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“You’re really in Hell,” Adrian says. “It’s not like it looks in the human books. It’s not technicallyundergroundeither. It’s another realm.”
“You have got to stop reading my mind,” I say.
We stop in front of a set of glass doors and Adrian pulls one open. “After you.”
I can’t help but glare at him as I pass through. This dude can read my mind and apparently he’s a demon. Nothing in my life makes sense anymore. And the most important people in the world to me were just ripped from me. Forever. Nothing about this is okay.
Cold air greets me as I step onto a cement platform in what looks like an underground parking garage.
Adrian stands next to me and pulls a phone out of his pocket and I eye it enviously.
“It won’t call your realm,” he says. “Well, your old realm that is.”
He taps on the screen a few times before sliding it back in his pocket.
“Where are we going, exactly?” I ask.
“Like the prince said, you’ll be attending Brimstone Academy. At least you get a few semesters to delay your sentence. If you last that long.”
“Why am I being punished for something my mom did anyway?” I ask.
“The less you question the rules, the happier you’ll be,” he says.
I want to say more but a sleek, black town car pulls up in front of us. On the passenger door I catch a metallic crest that’s almost invisible against the shiny paint of the car. It shows a castle surrounded by wings.
Adrian walks to the back of the car and opens the door. “After you.”
What choice do I have? If he’s telling the truth and I’m in another realm, I have no way of getting back home. And even if I did, what would I walk into? Being falsely accused of killing my best friends in the whole world?
Hesitantly, I climb into the car and slide across the black leather seat. A dark partition separates me from the driver making it appear even darker in the back of the car than it should.
Adrian slides into the seat next to me then closes the door. He slaps the partition and the car rolls forward.
“So here’s the short version,” Adrian says. “You’re half angel from what I’ve heard. Your mom was a full angel who didn’t want to be. She made a deal with the prince. No wings, no rules, for twenty years. When her time was up, she didn’t report in. So they sent the thugs to collect. They found you instead. So here you are to pay her debt.”
“And what exactly is it they want me to pay?” I ask.
“Standard repayment is serving in the prince’s household for the rest of your life,” he says. “And since you’re at least half angel, that’s going to be a pretty long life.”
“What if I don’t do it?” I ask.
“The only other option is the choice your mom made,” he says.
I swallow hard. I’m not ready to die but I sure as hell won’t spend my life as someone’s servant.
“There might be a loophole,” he says. “But you didn’t hear it from me.”
I straighten. “What’s that?”
“Every semester Brimstone Academy offers one student their freedom, no strings attached.” He leans back against his seat.
“Is that what you did?” I ask, recalling that he said he already graduated.
“No, I had a different kind of deal. And hunting you down was my last task,” he says.
“Is everyone at this school in trouble?” I ask. I haven’t even seen the place yet, but I have a feeling it’s not going to be anything like the university I was attending.
“Some are,” he says. “Some are forced to attend. Some choose to attend.”
