Julie exchanged a sidelong glance with Kat. “They were with us when we found the last cache. We saw them become angels right before this booming voice told them you had fallen and it was up to them to look after you.”
The explanation had a very different effect on Adriel than expected. She levered off the sofa to rant.
“Well isn’t that just dandy. Humans knowing angel business…and I’m left in the dark. No one tells me anything anymore, and I’m sick of it. There are rules. I followed those rules. Okay, maybe not there at the end, but still…you can’t tell me I was a bad angel. I took good care of my charges. Amethyst can tell you.” While Adriel worked herself up, a familiar prickling sensation stole over the women who watched. “…tell me I’m an angel in a human body then treat me like an outcast. I’ve had just about enough of this.”
Adriel paced like a caged animal. “Estelle, you show yourself right now! I know how this works, don’t act like you can’t hear me when I know you can.”
The prickling increased. “See, I can feel you there. Show yourself!”
“That’s enough!” Estelle’s voice boomed, though she did not show herself as ordered.
“Oh, it’s not even close to enough. I have questions and I want answers. Don’t tell me I am still an angel and treat me like a mortal.”
“Then stop acting like one. I don’t have time to hold your hand right now. Julius is missing, and the council seems to think you’re the only one who can help me find him. In order for you to do that, you’re going to have to get over this ridiculous identity crisis. So, from one angel to another, I’m telling you to suck it up and find a way to be helpful.” Estelle withdrew her energy.
“Did she just tell me to suck it up?” Adriel slumped back into her spot next to Gustavia on the sofa. Amethyst read both astonishment and chagrin in the shifting colors of her aura.
“I believe she did.” The part about Julius was concerning, but Kat couldn’t help finding Estelle’s choice of phrase amusing. “What are you going to do about it?”
To everyone’s surprise, Adriel burst into tears. “It’s my fault. I think I know what happened to Julius, and every one of you is in danger, too.” Through her sobs, she told the others what had happened on the day she had last spoken with Julius. She sensed Estelle listening in, too.
“I thought we got rid of Billy when we sent him down to the dark. Was it all for nothing?”
“No. Don’t say that.” Kat admonished Julie for speaking out in such bitter tones. “We did what we had to do, and if we need to do it again, then sign me up.”
“It wasn’t Billy. You need to think this through carefully. I know your first instinct is to help, but whatever took Julius is so much more dangerous than Billy ever was. I hope Estelle is wrong. Not about there being a chance of getting him back, but about me being the one to make it happen.”
“Pity party much?” Amethyst lost her patience. “If that’s the way you want to play it, then fine, but before you do, there’s something I want to show you.” The fairy-like woman concentrated for a moment then held up both hands toward Adriel. The taller woman’s eyes rolled back in her head when the force of the reader’s vision hit her. Only for a second, and then she saw what Amethyst wanted to show her.
Wings.
A glorious set of wings unfurled behind her and looked so real Adriel could almost feel their weight against her shoulders. Her breath caught and held. Oh, but they were beautiful. Almost as beautiful as the light that formed a corona around her body. This was her truest self, or it had been before the fall. How cruel of Amethyst to show her what she’d lost.
“For someone who is supposed to be a higher being, you sure can be dumb at times. This is you. Now. Not before the fall. Now. Look more closely.” Amethyst’s tone brooked no refusal. A second, deeper look proved the reader correct. She had been so dazzled by the light and wings that she failed to look at the body under them. It was a warrior’s body. A human warrior—strong and fierce.
“The only thing keeping you from being her, is that you can only see this.” The image changed to show the woman Adriel had gotten used to seeing in the mirror. “Both images are truth. This woman has exactly the same potential as this,” the fierce warrior was back.
“Okay, I think she’s had enough.” Gustavia moved from her seat to sling a protective arm around Adriel. “It probably feels like we’re ganging up on her, and she’s overwhelmed.” To Adriel she said, “I can take you home, or if you want, you can stay the night with me. I’ve got the place to myself tonight with Finn out of town and Sam spending a week with her grandparents.”
“I had to come here, did I tell you that?” Adriel said. “It was a compulsion that I couldn’t ignore. I’d never ridden a bike before today. But I had to come. Why do you think that is? Fate? Estelle meddling to make sure you all were with me when she told me about Julius? It’s been days since he disappeared. I find the timing suspicious, and it’s just the kind of thing I would have done as a guardian if I needed to nudge a charge into being at the right place and time.”
“You’re saying she wanted you here because she knew we would offer to help. It’s Julius, so there’s no way we would let you go up against a threat to him alone. Fine. We’ve all been manipulated. So what. How we got here doesn’t change anything. If Julius is in trouble, you can count me
