I stare at the door for a second, but I already know my choice.
I might not understand everything, but the only way I’m getting answers is by finding them, even if it means accepting whatever I now am. I walk to the door, and Professor Badhur bows his head at me. “Blessed be the angels.”
“Blessed be the angels,” I find myself replying before I step out of the room and into my new life.
Chapter 3
The cold from the stone under my feet makes me hyperaware of everything as I walk down the dimly lit corridor towards the warm yellow light at the other end. I can hear whispered voices somewhere nearby, I can smell blood and sweat, like it sticks to the walls, and I feel a tiny amount of damp that itches my nose. I shiver as I get closer to the end of the corridor, where there is a frosted glass door, making it impossible to see anything but warm yellow light on the other side. The door has a silver handle, and the light coming from behind it flickers every now and then like a fire would. I look back down the corridor, seeing that I’m completely alone and the professor never followed me out.
God, I’m scared.
I calm my shaky hands as I turn the handle of the door and pull it open, feeling a blast of heat across all of my skin, followed by the hushed whispers. Two hooded angels stand right in front of the door, both wearing white cloaks with long hoods that hide their faces. The only difference is their wings. One of them has white wings, much like Professor Badhur, and the other has pitch black wings that remind me of a starless night sky. At the same time, they step aside and stretch their hands out in front of them, and only then do I realise the massive room I’ve just walked into. It’s a dome made out of stained glass with a stone floor and seating all around the edges, making the room look like an arena.
The seats are filled to the brim with angels, and there is a clear divide between each of the sections. Angels with white wings all sit in one part, and then there is a row of empty seats before the section of people that look like normal people with no wings. Then another gap before angels with black wings sit all together. There must be a thousand people in the room, and all their eyes are on me as I walk down past the seats and into the clearing in the centre. There are twenty people sat on chairs, and right at the back, there is one empty seat. Every single one of the twenty people look as young as I do as they all stare, and I look between each one of them before I see the one familiar pair of eyes I didn’t know I was looking for.
“Riley.” I whisper his name like a prayer, relief filling my steps as I go to the remaining chair next to him and sit down. Riley wordlessly stares at me, and then he smiles in relief, and I let out the breath I was holding in. I smile back, not knowing what else to do as the two angels who walked me in move to stand in front of the group, and they slowly take down their hoods. Riley’s little finger hooks in mine, comforting me when we both know we need to be quiet.
Whatever is going on, we will fix it together. It’s what best friends do.
“My name is Professor Louton, and welcome to The Angel Academy,” the angel with black wings comments. She is young with bright blonde hair, a long nose and a very serious expression. Her purple eyes look like they might have been bright once, but now darkness tints them, matching the rest of her. The other angel looks a lot older with long grey hair and expressionless features. He simply just stands there, looking at something above our heads and ignoring the world. “I am a dark angel, and Master Gabriel at my side is a light angel. Your first year at Angel Academy is designed to test your nature and for you to find an answer to the most important question in your life now.”
“The choice between light and dark. You must choose which wings and which side of your new soul you wish to fully take,” Master Gabriel follows up, his words echoing around the room.
“More will become apparent as the year carries on, and at the end, you will choose a side. You will each try to spend three years at The Angel Academy, learning what you need to become a Guardian Angel to an important human being,” Professor Louton continues and clears her throat.
“What happens if you don’t want to do this? What happens if you fail at something?” I ask into the brief silence, and it goes so quiet in the room that I wonder if I should have kept my mouth shut.
“You die, lass,” Master Gabriel answers me, none too kindly at all.
“If you successfully finish The Angel Academy, you will have a brilliant life and find your place in the world of the angels. Welcome to Neamh, the home of the angels, and blessed be the angels,” Professor Louton says, and every angel in the room repeats her parting words as I look towards Riley.
“What the frigging hell do we do next?” I whisper. “This is some messed up cult shit. We need to escape.”
“No clue, Katy, but it isn’t a cult. Okay, maybe it is, but doesn’t being an angel sound pretty cool?” he asks, and I look away. No, it doesn’t because I didn’t choose this.
And I don’t like the sound of the price we are going to pay to the light above. Whatever the heck that is.
“All new students, please make a line and follow after me, and the students finishing their year one must stay behind to make their choice. Master Gabriel will be guiding you, and blessed be the angels no matter which side you pick,” Professor Louton states, and nearly every student gets up right away, including Riley. I only get up when he pulls on my arm, and we get into the line that follows Professor Louton back into the corridor we came from. There is laughter from the other angels in the room, and I follow the sound to clash my gaze with a pair of golden flame-filled eyes, just before I head into the corridor and out of sight.
Tugging Riley’s arm towards me, I whisper, “Where do you think they are taking us?”
“Nowhere good, that I’m sure of. I’m Vesnia Burns,” a girl right behind me answers for Riley, and I look back, seeing her curly red hair that reminds me of my own hair, except that it is as red as blood. Her eyes are nearly black but with tints of brown, and her pale-skinned face is covered in freckles.
“I actually agree with you. I’m Kaitlyn Lightson, and this is my best friend, Riley Becker,” I reply.
“You’re lucky you came in here with someone,” she answers, her eyes nervously looking around.
“I don’t think any of us are lucky,” I whisper back as cold air blows around my cloak, and we get to the end of the corridor, where nothing but a cliff edge and the brisk night sky greet us.
“Stand in a line by the edge. Be careful,” Professor Louton demands, and reluctantly I do as she asks, standing between Riley and Vesnia. The cold is brutal as my bare feet dig into the flat stone below me.
“Do you see creatures flying below you?” Professor Louton asks. I lean over the edge just a little bit as everyone else does, and I’m shocked silent by the sight in front of us. In the night sky, hundreds of horses of many different colours fly around the clouds, disappearing in and out of them. I can’t see the ground, and it makes me wonder exactly how high up we are. “These are flying horses, and they are gifts for new angels. They will be your familiars, yours to look after and trust in. Now catch one.”
“What do you mean—” Vesnia asks just as something hard slams into my back, and I scream as I fall off the edge of the cliff.