When the Sky Comes Down

Chapter 15

[Alexia’s P.O.V.]

The weekend goes by quickly. I try not to be too hard on Harlen anymore, he seems to notice. Or at least, he seems less sad. He is the one to bring me to my first class on Monday, to Mr. Williams’ class. ‘Harlen,’ Mr. Williams greets him. ‘Here again to harass my students?’

Harlen mummers something. ‘Just making sure she gets here okay, sir.’

‘How chivalrous of you.’ I try to hold back my laughter. ‘Has she arrived safely?’

‘S-s-she has.’ I have to admit, Mr. Williams torturing Harlen a little makes me feel much more forgiving.

Mr. Williams raises his eyebrow. ‘Thank you Harlen,’ I tell him. He looks at me in total surprise. ‘I should be heading in. I will see you later, okay?’

‘Okay,’ he responses. He seems in total shock of me being as kind to him as I am. ‘I will she you later.’ He slowly walks off.

‘Welcome back Alexia, or may I call you Lexi?’ Mr. Williams smiles.

‘You may call me either,’ I politely answer.

‘Good,’ he laughs. ‘I heard the name Lexi so often, I think I wouldn’t be able to call you by your real name.’ I can’t help but chuckle a little. ‘Please do come in, your friend Bellian is already waiting.’ I walk in and join Bellian at the first table. She is talking with Ilion, who has decided upon taking the seat behind her.

‘Hi again,’ I tell them, as I join them. We had breakfast together this morning. The only reason they are here before me is because Bellian left the canteen a little earlier to finish a little homework. Ilion had to leave because of Graham, but he was rather vague about it.

‘Lexi, what do you think. Demons, are they capable of making friends or not?’ Ilion asks me.

I frown. ‘Why would they not be capable of making friends?’

‘Well, Ilion’s theory-‘

‘Graham’s theory,’ Ilion corrects Bellian.

‘Graham’s theory,’ Bellian corrects herself, ‘is that because their emotions are different than ours, they cannot really feel compassion or understand the basics of friendship.’

‘But do they not feel compassion?’ I ask. ‘We know they don’t feel guilt. But nobody said anything about compassion.’

‘Doesn’t that go hand in hand?’ Iloin says.

‘Not necessarily. You can feel compassion, you can understand another person, without feeling guilty over what you do,’ I think out loud. ‘Right?’

‘Hmmm.’ They both seem in thought. ‘Should we ask Mr. Williams?’ Bellian asks.

‘We could,’ Ilion agrees.

‘Mr. Williams?’ I ask. He comes walking up to our desk and we explain our question to him.

‘That is an interesting one,’ Mr. Williams says. ‘But I have to say Lexi is right in the bigger picture. Initially they will have trouble making friends, it is harder for them, but they are capable of making friends.’

‘Have you ever met any?’ Ilion asks curiously.

‘I have?’ Mr. Williams confirms.

‘What are they like?’ Hailey now gets involved.

Mr. Williams chuckles. I look around and see everyone is hanging on his lips. Apparently they have all been listening in. ‘They are mostly like any other person,’ he starts. ‘They have intractable wings.’

‘What happens to the wings when interacted?’ Luc asks.

‘They crawl under the skin.’ Mr. Williams walks up to his desk and leans against us, looking at all of us.

‘Ehwl,’ some respond.

‘The bones in their wings are more like cartilage, it is very flexible, but strong.’ He looks around the room. ‘It is said to be similar to angel wings, but we don’t know for sure. After all, Lucifer had to replace his own wings after being banished. Though I doubt he would allow anyone to look at them, let alone write about them.’ He takes the book from his desk. ‘Let’s discuss the next few pages now, shall we?’ We all come into action by getting out our books, our notebooks and pencils.

‘My head feels heavy,’ Ilion says, as we’re leaving the Basic Understanding of Species. I giggle and so does Bellian. ‘I am serious. My head feels heavy.’

‘It’s because you learned so much more,’ I joke. Ilion grins.

We turn the corner. We have barely set a step, when I bump against someone. I look up in surprise. It is Gregory. He is smiling widely, with glistening eyes. ‘Hello there beautiful.’

Ilion grabs my arm and tries to pull me along, but he is too late, Gregory has already grabbed my shoulders. ‘Hmmm, are you in a hurry?’ I feel frozen in place.

‘She is. Come on Lexi.’ Ilion gives a little pull on my arm.

‘I was hoping you could.’ He stops to touch my lips with his thumb. ‘Make some time for me. You will, won’t you, sweetheart?’ Why do I feel like kissing him, like feeling his hands on me.

‘Lexi-‘

Gregory moves forward a little. Though our bodies don’t touch, it feels like they do. They are so close together, the tension is killing me. ‘Well, beautiful,’ he whispers, as he moves his head closer to mine. ‘Are you going to kiss me?’

Suddenly, I am being pushed out of his hands. His grip was so strong, my shoulder is dislocated. I fall onto the ground, with someone falling onto me. I scream over the sudden pain. ‘s**t. Lexi- I- I- Sorry!’ Bellian says. She struggles to come off of me. I feel the tears welling up in my eyes. ‘Ilion?’

I am being pulled up and dragged along. I can’t even really focus on setting my feet down on the ground correctly. ‘What is going on? Move.’ A new set of hands grabs a hold of me. ‘Hold onto her tightly.’ They grab my dislocated shoulder and the arm attached. There is a hard pull, then a tuck. I scream in agony. Then it fades. ‘Hold your arm.’ He grabs my free hand and makes me hold my own arm. ‘Good. Now you, go to class, I will come in after I escorted miss Wildheart to the medical center.’

‘B-but sir,’ Bellian mutters.

‘Miss Greyfield, get to class and take Mr. Walsh with you.’ I feel an arm around my shoulder and I am being guided along.

After a while, we stop walking. ‘Miss Wildheart- Alexia.’ It is the voice of Mr. Fray. I can finally recognise it now that the pain has subsided a little. ‘Are you okay to go down some flights of stairs?’ I look at my feet. We are barely a meter away from the stairs. My eyesight is a little fuzzy, but it isn’t blurry, so I nod. He slowly starts guiding me down. ‘Tell me when we need to stop.’ I nod again. I feel nauseous from the pain. It isn’t by far as bad as at the beginning. ‘Almost there,’ Mr. Fray says. We take the last few steps. ‘There you go,’ he says. He is surprisingly caring. ‘We are almost there.’ We get into the hallway and halfway through, we enter the medical centre. ‘Have a seat, miss Wildheart.’ I sit down on a chair and watch him take off into an office at the side. The medical centre is large. It has many beds and chairs, available for wounded or sick.

A little while later, he comes back out with a young woman. ‘Alexia Wildheart?’ her voice is soft and kind. ‘Mr. Fray here told me you had a dislocated shoulder. Will you let me have a look at it?’ I nod in response. I am afraid to open my mouth. She gently takes my arm and feels a little. Then she nods. ‘You put it in well, George,’ she tells Mr. Fray. ‘We will put it into a sling, to give it some rest. Make sure not to put too much pressure onto it.’

A few minutes later, I am standing outside. ‘I need to leave for class,’ Mr. Fray tells me. ‘I was planning on telling you, you do not have to come to the Old World classes this semester.’

‘What?’ my voice sounds strange, he seems to notice, but he doesn’t make a point off it.

‘This semester is all about learning how to translate, you already do so automatically. The classes will be unnecessary for you. So, I want you to enjoy your free time and make good use off it. Perhaps go and join a painting course.’

‘A painting course?’ I didn’t even know they had them.

‘Yes, the school has a lot of alternative classes. I had a list for you on my desk, but seeing your condition, I will ask Miss Greyfield to bring it to you after class. You might be better off today in simply doing nothing in this free hour.’ I nod slowly. ‘I would like to make an appointment with you,’ he continues. ‘To learn more about your ability.’

‘Okay,’ I say. ‘When?’

‘I will write a few suggestions onto the same sheet of courses. Once you decided upon one, feel free to come and tell me whenever you find the time.’ He looks me up and down. ‘Are you good to be on your own?’

‘Eh- y-yeah, I think so,’ I mutter.

‘Okay, be careful.’

‘Okay,’ I say. I watch him walk away. I start to look around, trying to figure out where in the building I am exactly.

‘Where do you want to go?’ The nurse asks me. She smiles kindly.

[Coden’s P.O.V.]

Class has barely started when Ilion hurries in. ‘Sorry, miss Wielder- Sarah, could I speak to Coden real quick?’ She hates being called miss Wielder.

‘This is highly inappropriate, Ilion,’ Sarah says. She nods me to the door. Luckily for Ilion, Sarah is one of the more flexible people. She is very understanding, especially to those who willingly take her class.

I close the door behind me. ‘I don’t have much time,’ Ilion says. He is clearly out of breath. ‘Mr. Fray thinks I’m at the toilet.’

‘What is going on? Is it Lexi?’ I start to worry.

‘Yes. Long story short, Gregory ignored my attempts to take her away. Bellian tackled her. Dislocated shoulder. Mr. Fray took her to the medic. He came to class without her. She doesn’t have to come to his classes anymore. She is wandering around.’

Panic starts building up. Not just because she is wandering around, but also because she is hurt. I might not be Keith or Harlen, but I do care for Lexi. ‘You were closest to me,’ Ilion says. Keith had basically forced Ilion to learn all the schedules, so he could find anyone closest when need be.

‘I will see if I can get out, find her. Thanks for warning me.’ He nods and takes a moment, before turning around and hurrying off. I go back in. ‘Sarah,’ I say, while walking up to her. ‘There has been a little emergency. A friend of mine got hurt.’

‘Oh,’ she says, worryingly.

‘She is okay, Mr. Fray brought her to the medical centre,’ I calm her down. ‘I just don’t want her to be alone. She is new here, it’s only her second week.’

‘Yes, of course.’ She writes me a note. ‘Make sure to read these chapters.’ She hands it to me. ‘I wrote your homework down as well.’

‘Thank you, Sarah.’ I take the note, quickly gather my stuff and hurry away.

I find Lexi not too far from the medical centre. ‘Hey,’ I tell her. She looks very vulnerable. ‘Ilion told me you got hurt. Are you okay?’ I take her bag, which she has swinging over her good shoulder.

‘I’m okay,’ she says softly.

‘Where are we going.’ She gives me a small smile. She knows I came her simply to chaperone.

‘The gardens?’ she asks. I nod and walk her outside. ‘Didn’t you get into trouble?’

‘Me?’ I chuckle at the idea that she is worried about me. ‘Never.’

We walk a little in silence. Then she suddenly starts up again. ‘Coden?’

‘Hmm?’ I respond.

‘Could you teach me how to resist the compulsion of vampires?’

I stand still. ‘How would you want me to do that?’

‘I don’t know,’ she says. ‘Could you tell me what you know?’ She sounds so desperate.

‘I- don’t know much,’ I admit.

‘Do you know a vampire who would be willing- willing to- you know- compel me, so I can learn?’

Jakey would probably be okay with it, but it’s forbidden. He could get in trouble over it. ‘I don’t know if it’s a good idea,’ I tell her.

‘Okay,’ she whispers, she sounds defeated.

‘I will think about a way,’ I assure her. ‘We will find one.’