Iniquity (The Premonition, #5)(45)

“Good,” he says with a reassuring smile. “I’ll come for you soon—to the Arctic. I just have to do something first.”

“What?’ I ask with apprehension.

“I have to get the boatswain from your father.”

“It’s a key to Sheol. Why do you want it?”

“It’s a weapon, Evie. It harms half-angels—it hurt you. It has different sound frequencies. Some sounds open doors and some sounds maim or kill. I have to retrieve it from Tau so that no one can use it against you.” Scraping against the door causes me to shift from foot to foot in nervous anticipation. Reed is calm—ready for anything.

“There’s something I have to tell you, Reed. There’s another half-angel—an evil one. His name is Emil. He was in my last lifetime with me. He’s—” BANG the bolt is thrown from the door. Instead of finishing my thought, I whisper, “I love you.”

“You are love, Evie.”

The door swings open. Power angels swarm in. They run right through me, scattering my clone’s light. I manage to reassemble the shimmering image of me in time to see Reed jump over several of them and fly through the cell’s door. The door crashes closed behind him as he locks the other angels in the dungeon.

I can’t help the smile that forms on my lips as I hurry to the cell’s door and pass through it. Reed is on the other side, waiting for me. His perfect mouth leans nearer to my clone’s lips. “I want so much to kiss you right now,” he says. In this light, his face and body show the strain of his captivity. Although there are no marks on him, he has a hollow look about him that makes me feel even more contempt for his captors.

“If I thought for one second that I could hold my form, I’d have already kissed you, but I’m having a hard time keeping my consciousness in my clone.”

“Are you hurt? Are they mistreating you?” he asks.

“No, it’s not the divine angels. I’m just tired—so much has happened so fast.”

While Reed casts a shadow on the wall, my form throws only light. “I was worried about you, Evie,” he admits. “When I saw you fall, I thought for a moment that Tau killed you. I retaliated against your father—I nearly killed him.”

“He doesn’t look like you hurt him too badly,” I whisper, my eyes going to the end of the hallway where Tau fills the archway; his red wings spread wide. He has no emotion except an expression of superiority on his face.

Tau doesn’t approach Reed, but instead pulls his phone from his pocket and connects with a number on speed dial. Holding the phone to his ear, he says, “Evie’s here. She sent a clone, Xavier.” He listens for a moment before he adds, “Yes. Now.” Pulling the phone away from his ear, he ends the call.

In the back of my mind, I hear a commotion. It’s a build up of echoes—a slamming of a door—faraway, like the ocean in a shell—footsteps. I feel my upper arms seized, but Reed hasn’t touched me. My clone fades, her light scattering sparks into the darkness of the hallway. My name reverberates off the brown stone walls surrounding us. “Do you hear that?” I ask Reed beside me.

“I hear nothing,” he replies with a grim expression.

“It’s Xavier.” I draw my clone’s light back to her in a desperate attempt to stay with Reed. Xavier’s presence is all around me—his scent is time and distance—so vast I can’t ever escape it.

A violent shake scatters my clone’s light again in glowing embers like the stirring of a campfire in the middle of the night. Sparks dance away, up and out from me. I feel Xavier’s touch. He becomes the wind lifting this body away.

“Xavier’s in my room with me. He’s trying to bring me back to him, Reed.”

“I’ll find you,” Reed promises as his shoulders bend toward my clone. His need to protect me is written in his eyes. “Soon.”

Looking away from Reed, towards Tau, I call to my father, “Don’t hurt Reed.”

Tau’s voice is stern. “You’re not in control here.”

Something cold swabs my bicep. The scent of rubbing alcohol assails my nose. A dull pain sticks my arm. My head spins with dizziness; Reed and Xavier are before me as two different planes of reality merge at once. I become a dead star collapsing, compressing all my energy into an internal fire. The light within my clone bursts into a shower of sparks. My consciousness emerges from that reality, being torn away from Reed as I propel back into this one. I open my eyes and find my head cradled beneath Xavier’s arm while he holds my limp body to him upon the bed’s white blanket. The fire still crackles in the grate. It’s quiet in my Arctic bedroom with just the soft sound of Xavier’s heartbeat.

“What did you do?” I ask, grogginess overwhelming me.

“I had to bring you back,” he whispers near my ear. “I gave you a mild sedative. You can rest now.” His lips press to my forehead. When he pulls away, my cheek falls upon his shoulder.

I struggle against the darkness that is pulling me into it. “You shouldn’t have drugged me. I’ll fall asleep, Xavier.”

“That’s the plan,” he says in a lulling voice.

“Brennus will be there...he’ll be waiting for me,” I manage to say in a thready tone. “He can find me...whenever I close...my...eyes...”