Fate's Revenge (Twisted Fate, Book 4)

Chapter Fourteen

I looked down at my hands and rolled my eyes. "You think this is bad, you should've seen me the first time I came back. I gave new meaning to what a blue blood means." I laughed at her wide, disbelieving eyes, but quickly sobered. It isn't the time for jokes. "It fades, don't worry."

"Aly, you need to check with us before bringing students here," Mike said. "We need to talk."

"With you? Really? Thanks, but I'll pass." I turned to face Gabe, once again dismissing Mike and his need to hear himself talk.

Since when could he tell me what to do and expect me to listen? Even when I liked him, that wouldn't have happened. If I was going to listen to anyone, it would be the Brother who was in charge and not the one who thought he was.

"We need to talk, Gabe, and they are staying. We're a package deal. Besides," I added, looking around to meet the gaze of all the Brothers except for Mike, "One of you can vouch for them with me since Hailey was offered a role at Glory Academy."

"What?" Uri asked, looking at the others. To his benefit, he looked genuinely confused. "You're talking gibberish, Aly."

"Am I?" I pushed my blankets down and slid my legs over the side of the bed. Far from strong enough to stand, I refused to appear weak. "One of you met Hailey right after she died and asked her to come here, but then you cast her aside before she understood her choices, never mind her death. I wonder... Which of you was it? It was hardly a good deed. You didn't even know about the Dark Souls! Where did you expect her to go?"

Hailey's face flamed with what appeared to be a mixture of embarrassment and anger. It was easy to see now. When her hair and eyes had lightened to their natural colours, her olive complexion had become creamy, easily manipulated into showcasing her emotions.

"So, where were you?"

The air thickened with tension, so much so that I could feel it pressing against me, but again I ignored Mike like he didn't exist. Maybe if I did, he wouldn't. To Gabe I said, "I have three questions."

His mouth twitched with laughter already shining from his eyes. "That's it? You've mellowed."

"It's just a start," I told him sweetly, batting my eyelashes and then sobering. "First, why are you all here?"

"We—"

"Shh. I said I had three questions, not one." I held up my hand, cutting Gabe off. Blinking slowly, my eyes roamed the rest of the Brothers, once again stopping before I had to see Mike, though I couldn't block him entirely from my periphery vision without being considerably rude and obvious, or asking him to leave. "Second, which of you met Hailey after she died? And third... What happened with Sera and Keston?"

Gabe looked at Hailey and Tyler, then the Brothers, and then me. "Uri, can you give Alyssa's friends a tour of Glory Academy while I talk with her? Everyone else can leave."

I looked at Hailey and Tyler wishing I could stand without falling so I could leave while they stayed. "I don't think—"

"It is okay, Aly," Uri said. "I'll show them around and get them some rooms and stuff."

"Yeah, and I'll help," Ace said, stepping over to Hailey's side.

At least they weren't stuck with Raffy. I couldn't object, but it was hard not to.

Sure, Ace and Uri had been nice to me so far, but what if they were just like Raffy—openly hostile of lessor beings? Or worse, like Mike? If that happened, I didn't know if Tyler and Hailey would even come back to me to discuss it, or just ask the Brother giving them a tour to send them back to Hell's Fire. It might be difficult, considering the Brothers hadn't known the counterpart school had existed, but was it impossible? It wasn't in Hell, just Hell-adjacent. Did they need me to help them, if that's what it came to? It was so soon to let them go, but... I needed to hear Gabe out.