THE TRAGIC + DIVINE, Book 1 Read online

“Yeah. Okay,” Alva said crossing her arms. I could tell they had a history together. The way Alva warmly smiled at Eli.

  And as if to answer my question Milo added, “Lovers’ quarrel.”

  “They used to date?” I asked, surprised.

  “Unfortunately,” Alva sneered.

  “She still loves me though,” Eli said placing an arm around Alva’s neck which she reciprocated by turning around and locking him in a chokehold. They tossed and turned on the ground then rolled down the hill until Eli broke free. They both stood up and waved from below.

  “You’d think they’d hate each other after the breakup,” Milo said. “Now they act like brother and sister.”

  “It’s so weird seeing angels act so…”

  “Human?” Milo said it in a tone to remind me of my preference for humans over angels.

  Eli ran back up the hill, pulled out a joint from his pocket and offered it to me. “It’s organic. Straight out of my personal stash.”

  I shook my head. The angels partied like humans and it was so bizarre. I’d never thought I’d see an angel clutch a joint let alone drink alcohol. They were nothing like the pious angels I read about in bible school or saw on TV. This world was completely hidden from the media.

  “Not even a tiny hit?” asked Eli.

  “No thanks, I’d like to keep whatever brain cells I have left to finish high school,” I replied.

  Eli inhaled from the joint then passed it Milo who took a hit. Milo’s eyes glazed over.

  “Come here.” Milo told me.

  I took one step closer to Milo. He placed both hands on the side of my cheeks and pulled my face toward his as if he was going to kiss me, but I backed up a little.

  “It’ll take the edge off.” Milo promised.

  One look into Milo’s dark soft eyes had me melting like ice-cream in the Georgia heat. Letting my guard down, I remained in place when a surge of anger washed over my body. I became angry at my mother for cheating on my dad. Angry she plucked our family from the only place I’d ever called home and dragged us three-thousand miles to the middle of nowhere where we had no family.

  “Part your lips,” Milo commanded.

  I did as he asked. Milo inhaled from the joint, then his face inched closer to mine with his lips parted. I could feel the heat pulsating from his face when Milo blew the smoke from his mouth directly into mine. Instinct took over, I closed my mouth and inhaled.

  “How does freedom taste?” Milo asked gazing deep into my eyes.

  “Divine,” I replied.

  Milo smiled. He took my hand and hooked his fingers with mine. Milo’s touch sent tiny waves of intense and pleasurable electricity that shot through my fingers all the way up my arms. It didn’t take long for the high to kick-in because my lips twisted into a goofy-ass grin and suddenly all of my worries, my anger— it all disappeared.

  “Is it normal to be happy for no reason?” I asked.

  “Is this your first time?” Eli’s eyes widened. “Did Milo pop your weed cherry?”

  I placed a hand over my mouth to stifle my giggles. I wasn’t sure why, but Eli’s comment made me laugh. I turned over to Milo who had a grin on his face. His expression was equally euphoric and shocked. He looked at me as if he were discovering a part of me he never knew existed.

  “Eli, why did you move to Georgia from England?” I asked, shifting the attention away from me.

  “Better job opportunities,” he smiled.

  “Like what?”

  They all exchanged glances I wasn’t sure how to decipher. Milo’s jaw tightened when I caught something unexpected pass over him. Guilt? I couldn’t help but feel like he was hiding something.

  Without looking at me, Milo said, “we all have our…duties.”

  “Duties?” I frowned.

  “Uh…well, we’re bouncers at Eve’s Paradise,” Alva answered.

  “And we’re also recruiters,” Eli added.

  “Recruiters?” I thought back to my first night at Eve’s Paradise when Alva asked if I was interested in meeting the angels. “Are you pimps?” I giggled.

  They erupted in laughter.

  “No, we’re not pimps,” Eli said. “We recruit runaways. Give ‘em jobs. That sort of stuff. To keep ‘em out of trouble.”

  “That’s nice of you,” I said.

  “If you’re interested, maybe you’d like to help us recruit?” Eli’s eyes met mine.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Milo said with a protective edge.

  “Why not?” I demanded.

  “Actually, the jobs are specifically for angels. Unfortunately, the employment discrimination law doesn’t apply to us. Humans aren’t very happy about our kind,” Alva answered swiftly in an attempt to cover up for Milo.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. I understood what it was like to be discriminated against because of your race. In middle school, I was bullied because I was Mexican, and bullied by Mexican kids for not speaking Spanish. In Los Angeles, I remember speaking the language, but once we moved to Dixon I wasn’t allowed anymore. The teachers at school forbade it, and my mother never spoke Spanish to us in front of Paul because he didn’t understand.

  I turned my attention back to the party where everyone danced carelessly. Amid all the dancing and black clothing, I saw a beacon of tousled ginger red hair—a girl staring right at me from the bottom of the hill. She wasn’t dancing. She was alone. The freckles across her nose were barely visible. My sister Priscilla smiled at me, one finger pointing into the crowd as if she wanted me to follow her.

  I jerked back, my mind spun. The high suddenly became more intense. I had to be hallucinating.

  “Is there a bathroom somewhere? I have to pee.” I announced without taking my eyes off Priscilla.

  I felt Alva’s cat-like violet eyes assess me as I tried not to panic. She looked down in the direction I was staring and returned confused.

  “Yeah, I’ll take you,” Milo offered.

  “No, I’ll go alone.” I stormed down the hill as I watched Priscilla get lost in the mass of dancing bodies. I pushed through the crowd and knocked into a girl who shot me a murderous glare.

  “Watch where you’re going!” she screamed.

  “Sorry!” I said apologetically. Picking up my pace, I elbowed my way through the crowd. I couldn’t lose Priscilla, not again.

  When I finally broke through the dance floor, I’d lost track of her. I stopped desperately scanning the space. I was standing at the entrance of a lush wooded area. Priscilla pointed into the woods. I ran after her, almost tripping on fallen tree limbs, and brushing off any branches that got in my way.

  “Priscilla!” I called. “Wait!” My desperate pleas went unanswered. And no matter how fast I ran, Priscilla was always five steps ahead of me. The sound of my heartbeat began ringing in my ears, and for a moment I thought I might be losing my mind. Priscilla stopped right before reaching a clearing where fire torches formed a circle. As I drew closer, hooded figures took shape. I crouched behind a tree and counted thirteen of them, covered from head to toe in black robes, their faces shrouded by a hood over their heads. They chanted unintelligibly in low voices, all of them very still. In the center of the circle, someone in a white robe remained in child’s pose.

  “Come forth, my child,” the voice of a man commanded holding a gold chalice in his hands. The person in the white robe stood up and approached the man with the chalice.

  “Lord, master of the universe, our god, our liberator, we bring you this child to serve you, to serve our cause, and to swear allegiance in your name.”

  My eyes remained glued in a trance-like state as I tried to process what I was seeing. What was going on? My mind must be playing tricks on me. Blaming it on the weed, I wiped my eyes and massaged my temples. When I turned to Priscilla, she was gone.

  The man removed the hood to reveal a young girl with blonde hair, then stripped her robe off. The girl was left with only her white bathing suit on. Something about her felt familiar
, but from my angle, I couldn’t place her.

  The man handed the chalice to the girl, then took out a long dagger out of his right sleeve. He began to chant in Hebrew raising the dagger into the air as if he were praying. Bringing the dagger down, the man sliced the palm of his hand. I felt my skin prickle, not from the cold, but from fear. My muscles tightened when the man folded his hand into a fist squeezing his blood into the gold chalice. The girl, in turn, did the same. Then she spoke with a familiar Southern drawl in her voice.

  “I, Savannah Dixon, give my body and spirit to you my lord, my liberator. I promise to dedicate myself to his purpose in complete devotion.”

  “No, Savannah, what are you doing?” I whispered. “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.”

  I drew back, a cold, heavy ball formed at the pit of my stomach as Savannah drank from the chalice. This isn’t happening, I told myself. I’m seeing things.

  Standing up, I backed away slowly then froze when a tree limb snapped. The hooded figures turned their attention to the woods, searching with penetrating glances. I took off into a sprint until I reached a small, worn-down chapel made of stone.

  Inside, there was a bathroom that was dark and gloomy with only the moonlight filtering through a tiny window offering the only light. Two girls were adjusting their outfits and checking their faces using the light from a phone. They paid no attention to me as I strolled by to an empty stall. I shut the door behind me and rested my forehead on the stall door.

  What was that? Was it some kind of cult ritual? Whatever they were doing, it scared the shit out of me.

  My lip trembled as my breathing slowed. My eyes focused on the writings on the wall; random phone numbers, hearts with names inside, I froze when I saw ‘Priscilla wuz here’ written in black marker. I brushed my hand across the letters. My sister was here. But when? How old was the writing? I searched the walls for any hints, clues but found nothing.

  Before I could recount my memories of everything I’d seen tonight, I heard soft moans inside the stall next to mine. Was there someone seriously having sex inside the girl’s bathroom? A nauseated feeling rolled through my body as I stood there in stunned silence. The moans became more frequent and a little louder. I was about to leave when I heard the girl murmur, “Oh, Dylan.”

  Dylan? Dawn’s Dylan?

  I suddenly felt like I had to pee and throw up at the same time. Dawn was going to flip if she found out that Dylan was a cheating scumbag, but I couldn’t tell her unless I was sure. Going against all reason, I peeked through the gap in the stall. The girl’s sequined jacket was against the opening. Then the guy’s face came into view over the girl’s shoulder as he trailed his filthy lips along her neck. His blonde hair was tied back over his signature Hawaiian shirt.

  I snarled under my breath. That motherfu—

  Suddenly, those sapphire blue eyes Dawn fell for were staring back at me. I jumped back and hit the wall. Shit, he saw me. I ran out of the bathroom disgusted when a pair of strong hands grabbed me by the arms.

  “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Milo took one look at me, concern flooding his eyes, then asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “I want to go home.” I jerked away from Milo’s grip.

  ☩

  By the time we reached my house, the sky was pitch black. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, or stars visible. During the flight home, my high faded. Sober and alert, I had plenty of time to analyze my thoughts. Savannah was pledging her allegiance to them, but why? And for what? Or had I hallucinated? I’d never been high in my life, so I didn’t know what to expect. I’d heard smoking pot made you paranoid and you laughed a lot, but hallucination wasn’t on the list. But how could I explain Priscilla?

  “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Milo asked shortly after landing.

  I twisted around to face him. “I’m going to pay you back for my car. And…after tonight, I think we should”—I looked down at my fingernails, my face suddenly warming— “stay away from each other.”

  Milo thought it through then replied, “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

  “Yes,” I said standing my ground. I didn’t want to be a part of his world.

  Milo narrowed his eyes then lifted his chin. “Funny. Because your face turns red when you’re lying,” he replied sounding completely unconvinced. me.

  I dropped my hands to my sides. “No, it doesn’t.”

  “What happened back there?” he asked, stepping closer to me.

  “I already told you, nothing.” I didn’t want to give away how scared I was. Afraid of whatever supernatural crap Savannah was involved with. I wondered if Milo could sense my fear. I wondered if he knew about Savannah or if he knew my sister.

  “You’re going to have to lie better than that if you really want me to leave,” he said taking another step. I responded by taking a step back, my body was against the wall with only a tiny gap of space between us.

  He waited. “Are you sure you don’t want to see me? Because if you don’t, I promise, I won’t look for you again.”

  I inhaled deeply then replied in shaken breaths. “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “Why?” He placed one hand on the wall to my left, and the other to my right on the balcony railing. I tried to dodge around him, but he had me trapped.

  “Because I find you”—irresistible— “intimidating.”

  His hand was on my back now slowly snaking its way down to my waist.

  “Annoying”—and hot as hell. And I’m afraid you might be a cheating bastard like Dylan and Eddie.

  With his other hand, Milo tugged the belt loop of my jeans and pulled me into him.

  “I think it’s better this way”—because I think I might have feelings for you, I thought.

  Milo traced one finger down my cheek and over my lips. He moved in, close enough for me to feel the heat in his breath. Our noses touched. His lips hovered over mine, aching with anticipation.

  “Do you want me to kiss you?” Milo’s eyelids became heavy.

  What was happening to me? I somehow lost my ability to speak, to think straight. Closing my eyes, I nodded. My lips parted expectantly, waiting for Milo to kiss me but—I heard a soft chuckle.

  “See, I told you, you were lying,” he purred.

  What? I opened my eyes to find Milo grinning. “You’re such a pig!”

  “A pig you were about to kiss,” he said pointing at himself.

  “Seriously, stay away from me!” I slammed the door behind me causing the frames on the wall to collapse. Cursing under my breath, I realized my stupid mistake. My mother’s quick steps sounded like a freight train. When my mother threw open the door, I was on the floor picking up the books.

  “What was that?” She yelled breathless and half asleep.

  “Sorry,” I said. “The frames fell off the wall.”

  “Go to bed,” she growled. “It’s almost one o’clock in the morning.”

  I let out a long sigh of relief.

  What the hell was wrong with me? That was the second time today I almost kissed Milo.

  CHAPTER

  16

  The girl behind the counter smacked her gum as I filled out a job application at Willy’s International Market. A fancy name for a small country store with only half an aisle dedicated to the ‘international’ section which comprised of taco shells, Americanized salsa dip, and ramen noodles.

  Paying Milo back was top priority.

  I glimpsed at the girl’s name tag—Darlene— before handing her the application. She walked to the office where a man in his early forties with a receding hairline, an oversized mustache, scanned over the information I listed.

  Even though Darlene was a few registers down from me, I heard her whisper, “that’s her,” into his ear.

  That’s her. I’d heard that a lot lately. The ‘angel sympathizer’ was another one being loosely tossed around. It annoyed the hell out of me. Nothing but a bunch of small-minded people with nothing else to do but gossip. Darlene’
s manager cleared his throat, straightened his tie and walked in my direction.

  “Are you Alexis Mi-Minera?”

  “Minerva,” I corrected.

  “Great. It says here your last job was at the Corner Mart? Why did you quit?” he asked.

  “I didn’t,” I replied. “I had an altercation with someone from school…” I trailed off when I saw him jot some notes on my application. Why did I even mention my run-in with Savannah? Pushing Dixon’s sweetheart into a display of candy wasn’t going to win me any popularity contests. Everyone in town loved Savannah because she acted sweet and innocent in public, but very few people knew it was a mask that hid her real personality.

  “So, why do you want to work at Willy’s International Market?” he asked with too much pep.

  “Honestly?” I asked. “I need the money.”

  He smiled politely before jotting more notes. “What’s your association with the angels?”

  “Do you ask that to every person who applies for a job?” I snapped.

  “We don’t hire angel sympathizers,” he stated icily. “It’s bad for business.”

  “You can’t do that.” I said trying to remain composed.

  “We don’t take kindly to your kind. You have a good day now,” he said with a fake smile.

  I walked out crushed. This was my fourth stop today and every single place I applied told me the same ‘we’ll let you know,’ lie. When I looked back, I saw the manager toss my application into the trash. It felt like someone had sucked all the air out of my body. At this pace, and with my new reputation, I was never going to find a job. I was risking becoming Milo’s little bitch for the rest of my high school life—even if the thought of Milo hanging around excited me.

  I let out a loud groan. Damn you Milo and your angel charm. Despite my better judgment, I still found him so irresistible. Frustrated with my lack of luck—and inability to control my emotions—I kicked the vending machine so hard it sent a sharp pain up my leg.

  “Shit!” I shouted.

  As I drove home, I saw Mitch stranded by the side of the road, the chain on his bicycle had fallen out. I pulled over and tapped him on the shoulder.