My eyelashes flutter from his touch. “You lost your Angel powers because of me.”
“Because of you, I learned what it was like to really feel alive,” he counters, blowing out a nervous breath. “Before you, my life was empty. Every day, I did the same thing—followed Michael’s orders. I was an outcast, and my days were strung together as I collected soul after soul. I never knew there was anything else until I met you.” His lips quirk as he splays his fingers across the base of my neck, pressing two fingers to my trembling pulse. “And, while you’ve gotten into some trouble and tested my patience sometimes, it’s been worth it.” The passion blazing in his eyes conveys how much he means what he says.
I duck forward and brush my lips across his scruffy cheek. “Thank you.” I then shut my eyes, wishing I could kiss him without worrying that I’ll kill him
I make a silent promise to myself that I’ll fly today. For him. For myself. For the world. Because I really want to believe that I can, that I still have good left inside me.
Smiling, he hikes deeper into the field and stops when he reaches a section right in front of the waterfall. “Whenever you’re ready,” he calls out over the roar of the splashing water.
Shutting my eyes, I count to ten under my breath and then sprint down the field. My wings flap against the wind, and my feet stomp against the dirt. My heart thunders in my chest as I start to ascend upward at an angle, up, up, up toward the tips of the trees, soaring higher.
Yes, I can do this.
But as I reach the border of the grass, one of my feet clips a thick branch. My body is swung around, spinning out of control. Without thinking, I look down at the grassy field hundreds of feet below me. I start to plummet toward the ground, down, down, down. I hear Asher call my name as I scramble to stay in the air.
I force my wings to move quicker. No, I won’t go down, not this time.
“The worst thing you can do is look down.”
My body stiffens at the sound of Cameron’s voice, and my head whips to the right. I spot him, all cloak and black mist, the bare bones of his human form.
“What are you doing here?” I yell as I plummet toward the trees.
Branches and leaves scratch my skin and throw me off balance even more. My plan of flying today is quickly going south, just like me.
“Flying,” he says, an evident smirk in his tone. “The real question is what the hell are you doing? Because it’s clearly not flying.”
“Flying!” I retort, cursing in frustration. I flap my wings faster, putting all of my energy into staying afloat, but I grow exhausted quickly, out of breath, my skin damp with sweat.
“Flying?” he questions, swirling around me like a funnel. “Could have fooled me.”
“You’re such an ass.” I grunt as my body smacks into a thicker branch. As the bark scrapes my flesh, my focus goes right out the window, and I start to descend rapidly.
“You’re putting too much effort behind it.” He follows me downward. “If you’d just relax, you’d be fine.”
“If I relax, I’ll fall.”
“Only if you think you will.” He pauses, the mist swirling in the air as his voice encompasses me. “Do this. Shut your eyes.”
“Are you crazy?” I tip sideways as I fight the fall. “I’ll crash.”
“So what? If it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work. You’ve already crashed how many times? What’s one more?”
Okay, he has a point.
Hoping I won’t regret listening to him, I close my eyes. “Okay … now what?”
“Now clear your mind and fly.” He says it so matter-of-factly.
I force my wings to work overtime as I feel myself continue to plummet.
“Clear. Your. Mind,” he presses. “Just let go.”
I swallow hard then try to empty my mind. My muscles start to unravel, the tension in my body dissipating. I sink into a relaxing state, as if I’m floating in water.
“Much better, right?” Cameron’s voice engulfs me like the wind.
I nod then crack open my eyelids. Grass, dirt, trees, and water stream below me as I zip high above the peak of the land. My wings move fluidly against the wind as they carry me along the skyline.
“Wow, I never had a chance to realize how beautiful it could be up here,” I say in awe.
“That’s because you were so afraid of falling.” Cameron zips beside me, a cloud of mist dancing in the air.
“How long have you been here?” I dare to put my hands out to the side.
“Long enough to see that Asher has been teaching you to fly all wrong.”
“It’s not his fault. If he could be in the sky with me, then I’m sure I would have been able to by now.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you have me, then.”
I roll my eyes. “Oh, whatever.”
“Don’t lie, Ember. I know you’ve missed me these last few weeks.”
“No, I haven’t. Trust me.” My lie is thick in my throat.
Part of me has missed him for reasons even I don’t comprehend. Oddly enough, with him here so close to me, I feel a strange balance inside my body, as if the good and bad have leveled.
He chuckles lowly. “Whatever you need to tell yourself to get through the day.” With that, he zooms forward, flying far out in front of me. “I’ll meet you back in the field whenever you’re ready,” he calls over his shoulder. “I have news.”
With that, he flips around and zips past me again, disappearing from my sight. Even though I want to stay in the sky longer, I fly for only a few more minutes before flipping around and heading back toward the field. The last thing I ever want to do is leave Cameron and Asher alone with each other for too long. Despite the fact that they’re twin brothers, the two of them are day and night, good and evil, Reaper and Angel, and don’t get along at all.
“That was amazing,” I say as my feet brush the field.
Once my feet are firmly planted, I search the area for Cameron and Asher, spotting the two of them near a cluster of trees. Cameron is in his human form yet still has his cloak on. His blond hair is disheveled, and he has a book tucked under his arm. Asher looks irritated, which is typical whenever he’s around his brother. Neither of them seems to notice me as I hike through the grass toward them, trying to decide how I feel about seeing the two of them together. Calm, that’s how I feel. Calm because Cameron fuels my hunger for evil, while Asher swallows me with good.
I puff out a breath. God, I’m so fucked up inside.
“I don’t understand why you think you can just show up and take things over,” Asher argues passionately with his fists balled at his sides.
“You’re just pissed off because I taught her to fly in five minutes when you couldn’t even do it in three weeks,” Cameron replies with an eye roll.
“That’s not what this is about.” Asher inches closer and leans into Cameron’s face. “You’ve done this shit since we were kids. You just show up and ruin everything.”
“What the hell did I ruin by teaching her to fly?”
“That’s not what you ruined … You’re going to confuse her.” Asher yanks his fingers through his hair, causing it to stick up in all kinds of directions. “She’s been so confused the last few weeks, but today, it felt like she was starting to relax.”
“Confused over what?” Cameron inquires with intrigue.
Asher narrows his eyes. “You know what. With the choice she has to make.”
Cameron rubs his jawline thoughtfully. “So she doesn’t know what side she wants to pick. Interesting.”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t care,” Asher snaps. “You want her to pick the Angel side just as much as I do; otherwise, Altarius is going to come after your family.”
Cameron reclines against a tree. “We’ll be fine.”
“If that’s true, then why are you here?” Asher asks with his brows raised. “I think you know as well as I do that, if he gets the power of the souls, the necklace isn’t going to protect you any
more. Even that doesn’t contain enough power to save your family from Altarius. The only choice is for Ember to choose the Angel side, which would bind Altarius back to the Afterlife.”
“He goes back to the Afterlife if I chose my Angel blood?” I interrupt as I join them in the shade of the trees.
Both their gazes whip to me, and Cameron stands up straight with a lazy grin sprawled across his face.
“It doesn’t mean I prefer you to choose your Angel side.” His gaze drinks in my wind-kissed skin. “You know as well as I do that, in the end, I want you all for myself.”
I place my hands on my hips. “Just because you want me doesn’t mean you can have me.”
“Doesn’t it?” he challenges with an arch of his brow. “I got the book, didn’t I? Got the necklace when I needed it, got inside your mind when I needed to. It sounds to me like I can have everything I want and need.”
“How did you even get the book?” Asher changes the subject.
Cameron tears his eyes off me and glares at Asher. “Does it really matter?”
“That all depends,” Asher says, “on what you offered in exchange to get it?”
“Who said I offered anything?” Cameron questions. “Maybe I just found it.”
“Did you?” Asher eyes him over.
Cameron shrugs. “Maybe.”
Sighing in defeat, Asher sticks out his hand in Cameron’s direction and asks, “Can I see the book?”
Cameron surprises me when he easily hands over the book.
Asher fans through the pages and frowns. “They’re still blank.”
“I may have found the book, but as for our uncle…” Cameron lifts his shoulder and shrugs.
Asher closes the book. “Did you check in Hollows Grove?”
“Do I look like an idiot?” Cameron shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “Like I’d be stupid enough to go there.”
“Why? What’s happening there?” I massage my shoulders, which are stiff from flying.
Cameron’s gaze cuts to me. “What do you think, princess? You saw the madness going on the last time you were there.”
“But how bad is it exactly?” I think of my family stuck there, wrapping my arms around myself as a chill shivers down my spine. “It can’t be any worse, right?”
“Do you really believe that?” he asks, and even though it makes my soul ache, I shake my head. “Well, then you just answered your own question. More souls have been possessed, and because Altarius is the mayor, he’s been wreaking havoc amongst the town members that he hasn’t yet possessed.”
“He hasn’t”—I gulp—“killed everyone yet, has he?”
“No, he still needs you in order to do that.” His eyes travel up and down my body. “Or your soul, anyway.”
He starts to move toward me, but Asher dodges to his right and blocks Cameron’s path.
“Thanks for the book”—he slams his palm against Cameron’s chest and pushes him back—“but I think it’s time for you to go.”
“I can’t,” he replies simply. “Not when you have her here, and besides, you need me.”
Asher’s lean muscles flex as he crosses his arms. “How do you figure?”
“Well, for starters, I know where our uncle is.”
I move up to the side of Asher. “You just said you didn’t know where he is.”
“No, I said I didn’t find him,” Cameron says with a sly grin, “not that I didn’t know where he is.”
“So, then where the hell is he?” I tell myself to stay calm, that Cameron is being a pain in the ass because he loves to get under my skin. If I allow him to do so, he wins. “If you want to help, then help. Stop making everything a game.”
Cameron stares at me, annoyed yet mostly impressed. “I like this blunt new side of you. It’s sexy.”
“Where’s your uncle, Cameron?” I try to ignore his heated gaze the best I can, but I feel the magnetic pull under my skin, beckoning me to go to him.
For the briefest instant, the field and trees around us shift to red, and the ground bleeds like a river.
Cameron smiles knowingly. “He’s in New York City.”
“The same place as August Millard?” I blink my eyes until my vision returns to normal.
“Don’t trust him right away.” Asher glowers at his brother.
“Why would I lie about that?” Cameron drums a finger against his lip. “It seems like such a stupid thing to lie about.”
“Yet, I wouldn’t put it past you.” Asher starts through the field toward the cottage, motioning me to follow him.
“Where are we going?” I ask, rushing after him.
“To New York City,” he says as we reach the front lawn in front of the house.
“And how do you plan on getting there, exactly?” Cameron chimes, following at our heels.
Asher slams to a halt in front of the porch, his face contorted in puzzlement. “I’ll think of a way.” He ponders the idea, looking more confused and worried.
“Because you can’t take her through the Shadow Realm right now, which is the only way you can travel,” Cameron offers his two cents. “And it’s too dangerous for her to fly on her own when Reapers are everywhere. She needs protection.”
Asher lifts his gaze to Cameron, his slate eyes as cold as ice. “I know what you’re suggesting, and the answer is no.”
Cameron presses his hand to his chest innocently. “I didn’t say a word.”
“But I know what you’re thinking.”
“Because it’s the same thing you’re thinking.”
“Would someone please explain to me what you two are thinking? Because I don’t have a damn clue,” I interrupt, growing frustrated. “All this arguing is wasting time. Time we don’t have.”
“Should you be the one to tell her, or should I?” Cameron asks. When Asher doesn’t respond, he turns to me, grinning wickedly. “The best way for you to fly to New York is to fly with me. That way, you’ll be protected, and more than likely, you’ll stay undetected since Reapers prefer to travel through the Shadow Realm.”
“But what about Asher?” My stomach churns.
The idea of being alone with Cameron right now doesn’t sound that great, yet it’s the slightest bit tempting, which gives me even more reason not to go with him.
“What about him?” Cameron asks with a blasé shrug as he reclines against the railing of the front porch “He’ll get there through the Shadow Realm.”
“Will he…?” I bite on my thumbnail, nervous as hell. “Will he be safe?”
“I’ll be fine,” Asher reassures me. “It’s you I’m worried about.”
My gaze bounces back and forth between Asher and Cameron. “Is there another way?”
Looking upset, Asher shrugs. “Not that I can think of.” He pauses, contemplating something, and then he suddenly has his hands on my shoulders, grabbing me in desperation. “I’ll figure something else out.”
“The only other option is to send Cameron, since if you leave this place, it disappears,” I point out then lower my voice. “And the last thing I want is for him to talk to August Millard or, worse, read the book before we can.”
“You know I can still hear you,” Cameron says, his tone laced with annoyance.
I keep my attention trained on Asher, knowing in the end, his opinion should be what’s most important. That is, if I was purely good.
“I worry about you being alone with him.” Pain masks Asher’s expression. “You’ve been so confused lately, and he’ll only try to confuse you more.”
“I know how he is, but I won’t let him affect me.” I bury my inner thoughts of confliction, the ones that laugh at me and tell me how wrong I am.
As he sweeps his finger down my cheekbone, I don’t move away, knowing he needs reassurance that everything will be okay.
“Promise me that, if he starts to wear on you, you’ll fight it.” Although he doesn’t say it aloud, his eyes silently say: fight the darkness. “Do whatever it takes to stop him from persua
ding you.”
“You know I will,” I say with a nod.
He casts a glance over his shoulder at his brother as his fingers fold around my arm, and he pulls me inside the house. Against Cameron’s protests, he shuts the door and locks it.