Flickers of Flame

  Flickers of Flame

  Blade Keeper Academy #2

  Madeline Freeman

  Contents

  Description

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Whispers of Betrayal

  Also by Madeline Freeman

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2020 Madeline Freeman

  Cover Art © 2020 EmCat Designs

  * * *

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  First Edition: September 2020

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

  * * *

  For information:

  http://www.madelinefreeman.net

  My secret is safe—for now. But it’s only a matter of time before the Keepers learn there’s a spy in their midst.

  With each passing day, Nate Kouri’s magnetic draw tugs on me. But the closer we get, the bigger the risk he’ll figure out who I really am.

  When an opportunity to infiltrate a new level of the angelic Guard arises, I have to do everything I can to be selected for the mission—even if it means risking time alone with Nate.

  Demons everywhere are depending on me, and I have to help them. But when the line between right and wrong blurs, which side will I end up on?

  My name is Eden Everdell, and I’m a spy. If anyone learns my secret, there will be hell to pay.

  Chapter One

  The musty air clogged my nostrils and clung to my throat. Dust motes hung in shafts of light streaming through the spaces between the dark, heavy curtain panels. I peeked through the gap, studying the surrounding tree line for any hint they were coming.

  “It’s only a matter of time before they know we’re here.” Nate Kouri stood near the shack’s front door, corded arms folded over his muscular chest. He surveyed the group crammed inside the cramped space, his jaw set with concentration.

  Good gates, he was handsome.

  I shook the thought from my head. Now was so not the time.

  “We can’t all stay here,” Clio Brooks said. Although she was usually all smiles, the situation at hand pressed her lips into a grim line. With her reddish-blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail, she looked fierce and determined. “If they surround us, we’re done for.”

  “We should split up,” suggested Thor Rocha from his spot at the window opposite mine. While it never escaped me how tall he was, he looked positively enormous now with the shack’s roof scant inches above his head.

  “Split up?” asked Kassie Bell, her voice a half octave higher than I remembered it. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

  “Thor’s right,” I said. Butterflies kicked up in my stomach when Nate aimed a smile in my direction. “The mission is to protect the package. If that means drawing off suspicion from this location, then that’s what we need to do.”

  Kassie turned to her other teammates—Elisha MacBrier, Opalina Stanton, and Rina Tivey—but the fourth member of her group took a half step forward.

  “They’re right,” said Maisie Moran. Blakethorne’s self-appointed school journalist scanned her team with her piercing hazel eyes. “We can fan out. Some of us can hide in the woods. Maybe another pair can hole up in the other cabin. We need to confuse them so they don’t know where to look.”

  “And apprehend them when they think they’ve got the upper hand,” added Bridger Ross as he combed his fingers through his meticulously tousled chestnut brown hair. “Easy peasy.”

  Nate clapped his hands together. “We’ve got to move fast. Look around and see if you can find anything you might carry the package in. Like a box or something.”

  Opalina tossed her long, black braid over her shoulder. “I’m sure this place has got tons of boxes just sitting around.”

  Clio edged past her and reached for the pull on the nearest cupboard. “Won’t know unless you look.”

  As the others began poking around, I kept watch out the window. They would be here any minute. We needed to make our play soon or they would know exactly where we were keeping the package.

  Maisie located a stack of musty towels, and Bridger found a roll of duct tape and two half-melted pillar candles. With deft fingers, Nate folded up each object into its own towel and handed out the bundles—one to Clio, one to Opalina, and one to Maisie.

  “No time to lose,” Nate said. “Grab a partner and head out in different directions.”

  “And if someone comes after us?” Kassie asked.

  “Engage and detain.” Nate nodded. “Good luck.”

  Clio and Thor were the first to move. I looked out my window as they approached the door. “No contact over here.”

  “None here, either,” Nate said from the other side of the room.

  Thor twisted the doorknob and he and Clio darted out of the structure. Maisie and Elisha went next, followed closely by Kassie, Rina, and Opalina.

  Bridger closed the door behind them. “All right. What’s our play?”

  I raised my chin at the box on the rectangular table along the wall. “We lie low and protect the package.”

  “And if they show up here?”

  The corner of Nate’s mouth quirked upward. “We improvise.”

  Silence descended over the shack, interrupted only by the infrequent calls of birds in the trees beyond the walls.

  Minutes passed before the first shouts rose up. I did my best to peer out my window without moving the drapes. But when someone stepped in close behind me, I couldn’t suppress a shiver.

  Without turning, I knew Nate had joined me at the window. The bright citrus scent that always accompanied him cut above the cabin’s musty aroma. “Can you see anything?”

  With Nate standing so close I could feel the heat radiating off his body, it was almost impossible to focus on anything but his presence. I was about to tell him I still didn’t have a visual when movement between two trees caught my eye. I recognized the black braid immediately.

  “It’s Opalina,” I said, pointing.

  He leaned closer still. “Looks like they’re finally here.”

  The rustle of cardboard flaps pulled my attention from the window. Bridger stood at the table, wrapping something in one of the remaining towels.

  “What are you doing?” Nate asked.

  He held the bundle out to him. “Take this and get out of here. It’s only a matter of time before they show up. Bury it in the woods or something. I’ll stay here with the box so they think I have the package. After you’ve got that tucked away, come back and we can take them on together.”

  Nate glanced at the towel in his hand. “We don’t need two people to hide this thing.” He stretched his arm out to me. “Eden, you go.”

  I reached for it, my fingers brushing Nate’s.

  “It’ll go faster if there are two of you to dig,” Bridger insisted. “It’s not like there’s a shovel sitting around here.”

  My eyes flicked to Nate. While I agreed with him that this wasn’t a two-person job, sparks skittered along my hand where his ski
n touched mine. “Bridger’s got a point. We can be back fast.”

  A struggle played out across Nate’s features before he sighed. “Okay. But don’t detain them all before we get back.”

  Bridger smirked. “I make no promises.”

  I followed Nate to the shack’s back door. The shouts outside were growing louder, but they were still a way off. Nate cracked the door and peered out before exiting. When he streaked across the grassy expanse separating the shack from the woods, I chased after him. But even sprinting, I wasn’t fast enough to keep up. Although our trainer, Anders, had insisted over the last few weeks that my run times were improving, I didn’t entirely believe him.

  I dared to glance over my shoulder when I finally passed into the trees, but no one was following us. To my relief, the forest slowed Nate’s pace.

  “Scan for a fallen log or something. It’ll give us some cover while we dig.”

  Sounds of fighting pricked my ears. It was still far off, but part of me wanted to dash into the fray to lend some help. I ignored the urge. Our team would be fine.

  “How about over there?” I pointed at a particularly large bush which still clung to most its fiery leaves.

  “Looks good.” Nate cut a path toward it, circling so the red and orange foliage obscured us.

  I scooped up a thick twig as I followed.

  “This seems like a decent spot,” Nate said, crouching. He tried to pry up the earth with his fingers, but I nudged him out of the way and dug the stick into the ground.

  He grinned. “Yeah, I was going to do that, too.”

  I snorted. “Were you now?”

  “Yeah. Just wanted to give you the chance to think you thought of it first.”

  I chuckled and kept digging as he skimmed his fingers over the surrounding forest floor for a tool of his own. “Sure.”

  He bumped my shoulder, sending a thrill of pleasure through me. After weeks of spending hours with him every day, I kept expecting his effect on me to lessen. It hadn’t yet.

  When he finally found a suitable stick, he helped deepen the hole I started. My heart thudded harder each time our knuckles brushed. Too soon, we’d dug out enough soil, and Nate placed the towel-wrapped object into the depression. Together, we covered it with the loose dirt. As we patted it flat, his fingers pressed gently atop mine. I didn’t pull away. Neither did he.

  An electric current zipped through the air as we sat there, Nate’s hand partially covering mine. The seconds stretched and the space between breaths lengthened. Everything else melted away, leaving the two of us the only people in the universe.

  “Eden,” he breathed.

  My skin tingled, and my gaze dipped to his lips. “Yes?”

  A sharp whistle blast rent the air. Time collapsed in on itself as Nate pulled his hand away.

  I stood, staring back toward where we’d come from. “What was that?”

  “It can’t be,” Nate grumbled, jamming his stick back into the loosened earth. Before I could ask what he was doing, the towel-wrapped package was in his hand. He grabbed the loose end and let the object within tumble out.

  I blinked. “A candle? I don’t get it. How’d we end up with one of the decoy packages?”

  Nate closed his eyes, sighing. “Bridger handed it to us.”

  I stifled a groan as we trudged back toward the shack.

  By the time we arrived, eighteen other cadets had filled in the narrow lane that stood between three shacks and several edifices meant to represent larger buildings. Professor Brush stood with a small cardboard box in his hands. Beside him stood Bridger, who looked particularly pleased.

  Professor Brush wore a smug smirk as he surveyed the class. In his late twenties, he was among the youngest teachers at Blakethorne Academy—a fact that had earned him the nickname “Brofessor Brush.” That and because he liked to pop into the student center in the evenings and challenge cadets to games of pool or ping pong whenever a game was in session. “So,” he asked, shaking the box in his hands, “how is it that I ended up with this?”

  “You must’ve gotten it from Bridger,” I said. “I just can’t figure out why he would’ve given it to you.”

  “Can’t you?”

  My jaw clenched as I turned toward the speaker. Shonda Hailwood stood with her hands planted on her hips, her tawny brown and pale yellow dreads tied back at the base of her neck. Self-satisfaction danced in her eyes.

  Since before I ever stepped foot onto Blakethorne’s grounds, Shonda had decided to hate me. Less than a week after my arrival, she challenged me for control of the Aether Blade.

  Losing hadn’t made her like me any more.

  “I mean, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” she continued. “Bridger was on our team. He was a spy.”

  A shiver coursed down my spine.

  Nate turned to the professor. “A spy? That wasn’t part of the exercise.”

  “It wasn’t something you knew about,” Professor Brush corrected, “but it was part of the exercise.”

  “If we had a spy on our team, why didn’t you warn us?” Clio asked.

  The professor smiled and nodded like he was hoping someone would pose that question. “When you have a spy in your midst, do you really think they’re going to warn you they’re a double agent? No. That’s why you’ve got to constantly evaluate what your teammates do or say. Because out in the real world—” He tossed the box and caught it. “—you don’t want to trust the wrong person.”

  I struggled to swallow. Suddenly the brisk autumn air felt stifling. I kept my eyes trained on the ground, convinced everyone must be staring at me. This whole exercise was just some sick game to reveal the truth—that while I may be the Aether Blade’s Keeper, I wasn’t who they thought I was.

  But seconds passed and the only sound was that of feet scuffling the ground as Professor Brush led the way back to the main part of campus.

  “Nice going, Bridger,” Thor muttered.

  Bridger laughed, but when no one joined in, he held up his hands. “Oh, come on!” Bridger said. “What, are you mad at me? Being the spy was my assignment.”

  “And you couldn’t figure out a way to let us in on it?” Thor asked.

  Bridger’s nose wrinkled. “I don’t think you understand the concept of a secret agent.”

  “I understand what a secret agent is,” Thor grumbled. “But we’re your team. You should’ve figured out a way to let us know that a spy was even a possibility in the exercise.”

  “Boys,” Clio chided, linking an arm through each of theirs and tugging them back toward campus. “Class is over. Time to move on.”

  “I didn’t ask to be the spy, you know,” Bridger muttered as he trudged away.

  “Hey.”

  I turned to Nate, who still stood beside me. His eyes were filled with concern.

  “You okay?”

  I forced a smile. “Yeah, fine. Just… um… So not cool for brofessor to spring that twist on us.”

  He held my gaze. “I don’t think that’s what this is about.”

  My stomach lurched. He knew. My muscles coiled, ready to run.

  “It’s about Shonda, isn’t it?”

  The question came as such a surprise, a laugh escaped my lips. “What?”

  “Look, I get it. Over the years, there have been plenty of people who thought they deserved the mantle of Keeper more than me.” He slipped his hand into mine and pulsed my fingers before releasing. “Don’t let Shonda—or anyone else—get under your skin. You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.”

  I felt like my face might crack as I returned his smile. The other Keepers were nearly out of sight, and Nate started after them.

  I forced myself to match his pace, gulping back the acrid tang of bile stabbing the back of my throat. None of Nate’s assurances could curb my anxiety. No matter what he said about me belonging here at Blakethorne, there was one inescapable truth: I was the spy.

  Chapter Two

  My palms were slick with sweat when check-in time
came. I considered skipping it altogether, except I knew such a move would only worry my aunt. It would do nothing to calm the storm raging inside me.

  Although Liza had warned me from the beginning not to get too close to any of the angels at Blakethorne, it was hard maintaining a chilly exterior around the Keepers. Clio’s warmth was contagious. Bridger was always quick with a joke and never let a mood remain serious for too long. Thor was… Well, Thor was aloof, but occasionally he’d shoot off a one-liner that had the rest of us howling—usually at Bridger’s expense. And Nate…

  Of all the Keepers, Nate was the most dangerous. Not because he was the leader of the group, but because of the way his nearness made my heart flutter. And the way I didn’t want it to stop.

  With effort, I climbed out of my bed and ducked down beside my dresser to retrieve my communication device from its hiding spot in the cold air return vent. As I slipped into the closet, the unease that had plagued me since the end of Weapons and Stealth returned in full force.

  I stuffed the comm into my ear and tapped it to activate the microphone. “Liza?”

  Seconds ticked by as I waited for my aunt to respond. Part of me hoped she wouldn’t. Every once in a while, things at the bunker would be so busy she barely had time to choke down a ration bar. And although those times were always in response to some desperate need for medical supplies within the demon community, selfishly, I wanted it to be the case now.

  “Eden? I’m here.” Liza was slightly breathless, and I could imagine her collapsing onto the squeaky rolling chair stationed by the comm board.