Page 130 of Angel Lost

Lottie sits on the edge of the cot, in the makeshift bunkhouse housing the Gifted students. She rolls a strip of torn bandage between her fingers. She isn’t crying. I don’t think Lottie knows how to cry anymore.

Chano kneels in front of her, voice low. “Tell me why. Why did you run?”

She doesn’t look at him. “The Angel King promised us aether,” she says. “And ascension. No waiting. No college. Just power.”

I fold my arms. “And you believed him?”

A ghost of a smile tugs at her lips, bitter and tired. “What part of this looks like it went the way I wanted?” She exhales through her nose. “But that part, the ascension part, I believe. And the Mavericks need a solution for the very real possibility—”

Chano stiffens.

“Lottie,” he says, warning laced in his voice.

She ignores him. “You’re getting stronger, Chano.” A pause. “Maybe they’ll decide you don’t belong.”

A cold shiver trickles down my spine. Chano’s expression doesn’t change, but I feel the weight of something unspoken settle between them.

I frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Lottie doesn’t answer me. Instead, she reaches for Chano’s hand, squeezing it briefly. “Someonehas to lead the Maveriks, Chano.”

His jaw clenches, his fingers twitching around hers. A shadow passes over his face, gone too fast for me to pin down.

I don’t like it.

Lottie lets go, leaning back against the cot. “Just think about it,” she murmurs. “Maybe there’s something we can use against him here.”

My arms tighten over my chest. They’re talking in circles, and I am not in the mood for riddles.

I turn to Chano. “What’s the runaway talking about?”

His gaze flicks to me, something guarded in his eyes. “Nothing.”

Liar.

The air in the room feels too thick, pressing against my skin like a warning I don’t understand yet. But I will.

One way or another, I will.

It’s two whole days later that the news breaks. Chano’s sure it’s a good thing. They were waiting for us to get scared, to run. But I’ve spent the past few days terrified someone would work it out, scared I’d turn around and the boys would have been arrested. Worried I was going to have to go back to the Gifted Academy, pretending I didn’t know I’d find a massacre the moment I walked through the portal.

The news blares from the screen hastily erected on the stage in the Great Hall, the dean having called the entire school to watch the bulletin. Kai stands stiffly beside me, wearing a black armband—for all the world, the grieving son. The dean broke the news to him in the early hours; called him from his bed.

The newsreel rolls.

In his bleakest hour, the son of Davina, the murdered Princess Royal, can be comforted in finding his allegiance. An allegiance of five.

The entire student body seems to inhale. My allegiance huddles closer. Raff did good. We decided the more eyes on Kai, the more he was seen and seen to be grieving, the less suspicious. And this? This is media gold. From the screen Kai’s red-rimmed eyes stare back, his hand clasped in mine, the pentagram clearly visible on his wrist. All five points filled. A comfort in his moment of grief.

Chano leans forward, his breath hot on my neck. “The dean is watching the pair of you closely.”

A ghost walks over my grave.Do not look. Do not look.I chew my lip, staring straight forward, not even seeing the screen anymore.

“You told him you two were an item?” Chano asks.

I nod.

“Except since then, you’ve not been acting coupley.”

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