Dark Angel Box Set

by Hanna Peach

  Holy hell.

  Israel hadn’t realized that he could use his Air magic to hold other magic. Could he control it?

  Israel directed his magic, moving it slowly, Sparrow’s GiftKeeper pulse still curled in a tight ball inside it, quivering like an angry wasp. Holy wow. It looked like he could control other magic with his own.

  Israel made patterns in the air with these dual magics, then he gently let them fall to the ground where they broke apart and soaked into the stone floor, dispersing harmlessly.

  When Israel turned to look at Sparrow, his eyes were like saucers. “That was so cool.”

  Israel shook his head, still slightly stunned at this revelation. “I didn’t realize I could do it. There’s a lot about my magic that I’m just learning. My situation, what I am, it’s unique and there’s no manual for it.” He grinned lopsidedly at Sparrow. “Kinda like you. Guess we can figure out our magic together?”

  For the first time that morning, a small smile appeared on Sparrow’s face. “Okay.”

  “Do you want to try again?”

  The smile fell from Sparrow’s face. He stared at the orb on the ground as if it were a snake. Israel walked over to it and picked it up. It was a wonder it hadn’t actually broken against the stone.

  “You won’t scare the thing out of its secrets. You need to relax. Now try again.” When he turned his head to look at Sparrow, a ray of sunshine danced across Israel’s eyes from one of the high windows. It gave him an idea.

  Alyx had told him not to venture farther from the training grounds while she was away, but if he could take Sparrow somewhere quiet, maybe into the nearby forest, it might help him relax into his magic. A little sunshine and fresh air always helped him concentrate better. Definitely better than training in a dusty room in a cold castle. It’s not like he was going off the castle grounds… What would be the harm?

  “Come on, Sparrow,” Israel said. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter 17

  Alyx suddenly found herself back in Raphael’s lab by the copper vases. Her skin and clothes were dry, her arm was dripping water on the floor and in her palm was the Amulet piece.

  Varian, Do’hann and Tii’la were all still frozen exactly as they were before she was swallowed by the water. They looked like statues made of marble. Everything was the same except now Raphael stood near her.

  “How are they all frozen?” she asked.

  “It’s a kind of magic. We’re existing in the space between time.”

  “So they won’t know that I left.”

  “No. Once I take us out of this in-between time, barely a split second will have passed for them.”

  “They won’t have seen or heard you here?”

  “No.”

  Alyx narrowed her eyes at Varian. “So if I kicked him in the−”

  “Alyx,” admonished Raphael.

  “Sorry,” she said sheepishly.

  Alyx caught sight of the fake Amulet in the vase next to her. She got an idea.

  “Raphael, what would happen if I took an Amulet from one of the other vases?”

  “But they’re fake.”

  “I know that. You know that…but they don’t.”

  “Ah, I see,” Raphael looked to Varian. “Smart girl. Yes, you can take one of the fakes.”

  “No ‘destructions’ if I remove it from its vase?”

  “The riddle has been solved. The ‘destruction’ has been disabled.”

  “Good to know.”

  Alyx stuck her hand into the vase marked Death with her left hand and pulled out one of the fake Amulets. It looked exactly like the real one in her right hand. Better not confuse the two, she thought. She glanced around. Now, where to put the real one? It couldn’t remain with her, just in case Varian or Do’hann realized that she didn’t give them the real one and searched her. It would have to be somewhere safe…retrievable…and the last place that Varian would look…

  Alyx moved towards where Tii’la was standing. Tii’la’s eyes were wide with concern and fixed on the vase marked Love. Alyx held Tii’la’s right hand, down by her side. Her skin was soft and warm but Alyx couldn’t feel her pulse; her heart was in between heartbeats. Alyx tucked the real Amulet into her fingers.

  “Before you let time speed up again,” she said to Raphael, “can I just do one more thing?”

  Raphael’s look was quizzical. “Sure.”

  Alyx moved over to Varian. Even in his non-moving state, she felt her body become apprehensive as she neared him. She could see where he had tucked one of her swords into his hip. It was a beautiful thin silver sword with a simple handle that one of the FreeThinker Alchemists had forged for her. It hadn’t the elaborate metalwork of Ferrum, her old blade maker in Michaelea, but it was all the things a sword should be: light, sharp and weighted just right. She wanted it back.

  Alyx carefully unsheathed the sword from his hip; she didn’t think he’d have time to notice. She moved back to the vase marked Love and slipped the sword into it, point down. It just fit. Perfect.

  She placed her hand back in the vase with the fake Amulet so that she was now exactly as she was when time slowed down. She turned to Raphael to speak but she paused when she saw the look on his face. “Why do you look disappointed?”

  “Oh. Well, I was sure you were going to kick him in the−”

  “Raphael!” Alyx choked on a laugh.

  He grinned. “Are you ready?”

  She nodded. “Thanks. For everything.”

  “I knew you wouldn’t disappoint.”

  “Just out of interest, what exactly would have happened if I had chosen the wrong answer?”

  “You wouldn’t have.” He smiled as his image began to fade. “And Alyx…don’t forget what you learned on the last test.”

  “You mean the greatest power?”

  Raphael nodded. “Remember that love is greater than death.”

  Alyx felt a chill run down her spine. “I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me.”

  Raphael’s image was translucent now and fading fast. She could see all the way through him to the benches and beakers behind him. “You will.”

  From one second to the next, the silence was filled with breathing, stillness became movement and all the general vibrations of life.

  Did that all really happen with Raphael? She might have believed that she imagined it all except for the faint smell of smoke in the back of her nostrils reminding her of what would happen if she failed.

  “Give it to me.” Varian stood before her, scowling at her with his hand extended. His blade in his other hand was pointed towards her throat. Alyx hesitated. She didn’t want to appear too eager to hand him over the fake. The tip of Varian’s blade pressed against her throat. “Or I take it from your lifeless body.”

  Alyx slowly extended her left hand and Varian snatched it from her. He held it up and stared at it as the charm twisted on the end of its chain. “Beautiful.”

  Alyx chanced a look at Tii’la. Her eyes were alert. She glanced down quickly at her hand, curled at her side so that neither Varian nor Do’hann could see its contents if they happened to look at her. Her mouth parted when she saw the gift in her hand. Tii’la’s eyes darted to Alyx. Alyx could see the wonder and a how the hell did you do that look on her face.

  Come on Tii’la, control your face. Do’hann and Varian could look at you at any second.

  Thankfully neither of them noticed her. They were too busy admiring the Amulet they had come here to steal. The fake Amulet. Tii’la slipped the real one into her pocket.

  The chamber began to tremble. Dust rained down on them. The vases clinked as they shook on their marble shelf. Varian glared at Alyx as if she were the one to blame for starting this. A small ray of light shone on the ground, distracting him. It grew larger and larger. Alyx looked up. The crystal pillars that made up the ceiling were moving, pushing apart to create a small space between them as if they were people in a crowd. And there was the sky. The ceiling was openi
ng to reveal a way out.

  Now was her chance. Alyx punched her fist through the vase, closing her hand around the sword handle as the pottery burst. She ignored the shards of pottery cutting into her arm.

  She brandished her sword and moved towards Tii’la, yelling, “Get behind me.”

  Tii’la did so, disappearing out of her periphery. Do’hann and Varian both unsheathed their swords.

  “Put down your weapons before you hurt yourself,” Alyx said.

  “You think you’re so clever,” said Varian. “Well, don’t we have a surprise for you.”

  Chapter 18

  What if Cleo is hurt…or worse?

  As Jordan and Lukas flew as fast as they could towards their home, this was the one thought that kept repeating in Jordan’s mind. Ahead of them the dark cloud moved like a storm towards everything they loved. Zulu, one of Lukas’s swallow friends, was flying on the other side of Lukas, screeching out a desperate message to any other feathered friends to pass on, to try and warn Tobias and the community that Hell was coming. Would the message get to them in time?

  I didn’t get to say sorry to Cleo.

  Jordan cursed himself for hesitating that morning at her door. He should have knocked. He should have told her that she wasn’t a nuisance, okay maybe an adorable nuisance with her constant teasing and inappropriate questions, but it was a nuisance he had come to need in his life. He should have told her that he had been an idiot to even say anything to Alyx. I should have said sorry. It was just a word, just a simple, tiny word. Why had he been so scared to talk to Cleo that morning?

  Now she might never know. She might die without knowing he was sorry. She might die hating him. This thought he couldn’t bear.

  He was pulled out of his thoughts when Lukas spoke. “Someone has betrayed us.” Lukas’s lips were white as he pressed them together. “Otherwise how would Michael know where the castle was?”

  “But who? Everyone was cleared.”

  After the last culling, the FreeThinker communities had implemented a policy to investigate their newest community additions before accepting them. The locations of the other communities were kept secret, even among community members. Only a select few including elected Chiefs knew them and even then, not a single FreeThinker knew them all. Potential members had to be vouched for or verified before they were granted a residence. Informants were contacted to verify the story of any potential FreeThinker to avoid spies from being able to infiltrate their community and betray them as happened at the last Rogue culling. Tobias had been sure that there were no traitors at their community. He had been sure.

  But he had been wrong. He had been fooled. They all had been.

  “The stories of past Society members had been checked out,” Jordan continued, “There were no inconsistencies.”

  “What if she was never part of the Society?”

  Jordan’s blood ran cold. ”What are you talking about?”

  “Cleo.”

  Jordan’s head spun as his insides reacted violently against this. “No.”

  “Think about it,” Lukas continued. “She’s new to our community.”

  “There are others who are new to our community.”

  “She worked in Purgatory for Lady Bluesette for−”

  “Her past career choice does not make her a spy.”

  “But it gave Michael potential access to her.”

  “We don’t even know if Michael ever went to Purgatory.”

  “Her cover was thin to begin with. Do you really buy her excuse for leaving Purgatory and wanting to reside with us? She just happened to have a change of heart and wanted to leave her old life behind? After decades working as a whore in Purgatory, she just decides to come good?”

  “Shut up. You don’t know her reasons for leaving. You don’t know anything about her.”

  “What? And you do?”

  “Alyx vouched for her…”

  “Alyx barely knew Cleo when she vouched for her.”

  “Alyx wouldn’t have vouched for Cleo if she couldn’t be trusted.”

  “I’m not saying she would. But what if Alyx didn’t know Cleo was working for Michael?”

  “Alyx would have seen past it.”

  “Would she? Like she saw past her old friend, Passar, betraying her?”

  Jordan gritted his teeth. He couldn’t believe it. He wouldn’t. Or did he just not want to believe it…

  All those nights he sat by her side, talking, seeing the real Cleo underneath. Was it all just lies? Could she have fooled him too?

  “No,” Jordan said firmly. “It’s not Cleo. She wouldn’t…”

  “Oh God. Don’t tell me… You have a thing for her.”

  “I do not have a thing for Cleo.”

  “You do. How could you? She’s not one of us.”

  “Why does that even matter?”

  Lukas drew back. “Do you really think that a Seraphim and a mortal could really be together?”

  “But Vix and Xiang, Alyx and Israel…”

  “Israel’s going to die one day, Jordan. So will Xiang.”

  Jordan clenched his jaw. “Cleo didn’t betray us. End of discussion.”

  “We’ll see.”

  Chapter 19

  “Well, don’t we have a surprise for you?”

  Alyx felt the point of a blade in the back of her neck.

  Tii’la’s blade.

  “Tii’la?” Her blood went cold.

  “You… You better do what he says.” Tii’la’s voice came from behind her and it was trembling slightly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Tii’la had betrayed her. Tii’la had volunteered to join her on her mission to recover the Amulet with this purpose. Tii’la had told Michael where the missing Amulet piece was. This was how Michael knew exactly where and when to send Varian and Do’hann. This was why Tii’la had been “deweaponed” so easily against Varian when they had been ambushed. What else had Tii’la told Michael?

  “Listen to your friend, Alyx,” Varian sneered.

  Alyx squeezed her fingers tightly around her blade. “You don’t have to do this, Tii’la.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Tii’la. “I do. Let go of your weapon.”

  Reluctantly Alyx released her fingers. Her sword dropped from her hand to the ground with a clatter.

  Tii’la moved around Alyx to stand beside Do’hann so that the three of them stood facing her: Tii’la, Do’hann, then Varian. Tii’la reached into her pocket for the real Amulet, the real Amulet that Alyx had trusted her with.

  “Please. Don’t,” was all Alyx said, but those words were filled with desperation.

  Tii’la pulled out the real Amulet and handed it to Do’hann, who, with a confused look, handed it to Varian.

  “What’s this?”

  “She gave you a fake one,” Tii’la said. When Tii’la turned her eyes back to Alyx, there was pain in them. “I had no choice.”

  “You always have a choice,” Alyx said. “It might be a choice between two terrible things, but you always have a choice.”

  “Tricky little bitch. I should have expected something like this.” Varian scowled at her as he dropped the fake Amulet and placed the real one around his neck.

  Alyx glanced around the lab. Her eyes landed on the door back into the maze on the other side of the room. She had to make a break for it. But that door was too far away and Tii’la and Do’hann were too close. She’d never get to it in time.

  “I have the Amulet and I have my way out. Looks like I have no use for you now,” Varian continued. “Kill her.”

  Tii’la looked horrified. “B-But you said you’d let her go.”

  “I lied.”

  Alyx was out of time. The choice was try or die. She sprung aside, kicking up off the ground with as much force as she could. She flipped sideways through the air, her focus on that door. She heard a commotion behind her, a thud and a clatter.

  “Get out of the way, you oaf,” she heard Do’hann say.

  “
Sorry,” said Tii’la.

  Alyx didn’t look back. She flew through the air towards her only possible means of escape with every shred of speed that she had. She slammed against the door, her hand finding the handle and pushing it down. She tumbled through back into the maze.

  Alyx heard the sound of metal slicing through air behind her, then felt something brush against her hair. She heard the sound of metal swallowing the sharp edge of a blade as the sword that almost took her head embedded in the door. There was male swearing behind her.

  Alyx kept going, never stopping to look behind her as she flew deeper and deeper into the maze. The clicking of gears started and the tunnel rolled. But she kept going, one part of her brain focused intently on trying to keep a mental “map” of where she was, otherwise being found by Varian and Do’hann would be the last of her worries.

  Chapter 20

  Ana heard the commotion as it spread through the castle. She stuck her head out of her room. From the halls she could hear the sounds of metal against metal and of screaming. She grabbed the arm of a seraphelle rushing past her door. “What’s going on?” Ana demanded.

  The seraphelle’s eyes were red and wide with fear. “They’ve come to kill us all! Get out while you still can.”

  They?

  Ana let go of her and the seraphelle fled down the corridor screaming. Out of the corner of her eye, Ana saw a shadow moving along the floor. Someone was coming up the circular stairwell down the end of the hall and was almost to this landing. Ana turned her head, her breath caught in her throat.

  She could barely believe her eyes. Yael was coming up the stairs. She must be hallucinating. But his foot stepped solidly on the landing and his huge body almost blocked all the light from the slim window behind him.

  “Yael,” Ana cried. Her feet started moving her towards him of their own accord. “My love. I thought I’d never see you again.”

  Yael’s gaze locked onto her. Please, she prayed, please recognize me. But his eyes remained dead without recognition. “I don’t know you.”

  Ana’s heart dropped into her stomach and she skidded to a halt meters from him. “Yael?”