Chapter 14

Thursday was the funeral. I didn’t feel like getting out of bed. My friends and I were excused from classes Tuesday and Wednesday, and all classes were cancelled for the funeral today. Dawn was putting on a black skirt, and a black blouse as I laid on my bed motionless. My father had been the only real family I had. My mother might as well have been dead, and now so is my father. Dawn tried everything to get me out of bed, but nothing worked. All I wanted to do was lie there and sulk. The black dress I had worn in my dreams was sitting on my bed, nicely folded and with a matching pair of heels. The only thing that had been missing was my golden cross necklace. It was still somewhere in the hotel with my mother and her loser minions. There was a sudden knock at our door. Dawn walked over to it after she buttoned up the rest of her blouse. She opened it up. Devitri walked in wearing a lovely black suit, and held a box in his hand. It looked like a necklace box. They didn’t exchange any words except for “hello”, and Devitri walked over to me. He squatted down next to my bed so that he was looking me in the eyes, and he took one of my hands gently.

“How are you doing?” He asked. He knew it was a pointless question, but felt he had to ask anyway. I didn’t say anything regardless. “I have a little gift for you. I think it might cheer you up a little bit.”

He held up the necklace box and opened it. There was a gold cross necklace, and it even came with a gold charm bracelet that had an “S” charm. It was one of those bracelets you could add charms to it. It managed to perk me up a little bit, and I finally pushed myself up into a sitting position.

“I know it’s not the same as your other necklace, but I thought it looked close enough to give you some kind of comfort.” Devitri said. The last thing I felt like doing right now was smiling, but it was such a sweet gift that I couldn’t help it. He took the necklace and latched it around my neck, and then latched the bracelet around my wrist. “Get dressed. Everyone’s waiting at the local church.” He kissed the top of my head and then walked out.

They decided to have the funeral at the local church, considering it was much bigger than our small church, and because there were a lot of people attending. I got out of bed slowly and put on the black dress. Dawn and I didn’t do a whole lot of talking as I got ready. We met our friends down in the parking lot. I spent most of past few days in my room, so I didn’t see a whole lot of anyone. They gave me hugs and comfort, which just made me want to cry. We loaded up in the SUV as Clarissa drove to the church. I held onto the necklace Devitri gave me. He was right. It wasn’t the same as my old one, but somehow I thought it was even better. I looked out the window as we drove to the church.

I couldn’t be happier that the service finally ended. I had done enough crying over the past few days. As people lit the candles and walked out, I walked over to the altar and grabbed a candle. I set it down with all of the other candles and said a little prayer before I lighting it. I closed my eyes. I spent the next ten minutes just sitting there with my eyes closed. I almost thought I had fallen asleep. I got up and turned around. There weren’t many people left, and I saw Devitri standing in the corner, just like in my dream. He held out his hand as I walked over to him. I took it and Devitri led me out of the church. I saw all of my friends and fellow Guardian Angels standing around my father’s picture. Just when I thought the funeral was over, I remembered that we still had to bury him, which was something I wasn’t looking forward to. I looked at Devitri who moved his head over towards a tree. I looked over and saw Roland standing under a tree with his arms crossed. Everything was just like it was in my dream, only some of the expressions changed. Devitri didn’t seem shocked to see me, and Roland wasn’t smirking. In fact, he didn’t look as if he was happy about any of this at all. I didn’t let it fool me though.

“Come on little sora. We should get going.” said Devitri. I nodded and he led me to the SUV where my friends had been waiting. I climbed into the SUV and Clarissa drove to the cemetery.

I had been to the cemetery countless times to bury family members, or to visit them when I could. Especially my mother’s grave. My father was to be buried next to her, but it hurt knowing that he would be lying next to an empty casket. I wanted to change it, but Devitri was in charge of the funeral arrangements - and I was too busy sulking in my room and avoiding everyone. We got out of the SUV and I walked over to where everyone had arrived before us. I looked at the tombstones next to my father’s, and I noticed that he was buried in between an Isaac Donovan and a Mary Larson. It was his brother and his sister. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“I hope you don’t mind. After I saw that your mother was a Dark Angel, I had his placement switch. It cost a bit of money but, I managed.” It was Devitri. “I thought it might be what you wanted.” I couldn’t help but turn around and hug him. As he wrapped his arms around me to hug me back, I felt tears falling down my face.

As they lowered my father’s casket down into its grave, I found my friends comforting me once again. I looked over and saw Roland sitting on a tombstone. He had been dressed in all black, but I assumed that was the color he preferred wearing on a daily basis. For some reason I felt a change in his attitude. His words from the other night still rang in my head, “You should bring her home.” As if he actually cared about me. He could have just killed us both. Roland was a demon. I didn’t think demons were capable of caring about anyone or anything. I almost had the nerve to walk over and confront him, but I quickly changed my mind when Austin walked up to me.

“Hey hon, we’re thinking of spending the rest of the day at Eric’s Aunt’s place. Do you want to come with us?” He asked. I tried to give the best smile that I could. I failed.

“That sounds nice.” I said. Austin took my hand and walked me to the SUV.

The entire ride was spent listening to the happiest music we could find, and telling the cheesiest jokes we could think of. I spent it looking out the window and not saying a word. When we reached Lily’s house, she greeted us at the door with open arms. She had attended the service and had earlier than us. She had already changed into cheerier clothes, and had some tea brewing on the stove. She gave us a smile despite the depressing auras around the room.

“Hello you guys.”

"Hey Lily.” Austin said as he hugged her and kissed her cheek gently.

Devitri gave her a hug, kissed her hand and said, “Good afternoon, Lil.”

The rest of us gave her hugs and we followed her into the kitchen. We sat down around the table while she poured the tea. Devitri leaned against the counter with his arms crossed. Lily passed around the cups of tea, and a piece of chocolate cake. As much as I loved chocolate cake, I didn’t feel like eating anyone. I also didn’t feel like drinking any tea. All I did was stare at my cup.

“If you would like, you can come stay with Eric and me during your vacations, Skylar.” said Lily. I had to admit that that brought a smile to my face.

“That sounds like a great idea. Thanks Aunt Lily.” I said. There was a sudden ringing and even though we all had different ringtones, we all checked our phones anyway. I was happy to have mine back after not having it while I was stuck in that hotel. The ringing had come from Devitri’s phone. It a vintage phone ringtone. How plain. He answered it and walked out of the kitchen. Must have been important.

It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes until Devitri walked back in. We all stared at him, waiting for him to tell us what the conversation was about.

“That was Lord Nicholas. I’m needed back at the castle.” He said.

“He lives in a castle?” asked Austin.

“Well, it’s a mansion that looks like a castle. So, yeah, I guess you could say it’s a castle.” Austin got up and gave Devitri what I called the “bro handshake”. You know, where they shake hands and give some kind of weird, half hug.

“You my friend, are living the good life.” He said. So now they’re friends? Devitri chuckled.

“That’s a matter of opinion. Anyway, I’m afraid I have to leave now. Little sora, it was a pleasure meeting you and your lovely friends. I’m not sure when we can get back to our lessons, but hopefully it will be soon.” said Devitri. I sprung up from my seat and gave him a hug. I seemed to be giving him a lot of hugs today. I found myself not wanting him to leave. How could someone I just met mean so much to me? He let go of me and I wanted to grab his hand, and tell him not to leave. But I knew he had to go, so I let him walk out of the kitchen. Clarissa offered to give him a ride back, and then come back for us. There was no one to call me “little sora” anymore. I still had no idea what it meant. Devitri become sort of like an older brother to me in the past few weeks we’ve been together. I looked around the room to keep my mind off of Devitri leaving. I noticed Dawn looked like she had something on her mind. Lily left the kitchen. Austin was the first one to say something.

“What’s up, Dawn?” He asked. She shook her head.

“Dawnie, it’s okay. You can tell us.” said Wyatt.

“I saw Ethan...” She said. The room got quiet. Dawn continued, “He’s a Dark Angel.”

“What did he do to you?” Austin asked.

“Nothing. He was nice to me. We caught up and he handed me back my necklace. When Sky and I ran out of the hotel, he mentioned something about being able to save him from that ‘curse’.” Dawn explained. Austin scoffed.

“It’s a trap. There’s no possible way to save a Dark Angel.” I noticed that Eric had been quiet throughout the whole conversation. Did he know something we didn’t?

“Perhaps we should try.” said Eric. All eyes were on him now. “You don’t know that it’s impossible, because you haven’t bothered to try. For all we know, it could be the easiest thing in the world. We just have to find out how to do it.”

“Eric, you can’t be serious.” said Austin.

“We’ve all lost at least one person to the Dark Angels. Dawn lost Ethan, Skylar lost her mother, I lost my brother...” Eric’s voice faded. He didn’t like to talk about his older brother a lot. It was tragic watching what Eric had to. Wyatt looked down at his cup of tea.

“I lost my parents and my entire family all to the Dark Angels.” He said. Austin sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

“I remember seeing my uncle being influenced, and then he ended up cutting off his wings and ending his own life.” Austin said. “Eric, if you think there might be a way, then by all means go for it. We’ll be with you a hundred percent. I don’t know how you possibly plan on going about this whole thing though.”

“I’ll try to find a spell. I can’t guarantee it won’t take a long time. It could take months or even years. But if there’s a chance to save our loved ones, or anyone for that matter, we might was well try to find it.” said Eric. Lily walked back into the kitchen.

“Clarissa’s back to take you back to school.” She said. She walked over and gave me a hug. “I’m very sorry for your loss, sweetie. Come over anytime you’d like.”

“Thanks Aunt Lily.” I said as I hugged her back. The others gave her a hug goodbye and we all piled into the SUV. I don’t think any of us wanted to go back to school.