usual obnoxious self, Sykes. Izzy, do your best to shut him down. Lil and I will take the East hallway and walk towards the Academy. If anyone appears, detain them. We want Remy to get everything we need because once we leave the valley, we can’t use our powers.”
“Me? Obnoxious?” Sykes asked.
“Yes, you are,” Izzy retorted as the two headed downstairs to the secret door in the basement.
“What about me?” Kylie asked, biting her nails.
“You stay here,” Remy snapped. “What were you thinking, driving her out there in the first place?”
Kylie’s eyes grew big and she visibly cringed.
“It’s not her fault, Remy,” I warned him. “Kim fed her a story and she fell for it. It’s not your fault, Kylie. Kim should have known better.”
“She shouldn’t be involved in Guardian business in the first place,” Remy retorted, following us downstairs. He disappeared inside his room and came out with a satchel.
“How long have they been doing this?” Bran asked as we entered the tunnel leading to HQ.
“About a week,” I said. “Cade let it slip when we met at Fun Park this afternoon.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Remy asked.
I glanced at him over my shoulder. “Tattle on her? I don’t think so. Besides, isn’t our motto, ‘Don’t confess unless you are busted’?”
“You of all people should know things are different now,” Remy snapped. “Archangels are just waiting for one of us to screw up and lead them back to the valley. You should have told us.”
“I found out this afternoon, Remy. You guys live with her. How could you not know she wasn’t in the house every night?” I retorted just as we reached Izzy and Sykes.
Remy shot me a nasty look. “We can’t all close our eyes and find the exact location of people’s energies.”
I blinked. Where did that come from?
“Ease up, man,” Bran cut in. “We are all worried about her, so there’s no need to turn on each other.”
“I’m with Bran on this,” Sykes said. “You need to chill, dude. Because if we are passing blame, I shouldn’t have told her about the caves.”
“Damn right.” Remy turned to Izzy. “You knew about them too?”
Izzy’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you give me that nasty look. I tried to talk her out of it several times, but no one tells Kim what to do.”
“You should have tried harder,” Remy said through gritted teeth and stomped ahead of us.
“What crawled up his pants?” I heard Sykes ask as Bran and I followed Remy.
“You know how protective he gets,” Izzy said. “He’ll probably blame himself if something happens to her.”
No, Remy’s behavior went beyond that of a team leader. Could he have feelings for Kim? He disappeared into the short hallway leading to the weapons room.
“He’s kind of overreacting,” I said.
Bran shook his head. “I don’t know. He’s been in a crappy mood since they graduated. Sykes said he needs some girls.”
Or maybe just one. “When did Kim start dating Keiran?”
“The beginning of sum…oh, you think Remy
“It’s possible. His reaction right now was over the top, very unlike him.” We reached where the hallways met and branched off to the Academy and the Psi-dar room. The lights were blazing on the Academy side, loud cheers reaching us. They must have been re-watching the circus performance.
The wait was hard. Any second, I expected us to be caught. I sighed with relief when Remy reappeared in the hallway with the bulging satchel and hurried toward Izzy and Sykes. Once he was in the clear, we followed.
Back upstairs, we found Kylie pacing. She was a hot mess.
“We can’t suit up here,” Bran said when Remy unzipped the bags. He had brought our hunting clothes, including boots. “If anyone sees us, we will look like we’re going hunting.”
That made sense. I’d worn a Gypsy skirt and ballet flats to go bowling. Remy could have transformed them easily, but we couldn’t afford to use our powers.
“I’ll drive,” Remy said, still sounding pissed. He stuck out his hand toward Kylie, who quickly handed him the truck keys.
We snuck out of the house, looked up and down the street to make sure no one saw us, and piled inside Cade’s truck. Bran and I shared the front passenger seat while Sykes, Izzy, and Kylie piled into the back. Tension hung in the air as we took off. Any moment, I expected a Cardinal or Master Haziel to appear in front of the car and stop us.
The tension eased a bit when we reached Mountain Road without being stopped. We barreled down the hill, cut through the Island and headed toward First Dam. “So you left the Specials with Cade?” Izzy asked.
“I had no choice. The girl did something to him,” Kylie said. “He kept asking who they were and where Kim was. The girl was so rude. She told him to shut up, waved her hand and Cade fell. I don’t even know if he’s okay or not.” Her voice shook to a stop. “Then she ordered me to get you if I valued my friend’s life. She was so scary.”
The Angelia I knew was sweet. She often listened to Daryl, who was the oldest of the Specials. Another long silence filled the car as Remy raced past First Dam and hit Highway 89. The canyon road meandered, but he didn’t slow down as he took the corners. No one complained.
The parking lot near the Wind Caves was empty when we screeched to a stop and jumped out. “Where are they?” Izzy asked.
Right on cue, Daryl and Angelia materialized. Cade wasn’t with them.
“Where’s Cade?” Kylie asked in a screechy voice.
Daryl pointed toward the cave. “He’s up there. Asleep. We’ll bring him out.”
Despite his words, Kylie stared toward the cave and chewed on a nail.
My gaze swung from Daryl to Angelia. She usually couldn’t wait to give me a hug. This time, she stayed by Daryl’s side and glowered.
“How did you find us, Angelia?” I asked.
“We followed Cardinal Kim’s telegate,” Daryl answered, his silver eyes eerie under the truck’s headlights.
“What happened to Kim?” Bran asked.
Daryl reached out and took Angelia’s hand. Her lips were still scrunched up and her eyes narrowed.
“Angelia?” I moved toward her. She took a step away from me, her hands fisted. Frowning, I stopped. “Did something bad happen to Kim?”
“You lied to us,” Angelia hissed.
I blinked. “What are you talking about?”
“You destroyed our home and killed Coronis,” she yelled. “You killed our mommies and daddies.”
My heart dropped. We’d defeated Coronis and her followers nearly a year ago, but I’d dreaded the day she would learn the truth about what happened.
“Angelia.” I took another step toward her.
She launched herself at me, catching me unaware and nearly making me lose my balance. Punches rained on my arms, stomach and chest, anywhere she could reach.
“Why did you do it?” she yelled. “Why? You are one of us.”
Too shocked to grab her wrists and stop her, I just stood there and let her vent.
Someone plucked her up from behind and lifted her away from me. Bran. Without speaking, he marched with the kicking and screaming Angelia to the other side of the parking lot.
I didn’t realize I was shaking until Izzy put her arms around me. She said something I didn’t catch or didn’t want to, I don’t know. Tears welled in my eyes, but I blinked rapidly. This was no time to cry. We had to take Angelia and Daryl home before the Psi-dar detected their presence, the find Kim and bring her home before the security team noticed we were gone.
Across the narrow parking lot, Angelia continued to struggle against Bran. We were too far to hear his
