Awakening

Ruth’s surprised expression when she opened the door to the cathedral the next night would’ve made Sophie giggle if she hadn’t been so tired. Still, she couldn’t imagine what they looked like, all standing there. None of them had really slept in a few days, and the demon attack had shocked them more than they wanted to admit.

“Come in?” Ruth formed it as a question as she stepped aside.

Sophie hesitated before taking her first step. The cathedral still had that unwelcome feel to it. The good thing was that Ruth may have been surprised, but Sophie couldn’t detect any anger underneath it.

That would make their crawling back much easier.

Demetri waited into the symbol room. His eyes scanned their faces. “What happened?”

“We were attacked by some demons last night,” Sophie relayed while they took a seat around the table.

“How did you get away?” Ruth asked, her voice more compassionate than Demetri’s.

Sophie fidgeted in her chair. She already felt like a freak without having to explain that she turned into a shining purple star.

“Sophie disintegrated the demon attacking us with bright, purple light.” Lilli smiled a little.

The lighthouse moniker is seriously beginning to get on my nerves, Sophie thought.

Demetri’s head snapped up, and his gaze bored into her. Sophie squirmed some more.

“What?” she asked.

After a second, he broke the stare and shared a look with Ruth. The back of Sophie’s neck tingled.

“What?” she repeated. Her legs bounced from the anxiety.

Tristan placed a hand on her knee. She stilled instantly. Heat spread up her legs to her stomach, where a horde of butterflies blossomed.

“The haunting sounds like Samuel,” Demetri told them.

“Who’s Samuel?” Aidan asked.

“He’s Akeldama’s pet demon. Does all her handiwork. He’s been with her since a few years after she was born.”

“That’s a long time,” Sophie mumbled. “Did I destroy him with the light thing?”

“The light thing?” Ruth smiled. “No, he only works in illusion. What you saw that night was all in your mind. He likes to use mental guerrilla tactics to force his prey to hurt themselves.”

“So he can’t have his own form?” Sophie pressed. “Like one that looks like someone else?”

They all paid attention to her now. It must have been her earnest tone. She cleared her throat. “I mean, I was just wondering.” Please, God, tell me I didn’t murder my ex, she thought.

“No, it wasn’t real. We’ve been keeping close tabs on all of you, so we would’ve heard about the attack as it happened.”

“How did they find us?” Tristan kept his hand on Sophie’s knee.

“Cairo escaped. She could’ve led them here.” Demetri didn’t spare their feelings. “This means Akeldama has found you as well. This is going to get ugly.”

“That’s so stupid.” Aidan ran a hand through his hair in annoyance.

Sophie wanted to agree. Life was so much simpler before all this happened. Now they had to worry about demons attacking them and a crazy, hell-bent, queen demon determined to destroy them.

Just another day, right?

“We want you to train us. So we can protect ourselves,” Jackson said.

Sophie shook her head. The boy was so quiet that when he did speak up, his voice demanded that people listen.

Demetri opened his mouth to say something. By the look on his face, Sophie imagined it wasn’t going to be pretty, but Ruth touched a hand to his arm. He followed her to a corner where they whispered fiercely.

Ruth gestured to make a point, and Demetri nodded. His scowl didn’t disappear even when Ruth started smiling.

She headed back over to them. “You have to train seriously. We won’t waste our time.”

Sophie waited a moment, giving the others one last time to disagree. Everyone nodded. “Deal.”

Demetri inclined his head. “Very well. Training starts tomorrow after class.”

Sophie looked around the classroom, not recognizing it as hers. Her movements, her thoughts, didn’t feel like her own. They were detached and vulnerable.

The professor was giving a lecture about syntax in research papers. She tuned his voice out and tried to figure out where she was. The girl sitting next to her rolled her eyes.

“Morgan? Are you even listening to me? I said, you need to stop hanging out with those losers and bring Tristan and Jackson to the party.”

Morgan? She was in Morgan’s body?

Sophie felt Morgan’s annoyance as if it were her own. Morgan hated the fact that she wanted to defend them. Most of all, she wanted to hate Aidan and the way he made her feel.

It made Sophie want to smile. If she’d had a mouth of her own. Then she noticed who the other girl was and frowned.

Laura. Morgan’s supposed best friend.

The thing was, Morgan really couldn’t stand Laura. Sophie wondered why Morgan even continued to hang out with her.

The professor’s voice stopped. Morgan turned toward the front of the classroom.

Dean West stood next to the professor. Sophie watched through Morgan’s eyes as the dean’s arms gestured forcibly and her hair, normally never a strand out of place, frizzed out of a sloppy ponytail.

They turned and looked at Morgan.

Sophie felt the chill as deeply as Morgan did when the dean looked straight at her.

“Morgan, if you would please come with me.”

It was a command. Morgan ignored the looks of curiosity from her classmates as she grabbed her stuff and followed the dean out of the room.

Sophie listened to the thousand thoughts that crossed Morgan’s mind.

Did the dean know about her talents? Did the cops somehow discover that a demon had actually attacked them in the library? Did the cops know about the others?

Then Sophie felt her derision at wanting to warn them.

“Come right this way, Morgan.” Dean West slowed her hectic pace to walk beside her.

“What’s this about?” Morgan asked. They turned to the right, and she realized they headed toward the dean’s office.

“There was a guest speaker here yesterday who gave a lecture on finances for the marketing majors. She asked that I allow her to interview a few students for an article she’s writing.”

Sophie felt a fissure of darkness at the dean’s words. It stirred slowly, like an awakening predator.

“I’m not a marketing major,” Morgan said. She remembered that she and the others were missing yesterday.

“Ms. Newland specifically asked for you.” The dean stopped at the doorway to her office. It was solid oak. No one would be able to hear the dean’s meetings.

Sophie felt Morgan’s fingertips disappear.

Morgan shoved them behind her back. There was a distinct fear coming from her friend now, and Sophie understood it.

Why would the speaker ask specifically for her?

“It’ll only take a few minutes of your time.” Dean West nodded for Morgan to enter.

Taking one last look at the dean, Morgan entered the office. The door shut behind her, and she assumed the dean was making sure she stayed inside.

A sweep of her gaze revealed the office was empty. Sophie knew that’s what Morgan saw, but with her psychic senses she felt so much more. The dark tendrils danced all over the corners, and shadows spun over the walls.

They were excited. Ready. Waiting.

Sophie squirmed, wishing she had some way to warn Morgan. She needed to run. Now.

The windows to the office were covered by dark burgundy curtains. No one in the courtyard would be able to see inside.

“Hello.”

The temperature of the room plummeted.

Sophie tried to scream for Morgan to go, jump through the window, anything but turn around. She recognized that voice.

Morgan whirled around to see a woman in a red pantsuit standing in front of the door. She was stunningly beautiful, with the face of an angel. Her blue eyes held no warmth as she tilted her head to the side.

“Hi.” Morgan’s voice shook a little

Sophie had no idea how to warn her. She screamed, she cursed, and then she screamed again. Nothing was working.

She was just an observer. She knew it was a vision. But she couldn’t stop herself from trying.

Morgan convinced herself that it was just an interview, even though her heart thudded painfully. The woman only wanted to ask her some questions.

“Why don’t you have a seat? We can discuss this comfortably.” Newland looked Morgan over closely.

Sophie wanted to scream that her name wasn’t Newland. She wasn’t a speaker at all.

Morgan took a seat in one of the dark leather chairs in front of the desk, and Newland walked around her. Morgan shivered, her nerves taut with fear.

Sophie felt she was pacing, even though she didn’t have a solid form. She wasn’t a ghost either, and unlike her other visions, she couldn’t interact at all. Her only hope was that this one was far enough out she could still help when she woke up. There was a clock on the wall behind the demon. It read two o’clock.

Newland sat forward. Sophie’s and Morgan’s attention both pinpointed on her. “How long have you known about your powers?”

A strangled sound escaped Morgan’s mouth. Her left hand disappeared completely.

“Ah, so you do not know who I am?” Triumph laced Newland’s voice. She stared at where Morgan’s hand used to be.

“Akeldama.” For her part, Morgan’s voice didn’t shake. Her eyes widened. She struggled to break through the shock.

Akeldama giggled. The skin on her face rippled as if it couldn’t contain the evil within.

“This is going to be much easier than I anticipated. You, all alone. Why aren’t you with your companions?”

Morgan’s breath came in quick gasps. Her right hand gripped the arm of the chair.

Sophie tried to figure out a way to warn Morgan. The darkness thickened. It slid behind them and blocked the doorway. Morgan couldn’t see it, but something told Sophie that she could at least tell it was there on a subconscious level.

Morgan broke through her shock. She had to think. Had to make it out of this alive.

She dashed for the door, knocking her chair over.

Akeldama appeared in front of it just as Morgan reached for the doorknob. Red eyes stood out against black scales that undulated down the left side of her face.

Morgan screamed. She stumbled. Her legs bumped the fallen chair, and she hit the floor on her knees. Her only thought was to get somewhere she could disappear. Then she could think. Could figure out a way out of this.

Akeldama moved slowly around the chair.

Morgan’s body started to shake. Her hand reappeared.

Sophie fought against the restraints her vision had set, but the harder she struggled, the weaker she felt. She needed to see what happened.

“You call yourself a Guardian? All I see is a pathetic weakling who can’t even realize her true potential.” Akeldama came two steps closer. Morgan’s breath hitched as the demon gripped the handles of the chair. “There is nowhere for you to go.”

The chair smashed against the wall. The sounds of the pieces battering the floor jarred Morgan into action. She crawled backward underneath the knee space of the dean’s desk.

Akeldama cackled. The demon’s excitement over the hunt dwarfed Sophie.

Morgan leaned back against the drawers. Her eyes darted back and forth for a way out. “The others won’t save you,” the demon whispered into her ear.

Morgan paled and turned her head, meeting the red-eyed gaze. It was no more than a few inches from hers. She saw a claw gleam in the light.

She clinched her eyes shut and disappeared. The fear gagged her. She fought against it and scuttled around the desk, still invisible.

Akeldama rose to her full height. The pupils of her eyes were whole now, taking in every movement in the room.

Morgan crouched behind a potted tree. She breathed in and out slowly, trying to be quiet. For all she knew, demons could have bionic hearing.

“I will find you, Guardian. I can smell you.” Akeldama swiped at a bookshelf next to her. It cut cleanly in two and then fell to both sides.

The window is too far, Morgan thought, and so is the door. Either way I’m going to have to make a run for it.

Morgan bolted.

Akeldama heard her footsteps and swiped her claw.

Pain seared across Morgan’s side. She cried out and covered it with a hand, trying to press the it away. The shock of it forced her to reappear.

Akeldama’s focus zeroed in on where she stood. Her lips turned up.

The air in Morgan’s lungs felt too thin. She gasped, trying to draw in more. She knew there was no way out. A pressure built in her body as she watched Akeldama shift her weight back and forth. Needle pricks of sensation swarmed her body.

Akeldama lunged.

Sophie shot up. The scream in her throat didn’t make it out as she bumped heads with Lilli, who knelt over her. It took a few seconds for her to realize she wasn’t in the dean’s office but on her kitchenette floor.

Lilli groaned and rubbed her forehead, then pulled Sophie up to stand. “You were on the phone with Todd and you fainted. I couldn’t wake you up.”

Todd? She tried to remember being on the phone. Todd had been telling her something about Roman. Then, sweet relief when she learned he was still alive. Then, the piercing headache when she’d started to see the vision of Morgan—

“Morgan!” Sophie looked at the Hello Kitty clock on the wall. It was 2:08.

“What?” Lilli brushed a strand of hair back from her face. She frowned at Sophie’s manic expression.

Pop.

“What was that?” Lilli squeaked.

Horror projected into Sophie’s mind. She knew who it was without even having to look. Morgan had finished the vision without her.

Once she entered the living room, she saw Morgan swaying on her feet in the center. The cheerleader’s gaze widened, and her mouth formed a small “oh.”

“Oh, my God.” Lilli covered her mouth with her hand. She took a deep breath.

Morgan took a step toward the couch and her knees buckled.

Lilli managed to catch her before she hit the floor and helped her the rest of the way. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

Sophie listened to Lilli’s soothing tones and followed.

Words formed on Morgan’s lips. No sounds emerged.

“Shh.” Lilli stroked Morgan’s curls and murmured soothingly. She shot a questioning look at Sophie.

How was she to explain that Akeldama had found them? Sophie lowered herself onto the couch. “Morgan, I had a vision just before you showed up here. I know what happened.”

Fat tears rolled down Morgan’s cheeks.

Sophie knew she was replaying what happened in her mind, and that the demon’s laughter echoed through it. When Morgan’s sobs subsided, Sophie asked, “How did you get here?”

Lilli met Sophie’s gaze over the top of Morgan’s head. Her concern broadcasted.

For a minute Morgan was silent. Her body still shook, and pieces of it kept disappearing and reappearing randomly. As if she were a bad signal on satellite. Sophie and Lilli ignored all of that and waited for her to speak.

“I don’t know how it happened. I was there in the office with that…creature…and the next thing I knew there was a pressure building in my body. I felt like I was being stretched uncontrollably, and then I opened my eyes and I was here.”

Sophie thought about this for a moment. Earlier that week, she’d emitted a purple light that demolished demons. There was no telling what each of them were capable of. They’d never had a reason to explore what they could do.

She told the girls this.

“She knows who we are,” Morgan whispered. Her voice was steadier when she grasped Lilli’s hand.

There was a sharp instant of panic.

“What are we going to do? If she knows who we are, how can we hide?” Lilli glanced at Sophie.

“I don’t know.” Sophie stood and started to pace.

Morgan bristled at Sophie’s accusing tone.

“It could’ve been any one of us,” Sophie went on. “What if she attacks us again? Are we prepared for that? Can we handle it? I think we’re in this whether or not we want to be.”

“We should text the guys and let them know what happened. They’re probably in class, but I’m sure they’ll head over when they read it. And we need to let Demetri and Ruth know.” Lilli grabbed her cell phone and sent a quick text out.

“Sure. Whatever.” Morgan took a few calming breaths. “Can I have something to drink? My mouth is really dry.”

Sophie grabbed a can from the fridge. Her mind whirled, trying to figure out what Akeldama wanted with them. Was it just to annihilate them? Or was there a bigger plan? She tried to tune into her instincts as she handed the drink to Morgan.

“You need to stay here tonight,” Lilli told her firmly as Morgan guzzled down the soft drink.

Fear flashed in Morgan’s eyes before she masked it. “That’s probably a good idea.”