Page 20 of Against All Odds

“Well?” He raised his eyebrows.

I scoffed, blinking myself back to reality. I was not about to be disrespected like that, least of all by a man. “I’m not making conversation with someone who goes off on me like that, especially if you don’t even tell me who you are.”

That seemed to take him off guard. The rude spirit was probably used to women cowering for him, but he hadn’t met me – I had not lived a life on the streets for nothing. “My name is Fabian. I’m his guardian angel.” He gave a nod toward Kyle, who was now engaged in wild speculation with other students about possible causes of the sewer break. Raya stood a bit aside, looking like her mind was already in another dimension and her body close to following. I felt the strange urge to step in front of her and protect her from Fabian.

I blinked. “Have you been here the whole time?”

“We can make ourselves invisible or visible to others like us. Clearly, you still have a lot to learn.”

I narrowed my eyes. I did not appreciate the attitude, though he wasn’t wrong about my lack of understanding of it all.

“I’m trying to get him away from her.” Fabian’s lip curled in disgust. “I’m just trying to save his soul and get myself into the higher realm, like all of us, man. But it’s a bit difficult when this girl is out here dragging him back into her mess every damn time.”

The growl had left my throat before I realized. The spirit’s eyes widened, but he quickly recovered. “I thought if I could make enough bad things happen when he’s around her, his subconscious might connect the dots that she’s bad news, but…” He snorted. “Clearly, this guy is as atheist as they come. Christ Himself could show up in front of him and spell it out, and he still would think it’s a coincidence.”

“That’s too bad, then.” My eyes narrowed – I wasn’t sure where the venom in my voice came from. “Because I’m her guardian angel, and I’m also trying to get into the good place here. Right now, this boy is literally the only good influence in her life, so he’s not going anywhere.”

“Excuse me?” Fabian let out a haughty laugh, but quickly stopped upon seeing my glare. “Who do you think you are to decide that? I’m here for him, not her. You don’t get to question that.”

“For the record, I don’t think Raya is his problem.” I followed his gaze to our two oblivious assignments. “He’s not a bad guy, but his whole life revolves around doing what other people want him to do. Maybe work on that first.”

He scoffed.

I crossed my arms, straightening my posture. “But instead, you’re trying to save him by using your powers to engineer…” I counted on my fingers, “a sewer leak, a broken door handle, and a phone outage? Look, I’m also new to the game, but something tells me you’re going to have to be a bit more subtle.”

“And you know what you’re doing, you say?” He snorted. “What even was that thing with the server? Did you do that?”

I stayed silent for a moment. “I don’t know. Did I?”

“I observed you from across the room, and I saw you smile. Do you expect me to believe you had nothing to do with that?”

He floated closer. I stayed where I was.

“I don’t know,” I repeated, refusing to take my cold gaze off him. “Have you checked the chances of him dropping the plates?”

His jaw clenched. “Yes.”

“And what did it say?”

“Six percent,” he grumbled.

“I guess it was a coincidence, then,” I replied smoothly, biting my lip to hide how I relished my small win. Had I just found a way to hack the game? Stacking the odds so I wouldn’t get detected?

Fabian glared at me. I smiled sweetly back.

He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, the ground split open underneath him. Cracks shot through the tiles – too fast to react to, too loud to ignore.

His eyes widened. A low rumble vibrated through the corridor as a sudden swirl of thick, black smoke burst upward, wrapping around his legs like a rope.

His open mouth twisted into a silent scream. The smoke pulled tighter, dragging him toward the jagged tear that had opened beneath his feet. He grabbed at the air, at nothing, as his body was yanked into the earth like a rag doll caught in a current.

And then he was gone. The cracks sealed as quickly as they had formed, leaving no scorch marks – only silence.

I stood there, staring at the spot where he’d been.

“Did he just…” My brow furrowed. I didn’t want to speak the words, afraid to seal the fate that could just as easily be mine if I wasn’t careful. Had I just witnessed a guardian being dragged to Hell?

“What was that?” Raya rubbed her arms, frantically looking around. I thought my heart stopped for a moment.