Awake by Nightfall by Emilia Sherman (well read books .TXT) 📕

her surprise. “Sorry, I didn’t mean no offense, it’s just I’m jealous. I didn’t become friends with anyone until I joined football. I didn’t have plans until after my first game.”

“Oh.” Marina muttered. She didn’t look she knew how to answer to the abrupt outbreak of jealously.

“Look you can ignore me at the party, but this is a really great place to hang out. You can bring anyone.” He was coming up with a different tactic to make her come to the party. Well, we will just make sure she invites us.

“I will think about it.” Marina took back the invitation. Well, Marina just went back to human stupidity.

His face broke out to a smile.

What was this guy playing at? I felt a certain distaste and anger towards him.

The lunch bell rang. Some students came through the back door, covering us from Marina. Marina pulled out her schedule, hastily.

Aria gasped. I look back at her curiously. “Crap, I forgot to show her where her next class will be.” She moved but I stop her again.

“Shit, I don’t know where my next class is?” We heard Marina. She fumbled around with some papers. “I have Chemistry next with Mr. Johnson, Room 206.”

“Here let me see.” The boy grabbed one of the papers and overlooked it. “It looks like you are upstairs, next to the bathrooms.”

“Thanks.” Marina took a step forward but turned around. “Wait, I don’t know your name.”

“It’s on the invitation, silly.”

Silly? I laughed silently but then thought. Why wouldn’t the guy just automatically tell her his name? Maybe, he just wanted to seem more mysterious.

Marina paused and checked the card.

“Okay, well see you Travis.” She smiled.

“Later, Marina.”

We all watched as she ran to the front of the school. I turned and looked back at the boy. He was just standing there watching her. My Attain necklace was still burning. What could this Fallen’s gift be? It couldn’t be something controlling because he would have forced Marina to say yes. I stared back at Marina before she turned the corner. She looked like she was thinking hard about something. My eyes went back to the boy and saw him smile victoriously.

My anger reached its boiling point. I stepped away from the corner. The guy didn’t see me coming. When I reached him, the guy smiled at me, but then his smile quickly vanished. Just as sudden, my Attain necklace went cold. I watched as the guy’s eyes went back and his body fall down before me. Aria and Tamara came up behind. Aria checked out the guy and looked at me in shock.

“He’s human.”

It hit me. The nervous twitch in his eyes wasn’t because he was weird. He was possessed. Possession was one of the higher gifts of us. Whoever had this gift, can take over somebody’s mind and control everything. It was one of the hardest, and disturbing, gifts ever, and it was really hard to locate the Radiant who has the skill. Once they possessed someone, that’s where the Attain necklaces point. No wonder the boy fainted.

“We should take him to the nurse’s office.” Aria checked the boy’s pulse. “He has a weak heartbeat.”

“Leave him.” Aria looked up at me but didn’t object.

I checked the boy’s pocket and saw the invitation to the beach house. I pocketed it and told the others to follow me into the woods. I checked around making sure no one was watching us or following us. We came to our usual spot. I waited, listening to any sudden movements that weren’t ours. But nothing reached my ears.

“Possession.” I muttered.

“I figured, but the boy was in complete possession. Whoever did it, they are very powerful.” Aria spoke up. “We can’t let her go to that party.”

“We are all thinking the same thing. It’s the Heartless.” Tamara kicked a rock into the creek. “I don’t get it. The girl hasn’t used her gift for weeks. How is that even possible?”

“Unless…” Their eyes instantly went to mine. “I think this has to be Leon.”

Someone applauded, breaking the silence in our group. Someone came out from behind a tree. A young man wearing a hat, and black tux seemed odd to be out here in the forest. He had sleek black hair, combed back, showing off his beady black eyes. He was clean shaven and was carrying a jeweled cane. I looked down at his right hand. On his middle finger, it was shiny even though there was no sunlight today, was a titanium ring.

“Darien Cross, I should have known you would be on Knight’s case.”

“Julius Neverwood.”

Julius was a Heartless. He was the last person I wanted to see here so near to Marina. His gift was power augmentation, otherwise known as, the ability to weaken or strengthen anybody. His gift came in handy in war. He could stop anyone in their paths.

The reason I knew him so well, was because he was the one that trained Leon a year before Leon had escaped. He wanted to train me as well, but gave up, telling everyone he didn’t see any talent in me. He was the one that trained Nephilims to be more than Seekers. He wanted most of us to be Heartless like him.

“Your mother says hello and bids you good luck.” He smirked.

Another reason I disliked him. He was too sweet on my mother. He was always helping her in tough situations. She always told me to be kind to Julius for this.

“Give her my thanks.” I walked towards Aria and Tamara.

“Wait, Darien, I would like to have a quick word with you, concerning your search. Of course, alone.” He looked intently at Aria and Tamara. “Hello, my dears. I know you denied my requests to make you stronger. But if this quest fails, please do not hesitate to find me.” He smiled. His teeth were giving off their own glow.

“We will of course give you a private moment with Darien.” Aria said politely and gave me a warning look.

“Don’t take too long.” Tamara said, never taking her eyes off Julius.

They headed back through the path, going towards the high school.

“Human high school is not the place for someone who isn’t searching for more Radiant children.” He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into a different direction. “Tell me why you are bothering with blending in with such lowlife.” He finished.

“I have my own business there.”

“Does it have to do with the fact that yet another Radiant girl is there? Tell me do you like this, Marina?”

Marina’s face flashed in my mind but I brushed it aside. “None of my intentions are in that matter.”

“So…”

“How do you know about Marina?”

Julius stopped and looked down at me. “I was there on the night.” He didn’t have to explain what night, I knew which one he was talking about. “I was searching for Gavin, my friend that is also a Seeker, I needed him for training one of my new students. I knew he was in Florida but wasn’t quite sure where. Anyways, when I did find him and we were heading back, we saw a fiery object coming down. We were curious since everyone knows planes don’t usually just blow up.” He laughed. “So, we inspected and saw you three save that girl. So for your mother’s sake, she does worry about you a lot, I investigated on what you were up to. And find out that Marina has a remarkable gift.”

“How come you didn’t take her to the others right away? Or come to me?” I know for a fact, that his whole entire story was rehearsed. He said it calm like none of it was a surprise. Like none of the events that had occurred that night were breaking news to him. I was also curious why he didn’t bring up Cassandra and Gabriel into the conversation.

“Well, it hit me that you might want to use this girl to bring Leon to you. Am I right?”

“Yes, in a way.”

“See.” He laughed again, his smile flashing. “I know you more than you think I do. So, what is next on your search for Leon?”

“So, you don’t know about the possession that happened just a few moments ago?”

“Yes, so are you going to let her go or not?” He said curiously.

I thought about it. I should let her go. But Aria and Tamara wouldn’t want this. Cassandra definitely would suggest not going. Gabriel would agree with anything his mum would say. But if, it was me, Aria, Tamara, and Gabriel watching her, we would be able to catch Leon. But why was Julius so keen on helping me?

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you think about it.” He patted my back roughly. “I have to get going. If, you do happened to see Leon Knight, I expect great things will happen to you in the future boy. Just think whose side you’re on.” He took of his suit jacket and shirt and spread his large black wings and took off.

Just think whose side you’re on. What did he mean by that? If he thought I would ever side with him, he clearly didn’t know me. But what if that statement meant, he knew about Cassandra and Gabriel but didn’t say anything about it. I needed to clear my mind on these things before I make my next step. So instead of heading back to school, I sat by our creek and waited till I heard the last bell ring.


 

Chapter 07: Pain
Marina

I headed up the backstairs, practically gripping my bag to my shoulder with one hand, and the map in the other. I looked desperately around for any sign of a bathroom. I dodged my way in between groups of people here and there, searching. None of the groups bother to move out of my way, so I nearly had to shove myself through them. I caught some people pointing at me and laughing, most of them most likely had witnessed my lunch argument. I tried my best to ignore them. When I finally found the bathroom, I rushed into the classroom next to it, right when the bell rang.

The classroom turned out to be a science lab. On the walls, there were posters covering every side of the room. Most of the posters were either school spirit or something about doing better in school. The others had some chemistry jokes on them. There were no classroom desks, just lab tables that seated two people. I glanced around for an empty spot, but it looked like everyone was assigned a seat. There were only two spots left. I moved towards the furthest one away from the front.

“Who are you?”

I turned around. The words had come from a small man, that I could have easily mistaken him for student. He was young, with oily black hair, big thick glasses that kept sliding down his stump of nose. He was wearing a lab coat over a sweater vest and suit pants. His arms were full with a messy pile of papers. I concluded that this must be Mr. Johnson, my Chemistry teacher.

“Are you the new student?” He questioned.

“Yes.” I let the words slipped through my lips slowly.

“Well, don’t just go sit anywhere. Please come introduce yourself to the