Angel of the lake

Chapter Fifty-Two

Meg waited around the entire day. She knew which shadows were best to hide in. She'd learnt an awful long time ago how to go about holding her breath. She knew how to not get caught.

She had the day to plot her approach.

Nothing in particular came to head.

Nothing but dread.

She'd spent the entire year preparing herself for this moment. In all that time, none of it had ever really felt real. But now it did. Now reality was closing in on her.

She'd have to do something soon.

She waited till nightfall, when an alarm blared, and the girls were all called out of bed.

This scene was familiar to Meg. She'd seen it a thousand times before. The same thing happened on the night she was banished. The girls were all made to line up in the dark as the mistresses sealed their fate.

And now it was happening all over again.

Spotting Beth, Meg tucked her wings in at her back, slipping into the crowd of angels. Their gazes passed over her. They recognised her, of course, but no one seemed to click she wasn't supposed to be here.

Beth had her back. Literally. She walked too close for anyone to see Meg's wings. For anyone to realise they were different to those of everyone else.

Ominous.

Daunting.

She hated the feeling that bubbled in her chest as she stood there amongst the others. The similarity of the situation was surreal.

The Valkyries shared in a look she'd once worn. That dread of being kicked out. The fear of their own name being called and those hellish blades being pointed their way. The blades Meg had once set her sights towards stealing.

Nothing was the same. Everything was the same.

She swallowed back the worst of her nerves. You've got this Meg. She'd come too far to be the same fearful angel she was a year ago.

She glanced towards the faces she hadn't missed at all. The faces of the mistresses. Those bitches who thought they were so superior.

She remembered the cracks in their visages. The moments of weakness where they couldn't help a grimace or a sneer.

They were Nadine's henchmen.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Her eyes fell to their hands.

Each and every one of them carried a hellfire blade. She knew those silver hilts with the red gem at the end.

They were prepared.

But Meg was too.

Nadine took to the front. Meg felt like she'd been winded. Like someone had punched her in the stomach.

The bitch was just as eery as she'd been a year ago. With her stringy white blonde hair and piercing, empty blue eyes.

Meg was ready for this. She hoped.

"Evening ladies." Nadine spoke in a sickeningly sweet voice, buttering up her audience as if any of them would trust that sticky softness. "Thank you all for gathering here at this late hour." As if they had any choice. The Valkyrie knew better than to turn away from a mistress when a mistress was talking, but this was the point where they'd have shared in an unsettled look if they could've. "We have pressing matters to discuss."

Megan nearly snorted. The fate was trying so hard to keep a calm face. Meg saw straight through it. She wondered how many others did. "I don't know how, or why , but the barrier has been deactivated. The barrier that keeps us all safe." Meg rolled her eyes, riled up. A year ago, she might've believed that. "I understand that damage to the barrier could have very easily been an accident. But I need someone to confess. Monsters could start coming up any minute now."