by Ella Summers
“Pandora, you are an angel who lived among humans for a long time,” Nyx said. “That makes you the perfect ambassador, the perfect bridge between worlds. And that is the task I have set for you: to gain the support of Earth’s people, so more of them join the Legion’s ranks. You are to unite the supernaturals to work with us, not fight amongst themselves.”
“You don’t ask for much, do you?” I laughed weakly. “The supernaturals have been fighting forever. And the Legion has spent its entire history making people afraid of them. Humans fear both angels and supernaturals. Now you want me to convince them to unite and all work together? That’s a big step, Nyx. A step I’m not sure they’ll be willing to take. The task you’ve set me might very well be impossible.”
“Then it’s the perfect undertaking for you, Pandora. We all know firsthand that the Angel of Chaos defies the impossible.”
“As often and as thoroughly as I can,” I declared proudly. “All right then. Let’s do this.”
14
The Garden Library
“We have a stop to make before we set off on the hunt,” Nyx told Nero and Damiel. “We’re meeting up with two additional angels: Colonel Fireswift and Colonel Dragonblood. Fireswift and Dragonblood will join us on the hunt.”
I didn’t know Colonel Dragonblood. He was the angel who was supposed to have run my Crystal Falls training, but at that exact moment, his wife had gotten the Fever, so Nyx had sent Nero instead.
I did know Colonel Fireswift, however. And as fun as it sometimes was to annoy him with my crazy ways, I wasn’t sad to see him leave. I could only spend so much time with Fireswift before his personality really started to grate on me. And then I got edgy.
Nyx, Nero, and Damiel spread their angel wings and flew off, leaving me and Cadence with Stash—and a really big Legion airship.
“One sec,” I told them. “I just need to gather up my family.”
Bella and Zane were all healed up. The problem was with the rest of my family. Calli, Gin, and Tessa didn’t go willingly onto the airship, at least not without protest. So I told them that my worrying about them, my concern that someone was going to kill them, was causing me distress and that was hurting the baby. After that, they all caved and came with me, even Calli.
Yeah, it was a dirty move, but I’d do what I must to keep my family safe.
We all boarded the heavily guarded and armored airship. On the way in, I spotted my friends from Heaven’s Army.
Octavian and Arabelle were waiting at the door.
Arabelle was the team’s only female soldier, but I’d never gotten the impression that this bothered her. She was good at what she did, though occasionally irreverent. That was one of the things I really liked about her, that she was a god but she didn’t take that fact very seriously.
Octavian, the tall and slender soldier next to Arabelle, was as reckless as the gods came. He wore black armor that resembled a suit—and he wore his fire-red hair in a long, skinny ponytail. His words were usually seasoned with a healthy dose of sarcasm.
He winked at me as I stepped aboard. “Hey, Pandora. Looks like we’re on angel babysitting duty again.”
“We promise to keep you out of trouble,” Arabelle said.
Octavian tapped the hilt of his knife. “If that’s even possible.”
The other godly soldiers were waiting in the hall. Devlin, the team’s straight-laced leader. Theon, the quiet and reflective god, who enjoyed soap operas and caramel-flavored ice cream. The big and bulky twins Punch and Patch, identical right down to the tattoos inked into their dark skin.
Devlin gave me a professional nod. Punch and Patch flashed me two sets of bright, shiny teeth. And Theon…well, Theon looked at me like I might explode—and take him with me. I could understand his caution. I did kind of blow him up the last time we’d worked together, but in my defense, it was a total accident.
The gods I’d met in Heaven’s Army were so unlike the seven gods who sat on the ruling council. They were so down-to-earth, so normal, so fun.
I liked Stash best of all, of course. He was my cousin, after all, and I’d known him back when we’d all thought he was just another werewolf, Stash included. I’d been little more than a fresh Legion recruit when we’d met at a fairy bar, where he’d earned his money armwrestling for dollars and tending bar. Now he was a demigod in Heaven’s Army, and I was an angel. My, how much things had changed in only two years.
I glanced back as Harker stepped aboard, Bella by his side. The rest of my family followed. As Harker showed them to their cabins, I continued down the corridor. I’d spotted another old acquaintance.
“Nice to see you again, Dominic.”
The airship pilot was an old friend of Nero’s. I wondered how he’d come to be here.
“Pleased to see you too again, Leda Pandora,” Dominic said pleasantly. “Lot’s changed since we last met. Heard about the bun in your oven. Good to hear it was Nero who put it there.”
Dominic was hardly subtle, but what could you expect from a man who slicked back his hair with grease and wore a leather jacket made of orange monster hide—and had the matching boots to go along with it?
I tried really hard not to laugh. Because that would have been totally inappropriate. “How did you come to be here, Dominic?”
“I’ve been doing contract work for the Legion, flying your airships. Nero set me up with the gig. Pay’s good. Get to meet all kinds of interesting people and angels. And…” He glanced at Devlin and his team. “…gods too. Well, just came down to greet you, Leda. I’d better get back to piloting. This ship won’t fly itself, but it’ll crash itself into a building real quick if I’m not at the helm.” Then he dashed up a staircase.
And I kept walking with Cadence, following Stash.
Nerissa was the next familiar face I spotted. “Leda, good, you’re here.”
“Nyx ordered me to come aboard. So where else would I be?”
“Where else indeed! Just two days ago, you disappeared to run off to some monster-infested city. And you ignored my calls. And everyone else’s calls. The First Angel was quite agitated.”
“How could you tell Nyx was agitated?” I wondered. “She’s always so calm and collected.”
“And she was. Mostly. But her hair was doing that underwater flowing thing that it does, and it was floating in a distinctly agitated manner.”
“So Nyx’s hair follows her moods just like mine does,” I noted for future reference.
“Her hair is a tad more subtle than your hair, Leda.”
“That isn’t hard.” My hair changed colors quicker than a mood ring.
“So these gentlemen…” Nerissa cast a furtive glance down the hall, where Patch and Punch were standing. “…have helped me set up medical facilities on board. So I will be able to monitor the progress of your pregnancy.” She looked at Cadence. “The progress of both your pregnancies. Congratulations, Colonel Lightbringer.”
Cadence nodded in appreciation of Nerissa’s words.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “You’ve set up medical facilities on board? Just how long does Nyx intend to keep me on this ship?”
“I didn’t ask, but I figure it’s not as long as forever.”
“Very funny,” I told Nerissa sourly. But I didn’t dwell on that. I’d just had an idea. “Nerissa, how complete are these medical facilities?”
“Very complete. Don’t worry. I have everything I could possibly need to ensure you have a safe pregnancy and birth.”
“Are the facilities sufficient for you to conduct research?”
“Of course.” A suspicious crinkle formed between her eyes. “Why?”
“Oh, don’t worry. It’s nothing crazy. I just want you to do some research on finding a way to increase the survival rate of the Legion’s initiates.”
Nerissa let out a weak laugh. “You don’t ask for much, do you? The Legion has been around for centuries, Leda. Don’t you think that our doctors would have found some way to improve the surviv
al rate of our initiates if that were even remotely possible?”
“No, I don’t think so,” I told her. “Because I’m willing to bet the Legion never looked into it. Being part of the Legion was always thought of as something holy, like you were chosen by the gods or something. So all those initiates’ deaths were just dismissed as people who were unworthy.”
Nerissa frowned. “You might have a point.”
“Of course I do. And my point is I think the Legion needs to stop being so full of itself. I think lots of people could contribute, lots of people could thrive with just a little extra help. It’s time to dispense with the whole level-up-or-die mentality that has always defined the Legion. The angels think it makes us all strong, but in fact, it makes us weak. Our numbers are falling. Roughly half of our initiates die before they can even become a soldier. Many more soldiers die along the way. There are people out there, wanting to help us, wanting to protect their world. But many of them never get to serve. They die before they’ve even held a sword. We must find a way to give them their best chance. We have failed them for far too long.”
“So, basically, you are going for a complete and total upheaval of the Legion,” Nerissa said.
“Basically, yes.”
“The other angels won’t like it,” she warned me.
“Let me worry about the other angels. You worry about saving lives.”
Nerissa nodded. She set her hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You’re a good person, Leda.”
I waved her away, smiling. “All right now. Don’t go getting sappy on me.”
Nerissa snorted, then she turned and walked away.
“Leda, this way.” Stash extended his arm, showing me the way. “We’re almost there.”
We passed more armed Legion soldiers in each and every hall. The other godly soldiers had repositioned themselves to cover more of the ship too. I caught a glimpse of Devlin patrolling the corridor Nerissa had taken. And I saw Theon standing guard outside a dining cabin. Cadence and I kept walking. Stash stayed by our side.
He led us into a large room. If I could have picked one thing it most resembled, I’d have said a library. There were bookcases on every wall that wasn’t a window. But there were also plants growing everywhere. And birds chirping. Ok, it was a garden library.
“It’s beautiful,” I commented to Cadence.
“Yes,” she agreed. “It truly is.”
There were lounge chairs and sofas positioned throughout the room, intermixed with the plants. Cadence took one long look out of the large window that covered one side of the room, then she sat down on a cozy sofa.
“Hey, Angel!”
My very large cat was resting on another sofa. She came out of her catnap just long enough to glance at me, then she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
“Nyx made sure my cat came along,” I said. “She really does love me.”
“The First Angel loves that Angel is a powerful accessory to your magic,” Cadence said.
Angel helped me channel more magic than I could otherwise handle. The cat was very useful—and very cuddly.
“Cadence, have you and Damiel discussed baby names yet?”
“Not yet. It’s quite early.” Cadence poured herself a cup of tea from the steaming kettle on the coffee table.
“Nero brought up the topic of names,” I said.
“Did he?” Cadence smiled. “I’m glad he’s so excited.”
“He truly is. He once told me that he wants lots of children.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re both immortal. The Fever doesn’t come around every month, you know.”
“Good thing too. If mine did, Nyx would keep me safe in this fortress forever.” I looked around the garden library. It was very nice, but it was still a cage.
“Try to think of it as a vacation, Leda.”
Cadence picked up the newspaper on the coffee table and opened it. The front cover had a big story about the Angel of Chaos and General Windstriker, the First Angel’s righthand angel, expecting a child. There was an accompanying picture from our wedding.
“You know what, being a prisoner makes me hungry,” I commented.
But before I could raid the snack bar, two Legion soldiers stepped into the room.
Both were female, one tall with golden hair and one short with dark, nearly black, hair.
The tall soldier was a lieutenant. I knew that from the metallic emblem of a paw print pinned to her uniform. She had rosy cheeks and a long, blonde braid. Every strand of the braid was picture-perfect, braided with machine-like accuracy. My braids never looked that good. I wondered how long it had taken her to perfect her braiding technique. Despite the precision of her braid—and the crispness of her uniform—there was a warmth in the woman’s eyes, a warmth that her time serving the Legion hadn’t managed to cool.
The shorter soldier’s psychic hand insignia told me she was a captain, a Legion soldier of the sixth level. She was also a dead ringer for another soldier I’d once met: Selena Singh. Except, Selena Singh had been a major in the Legion. And she was dead now. She’d died in the battle at the Magitech barrier at Memphis, victim to a particularly nasty Venom bullet.
“Who are you?” I asked the two soldiers.
“Lieutenant Alice Jones,” the taller woman said.
“You look familiar, Lieutenant.” I hadn’t met her before, of that I was sure. But there was something distinctly familiar about her face.
She smiled. “You know my son. He looks a lot like me.”
“Your son?”
“Jace Angelblood.”
So this was Jace’s mother. But that meant she was also…
“You’re Colonel Fireswift’s wife.”
“I am.”
I looked her over. She had a friendly smile and a kind face.
“You don’t look evil,” I declared honestly.
Alice Jones laughed again. Alice Jones, such a normal, homely name for the wife of an angel like Fireswift.
“Believe it or not, I get that reaction a lot,” she told me.
Wow, Colonel Fireswift’s wife was a nice person. Who would have thought?
I turned to the shorter woman. “You look even more familiar, Captain.”
“You met my big sister Selena,” she told me.
Ah, that explained it.
“I’m Captain Andromeda Singh.”
Fancy name. And yet, it was all wrong. Major Singh’s name was wrong, for that matter.
“You and your sister are Legion brats, right?” I asked her.
“We were.”
“But you don’t have an angel name,” I pointed out.
“Our angel father went rogue when we were still young. Since that day, we’ve used our mother’s surname.”
She didn’t look like my question bothered her. I supposed she’d gotten used to answering it. She sure was a lot nicer than her sister had been.
“Nice to meet you both, but what exactly are you doing here?” I asked the two women.
“The First Angel ordered us to report here,” Lieutenant Jones answered. “Because we’re pregnant.”
“Both of you?”
Captain Singh nodded. “Yes.”
“They are both married to an angel,” Cadence told me. “Lieutenant Jones to Colonel Fireswift. And Captain Singh to Colonel Dragonblood.”
So the two women were here for the same reason as Cadence and I were. Nyx had stuffed all of her soldiers who were carrying the children of angels into this airship. No wonder there were so many guards that we could barely walk down the hall without bumping into someone. This wasn’t just about me and Cadence.
“A few months ago, I went to Crystal Falls for a training that was supposed to be conducted by Colonel Dragonblood,” I said to Captain Singh.
“Yes, he runs that training regularly,” she replied.
“But he didn’t go that time because his wife had the Fever.”
It was still called the Fever in non-angels who were the
wives of angels.
“You’re Colonel Dragonblood’s wife.”
“I am aware,” she said, amused.
“But that Crystal Falls training was months ago. You don’t appear that far along. Your belly is as flat as mine.”
“My, you are as direct as they say, Colonel,” Captain Singh told me.
I shrugged.
She laughed. “That Fever cycle was a bust, but oddly I had the Fever again last month. And that was a success.”
“How often does it happen that two Fever cycles fall so close together?” I asked.
“I’ve never heard of such a case before,” replied Captain Singh.
“Nor have I,” Lieutenant Jones chimed in.
I looked at Cadence.
She shook her head. “It just doesn’t happen.”
Just as I’d thought.
“And you had the Fever last month too?” I asked Lieutenant Jones.
“I did.”
“So did Cadence.” I chewed on this new information. “Don’t you think it’s kind of odd that we all had the Fever at the same time, especially when the fertility of Legion soldiers is so sporadic and infrequent?”
“It is indeed odd,” Captain Singh agreed.
“You think it means something?” Lieutenant Jones asked.
“I certainly don’t trust a coincidence like that,” said Cadence. “Especially, when it’s completely unprecedented.”
“But it’s not actually completely unprecedented.” I thought back to the legacy charts Colonel Fireswift had made me memorize. “Twenty-four years ago, many children of angels were born in the same month.”
“That’s when you were born,” Cadence said to me.
“Right. There were so many Legion brats in my initiation class. At the time, I didn’t realize how unusual that was. But now I know just how weird it really was. They aren’t ever that many Legion brats in an initiation class.”
“No, there aren’t.” Cadence’s face was contemplative. “One or two at most, from the luckiest, most fertile years. Not eight like in your initiation group.”
