I nod once, letting Henry know I’m coming with him. Henry looks back once, and whatever is on his face makes Jessica stop, tears falling from her eyes. Without another word, Henry takes my hand in his and leads me through the party and to his room. Once we are inside, he shows me his bathroom and where the towels are.
“I have a top and shorts you can borrow if you want?” he asks, opening his chest of drawers. “Better than walking back to the academy in a beer-covered dress.”
I tilt my head to the side, running my gaze over his black knee-length shorts and white tee that fits him too well, showing off all his muscles. His hair looks wilder every day I see him at the moment, but his skin looks pale. His eyes have bags under them, and I wonder how well he is sleeping.
What is wrong with my dark angel? “You could always take me back using that shadow thing you did. Is that a power all dark angels have?”
“No, and I’d rather you didn’t talk about my gift,” he says, handing me a pile of clothes and not meeting my eyes. “I never should have shown you what I can do.”
“I won’t tell, because I have my own secrets and I know how to keep them,” I tell him, feeling my heart beating fast in my chest. I don’t tell anyone about my secrets, especially not a boy who won’t tell me any of his.
“That’s the only reason you’re still alive,” he cruelly says, and I wish he was smiling as he said it. Only he wasn’t, and I don’t doubt he is telling me the truth. Without trusting myself not to say another word, I head into his bathroom. After quickly stripping out the sticky clothes, I fold them and leave them on the toilet. I carefully shower off and wash my beer smelling hair with Henry’s shampoo and then dry off. I slide on Henry’s shirt which falls to my knees and smells way too much like Henry, and I damn well like it. The shorts are a little loose, but once I’ve pulled the strings tighter, they manage to stay up. I run my fingers through my damp hair and stare at myself in the mirror for a second, wondering what I should do next. I look down at the small bin in the room and see dozens of blood covered tissues. Maybe he has a problem with nose bleeds?
Aren’t angels meant to be immortal and never get sick?
“What are dark angels’ powers then?” I ask as I walk out of the bathroom, and Henry doesn’t look up from a big book on his lap. I wonder if his dark angel powers can make him sick somehow, and that’s what’s going on. Not that I’ve seen any other sick angels around now I think about it.
And Henry does seem to hide from the world all of the time.
“Haven’t you figured it out yet?”
“No,” I mutter in annoyance. I pride myself on being smart, and yet somehow I can’t figure what the parties are all about. Ves and I have searched all the rooms we can, questioned all the angels that would talk to us, and yet we don’t see a clear answer. Even then, I prefer dark angel study days to the light angel ones. All we do in that class is meditate, learn hymns and songs about good shit. One day, we even baked cookies to send to earth.
I mean, I’m all for good vibes and karma, but there has to be more to angels.
“Why do dark angels have parties?” he asks me, closing the book and finally looking up at me. I can’t read his ember-filled eyes, even as I want to keep staring. “It’s this simple. Dark angels need to have fun, to party, to lose themselves in something to escape the darkness they willingly walked into. The darkness gives us heightened abilities in the ways of strength, power, speed and in return, we agree to accept who we are now.”
“A dark angel...”
“Darlin’, I knew from the second I saw you that you’d choose to become a dark angel like me. When they take you to the ceremony room, the darkness is going to call you to it like a moth to a flame,” he warns me. “And then, when you’re like me, finally you will understand why I keep you at a distance. You deserve better than me,