,” he gravely tells me. “If you pass The Angel Academy, you will be paired with another angel and given a human to watch over until their deaths. As you are now immortal, many humans will be your charges.”
I’m speechless as I stare at him for a long time, hearing the distant sound of chatter and water dripping. “You’re not lying, are you?”
“Light angels do not lie; it taints our souls, and it is the deal we made for our wings,” he tells me as he walks to the door and holds it open for me. “The next part of your angel life is yours. If you do not wish to live it, then stay in this room, and I will end your life. If you wish to fight for this chance, walk out of this door with your head held high and find your destiny.”
I stare at the door for a second, but I already know my choice.
I might not understand everything, but the only way I’m getting answers is by finding them, even if it means accepting whatever I now am. I walk to the door, and Professor Badhur bows his head at me. “Blessed be the angels.”
“Blessed be the angels,” I find myself replying before I step out of the room and into my new life.
Chapter 3
The cold from the stone under my feet makes me hyperaware of everything as I walk down the dimly lit corridor towards the warm yellow light at the other end. I can hear whispered voices somewhere nearby, I can smell blood and sweat, like it sticks to the walls, and I feel a tiny amount of damp that itches my nose. I shiver as I get closer to the end of the corridor, where there is a frosted glass door, making it impossible to see anything but warm yellow light on the other side. The door has a silver handle, and the light coming from behind it flickers every now and then like a fire would. I look back down the corridor, seeing that I’m completely alone and the professor never followed me out.
God, I’m scared.
I calm my shaky hands as I turn the handle of the door and pull it open, feeling a blast of heat across all of my skin, followed by the hushed whispers. Two hooded angels stand right in front of the door, both wearing white cloaks with long hoods that hide their faces. The only difference is their wings. One of them has white wings, much like Professor Badhur, and the other has pitch black wings that remind me of a starless night sky. At the same time, they step aside and stretch their hands out in front of them, and only then do I realise the massive room I’ve just walked into. It’s a dome made out of stained glass with a stone floor and seating all around the edges, making the room look like an arena.
The seats are filled to the brim with angels, and there is a clear divide between each of the sections. Angels with white wings all sit in one part, and then there is a row of empty seats before the section of people that look like normal people with no wings. Then another gap before angels with black wings sit all together. There must be a thousand people in the room, and all their eyes are on me as I walk down past the seats and into the clearing in the centre. There are twenty people sat on chairs, and right at the back, there is one empty seat. Every single one of the twenty people look as young as I do as they all stare, and I look between each one of them before I see the one familiar pair of eyes I didn’t know I was looking for.
“Riley.” I whisper his name like a prayer, relief filling my steps as I go to the remaining chair next to him and sit down. Riley wordlessly stares at me, and then he smiles in relief, and I let out the breath I was holding in. I smile back, not knowing what else to do as the two angels who walked me in move to stand in front of the group, and they slowly take down their hoods. Riley’s little finger hooks in mine, comforting me when we both know we need to be quiet.
Whatever is going on, we will fix it together. It’s what best friends do.
“My name is Professor Louton, and welcome to The Angel Academy,” the angel with black wings comments. She is young with bright blonde hair, a long nose and a very serious expression. Her purple eyes look like they might have been bright once, but now darkness tints them, matching the rest of her. The other angel looks a lot older with long grey hair and expressionless features. He simply just stands there, looking at something above our heads and ignoring the world. “I am a dark angel, and Master Gabriel at my side is a light angel. Your first year at Angel Academy is designed to test your nature and for you to find an answer to the most important question in your life now.”
“The choice between light and dark. You must choose which wings and which side of your new soul you wish to fully take,” Master Gabriel follows up, his words echoing around the room.
“More will become apparent as the year carries on, and at the end, you will choose a side. You will each try to spend three years at The Angel Academy, learning what you need to become a Guardian Angel to an important human being,” Professor Louton continues and clears her throat.
“What happens if you don’t want to do this? What happens if you fail at something?” I ask into the brief silence, and it goes so quiet in the room that I wonder if I should have kept my mouth shut.
“You die, lass,” Master Gabriel answers me, none too kindly at all.
“If you successfully finish The Angel Academy, you will have a brilliant life and find your place in the world of the angels. Welcome to Neamh, the home of the angels, and blessed be the angels,” Professor Louton says, and every angel in the room repeats her parting words as I look towards Riley.
“What the frigging hell do we do next?” I wh
isper. “This is some messed up cult shit. We need to escape.”
“No clue, Katy, but it isn’t a cult. Okay, maybe it is, but doesn’t being an angel sound pretty cool?” he asks, and I look away. No, it doesn’t because I didn’t choose this.
And I don’t like the sound of the price we are going to pay to the light above. Whatever the heck that is.
“All new students, please make a line and follow after me, and the students finishing their year one must stay behind to make their choice. Master Gabriel will be guiding you, and blessed be the angels no matter which side you pick,” Professor Louton states, and nearly every student gets up right away, including Riley. I only get up when he pulls on my arm, and we get into the line that follows Professor Louton back into the corridor we came from. There is laughter from the other angels in the room, and I follow the sound to clash my gaze with a pair of golden flame-filled eyes, just before I head into the corridor and out of sight.
Tugging Riley’s arm towards me, I whisper, “Where do you think they are taking us?”
“Nowhere good, that I’m sure of. I’m Vesnia Burns,” a girl right behind me answers for Riley, and I look back, seeing her curly red hair that reminds me of my own hair, except that it is as red as blood. Her eyes are nearly black but with tints of brown, and her pale-skinned face is covered in freckles.
“I actually agree with you. I’m Kaitlyn Lightson, and this is my best friend, Riley Becker,” I reply.
“You’re lucky you came in here with someone,” she answers, her eyes nervously looking around.
“I don’t think any of us are lucky,” I whisper back as cold air blows around my cloak, and we get to the end of the corridor, where nothing but a cliff edge and the brisk night sky greet us.
“Stand in a line by the edge. Be careful,” Professor Louton demands, and reluctantly I do as she asks, standing between Riley and Vesnia. The cold is brutal as my bare feet dig into the flat stone below me.
“Do you see creatures flying below you?” Professor Louton asks. I lean over the edge just a little bit as everyone else does, and I’m shocked silent by the sight in front of us. In the night sky, hundreds of horses of many different colours fly around the clouds, disappearing in and out of them. I can’t see the ground, and it makes me wonder exactly how high up we are. “These are flying horses, and they are gifts for new angels. They will be your familiars, yours to look after and trust in. Now catch one.”
“What do you mean—” Vesnia asks just as something hard slams into my back, and I scream as I fall off the edge of the cliff.
Chapter 4
The arctic air bites and scrapes against my skin, filling my lungs like I just swallowed a jug of ice water, and every part of my body freezes in pure shock. My tears disappear in the wind as I rapidly fall, spinning around in circles until I stretch my arms and legs out, hoping to stop it. I force my eyes open, looking down to see the horses below me and how they are flying around, and some are super close. Underneath them are tall mountains, again all filled with flying horses that fly around them. A nearby scream reaches my ears, and I look to my left to see Riley and five other students rapidly falling. I try to move my body towards him, but a gush of wind sends me spiralling to the right and losing sight of Riley altogether. I gasp as I fall right past a horse who moves to dodge me, and I try to breathe and think.
They wouldn’t just want to kill us.
This has to be a test...and what could they want? I look back up at the horse I just passed, Professor Louton’s words drifting back to me.
“These are flying horses, and they are gifts for new angels. They will be your familiars, yours to look after and trust in. Now catch one.”
Catch one? How the frigging heck am I meant to do that? I look down, seeing two brown horses right under me, and I mentally try to steel myself for landing on one of them. Inches before I reach my hands out for the horse’s mane, the horse flies away, leaving me tumbling down in the air. I scream, spinning around and taking a few precious seconds to flatten myself again against the air and look for another horse. I glance at the mountains below me and see a horse right on the tip of the highest mountain, its white fur shining, reflecting the moonlight.
Perfect.
It’s already still and landed, which should make this easier if I can just get near enough. Flattening my hands on my body, just like I’ve seen in action movies, I direct my body towards the tip of the high mountain and right towards the horse. As I get closer, it turns its gaze and looks up at me. The horse’s white wings spread out as we lock gazes, and I beg whoever is listening that this horse doesn’t move. My heart feels like it is in my stomach as I get so close, knowing this is going to hurt as I land. I’m inches away from the horse when the horse moves it wings and takes off. Tears sting my eyes as I see the snow below me, knowing there is no way I’m going to survive this.
I’m sorry, mum and dad.
I’m sorry, Riley, you’re on your own.
I’m—
My thoughts are cut off as suddenly the horse is below me, and I land on its back with a thud, smacking my head against its back hard enough to make me dizzy. I lock my hands onto the horse’s mane as I sit up, the world looking fuzzy as we literally fly on top of it.
“Hello, you saved me,” I whisper to my horse in pure relief. A smile fills my lips as I glance around, seeing Riley on a brown horse, flying right towards me. In the distance, I see Vesnia on a black horse with a long grey mane, and she waves at me.
A long whistle sounds in the distance, and my horse takes off, flying in the same direction as all the others with riders. I look back once, my smile dropping from my lips as I see two students’ bodies on the mountain, snowflakes falling on their lifeless bodies as blood spreads around them in the white snow.
What kind of academy is this?
The horses fly up for a long time through the clouds, and I keep my eyes high until we break out of the clouds and into the night sky, and there’s a castle floating in the middle of it. The castle sits on a floating rock, and around the castle looks like a jungle full of thick trees of all different colours. There are a few small houses around it and beautiful gardens in between them. The castle itself is stunning, like straight out of a Disney movie stunning. The castle has what must be dozens of white spired towers and bridges connecting all of the castle to the main part in the middle. When I look up expecting to see the moon, instead, it’s a floating orb of intense light, with angels in a line like a barrier all the way around it. The orb is shining the same light that the moon would give off, but I doubt we are on earth anymore. It certainly doesn’t feel like it. I stare longer at the orb, and I soon realise the angels around it aren’t real, they are made of stone.
I get a strange urge to fly up and touch them, but another loud whistle gets our horses’ attention. My eyes just briefly meet Riley’s before the horses are swooping down, taking all the air from my lungs at the same time. I hold on as tightly as I can, fearing I’m going to fall off any second, and when I open my eyes, I see we are flying around the castle and getting lower each time. The other horses form a line behind me, and my horse is the first to land right in front of an angel with a whistle in her mouth, which she drops and smiles at me.
“Welcome, new students! I am Professor Nina, and I will be teaching you everything there is to know about your new horse familiar. For now, please come and collect a whistle necklace and secure your bond as I’m sure none of you want to be pushed off a cliff again!” She laughs as she speaks, like it’s funny.
It’s frigging not.
My horse seems to understand and walks forward before lowering down so I can slide off easily, the horse’s wings brushing against my cheek.
“Congratulations, Miss Lightson. This horse is almost legendary among us angels. No one has ever been able to catch her, and she has been around almost as long as Master Gabriel,” Professor Nina comments, smiling at me, but something darker twinkles in her eyes. My aunt used to tell me just because
something looks like sugar doesn’t mean it’s not salt. “Now press your hand onto your horse’s head and learn her name.” I nod and lift my hand, placing it on the side of the horse’s head. Suddenly an ear-splitting voice speaks into my mind, and a warm feeling travels around my chest.
Ayda.
“Her name is Ayda,” I whisper, lowering my hand and seeing an angel blessing mark on her fur, and it glows a white colour.
“A lovely name. Now here is your whistle, and you may ask Ayda to go and rest while I work with the other students,” she tells me and walks away.
“Thank you for catching me, Ayda. I guess I owe you a favour, because what kind of angel can’t catch herself?”
Ayda neighs at me before running off, stretching her long white wings into the air and taking off into the sky. I slip the silver chain around my neck, letting the thin, silver, star-shaped whistle hang on my chest as I look up at the castle, which is meant to be my new home.
Welcome to The Angel Academy.
Chapter 5
Twiddling with the whistle necklace, I stare up at the tall towers of The Angel Academy as we follow Professor Nina inside. The doors are made of pure clouded glass, and the warmth of the inside makes my cheeks burn as I stare around. The room is a giant square with at least six dark wood staircases disappearing up and down to other floors. The walls are littered with paintings, hundreds of them, and in every single painting there is an angel.
Self-absorbed much?
The floor below our feet is shiny, glossy wood that creaks with every step we take through this large space. We all stop right in the middle of the room, and Riley stays close to my side.
“One second, we are just waiting on someone,” Professor Nina explains from the staircase she stands in the middle of.