Miracle - Chapter 30: Chapter 30

"You have everything?" Ezra asked, eyeing my mostly-empty backpack as I climbed off the back of his bike. I didn't have any textbooks, and the school dining hall took care of meals, so I was mostly packing first aid supplies and pills that Ezra had instructed me to take at ten and two.
"Everything I need," I confirmed. The only other required items were what I had on—a green tracksuit with navy blue athletic stripes, and the Brides of Heaven crown logo silk screened on the back of the jacket. It was the school's gym uniform, and the closest thing to a unisex option that they had.
"Take your medicine on time. Don't wear your backpack on your shoulder, or sit with your back against the chairs. If you get tired, go to the infirmary and rest on your stomach. They can change your bandage there too. Don't—"
"I'll be okay," I said. "You don't have to worry, just go to work."
"Stay close to Madison."
"I will."
"Keep the watch on. Pray if you need me."
"I will."
His thick black brows were still pulled together, making deep wrinkles across his forehead. He'd been fussing over me all morning—at least, as much as a guy who talked so little could be said to fuss.
My burns had healed enough that they were drying out, so he was now applying a mix of moisturizers and antibiotic ointments so the skin wouldn't split when I moved. He'd debated all morning about whether to lower my dosage of pain medication, so I'd be able to feel it if I moved around too much. But he was also afraid I'd be hurting. After thirty minutes watching him frown and count pills in his palm, I'd proposed a lower starting dose, and reminded him that I could bring extra pills in my backpack in case I needed them later.
He'd sent me with twice as much as I was likely to use, and set alerts on my watch for the times I should take more. But even so, he was clearly anxious about leaving me on my own for the day.
I went up on tiptoe and kissed the end of his nose. His features softened with surprise, his black eyes searching my face.
"I'm gonna be fine. Have a good day, okay?" I turned and flashed my new temporary key card in front of the badge reader by the tall metal gates. They slid back. A paved road bordered by big trees led to the front of a white-columned building, which I recognized from the school's welcome brochures. Excitement took over as Maddy came running toward me, with three girls in matching school uniforms following behind.
"Connor!"
I waved, then turned to Ezra as the gates were gliding back into place. He'd lowered the visor of his helmet so I couldn't see his expression, but I held a hand up anyway. See you tonight.
Maddy grabbed my arm. "You're here! Come on, I want to give you a tour before the first bell. These are my dorm mates, Stephanie, Zoey, and Grace."
I heard Ezra's motorcycle hum into the distance as I faced the people Maddy wanted me to meet. I was immediately reminded of the discomfort of being in the presence of a bunch of Elioud at once. Oh, damn, I hadn't thought of that. What was it going to be like sitting in a classroom full of them? Was I going to have to keep my backpack in my lap all day?
Stephanie was tall and thin, with light brown skin and dark hair that was artfully highlighted. Zoey was full-figured, pale, and blonde, and was the only one wearing a full face of makeup. Grace wore glasses and had a streak of blue in her long black hair. Physically they were all very different, but they were giving me the same speculative once-overs.
Grace was the first to speak to me. "You're Eljo, aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"Girls are expelled from BHPA for being Eljo." From her tone I gathered that my presence here was enormously unfair.
"I'm not a student," I answered. "I'm just auditing classes for a little while."
"What makes you so special?"
"Wow, Grace, chill." Zoey twirled one of her gold curls around her finger. "I think it'll be nice to have a boy around! I miss boys. And he's super cute. Don't you think he looks a ton like Maddy?" She leaned toward me and flicked her lashes down, then up again. I guess she didn't mind that I was a few inches shorter than her, because she said, "You have a girlfriend?"
"Of course not," Grace replied on my behalf. "Male Eljo are gay."
"That's not true!"
"Is too. Don't believe me, ask him."
"No way, that's so rude!"
"I'm gay," I said. If I was going to be surrounded by girls all day it was probably best to just get that out of the way.
"See?"
Zoey pouted a little, before a different kind of sparkle entered her eyes. "Ooh, so do you have a boyfriend, then?"
"Not really." I was pretty sure that being the legal pet of the guy I liked didn't qualify him as my boyfriend.
Maddy grinned and elbowed me. "He's totally spoken for, though."
"You mean he's owned by a murdering traitor," Grace huffed.
Okay, that was too much. "Hey, Ezra's not—"
"What's your problem?" Maddy snapped at her friend before I could finish. "Just because you're Elioud-born doesn't mean you know everything, Grace."
"You're the one who doesn't know anything. Your brother kept a sinner from getting the punishment he deserves. Now, while the rest of us are sweating through our fertility evaluations every month, he's getting special treatment because his sponsor—who's a criminal, by the way—is related to the Directress."
I could tell Maddy wasn't having it, and grabbed her arm before she could turn this into an all-out fight.
"Look, I know folks around here think Ezra's a bad guy," I said to Grace. "But if somebody risked everything they had to save your life, wouldn't you want to protect them too?"
She didn't answer, but her scowl devolved into more of a grudging sulk. Stephanie took the opportunity to step between Grace and Maddy, putting arms around both of their shoulders. "Come on, guys, Connor is Maddy's guest, we should be making him feel at home. How about we show him the sports complex?"
The campus was enormous, and a good half of it was taken up by a sprawling cluster of buildings and fields that made up its athletic facilities. They had every type of physical activity you could imagine, a massive crystal blue swimming pool, indoor and outdoor rock climbing walls, tennis and basketball courts and a soccer field, yoga studios and weightlifting equipment and jogging tracks. The jocks at Dumas High would wet themselves for a setup like this.
Every BHPA student was required to participate in at least one athletic club. Maddy and Zoey were in fencing together, Stephanie was into volleyball and track, and Grace was doing mixed martial arts. Which somehow totally fit her whole rebellious nerd vibe.
Other than the verbal dress-down Grace had given me at the school gates, she hadn't said anything else to me or any of her friends. I got the sense she was usually the quiet one in their group, which made her initial hostility all the more unsettling. She was wearing earrings shaped like weapons from Sailor Moon. Her backpack had a Stranger Things patch and a button that said S.T.E.M. is Sexy. Man, if she wasn't so utterly committed to despising me, we'd probably get along great.
The tour had to be cut short before we'd seen everything, because it was time to get to first period. Our group crossed over to the main building, the one with all the big white columns. From there we split up, because Maddy had Elioud Studies for first period and the other girls were on a different schedule.
The classrooms were nothing like what I was used to back home. They were a fascinating mashup of old-world library ambience and futuristic tech. The rooms were oak-paneled and carpeted in deep green, arranged into tiered seating like a university lecture hall, with a podium down front where the instructor stood. Instead of chalkboards, whiteboards, or projectors, they used a huge digital touch screen, nearly the size of the entire front wall. The teacher could circle, highlight and add written notes with a fingertip while the class followed along. A sound system projected her voice clearly even at the very back of the room, so that she never had to shout.
Textbooks existed as digital files on a tablet. Each of the students had one, and they could download the day's lecture notes and put them side by side with the reading if they wanted to. I scooted in close to Maddy so I could look over her shoulder, enthralled both by the learning technology and the subject matter.
Overall, the unusual classroom environment proved an effective distraction from the persistent tightness in my pants, the result of being surrounded by so many Elioud at once. Ironically, the time I'd spent at the Swan's house had been good practice for this. I knew how much I could take before I reached my limit, and this was relatively low-key in comparison.
Besides, I'd already read the hardcover version of this textbook. Maddy and her classmates were a few weeks into the semester, so they'd covered the first two chapters about the Watchers and the Angelic Wars. They were into the third chapter now, which focused on the first great Nephilim extermination, the Flood.
I had questions.
"Ms. Alorel?"
The instructor paused in her lecture, frowning slightly. I had my hand in the air.
"If you need to use the restroom you can simply go," she said. "No need to disrupt class."
"That's not it, ma'am. I want to ask something."
"Oh?"
"How did the Nephilim race survive the Flood? I thought God meant to wipe them all out."
"All we know for certain is that one of the women from the ark gave birth to a Nephilim son in the years after the Flood had receded."
"Was she Elioud?" I asked.
"We don't know. It's possible." She faced the screen again, but there was still so much missing from that answer. The textbook hadn't explained it either, and I hadn't been able to piece together a theory on my own that made sense.
"Then who was the father? If all the Nephilim drowned, it had to have been an angel, right?"
She turned back to me, stiffly. "The most common theory is that she was pregnant prior to boarding the ark."
"And God didn't know about it?"
"God knows everything."
"Then did He change His mind about exterminating them all?"
Ms. Alorel sighed. "That's unlikely."
"So then how—"
"I have a lesson to get through," she interrupted. "Please sit quietly."
But three other girls' hands shot up. "I think it's a good question," said one in the front. "Why would God kill off nearly all the humans on earth to rid the world of Nephilim, if He was just going to allow one onto the ark? That doesn't make sense."
"We'll explore that further in your third year studies," Ms. Alorel said, giving me an irritated glare.
"Why can't we talk about it now?"
"Because it involves more advanced concepts than we are ready to cover at this stage."
"Like what?"
"Somnial psychogenic fertilization," Ms. Alorel replied, crossing her arms. The students gave each other confused looks, while I took a minute to put the terms together in my head.
Maddy leaned toward me. "I think she just made that up."
"Holy shit," I gasped, as the words congealed into a startling concept. "Nephilim can get someone pregnant through their dreams?!"
"What?"
"Ew!"
"You're an idiot, Eljo, there's no way. My father's been trying for a son for more than twenty years, if he could do it in a dream I'd have a jillion brothers by now."
"Jewels!" Ms. Alorel clapped her hands and the room quieted. "Connor Hayes, one more word and you will be spending the rest of first period in the gym."
I didn't glare at a teacher very often, but I sure was close to it. I knew I'd understood her correctly. She couldn't say something that interesting and then refuse to explain how it worked.
"But is it true?" Maddy piped up next to me. A couple of the other girls echoed the question.
"Oh, for Heaven's sake." Ms. Alorel pulled her stool out from behind the lectern and settled onto it, spreading her ankle-length plaid skirt out around her and tucking strands of golden brown hair behind her ears. I realized for the first time that her own belly was swollen outward in a distinctive shape. She laid one hand over her stomach and patted it gently. "Calm down, jewels. As I said, this is a topic covered at length in our third year curriculum. No, Nephilim are not capable of making you pregnant through your dreams.
"However, an angel could. It's how the Watchers were able to conceive children, the first of the Nephilim, with their human Brides."
The students shifted and murmured anxiously.
"You have nothing to worry about, dear ones. Since the time of the Flood, the Watchers have been imprisoned in the desert canyon of Duadel. After witnessing the agonies of their downfall, no other angel would dare meddle with God's Creation."
"But what about dreamwalking?" one of the students a couple rows over asked.
"Dreamwalking is different. A Nephilim can send his awareness out to meet yours in a dream, but he remains bound to his own body the entire time. He can interact with you there and even influence your dreamscape, but he can't generate any real-world physical effects."
Whoa, what? Ezra hadn't mentioned anything about being able to do that. I stuck my hand up, but Ms. Alorel pointedly ignored it.
"Nephilim are also forbidden to enter an Elioud's dreams without her permission. That being said, dreamwalking can be a delightful part of courtship if you choose to allow it, and we will go over it in detail in your Ruby-level Elioud Studies course. For now, let's return to today's lesson, please." She cleared her throat and referred back to her presentation. "In the wake of the Watchers' defeat, the Great Flood wiped out nearly all life on earth, Nephilim and human alike."
She was reading word for word from the textbook, and I already knew what that chapter contained. It wasn't going to satisfy the questions in my head. I took over Maddy's tablet and switched to her textbook library. She was taking Chemistry, which was a cool subject but didn't provide the Nephilim information I wanted. She also had courses in Algebra, Human Literature, Reproductive Health, and an art class. I tried looking through her Health book but it was all female anatomy and period cycles, nothing about Nephilim or their special abilities.
So I opened up a blank note next to the e-reader app, and started making a list.
Prayer
Molecular perception / manipulation
Visitation
Levitation
Telekinetic force
I wasn't sure if that last one was the right term, but I knew Ezra had been accused of using his powers to throw Tyler into the restroom wall. It was probably the same ability he used to pull the metal door off its hinges and propel his flying motorcycle through the air at improbable speed. He had a psychic strength that exceeded what muscles were capable of.
There was also some kind of electrical interference that Nephilim used to make themselves invisible to cameras, and control computers with their thoughts. Maybe it was an extension of molecular perception, or maybe it was an entirely separate ability, I wasn't sure. I wrote it down too.
Underneath all that I added, Dreamwalking. With an underline and a question mark. Was it like visitation, only the person was unconscious? Did it require physical contact like some of the others did?
Unfortunately, Ms. Alorel wasn't the only instructor who seemed less than thrilled by my presence in her class. Maddy's second teacher of the day was a familiar face.
"Isn't that Lilah?" I whispered to Maddy, as her Reproductive Health teacher clicked into the room in a pair of no-nonsense heels.
"Yes, but here we call her Ms. Zavebas."
It was definitely the same woman I'd met in our driveway a month ago. She paused at the podium and pinned me with stern eyes before she'd even greeted the students. "This class is not appropriate for a male audience," she said. "You will want to find another place to be."
"I don't mind, ma'am," I said sincerely. "I grew up in a house with all women, hearing about this kind of stuff doesn't bother me."
A titter went through the room, and Lilah's red lips curled into a smirk. "Your comfort is not my concern. Let me put this another way. Unless your reproductive system bleeds itself out month after month in preparation to conceive, nurture and birth new life, you are not qualified to join these discussions."
Okay, maybe it did bother me a little. I felt the tips of my ears burning as all the girls in the room looked at me and giggled, and it was only made worse by the fact that my pulse was suddenly pounding uncomfortably in my groin for no good reason.
Maddy squeezed my forearm. "Just go out in the hall, Connor. It's only for an hour."
I picked up my backpack and muttered something like, "I'll be outside." More giggles and snorts followed me out, until the heavy door swung shut and I could hear Lilah's voice calling the class to attention.
I couldn't put my back to the wall, so I leaned my forehead against it instead. The pain medication had worn off some, because I had a persistent, fiery ache stretching from my tailbone to the tops of my shoulders. I probably ought to take another pill, but right now I didn't feel like it.
My life had turned out so weird. Here I was banished to the hallway of an elite girls' boarding school, with an awkward half-boner and a blistered back. I definitely didn't belong here, any more than I'd belonged as a scrawny bookish gay kid among the jock-worshipping racists and bigots of my old high school. I was happy to be with Maddy again, and beyond happy to be living with Ezra, but still... it all felt disconnected. Surreal, and unstable, like I didn't fit into anything the way I was supposed to.
Chemistry class went better. The chem teacher didn't seem to notice or care that I stuck out like a sore thumb among the pleated miniskirts and sweater vests of her female students. She waited just long enough for all the students to settle in their seats before ordering us out the door and downstairs, out the back doors of the building, and across the school grounds to the campus duck pond.
It was breezy out and Maddy was shivering, so I gave her my track jacket. The cooler air felt kind of nice on my bandaged back, anyway. I was going to have to take that pill soon.
The instructor passed around safety glasses, rubber gloves, and masks. When she was satisfied that everyone was properly equipped, she came around with a glass jar filled with grayish white rocks and asked each student to take one.
"Be careful with these, class, they're sodium metal."
"Yes," I cheered under my breath as Maddy picked a random chunk out. Since we were next to a pond, I was pretty sure of the experiment they were about to do. To my very great joy, the instructor offered the jar to me too. I eagerly took a piece about the size of a quarter, before she could change her mind.
Maddy frowned at the lump in her gloved palm. "Ugh, we came out here in the wind to hold stupid rocks?"
"They're not stupid," I said, and then grabbed her wrist as she got ready to toss hers in the air. "Dude, don't do that."
"Why?"
"Alkali metals are highly reactive to water," the instructor called out. "Sodium metal, when in contact with water, forms sodium hydroxide. In the process it generates a lot of heat and energy. Everyone line up here at the pond edge. Hold on tight to your sodium, don't let it drop until I tell you."
I shuffled into place next to Maddy. The Elioud on my other side glanced at me, made a face as if I smelled bad, and sidestepped to put more space between us. Once we were all in position, and the instructor had shooed away a flock of ducks that were swimming too close, she called from behind us.
"Okay, jewels, on the count of three I want you to throw your metal in the pond and step away from the water quickly. Everyone ready?"
"This is gonna be awesome," I gushed to no one in particular as the instructor counted down. She got to three, and I gave my chunk of metal a gentle, underhanded toss. Maddy, on the other hand, pitched hers like she was throwing a baseball. I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back with me as everyone else's pieces plunked into the water too.
The surface of the pond burst into several dozen flaming geysers. Water shot a good ten feet into the air, with noises loud as gunshots and visible orange flames dancing at the base of each spout. I gave a whoop, I couldn't help it. A lot of the other students let out similar exclamations of awe.
Maddy shrieked with delight and clung to my arm. "Did you see that?!"
"Now," the instructor said as the thrill simmered through our group, "who wants to explain what just happened?"
My hand went up out of habit, before I remembered that I wasn't a member of the class. Several of the girls had their hands up too, so I lowered my arm. But she said my name anyway.
"Connor, right?"
"Oh. Uh, yes, ma'am."
"I saw you first. You know the answer?"
"Yes, ma'am. The sodium atoms donate an electron to H2O molecules, which makes water split into OH ions and hydrogen gas. The reaction creates so much heat it can ignite the hydrogen."
"Correct," the instructor said. "In the process, the sodium also forms molecules with the OH ions to create sodium hydroxide. Very good. Let's head back inside and map out the reaction for our notes."
A few of Maddy's classmates gave me dirty looks on the way back in, which dampened my exhilaration some. Still, our old school never had the budget for an experiment like that. I was glad to have had the chance to see it.
I met Olivia and Jordan, Maddy's 'chain jewels,' at lunch. They were more tolerant of me than most of the other students had been thus far, though it felt like all Jordan was really interested in was news of Ezra.
"I think he's wonderful," she said with a dreamy sigh. "So gorgeous. And a verified genius, too."
Finally, someone who didn't consider Ezra a villain. Though I wasn't sure I liked this any better. Especially when she said, "I hear he's never courted before. You think he'll be coming to the events this year? He's going to apply for a Bride, right? God, I hope none of the Diamonds accept him before I get a chance."
Olivia, a petite redhead, rolled her eyes. "I don't think you have to worry. No offense, Connor, but no one wants to marry a convicted traitor who's shacking up with a pet Eljo. Talk about baggage."
"We're not shacking up," I said, feeling my face get hot.
"I don't mind," Jordan assured us both. "Once a Nephilim gets married he only has eyes for his Bride. And I think it's sweet how he takes care of you, Connor. He'd obviously be an amazing father. If he doesn't get accepted by any of the Diamonds this year, maybe next year at graduation I'll have a chance."
I pushed food around on my plate, suddenly without an appetite. Ezra and I hadn't talked about that. I didn't know if he was planning on applying for a Bride at the end of the school year. If he didn't, they'd impose my execution sentence. But if he ended up getting married, where would that leave me? I didn't want to think about it.
"Connor, maybe you could put in a good word for me with him? I'm a pretty good cook."
Probably not as good as me.
"I get good grades."
Bet mine are better.
"I'm a very tidy housekeeper, and I give amazing massages."
Me too. I mean, I'm pretty sure I could. Thinking about touching Ezra like that had me more turned on than the whole school full of Elioud. I wondered if he'd let me try it sometime.
"My fertility scores are almost perfect."
And... she had me beat. Damn it. I pushed my plate back. "I'm going to the bathroom."
Which meant Maddy had to accompany me, to make sure no one else was in there and then stand guard at the door until I came out. There were no boys' bathrooms at this school.
After the rest of Maddy's classes were done, I tailed her to the gym to watch her fencing club. I couldn't join in because of my injuries, but it would be another couple hours before Ezra was off work, so there wasn't really anything else for me to do.
I was getting really tired. I hadn't gone to the infirmary like Ezra had suggested, and I was regretting it. Since I'd spent the whole day unable to rest against anything because of my burns, my whole body felt drained. It didn't help that I'd been partially hard most of the day too, thanks to all the Elioud pheromones, and that just about everyone here looked at me like I was either a dirty peeping Tom or a conniving teacher's pet. Either way, it was clear I wasn't welcome.
The fencers took up one quarter of a huge gymnasium floor, with acrobatics and mixed martial arts practicing next to them and a parkour class in the corner opposite. I walked around the periphery and watched them all, but found myself drawn most to the MMA fighters. They were impressive, this group of girls of every size and build, out there taking punches and delivering kicks and using the unique characteristics of their own bodies and their opponents' to try and take the upper hand. Tyler Crockett wouldn't have had a prayer up against any one of these girls.
Maddy's friend Grace was particularly good. She had her blue-streaked hair braided back, and her green leggings and school-issued tank top made it possible to see how solidly muscled she was, in spite of being small and skinny like me. She moved like a miniature whirlwind, with sharp kicks and arm strikes that weren't built on power but on extremely precise, strategic debilitation.
I was so caught up in trying to follow her movements that it was a surprise when the bell rang, signaling the end of practice. I hurried back to where Maddy was taking off her fencing equipment, and while I was helping her and Zoey carry their things to the storage room, my watch thumped. My heart leapt right along with it.
"Gotta go, sis. Ezra's here."
"Okay. Want me to walk you out?"
"That's okay." To be honest, I didn't want to wait for her to finish changing. I wanted to see him. I handed her the two fencing foils and the neck protector—she called it a gorget—that I was carrying, and gave her a quick hug. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Sorry today kind of sucked," she said. "We'll figure things out better tomorrow, okay?"
It hadn't all sucked, but... well, it hadn't been the experience I was hoping for, either. I grabbed my backpack and ran out of the gym, down the paved road toward the school gates.
Ezra was there on his big black bike, waiting for me. He flipped his visor up as I opened the gates. "Connor, slow down, you're going to hurt yourself."
Now that he mentioned it, there were a few spots along my back that stung. But I was too worn out, and glad to be getting out of here, to care. He held out a helmet and I thunked it over my head, climbing onto the bike behind him while still doing up the chin strap. As soon as I had it secured, I wrapped my arms around his waist and laid my head against his back, sighing in relief. I was looking forward to the quiet of his apartment, where no one would be glaring at me, or judging me... or trying to take him away from me.
"What is it?" he asked, trying to turn over his shoulder. "How was school?"
I hugged him tighter. I'm just happy to see you. Can we go home now?
The bike's engine rumbled beneath us, and we took off.