Page 32 of Angel Lost (Fates Academy #3)

Chapter Thirty-two: Lorelei

It’s like pushing through a misty veil. I concentrate on knowing I want to move forward, on stepping through, around the strands, and suddenly everything swims back into focus. Same beach, same sand, same sky. Even the same damn oak tree behind me. Up ahead, though, is a sleek gray building. The side facing the water is one big pane of glass. I tiptoe forward. A room, a bed, a desk, and a view over the water. What is this? A hotel? I creep past it, looking into the next room, and the next. There are dozens of them. Only after I pass the first few do I realize they’re mostly occupied. A figure under the covers in one, in the next a kid is awake, staring unfocused out over the water. Is she meditating? She doesn’t seem to register me, so I scoot closer. Her hand comes up, she presses it against the glass. Eyes still unseeing. I bring my palm up to mirror hers.

Nothing.

I snort. What was I expecting? She clearly can’t see me. I pad quietly on, and her gaze doesn’t follow me. The next few rooms are occupied too, but in these the people are slightly older, my age maybe, and they’re facing the walls. The blank walls. I hurry on. Something is wrong. In the next someone is perched on top of the cupboard, like a cat, and the next again is empty. I halt. Not empty. Bright eyes peer out from under the bed. I glance over my shoulder.

Unfocusing my eyes, I reach out to them, extending my senses, trying to feel for them, their magic. But…nothing. They’re empty. Emptier than your common or garden toad. A shell .

My palms itch. This is not the reassurance I was looking for. The next glass panel looks into a corridor, a large workstation against one wall. I melt back into the shadows. A couple of angels move around inside in crisp blue scrubs. I hesitate, torn between taking off and watching a few moments longer. A third nurse wheels a patient out of a bathroom, tucks a rug around his knees, and potters down the corridor out of sight. I take in the wheeled stand in the corner, with a blood-pressure monitor, pulse oximeter, and thermometer all tucked neatly into position.

It’s a treatment facility, dammit. Of course it is. A facility for the rich. Why else would they get beautiful rooms facing the water and twenty-four-hour nursing care.

I shake out my hands, wiping sweat onto my black leggings. I bet it’s super expensive. I take a few steps back the way I came, feet drifting to a halt of their own accord.

What is a medical facility doing on academy grounds? Maybe I can just outright ask the dean. Or, with recent events, maybe best not.

I’m almost out of time. The sun is threatening the horizon. If I want to get back without being spotted, if I want to make use of the shadows to hide in then I have to leave. Now.

My sneakers crunch in the early autumn leaves, away from the hidden building, away from where the ley lines twist in ways they shouldn’t.

The sound of feet slapping on the paving reaches me. I cock my head to one side. Bare feet. Racing around the corner, a blond-headed supe barrels into me. Reye. Letting out a muffled groan, I grab for her wrist. She struggles, eyes wild, wrenching away from me. Her nostrils flare and she’s panting.

“Lorelei. You’re not in the infirmary. You’re okay. ”

She flings her arms around my neck, then pulls away. Her hand moves lightning fast, and she slaps me hard across the face.

I snarl, gripping her wrists again. “What is wrong with you?”

She bursts into deep, hiccuping sobs that shake her entire body. Nonplussed, I pat her back. Eventually, she gulps a huge breath of air and manages to stop crying.

“Blood. There was blood on your pillow. And you were gone.” Her breath hitches. “I-I must have forgotten my meds again. I thought…I was so sure I’d hurt you. Maybe even killed you. Because she told the professor I had to—”

I rub my cheek. “I’m fine.”

Of all the ever-loving reasons to slap me. But she looks genuinely shaken, standing there in the thinnest pajamas, arms wrapped around herself, shivering.

“What are you doing out here?” she demands.

I sigh. “Trying to figure out what’s really going on in this academy. I need to see for myself how bad it is.”

She shifts from foot to foot, shaking her head.

“Look, I have a conscience, alright?” Her bottom lip juts out and she shivers again. Sighing, I drape my hoodie over her shoulders. “Not that you don’t. Just…Look, I only agreed to come here to keep my allegiance safe. Walking away would put them in danger. But I need to see how bad it really is, what they’re putting vulnerable supes through, and decide whether I can live with being part of that.”

“You’re not doing anything to anyone by simply studying at Gifted,” she argues.

“If I ignore it, I’m just as guilty as the ones pulling the strings.” I thumb my dagger. “I just don’t know what it is yet. And I have to.”

Reye chews her lip, eyes darting around, before yanking a pen and paper from her pajama pocket. She sketches something fast, then shoves it into my hands, curling my fingers over the crumpled page .

“You might not like what you find, Aether Lorelei.”

Before I can respond, she’s gone, bare feet slapping against the ground as she disappears toward the dorms. With my damn hoodie. Shit .

I hesitate, my fingers tightening around the paper, balling it. When I’m sure she’s out of sight, I slowly open my fist, smoothing the creases with my thumb.

A map. A map of the facilities.

There really is something to find.

A prickle of unease creeps up my spine. Then I hear it—steady footsteps, the rhythmic beat of a heart. I turn as a familiar figure strides toward me, his brow still marked by my attack. He scowls.

It was a misunderstanding.

I shove down my anxiety and plaster on a sickly smile. His scowl deepens. As we pass, I lean in, reaching up to brush his hair from his forehead, away from the scar. He flinches before regaining composure.

“I am so terribly sorry about that,” I whisper, fluttering my eyelashes. “Please let me know if I can do anything to make up for it. Anything at all.”

His beady little eyes roam up and down me, lingering just a little too long. Right. No robe. Just tight black leggings and a fitted top. For once, I actually miss the stupid Gifted uniform.

He smiles, teeth too white, and leans in. “I’ll keep that in mind, aether,” he says, sauntering off with a sleazy glance over his shoulder.

I wave coyly, wiggling my fingers. The slimeball winks.

Behind my back, I clench my other fist around his access card. Gotcha. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

The nearest door is only yards away. A quick look won’t hurt, right? I swipe the professor’s card. A mechanical beep, then the door swings open. There’s no intricate modern design this end of the building. It’s all gray steel and functionality. Feels institutional. A hospital or a prison. The floor is hard-wearing vinyl, sweeping up the wall by a few inches on either side. The wall’s a dull beige, with no artwork, and the air stinks of chlorine. None of the doors I try open into anything exciting, and a few don’t open at all, not even to the professor’s badge. I turn Reye’s map this way and that, trying to orient myself. Slowly, the corridors become more elegant, more refined. Am I going the wrong way?

The dull walls give way to mosaics, art scattered across them. The floor shifts to plain black stone. This end of the building still feels like part of the academy, just one that hasn’t woken up yet. But it will soon.

Gotta keep moving.

I halt. This corridor…I know it. This is where I found Reye undergoing her treatment. What a warren of hallways.

A purple flash catches my eye. Tattoos, olive skin. Kai! I scuttle after him, my pulse kicking up. He rounds a corner, and by the time I catch up, he’s slipping into a corrections room.

Same setup as before—a sterile room, a dentist-style chair, and a big glass window to the adjacent viewing area. I slip inside.

An angel in a lab coat punches digits into a hulking machine while Kai leans casually against the wall, chatting with him. Moments later, Kai sits on the vinyl examination couch and straps himself in.

I cringe. I do not want to watch this again. Their voices drift through to me.

“I need a coffee. When you’re done, let yourself out?” the researcher asks, and Kai nods.

The angel yawns, stretches, and hits a button on the wall on his way out of the room. A faint whirring starts, and Kai’s fists bunch, his jaw clenches, and his eyes roll back. I press my hands to the glass, my chest constricting. I won’t stop his treatment. I know better now. But Hecate, watching is torture.

After what feels like forever, Kai fights his straps off and stands on wobbly legs. I charge back into the corridor, through the door, and into his treatment room, without regard for who might see. I wrap an arm under his shoulders.

“What are you doing here?” Kai asks, his tired gaze boring into me.

“I could ask you the same. Do you really need aether this much?”

Kai sighs, pulling back from me, standing on his own feet, arm braced against the wall. “It’s not that simple.”

I wait.

“Davina is blackmailing me,” he says, wiping a hand across his face. A drop of blood falls from his nose, and I stare at it on the pristine floor.

“How?”

“If I keep undergoing corrections, keep up my treatments until ascension, if I let her scientists study me and my brother then our sister stays safe.”

“So I was right. She is blackmailing all her students.”

“I don’t know about all, Lorelei.”

“And what about those units facing the lake. The glass-fronted ones?”

Kai’s eyes widen slightly. “They house the failed gifted. The rich ones.”

His nosebleed starts to gush. Tutting, I have him pinch his nose, tilt his head forward.

“This is standard, don’t worry.” His voice is nasal.

Standard my ass. No one should have to go through treatments that cause nosebleeds and—I peer closer—bloodshot eyes. Where else is he bleeding?

“I’m fine,” he grumbles, pulling away. “Ask your questions, Lorelei.”

I smooth his purple hair down, poking strands back into his bun. “What are failed gifted, Kai?”

“Supes whose DNA rejected the aether unexpectedly. Davina keeps them so she can work out what went wrong. The ones with rich families get nice views. For all the good it does them.”

Goose bumps break out on my skin, and Kai tentatively rubs my arm with his free hand .

“It goes properly wrong? Holy hags. When Davina said there was a ten percent success rate I didn’t think failure meant…” I puff out my cheeks, anger seeping into my veins. “So, as long as your precious little sister is safe, then fuck everyone else? Your sister is the dean’s kid, right? Your stepmom’s own child? She wouldn’t harm her. I saw those kids whose ‘gift’ failed. They’re shells. There’s nothing left.”

“They signed the agreement, or their parents did…”

“And even those ‘successful’ ones have to undergo torture to keep their gift.”

Kai scowls. “It’s bad, but not that bad. I do it regularly.”

I grip hold of the front of his shirt. “I hated seeing you go through that, but I saw my friend undergo it too, Kai. It was way worse for her. She was screaming in agony, begging for them to stop.” Kai pales. “That girl, my friend, she’s still a teenager and she’s meant to be the king’s bride. Your mom is blackmailing her too.”

“Stepmom,” he snaps.

“To the point she’s convinced she wants it. It’s not right. We have to do something, Kai.”

“But do we? Really? Davina might go back on her word about my sister.” He glances at me sidelong. “Do something now, get caught, and you won’t graduate this year, you won’t ascend. You’ll be trapped for another year.”

I nod.

“And the Angel King knows about you now. He might not let you return to Fates. Get expelled from here, he might just…keep you.”

I stare at his blood on the floor. “I know. He said he’ll marry me to one of his men. And…that I’m his backup bride.”

Kai grips the sides of my head, forcing me to look at him. “You never told us that!”

I scrunch my nose .

“That friend of yours told you she wanted to be here, right? She wanted to be his bride…so let her. Do not risk this, Lorelei. Do not force his hand. He is not a nice man.”

The Angel King. The boys on their knees. My choice.

“Okay.”

“Just like that?” He narrows his eyes.

“I mean it. I ascend, and you stay safe,” I say, and Kai frowns. “I mean, you keep your sister safe…”

He offers me a cautious smile. “Okay.”

He’s right. I can’t risk my ascension.

I can’t risk their lives.