Until.
“Why are you keeping things from my brother though?”
I glance at her from the corner of my eye and her head tilts as she waits with preternatural patience for my response.
A bout of panic sinks within me, and I think about all the skittish emotions I’m keeping tucked away from everyone.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I think you do,” she says calmly.
My spine stiffens and I take a second to search for Professor Moore. His beady eyes flick over the vampire at my side, a look of contempt on his face but it seems the Von Hunter name is worth too much for him to tell the girl not to distract his detention alumni.
“I’m not keeping things from him and it’s honestly not your place to pry, Heaven.” Everything about this conversation feels weird. She’s not pressing or demanding. She’s... concerned. I can tell. But it’s slightly offensive and I don’t know how to stop us from the argument I can feel brooding.
“He’s my brother. It is my place. We’re a family. I consider you my family, Izara. You leave for days, weeks, and then... just never mention what happened? That’s hiding things. Maybe you don’t owe it to me to be open about everything but I know my brother and I know he loves you even if he’s not ready to admit that.Do nothurt him, Izara.”
My throat tightens with all the things I don’t know how to say to her. How do I tell her I felt more alive in a place people should fear? That I had power, that the demons practically begged me to stay and rule over them? That I bested them and had an unfathomable well of dark magic that I haven’t seen a sliver of since I came back?
I don’t know how to explain what happened or how connected I felt to the flames and the power there, while here at the Academy I’m nothing more than a weak student who can’t control the Prod inside her.
I can’t even explain it to myself. How am I supposed to explain it to the people I care about?
Without a word, I stare down at my pile of bricks, my heart sinking with every silent second that slips past.
“Unless you’re going to lay some bricks, you should probably go.” I tip my chin up to her, my jaw closing abruptly before I say something I’ll regret to one of the few friends I actually have.
Heaven’s bright eyes narrow, her gaze crawling over the dirty pile of work in front of me. To be honest, manual labor is a threat in her eyes and I know it.
She shakes her head, her glossy dark hair swishing along her sharp features before she turns to stride away from me. “Talk to my brother, Izara,” she demands as she stomps across the dry dirt in perfect, graceful strides.
And that’s how she says goodbye to me.
My smooth wings sag against my shoulders and I feel like I’m messing everything up right now.
“You look like you’re carrying a weight you’ll never be able to lift alone, Miss Castillo.” His smooth voice washes over me before the emotions try to tear their way out of my chest.
Professor Shade.
His shining shoes crunch over the debris at my side before he lowers himself down, squatting there with his hands held in front of him, fingers tipped up into a steeple just in front of his serious mouth. His golden and darkened eyes assess me from where I sit slumped into myself.
“Friend troubles?” he asks with a half smile.
Why is he always so good at reading me?
“Life troubles really,” I whisper, wishing like hell this day would just end already.
“A vacation in hell will do that to you from time to time.” His hinting words carry amusement and I shake my head at him but I can’t fight the tired smile that’s pulling at my lips.
“You have no idea,” I say and start up my work once more. It’s easy to just keep going. To feign normalcy rather than admit my life is a total train wreck right now.
“You know I’ve visited hell a time or two before. It was... refreshing in a way.”
For the first time since I’ve been back, talking about what happened to me strikes interest rather than confusing bitterness or fear.
“Really?” I glance over at the man still poised at my side like he’s content and relaxed on the toes of his feet, hunched down low in an unwavering pose.
“It’s the raw energy of it all. Sure it’s terrible. I mean, it is hell after all. But the power... it feels amazing.”
