Dark Angel Academy (The Complete Series) - G. Bailey Page 0,4
can smell blood and sweat, like it sticks to the walls, and I feel a tiny amount of damp that itches my nose. I shiver as I get closer to the end of the corridor, where there is a frosted glass door, making it impossible to see anything but warm yellow light on the other side. The door has a silver handle, and the light coming from behind it flickers every now and then like a fire would. I look back down the corridor, seeing that I’m completely alone and the professor never followed me out.
God, I’m scared.
I calm my shaky hands as I turn the handle of the door and pull it open, feeling a blast of heat across all of my skin, followed by the hushed whispers. Two hooded angels stand right in front of the door, both wearing white cloaks with long hoods that hide their faces. The only difference is their wings. One of them has white wings, much like Professor Badhur, and the other has pitch black wings that remind me of a starless night sky. At the same time, they step aside and stretch their hands out in front of them, and only then do I realise the massive room I’ve just walked into. It’s a dome made out of stained glass with a stone floor and seating all around the edges, making the room look like an arena.
The seats are filled to the brim with angels, and there is a clear divide between each of the sections. Angels with white wings all sit in one part, and then there is a row of empty seats before the section of people that look like normal people with no wings. Then another gap before angels with black wings sit all together. There must be a thousand people in the room, and all their eyes are on me as I walk down past the seats and into the clearing in the centre. There are twenty people sat on chairs, and right at the back, there is one empty seat. Every single one of the twenty people look as young as I do as they all stare, and I look between each one of them before I see the one familiar pair of eyes I didn’t know I was looking for.
“Riley.” I whisper his name like a prayer, relief filling my steps as I go to the remaining chair next to him and sit down. Riley wordlessly stares at me, and then he smiles in relief, and I let out the breath I was holding in. I smile back, not knowing what else to do as the two angels who walked me in move to stand in front of the group, and they slowly take down their hoods. Riley’s little finger hooks in mine, comforting me when we both know we need to be quiet.
Whatever is going on, we will fix it together. It’s what best friends do.
“My name is Professor Louton, and welcome to The Angel Academy,” the angel with black wings comments. She is young with bright blonde hair, a long nose and a very serious expression. Her purple eyes look like they might have been bright once, but now darkness tints them, matching the rest of her. The other angel looks a lot older with long grey hair and expressionless features. He simply just stands there, looking at something above our heads and ignoring the world. “I am a dark angel, and Master Gabriel at my side is a light angel. Your first year at Angel Academy is designed to test your nature and for you to find an answer to the most important question in your life now.”
“The choice between light and dark. You must choose which wings and which side of your new soul you wish to fully take,” Master Gabriel follows up, his words echoing around the room.
“More will become apparent as the year carries on, and at the end, you will choose a side. You will each try to spend three years at The Angel Academy, learning what you need to become a Guardian Angel to an important human being,” Professor Louton continues and clears her throat.
“What happens if you don’t want to do this? What happens if you fail at something?” I ask into the brief silence, and it goes so quiet in the room that I wonder if I should have kept my mouth shut.
“You die, lass,” Master Gabriel answers me, none too kindly at all.