“He’s ours. We’re one. That makes us on the same side. Always.”
“It does.” Reed agrees and kisses me. “If he attempts anything, use your power. Fry him. Give no quarter.”
I straighten my shoulders. Reed steps aside for me and I approach the barrier, the energy from which sways back and forth within its dry riverbed like a swing of a pendulum. Zephyr is at my side; his fingers twitch in anticipation. He has every intention of joining me on the other side of the barrier.
“Zee, I got this,” I say softly.
Zephyr frowns. “That is my angel he has threatened. Twice.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, I feel a rush of warmth over Zephyr’s need to protect Buns. “I know.” I lay my hand on his shoulder. “We need him alive. He has my father’s trust.” I need to build an army so that what Brennus said this morning doesn’t happen. I won’t survive losing a member of my family. I have to protect us.
The war is in his eyes. Finally, he says, “He lives...for now. Do not kill him. I want the pleasure.”
I breathe a small sigh. “I promise I won’t kill Xavier.”
I face Xavier. “I’ll come out after they’re in.”
Xavier studies me for a moment, and then he nods, trusting my word. He lifts Brownie down from the hood. Moving behind her, he unties the angel hair ropes around her wings and hands. It’s a good thing that Preben isn’t here to see this, but left the night we returned to begin recruiting angels for our cause. I’m not sure I could’ve reasoned with him like I had with Zephyr.
“You’re a douche, Xavier,” Brownie says as she rubs her wrists where the rope has fallen away. She touches her hand to her white-blond hair smoothing it away from her face as her russet-colored, Monarch-like wings wave away the snow that collected on them.
“You’re a Reaper,” Xavier frowns, “you should’ve followed my orders.”
He moves on to untie Buns. “We don’t answer to you,” Buns says to him over her shoulder. Her golden butterfly wings give an uncharacteristic snap. “We pledged our loyalty to the Seraph over there.” She waves her hand in my direction. “You’re just static to us.” I think for a second that Buns is going to stick her tongue out at him, but instead, she waits for Xavier to turn his back before she flips him off.
Xavier just misses catching her when he glances over his shoulder to give her a poisonous look. “That Seraph over there answers to me.”
“Prove it,” Brownie says in a singsong voice.
“In time,” Xavier frowns.
“We need our—” Brownie says something in Angel as she glares at Xavier with hands on her hips. Xavier lifts the chrome handle of the passenger door. He extracts two golden field hockey-like sticks from his car, handing them to her. The sharp blades of their Reaper scythes gleam even in the gray, overcast light of winter.
Xavier’s expression turns dark, like he has no more patience for them. “Go,” he orders.
Buns locks arms with Brownie and they move Tweedledee and Tweedledum fashion toward us. Holding up my hand, I whisper words that softly blow from my lips to swirl around the energy that drizzles from my fingertips. The barrier glows, shimmering with a spectral light. Pieces of it break away, becoming iridescent, glass-like butterflies that float around in a haphazard flock while the girls slip through the opening it leaves in the wall.
They hug me. “Oh, sweetie, you need to run from that one. He has a caveman complex,” Buns says when her eyes meet mine. Then she points at Reed, “You. We’re upping your training regimen. You’re not losing that challenge!” A smile flickers on Reed’s lips as he tries to hide it.
“Evie,” Xavier says impatiently.
Taking my time, I walk through the break in my magic. The magical butterflies mesh back into the wall when I’m through. I approach him warily, wondering what his reaction to me will be.
Xavier’s eyes study my face, like he’s memorizing it. He frowns when I shiver as the frigid air stirs my hair. Shrugging off his coat he says, “Retract your wings.”
“I’m fine,” I lie.
“You’re not fine; you’re freezing. You never take care of yourself. Now retract your wings!”
“I take care of myself.”