I feel the wind blow my curtains as the night slowly shifts to dawn. The creatures have yet to arrive though the moon is high and whole. My eyes are slowly closing; my mind fights the needed sleep. I can feel the air breathing against my skin and copper hair. I sigh letting my arms fall like a ragdolls against the sheets.
The still night is quiet in its beauty; the sky grows brighter as my window pane cracks the silence.
    "Ms. James?” His voice pierces my ears warmly. I bolt upright in my bed.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?” I clutch my phone from under my pillow.
He raises his hands up like white flags.      “Don’t be afraid please. Let me explain myself,” He pauses.

“My name is Alec. I am a messenger from the bureau of secret creatures. We are a secret organization unknown to the average mortal eye. You, and some select few like you, carry our blood but you’re unlike me. We are Angelic, but you and your kind are only half that.”
    His voice is low and deep. It is more husky unlike I’d imagined it. He watches me with impatient eyes. He’s waiting for me to respond.
    “Where are your friends tonight?” I ask.
Alec smiles, relief in his gold tinted eyes.
“They sent me here to retrieve you and bring you to our home. We call it an institute. Come with me Riley, I can protect you. Our kind is very rare; many people in my world would love the idea of you 6 feet under.”
    Alec holds his hand out, flashing a cocky smile. It’s about time to knock him off his high horse. I’m not as dumb as I let him believe.
“What am I to your world? Don’t lie to me. What use does your kind have with me?” I demand, shoving away the thin sheets to stand in front of him. He towers over me by what I can assume 3 inches.

    His dark chocolate hair covers his eyes like a thin veil. He shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot and clears his throat before speaking.
“You’re like a telescope to the dark side of my, excuse me, our world. You’ll have to forgive me. It’s been awhile since I had to explain all this… Let me see, along with your ability to see my kind, you can see the dark ones of all of us; not only mine though they spawn you, your kind. The dark creatures however look like the negative of the light. They are pale rather than tan, they can’t fly nor do they have the gold eye tint that we do.
    You are born without taint, some miracle blessing from the Father. They threaten to reveal our purpose to the world, and that can’t happen under any means.”
He sucks in a loud breath and smiles again.
    “What exactly is your ‘purpose’?” I ask quietly.
“We were originally brought here for healing purposes back in the 1700-1800’s but has since changed to keeping wars at bay and protecting the human race from mass extinction. You see if people knew we were here to back up they’re little tiffs, they would become careless with themselves.
    This planet would suffer as well as the humans and they’re existence. The dark can’t grasp onto this fact, so we have to keep eyes on them so they can stay in check. Do you understand? We need your kind’s eyes.”
Alec glances nervously out the window as he speaks.
    “Is something wrong with dawn, creature?” I ask.
“Our wings don’t expand in the sunlight. We become humans to put it in basic terms.” As he finishes his wings retract against his back and melt into the tan skin.
    “What’s going to happen if I don’t go with you?”
He sighs, and raises his hands up in a frustrated manner.
“I wish you had a choice, but you don’t. I told you about my existence, you’re officially involved now.”
    “I have no choice…?”
“No, not anymore; you would have if you weren’t so curious. I am the first attempt, and most of the time they don’t need the second or final, which is kidnapping,” He shrugs.
    “What if I try to escape?”
“You can try, but you won’t outrun, outfight, out-anything with my kind. We are supernovas in terms of creature. We are the strongest besides the dark.” His voice isn’t intended to be frightening, but it still comes across to me that way.

    I want to run; I want to get away from here though he is the invader in my home.
“I thought you said by daylight you are human,” I say.
“In basic terms, meaning physical appearance; I can still kill you at any moment, anytime whether it is dawn or dusk,” He says simply, and then gestures towards my closet.
    “Pack your things and necessities quickly, we have to walk now since you’ve stalled our departure this long.” I don’t move.  He sighs and rubs his forehead.
    “Did you not hear me? You have to go with me, I’m sorry it has to be in haste and so forcefully, but you must go. We are not angry people. I can assure you that much, Riley.”
    “I know that creature. I’m fully aware I’m being taken away from the only life I’ve known and thrown into a new one where I’m wanted dead like an old western criminal. Might as well put a bullet in my head now, I’m bound to die one way or another.”

I go to my closet and throw clothes into a duffel bag, anger boiling steadily inside my heart. When I stand, Alec ducks outstretches his arm in the direction of the window.
    “Ladies first; go on,” He says.
“Shut up,” I respond, swinging my legs over the sill. I don’t hear the windowpane creak as he climbs out behind me.

We walk along the street in the center of my city, searching for an old school house that had long since been closed down. I have never seen it before at any time since I’ve lived here in Georgia. I had always known this place was haunted in its own ways.

    Seeing an angel stand beside me only proves my theory in more ways than one. Alec has said nothing since we left my house. His silence makes me happy. I hope I made him feel guilty with my words earlier.

    Why did he have to notice me anyway and trick me into this world, why did he have to be deceived as such a saint when he was anything but?
“What’s so different about your kind and the darks?” His head snaps towards my direction.
    “Don’t say that here. There are plenty roaming and they don’t need to see you with me,” His says low, his voice twined with worry.
“Why couldn’t you just leave me be?”
“You watched us. All your choices brought you to this point as any normal choices would. Staying up each night like you did to wait for us caused my elders to notice, gazing at us in awe caused them to notice; talking to the dark in public even did. We would have noticed eventually considering your family is a flock of dark ones.”
    “Don’t talk about my family. I had no idea they are what they are, I have no idea if you are telling me the truth or leading me to my death!”
“Quiet please,” He says, covering my mouth gently. “I won’t hurt you; I wouldn’t be a retriever if I had those traits.”
    I shrug and quicken my pace. “I don’t trust you and I’ll fight you even if I lose. I won’t die without a fight, or at least attempt to save my life.”
“I will credit you to your word Riley. I haven’t thought once that you would willingly allow your death. I consider life to be a gem; I suppose you do as well.”
“You seem to know a lot about living.” I say.
    “I’ve lived very long, and so shall you,” He shrugs.  “Do you see the building yet?”
“What am I looking for again?”
“It’s an old school building, though it looks uninhabited. It’s navy-gray I suppose, and it has a few busted windows on the top floor.” His eyes dart to and fro across the loud street. People wave at me and I wave back politely, averting my eyes and silently praying they don’t recognize me.
     “What if my parents figure out the Angelic kind has kidnapped me?”
“Your parents can’t do anything. Your kind has free will to leave whenever you want. Your mom can’t come get you, or fight us to get you back. These townsmen and women may tell her they saw you, but she can’t get you back unless you go back.”

I suppose he chooses to ignore my comment about the kidnapping.
    He grabs my wrist hurriedly, rushing me down the street towards a navy-gray building. He doesn’t stop running until we reach the doors, constantly glancing over his shoulder.
“For such a powerful creature, something is scaring you down to the bone,” I remark with a slight smile. He returns a sarcastic look.

    “Yeah it’s the boogeyman; be quiet,” He snaps, banging slightly on the metal double doors.
An aged man opens the door with a smirk on his lips. As the door opens wider, the man outstretches his arms happily.
“Alec my son, what has happened? Who have you brought to me today?” He asks, his eyes taking in my figure as well as my voice when I speak.
    “My name is Riley James,” I say flatly.  Alec sighs from beside me.
“Yes it is. She is a Sight, Headmaster,” He tells the man quickly. I watch Headmaster pull a small, paper bound book from his coat pocket. He hands it to me gently, the smirk fading into a kind smile.
    “This is our handbook. Read up tonight, you will begin training tomorrow afternoon as soon as you get settled in,” He switches tone, his smile draining away.
“My protégés call me Headmaster, and you my dear shall do the same. Please come in, I will assign you a room and give you our schedule of eating times as well as a map of our ‘institute’ as the inhabitants call it.” He motions Alec and me into the Institute, the metal doors slamming us into the lighted corridor.
The institute is warm and lively, kids of all ages along with a few sprinkled 20 year olds rush in and out of countless rooms.

    The building itself is adorned with LED ceiling lights. The floor is dark hardwood, polished to scholarly perfection. Headmaster leads us into a room to the left of the entry corridor, swiftly shutting the thin white door shut. He motions me to sit down in a dark leather chair with claw feet. The old man himself sits behind a large oak desk and straightens some papers habitually.
    “Now, here is the schedule and map,” He hands me 2 sheets of copy paper lined with information. He opens a drawer in the desk and pulls out a silver key attached to a simple chain.
“You are assigned to room 284. That is on the second floor near the window on the end of the right side of the hall. Alec will guide you and from there you’re on your own. Good luck and I hope to not see you again.”
    As soon as I’d sat down I was back up, scaling a flight of gleaming stairs to the second floor. Alec follows closely behind, barely breathing. I fasten the chain around my neck and fiddle with the small little room key numbly. The map and schedule along with the handbook are tucked inside my duffel, hiding amongst my clothes.

    I reach the second floor and stop for a moment, turning right. I glance occasionally at the silver numbers on the white paneled doors. 270, 275, 280…
“Here we are,” I say, inserting my key into the hole below the knob. I feel Ethan’s presence follow as I enter and drop my duffel to the floor. The room is furnished like a tiny apartment; a living room is to my right when I enter, a dining room and kitchen on the left. A small, straight hallway leads to 2 doors; a generic bathroom, and a basic bedroom.
    I don’t move for a moment, waiting for hell to let loose. All of this has been straight forward, there has to be some loophole. There had to be, it can’t be this simple.
“I’ll leave you now,” Alec says quietly, moving out the door.
“Wait,” I say “What am I supposed to do now?”
He shrugs, walking slowly down the hallway away from me. “Live your life in captivity.”
    I fall onto the basic couch tiredly, staring at the ceiling above me. ‘Who am I?’ I ask myself.
‘You’re you,’ A voice whispers back to my mental note. ‘Don’t let anyone tell you differently.’
I groan, covering my ears.
“Wonderful, now I’m hearing things!” I yell to the air. ‘I want to go home. Please let me go home,’ I think to myself.

    I’ve made some kind of mistake. I know I don’t belong here. I can feel it to my core. I am not meant to be here, this was a mistake. Why did I always watch them, why couldn’t I let well enough be? If I hadn’t watched them I would have never been discovered, never claimed and never taken to this exile. 
    I’m stuck in ‘captivity,’ as Alec put it. I’m forever trapped in an endless school of people who may or may not want me dead. Soon I’ll be whipped into shape so I match all the mindless drones walking about the halls. I’ll be just like Alec; I’ll bring more people here to die eventually. I do not belong here. I must get out.