Angels of Darkness

something to be proud of. Maybe because I was one of the hundreds of children abandoned every year by women who don’t want to be burdened with the care of a mortal child. Maybe because I don’t want your pity or your disdain.”
    He was silent a moment. “And how did you come to be at the Gabriel School?” he asked finally.
    I laughed and tugged myself free. Jovah’s bones, but it was cold up here once a person stepped outside the protection of an angel’s wings. “Only the latest stop in a highly adventurous life,” I said. “I’m going downstairs. Your dinner’s probably cold by now, but I’d think you’d have built up an appetite.”
    This time the recalcitrant door opened without a hitch, and I was quickly down the curving staircase into the blessed warmth of the attic. Corban, who had clearly learned to navigate the steps without being able to see them, was right behind me.
    â€œAre you going to stay and eat with me?” he asked.
    â€œNo. I’ve been gone too long as it is.”
    â€œAre you coming back tomorrow?”
    I wanted to and I didn’t want to, and the fact that I wanted to really made me not want to. But I hated the idea that someone else might come to the Great House and discover the blind angel. “I suppose,” I said ungraciously. “Someone has to look after you.”
    â€œCan you come back earlier or stay longer? The more I fly, the more I can build up my strength.”
    â€œI don’t think so,” I said. “I’m just sneaking over here now.”
    â€œSneaking? Why?” he asked.
    â€œBecause no one knows there’s an injured angel hiding in the Great House,” I said tartly. “I thought that was on your command. We’ve all been warned away. People think the place is haunted, so everyone’s afraid of the house anyway.”
    â€œSo why did you start coming over?”
    I let out my breath on a gusty sigh and offered a partial truth. “Because I’m the kind of person who always goes where I’m not allowed,” I said. “I thought you’d have figured that out by now.”
    He was smiling slightly. “I have. I just wanted to hear you say it.”
    I made an infuriated sound at the back of my throat. If I was as irksome to others as the angel was to me, I finally understood why some people despised me. “So, yes, I suppose I’ll be back,” I said as I made my way toward the door.
    â€œAnd we can practice flying again?” he said.
    He sounded so excited, so hopeful, that I couldn’t bear to give an equivocal reply. “Yes,” I said. “You can practice flying again.”

CHAPTER 4
    W hen I entered the kitchen the next evening to help clean up after dinner, everyone fell silent to stare at me. I hid my instinctive apprehension behind a curious expression. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
    â€œThe housekeeper at the Great House wants to see you,” Deborah said, her eyes speculative.
    I relaxed a little. Alma must have found a way to signal for help. “She does? Why?”
    â€œShe says she knows you,” Elon piped up. “You worked together at some shop in Luminaux. She spotted you in the yard the other day and she recognized you.”
    â€œAlma’s here ?” I exclaimed. She had made it very easy for me to follow her cues. “I didn’t know that! I lost track of her a long time ago.”
    Deborah said, “She asked if I could spare you for the next few days, since she’s had an accident and can’t move around too well.”
    â€œOh, no! What happened?”
    â€œFell and twisted her ankle,” Elon said. “And she’s all alone in the house, what with the headmistress being gone.”
    â€œShe hobbled out to the porch and waved a red cloth till someone noticed her,” Judith added.
    â€œEveryone was afraid to go up and see what was wrong, of course,” Rhesa said. “I mean—the house is haunted! But we sent one of the boys, and she asked for you.”
    â€œShe wants you to come up every evening and help her make her dinner and keep the house tidy,” Deborah said. “You’ll have to stay a few hours, I suppose, but you won’t need to spend the night.”
    The words froze me to the spot. Alma probably didn’t need me for more than half an hour a day; in fact, as long as she had food in the house, she