Chapter 28

((Gabriel))

My heart was in turmoil, she would need to leave. And she would have to leave soon, it explained so much. The way she was able to defend herself effortlessly without any kind of formalized training. It was born into her, no wonder she is as amazing as she was. Laying her head back on the pillow in her room. I took a moment to just watch her sleep. The way her eyelashes cast shadows on her cheeks, her hair lay carefully across her forehead. Her lips slightly parted as she softly breathed. I ran the back of my fingers down over her cheeks. I walked down the stairs and plopped down at the island in the kitchen. Mom was standing by the sink, she had a small talk with Harper's father before he had left.

"Mom--I don't want to lose her." She turned around and her head was bowed slightly.

"At this point Gabe...sweetie you don't have a choice, I was hoping her father was hiding demon blood from her, but it's much more than that. I had a chance to heal a Valkyrie once when I was fresh from the Academy....they are specially trained, and trust me you want her to get that training."

"Her father said she would die without it." Mom hesitated and looked away from me for a moment.

"You are going to have to let her go, she will get hurt if you try to keep her." I felt like ripping out my heart, at least then something else than my heart was going to be tearing.

"You just have to support her Gabe, I know it's going to be hard trust me. I know, but if it's going to save her life--"

"I already knew she was leaving, I already know...but I just can't stop it from hurting." She felt like she was understanding. But that didn't change the fact that Harper was going to have to leave. And she was going to have to do it soon, the amount of energy she had spent earlier was worrying. She usually had really good stamina, but I have a feeling she was going to need so much more to be able to handle the power that was inside her. I had seen firsthand the mind of the Valkryie. It was a vast place that felt old, it held so much knowledge that I hadn't even known where to begin. Hildr had welcomed me in when she was in control. She spoke to me in a voice that was calming and soft. But it also held an edge to it, like she knew she was powerful and she knew how to use that power to make anyone who stood in her way hurt. Her father had left to take care of things with the Academy. I wanted to go with her, I wanted to be able to protect her in the new place that she was going to be, but I didn't think that was an option. And even if it was would she want me to go with her? I would just drag her down, I may be half-demon half-angel, but that was nothing compared to her bloodline, to be able to get into that school was probably more than I could hope for. I heard footsteps on the stairs, and it was painfully slow like someone waking up from a nap...well Kayla and Harper were sleeping so it was a 50/50 shot. A hand came over my shoulder and I leaned back into Harper. Her head buried into my neck and I heard her sniffle a sob.

"I'll be in the living room." My mom excused herself and I turned around on the island stool. She stepped fully into my arms and I held onto her tightly. I didn't ask and she didn't tell, but the feeling that burned through me was the same that burned through her. She cried on my shoulder while I comforted her trying to stay strong myself.

"I will drive you guys back to school..." My mom popped her head in and Kayla was awake holding her hand. She looked between Harper and me confused. Mom pulled her out of the house before she could start asking questions. Harper pulled back and I took her face into my hands. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, her watery pale blue eyes looked at me and I rested my forehead against hers.

"I will always be here for you." I pulled her soft lips to mine, and she pressed closer to me. Hoping, I think, that she would disappear with me.

"Come on, let's get your things together." The word stung my throat, and she nodded walking from my arms back into the house. I had to take a moment to blink away the tears. I followed her up the stairs to the spare bedroom.

**Harper**

I had worked so hard to build this little family and now it was being ripped away from me, my father had called which is why had woken me from the wonderful nap that I had fallen into, and he told me he was forced to enroll me in a school meant for people like me, they would help me to learn more about my heritage and how to control it. It had been dangerous for Hildr to take me over like that, even with as little experience as I had I knew that. I knew that the amount of energy she had drawn was dangerous. I needed to get stronger, which is probably what drove her to push me in the first place. She knew that if she had the need to present herself to protect me she would have been in danger of killing me. I hadn't given much thought to her appearance within me, it had been after I had felt so helpless when I was kidnapped. She came after that, she came with a vengeance. And then the push began, would she have remained hidden within me had that not happened?

But I do that guess explains why they didn't go straight after him. Who in their right mind would want to attack a Valkryie head first? After packing my clothes I sat in Callie's car with my mind spinning in circles.