Forsaken (Academy of the Fallen #4) Page 5

  He nods again and sits on the mattress. Samael and I sit across from him.

  “Trent, I’m Sam and this Kayla,” says Samael.

  He just sits there, quietly.

  “Is there anything special that you can do? Like, can you guess what I’m thinking right now?” I ask.

  He shakes his head.

  “Take it easy on the kid, Kayla,” says Samael.

  Samael faces the boy. “Is there anything you like to do for fun?”

  “Fun?” asks the boy.

  “Yeah, something that makes you feel… Hmm… How do I explain it?”

  “Show him what fun is,” I say.

  Samael stands up and asks the boy to stand with him. He then extends his hands and asks the boy to hold his hands as tight as he can and starts to spin him around the room. Trent laughs and laughs. Even after Samael stops, he is still laughing. He makes sure that Trent is not feeling dizzy before he lets go and then he tells Trent, “That is fun,” he says. “Is there anything else that makes you feel like that?”

  Trent nods.

  “Can you tell us what?” I ask.

  Trent nods. “Opening doors.”

  I give him a confused look.

  “Doors like that one?” Samael points at the door.

  Trent shakes his head. “Door that are like puzzles.”

  We both know that he is talking about wards.

  Samael looks at me and whispers for me to change the subject.

  Trent surprises us when he speaks again, “More fun?” he asks.

  “Sorry bud,” says Samael. “We need to start training you before Ezra gets back.”

  Trent looks disappointed, but stays quiet.

  Samael and I look from one another. “Do you even know where to start?” I ask.

  He shakes his head and when I look up, I see Ezra standing at the door.

  “Time to go, child!” he orders Trent.

  Trent walks over to him. “My name is Trent.”

  Crap.

  Ezra looks at us and he seems furious.

  “We’ll talk about this later.”

  “I don’t want to go,” says Trent.

  Ezra doesn’t even say anything. He picks up Trent and walks away. We can hear Trent crying and screaming and I have to hold Samael back to keep him from going after them and doing something stupid.

  FOURTEEN

  Samael calms down… eventually. He looks at me and we are still in shock. “We need to get Trent away from Ezra,” he says. I know that even though he just met Trent he is already attached. It didn’t help that he was vulnerable and craving human contact, all of which amplified the way he feels toward Trent.

  I nod. I wouldn’t leave Trent or anyone else alone with a demon.

  “Samael,” I look at him and I have never seen him so worried. “Do you want to explain how this happened? Because no matter what happened while we were stuck in those illusions, I know we didn’t have a kid, yet, he looks just like us.”

  “Don’t worry,” says Samael. I don’t exactly know how, but I’m pretty sure he was created by Lilith.”

  “What makes you think that?” I ask.

  He bites his lip and looks away and it’s obvious that he doesn’t want to talk about this.

  “I need to know, Samael.”

  He nods.

  “What do you know about Lilith?” he asks.

  “Just what I said before, that she is the mother of succubi.”

  He nods.

  “There are bits and pieces of truth to the stories we hear about Lilith. My dad knew her,” he says.

  “He did?” I ask, surprised, imagining how long ago that was.

  He sighs. “He wrote about her in a journal he left behind last time I saw him. I guess things he thought I would find useful some day.”

  “So what did it say?”

  “He wrote about how she was born in the wrong time. She was always ahead of her time and because of that, she was cursed in the way that hurt her the most. He didn’t go into details, other than say that she has an obsession with being a motherly figure.”

  I gasp.

  “Do you think she was the one I overheard talk to Ezra a while back?”

  He shrugs. “Considering where we are, anything is possible.”

  “But you have no idea how he was created?”

  He shakes his head. “And please don’t try to get into Ezra’s head to find the answer. We need to get out of here and take Trent with us, so don’t piss him off before we do.”

  “I wasn’t planning on it.” I pause. “Do you think we can get Trent to break the wards?”

  “And then do what, Kayla?”

  “Come here,” I say to him as I walk over to the window.

  “Do you see the ones I healed?” I ask.

  He nods. “Have they been there ever since you healed them?”

  “They have and I think they can help. I think they are protecting us. Maybe if we can get out of here, they can get us into the Otherworld.”

  “There are a lot of what ifs in your plan. I don’t like it.”

  “This is all we got.”

  “I don’t know,” he says as he paces back and forth. The room, which is already small, seems to get even smaller as Samael moves around.

  “I can get into their heads again… try to talk to them and see if they can help.”

  “I’ll do it,” he says. “If you want me to go along with this plan, I have to know they’re loyal… I have to see it for myself.”

  “Go for it.”

  Samael stares at them for what feels like forever. When he finally turns around and looks at me, he seems like he is in shock.

  “What?” I ask.

  “They’re going to help.”

  “You’re hiding something,” I say.

  He nods. “You did a whole lot more than heal them, which means that we need to get you out of here as soon as possible.”

  “What do you mean? What else did I do?”

  He lets out a laugh like he can’t believe this is happening.

  “The one who used to be an angel, well… he has his abilities back, and other seems to have abilities as well. You single handedly managed to start a new breed of them.”

  I give him a puzzled look. “A new breed of what?”

  “Angels. They are calling themselves the Forsaken.”

  I’m the one laughing now. “Right!” I peak outside and shake my head. “Why would you even make this up?”

  “I’m not, Kayla. You did this. Get into his head… he’ll tell you.”

  “What about their wings? They have no wings.”

  “Do you really think they would be crazy enough to show them in Hell?”

  I shake my head. “So, it’s settled then. We’ll get Trent to take down the wards and we’ll be out of here, right?

  He nods. “We need to find a way to get ahead of Ezra and leave before he realizes what we’re trying to do.

  “I can handle that part,” I say.

  “How?”

  “Close your eyes,” I say.

  He does and I put up wards around the room.

  “Do you feel it?” I ask.

  He nods and opens his eyes, looking at me with admiration and pride.

  “Okay, you can stop looking at me like that.”

  He laughs. “Kayla, we need to figure out what to do about Trent once we are out of here. We can’t let the Academies get their hands on him.”

  I nod. “We’ll figure it out once we’re out of here. I can only handle one problem at a time. Besides, we have no clue what’s going on out there in the real world, or even in the academies.”

  Samael pauses and bites his lip, something I notice he always does when not sure whether he should say something or not.

  “Spill it,” I say.

  He sighs. “If something happens to me, don’t leave him behind. Somehow, he’s a part of us, and even if he wasn’t, I know how it is to be raised in that world. Please don’t let that happen to h
im,” he begs.

  I take a deep breath. “First, nothing is going to happen to you—”

  “I’m serious, Kayla.”

  “Me too,” I say. “We’re all getting out of here. Together.”

  FIFTEEN

  When Ezra returns later on, he is still beyond mad. He barges into the room and orders Samael and I to stand up.

  We do and I stare right at him and smile. He looks from me to Samael.

  “I’m just going to say this once and it goes for both of you. You have one task only and that is to train the kid. DO NOT name him… DO NOT play with him… teach him what you know and that is it. If you get caught doing anything besides that, there will be consequences.”

  I let out a laugh. “What consequences could possibly be worse than being stuck here for this long?” As soon as I ask, I wish I hadn’t.

  “We all know that you have people you care about in the human world. I suggest you don’t test me on this.”

  I shut up after that and Samael doesn’t say anything at all. Seconds later, Ezra is gone from the room.

  Exhausted, I lay down on the mattress and Samael lies down next to me.

  We both stare at the ceiling. “We can’t take too long to do this,” I say.

  “Yeah, I don’t think I can let him take Trent away again, especially not in the way he did today.”

  I gasp when I feel Samael’s hand on top of mine, but I don’t pull away. I don’t think Samael can handle any more of anything and if holding hands helps him keep his mind straight; there is no harm in that. When I feel his fingertips caress the top of my hand, I close my eyes and start to relax for the first time in years.

  ***

  “Rise and shine, Nephilim!”

  I wake up startled and see Ezra standing by the door. I look over and see that Samael is still sleeping. I poke his arm. “Samael!”

  He quickly gets up and still disoriented from just being woken up, he asks what is going on, right before he lays eyes on Ezra.

  Ezra smirks. “Maybe if I waited a little longer I wouldn’t even need Lilith.” He turns around to leave and as he walks out, he says, “Get up and be ready for training.”

  I slowly get up and I start to look around. Something is off… there is something missing…

  “What is wrong?” asks Samael.

  “I don’t know.”

  I move my hand up to brush my hair off my face and I feel like my heart skips a beat.

  “Where is my ring?”

  “Huh?”

  “My ring! The one Hunter gave me! Where is it?”

  Before he can even answer, I move toward the mattress, order him to get up and I start to look around it. I move the mattress and it’s not there… it’s nowhere to be found.”

  I turn to look back at Samael and he stands there just watching me. “Well, are you just going to stand there?” I ask frantically.

  “This room is not that big, Kayla. Where would I even look? The demon probably took it.”

  I get up and move toward the door, determined to find Ezra and my ring, but Samael blocks me.

  “Move!”

  “You are not going after him, Kayla. It’s just a ring, okay? Let it go! Too much time was wasted. Just let it go and move on!”

  “Why do you hate Hunter so much?” I ask.

  Trent shows up at the door.

  His expression is emotionless and his eyes are cold to the point where even in Hell, it makes me shiver as if I’m freezing. Just like that, my problems no longer matter.

  Samael turns around and his tone softens.

  “Hi Trent,” says Samael.

  Trent doesn’t respond. It is as if he doesn’t remember that is his name.

  I can see Samael is furious at Ezra. I walk over to Trent and kneel down on the floor. “Trent?” I say.

  Nothing. His eyes are empty.

  Samael approaches us and looks Trent in his eyes and right away, I can tell what he is doing. I can feel what he is doing just by watching him. He’s giving Trent back his memories from the other day. Samael is smiling at Trent as he does so and Trent laughs as the memories rush back to him.

  Once he stops, I call Trent. He looks at me, smiles, and I feel like a weight lifted off my shoulders.

  Samael takes a deep breath then he looks up at me and nods. I know what this means. He doesn’t want to waste any time at all.

  “Trent, do you want to play with those puzzles that you talked about?” asks Samael.

  Trent smiles. “Yes.”

  “Good. This is going to be fun. But remember, you can’t make any loud noises no matter what happens.”

  “This is not going to work, Samael! And even worse, Ezra will know as soon as we try.”

  “Stick to the plan, Kayla. Put the wards up around that door so he can’t get in.” Before I can even respond, he looks at Trent and smiles. “As soon as the puzzle is down, take him and run toward the Otherworld. That is the best chance you got. I will stay and stop Ezra in case you can’t hold the wards up while getting away.”

  I shake my head. I’m feeling so nervous and I have this gut feeling that this is not going to work, but I do as he says.

  Trent stares at the wards around the window and I feel it go down within seconds, and so does Ezra. The wards never even completely disappear. Trent weakened them and just when they were close to gone, I could feel it being strengthened again. Once Ezra puts those wards back up, he puts mine down and fear keeps me from being able to move at all. When I feel Ezra’s presence get stronger, I move to stand in front of Trent, and Samael stands close to the door, protecting both Trent and me.

  Ezra barges in the room, practically taking the door down on his way in. I can see the fury in his eyes. He’s still in human form, but his eyes are yellow and full of rage. In a blur of movements, he walks by Samael and pushes him down on the floor. My heart is racing and I wish more than ever that I had my dagger in my hands. I clench my fists and I’m ready to move toward him when his gaze locks on mine.

  “Don’t even try it, nephilim!” he warns.

  From behind him, Samael stands and shakes his head for me to leave it alone. In my mind, I can hear his words, “I got this.” I can hear Trent sobbing behind me, so I don’t move. I stand there and stare into the demon’s angry eyes. I won’t attack him, but I’ll also not let him get past me. I start to bring up the wards to protect Trent when the demon moves toward me. He’s faster than I anticipated. He puts one hand around my neck and I can feel his nails scratching against my skin. In a matter of seconds, he throws me against the wall, and snatches Trent to take him away. Samael jumps on his back to try and stop him. Trent cries even more. I feel dizzy as I get up from the floor, but I manage to stand and move forward to help Samael, but he drops to the floor in pain and Ezra takes the opportunity to get away with Trent.

  I get down to help Samael.

  “Are you going to be okay?” I ask.

  He nods.

  “We need to get you and Trent out of here!” he growls.

  “Yeah, yeah… and you too.”

  “Worried about me?”

  I shrug. “No one deserves to be stuck in Hell. Well, except for Ezra.”

  The door swings open again and Ezra comes in, and I freeze in place at the sight of him. He is no longer in human form like usual, but he is not in demonic form either. He still uses the human body as a shell, but his eyes are yellow, and his hands have finger nails so long and sharp that he wouldn’t need but one of them to kill a human.

  I can tell that Samael is still hurt and weak, and even though I’ve never been so terrified of anyone before, I stand between Samael and the demon, determined to protect Samael at all costs.

  SIXTEEN

  SAMAEL

  I can see the fury in his eyes and I can’t believe Kayla is trying to defend me now of all times. I don’t even think I’ve ever seen him this furious before.

  “Kayla, move!” I say as I manage to sit up.

  Ezra walks past her,
pushing her to the side and putting up an invisible wall so that she can’t get near us. He then continues to approach me. I can hear her yelling at him, but I block it out. I use all of my strength to stand up.

  “You foolish nephilim,” Ezra snaps. “We are done here! Is being human what you really want?”

  I don’t say anything. I know that right now, being human would make me weak and being weak decreases my chances of getting Kayla and Trent out of here.

  “How foolish of you to think I would make your dreams come true without strings attached,” he says.

  He walks closer to me and I stand where I am.

  He stops right in front of me and reaches into his pocket. He moves before I can do anything. I feel the dagger pierce my stomach and I drop down to the floor. He puts his hand on the wound and says a few words in a language that I don’t recognize.

  He then looks at Kayla.

  “Do we have a problem?”

  She is frozen but she shakes her head.

  “Good.” He looks at me one more time, “Remember that this is what you asked for,” he says.

  He walks away and as soon as he is out of the room, the wall holding Kayla drops, and she comes rushing toward me.

  My memory flashes back to when she got stabbed at the Academy and I carried her to the infirmary.

  My eyes start to close, but she cups my face in her hands and says, “Look at me. Just focus on me and stay awake!” She grabs a shirt stacked on the floor and puts it over the wound trying to keep blood from sipping out of my body, but I know this won’t happen. She tries to heal me and I feel when some of the pain is taken away.

  I try to each into my pocket, but she stops me. “Don’t move,” she says.

  “Pocket—”

  She reaches into my pocket and grabs her ring. She looks at me as if she is hurt.

  “I’m sorry,” I say.

  “Why would you—”

  “I was hoping I could make you forget him. I don’t want you to get hurt, Kayla. You and I are two of a kind. We understand each other. I thought maybe we could take Trent away… together and—” I start to cough up blood. She tries to heal me again, but I can feel the blood, I can feel myself get weak, and there is no amount of healing that will help me. And the worst is that I’m starting to feel hot and have trouble breathing. I know right away that he did make me human, and without my nephilim abilities, I have no chances of surviving in a world where humans don’t belong.