Page 60 of Wings of Strife
An unnatural silence falls over us as we stare dumbfounded at the pair.
“What?” Zeke growls, his fury growing rapidly. My own builds right along with him. If this is Uriel’s doing, I swear I’ll make him regret ever coming at the girl who owns my heart.
She frowns. “When I left the library, nothing was out of place aside from whoever was inside looking for me. The two Fallen seemed terrified of the masked being, though. Maybe he got so mad they took it out on the books?”
An angry cloaked figure? Just what the hell happened last night?
A memory hits me straight in the chest. The nightmare I’d had last night woke me in a pile of sweat and fear. I thought it was about Serah being chased by a demon, but what if it was something else? I didn’t think too much about it at the time, but now I take a second look. Could my body tell Hayliel was in danger? Is that what truly woke me up?
No. Most likely, it was just an unrelated nightmare. Even as I think it, something nags at my mind, refusing to let me drop it. I need to decipher the implications a bit more before I bring it up to anyone. For now, I’ll focus on figuring out how to keep Hayliel safe.
Clearing my throat has all eyes turning to me. “I think it goes without saying that even more than before, we need to ensure that you’re never alone. If the Fallen and this cloaked figure are working with Uriel and they were trying to kidnap you in the middle of the night, then who knows what lengths they’ll reach to get what they want? We can’t be too careful.”
“Castiel should be here. Maybe there’s something he can do at the faculty level,” Zeke adds darkly. I get the sense he would like to do several things to the likes of Uriel that our professor and the rest of the school wouldn’t agree with. I’m right there with you, buddy.
“I did text him and asked about coming to the cave, but he hasn’t responded yet. When he responds, I’ll fill him in and see what he can do.”
“Should we consider looping in Principal Cael?” Dina asks, chewing on her top lip.
It’s a decent question, but we already have enough angels in the know that I’m not sure how I feel about adding more. Especially someone as powerful as the head of the school. Still, we’re not at a point where we can completely turn down the idea.
Raphael answers before I get a chance to. “Honestly, I’d like to know what Castiel thinks about that before we make any decisions. He’d know more about the man than we would.”
“Agreed,” Zeke says, “But let’s not rule it out yet. For now, we’ll double our efforts to make sure Hayliel is never alone. Ideally, we’ll even have as many as two angels with her at all times, though that may not always be doable.”
“I hate this. I don’t want to be a burden to any of you, but that’s exactly what it sounds like I’ll be.” My sweet, gorgeous angel drops her head into her hands, and my heart hurts at the sight.
In a second, I’m at her side, gently pulling them down. “Hey. You are never a burden to us. Ever. Each angel in this room cares about you, so much so that we would all be devastated ifsomething bad happened to you. It’s not a burden to help keep you safe. It’s an honor.” I lean in and press a soft kiss to her lips, and when I pull away, her expression is a little less dark.
“Fine.” She checks her slate and sighs. “So, who wants the first shift of walking me to class?”
I ignore the lunchtime rush of students heading to the main hall to grab a bite to eat and instead make my way back to the cave. Raphael is with Dina and Hayliel, who are planning to eat their food in Dina’s dorm room with Mira. When he’s done, he’ll join the rest of us here. He never said exactly what it was we needed to talk about, but it sounded important.
The shit just keeps piling on.
Zeke arrives next, looking worried. “Did something else happen?”
I shrug. “I don’t know, but I’m getting tired of these fucking surprises.”
Just as Zeke nods his agreement, Raphael walks through the cave entrance, his usually cheery face just as grim as it was this morning.
“What is this about? Is Hayliel alright?” Zeke asks him, and I have to hand it to the guy. He’s made great strides in his behavior since the little talk we’ve had. I just hope he’s showing her this side of him too, instead of just us.
Raphael, who usually would have taken Zeke’s gruff tone as an attack, only nods. “She’s fine right now. Mira and Dina will keep her safe through lunch, anyway. I wanted to talk to you both about last night. I don’t think she should be left alone, even then.”
“What did you have in mind?” I ask. Zeke doesn’t say anything, but he looks a little uncomfortable, and I can’t quite understand why.
“She agreed to spend her nights between the three of us, assuming we all agree.”
Relief floods me at his words. I hadn’t even realized I’d been worried about what he would say until now. “Well, shit. You won’t hear any complaints from me.”
Zeke has basically stopped moving at this point, looking eerie as hell where he stands like a stone statue. Raphael has to say his name twice before he snaps out of it.
“Sorry. What did you say?”
I can’t stop the grin that spreads across my face, but Raphael rolls his eyes. “I said, are you cool with having Hayliel spend her nights between the three of us, or are you too much of an asshole to make it work?”
Ugh. Raphael and I talked about this. He agreed to be nice to Zeke and give him another chance, since he’d been making an effort not to suck.
