“Veaer Rosell.” A sweet voice caressed her ears, sending blood rushing to her face.

  She held one hand up to her cheek in an attempt to manage the heat, before meeting eye to eye with Elise. A new perfume lingered around her and there seemed to be something different about her make-up. Maybe she had cut her hair too?

  Veaer blinked. Had she been intentionally ignoring Elise? They saw each other last night but they hardly spoke, it was like she wasn’t even there. She remembered Elise being surrounded and fed fruit, many hands gently bringing damp cloth to Elise’s lips to clear away the sticky liquid.

  Elise laughed under her breath and smiled, even when Veaer didn’t say anything. “How nice for us to meet here, at the supply cart.”

  “Yes—yes, very nice.” Veaer couldn’t help the smile that stretched across her lips. A sense of comfort washed over her. She liked moments like this and sharing them with Elise. Two girls, growing up and falling in love. “Hey, do you… are you doing anything later?”

  The princess picked up a couple pieces of paper and handed one to Veaer. “Yes, actually.”

  “Ahh…” Veaer avoided bringing the paper too close to her chest so as to not crinkle it.

  “But you can come.”

  Veaer pursed her lips and occupied her fingers by randomly picking out markers and pencils. She didn’t want to stand on the outskirts while Elise’s new friends followed her and asked her questions. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

  “You wouldn’t be, considering it’s just me.”

  “Oh, but what about your new friends?” Veaer leaned in after glancing around them. “The protectors?”

  Elise shook her head, with the kind of look that made Veaer feel young and small. “No, no. They’re not my friends. They’re like, my students. They love to listen to what I have to say, what the angels tell me to tell them. The angels have granted me a gift.” The princess’ eyes glazed over with a distant look, like her mind and spirit was transported back to the heavens from which she came. “It’s wonderful. They all love me. So sweet and kind.”

  I’m sweet and kind. I love you too. “So, what you’re doing later isn’t related to…?”

  “It quite is. But it isn’t for them. They’re all too young. Fresh minds that won’t be able to handle the task that has been set out for me.”

  Veaer could just imagine Elise dressed in those beautiful robes again. A school uniform seemed so restricting now that she had seen what a true form really was. Was this the fate of Elise in all her angelic channelling?

  “Will I see you then? Courtyard after classes end.” Elise tilted her head and her hair fell beautifully over her shoulder. Veaer really wanted to move the fabric aside and take a bite.

  “I’ll be there, of course. Yes.” She nodded in case her words weren’t enough.

  “Veaer!” Elise called as she rushed up to Veaer who was already by the statue with her hands on her knees, heavily panting but glad to see she wasn’t late.

  “Here I am!” she called in return with a laugh. She admired the beaming smile that the princess wore, and noticed the jewelled earrings and necklace adorned upon her. They sparkled in the afternoon sun though she was concerned for the students who may notice.

  Elise also carried a satchel that she looped over Veaer’s head and fastened across her chest. “Supplies, for a ritual.”

  “A ritual, at this time? And without the others?” Veaer clipped open the satchel and inspected the items. “There’s just some chalk and a ritual knife in here—” She carefully ran a finger over the leather cover that protected the blade, and when she looked up again, Tychon was hovering beside them, watching. “Don’t we need anything else?”

  “Q has prepared the rest.” Elise slipped her hand into Veaer’s and began to make way on a path. “This ritual is special. The order has seen my wonderful gift and they will reward me with more.”

  “How so?” Veaer played with her lip between her teeth as she looked up and shielded her eyes from the blaring sun with her free hand. The cathedral stood tall and proud ahead of them. Her palms grew clammy. “This seems very different from what they promised when we joined.”

  “That’s because they didn’t expect such potent results,” Elise whispered into Veaer’s ear, the warm breath causing her to shudder. “They’re doing something even more special within, but I am yet to find out. Our dances and meditations, it’s only the beginning.” The princess spoke with such knowledge and experience of the order, her open hand tracing mystical gestures in the air and her voice taking a breathy quality.

  The two of them entered the cathedral hall, dim lights intact and no screaming feathered body laying with contorted limbs by the altar. Soft music played from somewhere that created a peaceful atmosphere against all Veaer’s nerves lit aflame. They passed a couple people in pews, kneeling and praying, while a group of second years huddled together in one of the saint chapels, mumbling and giggling. It assured Veaer that a repeat of weeks ago wouldn’t happen—the cathedral attendees serving as her safeguard. Each passing pillar brought them closer to the front and Veaer swore the scent of blood and iron remained in her nostrils.

  She glanced next to the altar, but no glass shards. She looked down at her feet, but no blood stains. Then Elise led her to the side, towards the corner where a tower met the mass of the building, and a door was unlocked.

  Inside was a winding staircase and they remained silent as they climbed. Their footsteps echoed and Veaer remembered finding the crypt and how they were led lower underground than she hoped to ever go. What secrets laid above them?—on a structure she admired from afar because she was too small in comparison.

  As light shot through the exit at the top, Veaer breathed out and stared at Elise for further explanation. The cathedral was quite an important location for angels, though unfamiliar to the activities of the order. She kept her hands tucked behind her back, pondering her uncertainty about her aura being attuned earlier, for at least something—one thought, to grasp onto.

  “This is my test,” Elise said as she stepped into the sunlight, the rays creating a glow around her that had Veaer pausing. “When I complete this ritual, the order will know how strong I am and allow me to tap into my potential. And when I do, my students will want even more from me. They’ll love me, praise me.” Elise spun around, her skirt flying in the air and her hair following in a beautiful cascade. Her giggles carried with the wind and flew into Veaer’s heart. “This is where I truly belong. Upon holy grounds, to complete a legacy and leave my own. Come see.”

  And she did. Every building and treetop could be looked down upon from here, and she could hardly make out the students below, who were ants when she climbed Miriam Manor, but now tiny particles at this height. The world tilted on its axis as Veaer clutched a nearby wall for balance. They stood at the top of a stone tower; a corner integrated into the design of the cathedral that one would never imagine standing upon one day. Those who created this divine place even put detail into the walls and buttresses that intersected with the tower and the main hall, and carved images ran along the inside of the stone that prevented them from falling to the ground if they wanted to lean over the edge.

  Elise expressed a sound of excitement that inspired Veaer and she knew that this moment would change their lives forever. Sweet lips crashed into her, so quickly that Veaer grabbed Elise’s perfect face in her hands to go for another. They remained forehead to forehead, chuckling between breaths.

  “I don’t think I deserve this,” Veaer confessed. “I don’t think I’m worthy to be here, for this.”

  Elise shook her head, gently to not break them apart. “That doesn’t matter. Do you want this?”

  She opened her mouth and closed it again, then decided to leave a peck on Elise’s lips first. “Yes I want this,” she answered after a moment.

  A shadow moved by the corner of her eye and she broke contact, snapping to the side and staring at the pillar, waiting for the shadow to show itself. Nothing happened. It may have been Tychon’s ghost, watching on but not wanting to interrupt the moment.

  In her lapse of attention, Elise had started on drawing a ritual circle with the chalk. Masterful hand movements and straight lines, Veaer didn’t expect any less from an arts student but wondered when Elise had the time to practise this. Soon a shape that looked similar to the circle used in the Ascension Order and the one Tychon drew by the altar came to fruition, though it had its own qualities to it as well. Instead of four distinct points of the cardinal directions being marked, everything seemed to direct itself into the centre.

  Elise clapped her hands together, chalk dust flying away, and then pulled something out of her pocket.

  “Here.” She placed a small candy in Veaer’s palm. “For the nerves.”

  The candy wrapper crinkled in her hand. “I’m not nervous.” At least she thought she wasn’t once she arrived up here, but the very notion of nerves brought them back.

  She popped the small ball in her mouth, only for spice and salt to coat her tongue. She almost spat it out, but Elise smiled at her, and so she handled it. All its burning and displeasing flavours.

  Everything in her mouth turned sour and she stumbled towards a pillar. Elise reached for the knife in the bag and unsheathed it, turning in her palm. Veaer’s vision turned fuzzy at the edges and she blinked. Sour foods tended to create tears. But her eyes were dry and soon her throat was too. Her heart beat faster and when the candy didn’t seem to get any smaller and only more sour, she had enough.

  She spat it into her palm, a small metal ball coated in powder and saliva landing with the weight of the world. This wasn’t confectionery.

  She bent over and dropped the ball, before her arms were pulled against her sides and rope was wrapped around her stomach. Every movement was just a second too late. Her head flicked back and forth but it wasn’t enough to see what was going on. Her body moved on its own, being led towards the circle until she was laid on her back with no autonomy in her muscles.

  Elise stood above her, the remaining length of rope being looped around her hand and then placed on top of the empty bag. She held the shiny knife tight, just by her side but awfully close, too close to Veaer’s body.

  “Elise… Elise?! What are you doing?” Veaer realised that Elise didn’t understand her as drool pooled under her tongue and poured down the side of her face with not even a glance from the princess. “This isn’t funny, I don’t like this. I’m not into this—let me go!”

  “I need to do this, Veaer. I need to prove that I’m willing to do this.”

  Tychon, help me. Tychon, help me.

  “Darling, why?” Veaer cried. The knife hadn’t grown any closer to her as Elise walked around to light each candle, the flickering orange at the corners of her vision telling her so, but she could already feel each stab she forced into Tychon’s back, each thrust of—

  “I need to. They won’t care if I don’t. They won’t love me. They’ll just treat me like everyone else, like father and Izot and, Veaer, you’re the only one I can trust to do this,” Elise blabbered through everything: the noise, the fire, her struggle against the tight ropes. The princess kneeled, her bare knees touching the concrete and chalk beneath them, her thighs pressing into Veaer’s sides. “There is no love without sacrifice.”

  Veaer hiccupped, more of that horrid saltiness creeping down her throat and into her body. How could this have happened? Had she not loved Elise enough? She could’ve been around more, waking up by her side, bringing gifts. Instead she was always taking. Elise’s attention, her commissions, her quiet time in the library, her feelings when vulnerability lingered between them. She was just another one of those people in Elise’s life who turned away and left her feeling selfish for wanting love from just one person in her life. She had told Elise to be her best and that they would be good together. But she wasn’t good. How could she be if all her friends wanted the world to pay for their pain?

  If she were able to, she would’ve brought her hand up to Elise’s face and told her that the world didn’t deserve how much she worried.

  But instead, she saw a flash of light and feathers, and an angel touched a finger to her forehead.

  On a Tuesday morning, eight years ago, Veaer stood in a field of lavender and grass. The scent tickled her nose, and she pressed her palm against her nostrils to get rid of the itch.

  A short distance away was a young girl, brown hair and purple cat ears and a tail, sitting on a swing.

  Veaer sprinted towards her as fast as her little legs could handle until she saw two others join the swing set and start talking to her friend. She stopped behind a tree and stared. She didn’t remember inviting more friends. One with long black hair and another… she couldn’t quite tell with the sun glaring in her eyes, but she noticed that they had their hair tied, with the end of their ponytail chopped in strange places that made it look like the elastic would fall at any moment.

  Those new friends seemed nice enough, so she took some time to turn around and pick three bundles of lavender. Her mother always said that gifts were the best way to show how much she loved someone, though she didn’t really believe it. Not everyone gave gifts to their loved ones. She did it anyway, for good luck.

  But when she stood up with a wonder on how she would tie the bundles together, the new friends had gotten off their swings and were holding Kitt’s arms.

  Veaer lifted her hand and called out, but her voice escaped her just as one of the bundles fell from the crook of her arm and scattered in the grass.

  A knife appeared in the hand of the kid with a weird ponytail and their hand shook as they passed it to their friend.

  She abandoned the flowers, throwing the rest to the ground with enough force to start running, reaching her arms out and calling Kitt’s name. Kitt turned, her tail straightening in the air and her eyes wide with fear.

  When Veaer screamed again, she was forced back, the ponytail kid hooking themself behind her and locking her in place. The young knife wielder stepped closer and closer to Kitt, so much that the caemi fell off the swing and wooden bark stabbed her palms on impact.

  Her long silky hair flew with each thrust of the knife, and her smile was just as sharp.

  Conviction in her eyes, vengeance in her bones.

  The way she handled the knife filled Veaer with awe, and the blood that flew out of the chest of her friend made her lurch, and she wanted to run away in case she was next, and she only kept watching because that little girl just kept going.

  How could a young girl be so brave? And so cruel?

  She had to go but her feet only slipped in the dirt, her captor’s hold so mighty. She had to tell someone else, someone big who could do something about this.

  The little girl with the knife laughed, like she finally did something right after so long of being wrong. Like she was waiting for this moment her entire life.

  What is she doing to you?

  Kitt wasn’t moving under the little girl, and red seeped into the brown bark around her. Did you fall asleep?

  And suddenly her body grew too big for her mind, and she was in a uniform she didn’t recognise with a dirty blazer on her shoulders. Her hands were tied with rope and salty spice made her choke.

  The kid behind her leaned close, his body the size of hers now, and whispered, “I’m sorry, Veaer.”

  Concrete and dust fell from the sky. Flames surrounded her before a ghost, oh so familiar, floated above her. Tychon released his touch from Veaer’s forehead, and she hadn’t realised that all sound had been sucked away in a vacuum, until a shriek pierced the air.

  Elise dropped the knife and froze, her expression in a perpetual scream.

  Veaer brought her hands to her head, then noticed that the rope had fallen away. The candles around her snuffed out in a sweep of air. She reached out to a candle close by and held it, the melted wax dripping over her hand and stinging her skin before solidifying. Stinging meant this was real, but the pain she had just felt in watching her friend...

  She put the candle down and pawed her chest and legs to make sure. She was Veaer Rosell, student at Adraredon Academy, eighteen years old.

  And when she was ten years old, her best friend was a little girl named Kitt, a purple cat caemi with magical potential whose life was taken too soon by a girl with long black hair and a friend who held her back. They all grew up, bigger bodies for their little minds, but that didn’t come without punishment.

  Today, she stared at the horrified, wide eyes of Elise Excava as she pointed and screamed at the ghost of her dead best friend, six wings sprouting from his back, his scars decorated with inked leaves, and holding a golden staff that said holy, holy, holy just by appearance.

  An image of the Justice tarot card flashed in her mind as she beheld Tychon, glorious, tall, and angelic. He was more than lumps of wings and a grey face. More than a bug in the corner covered in webs and silk.

  Veaer got to her knees and pressed her head to the floor, praying and praying, thanking and thanking. How wonderful for Angelus Caelum to grant her mercy in this time, to give herself another chance to prove her love to Elise and show her that she didn’t need to do this.

  The screaming stopped when Elise’s throat ran dry and a coughing fit attacked her, her hand sliding across the rough ground in search of the knife.

  “Why, Tychon?!” Elise wailed and hit the ground. Thump, thump, thump. “Why did you have to ruin this too?”

  Tychon said nothing, his being hovering towards Veaer and gesturing for her to stand. He looked her in the eyes with no message to gather, nothing to see through his soul. His last message was a glance over her shoulder before he disappeared, and a firm hand grabbed her from behind.

  Bolts of sweat slid down her face as the source of the touch made himself known with a laugh and a familiar mask on his face. “Oh, wonderful initiates. Well done!” He clapped and laughed some more.