Stars, Clouds, and Shadows, page 1
Published by Evernight Teen ® at Smashwords
www.evernightteen.com
Copyright© 2025 Hermione Lee
ISBN: 978-0-3695-1128-7
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Editor: Stephanie Marrie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
DEDICATION
Preface
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
DEDICATION
To Blake Alb, Denise Sawicki, and Darrell Sawicki, three of the loveliest people I’ve ever met. You changed my life and made me a better person, and I’ll always be grateful to have known you.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to Stacey Adderley and Stephanie Marrie from Evernight Teen for making my novel the best it can be. I’m grateful for your help and am honored to work with you two. A huge thank you to my beta readers—Cheryl Peña and Shine Wang, for your honest feedback. Last but not least, thank you to my family and writer friends—Blake Alb, Candice Lisle, Darrell Sawicki, Denise Sawicki, Gloria Lakritz, Julie Parker, Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy, and Tonya Staufer—for being a part of my journey. Finally, thank you to every reader who picked up a copy of Stars, Clouds, and Shadows. I hope this novel takes you on an emotional rollercoaster and leaves a profound impression on you. Please note that the angels and devils in the story are not religious or associated with any religion. Enjoy the ride and the surprises along the way!
STARS, CLOUDS, AND SHADOWS
Hermione Lee
Copyright © 2025
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
—William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Preface
They had instructed her to assassinate him. But in the end, she couldn’t. Her family and her clan imposed their expectations on her, but he was the only boy who loved her for who she was. How could she betray someone who had stolen her heart, who had become a fragment of her soul? To eliminate him would mean destroying an indispensable part of herself. She would never be complete again.
“I’m sorry,” Evangelina whispered, to herself, to him, and to her fellow angels. She was about to make a decision that would change her life forever.
Chapter One
Innocent
(Evangelina)
“What? Murder him?”
Numb with shock, Evangelina Leclair stared at her father. Were her ears deceiving her? True, her clan held a grudge against the devils for ages, but killing one of them? The angels hadn’t been that extreme before. They never were.
Her father Milton glared at her, decisiveness etched upon every inch of his face. “You will do as I say,” he ordered. “Why?” Evangelina burst out foolishly. “Why kill him? Why stoop to that level? We’re angels. Not vigilantes. Why should we kill them just because they threatened us? How does that make us any better than they are?”
Her father’s eyes flashed with anger. She had touched a nerve. Fifty-three years old with a hot temper, he never tolerated disobedience. “Evangelina Leclair, am I not making myself clear?”
Evangelina pursed her lips. Contradicting him was one thing, but following his absurd and unwise plan could lead to the demise of their entire angelic clan. The devils had been their enemies for centuries, and they had slayed countless angels during battles. Yet indignant as she was, she would never take an innocent life and use their ongoing rivalry as an excuse.
Her father rose to his feet, hands on his hips. “Let me make this clear. You are to murder a devil by the name of Diome Lenoir, a junior in Horizon High, a human high school. Approach him, befriend him, and eliminate him after lowering his guard. This is an order, not a plea.”
“He did nothing wrong!” Evangelina countered, rising to her feet. “He’s innocent! Just like the thousands of angels in our clan!”
“Evangelina, do not talk back to your father!” her mother Golda snapped. “This is for the best.”
Evangelina turned to her. “The best? Murdering someone for the greater good?” She shook her head, unable to follow their logic. “What if it was someone from our tribe? What if the devils killed an angel and advertised it a deed ‘for the greater good?’ If we want to end all battles, we should reason with the devils instead.”
“They have no reason,” her father retorted. “They’re the cruelest, most malevolent beings imaginable. Those evil creatures started more than half of the battles in history. Nasty, chaos-loving monsters they are.”
“But what difference does it make if we—if I—kill Diome Lenoir? The rivalry won’t end. Nothing will change.”
“One devil down. And the more devils dead, the better.”
Evangelina sighed. “Dad, he’s innocent. He’s just like me, just a teenager, but only from a different clan. Why target him?”
He glared at her. “Innocent? The devils are all guilty.”
“Not him,” Evangelina insisted. “And not the thousands of babies and teenagers in the devil clan. They don’t deserve this at all.”
“Well, switch sides and join the devils if you think so highly of them!” her father thundered, his cheeks paling in fury. “If you have a shred of self-respect left, I expect you to obey me and kill that devil. Fail to do so, and there will be consequences.”
And with that, he stood up and breezed out of the living room while a dazed, disoriented Evangelina remained rooted to the spot.
****
As she shuffled back to her room that night, Evangelina had a sinister premonition: her erratic heartbeat pounding in her ears. The origin of the hatred between angels and devils was a tale older than time, yet it had a profound impact on their lives for centuries. Evangelina stared out of the white-framed window in her bedroom at the ocean of churning clouds below. Stars sprinkled the vast universe, dotting it like glitter on black velvet. It was a charming sight to behold, even more so at twilight. Their house was built on the clouds, or to be precise, among the clouds. All angels resided in the Land of Heavenly Dreams, high above the world humans called home, and even higher above the burning bowels where the devils dwelled. It was ironic, how their rivalry thrived despite how far away from each other the two clans lived. The angels and devils had always been enemies, but Evangelina didn’t understand why her father was so dead set on having her murder a teenage devil out of the blue. Was it because he was an easy target, a mere student in a human high school?
With a sigh, Evangelina flopped down on her bed, pulled the fluffy cloud-woven blankets to her chest, and analyzed the reason why she had defied her father that afternoon. He’d been so furious at her disobedience that he refused to speak to her for the rest of the day, yet she had a valid reason to disobey him. His plan was ridiculous. They were angels, not assassins. Just because the devils killed their people didn’t mean it was acceptable for them to pay their enemies back with bloodshed. That would only result in a vicious cycle of misunderstanding, discrimination, and rivalry. However, what bothered her the most was leaving her comfort zone and descending into the human world just to approach a devil and murder him. Evangelina had no idea what humans were like, but her mother could coach her on that the subject. Golda, like some angels, had chosen to get a proper education in a proper human school. Evangelina, on the other hand, had been shielded from the humans’ culture since birth. She was oblivious to many things they deemed normal, and she dreaded the possibility of accidentally exposing their existence to her human classmates. Evangelina would no doubt end up banished from their clan in that unfortunate case.
A few of the devils also learned from the humans, as evidenced by the little information she knew about Diome Lenoir. All the devils were surnamed Lenoir, while all the angels were surnamed Leclair, since they were both clans rather than races. Diome’s just like my mother, thought Evangelina. Like her, he must be an aspiring inventor who dreamed of making life more convenient for those living in magical realms by studying in human schools and learning their technology and culture. It was all thanks to those inventors that there were malls, hotels, and libraries in the heavenly towns, and beds, bathrooms, and kitchens in their magical realm. The only thing the angels didn’t need was light, as they were granted the ability to summon light as necessary. All they had to do was to channel their energy by pointing at a candle, and it would glow brighter than a lightbulb. The angels could determine their light’s color, shape, and heat, and at the same time could to extinguish it.
Those were gifts Evangelina had been born with, gifts she cherished even though many angels took them for granted. The devils were blessed—or rather, cursed—with the flair of summoning darkness. Their powers brough
Yet most curious about her future was interacting with the humans. It was hard to imagine there lived a group of people that could neither channel the light nor harness the darkness, yet considered themselves “normal.” None of the angels dared to venture into the human world for longer than a day, not even Evangelina’s parents, for risking their exposure would spell disaster for their entire clan. The humans might hunt them down or put them in science labs and examine them.
The young angels attended school too, where the teachers—all angels—taught them English, math, history, geography, and human studies, always finding a way to instill the ideology that devils were evil and that the angels would prevail over them one day. Education in the Land of Heavenly Dreams was a form of brainwashing.
Evangelina wondered what school in the human world was like. What would she learn? She also wondered about Diome Lenoir, and whether he knew he was targeted by the angels. It was ironic. The humans regarded angels as celestial beings, the epitome of pureness and kindness. Yet she knew better than anyone else that the angels were simply a bunch of vigilantes who were no better than their underground enemies. The devils killed angels with their dark magic, while the angels retaliated by blinding them with light and murdering them with incandescent, white-hot sparks. The angels were no saints, yet every angel sought a reason to harm the devils, to prove themself superior to them. The devils wasted no effort in doing the same, launching attacks and invasions on the Land of Heavenly Dreams from time to time. It was cruel and perverse, but there was nothing Evangelina could do. Their rivalry was like a mountain, unmovable, significant, and impactful.
Again, Evangelina’s mind drifted to Diome Lenoir. What was he like? What could he be doing at this moment? Might he figure out his fate?
But that was impossible. His fate rested with her, and she had a decision to make.
Go to sleep, Evangelina, she reminded herself. Taking one last glance at the confetti of constellations outside the window, she dipped and swirled into her dreamscapes, painting a thousand possible versions of the future.
****
Too soon, a week passed. The time had come for Evangelina to make her descent. The angels were accustomed to wearing long, flowing robes, but sometimes they dressed in human clothes. Evangelina had plenty of shirts, pants, skirts, and dresses in her wardrobe, so getting ready for human school wasn’t a huge challenge.
Evangelina took off her thick, feathery wings and set them on her bed, grateful that angels were born with removable wings. She headed into the bathroom and splashed her face with the cool water, then dried it with a fluffy white towel. With a thick mane of platinum-blonde waves and clear, pale blue eyes, she was the envy of many angels. She, however, didn’t obsess over her appearance. Unlike the vain girls she knew, Evangelina believed a kind heart mattered a thousand times more than an attractive face. Sometimes the most important things in life were invisible to the naked eye.
Evangelina donned a white shirt with ruffles on the front, picked up a dark blue skirt, and pressed it to her frame in front of her elliptical mirror. She hoped she could fit in with the other students, not because she was a conformist, but because she had a genuine interest in humans and wanted to befriend them.
Her mother popped into the bathroom. “Hurry up, sweetie. You’re going to be late.”
“All right. I’m coming.”
Evangelina stepped into a pair of black loafers and grabbed her bag. With a heart full of anxiety and excitement, she dashed down the stairs.
“Good morning. Have you got your wings ready?” her father asked before sipping a steaming cup of coffee at the breakfast table.
“Oh, they’re still in my room.” Evangelina raced up the stairs, taking two at a time.
She put on her wings, shrugged, and flew back downstairs. “School ends at four, right?”
“At Horizon High, yes. Don’t forget your breakfast. And remember to bring your human money.”
The angels sold magical food—cloud cakes, stardust cupcakes, and moonlight milkshakes to the humans. Any angel about to embark on a trip to the human world could exchange their currency for human money in the Bank of Heavenly Dreams.
Her father entered the kitchen and returned with a small lunchbox filled with baked bread and sliced apples.
“Thank you, Dad,” whispered Evangelina. Ever since the argument about murdering Diome, the two of them spoke little.
Although Evangelina made no attempt to contradict her father’s order, she hadn’t conceded. Perhaps he would change his mind soon. She could try talking sense into her father in a few weeks, hopefully when he had forgotten about their earlier argument. Or if that didn’t work out, she could convince Diome to transfer to another school. Then she would have a reason to fail her mission, and her father wouldn’t blame her.
What would she do after her descent? Would she obey her father’s commands or would she succumb to her conscience? Evangelina had never killed anyone or anything before, not even an insect. Yet she had no intention of enduring her father’s wrath. He hated the devils with every fiber of his being, for his parents—Evangelina’s grandmother and grandfather—both died in one of the innumerable invasions the devils had initiated. Her father could disown her should she refuse to comply with his orders. He’d always had a fiery temper, but never had he stormed out of the room with intense indignation burning in his pupils as he had that afternoon. Testing his patience would no doubt be foolish and reckless.
“I’m going to school.” Evangelina waved to her parents. “Goodbye.”
She stepped outside and inhaled the fresh, clean morning air. Their house, like all the other angels’, was built on one of the many floating islands high above the clouds. Mint-green grass and tiny pink, yellow, orange, and blue tulips blanketed the lawn outside her home. She could make out the faraway islands in the distance, some obscured by light swirls of mist, others vivid with bright blossoms and rippling fields of verdant grass.
The sky was a lovely, spotless azure today. There was not a single cloud in sight. Below her lay a swirling ocean of clouds, white, gray, and every hue in between, separating their land from the human world. Evangelina beamed. The clouds were different every day, but she could appreciate the beauty in every form they took. Living in the clouds was truly amazing. She couldn’t believe there were humans down there, miles below her, oblivious to the marvels dwelling in the clouds. The humans couldn’t have known about their culture and the vibrant hills on the floating islands. Evangelina’s mother had told her about the humans and their greed. They had ravaged countless forests and destroyed innumerable lands for their obsession with gold. Yet despite that, she believed not all humans were like that. It was wrong to stereotype a group of people and impose the crimes of a certain few on them, just because they were all humans. She still wanted to befriend her new classmates and find out more about them.
Reaching the end of the cobblestone path outside her house, Evangelina took a leap and dove down. She shrugged her shoulders, spreading her wings. The clouds hung low, much lower than usual, and she smiled at the idea of how many mysteries they veiled. Of course, she had been to the human world before, but those were brief visits, no longer than three hours. This time, she would be there for seven hours.
Evangelina passed the thick film of clouds, or rather, they passed her, enveloping her figure in a moist blanket of white fog. She liked how the soft clouds feathered against her face. Although they were no more than wisps of mist, they beautified everything they covered.
Soaring through the clouds was therapeutic. The soft, constant hum of the wind, the cool, calming air, and the blossoms of cloudy mists and misty clouds that adorned the pure blue skies made a wonderful multi-sensory experience.
Veiled by the clouds, Evangelina spotted a small green meadow way down below. Horizon Park. That was the park her parents had instructed her to land on. The east side was separated from the rest of the park by a patch of trees, a haunted forest according to rumors. Very few humans came to the east part of Horizon Park, which made it an ideal destination for her descent. She couldn’t afford to be exposed.
