Exalted

by Ella James

  “I'm fine,” he gritted; his aura was rage. “Are you?”

  Julia didn't know, so she started crying. She let herself heave two huge sobs before she pulled herself together, taking a deep breath and steadying herself in front of Lille, who looked concerned.

  At least she thought he looked concerned. Then Cayne stepped around her and smashed his fist into Lille's face—not once, not twice, but three times, until blood as red as Julia's was pouring from Lille's mouth and nose, and Cayne was bouncing on his feet, like he wanted to keep going.

  “HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?” He grabbed Lille by the throat and shoved him back into a stack of barrels; several fell and rolled. Other Authorities were there in seconds, but Julia saw Lille raise a hand at them. He kept still while Cayne said something low that sounded almost like a growl. Then Lille nodded, and over the next few seconds, Julia watched Cayne's aura cool down some.

  From where he stood with his back to the barrels, a few steps away, Lille said, “Julia. I hope you do accept my apology. If there was any other way...”

  “I know.” She nodded, and despite how very much the experience had sucked, she really felt that Lille was being sincere.

  It took a little longer for Cayne to feel the same way.

  When he did, things seemed more or less okay between the two of them. He returned to Julia, kissing her on the cheek and wiping her face with his sleeve before Lille joined them, and together they led her down into a bedroom below the wine-slick main floor. Her drenched All-Stars squished as she walked, and she felt overheated, the way she'd felt sometimes in the pyramid, when... She bit her lip, telling herself not to think of that.

  The room below was the opposite of a home office. It was like a work bedroom; she noted with disappointment its narrow twin bed—too small for Cayne, too—but when Lille finished talking about later today and what she might be able to do, Cayne pulled the quilts back and urged her in. He climbed in behind her and together they slept. The last thought Julia had before slipping under was that things must be super crazy if what she'd just endured upstairs didn't even warrant a lengthy discussion.

  ***

  When they awoke a few hours later, Lille was there with steak and pasta. Julia couldn't eat, but Cayne devoured his portion. He forced her to swallow a few bites of what any other day would have been delicious linguini, although it clearly wasn't necessary. The power inside of her sustained her body whether she was well-nourished or not.

  After he finished off the steak, Cayne pulled her into his lap and kissed her gently—once, twice, three times before breaking away and looking at her, wide-eyed, breathing hard.

  “I love you, Julia.”

  “I love you, too.”

  He frowned, and Julia could see him struggling to express something.

  “What is it?” she asked, holding his hand.

  He shook his head. “Don't do it,” he said fiercely. “If you don't want to, Julia... Just don't come. Lille and I—we'll go. We can handle it.”

  He probably would have kept going, but Julia shoved him in the chest. “OMG, Cayne, please. Of course I'm coming! I'm the Big Kahuna now, remember?”

  His voice, when he replied, was barely audible, and so very sweet. “I'm scared.”

  “I'm not,” she lied.

  They walked hand in hand up the stairs into the cleaned-up cellar, where the Authorities stood in a line to greet them—nothing but warmth and thankfulness and serenity that made Julia feel almost good.

  Outside the small, square windows set near the ceiling, she could see the sky was dark and full of stars.

  “How was the dinner?” Lille asked her.

  “It was good, thanks.”

  He nodded distractedly, blinking at something over her shoulder, and Julia knew he was doing his calculation thing. A second later, he blinked back at her. “You guys have some time.” So they wandered outside, where the air was dry and cold, and the vineyard seemed to go on forever, and Julia realized she didn't even like thinking about that concept, because forever was just too long for anything that wasn't perfect.

  Would she and Cayne manage to have perfect, or even good, together?

  They picked a spot close to the door, but out of sight. Cayne sank down to the ground with her in his lap, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed a few quiet tears.

  “I have all this power,” she said, “and I know I can do a bunch of new stuff I couldn't do before. But what about you?”

  “I'm his son, remember?” He gave her a roguish smile, and Julia's heart ached. “Also, I'm hardly new to fighting.”

  She nodded, closed her eyes, and thought of everyone they'd fought, from Samyaza to Adam and Dizzy to Methuselah. Jacquie, too, and Nathan, and maybe at one point all of the Chosen, depending on how she looked at it. But none of them were as scary as The Adversary.

  Cayne distracted her with kisses, first on her cheeks, then her wrists, her arms, her hands, her shoulders. He kissed her lips, as the moon climbed higher in the sky.

  The ground was cool and bumpy, so he draped her across his lap, and the more afraid she felt, the harder she kissed him, until eventually he was lying on the ground.

  Then they were making out in the dirt, and the grapes crisscrossed over their heads, making dark squiggles in the starry sky. Julia was reckless and crazy, trying to bruise Cayne's lips, clinging to him with all the strength of her fingers.

  She was on top of him, kissing his neck, feeling alive down to her toes, when a powerful explosion rocked the sky above them and they wrenched apart.

  “Was that a plane?” Her high voice sounded tiny in the stillness of the vineyard.

  Cayne was frowning, staring at the sky; it lit up like a summer storm, lightning crisscrossing, weaving its way into a big, bright...net.

  The hairs on her arms lifted in prescient knowing. A few seconds later, Lille stormed out the cellar door, his vast wings writhing in the wind.

  Julia and Cayne got up at once, still clinging to each other as they raced toward him.

  “That wasn't a plane, was it?” Julia said.

  Lille shook his head. “That was The Adversary. He's making his move."

  Julia shuddered at that thought, and the warmth inside her chest, put there by Cayne's kisses, turned to ice as Lille said, “Cayne, you ready? You and I are going in early.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  She and Cayne couldn't stop kissing goodbye. After the first, second, and third time, neither of them could let the other go. Cayne whispered one more time, “Remember, you don't have to do this,” and Julia knew he was scared for her, which made her scared for him.

  Eventually Lille nudged Cayne and looked up at the glowing web in the sky like, come on, man, and it was really time.

  Watching the two of them fly off was awful. Julia kept waiting for the sizzling in the sky to disappear, or rather, un-light itself, but in the few minutes she stood there, that didn't happen. The big web in the sky still glowed, a vast network of lightning bolts that never stopped flashing.

  She couldn't stand to think of Cayne flying up there with the net. She couldn't stand to think about what he would be doing in Bel Air. Lucky for her, she didn't have to, because Julia noticed a cloud of dust driving toward her. A few minutes later, Carlin and Drew were jumping out of the Land Rover.

  Her emotions were all over the place as she hugged them, and it took work to keep her voice steady. “I'm so glad y'all made it back! How is everything?”

  “They're already headed to Bel Air,” Drew said.

  Carlin nodded. “We got them pumped up,” she said, lifting up her hands to mime cheering.

  “The Nephilim were so scary,” she continued. Julia must have thrown her a look, because as soon as she said it, she shook her head. “Not like Cayne! And Andre was so cute!”

  Julia regretted that she'd never officially met Cayne's friend, but she sent good vibes to him as Carlin squeezed her neck. He, Nathan, and several Authorities were leading the remaining Chose
n to Bel Air via chartered buses.

  Carlin linked her arm through Julia's and looked up at the net, like it was no big deal. Like they saw it every day. “Cayne will be fine,” she insisted—and it warmed Julia's heart that Carlin knew what was on her mind and wanted to make her feel better. That was what Meredith would be doing if she were there. “He is so strong,” Car continued. “So are you. You can do this!”

  Julia nodded.

  The plan was playing out in her head as Carlin and Drew led her back inside, and Noelle handed her what looked like some kind of freaky, sleeveless cat suit.

  “Put this on,” he told her. “It's fire resistant and will keep you cool if you get overheated.” He pulled at his own shirt, like she needed a demo, then nodded toward the stairs.

  Julia's head pounded as Carlin and Drew went downstairs with her. Seeing the little room where she and Cayne had napped not an hour before made her even more unhappy. How close was Cayne now?

  She gritted her teeth, releasing Carlin's hand so she could go into the small bathroom. He'll be fine. She chanted it over and over as she changed into the scandalously tight black spandex. She wondered where Noelle had gotten it, and then she decided she really didn't want to know.

  She pulled on her hot pink All-Stars and quickly tied them, and then she reached into the pocket of the blue jeans she'd pulled off and grabbed Meredith's sparkly hair band.

  After she pulled her hair back, she stood in front of the mirror for a long time, feeling the weight of all the world—and Heaven, too. It shouldn't be like this, she thought as her vision blurred. Things on Earth were hard enough without The Adversary making everything so much worse. And she, an orphan, unwanted for so much of her life, was supposed to save everyone.

  That little bit of anger helped her wrangle up a good MAD, so when she went back out into the little room where Carlin and Drew waited, she was able to force some bravado. “Time to kick some devil ass!”

  Carlin cheered, and Drew gave her a high-five. As they walked back upstairs, he surprised her by saying, "I could tell I liked you the moment you got in that van, outside the museum. You were defiant, like now. Julia?” Carlin, ever nosey, turned around to hear what Drew was saying, and Julia watched his face turn serious.

  “I saw something...but you have to trust me.” Her heart rolled over. “I can't tell you what it is. I've got this to say, though: Don't hold back. Do what you feel.”

  He nodded once, his dark brown eyes telling her he was sorry he couldn't explain more.

  Julia wanted to scream at him, to demand that he explain what the heck that meant, but she trusted Drew. If he said he couldn't tell her, he couldn't tell her.

  Still, tears welled in her eyes, and more than anything in the world, she wanted to ask if they would be okay. She literally had to bite her lip to keep from begging Drew to tell her: if she and Cayne would be okay, if he and Car would be okay. They were both flying to The Adversary's mansion with a group of Authorities; Julia worried that meant they would be in more danger; wouldn't the Authorities attract more Adversarial notice? Then she realized they were all in danger. Duh.

  As she hugged them goodbye, standing between rows of barrels on the main floor, she couldn't keep the tears from flowing. Noelle was waiting behind her, and behind him were the last remaining Authorities at the vineyard.

  “We're leaving first,” one of them said, probably answering an inquisitive look from Carlin.

  “One more round of hugs,” Drew murmured.

  He crushed Julia against him, and Carlin put her arms around them both, and for a second it was just them: Julia and her friends. The friends that made it this far.

  She felt like her heart might stop as they walked out the door, and it slammed shut.

  Julia turned to Noelle, and her stomach dipped. Did anybody realize she was getting left here with just Noelle? How did she even know if Noelle was trustworthy?

  His mouth ticked up into a small smile, and Julia had the urge to run as he stepped toward her, placing two hard hands on her shoulders.

  “Julia. You are a brave girl.” His brown eyes bored into hers, making her heart beat too hard. “Are you ready to do what must be done?”

  A single tear slid down her cheek as she realized what Noelle was saying. He was an Authority, wasn't he? An angel. And that look in his eyes—that knowing look.

  She could barely make her head move, but somehow she nodded.

  Noelle's flawless face was stark. Emotionless. “Your bravery is worthy of praise, Julia. The Alpha would thank you, I'm sure, if he were here.”

  If he was here, Julia thought desperately, wouldn't he be doing this instead of her?

  Noelle just blinked, and when he took his hands off her shoulders, it felt like something stabbed her in the back. Julia crumpled to her knees, screaming as agony ripped through her shoulder blades and reverberated through her arms. The pain was so horrible, she didn't think at all, just drooped against the cool, hard floor and tried to breathe. When, at last, the pain began to ease, she realized there was something on her back. Or maybe that was Noelle. Was Noelle pressing down on her?

  Oh, God. What was going on? Noelle's face was in front of her. He was speaking, and his hand was on her cheek.

  “...Julia?”

  She shot up like a cannonball, and it was all she could do to hold onto her power. She wanted to let go. She was sick of being scared; she wanted to be the one in control.

  When she spoke, her voice was twisted in pain and power, and it didn't even sound like her. “WHAT WAS THAT?”

  “Julia, those are your wings.”

  “I HAVE WINGS?”

  Noelle nodded. “I think Lille told you it was a possibility.”

  Julia craned her neck to see them, and when she did, she felt a shot of nausea. They were white—fluffy and white. She'd had visions that featured these wings.

  Somehow that really drove things home for her. Made it all feel real, in a dizzy, sick, stage-fright kind of way. Before she'd even known she was a Candidate, she'd been on this course. Headed here. She thought about Rosa. About Meredith, that first day in her room at the compound. She thought about meeting Cayne. She thought about Gotcha Day, the day of her adoption with Suzanne and Harry. Suzanne and Harry who would die for picking her.

  She'd dreamed of having white wings. She'd dreamed of a lot of other things that were seared into her memory, and as Noelle ran over the plan one more time, every single one of them weighed heavy on her soul.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  The sky was a world unto itself: cloudless, crystalline perfection. The stars were lasers, burning all around her, the sky a colorful map below her feet. Julia felt like an angel in a snow globe.

  Her wings ached as cold wind whipped around them, but they were easy to control, incredibly intuitive, and she didn't feel a single bite of fear. Not of falling, anyway. If she weren't on her way to stop the apocalypse, she would have enjoyed herself immensely.

  Above her, spread all across the sky, was an electrifying maze—the barrier between herself and those perfect stars: the net The Alpha had created, that for some terrifying reason she could now see.

  From their spot sailing through the sky, it didn't look like anything Celestial was happening. A few times, Julia thought the net seemed to droop a little in a certain spot, forming a subtle funnel kind of shape, but that was only from certain angles.

  When she'd asked Noelle if regular humans could see it, he'd told her 'no'.

  “Only beings with Celestial blood.”

  Julia thought how weird it was that she was one of them. That she had wings sticking out of her back. They were temporary wings, Noelle had said, but still; she had her own freakin' pair of wings. Meredith would love that.

  Thinking of Meredith brought back a flood of memories, and Julia titled her head up, so she could see the flickering, spider-webby light of the net. Was that them, she wondered? She, and Cayne, and Meredith? Was some bit of their essence up there, keeping The Alph
a out of Earth?

  Julia's chest started feeling panic-attack tight, so from that point on, she tried not to look at it as she flew. It was so vast, she could see it in all directions unless she kept her head tipped toward the ground.

  As she watched her feet, her mind raced. She wondered why Lille hadn't given them any updates. If he could speak into her mind, into Noelle's mind, why hadn't he told them what they'd find in Bel Air?

  Before they'd left, Noelle had told her the flight would probably take less than twenty minutes, but for Julia it felt like an eternity. When she thought she might go crazy from helplessness, she tucked her arms around herself, and she played their plan out in her head, conjuring action images like a sports commentator.

  Cayne and Lille would have met up with Andre and his group of Nephilim almost an hour ago, now. They were supposed to spend their first thirty minutes together scouting The Adversary's mansion and identifying targets. They would pick Demons off slowly, taking care not to reveal themselves until Jacquie and Nathan's group, en route to Bel Air via bus, arrived. That was if The Adversary wasn't waiting for them.

  Once the Swosen and Chosen and the rest of the Authorities arrived, the fight would begin in earnest. Most would concentrate on handling the Demons, and Lille would lead a group of Authorities against The Adversary himself.

  While The Adversary was weak and distracted, Cayne would try to reopen the link and draw some of his power away. Assuming that worked, when The Adversary was even weaker, and likely trying to find Cayne (who had sworn up and down he could play hide and seek with the devil for hours), Julia would strike with a surprise blow: probably the white light special.

  She bit her cold lips, thinking about what would happen if things didn't go as planned. The back-up plan was to severely wound Cayne and see if his need to heal would open the link he still shared with The Adversary, possibly making it easier for him to steal his father's energy, or at least borrow it for long enough so Julia could take The Adversary out. Julia had required a whole lot of convincing to accept the hurt-Cayne stipulation, and only under the condition that she was there at the time, to heal him if needed.