Antiphon

Gabe pulls back and looks into my eyes. “But there’s more. Something even bigger.”

I look back at Luc and his face goes white. He shakes his head slowly. Gabe looks up at him and nods.

“Sway. ” Luc whispers, his brow creasing as if he had a sudden headache. He drops his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Unholy Hell. ”

“What?” I say. A shudder runs down my spine and Gabe pulls me close again.

“Hitler, Moses. what do they have in common?”

I’m in no frame of mind to work out a riddle. “Just tell me what’s going on.” I hate that my voice sounds so small and weak.

“You know the story of Moses. He had the ability to make people listen: to sway their opinions, their thoughts. There had never been anyone like that before. When Lucifer saw what he could do, how God worked through him, he realized he’d screwed up. The next time someone showed up with that same degree of Sway, Lucifer wasn’t going to get beat out. He fought-dirty, I might add,” he says, glaring at Luc, “and he won. We all know what happened in Nazi Germany. There hasn’t been another with that same power until now.” He shares a meaningful glance with Luc and then looks back at me. “You.”

I look at Luc, who’s standing wide-eyed and slack-jawed, horrified.

“Listen, here’s the deal. If they get to you,” Gabe juts his chin toward Luc, “influence you, you’re Hitler-but worse. If you stay with us, you’re Moses. Your power is only going to get stronger.” His jaw clenches and he shakes his head. “And you’re not naive for believing people are innately good, Frannie.”

I feel so small, my whole body collapsing down on itself as everything real, everything I’ve ever known, vanishes. Pieces of a hundred questions tease me, but I can’t put them together in a way that makes sense-except one.

“Why now?” I hear myself whisper.

“You’re coming into your own now. When you were young, we were able to Shield you, to keep you off their radar.” He shoots a glance at Luc. “But not anymore.”

My voice is still a harsh whisper. It’s all I can manage. “What do you want from me?”

He traces a finger along the collar of my shirt to my chest and taps it there, over my heart. “Just for you to follow your heart. Do what’s right.”

I bark out a mirthless laugh that doesn’t even sound like mine. “I’m no saint.”

“I never said you were. But, like it or not, this is what you are. Who you are. And my job is to be here for you-in any way you need me.”

Luc

And as he says it, I know Gabriel is right. This is what I felt in her soul. It’s why Beherit sent me out looking for her and why King Lucifer wants her so badly that he’s willing to chance breaking a rule or two.

She looks stunned-eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. “You guys got the wrong sister. You must be mixing me up with Grace.”

Gabriel nestles his face into her hair. “You’re already swinging the balance. You, Frannie. Not Mary or Kate or Grace or Maggie. You. If you have the power to transform Shit-for-Brains over there,” he glowers at me, “just imagine the difference you can make in the mortal realm. The difference you’ve probably already made without even knowing it.”

My back hits the wall as if someone pushed me, and my legs won’t hold me anymore. I slide down the wall and sit on the floor.

Sway.

Frannie’s got Sway. And if what Gabriel just implied is true, her power has never been rivaled in a mortal. He’s saying her power is what changed me-a creature of Hell. And not just my mind, but my physical being. How is that possible? Even Moses had no influence over the celestial or infernal. And if that’s true, it’s not just the masses she can sway. She has power beyond that of even King Lucifer. She could change the shape of Heaven and Hell.

My king’s words echo in my head. It’s my turn. This is my chance. I will be out from under Him- finally. King Lucifer thinks He can manipulate Heaven-maybe even the Almighty-through Frannie.

“Be careful what you wish for,” she whispers, as lost in her own thoughts as I am in mine.

There’s torment in Gabriel’s eyes as he looks into Frannie’s. “Your power is getting stronger every day. You need to see that you have pull on people’s thoughts and emotions and therefore their actions.” He glances toward me and his eyes drop to her hand, where he twines his fingers with hers. “And it’s not just people you have that effect on. You’ll always get what you want if it’s in your control.”

Frannie pulls away from him and suddenly there’s rage. Black pepper floods the room. “I want my brother back. I don’t have that,” she spits.

He looks at her with sad eyes. “The only one with control over that is God.”

All I can do is watch as her expression shifts from rage through shock into panic. “This is wrong. I’m not a saint or an angel. I’m not even a good person. I’m going to Hell. I already know that.”

Why would she think that? I look at Gabriel. His expression is pained and sickeningly sympathetic. He pulls her to his shoulder and she melts into him. When the scent of Frannie’s warm chocolate seeps through his celestial stench, I feel something cold and black wrap around my heart and squeeze. I’d kill him if I didn’t think Frannie needed him.

“What happened-the reason you think you’re going to Hell-it wasn’t your fault,” he says into her hair.

“You’re so full of shit,” she spits, pulling away. “I killed my brother.”

The bottom drops out of my stomach. The boy in the picture-that explains the haunted look in her eye when I asked about him. So much pain-the same pain that was buried so deep that first day we met, when I asked what she’d like to undo.

Gabriel is still looking at her, shaking his head. “You didn’t kill him, Frannie. It was his time. That’s all.”

It’s like watching a volcano erupt. The words spill out of her mouth like burning lava. “Yeah. Just keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better about stealing children from their families.”

Gabriel slides a little closer to her on the couch, but she moves away. “He is with his family. God called him home.”

“Well, then, your God sucks.”

I move across the room and sit next to her. I take her hand, wanting-no, needing- to do something to ease her pain.

“I think what Gabriel said is true, Frannie. If you killed him you’d already be tagged for Hell, and you’re not.”

“Well, I should be,” she says, pulling herself away from my touch.

I lift her chin with my finger, staring down into her deep sapphire eyes. “No, you shouldn’t,” I say and lean in to kiss her. For only the third time, I push my power on Frannie, to draw out all her pain and her misdirected anger. It’s not nearly enough, but it’s all I know how to do.

Frannie

I hesitate, but then I look into those black eyes that can see my soul. And when his lips touch mine, I feel everything shift, and all my anger melts away. When his eyes finally release me I feel calm, the acid in my core and the ache in my heart gone.

Gabe pulls a deep sigh and looks at me with wounded eyes, and my guilt crushes me. I need them both in ways I can’t even understand. Gabe moves across the room and sits in the chair under the window.

I drop my head and stare into my lap.

Luc squeezes me. “So, back to my original question. What the hell is happening to me? What exactly is it that