“Immaculate Heart in Culver City. Daniel Atwater is his name.” Speaking his name after so long sent tears leaking from the corner of my eyes. Thank God I was alone in my room, because this call had been way more intense than I’d intended. Some serious ugly crying was about to happen.
“All right, kid. I’ll keep you posted. Give me a week.”
A week? Then what? I didn’t want to know.
“Okay,” I croaked.
He hung up, and I shoved my face into the pillow and screamed. I screamed with pain, rage, and utter desperation. I felt like I was so full of all of those emotions that they would drown me if I didn’t let them out. Too much was going wrong lately. I’d lost Sera, my devil mark was permanent, my brother was stuck as a beast, and I wasn’t totally convinced I was going to get my mom out of Demon City.
I needed something, just one thing, to go right.
My phone buzzed with a text.
Mr. Rincor: Are you coming to class?
Shit! I was his only student, so it was kind of hard to ditch. With Fred graduated, and my twenty-watt bulb hands, I’d tried to drop the class, but Mr. Rincor wouldn’t let me.
Jumping off the bed, I wiped my eyes, and put all thoughts of my brother out of my mind as I grabbed my bag.
I texted Mr. Rincor that I had a family emergency and would be there in five minutes, then hauled ass out my dorm and into the open quad.
Lincoln was just leaving Raphael’s office. When he saw me, a smile lit up his face and he called me over.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked him. “I thought you had work.” He was supposed to be out there doing army stuff today.
He held up a pair of keys. “Raphael called me in early. I got my new apartment assignment. A two-bedroom three doors down from Noah.”
I raised my eyebrows in appraisal. “Not too shabby, Mr. Grey.”
He grinned. “And Raphael gave the groundskeeper job to Mrs. Finley, so she and her girls can get out of my cramped trailer and have the cottage.”
“Wow, that’s awesome!” Of course, that made me think of Mikey, since he’d lived in the cottage for a short time, but when he got back, he’d be in the dorms with me, and that was good. I didn’t want to bring up Mikey now and ruin the moment of happiness about his new place.
He looked off into the open space. “Guess I don’t need my trailer anymore. Maybe it’s time to sell it.”
I frowned at the idea. After all, he’d told me it was his parents’ camping trailer and full of happy memories. Selling it would be a mistake. “No way. It’s a badass little pad. Just hang on to it for a while. No need to make rash decisions.”
He nodded, grinning, and pulling me in for a kiss. “Small gathering at my new place tonight. Bring your friends.”
My lips curled into a smile, and I’d stepped up on my tiptoes to kiss him again when a loud throat clearing sounded behind me.
I craned my neck to see Mr. Rincor and Mr. Claymore standing there. Whoops.
Lincoln took a step back. “See you later,” he said and bailed.
I winced, turning to fully face my professors. “Sorry. I really did have a family thing. My brother…” I let the sentence hang in the air as a thought struck me.
Why is Mr. Claymore here?
Mr. Rincor nodded. “I’m aware of the sensitive situation. Mr. Claymore has made you something. Please join us in the classroom.” His voice was monotone, but his words spoke volumes.
What the hell would the head Light Mage have for me? Was I in trouble?
The two tall men simply led the way inside as I shuffled behind them, a jumble of nerves.
Once we entered the small classroom, I set my bag down and stared at my palms. This class was so defeating. Every time Mr. Rincor tried to work with me, it either yielded super unimpressive twenty-watt lightbulb results, or some dark blob flew from my palms .
Mr. Claymore pulled up a chair and set an amulet on the table. It was a mixture of silver and gold, in a braided chain with a large two-inch clear pearlescent oval stone pendant.
My eyes widened. “Whoa, is that for me?”
He chuckled. “Normally it would be inappropriate for a teacher to give a student jewelry, but yes, it’s for you.”
I raised one eyebrow. “What is it?”
Clearly this wasn’t a normal pendant.
His lips quirked. “Brielle, you’re a Celestial blessed by four angels. There is no way you do not carry their light inside of you.”
His words shook me. After the Lucifer tattoo, the dark magic and all that, I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear that. My eyes grew misty.