Fallen Academy: Year Two (Fallen Academy #2)(53)

“I say thank you, Brielle. Thanks for thinking of me. And I’d love to.”

His hand on my wrist was vibrating, like a high-pitched buzzing, sending soothing vibrations up my arm and into my injured shoulder. Before I could think more on it, he let go.

My mom sidestepped Lincoln and gave Shea and I both a gentle hug, which hurt because my body was falling apart. Lincoln propped open the stairwell door, and we started to grab my mother’s boxes and suitcases.

“I’ve got a dead Abrus demon and three Snakeroot demons locked in the bathroom up there, so we need to leave, now,” Lincoln told us as he heaved Bernie into a standing position.

A dead Abrus demon! I didn’t even want to know the details. Not right now.

We opened the back of our large three-row SUV and packed Maximus in the cargo hold, with all of my mom’s stuff.

I’d forgotten about Michael, until he started to descend, and landed lightly on the roof of the car.

“Can you take it from here, Lincoln? I feel sick being in this energy for too long,” he called out to my boyfriend.

Lincoln nodded. “Yes. Thank you, sir.”

Interesting. Even the Archangels can’t be here for too long.

Michael’s gaze snapped to Bernie and a knowing smile lifted his lips. Before I could think any more on it, he was gone, a glowing white dot in the sky.

As we drove away from my home in Demon City, I looked back for the last time at the place that had ruined our lives. My father died here, and my mother and I were enslaved here. There was nothing about this place I wanted to remember.





Chapter Twenty





“Oh, honey, are you sure it’s not too much of a hassle having me here? I can stay at a hotel for a few days until I find a job.”

My mother was standing in Lincoln’s kitchen. She looked overwhelmed and grateful, but also in shock. The second we’d driven over the border, her slave mark had disappeared from her forehead, which was a part of the contract we’d made Grim sign. It was also why he tried to kill her before she’d crossed the border.

Lincoln waved a hand in dismissal. “Not a hassle at all. To be honest, I’m hoping you’ll cook for me. I’ve missed home-cooked food. Brielle never makes me anything,” he pouted.

My mom grinned. “Yes, I’m afraid my cooking skills rubbed off on Mikey more. Brielle is more like her father—a good eater.”

Haha! I laughed but then held onto my ribs. Even though I’d spent a few hours in the healing clinic, after dropping Bernie and Maximus off at their new digs, I was still in a shitload of pain and felt like I could sleep for a year.

“Honey, why don’t you go lie down. I’d like to keep an eye on you over the next few days, make sure you heal okay,” my mother trilled.

“Yes,” Lincoln agreed. “Come on.” He started to walk me into his bedroom and then stopped.

“Er,” I mumbled and started to turn around.

‘Oh my God, I should lie down in my mom’s bed, right?’ I asked Sera.

Before my weapon could answer, my mom held up her hands. “Please. We’re all adults here. Brielle is twenty now. I don’t mind.”

My cheeks went bright red with embarrassment. My mom was always cool like that. For my fifteenth birthday, she gave me condoms and a pack of birth control, even though I wasn’t having sex.

“Right,” I squeaked and shuffled into Lincoln’s room. There was no way I was having sex with her in the other room, but I wouldn’t mind sleeping next to Lincoln. I fell into bed, careful not to land on my bad shoulder, though pain started to flare up everywhere else as my joints settled.

“You did it, Bri. You got your entire family out of Demon City.” Lincoln’s voice was soft in my ear, his fingers trailing along my skin.

I had. I’d saved my family.

It was a beautiful thought. A huge relief.

Which was why it surprised me to fall asleep with such happiness, and wind up sucked into such a nightmare.



I was walking through that alleyway in Hell, and all of the demons were surrounding Sera. But Sera wasn’t a cactus. She was a small child, and that old lady was there again, screaming. Everyone slowly turned to look at me, smiling and welcoming me like I was home. I was sweating profusely, looking for a portal or a way home.

Then Lucifer showed up and he started to train me, just like James said. We worked on my dark magic, and I was a willing student. It was awful. In the dream, I would do as he told me, but in my head, I knew it was wrong.

I wanted out.

But I was stuck in Hell.



“Brielle!” Lincoln’s voice jarred me from my sleep and my eyelids snapped open. It was the fourth time he’d woken me that night.

I looked over to the clock, and saw it was seven in the morning. I didn’t want to fall back asleep, although I was exhausted, I couldn’t risk being sucked back into the nightmares.

“You’re soaking wet.” He touched my back gingerly.

“Nightmares,” I croaked.

Lincoln’s dark eyebrows were drawn together with concern. “What about?”

I didn’t want to make a habit of lying to Lincoln, and I had yet to tell him about what James had said. Sitting up, I hugged my knees. “Hell. Lucifer. General bad things.”