Santi: The Devil's Pioneer

Chapter 29 - Hannah and Santi; Fates Intercrosses

“You didn’t have to cross that many red lights, you know.” Emman smacks Kiki in the head softly, reprimanding him of his driving behavior. We had made it yet again, all of us fully dressed, all of our stomachs full of Wendy’s chicken, with ten minutes to spare since Kiki made it his mission to race every vehicle we passed by. We barely spent any time on the drive over.

“It was necessary,” He exclaims, taking off his jacket.

The weather was cold today. It hasn’t stopped raining since I woke up this morning, and the breeze was rather chilly. I could barely reach for the fire within me.

“Em, you got Santi today?” Emman asks her, and I turn to Emily. They didn’t even brief me with all this school nonsense. All I knew was that I had to show up every day with these guys since I had nowhere else to be. To be fair, I also didn’t bother to present myself with options. I actually had nowhere else to be.

Unless I carry on with what I came here for.

“No, it’s okay. I can handle myself.” I tell them while they’re shifting around, leaving their books in their respective lockers.

“What do you mean?”

“I took some time to familiarize myself with my schedule. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a walk alone. Get to know this institution.” I smile sheepishly.

I haven’t lied very often before as I was new to this whole pretentious charade on Earth. But I had to have time to myself to plot. I was losing my focus. As much as I wanted to stay here on Earth, living my peace, the angels will never leave me alone until I perish or someone perishes them.

“Hun, we have the same class most of today. Do you really want to take your ten-minute spare time to wander around?” Emily calls out as I began to walk away.

Turning back halfway, I nod at her.

“No one showed me the whole campus. I swear, I’ll meet you in,” I grab the piece of paper with my schedule that I shoved down my skirt pockets and read, “Gym.”

“Do you even have gym clothes?” She screams since I was almost at the end of the hallway.

-

“Does she even have gym clothes?” Emily asks the boys again as Santi didn’t answer.

“Forget that. Where was she even headed to? She doesn’t know anyone here. Nor does she know where the gym is. I’ve seen her take lots of wrong turns yesterday. She’s not very bright with directions.” Emman announces, with his arms crossed.

“Why can’t a girl have some time alone? You, Johnsons, need to take a chill pill.” Kiki voices out. He leaves the group, places his backpack on the locker, and loses himself in the sea of students in the hallway.

“Kiki’s got a point, bro. Em, I’m gonna head out. See you when I see you,” Peter says, following Kiki to their first-period class.

“What do you have for the first period?” Emily asks Emman who was left dumbfounded. He wasn’t upset by his friends voicing out their opinions. Rather, he felt disgusted with his controlling and manic outburst, looking for Santi and making sure she was in sight. It wasn’t usual of him. It was Emily’s forte to be obsessive.

“Math,” He mutters under his breath with annoyance. “Don’t go looking for Santi if she doesn’t show up. Let her be.”

“Okay, I won’t. What’s wrong with you?”

“I know you, Emily. I’ve told you to seriously stop with it.”

“Stop what?” Emily growls, upset that Emman had the gall to mention this.

“You know what. Just stop playing dumb.” He hisses and leaves Emily on her own.

-

I finally found an empty room. It was labeled ‘Storage Area’ upfront. The light was dim inside, but it was perfect. It was far from most classrooms and far from the chatter. This is where I’ll be conjuring a plan to rid of the angels.

Angels, contrary to popular belief, were not the most angelic creatures. In fact, they have slain thousands of demonic creatures in a battle that ensued long before I was born. I did not find the time to relish the details of that battle, but all I know is that angels are not as they seem. They were more like the soldiers of the Creator.

Firstly, they don’t exist in glowing forms of humans with feathery wings and a halo of their innocence. That is but a mask of who they really are. In truth, angels exist in a range of random and celestial forms. Some have six arms and some have only six wings. Some come in the form of a giant eyeball. And some resembled generally normal human anatomy with a spiky wing here and there. But they were all as evil as the demons on Hell.

Especially those Archangels. Those snobby Archangels who have their noses up so high and thought my father was the villain. When all along, it was them that forced Lucifer to betray the Creator.

Nevertheless, the past was as it was. I had no power to break free of it. But I could alter my future. Lilith and my father had not found me yet. Although I was a hundred percent sure they were looking for me by now. One of them at least. The Kingdom could never be without a ruler. All Hell would break loose.

I fetch from my pocket the digital smartphone Emily had given me this morning on the way over. It was her old phone. Her contacts and messages were still registered on it. I had overheard them talking this morning about being able to look something up on the phone. Whatever that meant.

Gripping the phone tightly between my hands, I speak to it, “Phone, show me a map of the world.”

But nothing happens. I try again.

“World map, phone,” I say to it annoyed. This was how I saw Peter do it. He had muttered to his gadget and it had answered.

I had to have a visual map of the places on this vast Earth to conjecture where and when any of the celestial creatures may be at a given time. Strangely enough, I had felt an odd sweep of breeze now and then. I don’t know if what I felt was right, but I was sure that by looking at a map I could locate someone I know from the celestial realms.

After all, there were dozens of portals to every realm here on Earth. I only needed to know where to look.

As I continue to pinch and utter stupid words to this stupid device, I hear a creaking sound.

Vigilant, I grab the closest thing near me as a weapon. This was becoming some sort of habit. I usually just power through with a fireball. But Earth can never let you have the good stuff.

“Show yourself!” I exclaim as I hear a glass jar fall from a shelf and break. I could sense footsteps closing in, with each march stronger and louder than the last.

“I’m holding a weapon and I am not afraid to use it,” I shout again with agitation. I was never this silly on Hell. Never had I been afraid of anything. But Earth evoked mysterious new feelings out of me. I hated it.

I felt anxious and nervous as the minute goes by. I know the Angels were looking to terminate me. My father was also looking to bring me back home. But I had no clue who this intruder was.

“Chill, girl,” A voice whispers behind me. A chill runs down my spine and I jump, apprehensive of the interloper.

Clutching my chest which was now audibly beating, without a doubt, I look behind me to see a blonde-haired girl eating an apple.

“Who the fork are you?” I shrieked. I was sure that my blood pressure levels had not come down yet. Even if I wasn’t sure I even had blood.

“Hannah,” She answers, smiling sweetly, and putting out her hand for me to shake.

Feeling on edge and uneasy with her around, I cautiously shake her hand and tell her my name.

“What are you doing here?” I ask once I was back on my feet, steadily.

“Oh, this is where I go to get some peace and quiet sometimes. It gets too noisy outside.”

“Don’t you have class?”

“I do, but my teachers are all a little bit crazy. They keep on kicking me out of class. It’s making me crazy; I swear.”

“Well, you should get going. I need to use the room.” I tell her as I eye her appearance.

Angels nor demons don’t usually take the form of humans as it was physically draining but they could. I think about it as Hannah casually flicks through the pages of an open book on the desk before her.

A light breeze continues to pass through me since she had entered the room. It was the same breeze I felt and suspected to have something to do with the presence of celestial creatures.

Could she be a celestial creature in disguise? She didn’t radiate the same vibe as the other humans. However, I couldn’t tell. Maybe she was just weird or unusual. But my inkling was strongly felt and I had to know.

“What are you thinking about?” She queries as I watch her closely.

“I’m just thinking about the fact that I don’t know you at all. Yet here you are with me in an extremely enclosed space far from the crowd and too darkly lit for anyone to see through.” I voice out my concerns, still unsure of her physicality.

“Well, you’re here too.”

Suddenly, the door opens.

“Santi, are you here?” I hear Emily call out. Guess she just couldn’t leave me alone. But on the inside, I was relieved. I didn’t have all my powers from Hell. I didn’t want to stick around to know whether Hannah could kill me or not.