Risen Episode Two

By Odette C. Bell

They think they can put me out. They can’t.
I was born to burn, and I just needed one more spark.
It comes as Belle gets closer to Richard, as I found out more about this twisted world. Turns out I never knew the truth – turns out everything I’ve been told is a lie.
From the beginning, I’ve been sacrificing myself for the wrong reasons – for someone else’s dream. Not anymore. Now, I climb the ladder to the sun and burn anyone who gets in my way.
...
Risen follows a witch hell-bent on revenge and the man who banished her as they navigate a dangerous magical academy. If you love your urban fantasies with nonstop action, high stakes, and a touch of romance, pick up Risen Episode Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Jul 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005731366

Book preview

Chapter 1

I was back. In the blink of an eye.

The school was technically still under attack. But the wolves were falling quickly.

People hadn’t even made it to the safe rooms yet. I appeared close to the atrium in a disused classroom. I stood there for a couple of seconds, at the front, staring through a crack in the half-open door. Staring and going over everything Richard had said and done.

I couldn’t even think about it. It was just this empty void in my head where thoughts should be. A void and a set of behavioral actions like programs. All I had to do was think of his face, the hard edge of his jaw, the fact he’d admitted to never loving me. Then my fingers would curl up as if someone had snapped the tendons.

Get out. Act scared. Go back to being a spy, I promised myself.

I took a step toward the door.

I paused. I'd forgotten my face. I looked down at myself. Here I was, appearing as Arwyn in the school for the first time in three months. At the back of my head, a tiny little voice just said go for it. Stride out into the corridors. Let them see you. Let them know what you did. They’d figure it out, anyway, surely?

I was about to find out that no, they wouldn’t. Because when people get this close to death, when they get this close to shock, reason is the last thing they carry with them. It’s the first thing they burn up for warmth and comfort.

I recreated my disguise and thrust out of the door just as several students ran past. I slipped in behind them. A group of teachers soon intersected with us, coming from one of the other corridors. They slowed. The one at the front had the magical equivalent of a phone next to their ear. It hovered there. They didn’t have to waste precious hand real estate by holding it up.

But it brought my attention back to one thing. Of course. Phones.

My fingers twitched. I eased them into my pocket. The phone was still there.

In my head, when I’d grabbed it, it had been an automatic thing. I hadn’t expected I would come back. I'd planned on breezing on through to the wastelands to end everything. Guess what? I was still here. And so was the mystery of where this phone had come from.

It’s over. It’s actually over, the student in front of me said. They turned. They looked at me. For a flash of a second, I could see their anger.

I had to rewind my mind. Why were they so pissed at me? Oh yeah. Because before the attack, I'd fought everybody’s darling, Belle.

But perhaps my transgressions would be quickly forgotten.

The mood of the school changed.

This was the second critical attack in such a short period. There was only so much having special classes with Richard could change people’s minds, could pull them off the looming existential danger threatening everyone.

It was like a giant cloud descended and squashed the collective mood flat.

We all gathered in the atrium again. People shook. They clung to one another. It looked as if they had just been dipped in ice melt.

It took a long time for the principal to arrive. Even then, he wasn’t who people wanted to hear from. They kept muttering about Richard. Richard would be busy. There were no more wolves, but he’d have to figure out precisely what happened on the roof.

And so would the rest of the students. Rumors spread.

Back in the day, the Boys had been a tight-knit group. Everyone had known why they were there and what they had to do. And they understood the importance of being discreet. But that was back when it had been a selective group. Now as they lost forces continually, they had to take anyone who was trained. Which meant accepting information leaks, too.

I heard someone’s communication device ping. Then the guy behind me hissed. You hear what happened? There was a secret incursion of the school. Somebody saved us all. Has to be her, right?

My teeth clenched together. They'd finally mention me. Nobody had said a thing about me ever since I’d returned, even though I’d been the school's queen. Finally—

Belle? You’re right. It has to be her, someone else said.

That floored me.

They think they saw bright energy. Belle must be a bright, right? That’s the only thing that can account for her power. Brights can save us from this war, can’t they? My God. There is an end in sight, isn’t there?

I just… I stood there. I stood there and listened and tried to figure out how stupid these people had to be. Brights weren’t created. Brights were born. And no, there were no brights left on Earth. My entire family line had been brought here on the first day of this dimension. And if Belle was a bright anyway, they would’ve found out her first day. Bright power is in someone’s magic as a permanent signature, as visible as their own frigging face. Unless, of course, they were using a rare talisman to hide it like me. Not my point. Not my freaking point.

I tilted my head up. I stared around me at the students. I was in a crowd, but I felt alone. So terribly frigging alone.

It didn’t take long until everyone was dismissed. The school had been scanned. We would all go back to our bedrooms.

I trod quietly behind a massive group as they rose up the steps.

Their excitement was palpable as they discussed Belle being a bright – and the end logically being near.

This was just the brain on too much fear, I told myself. There was no sense to be had here, and looking for it would be just as fruitful as looking for gold in the bottom of someone’s rubbish bin. No – it would have a worse effect. It would distract minds that critically needed to focus on the actual threats in front of them.

We reached the primary hallway. And that would be when the crowd went wild. They didn’t start cheering or anything, but the tension changed. Hope surged. For there she was, the darling of the school, the bright in training, Belle.

She strode past everyone, looking a little awkward, but in that way that suggested she was still strong; she just didn’t like the crowd's attention. Perfect, in other words. Exactly what you wanted in a queen. Someone strong enough to save you but fragile enough to look away from your prying gaze. She was like a flower somebody had given a gun to.

And—

That didn’t matter. Not a single thing I thought next counted. Only the direction she walked in caught my attention. She strode up to that room – the same room I had darted into to find the wolves. So the phone in my pocket… was hers.

She went in. I stood there. People walked around me. I felt like I was out of some broken movie. Flashing, fractured scenes of everything that happened and everyone walking past shot around me while I just stood there, a rusty anchor that could no longer move.

Belle… had an illegal phone.

My fingers twitched down to my pocket. My eyes locked on her door. I took half a step over to her. Sort it out now, my battle brain told me. Stride right in there and end this. It will be more satisfying than waiting.

I teetered. Then I remembered the wolf on the roof, Melanie – all of it. I had increased a level of brightness. No, I did not have the power to fight Fenrir yet – and I was rational enough to appreciate that. Blow it all on Belle, and it would be a waste of everything I’d sacrificed.

Curling a hand into a fist, I strode away, but it was just as someone walked up behind me and stopped. I smelt them before I saw them. I’d faced them all too recently. Sweat, that deodorant he used – and something else. Something that always reminded me of pine leaves in a damp forest.

I didn’t turn to look at Richard. But I did cast my gaze to the side. There was a plinth in the middle of the corridor, some important ancient trophy glittering atop. It was well-shined enough that I could see Richard. His gaze darted down to my fist. It lingered for half a second, then snapped off. It locked on Belle’s door.

Here we go. He never loved you, that voice in my head said. And it was right. He walked straight over to Belle’s door. I wanted to linger. But screw that. I had too much to do. I walked to my room, opened the door, strode in, and stood there as the door closed itself with a bang. Then everything struck me. Including the injury to my arm. I might have hidden it with magic, but the wound was still there.

I pried the spell back now, and I grabbed my flesh. Damn. It was like somebody had buried piranha teeth – burning piranha teeth – into my skin.

I hissed and went to flop on my bed. But I stopped.

You need to rest, my better reason said, and yeah, it sounded like Melanie. But sleep I could not. I rocked there on the spot, gaze darting back to the door.

Back and forth, it swayed.

Richard wouldn’t be visiting Belle in her room at a time like this unless they had something to discuss. He wouldn’t discuss it in her room. He wasn’t like that. He was too proper. It meant he'd be inviting her somewhere. The castle. The answer jumped into my head. It was where he went to theoretically wind down, not of course that he could ever do that.

Just let go, I told myself. It was about as effective as putting a hand out in front of a raging bull and telling him to take a deep breath.

Just let it go. It’ll lead— I went to say nowhere. I paused. I dragged Belle’s phone out of my pocket. I tapped my fingers on it.

It would lead to her.

I needed to find out who she was and what she was doing here. There were specific reasons for her to have a phone, but none were good. I wanted to know just how bad they were.

I soon made my decision. I wrenched her phone from my pocket and tossed it on my bed. I went to leave but thought better of it. I was pretty unpopular. I wouldn’t put it past aggrieved students to break into my room. Not the ordinary students, but the prefects who could technically open anyone’s door to check on their welfare. Like I’d said, this recent batch wasn’t as moral as the rest. Especially as they struggled with the virus that was untamed fear.

I picked the phone up again. I walked around the room. I soon found the perfect place to hide it. I shoved my hand into the