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I nodded, the movement a little jerky.
I know that part, lady. Get to the damn point!
“As you know,” she continued, “we value rules and regulations very highly here. Without such things, our organization will devolve into chaos. We cannot allow that. And as valuable as the information you provided us about Gavriel and his planned invasion was, it doesn’t change the fact that five of you missed your exams—twice—or that six of you are months behind in your classwork.”
“Yeah,” I argued, sitting forward in my chair. “But there are still months left to the school year. We can catch up. I know we can.”
Director Price shook her head, giving me a tight-lipped smile. “I don’t think that will be possible.”
“What?”
My heart dropped. After everything, after all we’d been through, they were going to stick to their rules without a second thought?
“Yes.” She nodded. “At this point, there is no way you could ever graduate from Fallen University and join the Custodians.”
“Are you fucking kidding—”
Kingston broke off when I wrapped a hand around his muscular forearm. I could feel the angry tension in his body, and Director Price must’ve been able to read the anger on all six of our faces, because she hesitated for a moment, looking confused.
When she spoke again, her words were slow.
“You have all redeemed yourselves in our eyes. You understand that, don’t you? We will not be putting you through the remainder of classes at this institution nor inviting you to join the Custodians because you’re needed elsewhere.”
I blinked. “What, now?”
“We’re starting up a new division,” Dru cut in. I noticed for the first time that he seemed to be vibrating with a kind of excited energy, and he sat forward on his chair, his back straight. “We realized we’ve been too reactive, only sending Custodians to deal with fallen who appear on earth—to either recruit them or send them to the underworld.”
“Yes.” Director Price nodded curtly, picking up the thread. “It’s been determined that we need a division that will be more proactive. Their job will be to recruit directly from the underworld and keep an eye on things down there. By the time we became aware of Gavriel’s existence, he already had a stranglehold on power and was bending fallen to his will or forcing them into hiding—like your friends Michael and Vee.”
“We need to keep tabs on what’s going on down there so that we can spot the next Gavriel before he attains that same level of power,” Dru said. “And to maintain relations with those who still live down there.”
“We obviously cannot allow masses of fallen to roam the human world.” Director Price clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “But we would like to improve our relationships with the fallen, and to dispel the… the myth that simply breathing the air down there makes someone inherently evil.”
“So you don’t believe that anymore?” I asked, my eyebrows shooting up.
“It would be difficult to explain why so many fallen chose to stand up against Gavriel if they were as purely evil as he is,” she said.
I wanted to make some snarky comment about how the Custodians themselves had propagated that myth for way too long, and how maybe if their organization hadn’t had such black and white policies, they would’ve figured out a long time ago that not all underworlders were evil.
But they were making strides in the right direction, and giving Director Price shit for everything she had done wrong in the past probably wouldn’t help much in the long run. So I kept those thoughts to myself.
Instead, I asked, “So what does that have to do with us?”
Price blinked. “Well, I would’ve thought that was perfectly obvious. We want you to spearhead it, of course.”
“Us?”
“Yes. All of you. Well, Ms. Osmond is welcome to choose between that and joining the regular division of Custodians. She was a student in good standing until her banishment.”
“Yeah, what about that banishment?” I asked, rubbing at my wrist absently. “Is this just your way of trying to make it seem like we’re not actually banished while still sticking us back in the underworld?”
Clipboard perked up a little at that, as if he was actually hoping Director Price had come up with such a devious idea, but the director shook her head, looking taken aback.
“No. Of course not. You will be allowed to maintain a residence on earth, visiting the underworld as needed for various missions and assignments. And you would be permitted to pass freely between realms. Your banishment marks will be erased.”
My heart did a little skip in my chest, and I chewed on my lip, glancing back and forth to take in my men. “What do you guys think?”
My gaze landed on Xero last, and I watched his face carefully as he considered and spoke. He had never wanted to go back to the underworld after escaping Gavriel’s clutches the first time, and yet he’d been dragged back there twice. If I saw even a hint of doubt on his face, I would turn Price down without a second thought.
