“I’m sorry. I had no idea.” Light swelled from the angel to reach toward Adriel, then pulled back as though Estelle was afraid her touch might cause pain. “This is why I need you to teach me. You’re my high profile case.” The you idiot at the end was only implied.
“You need to learn from someone at the peak of their powers, not some half shell of a former angel who has fallen from grace.”
Estelle slapped hands over her eyes, took a deep breath to compose her features, squared her shoulders, then dropped her hands to pin Adriel with a you’re-an-idiot look.
“You did not fall from grace.”
How could she say that? Falling for what seemed like an eternity—feeling her body rushing toward the earth like a hammer dropping on an anvil; the wrenching, weightless lurching in her belly; the moment when her wings tore away, and then waking up to the heaviness of mortal flesh pressing against her soul—those were not normal experiences for an angel.
Falling was falling, no matter what Estelle wanted to call it.
Then a new thought hit Adriel. If she hadn’t fallen from grace, maybe she’d been thrown. Cast out of heaven. That was even worse.
“Just go, Estelle. What do you expect to learn from me if I’m bound for hell?”
For a flashing second Estelle’s energy skyrocketed again to a breath-stealing level. Adriel’s eyes burned dry, and then the pressure dropped as quickly as it had begun.
“You silly creature. Will you stop feeling sorry for yourself for just long enough to listen to what I am trying to tell you?”
Once upon a time. Okay, three months or so ago, angel or not, Adriel could have tuned into Estelle’s thoughts without leaving any sign she’d been there. Now, she could only judge moods based on facial expressions and posture. Set face, shoulders tight with tension, hands resting on her hips, and body leaning slightly forward—Estelle was angry and frustrated.
“You did not fall. You were not cast out.” She emphasized each word. “I’m new to angelhood—if that’s even a word—and no one really tells me anything useful because, as I said, I’m new. They’re keeping your status hush, but from what I’ve been able to piece together, they theorize the bridge snapping tossed you backward dimensionally turning you into a physical anchor to this world.”
“How is being tossed backward different from being cast out?”
“You’re not listening to me at all. Angel. In. A. Human. Body,” Estelle punctuated each word by tapping the tabletop with her fingers.
“What does that even mean? I have tiny flashes of power I can’t control, and everyone from home acts like I don’t exist. Believe me, I’ve called out to everyone I know.” That was the burning question in Adriel’s mind. Why, if she really was still some sort of an angel, had she been completely cut off from all contact with home?
“No one has told me how it all works. Honestly, I’m beginning to think it's because they don’t have a clue. You still have powers. I can feel them inside you. They’re—I’m not sure how to describe it exactly—choked with humanity. Muted by being bound to solid flesh, maybe. Or just by you believing they’re limited. You’d be the best judge of that, and you’d better plan on figuring it out soon, because this is only the beginning.”
“Beginning of what?” Adriel wasn’t even sure she wanted to know.
“Your next set of assignments,” Estelle said.
“My next set of assignments?”
“What? You thought the powers were done with you? That they wouldn’t find a way to capitalize on your unique situation?”
“I…” That was exactly what Adriel had been thinking. “What do they want me to do?”
“I’m trusting that when the time comes, we’ll both get the answer to that question. The way you took care of Billy the Earthwalker got their attention. You and the others managed to save Logan once he became a vessel.” Estelle’s nose wrinkled with distaste. No one who knew the details of how Logan degenerated into someone evil enough to carry an Earthwalker had any sympathy for him.
Estelle continued, “Most times the vessel dies. My sense is they want you to continue with some type of work along those lines.”
“I made an absolute hash of things. What would make them think doing it again is a good idea?”
“You know, I gave you credit for being smarter than this, and yet, you persist in thinking you are somehow being punished for what happened to Kat.” A flicker of some deeper emotion furrowed Estelle’s brow. “I worry they want you to enlist my granddaughter and her friends to help,” her voice lowered, “Also, I’m scared Julius and I won’t be experienced enough to protect you or them.”
Shaking off a shiver of worry, Estelle added, “You’re going to be contacted soon about your first assignment. Don’t ask me for details because I have none to give. Apparently there’s a loop and I’m not in it.”
One weight came off Adriel’s shoulders while another, newer one took its place. One having nothing to do with the physical burden of flesh she now carried, and everything to do with the way she’d gotten it. If she hadn’t been entirely cut off from grace, maybe she could still be useful in some capacity, which was all she ever wanted anyway.
Even though it gave her a renewed sense of purpose, she harbored no illusions about the various ways that wish could come back to bite her in the butt.
Chapter 4
“Go outside. Now. Hurry.”
Used to this form of communication, Adriel obeyed the voice in her head without thinking twice. Every mission she had ever performed started out with exactly this sort of directive, so it never occurred to her to question.
On the porch, she paused to orient herself. A tugging sensation
