Like Deacon, come to collect the two relics he needed to complete his collection.
I should be so lucky . . .
Because it wasn’t Deacon. It was Gabriel. And he exploded through the wall with such force that the tunnel began to collapse around us. “Run!” I shouted to Kiera, who really didn’t need the encouragement.
Neither did I, for that matter, and we raced together toward the opposite end of the tunnel, with Gabriel coming up fast on our heels, the rock walls imploding as he moved, as if sucked in by the magnetic force of him.
“Through here,” Kiera said, diving through a person-sized hole that had opened up in the wall.
I followed her, and I was almost through when the whole world seemed to shake.
I tried to shift away, but it was no use—the rocks came tumbling down, and I was trapped.
And somewhere behind me, a pissed-off archangel was fast approaching.
TWENTY-TWO
“My leg!” Icried. “It’s stuck. Dammit.” Withmy free foot, I smashed hard against the boulder, trying to shift it. Even with my über-girl strength, however, I couldn’t manage it.
“On three,” Kiera said, positioning herself beside me. Behind the wall of boulders, I could hear Gabriel coming, picking the rocks up and tossing them away as easily as if they were cotton balls. “One, two, three.”
She shoved, and I pushed, and it took our combined hyped-up strength to move the damn thing, but we managed, getting it to shift just enough for me to pull my leg free. “Can you walk?”
“I damn well better be able to run,” I said. “Where’s the portal? Where’s the damn portal?”
“I don’t know,” she said, hooking an arm around my waist. “Clarence!” she called, uselessly. “Where’s our damned portal!”
“I don’t think it works that way,” I said, wincing as I tried to run. I might heal faster now, but not instantaneously, and I was pretty sure some bone was seriously crushed.
“Shit,” Kiera said, turning back to look behind us. “He’s coming through.”
Sure enough, I could see a bright light shining through a small hole in the wall of boulders. Then fingers in the hole, and then he was pushing the boulders aside, and the hole was growing bigger and bigger and—
“There!” Kiera said, and I turned and saw the portal opening up on the stone floor in front of us.
She had my hand, and she raced forward, pulling me along with her. I was slower, but still managing to eat up the distance. Even so, I wasn’t fast enough, and I could hear Gabriel behind me. Could feel the tug of his energy on my back. “Kiera,” I called. “Your hand.”
She slowed, her fingers outstretched, and I latched on. “Jump!” I said, and she did. We hung in space for a moment, trapped between the whirlpool-like suction of the portal and the magnetic pull of Gabriel’s fingers. And then I heard a schlurp, and we were in the portal, and the tug from the angel was gone, and we were sliding down, down, down into the sweet abyss.
Never have I enjoyed nothingness so much, and when we emerged with a thump onto Zane’s training mat, I just lay there, my arms akimbo, reveling in the fact that we got away.
“Qu’est que c’est?” Zane asked, hurrying to us. “What is it, mes fleurs?”
“Demon,” Kiera said, though she looked at me when she spoke, her expression queer. “Really powerful.”
“Did you get the relic?” Clarence asked.
“Got it,” I said. “And we’re fine, thanks for asking. Kiera saved us.”
“She died,” Kiera said. “All in a day’s work for Lily.”
“Let me see the relic,” Clarence said, completely uninterested in jokes.
“That’s what she died for,” Kiera said. “It was like a test. I don’t think he expected she’d pass it.”
“It’s just a jewel,” I said, pulling it out of my collar and holding it out for him to see. “Hard to believe it has such power.”
“And the third piece?” he asked. “Has your arm lit up now?”
I shook my head, then pulled up my sleeve. “Nothing.”
He grabbed my arm and peered close, then muttered the incantation over it again.
“Jeez, Clarence, get a grip. It’ll pop when it’s ready.” In truth, though, I was thrilled the damn thing hadn’t popped. I needed to get Clarence alone. Because I realized now that we were getting so close to the end that there was no time to waste. As much as the prospect terrified me, I needed to kill him and take his essence so that I could figure out how to find the Vessel of the Keeper. And I needed to do that before my arm popped again.