“Are you going to ask Jordan out again?” Riley asks, relaxing back in his seat.
“Nope. We both are on summer break, but it’s nearly September,” I remind him. Riley has certainly had his summer fun, while I’ve been in my house, mainly reading. I think back to the book I left half read earlier today, a paranormal romance about—
“What book are you thinking about?”
“How do you know I was thinking about a book?”
“Because I know you, Katy—” Anything Riley was going to say is lost as the car harshly slams into something, and the world seems to slow down. With wide eyes, I grip the steering wheel tightly in my hand and scream as the car seems to float for a moment. In the silence, in the moment where I’m sure I’m floating, I reach for my best friend.
And then everything goes black.
Chapter 2
“She doesn’t scream like the others. How...fascinating.” A deep, albeit hazy, voice drifts to my ears as I lie in something hot, something burning me right down to my soul. I immediately open my eyes and try to sit up, but I can’t see anything except white light and I can’t move. A scream escapes my lips, even though I try to keep it in, as the pain extends from my back, all across my body until there is nothing but the feeling of fire in the pitch-black room. Within seconds the pain is gone, and I fall through the air, slamming solidly onto cold stone as light blasts into my eyes, making them hurt. I curl up, pulling my knees to my naked chest as I dart my eyes around the stone room I’m in. Strange white symbols that look like they are on fire are drawn into the stone around the room, and there must be thousands of them. Looking up, I see white fire in a ball above me, burning so brightly like a star. It’s beautiful, and I find myself staring at it like it can give me some answers to the hundreds of questions running around in my mind.
Was I inside that?
Where are my clothes?
Where the frigging hell am I?
The sound of wood dragging across stone makes me snap my gaze behind me as the only door to the room opens and a man in a white cloak steps in. He has waist-length, straight black hair that somehow doesn’t look feminine at all on him. His hazel eyes watch me under his thick black eyelashes, and I would guess he is in his thirties.
Wait, not a man.
An angel.
White fluffy wings hang off his shoulders, big enough to drop onto the floor behind him. He walks towards me and, to my surprise, sits down on the stone and offers me a white cloak with a pair of white shorts. I eye the clothes in his hands for only a moment before I take them, feeling the silky material under my hands. I carefully put the clothes on, pulling my hair out of the top of the cloak and tucking it around me as I sit still.
“Yes, angels exist, and in the world you grew up in, there was much magic around you,” the angel says first. No explanation to why I’m here, just a statement about there being more magical beings in the world other than me. I wonder if angels can see ghosts.
Lifting my gaze from the ground, I search his calm hazel eyes. “I can see angels exist, clearly...unless you are very good at making costumes. Why did you tell me that?”
“Usually that’s the first question everyone asks. Was it not going to be yours?” he enquires, tilting his head to the side, some amusement and interest in his expression.
When you see ghosts all the time, believing angels are real is nothing. But old habits die hard, so I don’t tell him that.
“I was going to ask who the hell you are and why you kidnapped me,” I state, crossing my arms. “If you are part of some cloak wearing cult group, you have the wrong person. I legit will be the worst member ever.”
To my surprise, he laughs, a soft laugh that makes me want to relax. I don’t though, I’m not stupid. “Young people, you do amuse me so.” He is still laughing, and I glare at him long enough that he clears his throat, a big smile still on his lips. “We did not kidnap you, and we are not a cult, Kaitlyn Lightson.”
“That’s exactly what a cult would say,” I point out, and it only seems to amuse him more. I arch an eyebrow, and he sighs, his smile dropping.
“What is the last thing you remember, Miss Lightson?” he asks, and until then, I don’t know why I didn’t remember.
The car...it crashed, and then there was nothing but darkness until the pain of the fire. I was in the damn fire?
Did they drag me out of the car and bring me here? And why would the angels do that? I suppose I’ve always been worried my powers would put me in danger one day, but I assumed it would be because of a psycho ghost and not an angel kidnapping cult.
“Riley and I were in a car. I was driving, and I’m sure we crashed into something,” I mumble, running the last few moments of the crash over and over. There was something in the road, but I wasn’t looking. It was my fault. I snap my eyes to the angel. “Wait, where is Riley? Why aren’t I in a hospital? Where are my parents?”
“Please do calm down, Miss Lightson. Mr. Riley Becker is fine, and your parents are on earth, where they should be,” he starts to explain, and I feel like the ball is about to drop right before it actually does. “Miss Lightson, your human soul and body died in the car crash on the sixteenth of August 2019. It was a tragic and predestined accident that happened to twenty people at the exact same time all over the earth, and I am sorry for your loss. Now—”
I stop him because this shit sounds unbelievable. “How could I have died if I’m right here, you know, alive?”
“I was getting to that. Please don’t interrupt until the end,” he suggests, and I frown but keep quiet. “The angel birthmark on your thigh is called an angel blessing. Any baby born with an angel blessing will die between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one in a predestined tragedy. The young adult is then reborn in holy fire, and they become an angel in training, an opportunity to become something incredible. A blessing in death, you might say.” He points a finger into the air, and I look up, lost in the beauty of the white fire for a moment again.
“Are you suggesting I was reborn in that white fire and I’m now an angel?” I ask, and then I laugh. I’m still laughing as I stand up, shaking my head. “Right, you are crazy, and I need to go home now.”
He shakes his head, a serious edge appearing in his eyes. “My name is Professor Badhur, and I am one of the many teachers here at The Angel Academy. You will learn more in the welcoming ceremony ahead of you, but there is something important I must explain to you before that.”
“Which is?”
“The holy fire saved your soul, and now you owe a debt to the light above. If you try to run away, kill another angel or break any of the rules given to you, you will be killed. This is your second chance at life, Miss Lightson, do not fail at it,” he gravely tells me. “If you pass The Angel Academy, you will be paired with another angel and given a human to watch over until their deaths. As you are now immortal, many humans will be your charges.”
I’m speechless as I stare at him for a long time, hearing the distant sound of chatter and water dripping. “You’re not lying, are you?”
“Light angels do not lie; it taints our souls, and it is the deal we made for our wings,” he tells me as he walks to the door and holds it open for me. “The next part of your angel life is yours. If you do not wish to live it, then stay in this room, and I will end your life. If you wish to fight for this chance, walk out of this door with your head held high and find your destiny.”