behind him whatever decision he made. It wasn’t his fault, although I knew he would assume responsibility. Michael had appeared without any forewarning and there had been no time to shield Molly. When the archangels were on a mission, they did not make allowances for human frailty. They served God single-mindedly, delivering His word and His will to those on earth. When Lot’s wife had disobeyed their command several thousand years ago, they’d reduced her to a pillar of salt without hesitation. They carried out their mission with fierce determination, obliterating all that stood in their path. Molly had posed no threat to Michael and he had overlooked her, leaving Gabriel to deal with the fallout. I wondered if like me, my brother was changing. Living among human beings made it difficult to maintain divine neutrality. Gabriel was loyal to the Kingdom, but he had seen proof of Xavier’s commitment to me and he knew the depth of our attachment. I knew he would never break his allegiance to the Holy Seven, to his rank of archangels, but he seemed different than when we’d first arrived in Venus Cove. Then he had been a representative of the Lord, watching the world go by with a detached, measured outlook. Now he seemed to truly want to understand its workings.
Gabriel began to pace, and before I knew it, he’d walked right through me. He stopped abruptly and I knew by the look in his eyes he’d picked up a vibration in the air. I longed for him to tell the others he could sense my presence, but I knew my brother and how his mind worked. There was no point in telling Xavier and Molly I was there. They couldn’t see or touch or speak to me in any way. It would only make things harder for them. Gabriel’s face returned to normal and he crossed to where Molly was sitting and settled on the arm of the sofa beside her. She instinctively gravitated toward him, but Gabriel made no move to touch her.
“Are you sure you can handle the truth?” he asked. “Please keep in mind that it may affect you for the rest of your life.” Molly nodded mutely and kept her eyes fixed on his. “Very well then — what you saw was indeed an angel. In fact, it was the Archangel Michael. He came to offer help so you have nothing to fear.”
“You mean he was real?” she whispered, seeming hypnotized by the idea. “Angels are real?”
“As real as you are.”
Molly frowned as she considered the astounding information Gabriel was offering her. “Why am I the only one who’s freaking out?”
Gabriel drew a deep breath and I could see vacillation in his eyes, but he’d gone too far to back out now. “Michael is my brother,” he said softly. “We are one and the same.”
“But you …,” Molly began. “You aren’t … how can that … I don’t understand.” Her own lack of comprehension was flustering her.
“Listen, Molly. Do you remember when you were young and your parents told you the story of Christmas?”
“Of course,” Molly stumbled. “Doesn’t everyone?”
“Do you remember the story of the Annunciation? Can you tell me about it?”
“I … I think so,” Molly stuttered. “An angel appeared to the Virgin Mary in Nazareth bringing news that she was going to have a child and name him Jesus and he would be the Son of God.”
“Very good,” said my brother approvingly. He leaned in closer to her. “Now, Molly, can you also remember that angel’s name?”
“His name?” Molly looked confused. “He didn’t have one. Oh, wait, yes he did. It was … he was … the angel”—she drew a sharp intake of breath and looked like she might be on the brink of passing out again—“the Angel Gabriel.”
“That would be me,” my brother said almost unassumingly.
“Don’t worry, it took me a while to get my head around it,” Xavier added. Molly barely heard him. She was still gaping wordlessly at Gabriel. “Gabriel, Ivy, and Beth are all angels,” Xavier added. “A whole other world exists around us that most of us are never aware of.”
“I need to know that you understand,” Gabriel pressed Molly. “If this is too much for you, I can ask Ivy to wipe your memory. If you are going to be a part of this you need to be clearheaded. We are not the only supernatural creatures here. There are beings out there darker than you can imagine and they’ve taken Beth. If we’re going to get her back, we need to be united.”
“It’s okay, Molly,” said Xavier, reading the fear in her face. “Gabriel and Ivy won’t let anything happen to you. Besides, it’s not us the demons are interested in.” That got Molly’s attention.
“What do you mean demons!” she shrieked, leaping off the sofa. “Nobody said anything about demons!”
Gabriel looked across at Xavier and shook his head in disapproval. “This isn’t working,” he decided. “I think we need Ivy.”
“No, wait,” Molly jumped in. “I’m sorry, I just need a minute. I want to help you. Who did you say has taken Beth?”
“She was abducted on Halloween by a demon who has been here before,” Gabriel said. “We think he was invited back by your seance. You may remember him as Jake Thorn. He attended Bryce Hamilton briefly last year.”
“The Australian guy?” Molly asked, scrunching up her face as she tried to tap into the memories that Ivy had deleted from her mind like files from a computer.
“British,” Xavier corrected.
“Believe me, he’s someone you never want to cross paths with,” Gabriel said.
“Oh my God,” Molly groaned. “Beth was right about the seance. Why didn’t I listen to her? This is all my fault.”
“There is no point in blaming yourself,” Gabriel said. “It won’t help us get her back. We need to focus now.”
“Okay, what do I need to do?” Molly asked bravely.
“We’re leaving for Tennessee in a few hours,” Gabriel said.
“You just need to stay here and not breathe a word of this to anyone.”
“Hold up.” Molly rose to her feet. “You’re not leaving without me.”
“Oh, yes, we are,” Xavier said and I could see the animosity between them flare up again.
“It would be safer for you to stay behind,” Gabriel said emphatically.
“No,” Molly insisted. “You can’t drop a bombshell like that and then leave me behind to stress over it.”
“We can’t wait,” Gabriel said. “You would need to talk to your parents, notify the school ….”
“Who gives a stuff about school?” Molly said. “Hello? I ditch all the time.” She pulled her cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans. “I’ll tell Mom I’m staying at Tara’s for a few days.”
Before anyone could stop her, Molly was punching in numbers and ducking into the kitchen. I heard her spouting a familiar story about Tara having broken up with her boyfriend, being a mess, and needing her friends around her.
“This is a really bad idea,” Xavier said. “I mean it’s
But I trusted my brother’s judgment completely. While I was worried about Molly being involved I knew that she could be levelheaded when she needed to be.
Ivy didn’t appear to share my opinion and for the first time I witnessed real dissent between her and Gabriel. A door slammed somewhere in the hall and suddenly she was in the room with us wearing an expression like thunder. She threw down the two duffel bags she’d packed. Her ice blue eyes kept flickering toward the kitchen and back to Gabriel. The stress of the situation seemed to have brought out a new side of Ivy. My gentle, patient sister was fading fast and in her place was a soldier of the Kingdom, a seraphim preparing for battle. I knew that seraphim rarely got angry, it took a lot to invoke their wrath. Ivy’s behavior told me that perhaps my capture meant more than I realized.
“This is a serious breach of the rules,” Ivy said darkly, turning to Gabriel. “We can’t afford any more setbacks.”
“What rules?” Xavier asked. “There don’t seem to be any.”
“Demons have never targeted us before,” my sister replied. “They go after humans in order to spite Heaven. But this time they’ve taken one of our own knowing we must retaliate. Unless that’s exactly what they want us to do … in which case they’re trying to start a war.” Her gaze fell on Molly. “It’s not safe for her.”
“Like I said,” Gabriel replied. “I don’t think we have a choice anymore.”
“Just because Molly and Bethany are school friends does not mean we can simply abandon normal procedure.”
