The Bad Fairy (girlxgirlxgirl)

36. Self hatred

Her meeting room is filled with archangels from all around the higher realm. Their faces are familiar. Annoying, boring, and most definitely judging. Their eyes are as cold as ice, each face staring at her every movement, and at every molecule in her body. Even Xeraphina is here, back from the front lines, on time for once.

"It seems like you failed, doesn't it?"

She glances around the table, seeing Anselm staring back at her with this stoic, but clearly disappointed face.

Clenching her jaw, Evangeline does nothing but close the heavy meeting room door behind her, and walk up to the marble table in the middle of the darkened space. Her footsteps echo loudly on the floor as she gathers her thoughts.

She needs to go back to the middle realm with authority from the higher realm. They need to give her the green card. It's been over a month since she last got their ok, and that's not how things work. Archangels work together. They don't run off on the rogue. Evangeline needs to ask. This is something they made clear to her when she became archangel, and something her predecessor always followed perfectly. The law.

It's with a small sigh that she finally speaks up, trying not to let their disappointment and judging gazes stop her from saying what's important.

"It seems like I did. The fairy is on the loose again, I need orders to get down there and take her."

She hears a scoff, coming from Xeraphina, surprisingly.

"You've already failed, what makes you think we'll send you down again?"

She sounds all high and mighty when she says it, and Evangeline certainly wasn't expecting her to be the one to judge her at this moment. She and Xeraphina usually stick together like glue, a political team of sorts. They are always on the same side, because they work on the same things.

It seems like things have changed since a month ago.

Evangeline's hands clench into fists. She can't help that her emotions are starting to boil over when she spits out her words, eyes set heavily on the other young archangel. "Because you want the crystal? I'm the one who has spent four weeks down there. That's nearly thirty days of constant suffering. If you sent a new person, they would only waste time on things that I already have figured out."

"You make a solid point, Evangeline, but I'm afraid it's no longer relevant to us."

Anselm is looking at her from the other side of the table, eyes cold and serious. Evangeline immediately doesn't like how they are all in her home, acting like they are so much better than her, giving her orders as if she weren't their equal. She can't help but frown and snap. "What?"

"We're putting you on hold for a while," Imara says, sounding more sympathetic but doing a bad job at hiding the slight annoyance in her tone. She looks at Evangeline up and down, seeing the blood and bruises on her and following up with a condescending. "-it seems like you need the rest."

Evangeline looks at the other archangels in the room, finally settling on looking at Anselm.

"But Chepi-"

"Princess Cherelle, as we are told is the one who took the crystal, is currently back in fairy state custody." The leader of the archangels concludes, with a voice that makes the reason for this annoyance quite clear. The fairies have done their job, and Evangeline hasn't.

The reality of the situation hits the archangel right in her face. Cherelle has been taken by the fairies. Evangeline closes her eyes for a moment, her ears ringing and something white bursting behind her eyes. For a moment, she can hear nothing but the voices in her head.