Chapter 26
Etched, Engraved, Enshrined
A single tube of lip balm stood guard outside my door the next morning.
I slipped it into my pocket with no plan to use it, but warmth bloomed in my chest at the possibility that it was a gift.
A weird gift, but still a gift.
Growing up the way I did, gifts weren’t common, so I treasured even the strange ones, regardless of who they were from. If a tyrannical monster with dark, swirling eyes wanted to give me strange gifts, more power to them. Didn’t mean they’d get anything in return.
There was also a note nearby, half-stuck under the door, close enough that I nearly stepped on it.
A simple white envelope with just my name printed in block letters.
My tongue pasted itself to the roof of my mouth, and my airway constricted, a wave of dread washing over me as I stared at the envelope.
I crouched, heart pounding, and studied the envelope as if it were roadkill.
My hands shook as I peeled it open, half-expecting to see a drawing of me stabbed in the chest or dismembered and pierced to the sides of The Tower.
“Shit,” I muttered as I unfolded the flap.
He said he’s glad you’re alive.
He’ll write soon.
The handwriting matched the additional note scribbled on the invitation I’d received that started this whole mess. Veda must have heard back from Zade about the note I’d sent him, but the knot behind my sternum tightened as I wondered whether it would’ve been better if I’d never sent it.
Glad I’m alive? He’ll write soon? So, he’s not panicked, just living his life as usual? Or is he distraught? Is he going to come find me or not?!
I forced myself to fold Veda’s note twice and slide it under my mattress before heading for breakfast. I’d write a more straightforward note later today and ask Veda to pass it along.
I’d tell him to wait for me.
We’ll finally run away like you wanted. I’ll find you. Don’t find me.
I’d take some power back and set up my plan.
Set my own plan.
I was actually disappointed to see Salah already sitting at the table. My head still spun from last night, and I’d hoped for a quiet meal. I had to put in too much effort to focus on what she was saying when I sat down because my thoughts thrummed much louder.
The singing. The note. Soren way too close.
Zade being too casual about my getting kidnapped by the terrorist organization he had raged over so vehemently.
Soren acting like a complete psycho.
Not entirely sure he’s acting. Probably a bona fide psycho.
“—heard that you’re finally getting into the training grounds today. But you didn’t hear it from me,” Salah said around egg toast. “I’m not supposed to know that. The person who told me will get in trouble if he gets caught sharing info like that.”
She mumbled something else about not knowing why he’d told her in the first place, but I couldn’t make it out over the smacking of her breakfast in her mouth.
“Lips are sealed,” I promised and poked at the raspberry tart I’d been nibbling on for the last ten minutes.
Salah wasn’t eating much either. Her gaze kept drifting across the cafeteria.
I followed it to the devilishly handsome strawberry-blond. Matthias.
“What are you looking at?” I prodded, aiming for casual and missing it by a mile.
Her cheeks turned a light pink.
It wasn’t the first time—or even the seventh—that I’d caught her staring at the nicer twin (and I don’t mean nice, just nicer).
She glanced in his direction again, then tried for a shrug.
“I don’t like being in the same room as him without knowing where he is,” she whispered. “He’s an incubus. And he’s terrifyingly dangerous for me.”
I snorted before I could stop myself.
I’d never once seen Matthias bother Salah. In fact, she was the only person he never bothered to touch when they passed each other.
Matthias was a jerk, sure. But out of Chapel’s psycho crew, he somehow felt like the least horrible.
He’d even been kind to me once, after Marigold shoved me and I dropped all my books.
He’d helped me gather all my things and even held the door to the classroom open for me to enter first. Though he never missed the opportunity to say something utterly unsettling, like, “Planning any more field trips to N-Block at night? Let me know, and I’ll keep my door open for you, sweetheart. ”
“Why would he be so dangerous for you?” I asked.
Salah jerked her gaze back to me when Matthias’s own drifted in our direction.
“I’m so weak toward him,” she whined. “If he wanted to use his seduction powers on me to take every last bit of my soul, I wouldn’t have an ounce of fight in me to hold him off.”
I held my laughter back, barely. “Is that what he does? He sucks out your soul with sex?”
My friend’s cheeks darkened to cherry-red as she nodded. “Marigold and Matthias use seduction to literally steal life from others. It’s why Marigold and Soren are so sexually compatible. He steals her soul with a mere touch, and she sucks it right back with her p—”
A three-tone chime crackled over an intercom before the announcement: “Eliana Chapman-Chen, please come to Ezra Bloomberg’s office.”
Half the cafeteria broke out into a sing-song chorus of “Oooo~.”
I snarled as I stood.
“What’s that about?” Salah whispered.
“No idea. Probably yesterday.”
I didn’t elaborate on whether it was the fight or the fact that I’d snuck into the old man’s office last night. Salah didn’t need to know about that.
“Maybe it’s about your access to the training grounds,” Salah called out after me cheerfully.
Probably not.
The walk to Ezra’s office felt completely different in daylight. Bright white overhead lights flooded the bustling hallways, making last night feel like a fever dream.
Maybe I’ve been sleepwalking. Maybe I dreamed it all up. The snake. The threatening note.
The bite on my tongue. The hand on my chest. The lips ghosting over mine.
The whispered promises and swimming eyes.
The last words of my conversation with Salah replayed in my mind, along with a spout of bile coming up my throat. Marigold and Soren being sexually compatible made me want to gut someone—or a few someones.
When I arrived at the office, Soren sat in one of the chairs in front of Ezra’s desk. He stood as soon as my foot crossed the threshold and backed toward the wall, motioning for me to take his place. His expression was completely unreadable as usual, his eyes dull and distant.
The room was definitely the same room I’d been in the night before, but so much was different that it couldn’t possibly be the same. It felt normal, almost safe.
No candles. No shadows. No scattered papers and death threats. Just bright fluorescents and a neatly organized desk.
The second door was still there. The same chairs. The same rug.
Ezra greeted me with a polite smile.
“Nice to finally meet with you, Eliana,” he said, extending a wrinkled hand over his desk. “Formally.”
I glanced at Soren, but he was studying the floor.
I ignored the handshake and lowered myself stiffly in the chair Soren had given up, gripping both armrests to keep myself from floating away.
A foot tapped behind me.
“Soren has already spoken with me about the disturbance in this room last night,” Ezra said lightly.
My stomach sank.
I wasn’t dreaming.
None of it had been in my head.
“Of course you weren’t,” the dark voice hissed somewhere inside me.
“It’s alright,” Ezra continued. “You’re not in any trouble. Soren explained that you’ve been having trouble sleeping. Said you heard the singing.”
A loaded silence stretched between us.
I turned to Soren again.
He was still staring at the floor, but I might have noticed a hint of a jump in the muscle along his jaw.
“Mmhmm,” I said so eloquently. Suddenly, I was aware of the scratchiness in my dry throat.
I let my gaze dance about the room, searching for the book Soren had stolen from me—without making it obvious I was searching. Fleeting glances here and there. Careful and casual. If they knew I was looking, they’d probably stop me. Soren would for sure.
Ezra opened a drawer and pulled something out—a yellowed paper, folded in half.
The threat.
He waved it once, then tucked it neatly back inside the desk drawer.
“We both believe that you are in grave danger,” he said. “More than we previously surmised. It seems there might be a Fallen inside Chapel.”
I blinked.
I licked my lips but stopped halfway through the motion. My neck heated at the possibility of Soren having seen it. I knew he wouldn’t bite my tongue right here in front of Ezra, but he could find me later and demand his dues.
“A Fallen?” I asked. “Can’t you just explain things normally for once? Instead of being all cryptic? It’s almost like you all want me in a constant state of confusion.”
The Fallen must have been mystery lingo I hadn’t yet reached in my studies. Logically, it probably had something to do with The Fall. Members of The Way often blamed all the evil in the world on the decision to eat a stupid apple, but wouldn’t all humans be a Fallen then?
Ezra chuckled and leaned his elbows on his desk.
“I’ve heard you were an interesting girl.
I see why now. You’re right. I should be more straightforward.
Let me simplify it.” He steepled his fingers and cleared his throat.
“The Fallen are the angels that were cast out of the Heavens when they rebelled against the Creator. They followed the Dark One and still serve him. In short, the most evil being in all the universe may have sent one of his henchmen to infiltrate Chapel and spy on you. A mole, of sorts. Perhaps, they have even been sent to kill you or lure you to the Dark One. And we have no idea who it is.”
Ezra glanced at Soren. My eyes followed, and my throat tightened as my palms started sweating.
Soren no longer stared at the floor. He looked straight at me with eyes blazing. Every other part of him bore nothing but relaxed confidence, remaining perfectly still.