Angel Fire

by Ella Summers

  The eighth symbol, an eye, represented the all-seeing powers of the telepath. Because Ghost’s Whisper was a second-level angel ability, at the Legion, we instead used a pair of wings—silver and gold—for it.

  “Every Hive soldier’s helmet has a second symbol as well,” said Damiel. “My guess is that this symbol indicates which unit a soldier belongs to.”

  “Yes,” Faith said. “Hive soldiers are divided into units. Each unit consists of eight soldiers, one from each active magic ability.”

  “So one vampire, one witch, one siren, one elemental, one shifter, one psychic, one fairy, and one ghost?” I asked. Ghost was another word for telepath.

  Faith nodded. “Right. The eight soldiers of a Hive unit link their powers, so they function as one seamless entity with all eight powers. A unit can link together with other units. When units link, their power grows. There are thousands of units altogether.”

  Which meant that when the entire Hive linked up, their army boasted more power than all the angels and soldiers in the Legion.

  “You are fortunate they did not send more units here,” Damiel commented to Faith as he watched the clash of Hive soldiers and Magic Eaters.

  The Magic Eaters could absorb a hell of a lot of magic, but right now they weren’t holding up very well against the collective magic of so many Hive units working together. The Hive’s spells were tearing right through the Magic Eaters’ resistance. They were leveling the Magic Eater forces, bowling them right over as though they weren’t even there.

  Faith looked at me, hope in her pale gold eyes. “You know what you need to do.”

  “Yes,” I replied.

  Because somehow, once again, I actually did know what to do.

  I took off running toward the Hive soldiers, an immortal dagger raised in each hand. My wings burst from my back, shooting me over their heads. I landed smack dab in the middle of their forces.

  They stopped fighting and just watched me. Their eyes were fixed on the two glowing daggers in my hands. The Diamond Tear shimmered white, the Sapphire Tear bright blue.

  For a moment, no one fought. No one talked. No one moved. Time was frozen.

  I lifted the daggers higher over my head and tapped the tips together.

  The two magic sparks ignited. White and blue magic collided, and a shockwave blasted out from the apex of the two daggers. It shot through the Hive army.

  And then the enemy soldiers were gone. Poof. Just like that. Gone.

  The magic of the two daggers had simultaneously broken the magic bonds between the Hive soldiers and sent them home, just as Faith had said they would. I turned to look for her, but I couldn’t find her in the mass of Magic Eaters.

  The Magic Eaters’ cheers echoed off the walls. They burst into song, then marched out through the gap left by the temple’s broken doors. There were hugs. Celebratory slaps on the back. They even threw one another into the air.

  They had completely and totally forgotten about me and Damiel. They didn’t even seem to realize we were here, nor that we’d escaped their jail. And they were far too busy celebrating the Hive’s defeat to stop and wonder why the enemy army had suddenly vanished.

  I glanced at Damiel, but what I saw didn’t fill me with confidence. He was watching me with cool trepidation. Most likely, he was still thinking about the magic I’d just performed with the daggers. Knowing the Master Interrogator, I’d wager he was concerned about anyone having that much power—and he was wondering if there was a Legion regulation against it.

  Everyone knew power could be dangerous. Especially that much power. Maybe Damiel was worried it would all go to my head, and then I’d try to take over the world. Or the whole universe, while I was at it. He sure didn’t look all that pleased about the potential dangers of the so-called Immortal Heir.

  He wasn’t the only one watching me. Nyx and five other Legion soldiers stood at the edge of the woods, watching us. Had the First Angel witnessed my magical exodus of an entire army? The dark looks on the Legion soldiers’ faces certainly weren’t encouraging.

  “We should go,” Damiel told me, his eyes locked firmly on the First Angel and her entourage.

  How had they gotten here?

  “We followed a band of Dark Force soldiers to this world,” Nyx answered my unasked question as we joined her in the woods.

  I didn’t think she’d read my mind. I’d been working hard on masking my thoughts. Since Damiel hadn’t responded to my thoughts lately, I’d considered my efforts to be successful.

  “We dealt with the Dark Force soldiers following you,” Nyx continued.

  How had the Dark Force even been following us? We’d left from Storm Castle. Did that mean the demons had spies in the castle?

  But even if they did have spies in the castle, we’d used the daggers to transport to this world. Could they have followed us here, perhaps using a magic mirror?

  “We have neutralized the Dark Force soldiers, but there are undoubtedly more,” Nyx said. If she could read my mind, she wasn’t waiting for my internal meanderings to finish. “We must return to Earth at once. Before the Dark Force has a chance to claim this prize.” Her eyes dipped to the daggers strapped to my thighs. “We need you to use the Diamond Tear’s magic to bring us back to Earth.”

  Weird. If Nyx and her soldiers had gotten here by magic mirror, couldn’t we just return that way?

  I frowned.

  “Hurry,” Nyx pressed me. “Your dagger will be faster. It’s a long hike to the magic mirror. Bring us to the throne room of Storm Castle.”

  There she was, reading my thoughts again. And I’d thought I had figured out how to keep angels out of my head. It appeared I still had a long way to go to boost my powers enough to block the First Angel.

  I knew the First Angel didn’t appreciate repeating orders, so I drew the Diamond Tear and made a portal back to Earth. Magic swirled around us, then we were in the throne room of Storm Castle.

  A force of Legion soldiers filled the room. As soon as they saw me, they moved in, as though they’d been waiting for me all along. They aimed their guns at my head.

  “Cadence Lightbringer,” Nyx declared. “You are charged with treason against the Legion of Angels.”

  21

  The First Angel's Court

  I stood in the middle of the Storm Castle throne room. Nyx sat upon the Sea Dragon’s throne, the throne I was supposed to claim in just a few hours’ time.

  Of course, with charges of treason looming over my head, that future now seemed highly unlikely.

  “Colonel Dragonsire, I tasked you and Cadence Lightbringer to recover the second immortal dagger,” Nyx said. The water drop etched into the throne pulsed sapphire blue.

  Damiel was sitting in the chair for the Fire Dragon, another vacant post. Soldiers surrounded the room. Their guns were still pointed at me, ready in case I tried something.

  I looked around for a friendly face, but I didn’t see Allegra. Or my father, for that matter. He should have still been at the castle, waiting for my Dragon ceremony. Maybe the guards weren’t letting him in. The thought dropped like a heavy stone to the pit of my stomach. My father would have stood by my side. He would have defended me.

  “Three Dark Force soldiers followed you to Nightingale,” Nyx said to Damiel.

  Nightingale was the name of the Magic Eaters’ world.

  “Colonel Dragonsire, can you explain what the Diamond Tear does?” Nyx asked him.

  “The dagger has the power to create magic portals between worlds.”

  “Such as the portal between Earth and Nightingale that you and Lt. Colonel Lightbringer took.”

  “Yes.” Damiel’s face was distinctly blank.

  “And did you know, Colonel, before you stepped through the portal, where it would take you?”

  “No,” he replied. “The Diamond Tear is magically connected to the Sapphire Tear. To what extent they are linked, I do not know. I do know they can sense each other. Lt. Colonel Lightbringer tapped into th
e Diamond Tear’s power. It led us to the place where the Sapphire Tear was kept.”

  “So you believe she didn’t know your destination was Nightingale either?” asked Nyx.

  “Neither of us did.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  Damiel folded his hands together on his lap. “I’m good at reading people.”

  “And people’s thoughts,” said Nyx.

  “Yes.”

  “And can you read Lt. Colonel Lightbringer’s thoughts?”

  “I could read some of her thoughts during our mission on the Sienna Sea, but she has since fortified her mental defenses.”

  “Just to be clear, during the mission to Nightingale, you could not read her thoughts?”

  “No.”

  Nyx glanced briefly at me, then back at Damiel. “Neither can I.”

  Well, that answered that. Nyx couldn’t read my thoughts after all. I was relieved. Kind of.

  “She went from not being able to conceal her thoughts, to blocking the most powerful angel in the Legion, all in the course of just a few days,” Nyx said. “That is an impressive feat. Don’t you think, Colonel?”

  “It is,” he agreed. “But it’s also not uncommon for a new angel’s mental defenses to be weakened for a few days after the transformation. Perhaps she was simply building her magic back up.”

  Nyx’s lips curled in a wry smile. “Perhaps.” Her head snapped around to me, her blue eyes glowing. “Or perhaps she got a different kind of magic boost.”

  What kind of magic boost? From the daggers? She couldn’t be upset that I controlled an immortal artifact. After I’d returned from the Sienna Sea, she had told me to keep the Diamond Tear.

  “Let’s return to the trio of Dark Force soldiers who followed you to Nightingale,” Nyx said, her attention back on Damiel. “They used a magic mirror to travel there, which means they knew where you were headed. But how could they know you were headed for Nightingale if you didn’t even know where you were going when you entered the portal?”

  “Major Doren and her pirates were searching for the Sapphire Tear,” replied Damiel. “The Diamond Tear was at one point in the Dark Force’s possession. It’s reasonable to assume that the Dark Force was trailing the pirates, trying to recover the Diamond Tear. And that while following the airship, they learned the pirates were hunting for another immortal artifact, the Sapphire Tear. Just because we didn’t know the dagger was on Nightingale, that doesn’t mean the Dark Force didn’t.”

  Damiel’s logic was sound, perfected by years of interrogating people. I only hoped the First Angel agreed with his conclusions.

  “And so they just waited for you to use the dagger to get to Nightingale before they took a magic mirror there?” A crinkle formed between her eyes. “Why not use the mirror as soon as they found out where the dagger was? That way, they might have beaten you to it.”

  Nope, she wasn’t buying the voice of reason. Suspicion was winning out.

  “Something doesn’t add up, Colonel,” Nyx said. “And I think you are starting to realize that. You know the Dark Force better than anyone. The only time they sacrifice an advantage is when they’re making a bigger play.”

  “And you believe we are part of this play,” he replied, cool and composed.

  “Not you, Colonel. But she is.” Nyx pointed at me. “We spoke to the locals on Nightingale. They have a legend about the daggers, and the star of that story is the so-called Immortal Heir.” She watched me. Something about the look in her eyes was unsettling, like she was deconstructing me from the inside out. “I think you knew about this legend, Lightbringer, and decided you’d play god. The demons infused you with magic—unnatural, unholy magic. Magic that allowed you to claim these immortal artifacts, to trick the magical forces protecting them.”

  Where the hell had that come from? The First Angel was flaunting paranoia like it was this season’s hot new color.

  “This is demonic trickery,” Nyx continued. “The same lies—the same corruption—that has cost the Legion so many angels. Well, we’ve learned a few things since those dark days, and it will not happen again. This ends here and now.”

  “These are nothing but wild speculations,” I protested. “I have done nothing against the Legion.”

  I’d always believed Nyx to be more reasonable than this, but like Damiel, she’d really felt the angels’ defection on a deep, personal level. She wasn’t acting rationally. She was paranoid and trying to do anything and everything to prevent another betrayal.

  “These are not merely wild speculations,” said Nyx.

  She waved her hand, and a door opened. Two soldiers led in a shackled Dark Force soldier. They came to a stop in front of Nyx.

  Magic flared around the First Angel. Her eyes zeroed in on the Dark Force soldier. “What happened after the dark angel Darkstorm stole the Diamond Tear from the Dark Force? Did the demons send someone to retrieve it?”

  “Yes,” replied the Dark Force soldier, his voice monotone.

  I knew that empty look in his eyes. Nyx was using her siren magic on him, crushing his will. He had no choice but to speak the truth.

  “Who did they send to retrieve the Diamond Tear?” Nyx asked him. “Eva Doren?”

  “No.” Caught in the vise of Nyx’s magic, his body was eerily still; only his lips moved. “We knew she was not truly one of ours. Another agent was sent.”

  “Who?”

  “I do not know. We weren’t told, in case we were captured by the Legion and interrogated.”

  Nyx rose from the throne and took a step toward him. “What was this agent’s mission?”

  He cringed—as much as a nearly motionless man could. “The agent’s mission was to recover two daggers: the Diamond Tear from the Sienna Sea on Earth and the Sapphire Tear from the world Nightingale.”

  “Do you know anything about the agent sent after the Diamond Tear?”

  “Only that it is a Legion soldier. An angel.”

  That word echoed in the chamber, like a single piano note lingering long after the key was struck.

  Nyx waved her hand, and her soldiers led the prisoner out of the throne room.

  “An angel,” she repeated once the door had closed after them. “Not only one of our own soldiers, but an angel. From the top tier of the Legion.” She turned, her eyes panning across the audience—and then that stony gaze settled on me. “You.”

  “This is preposterous,” I protested. “I did not betray the Legion, I am no agent of the Dark Force, and I’ve never been anything but a perfect soldier.”

  “The perfect soldier, you say.” Her magic hair was swirling faster now, moving like an irritated cat’s tail. “Then how do you explain what happened in the Black Forest?”

  “I rescued an angel!”

  “Did you?” Her midnight-black cape was rippling now too. “Did you really? Captain Walker saw multiple dark spells hit you, and they did nothing at all to you.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off before I’d even begun.

  “Those spells didn’t hurt you because of the magic the Dark Force infused into you: dark, corrupt magic. This twisted and unnatural magic has given you the power to absorb unfriendly spells—and to trick the ward protecting the immortal daggers so that you could claim those weapons and all the power that comes with them.”

  “The demons never infused me with anything,” I told her.

  But Nyx wasn’t listening. She had already made up her mind about me. My unexplained magic meant I was guilty by default. I was being condemned for being different, just as my father had warned me would happen.

  Nyx stopped in front of me, leaning in so close that I could see nothing but her—and her cold fury. “What are the demons planning to do with the daggers?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t work for them.”

  I knew she wasn’t really listening to me, but I refused to stop professing my innocence. Maybe someone here still had a clear head and realized there was no real
evidence against me. But as I looked upon the angry faces of the audience that was screaming for blood—my blood—I began to lose hope.

  “She is not a traitor,” a single voice pierced their screams.

  All at once, everyone stopped talking. Their eyes turned to Damiel. He’d spoken those words.

  “Colonel, you know better than anyone how deceptive evil can be. How well-hidden. How charming,” Nyx said to him. “But you saw Lt. Colonel Lightbringer take the dagger. And you heard our Dark Force prisoner tell us the demons sent an agent to recover the Sapphire Tear from Nightingale. All the evidence is speaking against her. Every pretty little lie wound around her is unravelling.”

  The crowd cheered, and it was then that I finally admitted the truth I’d been trying so hard to ignore: this was a witch hunt, plain and simple. The Legion’s soldiers still hurt from the original defectors’ betrayal, and they needed someone to blame. I was that someone.

  I wondered how many ’traitors’ convicted in the years following the mass defection were actually guilty. We at the Legion of Angels liked to think of ourselves as holy, as chosen and special, but when it came right down to it, we were little better than the primal beasts that roamed the plains of monsters.

  “She isn’t the Dark Force’s agent!” Damiel roared, his voice cutting through the cries to execute me.

  The crowd quieted.

  “She didn’t take the Sapphire Tear from the pedestal at the temple,” he continued, rising from his chair. “I did. I wielded the dagger.”

  22

  Sacrifice

  The shock of Damiel’s lie froze me for a moment. I had taken the Sapphire Tear from its pedestal in the temple’s Reliquary, not he. I had used it and the Diamond Tear to send the Hive soldiers back to where they came from. Damiel hadn’t so much as touched either of the two immortal daggers.