Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1)(29)

He puts a pillow under my head. As he’s doing this, he brushes hair out of my face and sweeps it behind my ear. His touch is warm and smooth. I should be scared, but I’m not. “You’ll be all right,” he says. “The men will have strict orders to be gentlemanly toward you.”

I guess it doesn’t take a mind reader to know that I might be worried about that. “Thank you,” I say.

Obi and his man collect the bowls of stew and leave. The lock clicks behind them.

“Thank you?” asks Raffe.

“Shut up. I’m exhausted. I really need to get some sleep.”

“What you need is to decide who’s on your side and who’s not.”

“Will you tell them?” I don’t want to get specific in case someone’s listening. I hope he understands what I mean. If Raffe and I make it to the aerie, he’ll have intel on the infant resistance movement. If he tells the other angels and they kill off the movement, I’ll be the Judas of my kind.

There’s a long pause.

If he doesn’t tell, will he be the Judas of his kind?

“Why did you come here?” he asks, blatantly changing the subject. “Why didn’t you run away like we both know you should have?”

“Stupid, huh?”

“Very.”

“I just…couldn’t.”

I want to ask him why he risked his life to save mine when his people kill us every day. But I can’t. Not here, not now. Not while someone may be listening.

We lie in silence, listening to the crickets.

After a long time, as I drift away to a numb place, he whispers in the dark. “They’re all asleep except for the guards.”

I’m instantly alert. “You have a plan?”

“Sure. Don’t you? You’re the rescuer.” The moon has moved, and the light coming through the window is dimmer now. But it’s still enough for me to see the darker shadow of his form getting up from his cot. He comes over to me and starts untying me.

“How the hell did you do that?”

“When you’re storming the aerie, remember that ropes won’t hold angels.” He whispers the last word.

I’d forgotten how much stronger he is than a man.

“You mean you could have gotten out all that time? You don’t even need me. Why didn’t you do it already?”

“What, and miss the fun of rattling their tiny little brains wondering what happened?” He swiftly unties me and pulls me to my feet.

His evasive maneuver doesn’t escape me. “Ah, I get it. You can escape at night, but not during the day. You can’t outrun bullets, can you?”

Like most people, my first introduction to angels was through the looping footage of the Archangel Gabriel being shot. I can’t help but wonder if the angels would have been less hostile if we hadn’t immediately killed their leader. At least, they think he was killed. No one knows for sure because the body wasn’t recovered, or so they said. The legion of winged men floating behind him dispersed with the panicked crowd, quickly disappearing into the smoky sky. I wonder if Raffe was part of that legion.

He arches his brow at me, clearly refusing to discuss the effect of bullets on angels.

I give him a smug smile. You’re not as perfect as you look.

I walk over to the door and put my ear to it. “Is there anyone else in the building?”

“No.”

I try to turn the knob but it’s locked.

Raffe sighs. “I was hoping not to show excessive strength and raise suspicion.” He reaches for the knob, but I stop him.

“Well then, good thing I got us covered.” I pull a slim lockpick and tension wrench out of my back pocket. The soldier who searched me before tying me up did a fast job. He was looking for guns or bulky knives, not skinny little picks.

“What’s that?”

I get to work on the lock. It feels good to surprise him with a talent that angels don’t have.

Click.

“Voila.”

“Talkative, but talented. Who would have thought?”

I open my mouth to make a smartass comeback, then realize I’d only be proving his point, so I stay quiet, just to prove that I can.

We sneak out into the hallway and stop at the back door.

“Can you hear the guards?”

He listens for a moment. He points to eleven o’clock and five o’clock. We wait.

“What’s in here?” I ask, pointing at the closed doors.

“Who knows? Supplies maybe?”

I start for one of the doors, thinking of venison or even guns.

He grabs my arm and shakes his head. “Don’t get greedy. If we raid them on our way out, they’re less likely to just forget about us. We don’t want trouble if we can avoid it.”

He’s right, of course. Besides, who’d be stupid enough to store guns in the same place as their prisoners? But the thought of venison makes my mouth water. Oh, I should have bargained for that stew while I had the chance.

After a few moments, Raffe nods and we slip out into the night.

~

We make a run for it, Raffe and me. My heart flip-flops in my chest as I pump my legs as fast as they will go. The air frosts from my mouth. The smell of soil and trees beckons us toward the forest. The trees rustling in the wind masks the sound of our pounding feet.