Shadow Angel: Volume 1

The Hero's Board

Cody returned to DEA Academy to find out that most of the freshmen classes, including his, were dismissed due to the attack by the Worm Eldritch all over Morningstar City. Due to this, he decided to go back to the dormitory, where he reunited with Milo, who was waiting for him. When the boys went back to their dorm room, Cody told his friend what happened while he was away. He only left out the part where Xander and Melissa knew about his true identity and asked him to collect Eldritch essences to find clues about the Turning. Cody didn't even talk about the Morningstar DEA Agency underground facility and the woman he saw there. He informed Milo only about the night training and his early squad missions.

As soon as Cody was done, Milo stood up from the couch and exclaimed, "Special night training and you'll be joining your squad on missions soon?!"

"Yeah," Cody replied with a nod. "Xander said it would be good for me since I'm a late bloomer. It might help me grow my ability and improve my use of it."

Milo only stared at his friend with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, completely speechless.

"What's wrong? Are you not happy with this?"

"What? No, it's not like that! It's just, going on squad missions in your first year here, it just never happened before until now."

"It never happened before?" Cody asked.

"Mm-mmm." Milo shook his head. "Slayers-in-training never get to join their squad on missions until their second year at DEA Academy, especially late bloomers. Alma told me about this before considering how she's one herself."

"Your sister's a late bloomer?" Cody raised both his eyebrows.

"Yeah, she didn't know she had an ability until she was fourteen. At the time, I was too young to understand her situation."

"Too young?" Cody repeated.

"Alma and I have a twelve-year age gap," Milo explained. "I was two when her ability first manifested."

"I see." Cody nodded. Before he could ask another question, he heard a knock on the door. Turning his head around, Cody raised an eyebrow and walked up to answer. Opening the door, he saw a woman with auburn hair wearing glasses and a suit looking at him with a stoic face. In her hand was a flat package wrapped in plastic, which looked similar to when Cody got his first uniform.

"Are you Cody Byrd?" the woman asked.

"Yes," Cody answered as the woman brought the package close to his body.

"Xander Swanson sent me to issue you a new uniform. Take better care of this one."

"Thank you, ma'am." Cody took the package before the woman nodded and walked away. Once he closed the door, he turned back to his friend and asked, "What about your parents? How did they handle Alma's situation?"

"I..." Milo trailed off for a second. Then, he looked down and finished, "I don't know."

"You don't know? Did you ever ask them about it?"

"I never even got to know them. They're both dead," Milo said in a dark, quiet tone.

That was when the room became silent. Cody couldn't believe what his friend just told him. He didn't know what to do other than just look at him with wide eyes. But then, he said, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. It was years ago." Milo made his way to the door, walking past his friend as he did.

"Where are you going?" Cody asked.

"I'm just gonna take a short walk. I'll be back soon, I promise." With that, Milo opened the door and walked out of the room, leaving Cody by himself.

After closing the door behind himself, Milo stood in silence as he looked down at his feet. Putting his hand on his right leg, he squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. Then, he walked away from his dorm, proceeding to go on his walk.