DEVIL'S HIGH

CHAPTER 2

KIARA’S POINT OF VIEW

“Did they come to pick her up?”

“Maybe her father is giving her a surprise for excelling in her studies.”

“Are the other officials here for her too?”

“Oh God, I am so jealous of her.”

My ears were bombarded with a myriad of questions, and the annoying part was that none of them were directed at me, although I was the main subject.

“Guys, I am still here. And this isn’t something related to me, I am not that important.”

It was the first time I actually raised my voice and surprise, surprise... it shut them off immediately. I sighed and turned to Rachel, only to see her grinning at me and a proud look in her eyes. She has always asked me to stand up for myself, but I was afraid that others would take it in the wrong way and think that I was abusing my powers. However, my self control was on a thin line by now.

The principal himself came out of the building to vacate the ground and, seeing the seriousness in his face, we were fast to obey him. After confirming that I was along with them, my dear colleagues walked away without any further interest in me. It’s not that I dislike them, but it was quite the opposite. I wanted them to consider me just like another student and engage in conversations with them.

Before leaving the gates, I spun around to see my father getting out of his car, his eyes fixated on me. I raised my eyebrows at him in question, but he just returned a smile and mouthed at me to be safe. I scoffed and gave him my best playful glare. As if someone would dare to mess with me.

“Good thing there wasn’t an early notice about the half day leave. Otherwise, your brothers would have already been here. ‘Oh so mighty, Kiara Snow Michael, how would you like to spend your free time?”

I was so preoccupied with the sudden happenings that I literally forgot about my freedom. My eyes widened in realization, and I hugged Rachel with all my strength. I am free. I have no bodyguard today. Maybe that is why father asked me to be safe. He has informed none of my brothers about the sudden change. Holy Clouds!

“I wouldn’t recommend you hugging your human like this. Their bones will be crushed by now.”

Rachel’s constrained laugh filled the place, but I was too busy deciding on a place to go. I will never get a chance like this in the near future, so I plan to take full advantage of it.

“Rach, I know just the place.”

I literally grabbed her slender arm and pulled her in the direction I hoped was right. I could have used my wings for fast transportation, but I have never used them in front of others. Father told me that my wings differed from the other Angels and that it would create unwanted problems in the general public. The only person who had seen my winged pair other than my family and Uncle Gabriel was Rachel, and we compared our limbs, only to prove that my father was right. There was a huge difference between our wings, both in size and colour, and Rachel confirmed to me that she had never seen anything like this before. We thoroughly searched in the library and other sources to find a similar pair, but it was in vain. So we decided never to use them when we were in public and Rachel agreed not to use her wings either, so that I would not be left alone.

We took a bus to my destination, and it was my second time on public transport. The first being with my family a few years ago, when I was adamant about travelling rather on a bus together than in different cars. The services were free of cost, unlike the human world, where a paper called money was given in return for everything. The Angels preferred to behave like humans sometimes, and voluntary workers who were discharged from the mortal world started an organization that developed the technologies from Earth and installed them in our realm. It was fascinating to use them initially, but now we are accustomed to it.

“You know the end of the realm is restricted to you, right?”

Rachel asked as she held the flyer in her hand and skimmed her fingers on the picture of the last stop.

“That’s exactly why I chose that place.”

I smiled from ear to ear, which was so unlike me, yet Rachel didn’t seem to mind the drastic difference in me.

“And here I thought your brothers were successful in putting a leash on you.”

We both laughed at her serious comment and discussed everything that was there above the sky. Slowly, the crowd inside the bus reduced until only we two remained. The angel who drove the bus made small talk with us and my interest was piqued when I learned that he was an ex-human guardian. I picked up a lot more about their world from him than from the textbooks and also got pieces of information about the underworld.

Of course, ever since the formation of the peace treaty, both realms have been very understanding of each other, but we never visited the other’s sphere unless it was for official purposes. The devils did their job in the mortal world, so did the angels, and if any disputes arose, it was taken care of by the mixed council.

For some reason though, I never liked this treaty as it gave them the right to do bad deeds. I know good and bad co-exist, but maybe it’s because Archangel Michael was my father; anyhow, I didn’t like them. And I would try my very maximum to steer my path clear of theirs. It’s not because I was afraid of the fallen angels, but I don’t want to do anything with the ones that my father cast away and they can never be equal to us, no matter how powerful they are. Good always beats the bad. Period.

Once we bid good byes to the other Angel, we enthusiastically headed to the large white gates. Three guards were standing on duty and on seeing the visitors, they greeted us pleasantly and opened the metal bars for us. We had three hours before closing time, so they gave us a bottle of fresh juice and a packet of bread to relish ourselves when we were tired from sightseeing. Rachel and I have come here when we were kids, but that was over a decade ago, and the memories were starting to fade slowly.

“This place is the best.”

Rachel sighed and leaned on to my shoulder. Ever the dramatic queen.

What she said was true, though. No place in the entire realm could beat this one. End of the heaven was a sea of clouds overlooking the human dimension. One could even walk through the cotton pads and never fall. The feeling is beyond words can describe and the positive energy this place had was the most powerful.

An angel can have any worries and it would dissipate to nothing once they set their foot inside the port. God took personal care while designing this place, and we could see it in each and every corner.

Me and Rachel spent the rest of our free hours playing around and guessing the countries that were under us. Since we haven’t passed the graduation course, our eyes weren’t powerful enough to see the whereabouts of the people, but seeing the beautiful place in a bird’s-eye view was definitely worth getting an earful from my brothers, or so I thought.

“We should probably head back now. Otherwise we will be late.”

I told Rachel, as she was so immersed in forming a pair of wings with the clouds.

“Just a few seconds more, Ara. I am almost done.”

I couldn’t resist her calf eyes and decided to wait for a little longer.

“You know my brothers will turn heaven upside down if they don’t find me, right?”

“Of course we will.”

I blinked at Rachel with wide eyes, while her vision was fixated on ‘someone I should know’ behind me.

“Can Angels die?”

I mouthed at her, but Rachey was too shocked to give me a reply. How in the heavens did he know we were here?

I slowly turned to face my fourth brother, looming over me, all the while glaring at poor Rachel. He always believed that my best friend was weird and not in the cute kind of way. And now, it seems like he got a solid proof to go with his suspicion.

“Guess for whom I have been searching the entire dimension for the past two hours?”

His voice was the deepest after our father’s and now it was really deeper than the deepest ocean. Does it make any sense? I don’t care right now.

“I can explain, Johnathan.”

I placed myself between him and my prey of a friend and tried to avoid any imaginary holes that would be drilled in her forehead.

“You don’t have to, Kiara. Father is at home, waiting for you. You can explain everything to him.”

I was trapped.

The next couple of hours passed in a blur with me and Rachel sitting like culprits behind Johnathan’s car. She looked more devastated than me as we were caught red-handed by the same person whom she wanted to impress the most. I could even see her eyes welling up every time she looked at him through the rear-view mirror.

I felt guilty for being the reason for her current state, but didn’t know exactly how to console her. As she got out, Rachel gestured a cross symbol with her right arm and signaled me to call her once the tide had settled. She didn’t even turn to see Johnathan’s expression, and I knew that she was really hurt.

The moment I stepped inside our home, I realized that something was not right. All my brothers were standing in front of my father, the other archangels and the Principalities of the Third Sphere. What in the Kingdom was happening here?

My brothers all held a broken expression and only me and Johnathan looked confused, but we recovered soon and bowed in front of the officials before joining our siblings.

Archangel Gabriel placed a thick folder on the coffee table and looked straight at me with his piercing orbs.

“Kiara, my child, you will attend the Devil’s High from next week.”

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