Earthbound Wings: An Earthbound Novel (The Psychic Seasons Series Book 6)

by ReGina Welling

  Or so he thought. For while he might be able to predict my desire—no, my determination to save my friends— what he had not ever seen coming was theirs to care for me. Demons don’t look at the world that way.

  I made my choice and accepted my place in the world. Fulcrum.

  The moment of perfect understanding began to fade just as it must because, despite those rules the angel inside my human body was compelled to follow, I was a being of free will. Knowing that the fate of the world rested on my decisions is too much weight to carry. The moment of perfect clarity had blown through me like a wind, leaving nothing behind to mark its passing. A breath later, not a whisper of it remained.

  I was just Adriel again. Woman. Angel. Adriel.

  For one more breath there was relative calm, and then the glittering ball of light flew toward the demon’s head and everything went from slow motion to another level of chaos. Estelle and Leith were the only others who remained free of the demon’s influence.

  “Get Terra,” I shouted to Estelle while three long strides took me to Evian’s side, since she was closest. A gentle shake brought her back to herself. One glance took in the entire situation and her face changed just as quickly as a breeze can stir a lake into ripples and waves. Her features thinned and keened until her cheekbones stood out sharper than a knife edge. Her eyes went dark again as she put her game face back on, and her voice took on the fury of waves crashing against the shore before a storm. “Finish it.” Without looking back, she stalked past Leith to send a ball of water the size of a Buick toward the ghouls still milling around where the portal had been, and scattering them like so many bowling pins. Impotent shrieks rent the air with sharp, whistling blasts that sounded like nails on a chalkboard and made my skin crawl. Worst sound ever.

  By then, Estelle had released Terra from the trance-like state and was moving on toward Soleil. I had to trust that Leith could hold off the demon while we finished our preparations for releasing Julius and closing the portal, preferably with big, bad, and ugly on the other side of the door.

  Hitting the perimeter where Amethyst, Lexi and the others should have been, I found undisturbed evidence that the circle was complete, but no sign of the women. Panic pounded my heart into my throat and precious seconds were lost in a frantic search, until a glimmer of shifting color revealed them huddled together in a nearby doorway. Amethyst had manipulated their combined auras into a shield that blocked them from sight and sound.

  “Hey, come out of there.” I tapped Julie on the shoulder since she was the one closest to the mouth of the doorway. She jumped and let out a little scream before recognizing my face.

  “What was that thing that showed up? It didn’t come through the portal.”

  “Demon.” Explanations would take time we needed for the ritual. “Are we ready?”

  Despite furrowed brows and shaking hands, these women were determined to do whatever it took to free Julius on nothing more than my say so. I sent up a prayer that I would not let them down.

  “Amethyst?” Since much of the burden rested on her shoulders, I needed her to be certain.

  “Let’s do this.”

  The four of them moved into position. As soon as I helped get the demon sorted, I would return to give the circle the necessary power.

  “What should I do?” Lexi asked. Since she was an uninvited guest on this mission, I recommended she stay out of the way.

  “No. I’m here to help. Find me something to do,” she insisted, so I pointed her toward a place where she could see both prison cells, the field of battle beyond.

  “You stay out of sight and watch that second cage. If you see anything funny going on, you let me know. Can you handle it?”

  Lexi grinned like she had a secret. “I can do that. Trust me, you’ll know.”

  I didn’t know if that would be enough to keep her safe, but with no other choice I returned to the fight, where Evian’s outstretched left hand quivered with the effort of keeping more ghouls from crossing the portal. When a determined one tried to slip past her barrier, she tossed a second ball with her right hand to force it back. “Ha. Picked up the spare. Bowling for minions—the sport of champions.”

  “How much longer can you hold the door?”

  “Just do what you need to do; don’t worry about me,” her voice sounded harsh with effort. “Help Leith and get on with it.”

  Soleil and Terra closed the pavement over the head of the last free ghoul, then joined forces with their sister, leaving only Leith to stand against the demon—which was all he seemed to be doing. Standing. Like a statue. I had only been gone a couple of minutes; what had happened to him?

  Waving a hand in front of his eyes elicited no response whatsoever. He and the demon were both locked in some kind of stasis while the ball of energy continued to burn.

  Great. Now I had two choices: fool around trying to pull him out of a catatonic state; or move forward with the plan, and neither addressed the fact that this demon and that ball of energy were both unknown quantities.

  Or, there might be another way. A third option that blended the two.

  Keeping my voice low I muttered reassurance as I moved in behind Leith. Close. So close my body was plastered to his. The second our bodies touched, the last of my latent abilities flared back to life, and Leith’s thoughts began a playback loop in my head.

  “No good. Less than nothing. Might as well die. Devil’s spawn. Waste of flesh. Useless. No good. Less than nothing.”

  Tell yourself anything long enough and you will be convinced your statements are nothing short of ultimate truth. Most of us engage in self-defeating inner dialog every day. Leith’s mind was filled to overwhelming with self-loathing words that I knew were demon-shaped arrows to his psyche. Poison tipped barbs to pierce his soul—and the demon still stood without moving. The pair remained locked in silent battle with more at stake than just Julius.

  The only sounds now were the muted shrieks of angry ghouls and the harsh whisper of Leith’s breath. He trembled against me.

  “I’ve got you.” I opened a connection to Estelle only, explained it would now be up to her to power the circle, sent up a quick prayer for guidance, and then, keeping my body pressed against Leith’s back, spread my arms out wide and channeled the white light of creation into a dome that slammed around us and hit the ground with shocking force.

  That got the demon’s attention.

  Boy, did it ever.

  All H-E-double hockey sticks broke loose. The force jarred Evian’s aim, which slipped to allow several ghouls past before she regained control. Now on the defensive, the demon forgot about Leith, who dropped out of stasis and shot the energy ball out of reflex.

  Despite his size, the demon proved more agile than expected and ducked Leith’s red light, which crashed into my white and ricocheted off to turn the escaped ghouls into shrieking funeral pyres. Greasy black smoke that smelled like burning manure and was toxic enough to melt paint of an abandoned car rolled and billowed until the figures finally collapsed into an ashy sludge.

  Freed from the need for my stabilizing touch, Leith dodged left and right, throwing another fireball demonward while I dropped the containment dome. The Earthwalker that had been pretending to assault Julius finally made its move and proved that not only was it too stupid to ever have taken me, it was also too stupid to live.

  “Now, Estelle.” I thought hard at her. The response was prompt and elegantly executed. Estelle funneled white light into the ring of salt the women had poured around the courtyard until it flared as bright as a miniature sun.

  On her nod, each of the four women charged a personal talisman in the ring of angelfire. Julie fed her first camera to the light. When she pulled it back out, it glowed as brightly as the ring itself.

  Gustavia had chosen a hunk of quartz crystal as her talisman. Amethyst pulled out a tiny pair of scissors and snipped off a lock of lavender hair to imbue with light. Finally, Kat pulled a handful of buttons from her pocket to bind
to our purpose. I recognized the buttons as those she had once sewn into her clothing to tell her fingers the color of each item during the many years when her eyes refused to see. As symbols went, those bits of colored plastic carried a great deal of power. Combined, the items should be enough to bring down the cage around Julius—and hopefully leave the other cage untouched. I didn’t want to be responsible for setting loose a scourge upon the world.

  For good or for bad, we were locked into a confined space with the heart of darkness, a demon, an Earthwalker, and a portal waiting to emit a small army of ghouls.

  Who says angels don’t know how to have a good time?

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I turned my attention back to the battle and trusted Estelle to handle the prison break. Judging by the fact that Leith’s energy balls were looking more pink than red, he wouldn’t be able to distract the demon much longer. The Earthwalker circled endlessly and waited for its chance to try and take me while the faeries held the portal. All my plates were spinning, but for how much longer I couldn’t be sure.

  The flare of light when Julius’ prison walls went down almost blinded me enough to let the Earthwalker get close. It moved in like a bull going for the red cape. Once, then a second time, it darted toward me without realizing I had been maneuvering it into position.

  I gave the signal and everything happened like a choreographed ballet.

  As its predecessor, Billy, could have told this unfortunate darkspawn, never look an angel in the eye. The walker’s gaze swept up to meet the twin beams of light coming from mine and I didn’t hold back. There was no vessel to save this time, and so, I hit it like a hammer.

  The three faeries jumped out of the way and left off with their assault on the portal. The Earthwalker sailed through the door in a rapidly disintegrating fireball. What was left of it took the rest of the ghouls along for the ride, sucking the door closed behind it as it went.

  Freed, but still anchored to solid form, Julius stumbled and fell into the waiting arms of his great-granddaughter. Julie wedged herself under one arm, Gustavia under the other, and guided him toward the ring of angelfire where Estelle had already retreated and taken her spiritual form. The last thing I needed was to end up trading one guardian for another. Until Julius regained his non-corporeal form, we were all still stuck here.

  Help Amethyst channel the fire into his aura. It was the only thought that came to mind.

  On it, Estelle replied. A few seconds passed before she came back with, Done and safe.

  That only left Kat, Lexi, the faeries, and Leith within the nexus’ circle. The job was mostly done; we were well beyond plan B territory, and something about that demon felt off.

  The longer I watched Leith fight it, the more odd I found its actions.

  You don’t live for an eternity doing what I do without running into your fair share of darkspawn, and while this one ticked all the boxes—darkness wrapped around a fire and brimstone interior, the player of seductive or destructive mind games—the passivity it currently displayed was out of character. Way out.

  Casting a sense of debilitating dread over someone as powerful as Leith took more than entry level strength, so why, all of a sudden, was the demon playing what amounted to a friendly game of bat the energy ball with the man? Another sizzling orb whizzed past my ear and set my hair to floating with a static charge, and old red-eye made a show of it, but actually lobbed the thing gently toward an unoccupied corner.

  I realize now that my next decision set events in motion that would visit dire consequences for some of my crew, but at the time all I felt was a burning desire to figure out why that many ghouls had never gotten close enough to do much more than swipe a claw at us. Come on. I know the faeries were kicking butt, but now that we were out of the thick of the fight, something didn’t add up.

  Skirting Leith, I made my way over to the three faeries who were checking for stray ghouls. “That went better than I expected.” Evian grinned at me, then frowned when she got a look at my expression. “What’s wrong?”

  “Is it just me or is that demon acting funny?”

  “A little, I guess.” Evian shrugged. “The bigger question is, what do we do now that the portal is closed. Can you send it back?”

  As if it had heard her question, the demon roared and turned to look at us. Leith tossed a pallid energy ball, the first and last one that scored on the demon’s hide. It bounced off like a slow moving boomerang and took out its thrower who, totally exhausted, was already on his way down when it hit. Leith hit the ground hard, the demon looming over him, and then I swear it looked at us with dismay.

  My eyes fired, literally, at seeing Leith lying possibly dead at the feet of a demon. A demon I was about to send back to where hit came from with its hair on fire.

  “Adriel, no!” Soleil clung to my arm like a limpet. Faerie physics lent her a disproportionate amount of force. “Stop. That’s not a demon. Adriel, please stop. It’s Vaeta. That’s my sister. Can’t you see she’s not trying to hurt us?”

  Of course I could, and now it all made sense. I let the fire cool, but said “If he’s dead, all bets are off.” For the span of several heartbeats, everything dropped into slow motion. The only thing not affected was the flickering curtain of shadow that concealed the second prisoner.

  “Vaeta, show yourself,” Terra commanded, and the demon shape dissolved, leaving behind the faint shimmering outline of a faerie—a liquid shadow.

  “Your man lives.” A silvery voice issued from the translucent being of air, “Terra.” Her tone was neutral. “Hello sisters. Interesting company you are keeping these days.”

  Evian arched a skeptical brow, “Hello pot, have you met the black kettle?”

  “Touché,” Vaeta said on a silken laugh.

  “Come away with us, Vaeta.” The pleading in Soleil’s voice made her sister flinch. “Please, we need you.”

  “You need me? That’s rich, coming from the likes of you. Airy Faerie. Airhead Vaeta. Princess Wind Tunnel. Any of those ring a bell? Why would I want to spend another minute with people who would call me such names?”

  Injured pride and underneath that, the deep pain of betrayal. Those were the emotions I sensed from the faerie.

  “It was done out of love.” Evian scuffed a toe over the ground like a shamed child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “We never meant any harm.”

  “Words carry more poison than a snake can produce venom. But they also have within them the means to heal. Speak your true feelings for your sister, and maybe you will convince her of the honesty in your hearts. Work it out ladies.” I left the four sisters to hash out their differences while I went to check on the rest of my crew.

  Five women watched as the two angels laid hands on Leith’s prone form. Estelle looked up when I approached, “No serious injury that I can find. He overextended himself and needs to sleep it off someplace safe.”

  I scanned the others. Minor scrapes and bruises from flying debris, but otherwise everyone was intact. Once the adrenaline rush wore off, these women were going to need some rest. In the meantime, we all needed to get out of the reach of the nexus before something worse than a misguided faerie decided to call us out.

  “We’ll make a litter out of that ridiculous cape to carry him out. I saw some old pipes over there,” a wave of Lexi’s hand indicated the dark prison.

  “Stay away from there, young lady. The thing in that cage is more dangerous than you can imagine.” The certainty in his voice and the mask of concern on his face as Julius cautioned Lexi caused me a twinge of strong emotion. Worry or foreboding, or both. I glanced at Kat and saw the same considerations painted on her face. We needed to get out of there before anything else happened.

  “Show me where, I’ll get them.” I wanted Lexi to stay right where she was. My sense of unease was centered around her and growing.

  “They’re right over here.” As she turned, one last ghoul shot out of the dark recesses of the prison wall and lunged
at Lexi. Startled, she leapt to the side, tripped, and fell heavily to her knees, the momentum carrying her head through the curtain of shadow.

  For one split second, it felt like the world might shift. Not much, just a step to the right or left, but enough to change everything. The sensation lasted half a breath before everything settled back into place and I realized I was holding my breath. Waiting for nothing. Because that is exactly what happened. Nothing.

  Nothing except that being closest, Gustavia lunged to grab Lexi by the waist and pull her back to safety while I whipped out a wing and tapped the ghoul on the top of the head. He disintegrated by degrees without taking that sense of unease with him. Lexi sat on the ground with a smear of blood marring her forehead. “I’m okay,” she held up a hand when I moved to kneel beside her, then scrambled back to standing.

  “But, please, can we just get out of here?” She looked over her shoulder just once, and a shiver ran down her body.

  Julie and Gustavia fetched the pipes and we quickly fashioned the stretcher by wrapping the cloak around them and tying off the ends. Good thing Leith had a flare for the dramatic. The thing was voluminous.

  As we passed the arguing faeries, I nudged Evian. “Good luck. We’re leaving.” She nodded acknowledgment, then turned back to defending herself against Vaeta’s accusations of poor sisterly conduct. The sound of bickering followed us down the street.

  The trip out of the nexus went considerably faster than the trip in. Half a block at most, and we were on the verge of Market Street again. Julie and Gustavia volunteered to bring the SUV around so we could load Leith in away from prying eyes. In a matter of minutes, we were pulling into the driveway of Reid’s tiny house. Safe and sound. I was pretty sure.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  At seven o’clock in the bloody morning, the ringing of my phone pulled me so thoroughly out of a pleasant dream that I fell off the couch.

  Zack didn’t even bother with saying hello.

  “Adriel, I don’t know how you knew, but you were right. Fenton Wallace, AKA Dante, was seen leaving campus on the day of Sylvie’s murder. The wit observed Wallace having a heated conversation with, and I’m quoting, a really big dude right before he left through the east gate. My gut tells me he’s part of it, but there’s a problem with the timeline. Half an hour. Even in a fast car, he couldn’t get from campus to the alley, kill Sylvie, and get back. He’s going to walk because his alibi holds. How did he do it?”