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  I swear I could see Angela grinning as if she agreed with what I was saying. “Sometimes, lies are a necessity in order to protect the ones who need protecting.”

  I shrugged. I now fully understood why Hunter had trust issues with everyone in the Academy.

  ***

  The hallways leading to the dorms were empty and cold. Angela opened the door to my room, and inside wasn’t so different. Bare walls… bare everything.

  “Your roommate’s name is Ember. She should be here in about one hour so that should give you time to adjust.”

  I nodded. Looking around, I didn’t see how anyone could stay in that room and actually be able to sleep without having nightmares.

  “Meal times are on your schedule. Ember will lead you there. Is there anything else that you need?” she asked.

  “Yes, why is Ember here?” If I was going to share this room, I wanted to at least know what I would have to watch my back for.

  Angela smiled. “Nothing too serious, I suppose. You will soon find that Ember has a very spontaneous personality, and she is very… how can I put this?... She is very flirty.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Great! My ‘protector’ is the Academy’s slut.”

  Angela actually laughed; then quickly recovered, but she was still grinning. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t funny. Excuse my behavior. It is not exactly like that. Ember is one of the fallen angels of lust. It is not something that she can help. It is like an addiction. Truly, if you consider what others are here for, that is barely an issue at all.”

  “If you say so.”

  SEVEN

  Hunter

  Hunter barged into Daniels’ office.

  “This is becoming a very annoying habit of yours, Mr. Chambers,” said Daniels.

  “I saw them walking toward the dorms. You must have decided who will be around Kayla. I want to know who.”

  Daniels looked startled. “I owe you no explanations, Mr. Chambers, but since this seems to be important enough for you to skip class, which you will be making up by the way… Kayla is staying with Ember.”

  “Are you freaking kidding me?”

  “That is enough, Hunter! You know that Ember’s problems hurt no one but herself. She is the best choice for Kayla. Now, you need to go back to class.”

  Hunter hesitated to leave. “Mr. Daniels, what are you going to do about Kayla’s situation with her parents… I mean, with Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher?”

  “I will figure something out. This is not something you should be worried about.”

  “I have an idea that may help.”

  That got Daniels attention, because he really did have no idea on how to proceed. He had a feeling that Kayla wouldn’t stop trying to find ways to contact her adoptive parents… it was only a matter of time before he ran out of excuses.

  “I’m listening.”

  “Chase—“

  Daniels interrupted. “As I said before, Chase cannot be allowed in here.”

  Hunter was getting frustrated. “Yes, I know! But Kayla knows Chase. If I could maybe summon him to the Academy’s gates and ask him to keep an eye on things for Kayla… to let her get updates about her parents through him…”

  “…and just how are you going to convince Kayla to listen to you? She seemed to want you away.”

  Hunter ignored that reminder. “I will find a way.”

  Hunter got up to leave.

  “Sit down, Hunter,” ordered Daniels.

  Daniels sighed. “I must admit that you know a lot more about Kayla than I had anticipated. What can you tell me that might help her let go of her adoptive parents?”

  Hunter looked at him, startled. “Not a thing. Kayla loves them. Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher would do anything for her and I know it is not my place, but you shouldn’t even attempt that route with Kayla.”

  Daniels hid his anger, mostly because he needed to know more about his daughter and Hunter was the only one around who really knew her. “Okay then... Tell me about Kayla so that I can find ways to help her adjust faster.”

  Hunter grinned. There was something different about him whenever he talked about Kayla. “Kayla is… different. You can’t predict her. She does what she wants, when she wants.”

  “I did notice that she lacks discipline. I can tell that she was spoiled by her adoptive parents.”

  “She did live a sheltered life, but no, that is not what I meant. Kayla is strong willed…. She gets something in her head and she goes with it… and as you can already tell, don’t cross her or you won’t be trusted. You have to work to gain her trust and work even harder to keep it.”

  Daniels looked at Hunter, eyebrows arched, thinking that Kayla was going to be the most difficult person to deal with in the entire Academy, but mostly thinking about how much Kayla was exactly like he used to be.

  EIGHT

  Kayla

  Inside the drawer there was nothing but jeans and white or black shirts. They have got to be kidding me! I thought to myself. The shoes they had left me were just as awful…. And those bare walls were going to drive me insane.

  On the desk, there was my class schedule and other things. The schedule was umm… interesting, for the lack of a better word. There were a few plain regular classes, then Latin, Religion, Ancient History, Philosophy, Meditation, and the so-called private lessons. I would literally be in classes most of the day. At that time, I would have given anything to get out of it, but looking back, I would never wish for what did happen to cause my schedule load to lighten, so to speak.

  When Ember walked in the room, all I could do was stare at her. She was definitely not what I expected. She had long blond hair with red highlights and she wore a short, tight cute black dress with awful looking boots.

  All I could say was, “Cute dress.”

  She smiled. “I’m Ember… you must be Kayla.”

  I nodded.

  “How come you don’t wear these awful clothes they gave me? Please tell me there is somewhere around here where I can get something different to wear.”

  “I like you already,” she said. “Unfortunately, what you see is what you get, but when you are not in class, help yourself to my closet.”

  “Thanks. How did you get that stuff anyway?”

  “I have my ways,” she said.

  “Any chance you have a cell phone or a computer hidden somewhere?”

  Ember laughed. “I guess I’m not that good after all. Even if I did have them, there would be no signal, no Internet connection. There is a phone line, but that only goes to Mr. Daniels office and there is just no way you will get to use it without approval.”

  “Oh.”

  “Look, I know most of you humans hate to talk to the dead, but you could use that to your advantage.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean… if there is one of those dead people who you can manipulate in some way… you can have them watch over your human family…give you updates… I’ve seen some of the haunted doing that before.”

  “But will I be able to summon them from here?”

  “I don’t think so… You will have to go to the front gates where the protection is not as strong as in the heart of the academy. You may not be able to do it… depends on how strong you are. I can help you,” she offered. “Best time to do that will be at night.”

  Something about her willingness to help threw me off, and soon, I realized that she was trying to gain my trust for a reason.

  “So… what is the deal with you and Chambers?” she asked.

  “There is no deal.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  I nodded.

  “Excellent. I would hate to get into arguments with my new roomie over a guy.”

  “That meaning?”

  “That meaning, I have dibs on him.”

  I shrugged, turned around and rolled my eyes. Based on the girls from my school, I mean… old school, Ember was exactly the type of girl that Hunter would stay away from.

  I went back
to organizing my side of the room, even though there was barely anything to organize.

  I thought that making friends would make it easier to get out of here. Now, I wasn’t so sure.

  After I ran out of things to do, there was nothing left but awkward silence between Ember and I. I lay down on my bed. Ember now sat on her bed, holding and staring at a drawing pad as if she was waiting for something to just automatically happen to it.

  It was getting dark when Ember suddenly threw her drawing pad down and sat up looking at me.

  “So, have you thought about my offer?”

  Something about her tone bothered me. I snapped back, “I’m still thinking about it.”

  “Really?! I’m offering you something that should require a simple yes or no answer. It is not that difficult!”

  “Look, there are risks, okay? I just got here and I don’t know you… I don’t know this place. If I want some time to think about it before making my decision, that is what I will do!”

  Honestly, I knew I was going to move forward with the plan. I just didn’t want her help in doing so.

  She seemed frustrated at my refusal. The lights had gone off by then. She said she was bored and even though there was a curfew in place, she snuck out. Once Ember left, I knew that was my chance to get away.

  I still didn’t know my way around, but I could see the front gates from my window. I knew that I would be able to find my way there.

  It was dark outside, and the fog didn’t make it hard for me to hide from the few people who were out.

  Once I reached the front gates, I crouched in the corner, closed my eyes, and tried to summon Chase. He was the only one I knew. Hunter seemed to have trusted him… so I decided to take my chances.

  “You shouldn’t be here by yourself,” he whispered. “What are you doing here anyway?”

  The sound should have startled me, but Hunter’s voice was so familiar, so soothing, that it didn’t even make me flinch.

  I opened my eyes.

  “I wanted to talk to Chase.”

  “Alone?”

  “Yeah, well… my roommate offered help, but I got the impression that she wanted me to owe her for something.”

  “Smart move,” he said. “They are not to be trusted.”

  I laughed. “I AM one of them, Hunter.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that, Kayla.”

  “It doesn’t matter. You kept things from me!”

  “Kayla, I didn’t have a choice.”

  “There are always choices. The ones who claim not to have one, only do so because they are afraid of living with the consequences of their decisions.”

  Hunter didn’t say anything to that.

  “So, do you want to tell me what you want to talk to Chase about?”

  “No, I don’t.” I got up and started to walk away.

  “Kayla,” he called.

  I looked back.

  “I would never compare you to any of them. You are different. You are not like any of them… you are not like anyone else I’ve ever met.”

  No matter how hard I tried, there was just no way not to grin at that. I just couldn’t stay mad at him. I hoped that he didn’t notice me grin, but he did. He rushed toward me, putting his hand on the back of my neck, he slowly pulled me toward him and kissed me… making me think for the first time that there was the slightest chance that what I thought I had heard while I was in the Otherworld, was true.

  When we stopped kissing, he reached for my hand, our fingers entwined, and he met my gaze. “I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you about your father.”

  “Hunter… that honestly doesn’t bother me as much as you not telling me about what I really am.”

  “Kayla,” he whispered. “That, I didn’t know, I swear! Like I told you before, I didn’t even know about Daniels being a fallen… no one does but very few of the fallen.”

  “… and you are not lying about that?” I asked.

  “No, I’m not.”

  I believed Hunter. Trusting people didn’t come easy for me. The only ones I was ever able to count on were my adoptive parents. Yet, here I was, in a place where I knew no one. Trusting Hunter became easier.

  I told Hunter that I wanted to summon Chase; that I wanted to ask him to keep an eye on my parents. He said he was thinking the same, but was surprised that I had come up with that.

  When I told him that Ember had been the one to suggest it, Hunter looked puzzled, reminding me again not to trust her. I wasn’t going to argue with that.

  “Was she in your room when you left? Did she see you leaving?” he asked.

  “No, she snuck out before I did.”

  He rolled his eyes. “You should probably go back and try to beat her there. Don’t need her knowing that you were gone.”

  “…but Chase?”

  “I will take care of it for you.”

  I nodded and turned to leave.

  Hunter stopped me. “Crap,” he said as he looked at his watch. “They’ll probably be doing their rounds at any time now. I will take you back.”

  Hunter shielded me so that I was not visible. He then led me into the building, and to my room. Once by the door, he gave me a quick unexpected kiss, whispered to be careful around Ember, and left.

  Luckily, she wasn’t there when I entered the room.

  NINE

  The remainder of my first night at the Academy wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t exactly a good night either. I already didn’t trust Ember, and the thought of sharing the room with her, or with anyone else for that matter, made me feel uneasy to say the least.

  I was worried about Andrew and Kelly, and I only hoped that the new baby was keeping their minds busy enough so that they were not worried about me.

  I had to find a way out of here no matter what. Even dealing with Benjamin in the past didn’t make me feel this trapped.

  And Mr. Daniels… well, so I had met my biological father! Somehow, I thought that would mean more, but I felt nothing. All I saw was someone who left me and who didn’t seem very grateful of the ones who raised me, otherwise, he would have let me at least talk to Kelly and Andrew. I couldn’t help but wonder… if Benjamin, a Demon, had a problem with him, just how bad of a man that made him.

  I just lay there thinking about those things.

  Eventually, Ember came back in through the window, which for the record, was on the third floor. Putting my curiosity aside, I pretended to be sleeping. I could hear her moving around and eventually lay down on her bed.

  When it got quiet, it was just me and the darkness.

  No lights, curfew, no phones or computers… no wonder Hunter hated this place. Hunter… thinking about Hunter was the last thing I remembered before I finally dozed off.

  ***

  Ember woke me up at five in the morning. I yawned and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep.

  “Come on,” she said. “If you are gonna have trouble waking up, maybe you shouldn’t sneak out at night.”

  I quickly sat up and stared at her. She was grinning.

  “Come on… you have 20 minutes to get ready or we will be late.”

  I didn’t try to defend myself. I just got up, got dressed and walked out the door knowing that I needed to get rid of her.

  She followed me, quickly catching up. We went to the cafeteria for breakfast, which made me hate this place even more. No caffeine… no coffee, no Mountain Dew… no pop-tarts either. The food was all organic.

  “How do they expect me to be awake for class with no caffeine?” I asked Ember.

  She shrugged. “You will get used to it.”

  She was soon distracted by one of her friends who came in. She was introduced as Charlotte Williamson, and then went back to chatting with Ember about some boy in the Academy. I got to hear all about Ember crushing on Hunter. As much as I wanted to tell her that Hunter and I were together… at least I thought we were…. I didn’t think that would be a good idea. If anyone knew about us, Mr. Daniels especially… th
ey would just be watching us closer.

  I got so tired of listening to Ember that eventually I started to block out everything they were saying. I kept looking around for Hunter, but there were no signs of him.

  I didn’t really eat. Just kinda moved my food around until it was time for my first class.

  My first few classes were the ones with the haunted. Math, followed philosophy, and then history. No one talked during any of those classes. Some of the students glanced at me every once in a while, but that was pretty much it for interactions.

  Ember then escorted me to lunch where she once again met Charlotte. While Ember stepped away for a few seconds, Charlotte tried to engage in conversation, asking how my first day was. She actually seemed nice, at least until Ember returned and she seemed to forget that I was even there.

  That was when I saw Hunter come in with another guy. Ethan, I assumed. I instantly heard Ember and Charlotte going crazy over the two of them.

  I wanted to get away from them so badly. Finally, I got up saying that I wanted to get something else to drink and walked away.

  “Hi,” said the guy standing behind me.

  “Hmmm. Hi.”

  “You must be the new girl everyone is talking about.”

  “Yep, I’m pretty much sure that I’m the one.”

  “Kayla, right?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “I’m Tucker.”

  I grabbed my soda and when I turned around, I noticed Hunter coming toward me. Glancing at the other side, I noticed Ember staring at him. Great!

  Hunter came over, said hi, and started talking to Tucker.

  I opened my caffeine-free soda and smiled at Hunter.

  “Umm,” I said. “I should probably get back…”

  “Nice to meet you,” said Tucker.

  It was a big mistake to go back to Ember and Charlotte.

  “WOW,” said Charlotte. “Looks like you made an impression on Tucker. He watched as you walked away pretty much all the way back here!”

  I shrugged.

  Ember grinned. “Come on, you should talk to him sometime. Social lives here are practically nonexistent. If an opportunity like this presents itself, you should hold on to it. Besides, he is cute.”