Page 11

Gemma

I’d known from day one Noah Farley was not a nice person.

Oh, he wasn’t mean like Reilly Argaud, or hateful like this girl named Shayla who I avoided at all costs, but he was not nice.

He caught me outside Angelic Languages on Monday morning and put a hand against the lockers so I couldn’t get by him.

“I’ve seen you hanging out with the demon taint,” he said with a frown. “You should stay away from something like that. You could lose your reputation and the few friends you’ve made.”

“I could care less about what others think of me. I make my choices and live with them.” I tilted my head to the side and tried to understand how someone could think the way he did. “And if I lose my friends because of that, then they were never really my friends.”

“Like you said, it’s your choice. When good people start ostracizing you, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”

“Good people? You mean, people like you ?” I lifted an eyebrow, almost enjoying this display of idiocy.

“Exactly. Everyone is starting to talk, Gemma. At first, we chalked it up to you being new to this world and not understanding how things work. But you’ve been here long enough now, and I know Ms. Fey warned you.”

“She did. And I let it go in one ear and out the other.”

“Gemma, you’re a First! You need to learn what that means. Look, I’m part of a group here on campus that teaches Firsts to have pride in our generational status. Come to a meeting with me tomorrow night. You’ll learn a lot about yourself and others like you.”

“Others like me.” Okay, I officially wasn’t enjoying it anymore. It was too frightening to be funny.

Do people really think this way? It’s like listening to Adolf Hitler or Bellatrix LeStrange.

“You were born better than most nephilim. Dilutes don’t stand a chance in the real world. They’re nothing. But you? You’re special. Come to the meeting. Our leader can explain it better than I can.”

“Kerry Harker is a First, too. What would you do if I brought him along?”

“Harker permanently tainted himself. There’s no coming back from that. He’s worthless now.”

“You just invalidated your argument, you know. You say only Firsts matter, but you won’t accept him, even though he is a First. Can you even hear how hypocritical you sound?”

“He ruined his life. I’m warning you, don’t ruin yours.”

“Now you listen closely, Noah Farley, so you can repeat it correctly when you spread gossip about me. I have zero tolerance for anyone who tries to corrupt my principles with his or her prejudice. I will do what I believe to be right regardless of what others think.”

“Fine!” His upper lip curled in disgust. “Be that way. I was trying to help you out, but—”

“I don’t need that kind of help, thank you very much.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you’re an outcast.” His nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. “If you live that long. Fifty bucks says the demon taint will lose it and kill you before the weekend. Maybe I’ll even be there to see it.”

He pivoted on his heel and found himself facing a nightmare.

#

Kerry

I didn’t kill Farley, but only because a little voice in my head reminded me about my promise to Gemma.

“If you wanted to see me lose it and kill someone, all you had to do was ask.” I grinned at him and let the power light me up.

Hey, I’d promised I wouldn’t hurt anyone. I didn’t say anything about scaring the piss outta someone.

The small crowd around us got noisy, Hank told me to calm down, and Gemma called my name. I ignored it all and focused on my new chew toy, whose dark eyes burned as they met mine.

“Well?” I taunted him. “You got the balls to come at me or you gonna stand there looking stupid all day?”

He was fast, I’d give him that, and I wasn’t in the best shape for hand-to-hand combat. I still managed to slam him into the lockers and ram my forearm in his throat.

“You have a problem with me, you take it up with me.” My voice was a rumble that rattled the metal doors around us. “And you leave her out of it.”

“Screw you!” he gurgled.

End him! Just call up a knife and slit his throat.

My body shuddered as I fought that side of myself. Up until a few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated. Now, though, the sweetest voice in the world called my name and asked me not to.

Taking a deep breath, I leaned down until I was almost nose-to-nose with Farley.

“You’re alive because she asks it. Otherwise, you’d be in a coffin.” I laced the words with a little power so he felt them, like how your heart feels when you’re next to a running jet engine. “She’s kind. That’s the reason she hangs out with me. The only reason. You spread any gossip besides that, and I’ll spread your guts all over the floor.”

I let him go and took a step back, and an older woman wedged herself between us.

“Mr. Farley, you can take yourself to the outer office and wait your turn.” She paused as he grabbed his bookbag and slunk off down the hall, then turned to me. “Well, well, well. Mr. Harker. I wondered when I’d have the pleasure. I’m the principal, Ms. Chapman.”

She had dark chocolate skin, iron-gray hair screwed up in an old-fashioned bun, and about a thousand lines coming off her pinched lips. I knew without being told she was a First or a very powerful Second, and I could feel the centuries hanging on her. Her dark brown eyes were sharp as scalpels, though, and cut me up into little puzzle pieces that she studied one by one.

When I didn’t answer her, she looked over my shoulder.

“Hank, bring your boy and come on.”

#

Ms. Chapman gave me a lecture I didn’t pay much attention to, then basically let me off the hook, which I hadn’t expected. I’d been prepared for her to kick me out.

Yeah, that’s the level of prejudice most nephs have against the formerly possessed.

“I don’t want to see you here again anytime soon.” She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows at me.

“Yeah, I don’t wanna be in here, either, but there are some things I can’t stand aside and watch happen. Especially if some loser is harassing G— Harassing a girl.”

“I understand that you have had years of dealing with problems on your own rather than turning the matter over to an adult in charge. As you adjust to society, however, you’ll learn how to trust people.”

Not likely , I thought, but was smart enough to keep my mouth shut.

“Reining in your temper must have been quite a challenge,” she went on. “You’re making progress faster than I would have thought.”

I lifted one shoulder. Not killing Farley had been a close thing, and I didn’t do it for the reasons she probably thought I did, but she didn’t need to know that.

Let her think what she wants.

“Hank’s a good warden,” was all I said.

She agreed, then sent us on our way.

We left her office, and Hank asked if I felt calm enough to go to class. My face musta said it all because he snorted.

“Let’s go back to the cottage. I have an idea to turn the library into a mini gym. You can help me.”

“Sounds good.” I wanted to get into better shape, and it wasn’t like I had much use for a library, anyway. “Ms. Chapman was fairer than I deserved, considering what I am.”

“You’re fortunate that she’s the principal. She has a unique understanding of the possessed.” He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a long breath. “I have to warn you, Kerry: There are many eyes upon you. Had another Elder or certain Council members been present, they would have lobbied to have you removed from not only school, but also the Sanctuary itself. You cannot afford to make mistakes like that.”

I understood. All too clearly. I needed to be the golden boy, perfect in every way, to earn everyone’s good opinion, but actually achieving any kind of acceptance here was as impossible as my hope of Heaven.

“Is Ms. Chapman a First?” I wanted to change topics before my thoughts spiraled down darker paths. “No, a Second, but both of her parents are Firsts.”

“So I take it that someone she loved went and got themselves possessed?”

Hank stutter-stepped.

“How did you know?” he demanded. “That is not common knowledge.”

“Most people need a reason to change. I told you before, remember? What other reason could make you do a one-eighty on something you were raised to believe was the worst kind of sin? I bet it was either her kid or her husband.”

He didn’t answer right away, but I guessed kid. People talk about a forever love when they get married, but we all know how that goes. And the hate and fear of the possessed were so ground into nephs, if it had been her husband, she woulda divorced him right quick.

But a kid? Now you’re talking major Mama Bear syndrome.

“Her son,” Hank finally proved me right. “He survived the exorcism, and Ms. Chapman’s eyes were opened to the prejudice of our people. She saw first-hand how Ray’s burden was heavier for it, how even his own father, her husband, condemned him despite his contrition.”

“Contrition?”

“He knew he’d made the wrong choice and regretted it. He served his penitence and was absolved, oh, about twenty years ago now.”

“Good for him,” I mumbled.

Oh, I knew about absolution, but it wouldn’t work for me. To be absolved, you had to be sorry in your heart of hearts. I didn’t see what I’d done as a mistake, and I sure didn’t regret it. That attitude don’t work so well when you’re asking to be washed as white as snow.

There were other ways, but one meant death and another was never gonna happen. That left one alternative that I knew of if I didn’t wanna roast in Hell for eternity.

“Anyway,” Hank interrupted my thoughts, “unless you do something extra stupid, Ms. Chapman will be your ally.”

“To make up for how no one was on her son’s side?”

“Your insight is a constant surprise.” He half-smiled. “I won’t presume to know that is what she feels. However, were I you, I’d take advantage of having a Council elder on my side.”

“Oh, I will.” Like I said before, I was tainted, not dumb. “But how do you know about all this, if it’s not common knowledge?”

“I know Ray’s story more than hers. He was on my team for more than a century after the exorcism.”

“You took him on even though he stank of possession taint?” It was my turn to stutter-step.

“Gina convinced me to give him a try.” He shrugged one shoulder as if that said it all, and I guess it did. I got the feeling he would do pretty much anything Ms. Weatherbee wanted. “It turned out to be a good decision. He saved my life twice. Now he leads my old team while I babysit you.”

“Ha ha.”

By then, we were home. I unlocked the front door, and we went to work on the library. It took an hour, but we got the home gym set up and packed away the books to take over to a storage unit later.

“Time for a snack?” I asked.

“Okay. I need to talk to you about something else, anyway.”

I sighed, figuring it would be a repeat of the earlier lecture, but he surprised me.

“I know you’re familiar with what goes on in the Diabolical world,” he said as we made sandwiches. “Your fellow classmates, however, are not. The Council would like to keep it that way.”

His face was set in serious lines, but his eyes were guarded.

“They told you to tell me that, didn’t they? The Council wanted you to warn me to keep my mouth shut.”

“Yes, and I have to agree with part of their logic.” He spread mustard on his bread. “Scaring a bunch of innocent kids serves no purpose.”

“And when they go out into the Real World?”

“We set up missions for teams of seniors in the spring. Simple adventures with low risks. They might take out a few imps or a pair of Hellcats. If they prove good at it, they’re asked to go out again. Wardens scout recruits from there to join Council-backed teams to go on sanctioned missions.”

“Why senior year? Why not earlier? A kid can take out an imp if he knows what he’s doing.”

I layered pepperoni and ham with slices of pepper jack cheese, then added the top slice of bread and smashed it down flat enough to fit in my mouth.

What? I was hungry .

“Most students turn eighteen during their senior year and are considered adults. It’s been many, many years since the Council approved the use of children in the field of combat.”

“You’re not doing them any favors.” I stopped dumping chips onto my plate, impressed with how stupid the Council was. “If I ran this place, they’d start training as soon as they could walk.”

“We’re a Sanctuary, kiddo, not a military base.”

“And when Big Evil knocks on the front door, you’ll be f—”

“Language.” Hank gathered up his plate and glass of water and headed for the table. “We have wards in place that protect the valley. I’ll take you up into the mountains one weekend and show you. While I agree with you that we should train earlier, the Council wants children to grow up as normally as possible.”

“You mean as human as possible.” I snorted. “We ain’t human, Hank.”

“True. Still, nephilim have scores of years to adjust to the realities of life. So long as we have the means to keep them safe, let the young ones keep their illusions of safety until they’re old enough to bear the burden of truth.”

I scowled. In my experience, that kind of reasoning got people killed. Learning how to keep yourself safe gave you a much better chance of staying alive than relying on others to do it for you. And the sooner you learn how to fight, the longer you have to practice it before you have to use it.

Speaking of fighting…

“Do you think anyone appreciates it?” I plunked my plate down on the table and went back to the fridge for a drink. “That, despite our fathers, most nephs join the fight ‘against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places’?”

“How did you quote the Bible?” He sounded shocked.

“My mom used to read it to me. She wanted me to ‘fight the good fight.’ Plus, I have a friend who wears that verse on his arm.”

I grabbed a bottle of soda, not even looking what it was. I didn’t like thinking about Hinge. Even though I knew there was nothing I could do about his situation, it bothered me that I’d left him behind.

“No.” Hank shook his head. “I meant, doesn’t it hurt you?”

“Huh? Oh. No, not now. It did when I was possessed. Burned my mouth like a son of a b—”

“Language. Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but the archangels appreciate us. They are kept well occupied by the Principalities of the Air, so, yes, they greatly appreciate our help in keeping the lower ranks contained.”

I sat down and waited while he said grace, then took a huge bite of my sandwich.

“Look,” he said around a mouthful of chips, “don’t share too many gory details with your friends. It’ll make the Council happier with you and silence some of your critics. In a few weeks, we’ll start up missions and you can lead the more advanced ones. That is, if you feel ready.”

“I ain’t planning to spend the rest of my life in hiding, Warden. And I’m getting bored. I’m not used to sitting around with my thumb up my a—”

“Language.”

“Stop it! Every other word outta your mouth is ‘language’! It’s annoying as f—” I caught myself this time. Scrubbing a hand through my hair, I scowled at him. “This is hard!”

“Yes. It’s hard.” He grinned. “But give it time. You’ll eventually wean yourself off cuss words.”

I didn’t see the point of this, but he’d been pretty clear from day one that I would need to clean up my mouth. And now I thought about it, I hadn’t heard much cursing at school. Gemma sure didn’t use any.

I cringed to think of her hearing some of the language I used on the daily. It would be like throwing mud on a masterpiece, to pollute her ears like that.

“I guess I’ll try harder,” I sighed.

“You could use substitutes. Fudge. Sugar. Jiminy Cricket.”

“ Jiminy Cricket? ” I rolled my eyes at him. “Yeah, that’s never gonna happen.”