14. WEN

As I stumble in Angelhole and Cuz’s backdraft, Cara and Aela shove Jinny between me and Sarah, and stride ahead toward the nearest magical shortcut node.

I was too quick to think they’re taking our USTB seriously. They were just forced to behave during the Ceremony.

“Jerks,” I grumble, looking sideways at Jinny as Sarah rushes to support her. “Are you okay?”

“Never better.” Her lips tremble on a smirk as she flips her hair back, revealing the décolletage she always wanted, and that’s now burnt into her uniform. The Amulet’s shape, along with four runes in the cardinal directions, mar her light mocha skin in a raw and raised burn just above her cleavage.

It had branded her.

It should have branded me, too, with a cold burn. It had. But I no longer feel it, so my healing ability must have erased it. At least no one could tell what happened, since it didn’t damage my uniform.

From past burns, especially my Mark, I know the agony Jinny must be in. Celestial magic must be doing to her what the Infernal version did to me. But it’s my other brand, from the locket I was found wearing in that burning building, that tingles in empathy.

I wince at her. “I bet they knew the Amulet would do this to you. The other demon cadets must have suffered something similar. Our so-called professors should be called by their real names; our wardens and torturers, probably future executioners.”

Jinny shrugs, but doesn’t pull off her usual bravado. It’s hard to be her nonchalantly deadly self when she can’t even straighten. “They’re no worse than my own family, who tossed me here, some rooting for me to die.” She suddenly frowns at me. “But it’s you I can’t get. You tried to save me, again, after you said you wouldn’t.”

I smirk at her and Sarah’s joined arms. “Can’t let Sarah’s new bestie die, now can I?”

Sarah gives me a tremulous smile of gratitude. I sigh as I offer Jinny my arm, too. Wonder of wonders, she takes it.

After that, we fall silent as we take one node after another until we reach Ariel Hall. Like the Assembly Hall, it’s empty, with all other cadets already going about their day. But breakfast is still laid out, with servers waiting at their stations.

I’m in literal tears of joy all through gorging myself. I’m sure the others are feeling the same agonized relief as they fall on their own food like piranha. Aela and Cara still manage to spare me glares of distaste and disgust respectively, every time I slurp or burp in my haste.

As if I’d care. I don’t even remember the last time we ate. Right now, table manners aren’t even an option.

After we’re done, I inform them I’m going back to rest. Anyone who expects me to attend classes after the multiple Hells they’ve put us through can kiss my ass—especially now I have one. I’d be useless for anything but digestion anyway.

I expected objections, but don’t get any. In silence again, they join me.

Once inside our dorm room, instead of going to her bed and shutting us out as usual, Aela turns and faces us. Faces me.

“You’re a Null.”

I twist my lips at her even as my heart jerks at that name. “Yeah, I heard. I was there.”

“You’re a Null,” Aela repeats, a haunted look entering her gaze. “And this means you don’t have a gravity Grace like we thought. You siphoned our Energy to enhance your Null powers, and they became great enough to consume a black hole.”

That’s as good an explanation as any for what happened. “Uh, and?”

Her eyes widen in incredulity and accusation. “And you could have killed us all.”

“We all knew the risks,” Sarah pipes up. “And she saved our lives.”

“Yeah, we were all going to die anyway if she didn’t do what she did,” Cara says, making me blink at her. Hard to believe she’d be on my side for once, even in this.

Aela fists her hands, either to curb her agitation, or her urge to snap my neck. “That’s not the point.”

Jinny cocks her head at her. “What’s your point then, Feather Face?”

Aela looks between them while avoiding me, as if I’m some kind of black hole myself. Which I probably am. “Don’t you understand? She can still kill us all.”

The realization hits me in the gut.

She might be right.

Until the Trials, I thought whatever’s inside me is dormant and under Godric’s control. I’ve been getting used to my own power, which has been developing nicely, within my ability to manipulate. But what if this boost in power means all the rules have changed?

From day one, and based only on my Angel Essence collection power, Godric thought I could be one of the most dangerous entities in existence. After this boost, he might no longer be able to contain my void or my newfound powers. If this happens, I’d be beyond anyone’s control, starting with myself.

I shake my head, more at my own fears than at Aela’s. “Whatever these Null powers are, I didn’t siphon your Energy randomly. You allowed it.” Which is not the whole truth. I could have taken it whether they let me or not. But it’s not the time to admit that. Until I learn more about this whole thing, I need to soothe her paranoia, not inflame it. “And I had the Amulet on me while it collected your EEG’s—” At her deepening frown, I explain. “Essence, Energy and Graces—and I didn’t drain it. I only did during the Ceremony, since it forces our powers to activate.”

“And we’re all fine,” Sarah interjects again, coming to stand between me and Aela. “We’re far better than fine. Hell, I fell from the equivalent of a first-story balcony, and hit my head so hard, I should have been comatose or dead right now. But I don’t even have a headache. Jinny was back to normal before she put on that Amulet. While you and Cara might be the most powerful nephilim and angel-graced ever. And it’s all thanks to Wen.”

“Are you suggesting she boosted our powers?” Aela grits without opening her lips. Heh. Maybe she has a ventriloquist Grace.

Sarah nods, azure eyes simmering with conviction. “She took our Energy, cycled it through herself, then infused it back in us, maybe even mixed with the power of that black hole. Now we’re exhibiting powers that shocked even Astaroth, there’s no other explanation. It’s Wen’s doing.”

“My father is an archangel,” Aela growls. “I don’t need a human, an abominable siphon at that, to boost my powers.”

“The father you’re so proud of, let you go through trials where you could have died. Or worse. And that ‘abominable siphon’ is the only reason you’re standing here, alive and demonizing her—uh …” Sarah cuts her tirade short to wince at Jinny. “Just a figure of speech.”

Jinny waves her apology away as she, too, faces Aela. “I heal fast, from almost anything, but Azazel injured me way beyond the physical. That foot of his grinding my insides poisoned me with—something that almost killed me. I went into those Trials half-dead, and only got a little better when I absorbed the dark Energy of those critters, but I expended it all. After that black hole fiasco, I should have been back where I started. But I woke up this morning feeling better than normal, like Sarah said. Then I thought that Amulet would kill me for sure, but besides that brand, I’m almost recovered.”

“Why are you telling me all this, demon?” Aela hisses.

“Maybe your boost in power came at the expense of your bird brain, princess.” Aela growls, and Jinny snorts. “What I’m saying is Sarah’s got a valid point. It’s too much of a coincidence that I’m no longer poisoned, and already bouncing back from injuries that could have been fatal. And that the rest of you are one off-the-charts thing or another. The only thing we have in common, and what can explain all this, is Null and Void here.”

I bare my teeth at her, hating that she gave me the most apt name possible. She smirks back at me, but her bedeviling holds no malice for once. I blink as we exchange a glance that holds something new. Some sort of understanding.

Jinny looks back at Aela. “But you also have a point. From what I know, Nulls were once existence’s greatest weapons, until they were all destroyed.” Her eyes move to me. “If you’re one, the Nothing I’ve been calling you takes on a whole new meaning, and you’re a bigger abomination than I thought. Not to mention potentially destructive to everyone around you.”

“That’s why the archangels assigned Godric to you,” Cara exclaims, as if she’s resolved a frustration that has been eating her alive. “As the most powerful being in existence, they must have thought only he can handle you.”

Aela rolls her eyes at Cara’s gushing, before tossing a hand at me. “Then it was a miscalculation on their part, and a misuse of his powers. There’s a reason Nulls were destroyed.”

Fists balling, Sarah steps right into Aela’s face. “You’re saying just because she has a dangerous power, she should be destroyed?”

Aela blinks down at the girl who has transformed from a timid mouse around her to an incensed lioness. “I didn’t say that.”

“You suggested it, loud and clear,” Sarah hisses. “By that rationalization, every Supernatural should also be destroyed. You all have dangerous powers.”

“I see you’re not including yourself among us,” Aela counters, looking at her as if she’s seeing her for the first time.

Sarah’s harshness flickers with uncertainty. “I guess I’m still getting used to the idea of being angel-graced …” She stops, eyes hardening to razor-edged sapphires again. “But powers don’t make us dangerous, it’s how we use them that does. Wen used hers to save us.”

I can’t listen to Sarah defending me anymore. I still remember what it felt like cutting that angel down. And I touched the void within me, and I suspect what it’s capable of. What it wants.

From what I know, from what Godric theorizes, Aela’s fears might be too mild and unsuspecting.

Needing to end this, I step in the middle of their confrontation. “Let it go, Sar. And let’s get out of here. I won’t be able to rest now, so I might as well go attend classes.”

Reluctant to leave this matter unresolved with Aela, Sarah finally nods, and excuses herself to go to the bathroom first.

Aela and Cara push off to their corners to fetch their backpacks, each giving me her version of a troubled glance. I turn to Jinny, quirking an eyebrow.

She only shrugs and heads to her area.

I turn away to mine, and almost stumble.

Jinny. That damn demon stepped into my mind again, with all the finesse of a kid stomping in rain puddles.

With her mental voice grating with glee, she says:

Word of advice, Nothing But Trouble. Whatever your Godawful Galoot is teaching you, learn it well, and fast. Focus on calibrating this power of yours to auto-shielding. You’ll need that skill most—and soon.