by Dante King
I climbed down from the bench, my legs trembling slightly. Raquelle seemed so damned certain of herself that it set off alarm bells inside my brain.
“How’d you know which woman was the child’s mother?” I asked. Maybe in her smugness, she’d let slip some clue that would let me judge the second round more fairly. “What tipped you off?”
With an acid smile, Raquelle leaned in like she was going to kiss me. The nearness of her body made me painfully aware of how short and slender she was compared to my muscular body—and how I could exploit that in the bedroom. God, she’d be like a toy in my arms!
“If you really want to know,” Raquelle purred, licking her lips, “all you have to do is ask me nicely. And admit to all these folks that you don’t know jack shit about Justice, Demon Boy.”
I might have accepted her first request. But the second? No way.
“We’ll see how you do in the second round,” I told her, stepping away to give her room to approach the bench. “Good luck.”
The atmosphere in the room shifted. People leaned forward in their seats, even as the looks of resignation in their faces deepened. Whatever was supposed to happen in the second round to make it so much harder, apparently people couldn’t wait to see it.
I thought I was ready for anything. But what happened next surprised the hell out of me.
As Raquelle settled into her seat, the light shimmered across the courtroom—and five ghostly women appeared.
My eyes widened like saucers as all five of them approached the bench, jostling and fighting to be the first to speak to Raquelle. Another baby blinked to life on the edge of the bench, nearly forgotten in the rush of female bodies jockeying for space.
“Five women!?” I gasped. “How could five women fight over the same baby?”
“It’s less about the principle of the thing,” Judyth said gravely behind me, “and more about making sure there’s a clear winner.”
As I watched, Raquelle pulled each woman to the bench and spoke with them in low tones. There was none of the weeping and rending of garments involved with the first round—each spirit seemed almost comically determined to keep the audience from hearing a single word of the deliberations. This went on for ten minutes or so, Raquelle asking each of the women a few questions and getting nods or a shake of the head in return.
Finally, the redhead settled back in the judge’s seat with a happy sigh. “I have decided,” she said, pointing at a woman near the back of the pack with two blonde pigtails. “This woman is the child’s true mother. They may be reunited.”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Each of the other four spirits dissipated like a fading rainstorm as the blonde grasped the child, sobbing and thanking Raquelle. The redhead yawned as the spirit babbled her thanks, as if this whole exercise bored her. Raquelle made all this look easy. She’d never lost.
Now I understood why. The second round added more chances to fail, and Raquelle never guessed wrong.
The redhead stepped down from the bench, the smug smile back on her face and stronger than ever. “Beat that,” she said, taking a seat behind the plaintiff’s desk as she prepared to watch me lose.
The eyes of everyone in the court were on me. One round remained—the best I could possibly do was tie the prodigy of the Justice School. I had a one in five chance of doing that, and four women trying to deceive me with lies.
I need a little magic, I thought, swallowing as I made my way to the judge’s seat. Okay, angel powers, we can do this…
As soon as I sat down, five spirits blazed to life, just like with Raquelle. Unlike Raquelle, however, the five women in their Roman tunics refused to wait their turn—they rushed the bench, grabbing at the baby that had just materialized in front of me like they wanted to rip it to pieces. I had to hold the baby and pull it to my chest to keep it from their clutches, which caused it to start screaming and whining. The noise made it hard to think.
I caught a glimpse of Raquelle’s smug smile from the other side of the courtroom. She knew she’d won—I’d never be able to tame these five women enough to get their stories, much less choose the one who was supposed to be the baby’s actual mother. I was about to be humiliated in front of the entire court.
Wincing, I caught and held Maddie’s gaze. Her face was filled with sympathy, even as I made an ass of myself in the first School she’d shown genuine interest in. Suddenly, I realized I couldn’t do this while I was holding a baby, and I needed her help.
“Maddie!” I said, too loudly. The squabbling women in front of me all fell silent. “Uh, Madeline. Could you approach the bench, please?”
All heads turned to Maddie as she made her way up, but my girlfriend barely even noticed. She came to the bench and extended her arms, reaching for the child. “You need me to hold that, babe?” she asked, her eyes shining with maternal instinct.
Oh shit. Am I implying I want Maddie to have my babies? I could worry about that later.
“Thanks,” I said, handing her the infant. “You look cute.”
“Shhh,” she said, putting a finger to her lips. Then she turned her attention to the child, rocking it in her arms. “That’s okay, little guy. I’ve got you now…”
The spectacle was almost enough to distract the crowd from the contest at hand. Almost.
Raquelle broke away first, turning her gaze back on me. She leaned against her desk, pressing the advantage she knew she’d won over me. “Go on,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “Investigate! Figure out which woman is the baby’s mother! Unless you want to do things the old school way!”
As if by magic, a sword materialized in the air in front of Raquelle.
“But if your version of ‘Justice’ leads you to murder a child, Luke, then it’s no justice at all,” the redhead stated. “I think you’ve lost the right to criticize the followers of the Justice School, haven’t you? Maybe you should apologize now in front of your peers and get it over with…”
A film covered my vision. The world flashed red as I reached unconsciously for my demonic powers, the wings buried in my back screaming to be free. But the only thing worse than looking like an idiot in front of all these people would be transforming into a demon. That would prove that I wasn’t one of them—that I had no right to be here at the Celestial Academy. If I did that, I might as well expel myself, too.
Instead, I stared at Maddie. She looked so good holding that baby—like goodness and light itself. Suddenly, the idea of making a family with her didn’t seem so bad at all. Hell, it sounded good. Right. Like the way things were supposed to be…
I didn’t notice the wave of white in my vision until it had already taken hold. That tingly feeling spread through my body, and angelic wings rippled from my shoulders. Gasps of shock echoed through the crowd as my new powers took hold.
Yet Raquelle didn’t budge. Her smug expression refused to fade; even in the sight of my Celestial might, she seemed certain I would lose.
Why?
I needed to find the answer. And so I did the only thing I could: I reached into the heart of the spirit next to me, searching for its true nature.
And the next. And the next.
I discovered the problem almost immediately. Walls of some strange power corroded the hearts of these spirits, occluding them from view. It was like trying to peer through a brick wall—yet my new angelic power sliced through the bonds like a hot knife through butter. I saw the truth of each spirit’s heart, their real motives for being in the courtroom that afternoon.
I saw the lie.
And I saw my answer.
“Raquelle,” I said, forcing the tide of angelic power back down.
The redhead straightened, startled for a brief moment. Then the shutters came back down, and her bratty manner reasserted itself. “What’s wrong, Demon Boy? Giving up already? Come on, one of them’s got to be the answer—”
“I’m impressed,” I said simply. “How’d you manage to rig Solomon’s Judgement without the Headmistres
s knowing?”
You could have heard a pin drop in the courtroom. Shock dawned on Judyth’s face as she realized the import of my words.
“What are you talking about?” Raquelle said, cocking an eyebrow. “You can’t win the game, so you accuse the ref of cheating? God, you really are pathetic—”
“I’ve decided,” I said, standing up from the chair abruptly. Now the entire courtroom shared Judyth’s shock. “Whatever you are up there who’s judging all this, here’s my answer. None of these women are the baby’s mother. All of them are plants put here by Raquelle, so that she never loses a round of Solomon’s Judgement. I have spoken.”
This time, there was no joyous moment of reunion between mother and child. The five spirits simply winked out like a candle’s flame before a strong wind, leaving Maddie holding nothing but air as the baby disappeared in the same moment. A single beam of light descended from the ceiling of the courtroom, illuminating the space just in front of the bench.
Every single angel’s heart skipped a beat as the deep voice cleared its throat and spoke:
“Correct.”
The courtroom erupted in a furor. Angry voices rang out as angels stood up, yelling about how they’d been tricked. Judyth had to quickly turn away from the confrontation she wanted to have with Raquelle to calm the crowd down, waving her hands like a semaphore operator trying to guide a wayward plane down to the runway.
I let the chaos go on for a few moments longer, not budging from the judge’s box. Then I reached out and sent a wave of light thrumming through the court.
“Silence!” I roared, like the lion of Heaven himself.
The courtroom fell silent. Raquelle couldn’t even look at me—she stared at a point between her feet, her eyes wide with utter disbelief.
“Luke,” Judyth said into the sudden silence. “I cannot believe this!”
I held up a hand. “Raquelle,” I said, unable to keep a bit of smugness from my tone after everything I’d been through. “Approach the bench, please.”
To her credit, she did so. Though her hands were balled into fists and she couldn’t stop shaking, Raquelle marshalled her courage and stood before me. Maybe the Fortitude School is more her speed, I thought, chuckling at my own humor.
I looked her up and down for a few seconds, savoring my unlikely victory. We might have only tied in Solomon’s Judgement, but there was no doubt in the minds of anyone within the courtroom who the winner was.
“You’re wasted up here,” I finally said, leaning down with a smile. “With finesse like that, you’d fit right in at the Infernal Academy, Raquelle.”
A single tear rolled down the redhead’s cheek. “Do not mock me,” she said, finally raising her head to meet my eye. “You abomination!”
“Look who’s talking,” I shot back, completely unfazed. I’d been called worse—by better. “I really do want an answer, by the way—how’d you rig the game without anyone figuring it out? You bribe the spirits, maybe? Lord only knows what you had to give them to keep their mouths shut…”
“Not the women,” Raquelle said. Now that she’d been found out, her voice was curiously bereft of emotion. “Do you have any idea how many spirits I’d have to juggle to do that? And there’d always be the risk of one of them opening their stupid mouths and blabbing to the wrong angel.”
I understood immediately. “The baby, then,” I said, the grift finally clicking.
The ghost of a smile flickered across Raquelle’s face. “One of the spirits thinks she’s the baby’s mother, but I switch the spirit right before they materialize. Before the mother can think to protest, she’s already back on the other side. Even if she wanted to tattle to someone, it’s not like you can get a message back to the Celestial Academy from there.”
“So you’ve been doing this for a while,” I said, watching her nod. “There’s something I’m curious about, Raquelle. Don’t bother lying to me—I think we both know there’s no point now.”
Raquelle sniffed hugely. “You’ve humiliated me in front of the entire Celestial Academy. I’m the laughing stock of all angelkind. I’m going to get expelled for this.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” I said. Judyth, who’d been in the middle of approaching Raquelle to drag her out of the courtroom, stopped mid-stride and gave me the most shocked look I’d ever seen. “After all, we’re still in court, right? I’m still the judge?”
“Technically,” Raquelle muttered.
“Technically correct is the only kind of correct you people recognize,” I said, getting into my role a bit now. I felt loose and free, having evaded Raquelle’s trap. “What I want to know is this. You rigged the game so that other angels would lose. Did you also rig it so that you would always win?”
It was a subtle distinction. If Raquelle also bombed the second round, she’d have tied any other member of the student body. But considering how easily the girl passed both rounds, I figured it was more likely she was the real deal.
Raquelle shook her head. “No, never. And that’s the Almighty’s truth, I swear it.”
I nodded. “Those were some wicked wards protecting the hearts of those spirits. You cook those up yourself?”
Now that she’d admitted the worst of it in open court, Raquelle seemed almost eager to give me all the details. “Yes. I knew that nobody else in this School would be able to pierce them. And if they did, well—the game was rigged from the start, right? I’d always be number one, no matter what.”
“No matter what,” I agreed. “You’re young, aren’t you, Raquelle?”
Her expression hardened. “What’s that got to do with it?”
I shrugged. “Only that people probably looked at you sideways when you first started attending the Celestial Academy. Maybe some of the angels didn’t think someone so inexperienced could ever earn her halo and her wings. They might have even called you an abomination or something vile like that behind your back.”
The irony wasn’t lost on Raquelle. Her cheeks burned with shame. “Something like that.”
“So I understand where you’re coming from,” I told her. “But you shouldn’t have fucked with me. You pushed your luck when you started shit with an heir of Lucifer—and you knew it. You wanted to humiliate me, and look at you now.”
Raquelle began to cry. Honestly, I lost a bit of respect for her in that moment. I know, it’s supposed to make me a jerk to be upset by the sight of a woman crying. I’d seen plenty, and I’d never gotten angry at it before. It was the hypocrisy of the whole thing—if I’d broken down in tears after losing, Raquelle would have shown no mercy toward me.
Why do it to her? Why not let Judyth expel the little brat?
Two reasons. One; she really did have truth-sensing power like no other angel in this school.
And two: she was really, really hot.
“I’ve made my decision,” I said, stepping down from the bench. “I’m definitely not cut out for the Justice School. And as for you, Raquelle—”
“I’ll handle the discipline here,” Judyth snapped, cutting me off. Her attempt to reassert control of the situation was so shameless it was almost funny. “You’ve done more than enough, Luke. Exposing cheating in the student body is a laudable act—to think, one of our most promising students was rigging logic and justice games in her favor to take the top spot among the student body…”
“Forgive me,” I said, not wanting this to hurt Judyth. “But I’m still in charge here. And as I’m the one she wronged—I get to be the one to pass judgement.”
The Headmistress looked like she wanted to argue the point. But just then, with the kind of timing that could only have come straight from the Almighty, a beam of that golden light gleamed down from the ceiling.
“Correct,” the deep voice said. I swore this time it sounded like it was trying not to laugh.
“Exactly,” I said, peering down at Raquelle. The defeated redhead had lost the ability to look at me: she stood there like a penitent awaiting the headsman’s a
xe. “So, for cheating, crimes against your student body, and general behavior completely unbecoming the conduct of an angel, I hereby sentence you to…”
The crowd froze. Was I pronouncing a sentence of expulsion? Of death? Either seemed likely.
Raquelle tensed up, her body shaking like a leaf. Next to her, Judyth looked like she wanted to throw up.
Only Maddie remained calm. She caught my eye and grinned—I think she’d already figured out what I was going to do. Like I said, she and I were on the same wavelength like nobody’s business.
“...Dual Enrollment,” I finished with a flourish.
Raquelle glanced up with one eye open, like she’d expected a dagger through the chest. Then horror filled her features. “What!?”
“Like I said,” I told her, grinning from ear to ear. “You’re wasted up here, girl. With instincts like those, you ought to be attending the Infernal Academy. You’d be running the place within a week.”
Before Raquelle could react, Judyth pushed the girl aside. “Luke, you cannot do that,” the Headmistress said firmly. “No one is allowed to attend both Academies—you only received special dispensation because of your relationship to the Prince of Darkness…”
“So run it by him,” I said with a shrug. “Personally, I think he’ll get a kick out of it. Lucifer always did enjoy a good joke.”
The courtroom erupted in conversation. To Judyth’s surprise, the assembled angels didn’t look as shocked as she’d expected.
“You don’t... you really think I’d be a good fit for the Infernal Academy?” Raquelle asked.
I leaned in close, dropping my voice to a whisper. “Oh yeah,” I said, nodding eagerly. “That trick rigging the exam—that’s the kind of initiative the faculty downstairs just loves. And just between you and me? The demons down there are way easier marks than the angels up here.”
Raquelle’s face filled with an indescribable emotion. “Reeeeally,” the redhead purred, heretofore undreamed of possibilities filling her angelic school. “That is so interesting—”