by Sara Snow
“Honestly, I’m beat. I think I’m ready for bed,” Carter said, finishing his beer. “We can plan in the morning, there’s no rush right now. Why don’t we finish this up tomorrow?”
Olympia was already yawning. “Carter’s right, we should get some sleep.”
Jacob seemed a bit irritated, but didn’t argue. “Alright, fine. We’ll finish in the morning.”
Carter pulled me to my feet as he stood and led me towards the stairs. “We have some things to talk about in private. We’ll catch you all later. Goodnight, everyone.”
“Goodnight,” I repeated, unsure of what business we had to discuss.
I followed Carter to his bedroom, and sat down on the edge of the bed, waiting for him to close the door behind him. When he turned, he really did look tired. I could see that this had all taken a toll on him. He sat next to me wordlessly, still fidgeting with his destroyed sleeve.
“Do you still have doubts that that scroll is about you?” he asked, his voice low and serious.
“I don’t know what to think, Carter. It’s all just a lot.”
He nodded. “I just can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t shake the feeling that everything we’ve been working toward is almost within our grasp.” He took my hand in his, turning to face me. “Do you think you can do it? Do you think you can stop the Revelare?”
“I mean, with more training, maybe, and it wouldn’t hurt if I could use this healing power more deliberately, but—”
“Georgia, I know you’re capable of doing it. You have the skills. But this is scary. And it’s going to be hard. I have to know that you can keep going. I know staying in the castle was difficult and you were afraid and it probably took a lot out of you. You’ve already done so much, but from here on out, it’s only going to get scarier and harder.” Carter squeezed my hand tightly. “I just need you to know that if you ever start to doubt yourself, I’ll be right behind you to remind you of what you can do. You need to know you’re not alone in this.”
I could feel moisture threatening my eyes, but in an effort to prove that I really did have the guts for the job, I fought them off.
“I know I’ve got what it takes, Carter. I can do it,” I said. I was pretty sure I believed that.
“Good,” he said, his hand coming up to cup my cheek. “Good, Georgia, I’m glad.” He paused a moment, and I almost expected more demon talk. But instead, he just softly squeezed my hands and said, “I love you.”
His gaze firmly held mine, and for a moment, I could forget everything.
“I love you, too, Carter,” I told him.
More than anything ever.
When he leaned forward, pressing his lips to mine, all of the fear disappeared and all I knew was this touch. I returned the kiss eagerly, reaching up to clutch his head in my hands, remembering the night in the castle that had me so ready to feel every part of him. When he wrapped his strong arm around the small of my back, slowly tilting me back onto the bed, I felt electricity tingling all over my body, my heart thudding in my chest, excited adrenaline shooting straight through to my groin like an arrow.
His hands were so warm, and as they moved beneath my clothes, reaching up my shirt, I shuddered, my back arching, urging him in even closer to me. He left me hardly any room to breathe but I was grateful for it, grasping at his back, trying to get my own hands beneath his shirt, though it seemed like he had other plans, slipping away from my grip.
His mouth was relentless, feverishly moving down my neck to kiss over every inch of skin he could get to, and when there was no more left untouched, he started working my shirt up my torso, mouthing at my stomach, my sides, my breasts, until he’d guided me up a bit to tear my shirt off over my head.
My head was swimming as he delicately undid the buttons and zipper on my jeans, giving them the same loving removal as the shirt. His fingertips gave me goosebumps as they glided over my thighs, skillfully slipping up and up and up until I was shivering with need, unable to contain the small noises that were escaping my throat. I had never wanted anything as badly as I wanted him in that moment and I could hardly contain myself.
“Tell me how much you want me,” he whispered, his mouth ghosting over the hem of my panties, sending another delicious shiver up my spine.
“I don’t want you, I need you,” I breathed, threading my fingers through his hair.
That was all I had to say.
I didn’t get much sleep that night, but I wouldn’t have traded what I did get for anything else in the world.
20
Jacob
The entire time we’d all been sitting around in the lounge, I felt my eyes drawn over and over again back to Georgia, all cuddled up next to Carter like I wasn’t even there. I knew I was a grown man and shouldn’t have been getting so hung up on one girl, but I couldn’t stop myself. It was out of my control, and now every time I saw them together I could feel jealousy bubbling up in my chest. It wasn’t like she owed me anything, but I had been there for her in some dark moments after Carter had been kidnapped, and I had almost hoped that that would have been a good opportunity for us to grow a little closer. Apparently I was wrong.
I didn’t know why I was letting myself think like that. I had never really been the jealous type before her, but with everything that had happened recently, I felt myself craving a connection more than ever. There was just something about her that wouldn’t let me let her go. I knew my feelings were stronger than I’d admitted to myself before, but even trying to say the words to myself hurt too badly.
I was missing my dad. I knew that that was part of it. Everything had happened so suddenly. Georgia’s little ceremony idea had been a nice gesture, but none of it changed the fact that he was gone. I would have loved to have asked him how to let myself get over a girl who didn’t seem interested anymore, and I was sure he would have had some great advice for me, but that wasn’t going to happen. I’d left behind most of my outside friends to join up with the Venandi, and no one here was really a friend to me. Just Georgia.
And I couldn’t ask Georgia about Georgia. Not unless I was an idiot.
I needed some fresh air. I headed to the back staircase that led to the roof, hoping the cold, clean night air would help refresh my head a bit and get me thinking straight again. When I opened the rooftop door, the frigid burst of air that blew in almost made me regret my decision. The beauty of the sky full of brightly shining stars was so appealing, though, I couldn’t bring myself to go back inside just yet.
The moon was glowing, full and bright right in the middle of the sky, and around it were thousands of twinkling lights millions of lightyears away. I searched them, wondering if maybe that was where my dad was. Maybe the source of his light was a star in the sky and he was just sitting up there, looking down at me right now.
I wished. The longer I looked and the more still things were, I started to wonder what I’d been hoping to see. Surely I wasn’t really expecting to see my dad out here.
It would’ve been nice, though.
There were so many stars in the sky now, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the night sky looked like when my father was born. Or came into being. Whatever happened when angels were created. Even he didn’t know how old he was last time I’d asked, and it was strange to think of how different our worldly experiences were. How would someone think of a night sky like this when they’ve seen a million before it? A billion even? I wondered what he’d think of this one right now. It was impressive to me, but maybe he’d been alive during a time when the stars in the sky were even brighter than the moon. Or maybe during a time before there even were stars at all.
I’d never know the answer, but the more I thought about him like that, the more I almost felt like I could begin to understand him. It was comforting. Maybe if I was lucky enough to see him again someday, I’d get to ask.
I focused instead on enjoying the cool air, the breeze gently blowing through my hair and bringing me back to reality a bit more. It felt nice to h
ave a quiet moment to myself, especially after the insanity of the previous few days. So much had happened that I’d hardly had a moment to think about everything, focusing instead on back-to-back missions and mission prep. It was good to just slow down for a minute.
That minute didn’t last very long before something caught my eye—a flock of birds, or bats maybe. They were off in the distance, but they almost seemed to hover there. I looked around to see if any others were flying around the area, but saw none. When I turned back they were gone. I couldn’t put my finger on what seemed off about them. Maybe it was the way they were moving—or weren’t moving, more accurately. With how quickly they disappeared, though, I thought that maybe my tired brain was just playing tricks on me. Maybe they hadn’t really been there at all. I was probably just tired. I could feel my eyelids getting heavy already and figured it was high time I head to bed.
I looked to the sky one last time as I headed back inside, just to ensure I wouldn’t see anything there, but I didn’t. I didn’t see any birds or bats, and I didn’t see my dad among the stars.
Jose
Everyone sort of separated after our little gathering in the lounge to go to bed, and I was honestly a bit grateful that I didn’t have to pretend to enjoy my beer for very long. I’d never tell another soul in the warehouse, but as soon as I was alone, I went to the kitchen and poured the rest down the sink. Maybe it was just one of those things that you just would get used to when you’re older.
Adults are weird.
The others seemed exhausted after the battle at the palace. I was a bit too, but I was too elated about my first fight to go to bed just yet. I couldn’t seem to get over the excitement of actually being there—the way I’d saved Georgia before that one demon got to her and how I helped Eli take care of a bunch of others. It all was so real and the others seemed really happy with my performance. Jacob liked to tease me, sure, but I knew that they were all proud of me, and considering that it was my first fight, I thought I did pretty well.
I was feeling charged up, but I knew that after this victory, Paimon would be doubling his efforts to get back at us. The thought unnerved me a bit, but I was too hyped after the fight to dwell on it for very long. I spent a while pacing the warehouse, just going over the moves again in my head, trying to remember each step of the fight to see where I went right and where I may have gone wrong. When I finally did make myself go to bed, I was buzzing. I laid awake for hours and when I finally did fall asleep, I slept straight through to the morning.
It was the first night in a long, long time that I hadn’t had a vision, and I was honestly grateful.
Olympia
I wasn’t sure if I was the only one feeling it or not, but it seemed like so much had changed after leaving the palace. I had seen Georgia’s powers with my own eyes—the way she controlled that power was so much more skillful than before, even when she’d unleashed flames on that cornfield to snuff out the bug problem we’d encountered. That was a simple act of lighting and extinguishing flame, but in the palace I had seen her divert the fire from someone, giving the girl a safe passage out of the banquet hall.
I didn’t think that Georgia had been practicing on her own, and with the revelation of this new healing power, I couldn’t help but think that this was something bigger than practice. I was almost sure that somehow, when she’d rejected Paimon indefinitely, she grew one step closer to the veritatem that we’ve been readying her for since she joined us. It seemed like the only logical explanation for her newfound power and skill.
I wished Kingston was around. He would have known the answer right away and assured us all that this was part of the plan. He’d have known whether or not we were going in the right direction and would be able to tell us what to do next. Things without Kingston were difficult, and they were only getting harder. The longer it took Carter and Jacob to settle their petty little power struggle and actually lead the group, the longer before we’d be able to help Georgia on her journey to become this Huntress that scroll talked about.
There was so much to do to prepare us for the rest of this fight. If we were going to be able to stop the demon kings from destroying the world, we were going to have to come together as a team and quit squabbling over leadership.
It had gotten late while I reflected on things, but I was still too awake to sleep. I knew that I’d need a chance to stop into my estrogen shelter to finish off that invisibility potion, but I was honestly too tired to have to concentrate that much. I figured I’d wait until the morning on that one so I could do a more precise job than just haphazardly dumping things in it at four in the morning. That should have been plenty of time for it to cool down so I could finally add the last stabilizing ingredient anyway. I decided instead to call on my sisters again, hoping to get a progress update. I retrieved my totem and watched as the image of my sisters appeared in front of me once again.
“Hello, you!” Zafira said, her smiling face appearing first. “Anisa! It’s Olympia!” she called off somewhere.
Anisa ran to Zafira’s side, eagerly looking into their communication screen. “Olympia! You’re still with us!”
“Hah, what, you guys thought I wouldn’t make it out?” I asked, tossing my hair haughtily over my shoulder. “I’ll have you know that I was integral to the operation, which was a pretty big success, if I do say so myself.”
“Is that Olympia?” I heard a voice say before Fatima rushed into view. “Olympia! How did you like my recipes? Did they work?”
“Like a charm! I’m still here, aren’t I?” I asked. “All thanks to you!”
Fatima raised her hands to her cheeks, almost as if to cover a blush. “Oh, you.”
“I wanted to ask, Anisa. We talked about those weather spells last time—I was wondering if you had any progress finding anything that would help us combat those storms?”
“Ah, of course. Well, we tried, but the thing is, the only one who has anything even remotely powerful enough to take on something on that scale would be the Crone.”
Ah, shit.
The Crone was our oldest, most powerful sister who had accumulated centuries of knowledge during her time as the leader of the Trikoni. She was notoriously secretive, preferring to keep many of her esoteric findings to herself. She was a tough nut to crack. I’d only spoken to her a few times before, and never in my life had I ever interacted with someone so cryptic.
It was going to be a bit tougher to get my hands on this weather spell than I thought.
“I’m sure she’s resting now, but will I be able to talk to her?” I asked.
“We sent word to her familiar, who said that she would be willing to meet with you,” Anisa said. “When you’re ready, you know how to reach her.”
I did. It required a much older ritual than the ones used to construct the modern-day communication totems that most other Trikoni witches used to correspond.
“Thank you, I do. I really appreciate all of your help,” I told them.
“That’s what we’re here for. And for what it’s worth, we’re all very glad you’re alive,” Anisa said with a smile.
“I’m glad to be alive,” I laughed.
I waved my hand, ending the communication and put the totem back in its box. I couldn’t help but be a bit anxious about speaking to the Crone. She was hard to read and would gladly withhold information if she didn’t think you knew what to do with it. I figured I’d better save my one shot of getting those spells from her for a time when I felt more confident, thinking maybe it’d be smart to hit the library and have a specific request in mind. Maybe she’d be more inclined to give me what I needed if I knew at least vaguely what it was first. I could kill two birds with one stone, and hopefully it would give me a bit of distraction from the anxiety I felt brewing in my stomach at the thought of meeting with the Crone. Talking to her was serious, and if someone called on her, there needed to be an incredibly important reason.
Hopefully she thought that saving the entire mortal world constitu
ted an incredibly important reason.
21
Jacob
Poring over books was not exactly my usual gig around here until recently. I really had put in an effort to go to sleep after my trip up to the rooftop, but there was something that just kept bugging me. I couldn’t help but feel like I was wasting time, needing to jump into the library as quickly as I could so I could find something—anything—that would make me feel closer to my dad. The desire to more deeply understand my angel side was starting to take hold, but as I sat in the dark library and looked through all these books about angels and their powers, I started learning a lot of interesting things about myself. I’d already learned about the angelic veracity that I’d used without my total understanding already, but when I found some of my dad’s newer notebooks wedged into the shelf between a couple of old, hardly touched books, I got excited, reading them as voraciously as I could.
If wanting to get closer to my dad was the goal, then this was just about the best thing I could have. His handwriting was so neat and clean, so unlike mine, and it just seemed so much like him. Like the way he wrote fit his personality in every way—clear, intelligent, and with a slight elegance.
It seemed like he was accumulating information specifically to pass down to me, and I’d occasionally find notes in the margins that suggested certain things that he should remember to tell me, though it seemed like a lot of them were things that he had in his head that weren’t recorded on paper. One of the most important things that he did write down seemed to be exactly what I needed, but when I saw it, my heart sank.