Fallen Academy: Year Three And A Half

As the portal closed, my entire body seized up. I stumbled forward, tripping over my feet, and grasped at the air in front of me, trying to catch her. 

“Brielle!” I screamed again, panic and grief tightening my chest. 

If I could get to her in the next few minutes, stop the bleeding, she could survive… 

I spun, heart hammering in my chest. “Shea! Open a portal!” I screamed to the light mage. Chloe and Luke were frozen in shock at the back of the room, but Darren and Blake ran out the side door, probably to get help.

Brielle’s best friend looked at me in horror, tears rolling down her caramel cheeks as her hands shook. 

“SHEA!” I snapped, stalking towards her. 

Lucifer had cracked the ground wide open and Shea wasn’t on the same side as I was, not to mention my wings were broken—a constant searing pain in my back. Luckily, my best friend had freed himself of his bonds and was now flying to grab Shea. With three flaps of his wings, Noah deposited her by my side. 

She was hyperventilating, chest heaving as she struggled to breathe. I wanted to lose my shit too, but I couldn’t. Brielle was counting on us. 

“Shea. Open the portal and Noah can heal her. Okay?” I tried to keep my voice calm, but it shook.

Still trembling, she straightened her shoulders. “Okay.” 

She’d always been gifted for her age. I’d never tell her that of course, because she already had an ego the size of Texas, but she was especially strong with opening portals, so I knew she could do this. 

Shea took in a deep breath; standing with her feet planted shoulders-width apart, and held her hands out in front. A purple fire crackled between her palms, but it died out just as quickly. Her eyes widened in alarm, and she tried again, igniting her magic, only to have it fizzle out immediately. 

“I’m being blocked,” she croaked. 

“No!” I shouted, as desperation threatened to take hold of me. 

Brielle … all that blood.

I shook myself, grabbing Shea’s hand, and ran past the spot where Lucifer had taken Brielle. We burst through the doors into the cold night. The demon alarm was still going off, and across campus, I spotted Raphael running our way, with Michael at his side. Darren and Blake trailed behind them. 

“Try out here.” My hands were shaking, and I knew I was on the verge of a full-blown panic attack. 

Would Brielle have bled out already? Could I still save her? How deep had he cut her? Why had he cut her? How many minutes had passed? 

Hundreds of questions ran through my mind at rapid speed. I feared I was on the edge of losing my mind. 

Shea’s shock seemed to have worn off a little. She was wearing the look of fierce determination I was used to, her lips peeled back in a gritty sneer and her hands held out, magic flaring wildly…

Only to be shut down again. 

“Fuck!” she roared. 

“What’s happened?” Raphael looked at our faces, and then most likely read our minds, because he sagged suddenly against Michael.

“Brielle,” the archangel whispered. He looked sick with shock; I could barely look at his face.

Shea thrust herself into my arms. “Fly me to Demon City!” she growled.

Yes! Of course. 

If she was being magically blocked, it probably only extended to Angel City.

“No, I wouldn’t do th—” Noah was cut off by the sound of my wings ripping from my back. 

A searing hot pain shot through my shoulder blades as sweat rose on my forehead. I’d forgotten my wings were broken. They’d barely healed, and were very fragile. 

Screw it. 

I tucked Shea into my body, sending some of my own healing energy to my wings, and took off for the skies. 

Oh God. 

The sharp burning between my shoulders was like a red-hot poker, being driven into my back. It was nothing compared to the pain in my heart at seeing my fiancée’s throat slit by the Devil. I flapped my wings madly, telling my body to get over it, because no matter the pain I was getting Shea over that wall in record time. 

“Let’s think this through!” Michael screamed next to me, his voice traveling over the wind. The archangel had taken to the skies with me.

This isn’t happening. 

I groaned, ignoring Michael, focusing on the flight and my self-healing. Anything to take my mind off of the pain in my wings and in my heart. 

Looking down, I saw the border of Demon City. 

Cesspool. I hate this place. I want nothing more than to free it of innocent humans and then light it on fire. 

As I descended, my arms felt like they were going numb. I was probably causing some kind of nerve damage, but I didn’t care. 

Brielle was my family. The only family I had left. 

Emotion tightened my throat, and I had to bite down on my tongue to keep myself from losing it. Lowering Shea and I into a wash between the Demon City wall and some apartment buildings, I landed, setting her down. Pain, like razor blades scratching every surface of my skin, settled into me. Just another reminder that I couldn’t be here for long, not like Shea or Brielle could. 

Michael, Noah, and Raphael landed next to me, all wincing with the same pain I was feeling. Being a Celestial in a demon stronghold was agony. Their eyes were searching the perimeter for threats, but my gaze fell on Shea.

Come on. Please. 

The mage slapped her hands together, and with a grunt, a spark of green magic flared to life, before turning inky black. 

“That’s dark magic,” Michael mused. There wasn’t judgment in his voice. More like he was making a statement. 

Shea shrugged uncaringly. “Gotta do what I gotta do.” 

Yes! 

I would do anything to get Brielle back here safely right now. Even sell my soul to a demon. 

As the portal started to open between her hands, I nearly fainted with relief. But just as quickly I remembered that I couldn’t go through it. None of us could. Except, for Shea. 

Dammit!

I winced, remembering the time Brielle had impulsively run into the portal to get Sera, and Shea had slipped in right behind her. The love of my life was loyal to a fault. I’d tried to go in after her, and it nearly tore off one of my limbs. This time was different. She was bleeding out; we had no time. I’d just have to try. I wasn’t going to let Shea do this alone. 

Raphael’s strong hand landed on my shoulder. “No, son. You will die. I’ve seen it happen. That world will incinerate you.”

I felt the edges of my mind going dark, back to that place I went when my parents and sister died—that reckless place where I didn’t care about anything, least of all my own safety. Raphael’s hand on my shoulder turned into a clamp, pinning me to the spot, and I knew then that if I tried to jump into that portal, he would stop me. 

“I’m going to get help from other Fallen Army guards who are demon-gifted,” Michael announced, just as the portal was wide enough to step into hell.

“There’s no time for that shit!” Shea snapped. “He cut her throat! She’s bleeding out.”

Beyond her was a fiery wasteland, with row after row of straw huts—some of which were on fire. A few demons were milling about, talking to each other. Without another word, Shea spun on Michael. “Lend me your sword.” 

Lucifer had crashed our party when we were all unarmed. We weren’t ready for this kind of thing. It made the anger inside of me boil hotter.

Michael faltered. “I’m not worried about the loss of my sword, child, but you cannot go in there alone.”

I knew Shea, she was almost as stubborn as Brielle. Saying that would only fuel her fire. 

“Watch me!” she snapped, and leapt through the portal unarmed. 

“No!” Noah screamed, stepping after her before Michael swooped in to hold him back as well. Noah was hyperventilating, something I probably should be doing, but I was in too much shock. 

With one flick of his wrist, Michael unsheathed his sword and tossed it inside the portal, where it clattered at Shea’s feet.

Shea nodded, scooping up Michael’s Sword of Truth, and placed her finger to her lips in an effort to quiet Noah, who was now whisper-screaming her name. 

Michael’s sword was legendary. I didn’t know any demon that had survived one lick from its blade. I wanted to shout at her to hurry, but I also needed to comfort Noah, as he feared the loss of his girlfriend, while I was still grieving mine. 

Locked in Raphael’s grip, I stood there, while Shea snuck between two huts and stepped out into the main road, where demons were milling about the area. 

Everyone on the Earth side of the portal froze. What would she see? What would she do if she were to spot Brielle or Lucifer himself? I stopped breathing when she looked left, and then right, and then left again. A passing Yew demon recognized that she wasn’t dead, or a demon, and hissed, lunging for her. Shea raised Michael’s sword, bringing it down hard across the demon’s neck, cutting his head clean off. 

“BRIELLE!” she screamed in agony. 

I’d never in a million years forget the terror in her voice. It sprouted gooseflesh on my arms. 

“BRIELLE!” Her chest heaved as she frantically looked left and right, clearly seeing no sign of her best friend.

The world started to spin then, and my soul split in two as I crashed to my knees. 

She was gone. 

Brielle was gone.