She had me there. I owed her for telling me where the portal was located and for interceding for us after I got him out. Lucas and I could have been returned to Purgatory and confined there for decades as punishment. Helping Kerbasi find his humanity was actually light punishment in comparison.
“Fine.” I took hold of her hand. “I swear I won’t tell anyone.”
Somehow I suspected this would come back to haunt me, but what else could I do? She was my guardian angel. She wouldn’t do anything to purposely hurt me.
She grasped my palm and heat surged into it. It almost felt like a burning sensation, but the pain wasn’t unbearable. She kept her grip tight and didn’t let go of my hand until it passed.
“Thank you,” she said.
I checked over my hand. There wasn’t a visible mark and it didn’t hurt anymore. I detected a trace of residual magic under the skin, but nothing another sensor would pick up—unless I activated it by trying to break the oath. That much of the details had come to me while she was sealing it. She’d thought of everything when she’d designed the spell.
“Now tell me who you want me to meet,” I demanded, looking up at her.
Ariel closed her eyes. I could sense her using some sort of telepathic means of communication. A flash of light appeared a moment later. It was dimmer than hers had been, but the person who arrived was far more shocking than anyone I’d expected.
My jaw dropped. An almost exact replica of Lucas stood before me. Even his supernatural signature was the same to my senses. It was only his longer hair gave him away.
“Micah,” I gasped.
“It is good to see you again, sensor.”
Chapter Five
I opened my mouth, closed it, and opened it again trying to find something to say. For the past few months I’d imagined him lying somewhere unconscious and helpless while his body wasted away. Now he stood before me with an amused expression on his face, looking healthy and fit. He was even wearing his usual style of clothes—jeans and a black t-shirt.
“Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?” There. I’d formulated a coherent question. One I’d be expected to ask under the circumstances.
Micah leaned against the sink counter. “It’s complicated.”
“Oh, I gathered that much.” I gave him an accusing look. “Your brother is out there smashing down doors all over the place looking for you. Hell, he’s killing people just to get a scrap of information that could help him. Now you show up and say it’s complicated? How about you try that again?”
“Lucas is doing exactly what we need him to be doing. I assure you that almost every lead he is getting is directed where we need him to go,” Micah answered in a patient voice.
“Perhaps you should tell
him
that!”
“He is being watched.” Micah’s jaw tightened. “This is the only way we can involve him in our plans.”
“What plans?”
“We don’t have much time.” Micah took a step closer to me. “All I can tell you for now is that you’ll find out more when you go to Theirn’s ball in New Orleans. You’ll meet an important leader there who will explain what you need to know.”
“Lucas will be with me. How am I supposed to get away from him?”
“That will all be taken care of.”
“How will I know they’re the right person and not some random sup who hates me and wants to draw me out?” It wasn’t that farfetched of an idea.
Micah gave the archangel a questioning look. She nodded.
“There is a female sensor you met a few months ago—Honor. She will be the one to escort you to the leader.”
Honor. The girl who’d come forward to answer my questions after the battle to retake control of Fairbanks. Most of the sensors got away but we managed to capture some, including her. She’d been the one to help us find our people who’d been taken hostage by Zoe. I’d tried to convince her to stay in Fairbanks once we freed the sensors, but she’d insisted she had to go.
“Okay.” My mind raced. “I can work with that, but why all the cloak and dagger?”
Micah’s face hardened. “You’ll understand soon enough. The less you know for now, the better.”
Yeah, this conversation wasn’t the least bit frustrating.
“At least tell me how you got free.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Didn’t Zoe put you under a sleep spell?”
“She did, but it is one that must be maintained. For most people they only need it renewed once a month, but for me I need it every two weeks. I woke up confined at the sensor compound in a locked basement. Ariel freed me shortly afterward and got me away from there.”
We hadn’t found a basement when we went there, but the entrance might have been hidden. They’d certainly had decades to design and build it. Plus put protections in place so Micah couldn’t get out.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “Then why didn’t you come see us after that. Lucas should have been back from Purgatory by then.”
“It is difficult to explain…”
Ariel put a hand on Micah’s shoulder. “It is okay. The oath she’s taken will prevent her from speaking of the plan. We don’t have much time, but we can at least tell her part of it.”
He nodded.
She leveled her gaze with me. “We are working to free the nerou.”
It was like a bomb dropped on my chest. The nerou were the hybrid offspring of sensors and nephilim. Without exception, all of them were confined to Purgatory soon after birth. If either of the parents tried to stop an archangel from taking their child, they would be killed. I didn’t know why. Only that it was better to never get pregnant in the first place than risk that happening. Now I had an archangel standing before me saying she wanted to get them out.
“Let me get this straight.” I put a hand up. “You wouldn’t let me free them while I was in Purgatory, helped me prevent Zoe from doing it, but now you are working on it?”
“Zoe got impatient and took matters into her own hands without our knowledge. As for you, I wasn’t entirely certain you could get Lucas and yourself out. Much less the nerou.”
Glad to know she’d had so much faith in me.
“So I take it you have a better plan?”
“We do.” She inclined her head.
“One that Lucas can’t know about?”
“I have confidence he’d have no objections to aiding us if we told him, but for now we must guide his actions from afar without raising suspicion,” Ariel answered. “He is watched too closely to do otherwise.”
“Remiel?” I lifted a brow.
“Yes. All nephilim have guardian angels and Remiel is his. It is our duty to watch over those assigned to us and ensure they do not jeopardize the human race.”
That actually made a lot of sense, looking back on it. The way Remiel had behaved around Lucas had made me think he had some sort of permanent role to play, though neither had explained it to me. He just seemed a little too invested for it to be a part-time job. Now I was finding out the same held true for other nephilim.
“So who is Micah’s guardian angel?”
“I am,” Ariel said. “Though it is in a somewhat different role than my job with you. Those who are born mortal have more freedom of choice than those who aren’t.”
I tried to let it all sink in, but it was going to take some time to process. When I’d first learned I had a guardian angel, that had been weird enough. Finding out I shared her with Micah—and possibly others—was even more illuminating. Heaven had a lot more going on than I’d ever guessed.
“So this plan with the nerou. Remiel must be against it or you wouldn’t be going through this much trouble to keep him from finding out.” And manipulating Lucas and me in the process.
Ariel’s lips thinned. “Remiel is against any plan that changes the way things have always been done.”
He did seem rather uptight the few times I’d met him.
“Who was watching Zoe during her crazy escapades a few months ago and why wasn’t she stopped sooner?” Lucas couldn’t twitch wrong without Remiel stepping in, but somehow Zoe got away with all sorts of mayhem.
“Zadkiel.” She sighed. “Zoe has him wrapped around her little finger. It doesn’t help that we are overworked. More and more supernaturals are getting into trouble with the rise of technology and there aren’t enough of us to watch them all.”
“Let me get this straight. Despite having enough duties already, some of you are hatching this plan to free the nerou and doing it behind the back of some of your brethren.” I lifted my brow. “Do you think you can actually pull it off?”
“Some of the angels and I have been working in secret for centuries to find a way out for them that could not be thwarted, but only recently have things come together where it might be possible. This is in part thanks to the leader you will meet in New Orleans and partly as a result of your actions.”
“Me?” I pointed at myself. “How?”
“There is no time to explain. The guardian is getting restless and you must get back to him. But Melena…” She paused. “We need you for this plan to work. Please do not let us down.”
“And Kerbasi? How do I keep him out of the loop?” I asked.
“Good question.” She reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a vial. “Put this in his drink the night you arrive in New Orleans. Within half an hour it will render him unconscious through to the morning when you’ll have your meeting.”
I stared at the vial, debating whether or not to take it. She was asking a lot and telling me very little. How could they expect me to keep something this big from Lucas? And what was going to happen when he found out I’d been working with his “missing” brother behind his back?
We were still trying to get our relationship on even footing. I hated the idea of keeping this from him. Yet I’d seen the way he acted around the nerou. If he could free them himself he would. I’d have to hope he would forgive me for what I was about to do.
“Fine.” I took the vial from her and stuffed it into my purse. “I’ll go along with this, but your plan better be good.”
“It is, assuming everyone does their part.” Ariel gave me a meaningful look.
Micah pulled me into a hug and whispered in my ear. “If it is any consolation, Lucas is going to hate me for this even more than you.”
“Yeah, thanks,” I groused. “That’ll help me sleep at night.”
He let go and they flashed away, leaving me with a whole lot of unanswered questions. I’d dreaded going to New Orleans before, but now I was thinking next weekend couldn’t come fast enough. Whoever this leader was he had better be ready to talk.
I left the bathroom and headed back to the waiting area. Kerbasi had ditched the iPad and was pacing around the waiting area. The moment I got close to him he looked up.
“Your time in the bathroom was exceedingly long. Did you get food without me?” He gave me an accusing look.
Flying might make him green, but he hated missing an opportunity to eat now that he’d gotten accustomed to human food—unless it was my cooking.
I guided him over to the chairs and pushed the iPad into his hands. “I promise. You’ll get a nice meal when we get home.”
“Was it the toilets then? I find them rather disturbing, but I should think you’d be used to them.”
“No, it wasn’t the toilets. Just watch your movie,” I ordered.
Chapter Six
As soon as we returned to Fairbanks I dumped my bags in the house and headed out back. Daylight spilled through the trees, lighting up the rough path I took through the woods. Houses in my area were spread far apart. It didn’t take much effort to avoid seeing any of my neighbors.
I trekked along with no particular destination in mind, allowing my mind to wander. Micah was okay. He’d gotten out of the place Zoe had stashed him—and they were planning something. Something to do with the nerou. And I couldn’t tell Lucas.
He was out there right now searching for his twin brother and I—the woman who was supposed to love and support him—couldn’t tell him the truth. How was I supposed to look him in the eye the next time we saw each other? Had I betrayed him by making the vow?
I stepped over a log and kept walking, pushing aside brush as I went. What kind of plans did Micah and Ariel have that could get the nerou out of Purgatory and keep them from being sent back? Why did I have to meet someone else to find out more?
A small stream lay up ahead. One of my favorite places to draw when I had my sketch pad with me. I settled down next to a tree and leaned against it. Birds chirped and small animals rustled in the brush. Their life was simple, mine was in turmoil.
The nerou.
An entire race of people who’d never tasted ice cream, watched a movie, or even seen flowers. Purgatory was a desolate place devoid of color or life and that’s all they’d ever been allowed to know. What was it about them that made them such a threat? I’d only seen them once for about five minutes and hadn’t had the chance to find out much. One thing was certain—if Lucas and I ever had children, they'd be sent there, too. Unless we did something about it.
The instigators of this plot to free them weren’t stupid. They could make me keep any knowledge of Micah a secret through the vow, but they couldn’t force me to cooperate with their grand plan. No, they were counting on me doing it because of what was at stake. I could end up with a child being sent there one day—even if I’d die first trying to stop it.