Chapter Twenty-Three

Theo did not see Alex for days. His days were spent in the gym with other warrior angels. Daisy followed him around and introduced him to everyone. The professors still stared at him in a strange way.

One professor even asked, "What was your mother like?"

"She is dead," he replied. "It doesn't matter."

"Ah, so-," the professor trailed off, "Well then, good luck, Theodore."

If Theo was being honest, he truly could not imagine what his mother was like. His mother was distant, never directed her smile at him. She ignored him and Alex most of the time. She was not someone meant to be a mother. His mother said so herself.

Now that the professor was gone, he realized the professor might have meant his real mother. His birth mother. It meant they truly must be adopted. At first, he only assumed it. But it must be the truth. Or else, the professor would not ask him that.

His real parents could not be angels anyway.

Theo went to the gym almost every day before. He liked to work his body so he did not have to think anymore. His thoughts drove him crazy. He wanted to forget everything most of the time. Right now that it was mandatory to go the gym every day at the same time, he did not feel as much enthusiasm as before.

Besides, no matter how much he strained his body, his thoughts did not stop.

"You know, the professors never acted this way before. It's weird," Daisy said in the early morning in the gym. It was her leg day.

"They know something interesting?" Theo murmured.

"I guess so," she said. "You know who your parents are? I mean, you realize that those you lived with were not your real parents?"

"You knew?" Theo asked, surprised.

"Of course. We all lived that way till a few years. I came here two years ago. Before that, I lived with my adoptive parents for five years," Daisy said with a shrug. "Everyone knows this, Theo. Don't tell me you thought your adoptive parents were your real parents and that they were angels?"

Of course, I thought that. No one told me otherwise.

"So, your adoptive human parents know about-uh- your situation?"

"That I am an angel?" Daisy shook her head. "They think I was sold into human trafficking."

"What?" Theo almost shouts.

"My real mother is a little mischievous, not in a bad way though. She never liked my adoptive parents. My father chose them. So, she made them think the worst when they brought me here to be trained as an angel," Daisy said. She made it sound so normal that for a moment, Theo thought he was overreacting.

Could an angel be that heartless? How could Daisy's mother not think about the pain her action would give those two people who took care of her daughter for five years?

He did not say any of that to her. Even though he thought he was tough and did not care much about someone's feelings, he felt guilty to even thinking about saying something that would hurt someone. He was not his sister who could tell she hated someone to their face, who could make someone cry without an ounce of guilt.

However, perhaps that was better than lying. Being a fake was worse than the brutal truth. At least, with truth, no matter how cruel it was, you did not expect something false. You did not have to be disappointed.

"That said, what age will you choose?" Daisy asked. She had her hair in a ponytail. Whenever she moved, it swung from side to side. Theo thought she was doing it on purpose. Like kids did after their mothers did their hair in a cute way.

"Age for what?" Theo asked. He did not understand half the things Daisy said. He suspected she forgot most of the time that he only recently had found out he was an angel.

Daisy gave him a look. "Angels live for an eternity."

"Okay?" Theo did not want to think about living for an eternity. He barely could think about surviving the next two years.

"For that, angels choose an age and they will forever be of that age," she said.

"It means the people we look at around here might not be of the age they seem to be?" So, that was why all the professors looked young. When he met the strategy professor, he was so shocked to see her that he asked the girl next to him how someone could be a professor at such a young age. The girl openly laughed at him.

"Not everyone. Not the students, at least. We are exactly as old as we seem. The others, yes. My mother is 689 years old and my father is a little more than 500 years old. He doesn't keep count. But if you look at them, you will think they are not any older than thirty," Daisy said.

Theo did not like it at all. It all seemed like the angels were deceiving others, even with their age. What if he wanted a girl and found out she was 150 years younger than him? Would it not make him a pedophile then?

All Theo wanted was to get out of there.

"Don't you wonder about your parents?" Daisy asked suddenly.

"No," Theo said. It was a lie. But he did not want Daisy to think he wanted to know something. For some reason, Daisy reminded him of trouble.

"Come on. I can show you something cool."

"Will it get us into trouble?"

"Why? You cannot be a little mischievous?" she smirked.

Fuck it. What can go wrong? Nes is being punished anyway. If I am caught, my fate will be like hers. Maybe it won't be so bad. Besides, I feel guilty living without any problems while my sister is being punished.

Theo noticed how in the academy, there was day and night, when where they first stayed, there was only day. Day and night made things easier than having days only, since it gave him a sense of routine. He slept at night even though Daisy said he did not need to.

"Slowly, you won't need to eat or sleep or use the toilet. It's happening already. Don't you feel it?" Daisy said. Theo could feel it. He felt less sleepy, and less hungry. He did not remember the last time he went to the toilet.

It would not be so bad after all if that were the case.

But really, who wanted to live for an eternity?

Theo had a room of his own. It was a good thing as he did not want anyone else to see him having a mental breakdown to the point of insanity. Besides, someone in the same room as him, breathing the same air, did not sit well with him. When he was with Meredith, after they had sex, he would always leave the room. They never had sex at the mansion as Nes forbade it. Nes absolutely hated Meredith and did not want her at her mansion. She was almost always home, so Theo could not even sneak her into the mansion. Meredith and he usually stayed in her room at her place and he would leave right after doing it every time.

The room was small and had white walls. If someone saw it as it was, there was nothing extraordinary about it. No one would know angels were trained at the academy.

The room had small white lights here and there. Theo was not certain where they were precisely most of the time. Daisy said angels did not need electricity like humans. They were above such mundane things. Angels used their power to operate. Those lights were made by angels, and were operated to turn off when the person using the room would go to sleep.

"How would these lights know when I go to sleep?" Theo asked.

"Trust me, they would know," Daisy said. It did not answer his question, but he thought it was better not to ask anymore.

Two nights later, someone knocked on his door around midnight. He was sitting on the floor, naked, with a knife. He barely cut himself once on his thigh, to calm himself down. He did that sometimes. It was not often though. When his feelings overwhelmed him, he would cut himself a little bit. It made him feel better.

Alex said it was wrong to do it. But he did not see why. Why would it be wrong to hurt himself? It was not like he was hurting someone else. It was almost the same thing as saying suicide was selfish. He did not see how it was being selfish when someone decided to end their sufferings by dying.

"Just a moment," Theo said. He did not dare raise his voice as someone might wake up. His room was sandwiched between two rooms and he was certain, even if angels made this academy, the walls were not thick.

He quickly bandaged the wound and put on his clothes. Then, he opened the door.

Blonde hair and golden eyes. Even in the dark, he could see those features just well enough.

"Let's go on an adventure, pretty boy," Daisy said with a wicked smile.