Rage and Ruin by Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,117
what’s going on at the local haunted and cursed school from Hell?”
“You sure you want to talk about it?” I asked. “After everything with Sam?”
“She’s sure,” Zayne answered, and I bit down on my thumbnail. “Stacey can handle this.”
Stacey laughed again, the sound stronger as she picked up her water and took a drink. “If you knew the things I’ve seen and experienced, you wouldn’t ask if I was sure. I’ll deal with...with Sam later, most likely when I’m alone and have a bag of Skittles to consume. Obviously what Sam was trying to tell me is important. We need to deal with that.”
Surprise flickered through me, quickly followed by respect for her ability to push aside a riot of emotions and prioritize. God, Zayne had been right. Stacey and I probably would get along...if it wasn’t for him.
“He told you something that had you freaked-out.” Zayne shifted, pulling his arm away from Stacey. “What did he tell you?”
“Other than the over-a-hundred-trapped-ghosts creepy tidbit?” I said.
“Over a hundred?” Stacey let out a low breath. “Yeah, other than that creepy tidbit.”
“He’s said there are Shadow People there,” I told them, keeping my voice low.
“Shadow People?” she repeated. “Do I even want to know what that is?”
“Probably not.” I glanced at Zayne. A muscle was ticking along his jaw. “Do you know what they are?”
“I’m assuming some kind of ghost or something?” he said.
I coughed out a dry laugh. “Not quite. I’ve never seen one. All I know is what my mom told me about them. They’re like wraiths, but they were never human in the first place. They’re like the souls of deceased demons.”
“Oh, man,” Stacey whispered.
“I don’t understand. Souls of demons?” Zayne rested his forearms on the table. “How is that possible? They don’t have souls.”
“We think they don’t,” I corrected, thinking of Roth. “But I said they’re like souls. More like the essence of them.” Based on the way Zayne was staring at me, I could tell this was something that had never crossed his mind. “What did you think happened when demons died? That they just ceased to exist?”
“I figured they went back to Hell.”
“They do, but they’re dead, and unless someone with a lot of power gives them back corporeal form, they don’t just cease to exist without being destroyed, and I can only think of a few people who have that ability.”
“Grim?” he suggested.
I nodded. “If you mean the angel Azreal? Yeah, he’d be able to do that.”
“Wait. What?” Stacey glanced back and forth between us. “You mean the Grim Reaper? The guy Layla met?”
My brows lifted. Layla had met the Grim Reaper. How had that happened?
Zayne nodded.
“He’s not the only one who can destroy Shadow People,” I said, catching Zayne’s glance, and I saw the moment he realized what I couldn’t say. With the Sword of Michael, I could destroy Shadow People just like an angel could. “But these things are inherently evil. Like, worse than when they were living, breathing demons bent on destruction. Like, if you see a Shadow Person, you turn and run in the other direction. They’re powerful and vindictive, malicious and deadly.”
Zayne reached for the Twizzlers and dragged one ropey piece of candy out. “I’m guessing they look like shadows?”
I tilted my head. “Yes. They look like shadow outlines of people. Sort of in the name.”
He bit down on the rope of cherry and sugar and stared back at me.
“And they’re at my school?” Stacey said.
“That’s what Sam says, and that’s not all.”
“It’s not? Trapped ghosts and Shadow People aren’t enough to get between me and my diploma? There has to be more?”
My lips twitched. “He says there’s someone there who’s able to communicate with the ghosts and the Shadow People.” I looked at Zayne again. “Someone like me.”
“And what are you exactly?” She stared at me and then shifted her gaze to Zayne. Her puffy eyes sort of ruined the hard-core look she was trying to deliver. “Anyone care to fill me in? Because she’s not just some chick that grew up with Wardens.”
I frowned. “I am the chick that grew up with Wardens.”
“Who can also commune with the dead?” she challenged. “Like other normal humans?”
“I never said I was a normal human.” I smiled. “Like you.”
Now her eyes narrowed.
“Was he able to tell you what this person looked like?” Zayne changed the subject. “Any information on who it is?”
“All he told me was that it was a guy before he ran out of time,” I answered.