The Angel

CHAPTER TWO

AZRIEL’s POV

“You’ve got to get out of here,” a voice whispered in my ear and I gritted my teeth in annoyance, flipping over from where I’ve been sleeping for the last couple hours.

The human world normally was marvelous—at least when you are an angel and not bound by any mortal laws.

But when you’re in my situation; powerless, wingless, and quite specifically penniless, you’re like a vegan at a Texas barbecue. Completely out of your element.

Oh, well. At least I still have my looks.

“Azriel with no surname?” I heard one of the guards call out, and my eyes flew open.

I turned to the door.

He waved a paper at me. “You’ve been bailed.”

I blinked. “Bailed? You mean I’m… free?”

“Well, technically,” he said, shrugging, “but don’t get used to it.”

I swung my legs over the edge of the concrete bench, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Stumbling out of the cell, I barely made it to the lobby of the police station before I ran straight into the guy who’d bailed me out. The moment he turned to face me, all the little relief I’d felt vanished.

“Oh, it’s you.”

He gave me that infuriatingly calm smile. Tall, crisp suit, eyes that said he already knew exactly how this would go. His gaze flicked over my clothes. “Oof. First time seeing you in literal rags. It kinda suit you.”

I groaned under my breath. “Gabriel.”

“Don’t sound so disappointed, little brother,” Gabriel said, arching an eyebrow.

“I didn’t know I was that obvious,” I muttered.

His smile was sharp, sarcastic. “This is the last time I will be helping you out, Azriel. Your time is running. Get the job done now, and you’ll be back where you belong.”

“Yeah, about that—”

“All you need to know is that you have to stick with him,” he cut me off, fixing the cuff on his suit.

“Who’s him?”

“The boy.”

“What boy?”

“Tyler.”

“Who?”

Gabriel’s patience thinned to a razor’s edge. “The boy from last night. I’ve enrolled you in his school. It’s up to you now what to do.”

I ran an infuriated hand through my hair. “Right. So, I’m supposed to figure this out on my own? You can’t even tell me what I’m supposed to fix? I’m wingless thanks to you, I’m powerless, and now I’m also forced to babysit a mortal kid?! Sounds… fun.”

Gabriel smirked. “Don’t complain. Just survive. I’ll be checking in. Disappear or fail, and that’s on you.”

I sighed, muttering under my breath, “Great. School. Human children. My life’s really going downhill fast.”

“Try me and it can go even lower.”

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

TYLER’s POV

I pushed open the doors to the headmaster’s office. It looked exactly like what you’d expect in an ancient castle—somber, dull, and suffocatingly proper. Dark oak panels climbed the walls, the air carrying scents of old leather, bergamot, and hints of candle smoke. Towering bookshelves flanked either side of the walls, framing the headmaster’s massive desk that was filled to the brim with papers and books.

I raised an eyebrow at the mess. Either he’s searching something or the old man’s got some massive ADHD thing going on.

He poked his head out from behind one of the towers of leather bound books and smiled at me, his messy salt-and-pepper hair looking exactly like he’d just been electrocuted.

“Ah. You’re finally here, Mr. Hastings,” he greeted and straightened his suit. “Come sit. I just have to talk to you about a few things.”

I heaved out a soft sigh and sat on the chair in front of his desk. “Am I in trouble?”

“Trouble? Absolutely not, Mr. Hastings. I just need to… er, straighten some things out with you, that’s all.”

My eyebrows creased and I looked at him. He settled on the chair opposite me, otherwise, the book tower would’ve done us both a favor and blocked him out entirely.

“The boy from last night,” he started. “He is a student here.”

“He is?” I replied, skepticism dripping from my voice. “I’ve never seen him before.”

“That’s because he is new.”

“In the middle of the term?”

“Well, yes. He’s an excellent student so naturally, the academy made a few exceptions.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, not at all buying what he said.

Excellent student? That imbecile? He was wearing nothing but a towel, bled out almost entirely in my room, and talked about being an angel. If that’s their definition of someone excellent, then I’m the Queen of England.

“Right,” I replied after 10 seconds of staring at him, waiting for him to laugh and take it back. He didn’t. “So, what has this got to do with me again?”

He smiled and pressed his hands together on his lap. “I need you to drop the charges.”

I raised an eyebrow at his words. Seriously? Has he even seen him? If he did he’d think he’s some escapee from a mental asylum. And besides, his blood is still all over the floor of my room. I’m not gonna drop my charges.

“Listen, Headmaster—”

“No.”

No?

“You, Mr. Hastings, should listen to me.” He stood up and circled his table, no doubt scared I might hit him with the chair I’m sitting on. “You are dropping the charges and is going to help him get settled into this school. Oh, and by the way, he’s going to be your new roommate.”

“Wait, what?!” I burst out of my chair and stared at him, not believing what I just heard. “You can’t be serious. He’s crazy! And besides, I already have my roommate. His name’s Spencer.”

“We’ve already arranged for Mr. Spencer Dowling’s transfer to another room. He’ll be rooming with Mr. Barnes.”

“Barnes?! You mean Donald Barnes?” Hell, no. Donald and his comically large braces should have that nitwit instead.

“Mr. Hastings, there’s nothing much I can do for you, really. It’s not like I favor you or anything—”

“I know. You hate me.”

“Yes! Precisely. Which is why I’m putting you up for this task. He will be with you in another hour or so. I’ll have someone give him his uniform, schedule, and… maybe even cut his hair.”

“Great,” I replied sarcastically and stuffed my hands in the pockets of my pants. “Now, can I leave? I still have to scrub his blood off my floor.”

“You mean, off the academy’s floor?”

“The floor that the academy refused to scrub clean? No. It’s my floor now.” I turned away from him before he could even make another comeback and slammed the door so hard behind me, I nearly feared it would fall on its hinges.

Screw this whole place. I bet the only reason why my demon of a father even sent me over is because he knows I’ll be miserable here all year.

He’s probably crossing that off from his bucket list somewhere.

I stormed down the stairs, ignored the greetings from some of my classmates, and headed straight for my dorm. When I arrived, they had already emptied out all of Spencer’s belongings. But despite all that effort, no one even bothered removing the blood stains.

I groaned and slumped down on my bed.

Maybe I should just torture the guy so he’ll move out of my dorm room himself. That way not even the headmaster could do anything about it.

“Woah.”

I lifted my head up to look at the doorway where Isaac was standing.

“When Shelby told me it was like a m******e was just here, I thought she was exaggerating.”

I sighed and let my head fall back down again.

He was not even my roommate yet but he’s already giving me one hell of a headache. I’m beginning to wonder if this was my punishment for all those years of making other people feel miserable.

“So, have you heard the latest news yet?” Isaac said and plopped down on the bed beside me, looking at me with amusement.

“Latest news about what?”

“About your roommate.”

I sighed sharply. “I don’t care about him.”

“Well, you should. Considering he’s just like you.”

My eyebrows furrowed at this. I sat up and stared at him, his smirk irking the hell out of me. “What do you mean he’s just like me? I’m not some lunatic who bleeds out on someone else’s carpets.”

“Well, not that part, obviously. But he’s also a rebel, I heard. His brother stopped by earlier to drop him off and have a talk with the headmaster. I heard he’s one hell of a rich prick.”

“Everyone in here is a rich prick.”

“Yeah, but he’s sort of different.”

That’s an understatement. “Different how?”

“Montfort Academy has never made exceptions for any student. That’s the reason why we were dumped here in the first place. Because no matter how much money we wielded at them, they don’t care.”

I turned my eyes away from Isaac, my eyes fixed on the wall, unfocused. “Are you saying they blackmailed the headmaster?”

“What? No!” Isaac straightened in his place and made me face him. “I’m saying that his family might not be one to mess with. You’re already in a lot of trouble as it is. Don’t add to that by messing with him.”

“He’s the one that’s been messing with me. Have you even seen what he’s did to my room?” I said and stood up, deciding that the dried pool of blood won’t go away unless I start scrubbing it. “Besides, I don’t care if he’s loaded. He’s an imbecile and I’m pretty sure he’s also crazy.”

“Well, I’ve seen him. He doesn’t look crazy. Except maybe for the really long hair. But I heard that’s the trend these days.”

“Trend,” I spat and wheeled the mop all the way to my room. “He looks like a blonde Jesus.”

“Jesus?”

My soul nearly leapt out of my body when a third voice said that out loud. When I looked at the door, the i***t we were talking about was already standing there. Except he looked different. He was wearing the school uniform, his platinum blonde hair cut short and neat at the sides.

Without all the blood and grime, he could’ve passed for a model. Annoyingly perfect in a way that made it hard to look away.

“Get the hell out of my room, Azriel!”

He just blinked at me. “I was told it was our room.”

“Well, you were lied to.”