Darkness fell over Adriel like a wave, sucked her under, rolled her as though she weighed nothing. The cord binding Adriel snapped; the force of it breaking catapulted Estelle out of Craig’s mind, which snapped shut behind her and would not reopen.
Adriel was trapped, Julius was missing. Estelle could only think of one thing to do.
***
“It just makes sense. Ammie’s booked solid these days, which leaves Reid stuck in the bedroom if he’s home. If we turn this place into a storefront of sorts, we could offer package deals. More than half of my regular clients are hers already. Unless you’ve changed your mind about living together?” Kat speared a shrimp off Zack’s plate and popped it in her mouth.
“Never. We could make it official if you’d just say yes.”
She waved her fork at him. “Not until you’ve had a chance to see what being married to me would be like. It’s more of a commitment than you think.”
Zack rolled his eyes like he did every time she tried to make the point. “You sleep at my place four nights a week as it is. What’s going to be different on the other three?”
“I have my…” Kat’s eyes rolled back in her head.
Heart hammering, Zack lunged to her side.
“Adriel is in trouble. Come. Now.” Estelle’s voice boomed from Kat’s lips, giving Zack an involuntary shiver. That kind of thing didn’t happen often, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to it. When her eyes snapped open, she was just Kat again.
“We have to go. Hurry. Estelle showed me where they are. No lights or sirens, though. I’ll call Ammie on the way. Julie and Gustavia, too.”
By the time all four women and Zack assembled in Craig’s room, twenty minutes had passed.
“They’re both caught in his mind and I can’t get in.”
“That’s because they’re not in there alone.” Amethyst turned her reading ability up to full force. “There’s darkness in him. Why didn’t you call me before she went in there? I could have kept this from happening.”
“We didn’t know. Adriel thought it was just one of Craig’s memories haunting him. She wasn’t expecting this. We have to help her, but I’m not sure how. I’m the worst guardian angel ever.”
Gesturing for quiet, Amethyst turned to Kat. “What do you see?”
“The darkness is seeping into her. It’s evil, but it doesn’t feel like Billy did. Probably not an Earthwalker. If I use you as a…”
“Shield.” Amethyst finished for her. “That’s what I was thinking. We’ll go in through Adriel and I’ll heal her aura as we go. I can cast it out ahead like a shield while you watch for them. Estelle, can you bind us to you like you did Adriel?”
“I can, but that thing snapped my cord like it was rotten thread.”
“What about this?” Gustavia cut in, “Have Estelle add Julie and me to the mix. She can anchor the cord around us like mountain climbers do when they need a second safety. Wrap it double and we’ll help her pay it out as you go.”
Estelle was already shaking her head, “I can’t put you all at risk. There has to be another way.”
“I want to help. Adriel is my friend, too. Do it. We’re wasting time here,” Julie squared off against her grandmother the angel. “Do it,” she repeated. Estelle wasted no more time.
“Go. Go. We’ve got you,” Gustavia reached for Julie’s hand, and for Estelle’s, thinking physical proximity would strengthen the bond. Light flowed along the silver binding to strengthen Amethyst’s power.
Before the force of their combined will, the thing of darkness slowly fell back. Amethyst could feel it tasting her power just as surely as she measured the force mounted against her. Thinking it wise to keep a measure of her ability in reserve, she toned it down several notches. Just enough to meet strength with strength. With Kat directing her, she pushed slowly ahead, ignoring everything but her shield and the evil beyond.
“Do you hear it?” Kat whispered to Amethyst.
“No, what?”
“It’s talking to me. Telling me to give up, that we can never defeat it. It’s showing me images of Adriel and Julius being pulled screaming into the black.”
“Fake. It’s just trying to psych you out. Keep going.” They stepped into Craig’s mind. Into bedlam. Walls tumbled to rubble made walking difficult until Kat realized the pieces she was stepping over were more than bits of debris. “Ammie, stop a minute. Look. We’re walking over pieces of his memories. See.” Kat sifted through the debris for sections that matched.
“Give those to me.” With nothing more than her touch, Amethyst healed the two shards together. Light flared to eat another piece of darkness. “Okay, I know what to do. Get down, now.” Pushing Kat to the floor, Amethyst followed her, dropping the shield at the same time. She plunged her hands into the pile of debris and set the intention to heal firmly in her heart, mind, and soul.
Out from her hands, the light spread like a mist flowing over the ground. Everywhere it touched, fractured memories knit together to produce their own light—a flare that ate the screaming darkness right up to the source where it stopped. Silence fell like a curtain. Its weight pressed down on Kat so hard she had to struggle to turn her eyes toward where Amethyst’s were already riveted.
***
Adriel pushed Craig toward where Amethyst and Kat huddled. When the light washed over her, it had brought something with it. The sure knowledge that in this place, she was no longer bound by flesh. No longer blocked.
She was the angel Galmadriel.
Head bowed as though in prayer, she let the light, the power, the fury of it flow through her in all its glory and grace. Wings of white so pure it dazzled the eye unfolded behind her, fanning once, then twice before stretching to their full span. More light flowed from her skin; beamed from her eyes as she turned them on the dark
