Page 65 of Protected By Monsters (Everwood Demons 1)

I’d hastily held his shirt up to cover myself, and Jack turned away, giving me some privacy as I’d frantically pulled his shirt on. I was so glad he was tall and his shirt was long on me.

My chest had been tight as my stomach knotted and flipped while I’d hugged myself. I had wished the ground would’ve opened up and swallow me whole.

At least it was only the boys and Mr. Baron who saw me, although as I’d peered past Jack, I realized they’d all averted their eyes.

Mr. Baron had asked what had happened once he found his glasses and dusted them off.

I’d explained I’d been frustrated, and he just nodded, murmuring that maybe my emotions were linked, and asked the boys to escort me to my room so I could shower and get ready for the next class with Dezikiel.

“It was insightful,” I mumbled, realizing I’d been off in my head as Diane nudged me gently.

“Well, that’s good then,” she smiled as she looked back at her book.

We were studying different textbooks, and Dezikiel had given me mine when I’d joined in. Those that had been here longer were studying more in-depth and recent stuff, while I was studying the very basics.

Like the angels who ran Heaven, how Lucifer was a fallen angel given a duty as King of Hell to keep all demons in line. He’d held a rebellion against God and the other angels, and lost.

The details on God himself were vague and scarce, and it seemed he never got involved, merely spoke with the odd archangel, those who were closest to him and the highest ranking of them.

The High Council were lower angels, who could leave Heaven and walk the earth in search of special demonics, and they sent them to one of many Academies all over the world. Everwood was just one in over twenty Academies.

I took down notes, as there was an essay due in a few weeks on the first five chapters to see how well I understood it all.

I wrote down the names of the Archangels, and the names of the six Princes of Hell, the strongest demons born from Lilith to help keep order in Hell. They were sometimes even referred to as the Knights of Hell.

Lilith could birth demons without the assistance of a male, which weirded me out. She was a divine being much like Lucifer and other angels, but she was one of darkness, not light.

I studied hard, immersed in the history of both demons and angels alike.

God and the angels all butted out of human affairs mostly despite how they were worshipped. On the rare occasion, an angel would aid a human just to keep their beliefs alive.

Angelics were incredibly rare beings, which made me even more curious about Dezikiel. There were different types of angelics too. Which was he? And why did no one talk about it? They all seemed fine with not knowing everything about the man who ran this place. Then again, he gave us no reason not to trust him.

Time flew by, and before I knew it, I’d jotted down notes for over seven pages before Dezikiel called it quits for the day. It was time for lunch, followed by afternoon training.

I closed my textbook, leaving it on my desk like everyone else did, only taking my notebook with me. Dezikiel had provided me with pens and a notebook, and I was beyond grateful.

I was more worried about needing to buy clothes though if my power training continued the way it was.

Just the thought of standing before my four hellhounds, stark naked, made my stomach swim.

“How was your first history lesson?” Chumley asked as he stepped up beside me on the way out of the classroom.

“Good. Seems there’s a lot to learn,” I remarked, still going over some of the information in my mind.

“We’re still learning too, even Hadley and Diane, and they’ve been here the longest. They’ve learned the main teachings, now Dezikiel provides them with further material outside of the set studies,” Jack explained as he joined me on my other side.

Bug and Creeper followed after us silently.

“Do you think they’ll graduate soon?” I asked.

“Maybe, some students graduate after the main two to three years. That’s the minimum required. But others hang around for longer, at least that’s what we’ve heard,” Chumley shrugged.

I nodded as we headed back to the main hall to our rooms. We had an hour to kill after the initial lunch-break, and Diane had offered to give me a tour of the mansion.

I dropped off my notebook and things to my room before heading to lunch, making a mental note to charge my phone later in the afternoon and check it.

Not that I’d have any messages, since I didn’t have friends.

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