Chapter 15

When we got back to school, the atmosphere was dark. Students were walking in and out of the church, and others were probably locked inside their rooms. We weren’t just mourning my father’s death. We were also mourning the death of the other Guardian Angels whom we lost. My friends and I parted ways, Dawn and I heading up to our room as quickly as we could. Once we got up to our room, we immediately changed out of our depressing, black clothes and into something cheerier. As I was brushing my hair, my email bleeped. I walked over to my laptop and saw that I had an email from a Devitri Jackson with the subject as: Hey, little sora. I opened it. It read:

Hey, little sora. I just got to the airport, and thought I would send you this quick email before I got onto the plane. In about thirty minutes or so, I’ll be on a plane back to Maine (ha, that rhymed). I do hope that you’re doing okay, and I’ll try to email you or send you a text every day. I can’t wait to get back and finally have a cigarette. They’re practically calling me right now. Anyway, respond when you can. I would love to hear from you.

                                                      - Devitri

I decided to take the time to email him back.

Hey Devitri, I got your email. I’ll be okay eventually. I just have to get back into the swing of things I suppose. I’m sure if you read a book. you’ll get there quicker, and closer to having a cigarette. I hope that I can see you again sometime soon. Enjoy your flight!

                                                      - Skylar
   
I closed my laptop and sat on my bed. Dawn was sitting on her bed, hugging a pillow. My phone buzzed. I looked at it. It was a text from Austin saying to meet him and the others in the dining hall. I replied saying that we would be down soon. Dawn and I headed down to the dining hall to meet our friends. We walked in and took a seat at our table with our friends. Eric and Wyatt were back to playing chess, and Austin held me close to him, as Dawn watched them play chess. I looked up from the table and saw Jasper walking over with Ariane and Matt. Oh no, I thought. I knew my friends were thinking the same thing. Matt leaned down and gave me a hug.

“I’m so sorry, Sky.” He said.

“It’s alright Matty.” I assured him. Jasper knew better than to hug me in front of Austin. I knew he would have done it anyway, but today wasn’t a day to be messing with anyone’s emotions. Instead he put his hand on my shoulder gently, and gave it a small squeeze.

“I’m sorry about your dad.” said Ariane. I looked at her. We still hated each other. There was no doubt about that. But something about this moment made me hate her just a little less. Note that I said “a little”. She leaned down and gave me a hug.

“I hope this doesn’t mean you won’t be attending the Halloween party at my house next week.” said Matt. I looked up at him and gave him a smile.

“Don’t worry, Matty. We wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Matt always had his Halloween party early because everyone scheduled a party closer to Halloween, and everyone was usually out trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Matt smiled and reminded us to bring costumes before walking away. Ariane gave me one last sympathetic hug before walking away with Jasper.

“I haven’t gotten my costume yet...” said Dawn. I giggled.

“It’s okay, Dawnie. Austin and I haven’t gotten ours yet either.” I said.

“You guys might want to get a move on then. Before all of the costumes are gone.” said Eric.

“I say we all go to the mall this weekend.” Wyatt said. That sounded like a good idea despite everything that’s been going on. The four of us agreed to his idea.

We stayed in the dining hall until dinner. They served pizza, chocolate cake and some fruit assortments. After dinner, Dawn and I walked back up to our room. I opened up my laptop to check if I had any emails. Devitri hadn’t replied back yet, so I assumed he was still on his plane (and probably fell asleep). Dawn turned on the tv and turned to her favorite channel. I never understood how she could watch a bunch of five year olds act like divas. I preferred shows like Ghost Whisperer or something. I scrolled down my Facebook’s news feed. There was nothing interesting as usual, except I had a friend request from Devitri. He must have added me before he got on the plane. I accepted it. I turned around in my chair to face the tv.

“I don’t get some of these girls.” I said. Dawn looked at me.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Well, don’t they have the decency to at least wait until they’re older or use protection? Otherwise this wouldn’t happen.” I said. Dawn rolled her eyes.

“Sky, my parents had me when they were sixteen.” I sighed.

“I know, I know. I give your parents credit, really. But these girls, I mean... They didn’t have s**t like this on television when your parents were sixteen, I’m sure. If it were me, I wouldn’t want to be on tv.” Dawn grabbed the remote and changed the channel. It was a movie channel that just so happened to have been playing a Harry Potter movie. Something we could both agree on.

“Have you heard back from Devitri yet?” Dawn asked. I spun back around in my chair, and checked my email tab. Still nothing.

“No, not yet. Wait, how did you know he emailed me?” I asked. She giggled.

“Sorry, I kind of peeked over.” I laughed a bit. I didn’t usually mind her looking at my computer, unless it was something personal or important.

We sat on our beds while we watched Harry Potter. To my luck, it was The Goblet of Fire. I always cry when Cedric dies. I just can’t help myself. My phone buzzed and I looked at it. It was a text from Eric saying to meet him down in the library. Dawn shut off the tv and we walked out of our dorms. I looked at my watch. We had plenty of time before curfew. We walked downstairs. Some students were still in the lounge, talking and laughing. Some were even outside in the courtyard still, or roaming the hallways. We walked into the library and were greeted by Ms. Sullivan. She pointed to the stairs to let us know that’s where Eric was. Dawn and I walked up the spiral staircase. We walked to the lounge area towards the back. Eric was already sitting there with Wyatt and Austin. I plopped down onto Austin’s lap and he wrapped his arms around my waist. Dawn fell into one of the bean bag chairs.

“So what’s up, Eric?” I asked. He looked up from the book he was reading. From the pages, it looked like an old book from centuries ago.

“I’ve been doing some digging on that spell.” He said.

“Already? Eric-” I started. Austin put his hand up, interrupting me.

“Don’t bother, babe. Wyatt and I already gave him that speech.” Wyatt nodded in agreement.

“Well, I was right. It is a spell. In fact, it’s a very powerful light spell, and it’s difficulty level is off the charts.” explained Eric.

“What do you mean ‘off the charts’?” asked Dawn.

“Let’s just say that it’s so powerful, and requires so much that it’s become a forbidden spell.” He said. “But that’s not all. The component you need is a magical ability that’s very rare. You have to be born with it.”

The four of us stared at him.

“Black magic.”

“Eric, that’s not that rare. Demons are born with black magic.” said Wyatt.

“Yes, but are they born with both black magic and light magic?” asked Eric. Austin scoffed.

“That’s impossible. No one is born with both. You either have one or none. Never both.” He said. Austin could have at least tried to have a little more faith. Eric set the book down on the table so that we could all see it. I lifted it up a bit to get a look at the cover.

The book looked like one of those old witch or wizard’s books that you usually saw in movies. It was old and jewel encrusted with a flap on the side. It looked like one huge diary for a witch. The pages were old and when you moved them they made a crackling noise. The pages were a bit crumpley too. The title was “Hidden and Forbidden Spells... For Dummies”. Seriously? I looked at the page that Eric had bookmarked. The entire page was in Latin, but the page next to it was a copy translated into English (not that Eric needed the English translation). It had a whole paragraph explaining everything that Eric had just explained. It had a picture of a half-demon, half-angel looking thing. That surprised me.

“So, wait... This person is half-demon and half-angel? How does that happen?” I asked. I should have known Austin would chime in with some sarcastic answer.

“Well you see dear, when a demon and an angel love each other very much-” I smacked the back of his head, and the others laughed.

“I was being serious.”

“Actually, Austin’s right. It’s the offspring of a demon and an angel.” said Eric.

“But that like, never happens.” said Dawn.

“Exactly why it’s so rare. There used to be a lot of them back when our parents were teenagers, but now that the times have changed, there’s very few left.” Eric said as he closed the book and put it in his bag. I wonder where he got it...

“What was the name in the book?” Wyatt asked.

“They’re called The Fallen, so they’re kind of like Fallen Angels except for the fact that they aren’t ‘rebelling’ against God like the actual Fallen Angel itself. Technically, no one believes in a half-demon, half-angel type being. They all believe it’s a myth, and those who have claimed to see one are deemed ‘crazy’ for the rest of their life.” said Eric. “If you ask me, I say there is such a thing.”

“Here’s a good question.” said Austin. “Are these creatures good or bad, and do they all look that hideous?”

“It could go either way. Some choose to be good, some choose the path of evil and their light side becomes dark - which wouldn’t be good - or some simply choose to be neutral. But there’s even fewer of those wandering around.” Eric said. “As for your second question, no. That’s not their human form. Most of them look like normal humans.”

“So then how can we distinguish them from other humans?” asked Dawn. “Do they have the eyes of a demon?”

“The book says that we can distinguish one by their eyes, yes, but since they’ll be blending in we can distinguish them by a necklace they wear. Or anything they’re wearing with this symbol on it.” Eric said as he took the book out of his bag. He opened it up and flipped to the page he bookmarked. Eric pointed to a symbol on the bottom right of the right page. It was a circle with a triangle in it, and an X cutting through the triangle inside the circle. “It could be on a necklace, a bracelet or even a tattoo. They’re the only ones who know about the symbol, considering they invented it.”

“So what are we saying here?” I asked.

“I think that we dig up as much information as we can, and then try to find one of these ‘Fallen’ creatures.” He said.

“If they exist.” added Austin.

Were we really talking about looking for one of these creatures? Were my friends and I actually considering trying to find a way to save Dark Angels?

“So it’s settled then?” asked Eric. The rest of us nodded.

Yes, we were.