Milayna's Angel (13 page)

I’d just settled in my seat when I heard my
name.

“Well, Milayna. Coming to sit with us?” Lily
looked at me with wide, innocent eyes. I had the overwhelming urge
to scratch them out.

I’m a demi-angel. I’m passive. Passive.
Passive. Yeah, that isn’t working. Passive, my half-angel ass. I
still want to claw her eyes out.

I looked at Chay and rolled my eyes. “I told
you we should go higher.” Chay shrugged. He was maddening.

“Lily…” I held my hands out, pretending to
examine my nail polish before picking an invisible piece of lint
off Chay’s shoulder and flicking it in her direction. “Shouldn’t
you be down… lower?”

“Funny, Milayna. Have you met Rod?” She
gestured to the guy sitting between her and Jake. Judging by the
close proximity of Rod’s hand on Lily’s… um… upper thigh, I figured
Lily and Rod had done more than just
meeting
.

“Nope, can’t say I have.”

“Rod, this is Milayna. You know, the one I
told you about.”

Rod didn’t look at me when he spoke. I hated
that. “Ah, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

The words of the hobgoblins slammed into me:
It won’t be long, Milayna. The one that will kill you is
here.

“Most of it completely accurate, I’m sure,” I
said, sarcasm dripping from my tongue.

He shrugged in answer.

“Well, you must not be held in the same
regard as I am. I haven’t heard a thing about you.” I glared at
him.

“Or maybe it’s notoriety that you hold rather
than regard,” Rod said.

“Huh.”

Rod looked over his shoulder at me then.
“What?”

I tilted my head and let one side of my mouth
curl up slightly. “I’ve never met one of Azazel’s lackeys that
could understand vocabulary well enough to maintain a decent
conversation. Kudos to you, Rod.”

He looked me up and down. Chay’s arm
tightened around me. Finally, Rod’s gaze landed on mine. The
electrical current running up and down my nerve endings went wild
as soon as our eyes met. The hair on the back of my neck stood up,
and a tingling sensation ran up and down my spine like I’d put my
tongue on a nine-volt battery. If Chay hadn’t had his arm around
me, I would’ve fallen backward off the bench. I’d never picked up a
feeling from anyone as strong as the feeling he was throwing at me.
Hate. Hate. Hate
.

I closed my eyes to break contact, covering
my face with my hands to give myself a few seconds to recover.

“What’s wrong?” Chay whispered.

I shook my head.

“Milayna, I feel it. Something’s wrong.”
Chay’s breath was warm behind my ear.

I dropped my hands, turned my face toward
his, and wrapped my hand around the back of his neck, bringing his
lips to mine. He kissed me gently before resting his forehead
against mine.

“I think she has a headache, the poor thing.”
A knowing look crossed Rod’s features.

There’s something different about you. What’s
your deal?

“Nope. No headache. I’m just really sensitive
to smells. And you people just reek. Oh.” I pulled a breath in
through my teeth and tsked. “Sorry. I forgot. I really shouldn’t
tell you that you smell worse than the dumpsters outside. I imagine
the entire underworld has the same perfumed smell. I’m sure you’re
accustomed to it by now.”

I wished I could get a better look at Rod’s
hands. I saw my attacker’s hands in my visions. Maybe there’d be
something—a mole, a scar, a tattoo—that would give me some answers.
But his hands were blocked by Lily’s skanky body.

“Let’s go,” Chay said, tugging at my sleeve
gently. “We’ll sit on the bottom.”

“No, we’ll go higher.” He raised his eyebrows
in silent question. “I don’t want them watching us from up here.
I’d rather watch them.”

Chay nodded and held his arm out, indicating
I should go. “Okay, lead the way.”

“We’re going up?” Drew asked. When I nodded,
he smiled. “Yesss.”

We’d just got situated in our seats when
Xavier and Jen walked up and shimmied through the people to get to
us.

Chay was sitting on the aisle with me next to
him. Muriel was on my other side with Drew next to her. There was
room for Jen and Xavier on the other side of Drew.

“Excuse me.” Xavier looked at me and waited
for me to scoot down so he could sit between Chay and me. He didn’t
like the seating arrangement apparently.

Chay looked up at him and then out at the
court. “Ain’t gonna happen. Move down to the end.”

Xavier wasn’t put off by Chay. He squeezed
himself between Muriel and me, which left a disappointed Jen at one
end of the row and a pissed-off Chay at the other.

“Hey.” Xavier rubbed my knee. I pushed his
hand away before Chay got a glimpse.

“Hi.”

“You like basketball?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you answer questions with more than one
word?”

I sighed. “Generally.”

Oh. My. Gosh. I’m turning into Chay. He’s the
king of one-word answers.

“Ah.” Xavier turned and looked at the
court.

Chay grabbed my hand and threaded his fingers
through mine. He gave it a little squeeze. I had a feeling it was
for Xavier’s benefit, but I was enjoying it so I didn’t care.

He’s here, Milayna

I jumped back, bumping into Xavier. I looked
wide-eyed at Chay. He gave me a knowing look.

“Do we need to leave? Was it a vision?” Chay
ran a finger down the side of my face.

“No. It was more like someone was talking to
me.”

“What did they say?”

“He’s here.”

“Let’s go.” Chay stood and pulled me up,
holding me against him.

“No, I don’t want to go, Chay. I don’t want
this crap to rule my life like it did before. I’m gonna stay and
watch the game with you.”

His jaw worked as he glared at me. “Fine.” He
sat down. “I guess we’re safer here with the rest of the group
anyway.”

I smiled and kissed his cheek. “Let’s watch
some ball.” The game had started and the people around us were
already cheering… or swearing, depending on the side they were
rooting for.

I was on my feet for most of the game. Partly
because I couldn’t see through the people in front of me and partly
because I was screaming at the players and refs.

“Geez, Milayna,” Drew said, laughing. “You
really get into this.”

I shrugged and then yelled at the referee,
“That’s a foul, you idiot!”

Chay laughed. He stayed seated for most of
the game, his finger hooked possessively around the back belt loop
of my jeans.

“You can’t make a free throw to save your
stinkin’ life!” I screamed at a player.

“Milayna used to play competitive basketball
on a state traveling team for three years,” Xavier said to no one
in particular.

“You did?” Chay asked. “I thought you said
basketball wasn’t your thing.”

“I said
anymore
. I don’t play
anymore.” My gaze whipped around to Xavier. “How do you know
anyway?”

“I have my ways. Plus, I saw a photo of you
at your house. You had just made your shot, the ball was flying
toward the net, your feet were still off the court where you’d
jumped, and you had this steely look of determination in your eyes.
It’s a very cool picture. You looked all Michael Jordan-ish.”

“Yeah well, I missed the basket so it wasn’t
that cool,” I snapped.

Why does it bother me so much that he knows I
played ball, anyway? Maybe because I can tell it bothers Chay that
Xavier knows and he didn’t. Crap. Here comes the stupid jealousy
thing again.

“You never told me you played. And why
haven’t I seen this photo?” Chay murmured when I sat down.

“It just never came up.” I shrugged a
shoulder. “It’s not part of who I am now. The photo is in my dad’s
study. I’m not sure how Xavier saw it.” I turned my attention back
to the game before inhaling sharply and grabbing my head.

Chay turned me to him. Xavier put his hand on
my shoulder, which Chay promptly removed.

My stomach was churning. It felt like someone
was tying my intestines in dozens of knots. The pain was so intense
that I doubled over, one arm hugging my knees and the other
pinching the bridge of my nose.

“A vision?” Chay’s voice was so far away.

I nodded and moaned at the pain that
ricocheted through my head at the slight movement.

“She’s in pain,” Xavier said.

“She’s always in pain during a vision.
Sometimes, it’s worse than others.” Muriel’s voice.

“Can you make it down the stairs? Shit. Mil?
Can you make it downstairs?” Chay’s voice sounded even farther
away, as though it were drifting away on the breeze.

“No,” I breathed.

The images were starting to scroll through my
mind. I could see the crowd cheering, which was odd. Usually, the
visions were like watching a television show. I saw the actions
play out in front of my eyes. This time, I saw the vision through
my own eyes.

Fans. Cheering. The noise is deafening.

Doubled over, I put my elbows on my knees and
covered my ears with my hands, squeezing my head.

Screaming. Vibrating. It feels like we’re
moving.

I opened my eyes and looked around.
Everything was normal. The people were cheering, and the players
were running back and forth across the court. There was no
screaming and no vibrations other than the normal stomping that
made the rickety, wooden bleachers shimmy back and forth.

Another stabbing pain shot through my temple.
It was like someone was hammering dozens of nails into my skull. I
bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out. Groaning, I
rubbed the sides of my head and squeezed my eyes closed.

“Milayna, what can I do?” I heard Xavier ask.
His voice was slow and garbled.

“Nothing, you idiot. She has to let the
vision play out. Until then, she’s in pain. Leave her alone so it
can pass,” Chay snapped.

“Stop,” I choked out.

“Stop what?” Chay’s face was in front of
mine, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Whoever is touching me, please stop. It
hurts.”

I felt the hands fall away and heard a
muttered curse. The sounds were becoming muffled. The cheers of the
crowd sounded slow and deep. I opened my eyes, and the sights of
the game were replaced by new images.

People screaming. The front seats of the
bleachers moving. The Evils walking calmly down the steps.

Pain screamed through my body. Adrenaline
shot through my veins.

The bleacher seats falling. One by one, like
dominoes, they fell to the ground. People trapped. Screaming for
help. Screaming in pain.

My head shot up, and I quickly scanned the
faces around me. The Evils were gone.

“Where’d they go?” I whispered

“Who?” I had to struggle to hear Chay. His
voice still so far away and muffled.

“Jake and Lily and the rest, where’d they
go?”

Chay scanned the crowd. “I don’t know.”

My stomach twisted painfully, and I let out a
small scream of pain. I tried to relax my body, to push through the
pain and let the vision wash over me. I focused on each muscle,
tightening it and then forcing it to relax. I repeated the process
down my body, visualizing the pain squeezing out of my body each
time I tightened my muscles. When I relaxed, I’d have a pain-free
muscle. Yeah, well, that was what was supposed to happen. But
something was about to happen, something big, and a lot of people
were going to get hurt. No amount of stress-relieving exercise was
going to get rid of that vision.

The bleachers vibrating and shaking.
Falling.

I looked down at my feet and saw the image of
the bleacher in front of me falling. The edge caught the front of
Xavier’s foot and pulled it down at a painfully awkward angle. I
heard bones crack and saw them protrude through his skin. The
bleacher continued to fall to the gym floor below, the people
screaming as they fell. Their bodies hit the floor with sickening
thuds. Then I felt it. I was falling. Down… down… down…

I shot off my seat. “We have to get down.
Now!”

I ran down the steps as fast as I could
manage, dodging people, weaving in and out. I heard Chay and the
others behind me, calling my name, but I didn’t stop. I ran until I
reached the gym floor.

“What is going on?” Chay asked when he caught
up with me. He grabbed my hand and swung me around to look at him.
“What did you see?”

“The bleachers are going to fall. We have to
get the people out of here.”

“I’ll go make an announcement,” Xavier
said.

“And say what? Milayna had a psychic vision
that the bleachers are going to go tumbling down? You’ll either
cause mass hysteria or people will ignore you like you’re an
idiot,” Chay snapped. “We need to think of something that would get
everyone out without drawing attention to Milayna.”

“Hurry,” I whispered. I bent at the waist and
braced my hands on my knees. The pain was getting worse. The vision
was coming to its peak. When that happened… it’d be too late.
“Hurry. It’s almost time. The bleachers are… in my vision… just
hurry.”

“Fire alarm!” Drew said, starting to run down
the hall.

“Good, go!” Chay yelled after him. He ran and
told his uncle to get out of the building while Muriel and Xavier
guided me outside.

“Has the vision changed?” Muriel asked.

“Yes. People are going to panic.”

“Will they get out before the bleachers
fall?”

“Yes.” I leaned across the hood of Chay’s
yellow car; my cheek rested on my outstretched arm.

We heard the fire alarm blare inside the
school. An announcement was made to calmly exit the building. I was
right—everyone panicked. People ran and screamed. They pushed and
shoved to get out of the building. Some were pushed into walls,
getting bloodied noses. Others took elbows to their face or gut.
Some were knocked to the floor and nearly trampled. I watched the
vision play out like a movie. The last of the students were just
stepping off the bleachers when my vision showed the entire
structure collapsing.