The only thought that gets me through the boredom is feeling that my mates are okay and praying that Ren and Myles are too. I don’t feel alone with my connection to them; it’s almost like they are here. I’m not really alone, I have to tell myself that. Vesnia is strong and nearly an angel, so the angels wouldn’t have taken her and hurt her, I doubt. Unless she mentions how much she clearly cares for a vampire. I figure that wouldn’t get her bonus points. Thallon is the same in some sense, and I believe he would have been safe from the angels. I can’t see why they would bother to hurt him.
Walking to my wall, I pick up a nail I dug out of the bed and drew a line through four others, making my sixth group, before stepping back. Thirty days. Thirty days of being locked in here without hearing another voice is getting to me now. I want to hear people, and I miss seeing anyone. Are the angels going to leave me locked in here until I go mad?
Am I going to be trapped in here forever? The air suddenly feels like it’s disappearing, and I close my eyes, reminding myself my mates will always try to come for me. I have to hope that someone can save me. Or I will find a way to save myself. I guess I could start digging through the brick wall with this nail…it would take a million years, but it could work. God, Kaitlyn, you have officially lost it. Dropping the nail on the floor, I climb onto my bed and look at my ghost friend and wonder, not for the first time, how exactly he got beheaded. Do angels behead people? Somewhere between my thoughts on beheading and why there is a ghost here when there wasn’t another ghost besides Ren in the academy, I fall asleep only to be woken up by the sound of locks clicking, a sound I haven’t heard before. I jolt to my feet, grabbing the nail and quickly shoving it into my hoodie pocket in case I need it.
The door swings open, hitting the wall, and two angels I have never seen before step in. They both are dark angels with matching uniforms that are pure white in colour. Thick armour covers their chest and shoulders, and white helmets cover all of their faces except for their eyes. Both of their dark wings are tucked behind them, a harsh contrast to the white uniforms.
“You are being moved for the trial tomorrow afternoon,” the guard on the right informs me, his accent thick and Welsh, if I’m correct. Hearing another person’s voice after so long is relaxing, and I find myself speechless. “Walk ahead, and make one move, you will be handcuffed and placed back in your room until tomorrow instead of the waiting area. This is a kindness to you.”
The guard shivers as the headless ghost walks through his body and out into the corridor.
“Got it,” I reply, nodding my head once and stepping forward. As I walk past them, the angel that hasn’t talked yet tightly grabs my elbow, digging his meaty fingers into my skin. That’s going to bruise.
“Vampire bitch. Don’t bite anyone, that’s against the rules too,” he warns with so much distaste and hate coating his words.
“Wow, anyone might think you hate vampires. What did we do to you?” I sarcastically reply with a sweet tone. He narrows his eyes at me before he lifts his hand and smacks me hard across the face. I would fall to the floor, but his tight grip on my arm stops me from falling. I cover my cheek with my hand, wishing it was worth it to kill this nasty bully.
“Bert, let her go,” the other guard warns his friend, and immediately he drops my elbow. I grit my teeth as I walk forward out into the corridor, which is just more grey stone wall and ceiling lights that match the ones in my room. My cheek throbs, but I drop my hand from it and beg my eyes not to water. Reacting would give them a good reason to put me back in that room. My need to escape this room is far larger than my desire to punch the angel guard. Glancing back at the ghost, my only friend for a whole month, I mentally pray he finds some kind of peace. Being stuck in that room is a fate worse than death. Seeing as there is only a flat concrete wall on the other end of the corridor, I head the other way and move quickly towards the metal door with a tiny window. I vaguely notice there isn’t a single other door down here, like they don’t trust me to be around anyone. It doesn’t stand well for my supposed trial tomorrow.
What the hell am I meant to do next?
I stop in front of the door, crossing my arms as the asshole Bert grabs a key off his belt and unlocks the door. Immediately a fresh breeze blows over me, and I suck in the air like I’ve never breathed before. Bert shoves me between my wings, making me stumble into the grass clearing, and I turn back, glaring at him as his guard friend shuts the door behind us. The first thing I notice are all the people—after a month of no one, I’m so relieved to see other people. They’re standing in a clearing, which is one large space with at least fifty doors in a half-circle on the other side, and I can vaguely see beds in the rooms through the glass doors. Grey slate walls stretch high, at least two floors, and in every corner of the space are watchtowers with angels looking down on me. The grass feels strange against my socks, but it’s better than the cold stone floors I have gotten used to. The sun shines down on me up here, and bells constantly ring in the distance. The city of the angels lies just outside these walls, so close but so far, it seems.
“Blessed be the angels,” the nice guard kindly says, nodding his head at me, but I don’t reply to him as he drags Bert away, and I spin around to find out who else is trapped in this place. There must be thirty people scattered around the clearing, and I recognise at least eight of them as vampires from the academy, but the rest are strangers. One of the vampires, with her bright red hair, catches my full attention as she smiles at me. I remember her from the academy...and she is only eight. Possibly nine. And oh god, the angels are never going to let her leave here. A blonde vampire woman wraps her arm around the girl’s shoulders and draws her away, but it doesn’t stop me blaming myself for getting her stuck in here. If I could have stopped Riley, if I could have convinced Ren to stop the war sooner. If, if, if. I have to save her somehow, and myself, and that is all that is important right now. I can plan everything else out later.
“Kaitlyn!” Vesnia shouts, and I pause as I see my best friend step around a group of vampires and come to a halt. Her red hair is cut much shorter, falling to her shoulders, and several parts are braided. Her clothes match mine—so does everyone else here—and she looks thinner than I’ve ever seen her. I run to her as she steps towards me, and someone else comes to her side.
“Did you say Kaitlyn?” Thallon’s deep voice washes over me as he follows Vesnia’s stare to me, and we lock eyes. I get to them both, and we all crash into each other, holding on tightly as I breathe them in.
Hell on a cracker, I missed them so much. Tears stream down my face as I back away a little, only for Thallon to kiss me, tugging me closer to him. A loud warning bell rings once in the distance, and Thallon lets me go, stepping back and holding his hands up. “We aren’t allowed to touch like that, but it was worth it.”
I laugh as Thallon gently touches my cheek, leaning my head to the side to see the no doubt redness on my cheek.
“The angels suck; that was a romantic moment they just interrupted,” Vesnia huffs, and I chuckle as Thallon lowers his hands, anger burning in them, but I shake my head. It isn’t worth it. Eventually he smirks at us both and runs his hands through his hair.
“I’ve missed you both. Have you been here the whole time?” I ask them as Vesnia takes my hand, like she needs to touch me for simple contact like I do with her. My eyes stay on Thallon’s, admiring his slight beard he has grown and how his brown hair has lost the sun-kissed highlights and is so much darker now. It makes me wonder how long he has been kept inside, just like me. Wearing only the black T-shirt and thick looking black trousers, I see his arms are bigger as though he has been working out, and his body presses against his shirt.