THE ANGELS LAND

SIX

The door slammed with a clatter and Aiden slammed his hands on the desk under a mirror in his room. Tyler had shown him his dorm while he was staying and let him go. Now, he looked up into the mirror, dripping sweat.

The man looking back at him wasn't him. Dirt smeared his cheeks. His hair was matted. Sweat stung his eyes. And all he could think about was getting revenge.

Mammon was dead. That was for sure. But first he had to find Abby.

Rage boiled in his blood. Eyes flared.

He flung a book off the table and threw himself into his bed, not caring about changing or even taking off his shoes.

And he fell asleep.

He didn't sleep well. Nightmares flashed through his head all night. He tossed and turned and kept waking up in the middle of the night, hoping all of this was just a dream that he would've woken up from.

But everytime he got up and went into the hall to see it was real. And when morning hit, and the sun came up over the horizon, he was already showered and ready to go.

He didn't change clothes though. He couldn't. He didn't bring any.

He stormed into the cafeteria. Kaity was eating cereal.

"Hey," she said, upon his entering. "Sleep okay?"

Aiden rubbed his head, which pounded from the night before. "Not really. What's the plan today? Where's Dillon and Tyler?"

"I imagine they went home. They don't usually stay at the Court. A lot of people don't. I pretty much have to because of my job."

Aiden took a seat across from Kaity. She was beautiful, Aiden thought. Silver hair, glassy green eyes and freckles on her cheeks.

"Annie still sleeping?" Aiden asked.

"Yeah. She slept like a baby."

"Must be nice. Let her sleep. The more sleep she gets the better."

There was a moment of silence.

"Let me ask you something," Aiden said. "You ever want a family? A husband? Kids?"

Kaity swallowed the cereal she was chewing. "Look, Aiden. That sounds great. It truly does. And I would love to. I would, trust me. But this life isn't the kind you want to raise children in. I grew up in the Court as my father before me. I've been here for 25 whole years and I saw the pain he endured even when I was a small child. Then my mom died and I saw his pain then. And I was hurt. My dad left the Court after that. He doesn't remember anything about it. He's out there somewhere right now living a normal life. And that's what I want for my children. But they can't have that. So yes, maybe a child or two would be great. But I couldn't handle it. Not with this life."

Aiden nodded in understandment. "What if you ever do go out and live a normal life?"

"Then yes. I would love a family. A husband. Children. A real job. This life is barely fit for me. That's why I can't wait until you can go out there and live your life again. You didn't ask for any of this. Most of us didn't."

"I want to leave. But not until we find Abby and Mammon."

"We will, Aiden. We will."

Aiden grabbed his phone from his pocket. He'd almost forgotten he had it. Thank God, it wasn't dead. Almost. But not quite.

He had ten missed calls. None from Abby, sadly. Three from Nick and six from his uncle.  One from an unknown number. They probably found the bodies....