The 6 Greatest Errors of All Time | ✓

XXXI. angels don't exist

MY HEAD PULSATED. His fingers clawed into my bare shoulders, and all I could conjure up was a test subject being stabbed by five injection needles. The air fell so heavily that it felt like a blanket of carbon dioxide had replaced the oxygen inside. People were scared to breathe. And we, we were afraid of contributing to that blanket.

The word "Commander" rumbled and rolled throughout the crowd, passing by mouths and diverging into multiple ears. It was a confusing word, and if given ample time to analyze, could expose them all tonight.

I noticed the curious stares. I saw their brains shaping and shifting, putting the pieces together. My breathing stopped when I heard a collective round of phone alarms going off at once. Serena's brows furrowed before she snapped open her cell to read the identical message that was sent to everyone in the room.

The whole room was reading. The silence had never been a more tempting plead to break. One boy in the crowd read the message aloud, his voice trialing off the closer he reached the end of the text.

"Please turn off the cameras and remain silent. Block your eyes and ears. This is an official request from the team. We want you safe. May the host and hostess of Serenity comply and give order..." The student glanced up at his classmates and everyone's heads turned to Serena and her mother.

From the student's arms dropping to their sides, I was able to make out a digital picture of an old design of Beta's seal before it vaporized. The message itself self-deleted in a few seconds from everyone's notifications. There was great shifting and confusion when Serena's mother gave the order to follow the message in fear of upsetting the guests her daughter invited. Besides, not complying when the seal was present was against the law.

I turned to Pierce with questioning eyes, but all I received was a similar expression etched on his face. Osias and Kenya checked their phones but they hadn't received the message, and neither had Cody or Asao.

So who had sent that?

It was then that I began to piece together the details, and the sickening feeling in the pits of my stomach resurfaced like it was an incurable disease. Now along with my heart remembering what happened four years ago, so did my body.

I realized the man standing before us was the only person in the room that was unfazed by the odd message circulating throughout the room, and that he was the only one with his phone still safely in his trouser pockets. The only one that dared rival Pierce on his first meeting.

"Past Commander," I let the words trail out, attracting his attention beside me. He glanced down and his lips parted.

"Did you call?" His eyes bore into my head entertainingly, and when my distraught eyes met his, an obnoxious laugh flung out of his mouth. "Oh, Risa. Don't look at me like that, sweetheart. I always had a soft spot for you."

Now it made sense. It all made too much sense. This undeniable hatred I kept sensing... it made complete sense. His simple phrases were joined with a tone of malice, sending gradual, amplifying shivers down my spine.

Kenya's voice interrupted him. "Hold it, we're going upstairs. I know you have some sense not to run your mouth when people are here?" When he sent her an impertinent look as if her words made as much of an impact on him like pebbles would, she took up the challenge.

"If I can count you accountable to your words, then I caution you to remember who has the seal in this lifetime, Alston. Start walking. " The woman said it with her whole chest, without a falter in her tone. No title, no honorifics, no formal salutations. Just plain Casey Alston, and it took the only sane person at the moment to remind him that. So just like that, he submitted.