Wicked Wings

32

Chapter Twenty-One

Olivia

T

he rest of the week passes quickly in a blur of classes while avoiding the Princes and Valkyries as much as possible, and I’m just glad I make it to the weekend without any problems. Saturday night I’m supposed to attend that secret society meeting, or whatever it is, and I’ll hopefully be one step closer to finding my brother then.

As Saturday morning arrives, Araceli busts into my room at the c***k of dawn. She throws open the curtains and declares, “We’re going shopping!”

Freaking angels. They’re all such morning people. Me, I was looking forward to staying in bed until noon. I’m still used to a bartender schedule. Or a demon one.

I eye the window, through which I can see a gray sky and trees blowing hard in the wind. It’s the kind of day you can just tell is going to be chilly and miserable.

“Today? It’s way too cold.” I pull the covers up to my nose and hide.

Angels absolutely hate the cold, so I have to pretend I do also. It’s why Seraphim Academy’s school year runs spring to fall, with winter off. Demons, meanwhile, dislike heat. The whole thing about Hell being fire and brimstone? Yeah, that’s angel propaganda. It’s more like a perpetual realm of night, according to my Mother, anyway.

Araceli peers outside. “Can we take your car? It’s got a heater, right?”

“Yeah, sure.” I don’t love the idea since my car is such a piece of crap, but I have to keep up the ruse, and I’m not the greatest at flying yet. “But I’m warning you in advance, I’m not the best driver.”

“Aw, we’ll be fine.” She waves her hand. “Flying would be torture this morning, and I want to go.”

“All right, but give me a few minutes to get dressed and down some coffee. You know I can’t function without it.”

She rolls her eyes but says, “Fine, fine.”

I take a quick shower, chug my coffee, and we’re out the door in an hour. When the cold air smacks us in the face as we exit the dorms, I reconsider flying. With both demon and angel blood, I don’t have a strong hatred or preference for cold or heat, but it’s actually pretty damn cold out today, especially for the end of March.

We walk toward the parking lot, but then I spot the Princes prowling around. I yank Araceli back to hide behind the brick building of the main hall.

“Hang on.” I have not had nearly enough coffee to deal with their s**t this morning.

“What?” She looks around in alarm. “What is it?”

“The Princes.” I peer around the wall, watching as they saunter toward Callan’s car. Araceli ducks down to look under my arm, and another student walks by and gives us an odd look. I picture what fools we must look like, hiding behind the building, and I straighten up. “Come on.”

“Why?” Araceli follows me toward the parking lot, but she’s more hesitant than I am. “I don’t want to deal with them, either.”

“If we hide from them, they win.” Even though I believe what I’m saying, I can’t help but let out a little sigh of relief when Callan’s car drives away without them seeing us.

After they’re gone, we hurry to my car. The sooner we get it started, the sooner it warms up. I waste no time pulling out of the parking lot, and it’s only a short drive to Angel Peak, with Araceli giving me directions since my phone’s GPS doesn’t work well up here. Nope, that would be too easy.

We make our way into the tiny town, which has only enough shops to keep us from needing to go to a bigger town. It’s the quaintest thing I’ve ever seen. Each storefront looks like it’s been teleported straight out of the 1950’s, all done in pastel colors with decorative trim. I find a parking spot and as we get out I look around while trying not to let my chin drag the ground. A cobbler, seamstress, office supplies. There’s even an ice cream shop.

I turn in a slow circle. “Wow.”

“It’s a trip, isn’t it?” Araceli grins at me. “My aunt lives here, so I spent a lot of my childhood visiting.”

I can’t help the envy that trickles through me at hearing that. Even the half-fae outcast had a happier childhood than I did. Pushing those thoughts away, I try to suppress the negative emotions toward the person that has been nicest to me since coming to Seraphim Academy. She doesn’t deserve them.

“We should be able to get some fun stuff for our dorm here,” Araceli says.

“Okay, but I don’t have a lot of money,” I say.

Araceli looks up from her purse. “Didn’t they give you your allowance? I know it’s not a lot, but it should be enough.”

“No, although I remember being told that I’d receive some sort of stipend. I wasn’t sure how to get access to it.” And wasn’t sure I wanted to either. Nothing in life is free. I learned that lesson early on.

“Come on.” She grabs my elbow and pulls me down the street. “We’ll go to the bank first. I bet it’s there.”

“There’s an angel bank?” That’s something I didn’t know.

“Yep. In the human world it passes as a credit union for employees of Aerie Industries, and it only has branches in angel communities. Lots of angels have accounts at other banks as well, but this one is just for us, and run by angels. The town is enchanted to ward off humans anyway, so it’d be nearly impossible for one to open an account even if they did find the branch.”

The bank is at the end of the street in a building that looks like an old Victorian house, painted pastel blue. We step onto the front porch and the planks under our feet creak with age. I arch an eyebrow at them, wondering if they’ll hold.

Araceli grins. “Quaint.”