Page 18 of Wings of Strife
She looks at her own slate, smiling when she sees the message from me. “Well, that settles things. You can trust me, dude, but if you try to keep me out of this, I’ll show up on campus and start running my mouth to anyone who will listen.”
The sad part is, I believe her. Who the fuck is this chick and why is she so obsessed with joining in on a plan she knows fuck all about?
Instead of asking her that, I head toward the door and say, “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“See you this weekend, Ezekiel,” she calls after me, but I don’t respond.
The sky is beautiful when I make it outside the building and take off in flight. The sunset lights up the world in a kaleidoscope of red and orange that usually threatens to steal my breath. But I find no joy in the view tonight.
All I can think about is how the fuck I’m going to explain what I’ve just done to the others.
8
Birds chirp as I walk the path between the thick canopy of trees that stand tall in front of Fallen house. It’s a little thinner than when I walked it that first day with Professor Castiel, but the scent of wood and moss still brings a smile to my face.
It falls when I think of Castiel.
Apparently, he’s back on campus, and has been for a few hours now. I can’t hold off going to see him any longer. Raphael and Theo offered to come with me, though it was more of an insistence. They don’t want to leave me alone for fear of what the now disgruntled Fallen might do, but I live at Fallen house. The opportunities to do me harm there are rife. Maybe I should have agreed and let them come with me, but their focus is needed elsewhere.
I glance toward the tower and sigh. The attic space we looked into as a private area for our friend group was beautiful. A little dirty and worn, but it had the potential to be incredible. Unfortunately, both it and the weaponry building were already so heavily protected by the school that adding more wards just wasn’t an option. That left the obscure cave near the base of the falls as our secret HQ. It might smell of damp earth, but it will do.
Besides, the room Zeke has in the weaponry building will still serve as a private area for us to train. Without attempting to dig a larger area in the cave or lug training materials in, we’d have to make do using something a little less protected. As long as angels don’t realize what we’re up to—receiving guild training to survive and take down demons—we should be fine.
I wonder if Zeke would have offered to come with me to see Castiel too, if he hadn’t left for the guild after lunch.
A door opens, jostling me from my thoughts, but when I glance up, the back doors of the main hall remain closed. To the left, I spot someone exiting the infirmary. The Fallen angel strides toward me with his head down, but something about him is familiar. He looks up, our eyes locking. Black and blue bruises ring his eyes, standing out against his ashen face.
Recognition clicks, and I realize this is one of the assholes making comments in the cafeteria last week, but what the hell happened to him? Blood covers his shirt in a way that tells me it poured from his nose. Either he’s clumsy, or he got in a fight with someone far stronger.
He averts his gaze, speeding up as he continues past. That’s odd. He sure as shit didn’t behave like that in the cafeteria.
Letting the strange encounter go, I continue on to Castiel’s office and take the longer, less populated route. I’m in no mood to deal with shitty students, or worse, cruel professors.
Honestly, whatever issue the Fallen now have with me is getting out of hand. In the last week, I’ve beenaccidentallybumped into or tripped more than once, and they’re becoming bolder in their nasty remarks. It’s clear I did something to piss them off. I just wish I knew what.
Do they know what happened with Roderick in the Fallen district or outside of it with the demons? Even if they do, it’s not as if I did anything wrong. In fact, I almost fucking died. Surely that should earn me some god’s damn grace.
Despite the warning in my gut to leave it alone, I refuse. One way or another, I’m going to get to the bottom of it.Besides, what’s one more thing added to the list?
Professor Castiel is alone when I make it to his office, though his face lights up when he sees me.
His brows crease, and I realize that maybe I’m not masking my expression as well as I thought I was.
“Is everything alright?”
My laugh is self-deprecating at best. “Somehow, the answer to your question is both yes and no. I’m glad you’re back. Do you bring any answers with you?”
He shakes his head, and my hope plummets. “Nothing concrete yet, I’m afraid. But don’t lose hope. That friend I went to visit is positive he has a book that might help.”
“Well, that’s promising, at least,” I tell him, doing the best mental imitation of my parents and trying to find the silver lining. It feels as though we’ve read every damn book there is, so if Castiel’s friend thinks he has something, I’ll try to trust it.
“It is. When we parted ways, he was heading straight for his ancestral home. The moment I hear back from him, I’ll seek you out.”
“Thank you. I’ll strive to work on being patient.”
Professor Castiel chuckles. “No need, Miss Hayliel. Come see me anytime. I’m here to help with whatever you need.”
I smile and turn to leave, but I don’t get very far. As much as I wanted to make sure he was unharmed and see if he had any answers, that’s not the only reason I came. Before I can second guess my decision, I’m standing in front of his desk again.
