Page 77 of Angel Lost

Stupid, goddess-damned fae.

The hada dives toward my face, brandishing a tiny garden fork. I duck, hands up, but she’s having none of it. Only after we faithfully promise an afternoon’s work each in the gardens does the hada stop poking at us.

I march Jess into the field. “I don’t have time for that.”

“Wasn’t my fault,” she snaps. “Anyway, what are you doing wandering around in a daze?”

“I wasn’t. I was looking for somewhere to practice my aether,” I say. “Somewhere people won’t interfere.”

She claps her hands. Oh no, no, no. She doesn’t even know I’m first aether.

“I’ll help!”

“Oh, for hell’s sake. I don’t need help. I need quiet.” I stare pointedly at her. “To be alone.”

She pouts. “I’ve not seen you in days, killer.”

I open my mouth to read her the riot act, and she just stands there, smiling, waiting. Guileless.

Jess was there for me all summer.

Slowly—against my better judgment—I nod, and she dances on the spot. “I’ll be lookout,” she says. “I can turn students around, confuse them enough to make them go back the other way. You’ll just need to worry about any professors. My magic won’t work on ascended. You got this, killer.”

I smile despite myself and settle down in the middle of the field, watching Jess trot off to perch on top of one of the archways of the walled garden.True to her word, not a single soul tries to pass her. The few students heading this way halt, peering around themselves, patting pockets like they lost something, then return the way they came. With a contented sigh, I settle into my meditation.

Shoes and socks off, I wriggle my toes in the cool grass. Eyes half-shut, I allow myself to drift, watching carefully for the ley lines. Slowly, the bright colors of fall dim, and instead I see the throbbing energy pulses that make up the essence of everything.

I drop deeper, feeling the energy humming from the earth, the vibration in the air. Here there isn’t the same insistent pull I got lost in before. Sure, the urge to follow the ley lines is there, but I can resist it. I concentrate on practicing bending the lines, manipulating the energy. I hide a tree, then pop it back out, vaguely aware of Jess cheering in the distance. I try the whole field, me included. It pulls, strains a little, and then flows into the pocket I created. Invisible to the rest of the world. Simple really, when you know how. Slightly breathless, I untuck the field, releasing the grass, revealing it and myself once more.

I fling myself backward in the grass, forcing my breath to steady. A dot moves in the sky above. A bird? No—it’s too fast, too direct.

Sitting up, I blink against the low evening light as the shape solidifies. Bigger. Closer.

My muscles coil, instinct kicking in. Whatever that is, it’s not flying—it’s falling.

A giant scaly lizard hits the field. It bounces, careening forward and skidding a few yards before coming to a halt under Jess’s perch. It shrieks, its round predator eyes locked on her, pupils like slits. It bellows again, flapping its wings and snapping at the little fae.

The air around the wyvern warps, distorting in a heat haze as its body shrinks, morphing slowly into a very angry Camille. Jumping up, I run toward them.

Camille grabs Jess by the ankle and yanks. Jess lands in a heap at her feet, groaning and rolling over. “Classes are out, Lorelei. Camille’s entourage is coming,” Jess gets out before Camille smacks her across the face.

Camille points a finger at me. “You shouldn’t be doing aether here. That shit is dangerous.” She kicks out at Jess. “Andyoushouldn’t be helping her. You could have killed me.”

My blood boils. Jess didn’t do anything. Beyond confuse her wyvern, in the air, while flying. Camille didn’t land that badly. Stupid lizard. I make a split-second decision, dropping back into the ley lines, yanking a giant hole open in the ground under Camille’s feet.

In the same instant, students stream around the corner, taking the shortcut to the dorms.

Camille yells out, teetering on the edge of the gap. I stretch the ley lines, ripping them open, making sure she falls. Behind her, students eager to escape class press forward. Shit. I bend and weave the air, trapping only Camille inside the ley lines. Barricading it from any other students following. I can hear muffled shrieks from inside the pocket.

Jess appears at my side, wide-eyed. She places a hand on my arm.

“Point made, killer?”

I chew my lip, my anger still simmering. She had no right to attack Jess. Another shriek. And another. Hecate. It’s Hewie. I’ve trapped Hewie with Camille.

I crouch on the ground, hands to the dirt, and focus. The chatter of alarmed students is distracting, and it takes several long minutes to see the ley lines again. Even longer to persuade the energy to untangle, to undo the knot I tied in the chasm I buried Camille in. Camille and Hewie.

The first to emerge, however, with a strong flap of white feathers, is Zephyr, one arm looped under Hewie’s shoulders, the other around Camille. Quickly, I sew the ground back together under them, weaving the energy back the way it ought to be.

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