Fate's Demand (Twisted Fate, Book 3)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

As though struck dumb, Mike stood completely still, watching as I picked up my pace. When I reached the corner, he still hadn't moved. By the time I rounded it, he was at my side, faster than I could blink, saying, "The Pure Souls had to die to come here and train, Aly."

"Train for what? Hmm? What are they training for? What am I supposed to lead them to face? Do you even know, or have you accepted it without asking for an explanation?"

He shrugged. "We don't question Fate."

"That's foolish!" I stopped and sighed, meeting his gaze as I pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers. "Can you just give me the directions to get back to my room?" I dropped my hand. "Alone. I need to think."

"Aly—"

"I need to think, Mike. Unlike all of you, I don't have blind faith, and I won't lead anyone unless I have all the facts. That means I need to think of which question I must ask. I can't do that unless I'm alone."

His shoulders slumped, but Mike provided what I needed.

I didn't have to look back to know he was watching me leave, nor did I have to see his face to realize the pain my not needing him inflicted. I wished I could cheer him up by saying that it didn't mean I didn't want him. The problem with that was I didn't know what I desired anymore. Mike wouldn't wait long for me to tell him, and the problem with that?

I still couldn't lie.

Maybe, if he asked, I would finally be forced to figure things out because I had to tell the truth.

*****

Fate had made my choices and had taken away life from the Pure Souls. Too young to die but left without options, they needed someone to speak on their behalf. I wasn't sure I possessed leadership skills, but I realized it couldn't hurt to try. The Pure Souls shouldn't have to abide by angelic rules, not after having lived such a limited life and then being recruited to train in their afterlife.

Fuming, I paced the floor at the bottom of my bed as thoughts ran through my head.

The door was closed to block distraction so I could prioritize what was needed by its order of importance.

First, I had to make the angelic race understand that we had been born to feel as humans. Our experiences had been absorbed by emotions they had been created not to understand. By plugging those outlets, they could never hope to achieve unity or cooperation. Second, I had to find out what the Pure Souls wanted. It was the only way I'd figure out what came third. In order to accomplish that, I would have to interact with them until they were comfortable enough to share what that was with me. How did they feel about what happened to them? What did they like it here and what did they hope to see changed?

Sighing, I sat on the foot of my bed, folding my hands in my lap. In order to find out what I wanted to know, I couldn't allow myself to be perceived as above them; rather, I needed to be their equal, no matter how many somersaults my stomach completed just from thinking about what needed to be done.

This isn't going to be any fun.

How could I demand to go home now that I'd seen the problems?

I fell back onto the cloud of my bed.

Tonight, it would be the last time I slept here. Tomorrow, I would find a dorm, preferably a single. At least graduating had made me fluent in high school, the last four years like preparation or study material for a final exam. I closed my eyes and hoped Gabe was being honest about there being fight classes.

*****

I was surrounded by heavy grays and even darker black.

Like the dream in which Deryk had appeared and I had been too protected to remember, the land was red-hot with fiery pits of death. Molten lava. The surface bubbled with laughter along the sides of the path leading to the dark building with sharp, jutting features in the distance.