by Ella Summers
He shook his head. “No. I do not. One moment, I was fine, and the next, I was totally consumed with panic. And then the panic left as quickly as it came.” His eyes quivered with fear. “Leda, I can’t explain where those feelings came from. What if they come again? What if I’m broken?”
I patted his back. “You’re not broken, Soren.”
“How can you be sure?”
I couldn’t be sure. Maybe Soren had just had a simple panic attack, and that was it. Except Legion soldiers didn’t have panic attacks. My gut told me something else was going on here—something world-changing-big—and my gut was rarely wrong.
4
The Gift
My discussion with Soren during the long drive back to the Legion’s New York office yielded nothing to shed light on his mysterious behavior. He claimed to have no explanation for his hasty departure yesterday morning. I had no reason to doubt him. I knew Soren well, and the baffled, powerless look on his face was not feigned.
Right before his desertion, he’d been resting in the New York office’s medical ward, recovering from injuries incurred during training. Then panic had suddenly spiked in him, the feeling that it was imperative to get away immediately.
“Whatever ailed him was only temporary,” I told Dr. Nerissa Harding in her lab as she began running a series of tests on Soren. “There were no signs of another outburst during our drive back here.”
“This feels familiar,” Nerissa replied.
“You’re referring to what happened with Stash.”
Many months ago, the supernaturals throughout the city began acting oddly, caught in a mad rage. We’d eventually tracked it down to my friend Stash, whose demigod magic was affecting them.
“Except Stash isn’t even on Earth right now,” I told Nerissa.
He was training with the gods on another world, under the weight of Faris’s iron fist.
“And it’s different this time,” I continued. “Stash’s warriors didn’t even remember doing what they’d done. Soren remembers every moment, every thought that he had, every feeling that burned through him. He was overloaded with panic. That’s what caused him to desert. I wonder…” I glanced from Soren to Nerissa. “Could this be a new demon weapon? A weapon that fills a person with an overwhelming sense of panic? The Legion wouldn’t be very effective if its soldiers all turned and ran from battle.”
“I don’t know, Leda.” Nerissa shook her head. “I won’t know anything until I’ve run some tests on Soren’s body and magic.” She flicked her hand, shooing us away. “Which I can’t do as long as you are all breathing down my neck.”
“Sorry.” I stepped toward the door, motioning for my team to follow me. “It’s just that Soren’s my friend, you know.”
“I know,” Nerissa sighed. “And I will figure out what’s going on with him.”
Her face was hard, her eyes determined. She and Soren had been dating for nearly a year. She cared about him—maybe even loved him. She wouldn’t stop until she’d found an explanation for his odd behavior.
“Where to, boss?” Alec asked me with a wicked smile. It was a smile that had incited its fair share of incensed behavior—and broken more than a few hearts.
“To Demeter,” I replied.
Demeter was our canteen, and I was famished. Trekking across the Black Plains and battling monsters had a way of sparking one’s appetite.
“Good. Your stomach is growling so loudly that it’s shaking the walls,” Basanti said.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not that bad.”
“Oh, it is,” Ivy told me.
Drake grinned. “It sounds like someone is firebombing the building.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “I have the sinking suspicion that none of you respect my authority.”
“Sure, we do,” said Drake.
“Right,” Alec said, nodding eagerly. “You’re the angel with the prettiest wings. They look like sparkly little rainbows.”
I shook my head slowly. “What did I do to deserve this mockery?”
“Do you really want an answer to that?” Ivy asked.
I snorted. “Probably not.”
“I’d love to stay, but I have to welcome our newest batch of initiates,” Basanti said.
“You’ll be training them?” I asked.
She nodded. “For the next month.”
“Well, in that case…” I smirked at her. “I suppose I’ll need a new babysitter.”
Basanti’s laughter trailed her all the way down the hall. The rest of us continued toward the canteen.
Demeter was bursting with life. Nearly every table was full of Legion soldiers, chatting as they loaded up on food before the long day began. Those conversations sizzled out the moment I stepped into the room. Every pair of eyes locked onto me. Every step that I took echoed off the absolute silence.
“Haven’t they ever seen an angel before?” I commented softly.
“I think it’s safe to say that they’ve never met an angel like you before,” Drake told me.
“Nor will they ever again,” Ivy added with a rosy smile.
Soldiers peeled away, making room for me as we approached the food counters. They continued to stare, watching my every move. It was downright eerie, and after two weeks as an angel, I still hadn’t gotten used to it. I didn’t think I ever would.
My tray filled with food, I sat down at the nearest empty table with the rest of my team. The silence hanging over the canteen shattered like a glass ball against a marble floor. The buzz of the soldiers’ rapid whispers filled the room.
“They’re certainly excitable today,” I commented.
“You’re an angel now, Leda. You’re supposed to sit at the head table, not here with us,” Ivy reminded me.
“Yes, I’m an angel, damn it, and so I’m going to sit with my friends,” I said, challenging the idea of assigned seats. “There’s no one at the head table right now, and I don’t want to sit alone. Sitting and eating alone sucks. There have to be some perks to being an angel, right? Something better than brooding in solitary silence.”
“Not that you could ever keep silent, Leda,” Drake teased me.
I frowned at him. “I’m already starting to regret my decision to sit with you guys.”
A shadow rolled over my breakfast. I looked up at the skylight, but the shadow’s source was closer than the sky. A soldier stood beside the table.
“Yes?” I asked him.
The silent soldier set down the big box in his hands, placing it on the table right in front of me. He bowed deeply to me, then he turned and left, all without saying a word.
“He sure looked devoted,” Drake said, his eyes twinkling.
“Yeah, he was staring at Leda like she farts rainbows and walks on sunshine,” Alec added.
My so-called friends were shaking with laughter.
I glared at them. “Oh, shut up.” I turned my attention to the box.
“What do you think is in it?” Ivy asked me.
I leaned in for a closer look at the box. “I haven’t got a clue.”
The box looked like a normal plain delivery box. It was the sturdy sort that the Legion used, not a flimsy cardboard box that would turn soft and spring holes in the sides if it happened to rain too much during transit.
I glanced at the shipping label. “It’s from Nero.”
His name wasn’t on the box, but I recognized his handwriting on the label, which read: ‘Pandora, The Legion of Angels, New York’.
“General Windstriker sent you a present,” Ivy told me in a sing-song voice, fluttering her eyelashes.
The soldiers in the canteen had returned their attention to their breakfasts, but at Ivy’s words, every person in the room spun around to stare at me once more.
“Do you think you can say that louder?” I said to Ivy in a hissed whisper. “I think there might be a few initiates in Basanti’s class that didn’t hear you.”
Ivy chuckled.
“I wonder what’s inside,” Drake said as I slid m
y hand across the box’s smooth surface.
“Jewelry,” Ivy declared with confidence.
“Jewelry?” I repeated. “Have you noticed how big the box is?”
She smiled. “Room for a lot of jewelry. Angels like to make a big statement.”
“Do you know what makes a big statement? A rocket launcher.” Alec’s lips curled up, and a dreamy glimmer slid over his eyes.
“A rocket launcher wouldn’t fit in that box,” Drake told him.
“It would if you disassembled it.”
“General Windstriker didn’t send Leda a weapon,” Ivy told Alec.
“Why not?”
“Because weapons aren’t romantic.”
Alec shrugged. “They are to an angel.” And from the look on Alec’s face, he found the idea of weapons pretty damn romantic himself.
Ivy pointedly looked away from him, turning her attention to me instead. “I bet there’s lingerie inside.”
“Just a few seconds ago, you were sure it was jewelry,” said Drake.
“There’s space for both jewelry and lingerie. As Leda pointed out, it’s a big box.” Ivy turned a demure smile on me. “Maybe it’s an engagement ring.”
“The Legion arranges all angels’ marriages,” Alec pointed out.
“Stop it,” Ivy snapped at him. “You’re such a party pooper.” She slid the box toward me. “Leda, give the box a shake and see what you hear.”
“Or she could, you know, just open it,” Drake said.
Ivy looked positively scandalized at the suggestion. “That is not how you savor a present.” She held up her index finger. “First, you make wild speculations regarding its contents.” She counted off a second finger. “Then you poke and prod and shake it while you speculate some more.” She popped up a third finger on her hand. “And only then, after all that, do you open it and see what’s inside.”
“What a ceremony.” Drake frowned at Alec. “Is that how you savor a present?”
“Nope. I rip the box open right away and pull it out. You can’t savor something you can’t touch.”
Ivy pressed her lips together. “That is a man’s answer.”
“I am a man, honey.” Alec wiggled his eyebrows at her. “If you doubt me, a demonstration can be arranged.”
Ivy made a face. “No demonstration is necessary, Morrows. Or wanted. Keep your pants on.”
Alec chuckled like a panther hiding in the bushes, sneaking up on an unsuspecting deer.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Ivy asked me. “Give it a shake.”
I shook the box. A rustle of movement responded to my action. I quickly set the box back down on the table.
“What is it?” Ivy asked eagerly. “What did you feel?”
“Something is alive in there.” I stared at the box with trepidation. “And I think I just woke it up.”
Alec flashed me a bright, shiny grin. “Aww, how romantic. General Windstriker sent you a monster.”
Drake squinted at the box on the table. “That would be a small monster.” He measured the box with his hands.
“You’re both being ridiculous,” Ivy told them. “General Windstriker did not send Leda a monster.”
“Why not?” Alec asked.
“Because…well, because that would be the lamest gift ever! That’s why!”
Except Nero was currently investigating a surge in the monster population. Maybe he’d sent me one of those monsters, so I could take a look at it, maybe test it in the lab. I glanced at the package. The origin city was Judgment.
Judgment was a Frontier town, situated along the Magitech wall that separated civilization from the plains of monsters. In Nero’s last message to me, he’d mentioned being there. Since there were no high-end Legion facilities out there on the edge of civilization, he’d probably sent the monster to me in New York.
I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. I would have much preferred a present to a monster.
“Well, there’s only one way to find out what’s really inside,” I sighed.
I began opening the box’s many locks. There was probably a note inside, complete with testing instructions to accompany the monster.
Beside me, Ivy was bursting with excitement. “Oh, the suspense is killing me.”
“Let’s hope the monster inside doesn’t kill you,” said Drake.
“Very funny.”
Drake smirked at her.
The two of them were so cute together. No one understood why they still weren’t a couple.
“And?” Ivy demanded, practically bouncing in her chair.
I stared into the box and chuckled.
“What is it?” Ivy asked me.
I pulled a fluffy white kitten out of the box.
Alec watched the cat for a moment in confusion, as though he weren’t sure what to make of it. The kitten blinked its blue eyes. Then it sneezed.
“Oh, yes, a very ferocious monster, to be sure,” Ivy laughed.
It was Alec who blinked now. “It’s a cat.”
“A very adorable cat.” Ivy rubbed the kitten under its chin. “And look at its cute little collar. Are those real diamonds on it?”
I took a closer look. “I believe so.”
“See?” She smiled at Drake and Alec. “I told you there was jewelry for Leda inside the box.”
“Technically, the jewelry is for the cat,” Drake told her.
“And the cat is for Leda,” replied Ivy. “Hence the jewelry is hers. Come on, Drake. You’re a soldier. You know how a hierarchy works.”
Alec rose in his chair and stared into the box. “What, no lingerie?”
“No,” I told him.
He looked disappointed.
“The cat would have torn holes in the lingerie anyway,” I pointed out.
“Even better,” he said, his eyebrows wiggling.
I looked at Ivy.
She shrugged. “Did you honestly expect a different response from Alec?”
“No,” I admitted.
Alec shook the box. “Anything else in here?”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Like maybe a rocket launcher.”
“No,” I said as Ivy nearly choked on her orange juice.
“Why on Earth would General Windstriker put a rocket launcher in a box with a cat?” she coughed.
“In case the cat got bored, of course. Cats need toys too.”
“Yeah, like a toy mouse or a feather on the end of a string. Not a military-grade weapon. Cats like to play, not make war.”
“Sounds like a boring animal. If I had a cat, it would have a rocket launcher.”
Ivy dropped her face to her open palms. “I don’t think anyone here doubts that, Alec.”
“Why exactly did General Windstriker send you a cat?” Drake asked me.
I petted the kitten on the head. “To cuddle.”
“To cuddle?” Drake repeated, confused.
“Yes, Nero sent me a cat to cuddle when he’s not around. Basanti has a cat to cuddle when she’s away from her angel. I told Nero that I needed one too.” I chewed on my lower lip. “Actually, I wasn’t completely serious. I don’t even know how to take care of a cat.”
“It’s usually a good idea to feed it,” Drake told me helpfully.
I presented the kitten with a slice of orange.
“That won’t work,” said Drake. “Cats don’t like citrus scents. They overload their sensitive noses.”
“Since when are you an expert on cats?” Alec asked him.
“Cats, dogs, even bunnies. I worked part-time at a pet store when I was in high school.”
The kitten opened its mouth and took a bite out of the orange slice.
“Apparently, you’re not as much of an expert as you thought,” Alec told Drake.
Drake frowned at me. “That’s a weird cat you’ve got there, Leda.”
“Of course she is. She’s mine.” I grinned at the kitten. “And I love her already.”
“I prefer dogs,” said Alec. “They d
o what you say. Cats are so unruly. So chaotic.”
I arched my brows at him. “Sound familiar?”
Alec snorted. “Yeah, it does.”
“Is there anything else in the box?” Ivy asked me. “Like maybe the kind of toy a normal, not-owned-by-Alec cat would enjoy?”
I looked into the box. “No toys, but there is a note.”
“Well, don’t leave us hanging, Leda. Read it.”
Ivy was leaning forward so far that her chest nearly crashed into the tabletop. But so was everyone in the canteen. Gods, I felt like I was on display. I guess that was just the reality of being an angel—an angel with an archangel lover, for that matter. The Legion hadn’t had something this juicy to chew on since Nero’s parents had gotten together.
I unfolded the slip of paper I’d found inside the box. Nero wouldn’t have written anything he’d mind if others saw, in case the package was opened by someone else. Of course, that didn’t mean I was comfortable with others hearing what he had to say.
Well, if it was too racy, I just wouldn’t read it aloud.
But what was written on Nero’s note wasn’t racy. It was funny.
“Pandora,” I read. “I purchased this kitten for you from a pet store in Judgment. The pet store owner claims it’s a purebred, but its insubordinate behavior brings that statement into question.”
I imagined Nero trying to order the cat to quietly step into the box. I couldn’t imagine the cat had been pleased with the command. It had most certainly fought back. I had a feeling the cat hadn’t been unconscious solely for its own comfort during transit. It had probably been the only way to get it into the box.
I read the rest of the note. “P.S. The pet store owner named the cat Creampuff. You should rename the animal immediately. A pastry dessert is not a dignified name for an angel’s cat.”
Before I’d tucked Nero’s note into my jacket pocket, everyone at my table was laughing—and they weren’t alone. Isolated chuckles punctuated the room’s silence. When I turned to look, however, everyone pretended to be really interested in their food.
“General Windstriker is right, you know,” Drake told me.
I smirked at him. “There’s no point in sucking up to Nero when he’s not here, Drake.”
“Sure there is,” he chuckled. “Angels are always watching.”
