Tainted, Book One: Possessed

4. The Angel

Gemma

I didn't know weeding a garden was such a hard task.

The garden warden had given me a hoe, and I tried to use it, but it was unwieldy, and blisters had almost immediately broken out on both hands. So I tossed it aside and sank to my knees in the dirt, pulling the weeds out with my bare hands.

The warden had explained many vegetables could be harvested throughout the fall and into early winter, and those were the areas he wanted me to focus on. I'd never gardened before and had worried I might pull up a veggie rather than a weed. Fortunately, each row was so tidy, almost picture-perfect, that it was easy to tell what belonged and what didn't.

After only fifteen minutes, my too-long hair clung to my sweaty skin wherever it touched, and I knew I probably had streaks of dirt all over my face.

Should have brought a hair band. Oh, well. I chose to do this and it will count as my community service for the semester. Hmm. I'd better stop lying to myself. It might become a bad habit.

I had signed up to weed in the massive school gardens for one reason only.

And it was locked in the small cottage at my back.

I asked August about Kerry Harker every day, and it made me so happy to hear he was getting better, even if it was slowly. But I wanted to do more than ask about him. I wanted to help him.

I started to hum Pachelbel's Canon in D, my favorite piece of classical music, and wrestled dandelions from the endless rows of cabbages.

If I can make contact with him through this stunt, it will be worth the aching back and sunburn. And maybe it will take my mind off school starting tomorrow.

That was not something I was looking forward to. Dealing with established cliques. Finding my way around. Wondering who it was safe to eat lunch with. I'd had the new-kid experience when I started at St. Patrick's, an all-girls high school, but I'd chosen to go there for the stellar music program and the chance of a scholarship. I had not chosen to move halfway across the country and start school at Half-Breed High with a group of demon spawn who had probably grown up together.

Okay, okay, be fair. It's not called Half-Breed High, and I'm as much a demon spawn as everyone else.

At least my schedule had some intriguing classes. I was signed up for Angelic Languages first period and then gym and math. After lunch, it was politics and diplomacy, which I was actually interested in. I figured it would help me understand the nephilim world a little better. Then I went to power focus, followed that up with evil recognition, and ended my day with mission skills.

Plus, I reminded myself, I have a job lined up.

August provided anything I wanted, but it wasn't the same as having money of my own. I felt guilty asking for things like yarn or poetry magnets or that cute panda case I wanted for my phone, so when I saw a hiring sign at the school store, I interviewed and got a stocking position for a couple of hours each evening.

August took care of another one of my worries when he explained that I was safer here than anywhere else on Earth. Long ago, high-ranking nephilim had created what he called wards, which were like invisible walls around the Sanctuary's borders. Nothing Diabolical could get through, so I'd never have to fear another demon attack as long as I stayed within the valley.

Life could be good here, I admitted. And if I can make a new friend or two, that would make this all so much more bearable.

My thoughts were interrupted by a muffled sound at my back and a smile blossomed on my face. I didn't dare look over my shoulder to be sure, but it sounded like a window opening. Excitement rose in my chest, but I kept humming, keeping the song slow and even the way it was meant to sound.