by Amy Vansant
Ceco stood and motioned to the other Cherubim to follow him. The dog hopped to his feet and trotted after them.
Casso tailed them to the large treasure room where the dead-eyed humans stood waiting. After some instruction from Ceco, the Cherubim assumed their energy forms. Mor split into hundreds of sparking orbs and flew into the Sentinels, instantly transforming them into energy as well.
The red energy of the Cherubs mixed with the orange Sentinel energy, creating a swirling, glowing blood-orange mist. The feverish agitation slowed until a fleshy gray blob appeared, throbbing with a blood-orange aura.
Casso stared at it.
This can’t be good.
I can’t attack the Angeli with an elephant torso.
“What is that?” muttered Seth, entering the room.
Practice makes perfect. Practice makes perfect. Practice makes perfect. Practice makes perfect.
“Practice makes perfect!” Seth screamed, swinging his arms into the air and stumbling back out of the room.
The gray blob began to pulse with life, and a glowing wing of red webbing unfurled from its side. Casso heard a gurgling noise and watched a foreleg drop from the front of the flesh ball. Long, boney toes spurted from the new foot.
On the leg, was a name.
Varymor.
Where the neck should be the skin undulated, stretching and flopping as Varymor tried to create a head for itself. Casso was so fascinated, he nearly missed the word ringing in the back of his mind.
Atlantis.
He heard the word as clear as day and knew the information came from Rathe’s mind. The Angeli had told the boy where they’d be hiding. They trusted him.
He smiled and sat down to watch Varymor become the weapon he needed to win the game.
“Neat.”
Casso turned to find Seth standing behind him, staring at the throbbing creature.
Seth.
What should we do with you?
Casso looked back at the undulating creature and smiled.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Anne sat in her living room with Michael, Tyannah, Con and Rathe, planning their next move.
“I can’t believe there are six of them out there now. I thought we were winning,” said Tyannah, flopping back on the sofa.
“Seven if you count him,” said Michael, pointing a thumb in Rathe’s direction.
Rathe shook his head. “I’m an Angelus now.”
“You can’t just announce you’re an Angelus any more than I can announce I’m a giraffe.”
“Yes I can. I’ve decided. And I feel good. Strong. I’m ready to wipe out any Sentinels they create. I’ll fight for the Angeli cause, you’ll see.”
“You feel strong because there are more Cherubim on the planet. Get it? You’re a Cherub.”
Rathe pouted.
Anne stood and began to pace. “The problem is, we don’t know anything about these six. The Cherubim aren’t like the Angeli. They come in different shapes, with different powers.”
“Angeli have unique powers,” said Michael.
“Nothing crazy like them. You don’t have ghost people. Mostly you just have some who are smarter or stronger than others. That doesn’t really count.”
“Seth can be in two places at once.”
“And look what that got him,” said Con.
“So you think the new Cherubim will be like Nyx?” asked Tyannah.
Anne shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll show up like that confused abominable snow-bitch I snuffed, or the child in Texas. But with six...we have to assume at least one or two of them will be, surprising.”
“I’ve sent all the Angeli to Atlantis, so at least they’ll be safe,” said Michael.
Anne gasped. “You shouldn’t have said that in front of me. What if they use me again, wait, did you say Atlantis?”
He nodded. “Yes, Atlantis Do you know where it is?”
“No. No one does. That’s the thing about Atlantis.”
“Exactly. So it doesn’t matter if you hear the name Atlantis. No one knows where Atlantis is.”
“Why do you keep saying Atlantis?”
“Am I? I’m just saying the Angeli are hiding in Atlantis.”
“I think we have it.”
“Great. Atlantis it is. You catch that Rathe?”
“Yep. Got it. Atlantis. Smart.”
Anne squinted at Michael, who caught her eye for a moment and quickly looked away.
She continued to think out loud. “So you’re arranging it so they can’t get to the Angeli, but how are we going to get to them? Do you know where the new Cherubim are, like you knew where Alida was?”
Michael grimaced. “No. We were tracking them and they disappeared.”
“How did that happen? You guys are usually so perfect,” said Con.
Michael chose not to respond.
“Do you think they’re underground? The same way the Angeli hide from human radar?” asked Anne.
“Maybe.”
“Are there any obvious places they might have gone to?”
“Not really. There are a million underground caverns, tunnels, pockets, tombs. It would be close to impossible to check them all.”
“So what’s next?”
Michael stood. “I think we should all sleep on it.”
Anne stopped her pacing. “What? What are you talking about?”
“You know, take a day. Get our thoughts straight.”
“But none of us need to sleep,” said Rathe.
Michael shrugged. “I’m organizing some things with Leo. I need you all to just, wait for a bit. I’m going to take a walk.”
Michael leaned in to kiss Anne on the cheek and whispered in her ear. “Meet me in the park. Unfollowed.”
He turned and left.
Con sucked his tooth with his tongue, making a loud snapping noise. “You know, it’s so nice to have him back. What did I do without him to order me around?”
“It’s all very mysterious,” said Anne softly, her mind racing to figure Michael’s game.
“You think he’s all right?” asked Tyannah.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean maybe he’s messed in the head. You know, from being away.”
Con hooked his mouth to the side. “She’s got a point. Leo wasn’t exactly on his nut when he arrived.”
Anne moved to the french doors overlooking Gramercy Park and watched Michael walk to the metal fence, glance around, and then phase through it.
“It’s possible.”
Tyannah gasped. “Maybe it ain’t even Michael.”
“What?”
“Just like that thing that stole you out of the shower. Maybe it ain’t really Michael.”
“No. It’s him.”
“Okay then, maybe he’s possessed or somethin’.”
Anne turned. “He’s not possessed!” She watched Tyannah’s eyes grow large and immediately regretted the outburst. “I’m sorry. It’s not you. It’s been a tough day. I’m going to lie down for a bit.”
As Anne walked down the hall she heard Tyannah behind her.
“Maybe she’s possessed.”
“Nah. He has that effect on her,” said Con.
Anne closed her door and moved to the window. Opening it, she leaned out and peered at the ground below.
It was a long way down.
This is going to hurt.
She jumped.
She felt her right ankle snap as she landed and her eyes watered with the pain. The left survived the trip. She stifled a scream and stood, placing her weight on the good foot. Devon, the bartender at the Gramercy’s Green Bar walked out of the hotel and waved. She smiled and wiped away a tear with her thumb, pretending to scratch her temple.
“Hello Ms. Anne, how are you this evening?”
Oh, I just jumped out a tenth floor window and broke my ankle into a thousand pieces.
“Great. Doing well, Devon. You?”
“Chef ran out
of horseradish. Asked me to go grab some. Like I’m his butler or something.”
She rolled her eyes. “What can you do?”
“I know, right?”
Devon trotted on his way and she took a ginger step forward.
Nope. That is not going to hold weight.
“Need a little help?”
She felt a body behind her, Michael’s voice in her ear.
“Yes.”
Michael slipped his arm beneath hers, holding her an inch off the ground as he glided her towards the park. She felt like a scarecrow hanging on a cross.
“It’s been a bad couple of days for my legs.”
“You didn’t have to jump out of your window.”
“I kind of did. You made it clear this rendezvous was to be hush-hush. How am I supposed to avoid the scrutiny of a Cherub, a Sentinel, and whatever the heck Con is now, to come see you?”
“I’d just float through the floor.”
“Very funny.”
Michael phased them both through the fence and deposited her on a bench.
She propped her foot on the seat, wincing. “So what’s so important I had to jump out of a window?”
“I needed to tell you to allow yourself to be kidnapped, should the occasion arrive.”
“What?”
“Nyx didn’t read your mind to gain access to HQ. He used you like a key.”
Anne shook her head. “Make some sense. My leg is throbbing.”
“There are other players. Entities that aren’t Angeli or Cherubim. They’re playing against each other and they’re using us.”
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know. Leo had an encounter with one. I think I did as well, probably the same one. She told, or maybe implied, some things to him.”
“Implied?”
“It’s part of whatever rules they follow. They can’t talk to us directly. But they’re not sticklers for the rules. They’re finding ways to bend them.”
Anne covered her eyes with her palm and squeezed, finding it difficult to concentrate on such a fantastic story while the tiny shards that once formed her ankle worked their way back into place.
“Get to the bottom line.”
“The woman Leo spoke to knew what the Angeli were doing—were thinking—the way a chess master knows her pieces. I think whoever is working the Cherubim pieces sees all as well, and he’s bending the rules. He knows what the Cherubim know and he’s helping them.”
She gasped. “Rathe.”
He nodded.
“That’s why you kept repeating Atlantis. You want this other entity to think you sent the Angeli to Atlantis and tell the Cherubim.”
“Exactly.”
“But what does that have to do with someone kidnapping me?”
“They need an Angelus to enter our safe houses. Anyone entering has to be, or be accompanied by, an Angelus.”
“Or a Cherub?”
“No. Not a Cherub.”
She shook her head. “Nope, lost me again. Nyx flew into HQ with no Angelus.”
“I was confused at first as well, but then I remembered your swords.”
“My swords?”
“They appeared after you drained Seth. They’re a type of Angeli wing. When you siphoned him, you absorbed some of his Angeli energy permanently, much the way Con did. Con just took much more of it.”
“You’re saying I’m part Angeli?”
“All evidence points to it, yes.”
She released a puff of breath. “My life isn’t boring, I’ll tell you that much. Now I don’t even know what I am from day to day.”
She smiled, but it faded quickly.
“Wait, so am I about to be kidnapped? You want them to use me to enter Atlantis?”
“I do. I think they’ll want to recreate Nyx’s success with even greater forces on their side.”
“But why give them the keys to the castle?”
“Because the Angeli won’t be in the castle.”
“You didn’t move them? They’ll be at HQ?”
“No. I can’t risk that. I’ve sent them somewhere I can’t share with you.”
“Clearly. What with me about to be kidnapped and all.”
“You or—”
“Anne! There you are!” Tyannah peered through the bars of the park’s fence.
Anne twisted to face her. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Con. He was here and then this light filled the room and—”
Michael finished his thought. “—or they’ll kidnap Con.”
Chapter Thirty
Anne leapt to her feet. “You let them take Con?”
“Hey, your ankle’s looking better,” said Michael.
“Screw my ankle! What about Con? Did you warn him?”
“Can you picture that conversation? Me telling Con to let himself be kidnapped?”
Anne gasped. “That’s why you brought me out here! You knew they’d come to the apartment. You were protecting me.”
“Is that so horrible?”
“You threw Con to the wolves.”
“Speaking of wolves, we have to go.”
He reached for her and she pulled away. “They’re going to kill him the second they arrive, you know. That’s what Nyx tried to do to me.”
“I know. That’s why we need to go. We’re going to be there when they arrive.”
Michael touched Tyannah’s wrist and snagged Anne’s elusive arm, shifting both into energy and flying them back to Anne’s apartment.
“One second I was talking to him and the next it was like a lightning bolt struck and he was gone,” said Jeffrey the moment Anne arrived.
“It’s okay, Jeffrey. We’re on it. Sort of.” She glared at Michael.
Michael turned to Rathe. “Get up, we’re leaving.”
“To Atlantis?”
“Yes.”
Rathe bit his lower lip. “Is this the big showdown?”
“More than likely. We’ll need you there.”
“You mean to finish me.”
He looked at Tyannah, who crinkled her brow with worry.
Rathe took a deep breath. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
“Link with Tyannah; you all need to travel with me if we’re going to get in.”
Anne felt Michael’s arm tighten around her before the world became a blur.
“They’re not here yet.”
She heard Leo’s voice and saw Tyannah and Rathe materialize.
Tyannah scanned the cavern. “This it Atlantis? It just looks like a big cave with nice lighting.”
Michael inspected the area, striding from one side of the room to another. “We excavated this space. This isn’t the city itself, though some of the adjoining tunnels here follow the original structure.”
Anne spotted Leo standing with a man she recognized only as one of the better fighters during the battle against Nyx’s army.
Leo pointed a crooked thumb at him. “Anne, this is Achilles.”
Anne held out her hand. Achilles was a handsome, olive-skinned man with an air of confidence she’d grown accustomed to in Michael and Leo.
“Lovely to meet you,” said Achilles, taking her hand and kissing it.
“I promised myself I’d stop asking if Angeli are actually the people from myths or history, so I won’t ask.”
He stared up at her, his warm lips still brushing her skin. “Good. Then I won’t have to ask if you’re the real Anne Bonny.”
Michael strode up to them and slapped Achilles on the back. “They could be here any second. Drop her hand, Casanova, she’s not a Baklava.”
The soldier smiled, his teeth startlingly white against his tan complexion. “She’s much sweeter.”
Michael rolled his eyes.
“Where’s Con?” asked Leo.
“Michael had him kidnapped,” said Anne.
“I did not have him kidnapped.”
“Apparently they need an Angeli or Angeli hybrid to enter these sacred places.”
Leo’s brow knit. “Wait, that’s right, but they used you last time.”
Anne balled a fist and flared one of her swords so it slid inches from Leo’s cheek. He refused to move, but she saw the nervous flash in his eyes. “Apparently, I inherited the swords from Seth, which makes me part Angeli.”
Leo groaned. “Can anyone just be what they’re supposed to be anymore?”
Anne retracted her blade.
“Where are the Sentinels? Boudica’s not here yet?” asked Michael.
“She is. She brought her group and ‘Chili brought his. They’re all taking a school trip through the tunnels to get a feel for their fighting area.”
As he spoke, others emerged from one of the tunnels adjoining the cavern. Anne recognized her old cowboy friend, Sundance, and her Angelus trainer Yuko immediately, but an unfamiliar woman walked between them. She appeared older than the other two, with brown hair knotted in a bun at the top of her head. She moved with such elegance Anne thought for a moment she was an Angelus floating beside the others.
Leo made the introductions and Anne discovered the woman’s name was Emma de Gauder. “She’s almost a thousand years old,” said Leo.
Emma smiled. “Getting close to the end.”
“We don’t have many that make it that long anymore.”
Emma shrugged. “Perfidia didn’t happen as often back in the day. And we certainly didn’t have to worry about Cherubim.” She shook Anne’s hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you. Jai li was a good friend of mine. I helped her pick you as her successor.”
Anne chuckled. “Thank you?”
Emma laughed. “Perhaps I did you no favors.”
Anne noticed how twitchy Michael had become, his eyes darting from one end of the cavern to the other.
He zeroed in on Yuko. “Where’s Boudica? I thought she was with you.”
“She was, but she left.”
“What do you mean she left?”
Yuko looked at Sundance for backup and he shrugged one shoulder. “She just left. Said she had somethin’ to do and poof! You know how y’all do.”
Michael glared at Leo.
“Don’t look at me. I don’t know anything about it.”
Michael pulled his hand down over his mouth and took a deep breath through his nose. Stepping back, he addressed the group. “I’ll make this short. I don’t know what’s coming. I think I’ve left enough hints that the Cherubim will arrive here, using Con as the key. We’ll be waiting. Kill the Cherubim—”
