Page 26 of Angel Lost (Fates Academy #3)

Chapter Twenty-six: Lorelei

The smell of leather welcomes us to the blessed quiet of the library. A student swerves to avoid our path, and I hunch my shoulders. Chano snakes an arm around my waist, pulling me into him.

“It’ll be fine, chica,” he says into my ear, brushing a stray strand of hair off my neck. “You don’t even need to meet them now. We can do this later, tomorrow.”

My heart melts a little. He’s got his sister to worry about and here he is, supporting me.

Camille wants nothing to do with an apology, but Hewie and Zephyr are both in the library’s snug when I push open the door. First Zephyr and Hewie. Then Farrell.

Zephyr lounges on a giant beanbag, feet kicked up, head lolled back, staring at the ceiling. He glances at me briefly before returning to contemplating the gargoyle-studded picture rail. My gaze meets Hewie’s for a second before he moves to put Zephyr between us. Hewie perches in a small nook surrounded by piles of books, drumming on his knee.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt before Chano’s even fully in the room behind me.

The angelic glow around Zephyr flares, then settles. Beyond that he gives no indication he’s heard. I perch on the velvet armchair directly in front of them, but Hewie stands, pacing farther away.

“I didn’t mean to catch you up in that, either of you. But it wasn’t dangerous. No matter how it felt.”

It felt so bad Hewie pissed himself.

“I was being a bitch,” I admit. “I meant to capture Camille, give her a fright because she hit Jess.”

Hewie swallows. “Lorelei, I thought I was going to die. I couldn’t tell which way was up.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” I spread my hands wide. “The pocket I made was so small and the sides so steep, you all got jumbled up.”

Zephyr’s gaze comes to rest on my face.

“I swear the most dangerous thing was being that close to Camille.”

Hewie wrings his hands, but Zephyr lets out a snort of laughter, quickly stifled.

Hewie replies, “Camille said—”

I silence him with a finger.

“Can I tell you what I did first? Then you can judge me?”

They both nod and I sit back in the chair. Chano squeezes my shoulders. Solid. Dependable. Chano.

“I moved the ley lines a little, made a kind of pocket. You vanished for bit, but you were still here. The ley lines, they’re for this dimension. I don’t think it’s possible to cause a rip between worlds like that.”

Zephyr finally speaks. “You don’t think ?”

“I’m as confident as I can be.” I stare at the floor. “I have good control, too.”

This time it’s Hewie who laughs. A disbelieving huff.

“No, seriously. It just all happened at once. You two appeared as I was shoving Camille into a Camille-sized pocket, and you all got bundled inside. You were still here.”

They don’t say a word.

“My ley line work isn’t dangerous. I swear. But I’m sorry I let my temper get the better of me. I shouldn’t have done that, even to Camille.”

Hewie purses his lips. “Nah, she’s a bitch.”

My jaw drops. I genuinely didn’t think he would forgive me .

“Prove it,” Zephyr says. His tone is colder, his eyes narrowed. “Prove it’s not dangerous.”

Hewie hops from foot to foot, looking between us. “Th-th-that sounds…reasonable.”

I press my fingertips into my eyes.

“That isn’t fair,” Chano growls behind me, his hands tightening on my shoulders. “How’s she meant to prove a negative?”

I reach up to pat his hand. “No, it’s okay. I have an idea.”

Not only will they get to see and feel what I feel, but it’s for the greater good too. I might even get out of an afternoon working in the gardens.

The hada are more difficult to convince.

From the squeaking, I gather the biggest protest is they don’t believe it will work. That, and I’ve been labeled as the strawberry squasher. How was I meant to know they’re obsessed with the fruit?

Eventually their leader, chief, whatever she is, agrees to let me try. But I’m under no illusions. I still owe them a half day’s work.

We pick a hallway close to the kitchens, and I visualize a perimeter. My magic has to be subtle here, I have to bend the ley lines, but only slightly. Like Davina did around her sanctuary. Anyone determined to get to the kitchens will be able to, but those just wandering through will get turned around. And unlike Jess’s magic, it will last indefinitely.

Zephyr grips my shoulder, his eyes glazing over. Hewie grabs hold of his other hand. I trust Zephyr when he says he can see what I’m doing. That he can transmit it to Hewie.

It’s more difficult to meditate with someone touching me, more distracting. But after a few minutes I drop into that in-between space. Squinting, I see the energy lines, the shimmering rivers of energy flowing around us, defining the very essence of our reality. Gently, I massage them to where I need them to be. At the last moment, I add a protection spell. Anyone meaning the hada harm will be turned around, no matter whether they really mean to go to the kitchens. I check and double check every line, running the tips of my fingers over them, shivering at the static. Eventually, satisfied, I pull back, letting my eyes refocus on the corridor wall, on the figures around me.

“Hmph.” The tiny hada chief blows air in my face, clearly unimpressed. She waggles a finger at me, then toward the gardens, and I hold my hands up.

“I get it, debt still to be paid,” I mutter.

She buzzes once around my head, pats my hair, and flutters off. Only then do I dare look at Zephyr, at Hewie. Let them have felt it as surely as I felt it. Please. As surely as I know it. There is no way through our dimension by just moving the ley lines. They are this dimension.

“That was amaaaaaazing,” Hewie says breathily, his eyes alight. “All that raw power. How do you not get drunk on it?”

I shrug. “Do you see what I mean? It’s not what Camille says.”

Zephyr staggers and I catch his arm. He’s gray and slick with sweat; there’s a fine tremor in the hand I’m holding.

“Z? What’s wrong?” I peer up at him, wiping his beautiful hair out of his face. “Talk to me, Zephyr. You’re frightening me.”

“Fine,” he croaks. “I’m fine. Just took more than I expected. Seeing the past, it’s not normally done milliseconds after the event. And aether and angels do not mix.” He blows out a breath. “Wooooof, that was rough. I need a drink.”

Relief floods through me as his color creeps back. He squeezes my hand, and I peer down, surprised I’m still holding on to him.

“I see what you mean, Lori,” he says. “You’re not going to cause a rip that way.”

Throwing my arms around his neck, I smother him in a hug. His legs threaten to buckle and I take some of my own weight back.

“If I’m honest, I don’t think those hada deserve the respite you’re giving them,” he mutters into my hair, and I pull back, frowning. “They’re always winding up the angels. ”

“They’re being treated like slaves, Zephyr Engill. And the students are mocking them, hurting them—badly at times.”

Zephyr scoffs.

“Since when were you on the angels’ side?” I snarl. “Wait, don’t tell me. You have a crush on another professor, an angel this time? You know how the last crush ended.”

Zephyr drops my hand, his expression clouding. He pulls himself up to his full height, a hazy silhouette of light glowing around him. He walks off, unsteadily, down the corridor without speaking, without once looking back.

Chano clears his throat. “As much as he annoys me, that was unnecessary, chica.”

I round on him. “What?”

“He’s having a hard time working out his place right now.” Chano holds himself stiffly, as if unsure where to rest his hands. His fingers twitch toward the hair that’s come loose from my messy bun.

“His place isn’t beside bullies!”

Chano folds his arms, forcing his biceps to bulge. “And what did you just do, if not bully him?”

My mouth’s open to argue, but I can’t think of a single retort.

Zephyr on his knees in front of the Angel King. Zephyr on his face in the dirt.

I shake my head.

“Shit.” It’s the only word I can force out. Chano regards me with those big gray eyes, the purple demon ring swirling around the iris.

“Shit,” I repeat. “I need to apologize, again.”