Sins of the Innocent: A Novella (2 page)

Brother Ramsey came to collect my test. When he turned his back, I turned around again to get a better look. The creature was watching me with its black orbs but cowered under my glare. Morgan’s desk was less than five feet ahead of jagged dirty claws, blackened skin, and a misshapen body. The entire room smelled of sulfur, an odor that used to make me nauseous, but I’d learned to appreciate the pungent warning.

I rested my elbows on my desk and interlaced my fingers, keeping my head down and clenching my teeth. Bex wasn’t close. He’d gone somewhere. I wonder if it’d had anything to do with the creature.

One by one, the other students turned in their exams. I usually allowed others to finish first, but with something surrounded by a long tail and talons gripping the cabinet, focus was necessary.

Two more classes, two more finals, and then I would be free to walk across the parking lot to my white-and-black Audi R8, a gift from my Aunt Claire for my sixteenth birthday. When I opened the door, Bex would already be sitting in the passenger seat, reading
Watership Down
for the hundredth time.

I closed my eyes, trying to think of anything else but what was twitching and shifting from one clawed foot to the other as it got comfortable behind Morgan. My heart beat once against my chest, pounding and rattling my rib cage, and then returned to normal for another few beats before doing it again. There was something wrong about the creature. My lungs burned when I breathed in. More than sulfur, more than the stench of death and evil, its scent confused me—not a feeling I was used to. I sensed curiosity and maybe something soft … delight? Amusement?

The bell rang, and I watched Morgan walk away from the hideous hunched monster perched on the cabinet.

“What?” Morgan said as he approached.

“Nothing. Let’s go,” I said, pulling him along as I let my supernatural feelers out into the hallways.

The only non-human beings I could pinpoint were Bex on his way back to my location and the creature Morgan and I had left behind in calculus.

“So, I was thinking maybe we could get smoothies today,” Morgan said.

“Not today. I’m training with my uncle.”

“Oh, yeah. He’s a boxer or MMA fighter or something, isn’t he?”

“No.”

His nose wrinkled. “Oh. Really? All this time, I thought he was a professional athlete. Then why do you work out every day?”

“Because it’s good for you. What about after dinner? I’ll pick you up.”

“Can I drive?”

“Sure.”

Morgan grinned. “Sweet. I feel so bad A in your car.”

“It doesn’t have quite the same effect when you say ‘bad A.’”

Morgan stopped, pushing up his round glasses. “Mom doesn’t like for me to cuss.”

I stared at him for a moment, and then I opened my locker and pulled out my next textbook. He always had the same hopeful glint in his eyes when he asked me to go places with him. Remaining close friends with a boy who thought he was in love required patience, finesse, and something I was born for—balance. Lucky for us, I was far from clumsy.

“Would you do me a favor, Morgan?”

“Anything.”

“Always be my friend.”

The light in his eyes snuffed out, but he rebounded with a smile. “No matter what.”

I patted his arm. “Pick you up at seven, Morg.”

He puffed out his chest a bit, looking around the congested hallway to see if anyone else had heard. “Yes, you will.”

I turned away from him to walk to class. The creature didn’t resurface, but the scent lingered for a while before disappearing altogether. The other students didn’t seem to notice, still chatting about graduation weekend and trivial things like what they would wear under their gowns and what day they were leaving for various foreign destinations.

“Once you finish your exam, you’re free to leave,” Brother Sheposh said. “See you at the graduation ceremony.”

Excited whispers hissed throughout the room.

I was glad my last class was English IV. The answers were fairly straightforward, and Brother Sheposh had been my instructor before. He knew I was familiar with the material. Without a need to pretend to take my time, I turned in my exam within fifteen minutes, nodding to Brother Sheposh as I passed his desk.

“It’s been a pleasure, Miss Ryel. Good luck to you in all things.”

“Likewise, Brother Sheposh.”

As I walked alone across the parking lot, I caught the scent again and paused. Turning in a full three-sixty, taking my time, I pulled in all my surroundings as my lungs burned, and my eyes watered. Everything came into focus—every sound, every leaf twitching in the breeze. But I sensed nothing in the trees, behind or under the cars, or even on a different plane.

I continued walking, growing increasingly frustrated with the mystery. Thirty yards from the Audi, something dark pulled my attention over and up, like a mortal would turn toward sound. The creature, silent and still, sat on a ledge on the next building.

I reached slowly for the handle of the Audi, waiting for the creature to attack, almost daring it to, if that was even what it had come for. But the being remained on its perch, seemingly uninterested. Almost disappointed, I yanked on the handle and fell into my seat in a huff.

“Interesting visitor you had today. Goblins at school.” Bex mulled that over while I fastened my seat belt and pressed the ignition button.

He looked like a giant sitting in the passenger seat of the Audi with his knees nearly level with his chest, even though the seat was back as far as it would go.

“It wasn’t a goblin.”

“Remember when you used to call them globins?
Daddy! Globins!
” He made a poor attempt at my childhood lisp.

I rolled my eyes, glancing in the rearview mirror, before I pulled into the street. “It was another druden.”

Bex barely acknowledged my comment, only breathing out a single laugh.

“It was, Bex.”

He shot me a disappointed look. “They only come out at night, Eden. You know this. Why do you keep on insisting that? What’s up with you? Is it that time of the month?”

I craned my neck at him. “I will donkey-kick you right out of this car.”

He chuckled and then turned away, watching Providence pass by from his window.

I tapped the clutch with my left foot and switched gears, feeding the accelerator, as I swerved into the passing lane, already making note of every vehicle on the road within a mile of us in any direction.

I pressed a button on the door, rolling down the window to let the outside in. The mysteries of the day had me unsettled. I didn’t like the feeling of being confused. I was omnipotent, unafraid, perceptive in all things. Being able to see demons as a toddler was one thing. Being confused as a young adult was enough to send me swinging my fists into the netherworld.

“You didn’t sense the one on the east building? It was less than four hundred yards from you on just one removed plane from ours. If he were any closer, the other students would have seen him. You didn’t?”

“No,” he said, bored of the subject.

“Do you think I’m messing with you, or do you just not believe me?” I asked. “Where were you earlier? If you were anywhere close, you would have sensed him for yourself.”

“Why do you wear your seat belt?” Bex asked.

“What?” I turned to him, my chin-length platinum locks blowing into my face.

He looked at me. “You heard me.”

“Because it’s the law.”

“You wear it because it’s habit. To blend in. To make Nina feel better even though she knows you heal more quickly than a hybrid.”

“Just get to the point, Bex,” I said, frowning until the gear slid into fourth. Then I relaxed, feeling my body surge forward, away from All Saints and close to our home, toward the one place where I could be myself.

“The longer you keep things normal, the happier you’ll be.”

“Speaking of happy, how long has it been? Since you’ve seen Allison?” I asked, my voice turning soft.

He shook his head, his smug expression falling away. “An hour.”

“She still hasn’t told anyone, has she?”

“She won’t.”

“Do you still miss her?” I asked.

“Every day,” Bex said, staring out his window.

I slowed down just long enough to pull into the drive, and then I threw the Audi into park. “Is that where you were?”

“Just wanted to check on her.”

I nodded, touching his thick forearm. “It’s been a year, Bex.”

He sighed. “Thirteen months, three weeks, five days … seven hours.”

I leaned over, touching my temple to his shoulder. “I’m sorry she wasn’t your Taleh.”

He patted my knee and kissed my hair. “I’m not. My Taleh happens to be the only person I love more than her.”

My eyebrows shot up, and an appreciative smile touched my lips. “I’m not your Taleh.”

He shrugged. “Close enough.”

I reached over to pull the lever, and then I ducked when Bex took a swing at me. I chased him through the front door, past Agatha, the housekeeper, and into the kitchen.

“It’s about time,” Mom said. She licked something off her thumb and then continued to peel potatoes.

“Hi, Grandmother,” I said.

“Eden, dear,” Grandmother said, somehow looking busy, angry, and polite as usual. She was bouncing from one cook station to another. Her white hair was pulled tight into a French bun, her heels clicking on the tiled floor as her slight frame moved about the kitchen. “You’re a mess.”

“The drive home was windy,” I said, combing my hair with my fingers.

“How was school?” Mom took the few steps to lean over to allow me to kiss her cheek, and then she returned to the potatoes at the sink.

“Globins, Mommy,” Bex said with an ornery grin.

Mom arched an eyebrow but hardly seemed alarmed. It had been a long time since she worried about me. Sometimes, I missed it.

“Where?” she asked.

“In Calculus,” I said.

She groaned. “I hated calculus. Be thankful for all the room in that brilliant brain of yours, Eden. Brown is just around the corner.”

“Nina, dear,” Grandmother said. “The leeks.”

“Oh!” Mom said, turning for the stove. “How was school? Besides the globins.”

I rolled my eyes. “It wasn’t a goblin. This thing had thick gums and rows of tiny shark’s teeth. I know what it was.”

“Oh?” Mom said, only mildly interested.

“Don’t roll your eyes at your mother, Eden. Honestly,” Grandmother said.

“It was a druden,” I said.

Mom stopped stirring but only for half a second. The only way I could tell if she was keeping something from me was to listen to her heart. Right now, it sounded like a hummingbird was in her chest.

“I told her it couldn’t have been, Nina,” Bex said. “But she’s sure of what she saw.”

“Well,” Mom said, returning to her potatoes, “just because you’re an immortal doesn’t mean you can’t be wrong.”

“Fine,” I said, crossing my arms. “But if it were a druden … what does it mean that they keep coming around?”

She shrugged. “They’re probably attracted to you, Eden. You know how this works.”

“They’re coming around more often. Sometimes in groups.”

Mom made a face. “Drudens are reclusive. Don’t be silly.”

“Why are they coming out during the day? They’re just … observing. Why would a druden do that?”

“I don’t understand,” Mom said, exchanging a quick glance with Grandmother.

“He was just hanging out,” I said, leaning against the wall.

“Stand up straight, dear,” Grandmother snapped.

I stood. “But he’d just been downstairs. He had a stank on him that I haven’t smelled in a while.”

“Resist the slang, please,” Grandmother said.

“Downstairs?” Mom asked.

“Hell,” Bex clarified.

Mom swallowed. “Definitely a goblin then. They typically hop back and forth.”

“It wasn’t a …” I let my arms fall. “Are we
really
going to do this? I’m not a child. Just tell me what it means.”

Mom looked to Bex, but he shook his head.

“Honey, just be patient. Graduation is in a few days, and then—” She noticed my expression. “What is it?”

My eyes widened, and an automatic smile stretched across my face just when the door flew open.

Aunt Claire yelled from the foyer, “Edie!”

I turned on my heels, flew through the dining room, and crashed into her. She threw her arms around me, and when we fell to the floor, she locked her legs around me, too.

“You’re home!” I said, squeezing her until her breath caught.

“Easy!” Ryan said, laughing from the doorway. He set down two duffel bags and crossed his arms. “I don’t want to be nursing broken ribs all evening. Again.”

I crawled up to stand and hugged him, too, making sure to be gentle. He was a lot more fragile than Claire.

“When did you get in?” I asked.

“Just now,” Ryan said, taking off his ball cap and pulling it down on my head, low over my eyes. “You sent us an invite, didn’t you?”

“Oh,” I said, watching as Mom and Claire hugged. “It’s just a high school graduation. I didn’t think you’d actually come.”

“It’s not
just
anything,” Mom said.

My milestones, both human and angelic, were all important to her, but she would emphasize the importance of celebrating my humanity. Otherwise, she’d said, how would I know what I was fighting for?