Wide Awake - Academy of the Fallen Series

by Daniele Lanzarotta

  Chase faced him. “Yes, that is the only way to bring her back. You will need their help. That is where she needs to be anyway. As much as I hate that place, that is where YOU need to be, Hunter.”

  Hunter looked down… looking lost. “Tell her what she needs to know… ONLY what she needs to know.”

  “I guess that is up for interpretation, so just tell her yourself… she can hear you just fine.”

  “Where exactly is she?” asked Hunter.

  “Right next to me.” Chase said, looking to his right.

  Hunter hesitated. “Kayla, your dad, he can help me get you in the place where you can be healed.”

  “What place would that be?” I asked, followed by Chase repeating my question.

  “The Academy,” he said.

  “Okaaay,” I said confused. “The Academy you told me about? How is my—how is he of any help?”

  Hunter froze.

  “Dude, just tell her,” said Chase.

  Hunter shook his head. Looked at Chase. “You know, the condition for me leaving me Academy… he asked me to keep an eye on her. He saved me and I failed him.”

  I was completely lost.

  Hunter looked from Chase to where I stood, almost as if he knew exactly where I was. “Just answer her question,” he told Chase.

  Chase met my gaze. “They refer to it as Academy of the Fallen, and you dad, well… he runs the place.”

  “Huh?”

  My phone rang, scaring us all, Chase included. Something like that, scaring a ghost, would have been amusing if we weren’t in this situation.

  The phone had fallen from my pocket and it was lying on the floor. “It is her dad, Hunter said. Feeling the need to clarify, he continued, “Mr. Gallagher.”

  Chase shook his head. “Look, we have to get moving. We need to get her body out of here, find a car, and get to the Academy… I’m thinking right now the biggest problem is going to be getting her out of here without anyone seeing her.”

  Hunter sighed. “This is not going to go well at all!”

  I honestly didn’t think it could get any worse. I was scared and confused. I had a million questions and I just wanted my mom and dad… Kelly and Andrew that is…

  Hunter stood up, cradling me in his arms.

  He looked at Chase. “There is just no way to get her there without anyone seeing me carrying her.”

  “Well, sounds like you have two options. You can call one of ‘them’ to help her or you can use the abilities you have and project that to her. I know you have done it before. You can do it again.”

  That was when we heard the footsteps, but it was too late.

  A doctor and a nurse showed up and immediately rushed to where Hunter was… still holding my motionless body.

  “What happened?!” The nurse asked Hunter. The doctor had already taken me from his arms and was walking down the stairs with us following him. None of us was sure what to do.

  “She just … fell down the stairs. When I got to her, she was unconscious,” Hunter said, his voice trembling.

  “How long has she been like this?” asked the nurse.

  “I—I’m not sure,” said Hunter.

  “What is her name? Were you visiting someone in the hospital? The both of you shouldn’t even be up here.”

  Hunter avoided her gaze. “I’--I’m sorry. Her name is Kayla Gallagher… her mom is here, she just had a baby.”

  The doctor rushed me to the first available examining room, requesting the nurse to find Andrew, and ordering her to take Hunter out of the room and to make sure he did not go anywhere until they had some questions answered.

  The only problem was… as soon as Hunter was sent away; I started to be pulled back into the Otherworld.

  HUNTER

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  “She is gone, dude,” those were Chase’s words as soon as they were kicked out of that room.

  Hunter tried to go back. He wanted to see if they could get Kayla back and somehow keep her there, but the nurse kept pushing him out. So it turned out, security was already on their way, along with Andrew.

  Andrew looked as frantic as Hunter was, yet, he wasn’t mad. He told the security to back off and as calm as he could possibly be in a situation like that, he asked Hunter what had happened.

  Hunter told him exactly what he had told the nurse and doctor, that Kayla fell and was unconscious when he got to her.

  “Mr. Gallagher, please let me go in and see her. Just for a minute.”

  Andrew looked as if he was considering it, but the Doctor came out at that moment, ordering MRI’s and a bunch of other tests, and requested to talk to Mr. Gallagher in private.

  While the doctor took Andrew to his office, the nurse went to get things ready for the tests, getting another nurse to move Kayla to the test area. The nurse, who looked as if she had just graduated, walked by Hunter and whispered, “Come on. I don’t think I will last here another day anyway. You can see her, but just for a second.”

  Hunter looked at her, puzzled, but only for a split second before he was already in Kayla’s room, right by her side.

  The nurse was in the room too, so he lowered himself by Kayla’s bedside, putting his hand over hers and whispered, “Kayla, please come back. You have to fight it.”

  Hunter looked up at Chase who was also in the room, but he just shook his head.

  The nurse walked near the bed. “Sorry kid, I really do have to take her now and you need to go before I get into even more trouble than I’m already in.”

  Hunter nodded. “Thanks for doing this,” he told the nurse.

  “No problem.” The nurse paused. “You know, it must be nice to have found someone you love.”

  “I don’t -- She is just a friend.”

  “Oh,” the nurse said, looking embarrassed for saying it, but mostly like she didn’t believe what Hunter was saying. “Okay. Like I said, you are welcome, but you really need to go.”

  Chase followed Hunter into the waiting area, but said nothing. He just looked as if he was deep in thought. Hunter sat down, and just wondered how in the world he was going to manage to take Kayla out of there and get her to the academy.

  Chase looked at Hunter. “Sorry dude, I don’t think you will be able to get her out of here without help. Just go to the Academy and get help.”

  Hunter just stared at him. He couldn’t exactly respond to Chase, not where there were people watching him. He just shook his head, then got up and walked into the bathroom, giving Chase a look that indicated he should follow.

  As soon as the door was locked, Hunter turned to Chase and in a low and determined voice he said he would not leave Kayla alone at the hospital.

  “So, you do love her?” Chase said.

  Hunter glared at him. “We don’t have time for nonsense. I was supposed to be watching her, keeping ‘them’ away from her. That was the only thing her dad asked me to do after he basically saved me, after teaching me everything I needed to know… one little thing and I was not able to do it. I wasn’t even sure what Benjamin was at first…what kind of demon he was… I suspected, but I wasn’t sure. I should have known.”

  “It is not exactly your fault. You may know a lot, but you are not exactly an expert on those things. Besides, how could you have known their little family secrets?”

  “What do you mean?” asked Hunter.

  Chase sighed. “Benjamin is Kayla’s half brother. Before Mr. Daniels and her mother met, her mother was pregnant with the son of a demon.”

  Hunter was speechless at first.

  “I can’t leave her, Chase. What if they move her somewhere else? We don’t even know what the doctor will say, what if Benjamin wasn’t the cause--?”

  “We both know he was the cause. Look, I can’t exactly go back to the Academy, we both know that. You go and if they move her, I will follow. I will find a way to contact you if anything changes.”

  Hunter punched the mirror out of frustration. “The Academy is the last place I want to be�
� that is the last place where she should be.”

  “Well, you can always send a message to the Academy...”

  Hunter shook his head. “No, it has to me, she is my responsibility. Besides, if she goes, I go.”

  “Well, then, I guess you better hurry up before they hold you up for more questions.”

  Hunter hesitated.

  “I will watch out for her, you know I will.”

  Hunter gave Chase a nod, and then vanished.

  TWENTY-NINE

  If anyone asked Hunter where the Academy was, he wouldn’t be able to tell… no one would. All he knew, was that the Academy was surrounded by mountains, and there were only a few places where he could go to in order to be sent to the Academy, and the closest place to him was an abandoned church in town.

  As far as he knew, the hidden door in the church’s basement only allowed two types of beings to get past it, the fallen and the haunted… that was what he had been told. Hunter wasn’t exactly either one of those, but he had heard of other beings entering it. Chase had been one of them. He hoped he would be able to get through, but even he wasn’t completely sure at first.

  As the door opened, he stepped into the field that led to the entrance of the Academy. The Academy was isolated from the rest of the world, from everything normal; but what scared him the most was that once those gates closed, there was only one way that he was getting out of there, with approval. After messing up so badly in keeping Benjamin away from Kayla, he knew that approval was not going to happen.

  Hunter hesitated before even touching the gate. Surely, Kayla’s dad would go and get her out of the hospital so that she could be healed, but he wanted to be the one to help getting her to the Academy. For one reason, he didn’t trust the Fallen. Never had and never would… After all, every single one of them had somehow messed up… badly. And that opportunity for a second chance that the Academy offered, was nothing but an experiment; an experiment that they tested on people like Hunter; even if Hunter was a little different than the others.

  “There is no other way,” he told himself.

  The gate opened at his touch, and as soon as he took a few steps forward, just enough for the gate to close… it did, and just the sound of it locking gave him chills.

  Hunter approached the first door, where the same exact being as the first time welcomed him. Ember was one of Pharzuph’s students, the fallen angel of lust.

  Ember looked exactly the same, wearing a short black dress, black tights, and combat boots. Her long blonde hair was now accented with red highlights. She also sounded just like she had before… like she had yet to learn her lesson.

  “Hey sexy! Missed me? I knew you would be back eventually.”

  Hunter ignored her and kept on walking in the direction of Mr. Daniels’ office. Ember followed him, mostly just checking him out, but only until she got distracted by Ethan.

  Ethan was new at the Academy, and to Ember, new was exciting. Ethan was one of Forcas’ students; Forcas, also a fallen angel, was a professor of ethics.

  As Hunter walked by, everyone just stared at him in shock. Most of the haunted were never allowed to leave, not without the company of one of the Fallen to watch over them. For that reason, none of the Fallen, well, except for Ember… none of them could stand him.

  Once in the office building, no matter who tried to stop Hunter, they couldn’t. He ran straight into Mr. Daniels’ office.

  Daniels was looking out of the window. “Quite a commotion you were causing, Mr. Chambers.”

  He then turned around. “What happened?”

  Hunter was exhausted and very irritated. “What happened is that I was never told Kayla’s brother is a demon. Is that why you sent me instead of one of them?” he asked referring to the fallen. “It was not to attract his attention, wasn’t it?” Well, thanks to that, Kayla is now hurt. She needs help. A LOT of help.”

  Daniels looked away. “I don’t understand how he found her. I did everything to keep her away from this world.”

  “Really?!” Asked Hunter. “You should be asking what he did? What happened to Kayla? Where she is? Not waste time wondering about things that you cannot change.”

  Daniels looked startled and confused. Realizing for the first time how much Hunter had changed. In any other circumstance, Daniels would have punished Hunter for addressing him like that, but the truth was, he felt guilty; guilty because he didn’t ask the right questions; guilty because he felt as if he no longer knew how to be a parent.

  “What has he done to my daughter?” He finally asked.

  Hunter described everything, including Kayla’s presence after the incident. Daniels wasn’t happy to hear that Chase was involved, but he didn’t say anything.

  “We need to bring her to the Academy,” Daniels finally said. “As much as I tried to shield her from everything, there is just no other way.”

  “Good, then let’s go.”

  “Hunter, you know this will be easier if I send the others.”

  Hunter was furious, and afraid for Kayla. He just knew that would happen.

  Daniels saw the concern in Hunter’s expression; concern that led him to believe that Hunter needed to stay at the Academy or he would get in the way.”

  He tried to reason with Hunter; not that he felt like he had to.

  “I know you don’t trust them Hunter, but I will be going as well.”

  Hunter nodded; knowing that was better than the alternative.

  “Do you mind if I ask who you are taking with you, Mr. Daniels?”

  “That will be decided soon. I’m not sure yet, but I know that I want to waste no time in leaving.”

  Daniels urgency in getting Kayla there gave Hunter some sense of relief.

  Daniels dismissed Hunter, who met his gaze.

  “Well, since I’m not leaving, where should I stay?”

  “You can go back to your old room. You will have a roommate now… Ethan Campbell.”

  “Sir, with all due respect, I’m not sharing a room with one of them.”

  “Hunter, Ethan is new here, give him a chance. Besides, as concerned as you seem to be about my daughter, I don’t think my time should be wasted in worrying about finding you another roommate.”

  Hunter froze in place, feeling weak and guilty for even worrying about that at all. He then turned around and walked to the door, looking back at Daniels before he opened it.

  “Mr. Daniels?”

  “Yes, Hunter?”

  “Would you please let me know when she is here? … And whatever you do, you should probably worry about how to get her away without worrying her mom and dad… I mean… Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher. Kayla would hate me for that.”

  Daniels hesitated for a second. “Sure.”

  “Thank you.” Hunter said, before he turned around and left.

  THIRTY

  Hunter’s room was just as he left it. It was a plain room, with two beds, two dressers, a desk, chair, and a bookshelf. Really, the Academy could be compared to a prison… No computers, no cell phones, the walls were bare, all rooms exactly the same.

  His roommate wasn’t there, and Hunter was glad for that.

  He didn’t have any of his belongings, but the Academy had arranged for new items to be taken to his room while he talked to Daniels. Of course, they already knew that he would be staying.

  In the dresser on his side of the room, he found clothes, mostly jeans, plain white and black T-shirts, and other essential items.

  At the sound of someone coming, Hunter quickly laid down on the bed and closed his eyes, pretending that he was sleeping… The last thing he wanted was to talk to anyone.

  It was Ethan. “Great! Company is all I need,” Hunter heard him mumble.

  Hunter surprised himself with the urge to respond; he just couldn’t help himself, ‘Trust me, this is the last place I want to be.”

  “Well, it certainly sounds like you walked in here out of your own free will.”

  Hunter sat up then. “I guess
nothing has changed. I’m not sure for how long you have been here, but however long, you should already know how fast rumors get around.”

  “So, why did you come back?” Ethan asked.

  Hunter shrugged. “That, I can’t talk about.”

  Ethan glared at him. “Well, I guess some of the rumors are not rumors after all.”