Chapter Twenty-Two
I barely slept. My mind kept wandering back to the steel table, the syringe piercing my skin before the substance claimed my body, letting the fog of sleep hide me in the dark. Grams’ elegant handwriting was forever stained on the scroll of previous members, and now my name was added to the never-ending list.
Dean Poverly’s stern face hovered in my mind as he explained a small portion of what the Order represented for him and the others.
Heather.
I rolled over to gaze at her empty bed, her belongings untouched. Her bed had been made on Friday morning, with not a single imprint of a body part to be found to disrupt its perfection. Heather had become more than just a roommate in the first week, she’d become someone I could easily see myself having a lasting friendship with. The unknown outcome of her health as she slept scared me the most. Whatever happened during her Blessing had harmed her. More than me. And I had volunteered to make sure it was safe… but it took her anyway.
How can any of this be real?
I’d never been religious. In fact, my mother forbade us from attending mass whenever Grams suggested we go. Not a single cross or rosary bead was allowed inside our house, as my mother always thought Grams was crazy religious and believed in false history claims from the Bible. But what if she wasn’t crazy after all? What if these were all signs of her trying to prepare us for our future with the Order? Another thought crept in; why me and not my brother? Aiden could’ve easily been the one chosen to suffer through this nonsense, but instead, he’d bypassed the horror, and it had landed directly in my lap.
Then I remembered the gene discussion Dean Poverly mentioned, and he’d also said the Tutelary Saints had their genes. Did Aiden not have it? Or did he know and choose to run from it? Did Grams mention it to Aiden before her passing? And why didn’t she ever say it to me? Then again, if my mother knew something and chose to avoid anything religious, why would she send me to the same school her own mother attended but give Aiden the freedom to do what he wanted?
It wasn’t even eight yet and my head was already starting to pound. Nothing added up, and I wanted to crawl into a cave and never come out.
I decided while staring aimlessly at the ceiling, waiting for the pain in my temples to subside, that I would ditch all my classes. My energy level was nonexistent, and I needed to figure out where or who was assigned as my new professor. Yes, Dean Poverly had mentioned in passing that the Aces would become my new professors but failed to give me a new schedule to follow.
So, here I shall lay until I decide to find a way to rescue Heather.
I had half a mind to get the cops involved, but once Josh mentioned a psych evaluation, there would be a good chance they would send the white coats after me if I started talking nonsense about demon-slaying. Asking Grams was out of the question, given she’d passed four months ago, and my mother had tossed out her belongings, calling them junk. My instinct believed she hid them from us, but I refused to open that can of worms.
A couple of rough knocks interrupted my inner rant. “Remi, open up.” Josh’s voice carried underneath the gap of the door.
When I didn’t answer, he knocked again, only this time louder. “I know you’re in there.”
I groaned and hid under the covers, praying he would disappear. How long would I need to ignore him for him to go away?
It seemed that wasn’t an option, as the knob jiggled and the door swung open, hitting the wall.
“Are you seriously hiding under the covers?” Josh asked while trying to stifle a laugh.
“Go away,” I said. Space, that was all I wanted, to figure everything out.
“Nah, I think I’ll stay right here.”
“How did you get in here? The door was locked.”
From under the covers, I heard a jingle of something. “I have my ways.”
Stealing a peek from underneath the blanket, I spotted him sitting on Heather’s bed, dangling a set of keys mockingly. Josh caught my not-so-stealthy move and flashed a devilish smile in my direction.
But what irritated me the most was Heather’s once perfectly made bed ruined by Josh and his cockiness.
I jumped out from hiding and dragged him by the arm off her bed. “Stay off her bed!”
Josh shrugged out of my touch and took a step back. “What is your issue?”
“Why are you here?” I ignored his question and posed one of my own.
“Are you going to answer me?”
I stood my ground, not wanting to explain myself for protecting Heather’s belongings. Because the truth was, it had become the only reminder of her being alive while death gripped her by the neck, waiting to pull her under.
Then I remembered the long T-shirt I wore to bed, my bare legs exposed to his lingering eyes, which I caught looking me over.
Josh adjusted his posture. “All right, then.” He flashed a white folded piece of paper before my eyes, waving it around like a flag. “First, your new class schedule,” he paused and then removed a small black device from his front pocket on his jeans, “and a pager.” He plopped it in the palm of my hand.
“Why not use our phones?” I questioned, examining the device further.
“We want easy two-way communication with no apps involved. It’s a direct line to the Order; if other outside members come in to assist, they’re already connected. If a demon is spotted, we can send out a warning and our location,” Josh explained.
“And we can’t do the same stuff with our phones?”
He sighed and shook his head. “It’s hard to control drunk members, especially if they attend frat parties. You may think you’re sending out a signal, but you just texted your best friend the details of a Magidoz demon.”
“A what?”
Josh began to laugh and said, “How about we save the history lesson for Professor Toke?”
The idea of demons existing on the same planet as humans baffled me. How could we live in a world where true evil was able to walk among us? Part of me clung to the thought that our world was just toxic from ordinary people, but the other…
“I still don’t believe you,” I argued. Because after what I “saw,” a part of me could not grasp the reality of the situation. The other part, though, I knew. My hackles rose at the mention of demons, tickling my spine even as I fought Josh on his claim.
“You will in time.” The determination in his words left me silent.
We stared at one another for a couple of minutes, unsure where the conversation might take a turn.
I crossed my arms, refusing to break eye contact first.
Josh smirked, clearly amused by our little game. “I can do this all day.”
I snorted back a laugh. “So can I.”
The air around us shifted as I gazed into his eyes, and his hard exterior softened. Josh reached forward unexpectedly to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Why are you so defiant?”
I swallowed hard. The sensation of his fingertips against my ear left me exposed to a new feeling. A feeling that curled my toes and left the pit of my stomach fluttering like I’d swallowed a jar of butterflies.
But in this case, it would be a jar of wasps, and it left a sour taste in my mouth as Nickie’s face appeared in my mind.
Josh must have had the same thought, as we both abruptly stepped away from each other.
“Right. Well,” he cleared his throat, trying to regain control of the situation, “I expect you to start attending your classes tomorrow. I also added the time of your lessons with Father Benedict and myself.” Josh started to back up toward the door but halted with his hand on the threshold. “Um… Sunday will be your cape ceremony.”
My eyes bulged out of their sockets. “What?”
“Don’t worry about it right now. I’ll go over everything on Tuesday night when we begin our training—”
“You can’t just spring that on me before you leave.” I tried to get him to stay to explain further, but he stepped out into the hallway, the hallway light shining down on him like an angel.
“Oh, but I just did.” He gave me a farewell salute and left.
Too stunned to speak, I slammed the door and tossed the folded schedule on my desk, diving back under the covers to hide from the world. Maybe if I hid long enough, the others would forget me.