Page 1 of Angel Lost (Fates Academy #3)

Chapter One: Lorelei

“Die, bitch,” Lottie snarls. “Die!”

The rope loops around my neck, rough against my skin, and a silence, thick and tense, falls over the Maveriks crowded around. This is it. This is how it ends. The trapdoor creaks beneath my feet then, suddenly, crashes open. Air streams past my face as I fall. With an agonizing jerk the noose tightens. My head wrenches sideways, and pain explodes behind my eyes.

“Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars,” Lottie sings in my ear, and the last vestiges of the illusion fade away.

The brat is enjoying this, way too much. A board game with illusions is a stroke of genius. Evil genius. I rub my neck, swallowing hard.

Chano’s mom slaps the table, cackles, and snatches up the dice. The last rays of the summer sun filter through the window, lighting up the dust motes in her living room. They give Chano a halo as he sits deep in concentration, hunched over the game. A demon with a halo…It suits him.

It sure as all hells does not suit his little sister. Lottie is malevolence incarnate with a pinch of pure evil and a drop of vicious cunning, all wrapped in the body of a sixteen-year-old girl. A sixteen-year-old who just happens to be the darling little sister of my Aeternum. That kid can do no wrong.

Lottie does a ridiculous victory booty shuffle, and I roll my eyes. It’s just a game. She doesn’t really want me dead.

I think .

A shriek like a thousand banshees screaming penetrates the walls of the living room as if they’re paper thin. Chano’s first to his feet, sending the game pieces flying. Outside. Whatever that is, it’s outside. He slams open the door and his sister and I run out after him, Chano’s mami wheeling her chair frantically behind us.

“Keep back.” Chano’s deep growl catches in his throat, and I tense.

Peering past him, I blink, twice. This is wrong. Unnatural. Acid rises in my throat. The air bends, stretches, wobbles like a heat haze, and finally…it rips. I squeeze my eyes shut. It’s not real. It can’t be. From the gash, where the air is somehow rent apart, a giant claw slashes out. Where the hell is the rest of the creature? A huge, misshapen spider materializes. I blink, expecting it to vanish again. Instead, it pauses, front legs up, sensing the air, before rushing straight at us. My feet are glued to the spot. I can’t move. It’s too big, has too many legs. Way, way too many.

Barreling past me, Lottie jumps on the thing. In a flash, a knife appears in her hand, and she stabs it, right between the eyes.

“Get a grip, princess,” she hisses at me before turning to Chano. “What’s happening? What are these things?”

“It’s a rip,” he snaps. “They’re hellions. mami ? Get inside now. Shut the door behind you and send for the Council. Do it quickly. They won’t stop coming. Not until the rip is closed.”

The courtyard is swarming. The ground is already a moving blanket of hideously malformed creatures. All with wicked, wicked teeth.

I fumble for my knife, patting my waistband, my pockets, my jacket. Shit . I grab up a stick and start swinging wildly.

Two rats with giant bug eyes launch themselves at my ankles, climbing rapidly up my legs. Claws score my thighs and the stench of rotten meat fills my nostrils. Flailing, I dislodge one of the fuckers. Yes. I drag the second off by the scruff of its neck. It twists, snapping at me and, panicked, I drop-kick it. It flies through the air, screeching, and lands right in the center of Lottie’s back .

“For Hades’ sake, Lorelei,” she snaps, whipping herself side to side.

The thing embeds itself right between her shoulder blades, teeth and claws sunk deep into Lottie’s skin. In two quick strides Chano’s at her side, yanking it off.

The courtyard gate clangs open, and a handful of Chano’s men rush toward us.

“Took you long enough,” Chano growls. “Raff, clean up anything the Council shouldn’t see. Quickly. I don’t want them to have reason to linger. The rest of you, kill everything that doesn’t belong. No matter how small, kill it dead.”

He presses a dagger into my hand, and I spring into action at his side, attacking the grotesque beasts crawling their way out of the rip. I’m slow, the blade alien in my grip. My hand slips as sticky black blood sprays the handle. I glance at the sky. Naeve, forgive me. Get me through today and I swear I will never, ever put your knife down again. What kind of idiot abandons their weapon because it reminds them of a friend? A dead friend.

I snarl, embedding Chano’s blade in the neck of a giant rat, pausing only to yank it out before springing for the next. We’re holding them at bay, just. But the creatures crawling out the rip are only getting bigger, more violent.

Another agonizing shriek. I’m so close to the source my ears ring and something wet trickles down the side of my face. Blood. Flinching, I clamp my hands over my ears. A horrible rending noise echoes across the stone-walled yard and I catch a glimpse of the giant claw hacking at the sides of the rip. Then, it vanishes.

That’s worse. Not seeing the claw is way, way worse. Is that…? Did the rip just expand?

With a thunderous crack a huge, hairless beast with five giant claws on each hand materializes. Twice the size of an ordinary supe, its skin is a sickly yellow, and eyes a malevolent red.

Too close. It’s too damn close. I back up, into Lottie. She’s frozen, eyes wide .

“Kragath,” she whispers, like a frightened child.

As if naming it called its attention, the hellion’s head swivels in our direction. Its black tongue flicks out, tasting the air, and its thin pink lips pull back into a snarl. Bloody drool drips slowly from its gaping maw. The thing starts for us.

“Run,” I scream.

The kragath covers the ground quickly, on us in a second. I slash wildly with my knife, but the creature’s skin barely marks. Shit . I pause, draw my magic to me, point my palms at the kragath, and blast fire straight at it. It staggers slightly, skin smoldering, then it turns all six bloodshot eyes on me. It screeches; a noise like fingernails on blackboard and incandescent rage rolled into one. Goose bumps break out across my skin and my heart pounds. The kragath lashes out, and I shove Lottie out of the way, flinging myself after her, my body shielding hers. The claw misses my face by an inch. Panting, I lie propped on my elbows on the cold slate slabs, facing the thing, channeling every ounce of my magic—

Suddenly, I’m knocked sideways, tumbling across the paved ground, bones rattling with the weight of the body on top of me.

Chano.

He bundles me up, his back to the kragath, and sprints for the gate. I’m shoved through it, into waiting arms, and restrained.

A high-pitched scream, followed by silence.

Lottie.

My blood chills. Chano races back into the courtyard. Cursing, I strain against the hands holding me. What is wrong with them? I have to help. Have to save Chano’s sister. That monster will eat her alive.

“I can help , goddesses be damned!” My aether can help.

Biting and kicking, I lunge this way and that. Raff rushes past, five gray-robed figures on his heels, and I freeze, teeth embedded in the arm restraining me.

The Angelic Council.

By the time I wrestle my way out of my captor’s grip, and back into the courtyard, the Council have sealed the rip, and a crowd has gathered. I stand on tiptoes, straining to see. Between the shoulders of those in front I can just make out a small, crumpled body lying on the cobbles, congealed blood pooled under it. Is that…? No. Please no. Chano will never forgive me, never forgive himself. A somber priest reverently covers the slight frame with a plain black cloth, and guilt crawls up my spine. If only Chano hadn’t rushed me out of there…If he’d saved his sister instead…

A plump middle-aged lady snatches up a broom and starts vigorously sweeping. Another sloshes antiseptic across the cobbles. A few of the men drag the kragath away. What Chano left of it, at least. I stare at the ground, willing it to eat me up.

“What use are you if you won’t even fight?” Lottie grumbles beside me.

My head snaps up. She’s alive!

My relief melts into rage in an instant. She was the one who froze in front of the kragath. She was the one the dead guy was trying to save.

“It’s not like Chano let me—dragging me away like that,” I snarl.

“Chano didn’t let me,” she says in a high-pitched, whiny falsetto.

Chano’s hand lands on my shoulder, and he gives me a squeeze. “I needed to keep Lorelei safe. You know that, Lottie. Anyway, you fought it off.”

“Billy’s dead, and it slashed me, Chano Maverik.” She turns her head, showing us a deep, angry laceration stretching from her eyebrow straight down her cheek. “I could have lost my eye!”

Chano smiles weakly. “Blooded like a true warrior, little sis. You’ll have a scar to prove it. Welcome to the Maveriks.”

Lottie’s face crumples, and she tears up. Clutching her torn cheek, she elbows past her brother .

Chano’s brow furrows. “What did I say?”

“She’s a pretty teenage girl, Chano.”

“She’s a Maverik. We’re proud of our scars.”

“She’s proud of her looks. Or she was.”

Chano snorts, throwing his hands in the air and storming away toward the hastily constructed pyre.

It seems disrespectful to burn the hellions that killed Billy in his funeral pyre. But no one else finds it weird. They pile the bodies, insect and rodent alike, under the makeshift platform that now houses a thin wooden coffin.

Chano’s mom has released a bunch of fireflies and pinned pictures of the dead guy to the trees. The small altar is already swamped with offerings. It doesn’t take long to get a fire roaring, the flames licking up into the night. As we draw close around it, the pungent sulfur turns my stomach. Around me though, the wake is turning into a party. Not one other person seems perturbed by the distinct aroma of burning flesh. I shiver.

I get it. It’s mourning and celebrating his life, all in one. But he didn’t need to die. I didn’t play my part. I didn’t get to. Lottie’s mockery echoes in my head and I edge farther away from the bonfire, into the shadows.

A pudgy, well-dressed man lumbers toward me. I’m sure he was a looker once. Now, rolls of fat gather at his collar, threatening to choke him. He tugs at his jacket lapels as he stares me down. An uncle of Chano’s maybe? One of his tios , although which one…who knows? They’re all assholes.

“Little Lorelei. So, you’re his weakness, huh?” He rocks onto the balls of his feet, humming. “We assumed it was Lottie, but he chose you over his sister, over his blood. Interesting.” He gives me a long, slow wink that is in no way friendly.

Ice slithers down my spine. For half a second, I’m that scared little orphan standing in front of my foster dad all over again.

But Frank’s dead. I killed him .

I bare my teeth, stepping smartly toward the sweaty bruiser. He trips over his own feet, turning and disappearing into the milling throng of people without another word.

It takes me a few breaths to calm my heart rate, longer to realize Chano’s in front of me peering down into my face, his own shoulders heaving.

“What did he say to you, chica?”

I place my hand on his muscled chest, inhaling his oaky scent. “Nothing, Chano. It’s not important.” I give a halfhearted shrug. “He was just stirring up trouble.”

Chano growls so deeply I can feel the vibration through the palm of my hands. “Tell me, now.”

“You can’t just order me around. I’m not one of your pledges.”

“If he threatened you, I need to know.” Chano grips both my shoulders and stares at me intently. “So, did he?”

Pulling away from him, I fold my arms across my chest. “He suggested it was clear I was important to you.” I toe the ground with my boot. “He was surprised you protected me over Lottie. It wasn’t a proper threat. Not really.”

Chano’s face darkens and he wheels away, snapping orders to his men. Two instantly peel away from the pyre and position themselves behind me, one on either side. What the hell? I don’t need protection. I follow Chano’s progress across the square. He stops at his mami’s wheelchair, muttering a few words in her ear. Her hand flutters to her chest before she spins, nearly on the spot, wheeling herself into her house.

Chano watches her go, then returns to my side. “You’ll go back to Fates.”

“No.”

“You’ll go back until I have control of my gang.”

“Screw you, Chano,” I snap. “Your adrenaline is running high or something. I’m your Aeternum. I always was, and will always be, a target for anyone wanting to get at you. ”

His scowl deepens, and he hunches his shoulders. Way to go, Lorelei. Make him more paranoid.

“You are not staying here, chica. Not after that. It could even have been one of my tios that opened the rip, let the hellions through the veil. No. You’re going. End of story.”

Chano’s mami breaks our standoff as she wheels herself back across the yard, thrusting a bag into my hands. My bag. I stare down at it, my jaw working.

“You can’t just pack my shit up and order me back to Fates Academy. I won’t go.”

He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Fine, Lorelei. Have it your way.”

I flash him a smile, but it melts quickly into confusion as he turns, calling for everyone’s attention.

He clears his throat, shooting me an apologetic glance. “Lorelei Bal is no longer welcome on Maverik turf.”

My jaw drops. “You asshole!”

Chano’s mami pulls a face, gazing up to the sky briefly before turning to me.

“You heard my son, Lorelei. Time to go.” She pats my sleeve before ushering me toward the gate. “He has a flair for melodrama. Probably better if you’re not here for a bit, better for my Lottie too. It’ll settle soon. I’m sure we’ll have that cooking lesson before long.”

I can’t bear to look at him. How dare he? How dare he treat me like a child?

“Fine,” I growl, and I hear Chano’s relieved intake of breath behind me. I stomp after his mom, out of the courtyard, toward the portal. “If you don’t want me, I’ll go.”

Chano groans. “Lorelei, I didn’t say that!” His footfalls crunch after me.

The shimmering portal lights up the path ahead. “I’ll go, but I won’t go to Fates. ”

“Now wait a minute…” Chano swings himself in front of me blocking the route.

“I’ll go to Farrell’s estate.”

His shoulders relax and he steps aside. “Okay. But just the estate. This isn’t an isolated incident. You might have stopped watching the news because it was too depressing, but that didn’t stop crap like this from happening. Farrell’s and nowhere else, Lori.”

I clench my fists at my sides. No jealousy, not a shred of remorse for sending me away…just more controlling nonsense. He really is an asshole. I grip my bag tighter to my chest as he walks away. No kiss goodbye. No nothing.

He disappears over a rise, and I wait a few more seconds until it’s obvious he’s not coming back. My steps toward the portal are slow, like I'm walking through treacle. Chano’s mami waits, tapping the wheel of her chair impatiently.

“Running off?” Lottie accuses from behind.

I turn and eye her. “Your brother is sending me away.”

She fiddles with the bandage covering half of her face. “He thinks you’re a liability. Can’t say he’s wrong.”

“Look, Lottie, I’m sorry you got hurt.”

She snorts. “I got hurt because my brother couldn’t trust you to stay alive without his help. I got hurt, but I’m staying. You’re a pathetic excuse for an Aeternum. Go on, run away. He doesn’t need you.”

I share a look with Chano’s mami , raising my eyebrows. She shrugs at Lottie’s departing back. Then she shoos me toward the portal.

Away.