Aurora - Book 1 - The Blessed Ground

3. First Lessons

Mr. Hamon stands at a podium at the front of the classroom. He has black wings. He's also wearing what looks like a black sheet around him. There are only eight of us in here. I sit by Rave, but I see a boy like me. He has one black wing and one white wing.

I point at him and Rave nods. "He's from Soitera too. He's been here about six months."

"We have a new student this morning. Welcome, Aurora."

"Thank you." I don't know what else to say.

It doesn't matter though. He keeps going like I was slowing him down by saying words. "We're going to the field today. Leave your things." Then he walks out super-fast. We nearly have to run to keep up.

We get to a grassy spot outside and I can see people better. There are four angel girls. They each have on a floor length sheet dress. Then their hair is all down with no styling. No makeup.

I'm not sure I could dress like that.

There is one angel boy. They seem to dress more regular. The clothes look like pants and button-down shirts anyway.

Rave and I look very sexy and pulled together. The boy with the different color wings looks like he has a sheet around him.

"Space yourselves out. Today we are working on sensing other people. Every person has a magical power in themselves. As angels or demons, you can sense that power. So, even if you are blindfolded..." He pulls out a blindfold. "You will know where they are and, if you get good enough, who they are. Who wants to go first?"

"I will, Mr. Hamon." An angel girl runs forward.

He rolls his eyes. "Wonderful. Someone tie this around Hazi's eyes."

Another girl does it. Then he has the rest of us move to different spots.

"Point to where people are, Hazi."

"That's Maro." She points to another angel right away. The girl giggles. Then she points to everyone else, but she doesn't know who they are.

"Aurora, come here." I go to him, but I don't know what I'm doing. I can't feel anything.

Suddenly, it feels like something pushes me.

"Did you feel that?"

"Yes."

"Good. I was pushing my power out. Everyone has power inside, and each person is different. You have to focus and feel for it."

I take a deep breath and focus. I really can feel them. A few anyway. I keep my eyes closed and point in a couple directions.

"Very good. The more you practice, the better you'll get. Soon, you'll always know who you are around, without trying. Maro, you next." He moves right on to her like I was just in his way.

Maro can feel everyone except me. When she takes the blindfold off, she runs to me. She looks like she might cry. "I'm so sorry. I'm really not good at this. I will practice more."

Another girl gives her a hug. "Don't feel bad, Maro. She doesn't have all of her power in yet. It's hard to feel her."

Rave shrugs her shoulders. "I can feel her fine."

The girl gives her a dirty look and drags Maro away.

We spend the rest of the class practicing. Every time someone hesitates, Mr. Hamon seems annoyed. He keeps rushing people to go faster and gets irritated when we can't.

After that class I walk the halls trying to find my next one when something catches my eye. I spin too fast and tumble down the steps.

Xander helps me to my feet. "Did you forget you have wings?"

I stretch my wings and realize that is what caught my eye. I feel myself turning red as everyone in the hallway watches me.

He smiles and rubs my back lightly. "It's alright. This is a difficult transition. Let's go have lunch. What's your afternoon class?"

"Healing." I barely get it out. This is so embarrassing. All I want to do is hide.

We eat lunch then he walks me to class and helps me find my seat. He sneaks out the door as the teacher comes in.

It's only me and two angels in this class. They stick together and don't include me in anything. They even avoid looking at me.

We can heal wounds with our hands. I read about healing cuts on a body for an hour. It seems fascinating, but I have no test subjects.

After healing class, I'm off the rest of the day.

I lay on my bed and stretch out. I miss my life. I miss everyone. I can't help but wonder who and why someone killed me. I never did anything bad to anyone. This really sucks. I want nothing more than to go home. I miss having breakfast with Lila and Dad. I miss holding Dante. I feel myself getting emotional again.

"None of that. Let's go shopping." Rave pulls me up before the sadness takes over.

"I don't feel like shopping." My voice comes out small and I try to hide the tears.

Her tone softens. "You can't sit around feeling like this. I know it hurts but you have to keep going. They wouldn't want you sitting around being sad." Before I can answer she pulls me outside.

I feel a chill in the air.

"Well, I should probably show you how to fly first. Stretch out your wings then push towards the ground."

I do it one time and get about four feet off the ground. "What now?"

"Bring them in and you'll drop."

I pull them in and suddenly gravity remembers me. I drop right to the ground. I wobble around and land a little hard. It's not bad. I mutter. "Ok, not dead."

She leads me over to the edge of a land mass that has the city floating on it. The land just... ends. It's all air and clouds. Soitera is a long way down. My throat tightens and I can't say anything.

"Good job. First, the humans on Soitera would freak out if they saw us walking around. So, I will disguise us today. You'll learn about that later. When we get down there, you'll look like someone else."

"Ok."

"It's a long way down. Do your best to land on your feet. Use your wings to control your speed." She shoves me off the edge.

"AAAHHHH!" I drop straight out of the sky. I kick and scream.

"STOP SCREAMING." She laughs beside me. "USE YOUR WINGS." Then brings her wings tight to her back. That makes her go faster towards the ground.

It also makes me remember I have wings. I force them out and catch the wind. I come to a complete stop, floating in the air. This isn't so bad. I take a few breaths and calm down. Then I bring them in slowly and drop at a slower pace.

After a few minutes I start to glide. This really isn't so bad.

I hit the ground and wobble around. Then I fall on my ass.

"You're a natural." She pulls me up.

I stare up in the air and shake my head. "My butt thinks otherwise." I can't believe I just fell out of the sky and landed here.

"You need to practice landing, but the flying part you did awesome with. Look at yourself."

I look just like a normal teenager. Not like me at all though. I have dark hair now. "This is amazing." My heart rate is finally settling down.

"We have to do that here. It would cause mass hysteria if angels and demons were walking around for everyone to see. You'll learn how to make yourself invisible and change your appearance in the travel class."

I take a deep breath and focus on what she's saying. That was all rather shocking.

We walk down a normal looking street towards a shop. "When you get good, you can travel on your own."

"That'll be nice. I have a few places I would like to visit." I immediately think about Dante and dad.

The store clerk grabs my attention. "Can I help you ladies find anything today?"

"We're just looking. Thank you." Rave smiles at the lady behind the store counter. Then she shoves a cart at me. "Just put everything you want in it."

"Everything?"

"Yes."

"I don't have any money."

She shrugs like it's irrelevant. "I'm a demon. We don't need money."

I giggle and run to the makeup counter. The adrenaline that's still coursing through my body helps me shove everything in the cart within two seconds.

One extreme shopping trip later, I have my cart completely packed. Clothes, shoes, makeup, bath stuff, lotions, and everything else is shoved in. I make my first shopping trip with Holly look like we didn't buy anything.

Rave's cart is just as full though. She pulls my cart to the checkout counter and looks at the woman's eyes. "We paid. Thank you."

She gives a blank stare for a minute then smiles. "Thank you, girls. You two have a wonderful day."

"We will."

Rave and I leave with the shopping carts. I stare up in the air wondering what kind of extreme travel trip this will be. "How do we?"

"This would be the invisible part. And the wings make anything you carry feel weightless. So, hold onto the cart and fly home."

"I'm not sure." There are so many clouds up there.

"Oh, I forgot to show you that. You'll be able to feel the school like you felt the people today. The school gives off its own feeling. I'll just make a portal this time."

It's almost like a black hole opens up above us. "I'm going in that?"

"Yes. Hold onto the cart and fly in. Don't worry, humans can't see it or us right now."

I grab the cart as tight as I can and lift up with my wings. She's correct. The cart stays with me. It doesn't seem to weigh anything. I fly into the black hole and one second later, I'm in the hallway outside our room. No falling or flying. No wind. Just a blink and here I am in the hallway.

I spin around and shake my head a little.

She steps out of the black hole, and it disappears. "Let's put our new stuff away. But that's how we shop, demon style."

20 minutes later, the shock of all that finally subsides. "I have so many questions. How did we walk out the door? She just let us leave." I put my clothes in the drawers.

"That's the power of persuasion. We can tell humans or anyone weaker than us what happened or what we want, and they will go with it. You'll figure it out in the powers class. It takes a lot of focus."

"Is that how Lucifer got me to fall asleep yesterday?"

"I'm not sure. Probably. He is really strong. And he's been here for six years already."

"How many years do we stay here?"

"Seven. Or however many you want. There are required classes for everyone. Those take seven years. Then there are a bunch of other classes. A lot of us stay after the seven years to do the extra classes. But nobody can live here after seven years. You'll need your own place after that."

I hesitate. "Do people work?"

"Some do. It depends what kind of life you want. You could use magic to build a little house, grow your food, and shop demon style without any money."

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'll figure it out later. My dad is an advisor to Satan. He makes plenty of money for us."

"What?" I drop some lotion.

"What?"

"Advisor to Satan?"

"I forget you don't know how things work. Satan is the leader of Hell. It's where most of the demons live. It's underground on Soitera. It's hot. But my dad is his advisor. Lucifer is his son. Lucifer's official title is Prince of Darkness for now."

"He is what?"

She cracks up laughing. "I know. You treat him like a teddy bear. It's hilarious. Even he's confused."

"But he seems nice."

She wipes her eyes off. "I'll just keep going. Satan has advisors and people that help him rule. My dad is an Admiral. It's a really high rank. He makes lots of money with it."

"That's good." I scratch my head. I don't even know what to say. This is a lot. "So, demons are nice?"

She makes a weird noise and tilts her head. "Ehhh. The thing is that angels can only act for the greater good. So, they justify everything they do that way."

"They can only act for the greater good? That sounds..."

She cuts me off. "Restrictive. Demons don't have that rule. We're allowed to act for ourselves."

"But only acting for the greater good? What does that even mean?"

"They can't intentionally do something they believe will hurt someone. I would never be able to live like that." She throws herself on the center of her bed. "Like how we shopped earlier, they can't do that. It would be taking money away from some rich asshole that owns the store."

"If I thought about it hard enough, I might be able to come up with a reason why it was for the greater good. So, do demons only act for the greater bad?"

She laughs and shakes her head. "No. I mean we could. Some demons are quite evil. But for the most part, we try to make our lives better and have fun. Sure, we get carried away sometimes. But we're not all evil. Some are though. Let's go get some food."

I fold the last of my new jeans and put them away. "Yeah, I'm hungry."