Curse of the Fae (PA #3)

Chapter Five

Willow

I officially have an entourage.

Kian, Ari, and Rome follow me to the rest of my morning classes. They surround my desk like they're expecting someone to take out a gun and shoot me, and they'll be the ones to block the bullets.

I should hate it. I'm sure I'll need my space sooner or later, but I enjoy their proximity today. It shows that they care, and the reassurance is nice.

Unfortunately, my friends must have a different morning schedule, since it's only the four of us and random angels and demons in the three class periods before lunch.

Introduction to Mating is taught by none other than Aphrodite, a light fae and royal member of the Seelie court. She's unsurprisingly beautiful, though I'm unable to pin down an exact physical description.

The professor for Interworld Relations is a demon whose name I can't pronounce or spell. He's attended events in Hell, so his face is familiar, but I don't recall ever speaking to him.

I'm struggling worse than Ari to stay awake by the time lunch rolls around. Shouldn't my hybrid nature make REM cycles less necessary? Everyone but Aristotle can run off of little to no sleep with minimal issues.

Arrogantly, I believe the only reason the others have taken to sleeping more is that they can do it with me.

"Low, do you want any sweets? There's a slice of chocolate cake that's calling my name."

"Food cannot speak," Kian points out like Romeo's too dumb to know that.

Rome quirks a brow. "Don't you eat people? They can talk, last I checked."

"People talk. Food does not."

With that nugget of wisdom, Kian proceeds to ignore Romeo, and the latter shuffles off to the dessert table with visible confusion. I assume Kian means that the people he eats can't talk once he's killed them, but I'm afraid to ask.

I turn to Ari to get his input, but he's not there. Frowning, I spin in a circle—comparisons of dogs chasing tails come to mind—but don't see him anywhere.

Kian stops me with heavy hands on my shoulders. "Beloved, what ails you? Did the horny one upset you? I am not opposed to murdering him."

"Rome's on the not-kill list," I repeat myself for the thousandth time since he first offered. "Do you know where Ari went? He was right here and then he wasn't, and he's probably napping somewhere, which is fine, but he left without saying anything.

"Should I be worried? How soon is too soon to send out search-and-rescue? Are Amber Alerts a thing in Purgatory? We have them in Hell, but they're called Ari Alerts after this one time he went missing for a week and no one could find him. Do you think he's missing again?!"

I was too young to remember it, but that was the first instance of Ari disappearing into his basement laboratory. After that, Hell's residents sort of accepted that Ari secluded himself for extended periods of time, and Ari Alerts became an obsolete system.

Kian's thick eyelashes brush his cheekbones as he blinks slowly. "You are saying many words that I do not understand, but I believe I follow your general meaning. Ari took off with the angel who smells like you—" A growl cuts off his sentence.

I rub the backs of his hands and he takes a deep breath to calm himself. "They left this room together. I am sure he is fine."

Aristotle is safe with Galileo. They're as brilliant as their namesakes, and I trust they'll outsmart anyone who gives them trouble.