Waiting to hear from Tessa took much longer than Vee had hoped for, though it was certainly easier for her than it appeared to be for Amara. Every minute that passed seed to make their demonic friend more anxious, and after nearly an hour, Vee decided they needed a change of scenery. The heavy winds present earlier in the day had died down, and the three of them left campus to get so food.
Conversation was practically non-existent, but the light distraction at least made the ti pass a little quicker. If nothing else, Vee was just happy to see Amara actually eating; it was a pleasant reminder that, as frustrating as the situation was, at least they weren’t starving half to death in Purgatory.
Nick opted to return ho after eating, muttering sothing about wanting so space to mull everything over. The al had done nothing to quell Amara’s frustration, however, and Vee happily invited her back ho in an effort to keep her distracted. As much as she trusted Amara, it wasn’t entirely clear how close she was to tracking Tessa down and single handedly fighting her entire Coven. Thankfully, the need to distract her disappeared soon after they returned to Vee’s apartnt; the two girls had barely removed their shoes when Tessa texted the group chat.
Her texts were both insightful and frustratingly vague. It was clear that she wanted another eting set for tomorrow, but she seed insistent that Vee and Nick be the ones to set it up. She entirely skipped over the Coven’s plans for the eting, yet was suspiciously particular about stressing that magical creatures soon wouldn’t have access to the Campus.
A few texts with Nick, who’d been spending much more ti with Tessa that Vee had, confird that her ssages were unusual. Much like they’d done earlier, they began to assu that Tessa was paranoid about her Coven reading her texts.
Their best guess was that Tessa was trying to hide Vee and Amara’s true natures from the Coven. This made sense, but there was an obvious hole in the plan; everyone on campus knew about their identities, and presumably would have no reason to lie about them to the Coven. If Vee and Nick could ensure that all the students t before the Coven arrived, they might have a chance to explain the situation and ask everyone to keep quiet about their supernatural secrets.
After agreeing on a plan, they began setting up another eting. It took nearly an hour, and Vee spent the entire ti pacing back and forth in her living room. As much as she wanted Amara to help, she’d been incredibly distracted all day, and Vee didn’t want to throw more on her plate.
The last holdout, to no one’s surprise, had been Naomi. She didn’t seem to be responding to text ssages, and Vee had to try a few other thods of contacting her, but eventually she got through. As expected, Naomi wanted a bit more information than everyone else, but in the end, she agreed to the eting.
With a heavy sigh of relief, Vee collapsed onto her couch. “Naomi’s in, and that’s the last of them,” Vee said, grabbing a pillow to wedge under her head.
Over in the kitchen, Amara was leaning against the counter. She was staring off into the distance, her tail softly tapping the floor, and it didn’t seem like she’d heard Vee.
“Hey, Amara!” Vee said, raising her voice.
Amara shook her head. “Sorry, what? I miss sothing?”
“I said Naomi just confird, so we’re all set for the eting tomorrow.”
“Oh, uh, that’s good. Hopefully we’ll learn more about Tessa’s stupid Coven or whatever,” Amara said, her fingers idly tapping the back of her phone.
The two went quiet again, and the silence spurred Vee to sit up. She turned to Amara, watched her for a mont, then spoke up when she noticed Amara losing focus again. “You want to talk about it?” Vee asked.
“Talk about what? The eting?”
“I an whatever’s got you all twisted up. You’ve been a pile of nerves all day! At first I thought you were worried about Tessa, but now I’m not sure.”
“I’m not… not worried about her,” Amara muttered, gesturing vaguely with her hand.
With another sigh, Vee stood up and walked over to her friend. “Sorry, not good enough. C’mon, sit on the couch with and talk to . If this isn’t about Tessa, I’m gonna assu it’s about your mom. That sound about right?”
Amara begrudgingly let Vee guide her to the couch, and the two sat next to each other. “I can’t stop thinking about everything she told ! When she first appeared, I thought I was finally going to get so answers, but I feel like I’m more confused than ever. I an, I was never supposed to be a demon, but sohow it happened anyways, which ans my soul is Damned, and—”
“Hey, we don’t know that, okay?” Vee interjected. “There’s no proof of that yet.”
“No proof? What about, I dunno, all of history telling us that demons are born from Damnation?” Amara snarled. She seed to imdiately regret her choice of words, however, and her tail gently wrapped around Vee’s wrist. “I’m sorry, I don’t an to sound so nasty, I just… I’m so tired, Vee.”
“We’ll make it through this, okay?” Vee returned the gesture, resting a hand on Amara’s tail. She smiled at her friend, hoping to reassure her, but even she could see the exhaustion behind Amara’s eyes.
I wish there was sothing I could do to take her mind off things. I know what Tessa would suggest, but that’s certainly not on the table. Co to think of it, I was in a pretty similar spot back when this all started. What did I do when I was having a bad day? Amara’s never been much of a runner, but maybe… Oh, that’s perfect!
“Hey,” Vee said softly, “I’ve got an idea.”
“Yeah? What are you thinking?” Amara asked.
“That’s my little secret!” Vee jumped to her feet, then ran to the door and started slipping on her shoes. “C’mon, grab your shoes, we’re going out.”
Amara walked over to join her, but didn’t bother picking up any shoes. Instead, she quickly jumped, and cute black snow boots magically appeared on her feet. As she landed, small bursts of hellfire washed over her body, causing all her demonic features to disappear.
Vee laughed as she finished tying her shoelaces. “Right, you don’t need shoes or clothes anymore. That’s going to take so getting used to.”
“Hey, at least eternal Damnation cos with a sweet wardrobe, right?” Amara said, opening the front door.
As Vee walked past her, she slapped Amara on the arm. “Stop saying that!”
Amara quietly grumbled to herself, then gestured for Vee to lead the way. Together, the two left Vee’s apartnt and began walking towards campus. The wind had died down slightly, but its heavy presence earlier had scattered fresh snow all over the campus. Thick blankets of snow covered the path forward, and while Vee knew exactly where they were headed, she purposely took a roundabout route to avoid crossing the quad.
An eerie silence surrounded Vee and Amara, only broken by the soft crunching of snow under their boots. A cocoon of demonic warmth encircled Vee, holding back the bite of winter, but it wasn’t thick enough to lt the snow under their feet.
Although Vee wanted to break the silence, she wasn’t sure what to say. Every ti an idea appeared, she imdiately recognized all the ways Amara might twist the conversation against herself. She didn’t want to talk about Amara’s dad, or her powers, or anything that might remind her of Chloé, but what else was there to talk about? Their supernatural troubles had grown increasingly all-consuming over the last few months, and it felt like they no longer had the luxury of making small talk.
Instead, the quiet persisted until they reached their destination. The tall windows of the Science Building had frosted over, the soft light of nearby lamps reflecting off to create muted fractal patterns in the snow.
“Alright, here we are,” Vee said.
“The Science Building? No offense, but I’m kinda sick of this place.” Amara shoved her hands into her pockets as she sighed.
“Don’t worry, we’re not going inside. Just follow my lead, okay?” Vee smirked as she whispered a small prayer to herself, and her body began humming with angelic magic. With the extra boost, she ran at a nearby tree and vaulted up the trunk, grabbing a large, low-hanging branch. Swinging her legs up, she found her balance and continued climbing, jumping from perch to perch as she approached the top of the mighty oak.
The branches underneath her began shaking, and she heard quick breaths from Amara as she began following Vee up the tree. She caught up quickly, and Vee began guiding her to one branch in particular. It was a spot that Vee was quite familiar with, though with all the chaos in her life recently, she hadn’t found the ti or energy to return.
“Alright, here we are!” Vee said with a smile.
“We… climbed a tree? That’s what you wanted to show ?” Amara asked, her lack of enthusiasm obvious.
“Hold your applause, I’m not done yet. You’re facing the wrong way, for one thing.” Vee lightly slapped Amara’s thigh, then helped find the exact spot they needed to be in. She’d never shown this spot to anyone before, and it was certainly a tight fit, but soon she found the angle she needed. “Now, look that way.”
The Science Building stood at the top of a long flight of stairs, the other end of which led to the quad. By climbing this particular tree, they now had a perfect view of the field underneath them. All the sidewalks that crisscrossed the quad had been buried under a layer of snow, but so had the signs of their fight with Brandon. Light from dozens of lamps reflected off the clean, unblemished field, sparkling as it passed through the ice and snow that clung to nearby trees.
“There it is,” Vee whispered, her face just inches from Amara’s. “I trimd these branches ages ago, and I used to co here after my morning runs to watch the sun rise.”
“Wow,” Amara quietly responded. “I get why. This is a gorgeous view.”
Vee looked at Amara, smiling softly as she saw a flicker of peace appear. “As the sun gets higher, its light bounces off all the different windows. It’s incredible. I’ll admit, I’ve never co here in the winter like this, but I’d say this view is even better.”
“Why make sothing like this?” Amara asked.
“I guess I wanted sothing that was just for . I’d spent so long feeling like I didn’t matter, that people only cared about my angelic heritage, and I wanted a place to hide away from it all. After my nightmares started, all those months ago, I tried to co here as often as I could. College had always been an escape from that burden, but those nightmares reminded that my responsibility would follow to the ends of the Earth, whether I wanted it to or not.”
Amara scoffed. “Another thing I fucked up.”
“Hey, you cut that out,” Vee said, elbowing Amara in the rib. “You gave a second chance, pushed to reevaluate who I wanted to be. I’m a better person because of you, Amara.”
Silence. Amara simply leaned back against the tree, sighing as she kept watching the quad.
“You know,” Vee started, “this is actually the first place I saw you as a demon.”
“Really? That wasn’t at Halloween?”
Vee shook her head. “I was sitting here one morning, trying to ignore my responsibilities, when that door opens and out walks a copy of . I was so confused!”
“Wait, I rember that! I looked up into this tree because I saw so weird light, but at the ti I thought it was the sun catching a weird angle.”
“Nope, all !” With a flick of her wrist, Vee spawned a small mote of light. She dismissed it just as quickly, as to not make Amara uncomfortable. “What was that about, anyways? Like, why were you ?”
Amara paused, her eyes losing focus as she dug through her mories. “At the start of my transformation, I’d been able to hide everything under bulky sweaters, but then my wings appeared. They were way too big, so I took a week off school and said I was sick. Just my luck, right? I learn I can fly, then imdiately have to lock myself inside indefinitely. Anyways, towards the end of that week, Nick cos over with big news; he’d finally asked you out. At first I was really excited, ‘cuz I’d been wanting to see you two get together for a while, but Nick reminded that you two dating might change things. If you wanted to be monogamous, I would have to stop sleeping with Nick. The idea caught off guard, especially since I’d been relying entirely on him to keep fed. So… I dunno. Maybe it was fear? Jealousy? For whatever reason, I turned into you. It was the first ti I’d shapeshifted, and I had no idea how to undo it.”
Vee chuckled to herself. “Wow, I had no idea I was your first ti!”
Thankfully, her comnt managed to get Amara to smile. “Oh, shut up. You’ve been spending too much ti with Tessa.”
The two pretended to shove each other out of the tree for a mont, and eventually the laughter cald down. “So, why co here?” Vee asked.
“I’d been investigating those magic circles with Tessa, and I was desperate to leave the house after being cooped up for a week. I figured that, if it was late and I wore baggy clothes, no one would see or recognize . Obviously we know how that turned out.”
“Honestly, Amara? That’s kind of sweet. You were just worried about losing Nick, and I can’t bla you; I’ve never really considered myself poly.”
“Still doesn’t change the fact that I turned half the school against you…” Amara said, burying her face in her elbow as she leaned forward.
Ugh, she’s still determined to focus on the downside of everything. C’mon Vee, think! There’s got to sothing else you can do to cheer her up, to distract her a little. Coming here seed to help, at least a little bit, what other options do I have?
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Vee said, growing excited. “What if we took a trip to the football stadium?”
Amara narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “This isn’t a trick, is it?”
“C’mon, think about it. All that open airspace, completely isolated from the world… doesn’t that sound nice?”
“Maybe if I could fly, Vee, but we both know I can’t,” Amara said.
“Okay, but why not? In your own words, it’s the mory of Halloween, of hurting , that haunts you. That’s all behind us now! We spent all that ti in Purgatory clearing the air, and things couldn’t be better between us. I think you’re ready.”
“You really think I should try?” Amara asked.
Vee nodded resolutely. “Absolutely.”
While she didn’t seem entirely convinced, Amara finally yielded. “Alright. I’ll give it a shot. For you.”
“Yes! Oh, this is gonna be so much fun!” Vee imdiately climbed down a few branches before jumping to the ground. Amara landed a second later, and once Vee had brushed the snow off her jacket, they took off once more.
Vee made sure to avoid the quad again. It held nothing but unpleasant mories at the mont, and she was trying to cheer Amara up. There was no rush to get to the stadium, and they took a comfortable pace as Vee awkwardly tried to keep so small talk going. Amara seed content to listen, for the most part, but Vee figured it was better than nothing.
Arriving at the stadium, Vee whispered another quick prayer to unlock the front entrance, and they snuck inside.
“Whoa, this is kinda spooky,” Vee whispered. “I’ve never been here after hours like this.”
Amara chuckled. “You know, you’re surprisingly chill about breaking and entering for an angel. You’re not going to get in trouble or anything, are you?”
“Nah, I’m fine. C’mon, we’re almost at the field!” Vee grabbed Amara’s hand and started running forward. It was only another minute of wandering empty hallways before they found an entrance. Walking out onto the field, they found it covered with a thin layer of snow just like the rest of campus. The high walls helped mask the ambient traffic from the surrounding city, aning it was even quieter here than it had been by the quad.
As exciting as it was to see the stadium like this, Vee was only able to muster so much genuine enthusiasm. However, with Amara in tow, she acted like this was the coolest thing she’d ever seen. She sprinted out into the field, eyes wide with wonder as Amara slowly followed behind her.
“Wow, I should co here more often. Think of all the magic I could test out!” Vee said, drawing lines in the snow with her feet.
“You know, speaking of your magic, is that entire book filled with unique spells?” Amara asked. “I’ve only seen you do a couple things, but you said a while back that hundreds of angels have added to it.”
“Oh, there’s a bunch of stuff I’ve never touched.” Vee sat in the snow, then leaned back until she was completely lying down. “It’s not as easy as just reading the Enochian aloud, you need to understand what you’re casting. More complex spells require you to channel multiple different effects, and a lack of control would be catastrophic.”
Vee spread out her arms and legs, initially just to relax, then decided to move them up and down. Amara wandered closer and, once she realized what Vee was doing, she rolled her eyes. “Really, Vee? A snow angel? Bit on the nose, wouldn’t you say?”
“Oh, shut up and give your tail, will you? I need to get up.” One flourish of hellfire later, and Amara’s true form had reappeared. Vee grabbed Amara’s tail, and with a single strong pull, jumped to her feet. she turned to admire her work, whistling in appreciation. “Dang, I’d say that’s the best I’ve ever made. Want to give it a shot? I bet you’d make a pretty cool silhouette with your wings out!”
“Um, I probably shouldn’t. Tessa’s Coven is crawling around, right? I don’t think I should be leaving them any clues.” Amara’s words were tired, and Vee was losing confidence in her ability to cheer her friend up.
“Alright, well, how about we move on to the main event?”
“You really think it’ll work?” Amara asked, looking over the large field in front of her.
“I know it will.” Vee stepped in front of Amara, grabbing her arms and looking her in the eyes. Vee was the taller of the two, though only by an inch or two, but Amara’s boots brought them to roughly the sa height. Vee summoned every ounce of sincerity she had, then continued talking.
“I know things are pretty tough right now, but I’m happy to be your friend. I’m glad you stopped , and there’s nothing I want more than to see you fly. I know what it ans to you.”
Amara returned Vee’s look, her eyes shaking slightly, before looking up at the sky. She took a deep breath, then slowly let it go. “Fingers crossed, I guess,” Amara whispered.
Before Vee stepped away, she squeezed Amara once last ti. “Rember, Amara; I forgive you for everything.”
“Right, yeah. Alright,” Amara muttered. She continued whispering to herself as Vee stepped away, not even trying to hide that she was repeating Vee’s apology over and over. Once Vee was a few dozen feet away, Amara spread her wings and began flexing them, testing out different angles and even using them to jump around a few tis.
Amara looked over to Vee, who gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, and then she started running. She crouched low, then leapt into the air with a powerful thrust of her wings. A gust of air, sohow both cold and hot at the sa ti, rushed over Vee as she watched with bated breath. Now nearly a dozen feet off the ground, Amara repeated the movent, her wings carrying her higher still.
Vee squeezed her jacket hard, desperately hoping that Amara would keep climbing. Sowhere deep in her gut, she knew that Amara needed to move past this block to move on.
Another thrust, and Amara climbed even higher. This was roughly the height she’d been at when she’d chased after the reaper in Purgatory. Vee watched closely as Amara’s wings extended, preparing for another thrust, when her body seed to lock up. Her ascension stalled, and she grabbed her head before gasping in pain. Her wings went limp, and within seconds, she slamd onto the cold, artificial grass.
Vee was already sprinting closer, and as she closed the distance, she heard Amara shouting out.
“SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!”
Vee knelt down, carefully grabbed Amara’s shoulder and pulled her up. The demon’s body was tense, practically on the verge of seizing as Vee held her. The fit only lasted a few more seconds, thankfully, and Vee moved her hand to the back of Amara’s neck in an attempt to comfort her.
“Hey, it’s okay, I’m here. I’m with you, Amara, everything’s alright,” Vee muttered.
The shaking slowed, and Amara finally opened her eyes. She looked at Vee, then back up at the sky, and quickly jumped to her feet. “Fucking bullshit!” Amara shouted.
“Amara, I—”
“No! I’m fucking done!” Amara shoved past Vee, her true form vanishing as she walked back towards the entrance. Vee watched for a mont, unfortunately not surprised by Amara’s outburst, before running after her.
Way to go, Vee.
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