Angelfire

  "The angels and the Fal en can't ful y come into the mortal plane in their corporeal forms. They can wander and influence events, but they can't physical y interfere. It takes an incredible amount of energy and strength for their kind to survive long here. A powerful magical relic can help, but they're nearly impossible to find."

  "What is a relic?" I asked.

  "Relics are powerful objects with a connection to either the divine or the damned," he explained. "They are usual y cursed or blessed with angelic magic, an Enochian spel . They have a variety of uses during spel s, and some have the ability to give corporeal form to an angel or a Fal en in the mortal realm. The most they can do on their own is show up briefly, perhaps to deliver a message, before slipping back into their own realms. If you came up against a Fal en in his corporeal form, then God help us al . I don't know what would happen."

  "Then I'l make a mental note to avoid them," I said with a nervous laugh. "You're coming with me to Josie's party, right?"

  He sighed. Loudly. "You're not real y going, are you?"

  "I wouldn't miss it, even if I was ambushed by reapers and kil ed. I'd be reincarnated and stil go. This wil be the last one, since I graduate in the spring--if I survive to see myself graduate."

  "Don't joke about that."

  I frowned. "Wel , I'm going and I want you to come with me."

  "You should be concentrating on training and on finding the Enshi, not partying."

  "You said yourself that I should relax from time to time. This is a perfect opportunity."

  "It's a perfect opportunity to get ambushed, and even if nothing happens at the party, you blathering on about preparing for it is distracting you."

  "I don't blather," I said, scowling. "What the hel does that even mean?"

  "There are far more important things to worry about than finding the perfect Hal oween costume."

  "I already found it, for your information."

  "El ie, seriously. You can't get distracted like this. You need a clear head. It's my job to--"

  "Blah, blah, blah, El ie this, El ie that." I reached forward and playful y ruffled his hair with my hand. "Yes, sensei, I hear you."

  He shooed my hand away and stifled a laugh. "See?

  Distractions."

  "I think you need a distraction more than anyone," I said.

  "If you were human, you would so be that guy who randomly brings an Uzi to work one day and just shoots everybody up. You take yourself way too seriously. Lighten up."

  "That's an exaggeration."

  "Admitting that you have a problem is the first step."

  "I don't have a problem."

  "Now you're in the negative steps. Not a good start, Wil ."

  He sighed. "You drive me crazy sometimes."

  "Ooh, I think that happened long before I came along."

  "No, no, I'm quite sure it was you who drove me over the edge."

  "You're so sweet, you're going to give me a cavity, real y."

  "Then afterward, I'd be doing you a favor by knocking your teeth out."

  "Ha!" I laughed. "You knocking my teeth out would never happen."

  "Don't be so presumptuous. You seem to have other priorities coming before your training. You can be lazy."

  I wanted to knock his teeth out for saying that. "I can stil kick your ass."

  He flashed a dark, delicious smile. "Then let's make a wager. We spar again before we're done for tonight. If you land a hit first and score, then I'l go to that party with you. If I score first, then you spend Hal oween night training."

  "That's a little brutal, making me train on Hal oween," I grumbled.

  "So is making me go to that party."

  I stared at him, watching for any tel tale sign that he'd strike first. He real y was hot. Damn it! I couldn't get distracted. I real y wanted to go to Josie's party. His smile flickered and I swung. He threw his arm up and knocked my fist away so his own could push through, right at my face. I leaned back, and his fist skimmed over my hair. I dipped my head and righted myself out of the path of his next strike. I grabbed his outstretched arm and shot my knee up at his gut, but his free hand shoved my knee back down. With both his hands occupied, I cracked the front of my skul into his forehead and he staggered back with a grunt.

  "That counts!" I cried victoriously.

  "Best two out of three," he grumbled, and rubbed his head.

  I deflated. "Are you serious?"

  "We've got to be fair about this, don't we?"

  "I smel sour grapes."

  "Think you can't win a second time?"

  "Sour grapes!" I repeated with a poke to his chest. He grinned. "Since I picked the first round, you can decide the terms of this round."

  I stared him down. "Al right. If we find the Enshi before the Hal oween party, then you have to come with me. And you have to wear a costume."

  "Are you sure you want to take that bet?"

  I flicked a brow at him. "Don't doubt me, man."

  "Whatever you say."

  I gave a swift nod. "That's right. Do we have a deal?"

  "I guess so. Deal."

  My phone rang. I scrambled for my purse, which I had thrown against the warehouse wal earlier that afternoon. I was surprised to see that the cal was from Nathaniel. "Hey," I said.

  "El ie," he answered. "I have very good news. Come over to the library as soon as you can."

  I looked up at Wil , who was watching me careful y. I knew he could hear our conversation without effort. "How about right now? We're just sparring."

  "Perfect. See you soon."

  I hung up. "This sounds promising."

  I drove both of us to the library. It was nearly five-thirty, and the library would be closing soon. When we got there, it was very empty and the receptionist kindly reminded us that they'd be closing at six. Nathaniel appeared through the doors to the basement and waved us through.

  "I have a possible location on the Enshi," he said excitedly as he led us downstairs.

  I brightened and laid a hand on Wil 's shoulder. "How convenient! Best two out of three. Guess where you're going."

  He groaned.

  "You're not going to break a promise to me, are you?" I asked, simpering up at him.

  Nathaniel glanced from me to Wil and back. "Did I miss something?"

  "Not at al ," Wil said. "How did you get this information?"

  "A friend of mine in antiques, whom I've worked with on several occasions, informed me that a client of his, a very wealthy local col ector, bragged to him about acquiring something with the sign of Azrael on it." Nathaniel led us into his office.

  "Couldn't that be anything?" I asked, skeptical that this mystery object could help us.

  Nathaniel shook his head. "This guy apparently sounded beyond thril ed and didn't want to give up much information about the acquisition. He said it's ancient--and if it's got Azrael's seal on it, then I think it is definitely worth checking out."

  "Did you get an address?" Wil asked.

  "I did," Nathaniel said, throwing in a sly smile. "Of course, it would have been il egal for my friend to tel me the address, so I just picked it out of his head."

  "You did what?" I asked, confused.

  "That's his ability," Wil explained. "As an angelic reaper."

  "She doesn't remember?" Nathaniel asked.

  "You have to tel her."

  "Oh," Nathaniel said. "Wel , I can hear the thoughts of others. I don't real y like to fight if I can avoid it, but I can real y mess with your head if I want to. It's more of a defensive technique than anything. I could even make you see anything I want to, from Paradise to Hades, or fal asleep with a single word."

  "That sounds very useful," I said. "And scary."

  "Yes," he agreed. "But it doesn't work so wel on powerful reapers. Anyway, I also have a plan for you to get a peek at this object. I hope you don't mind getting your hands dirty."

  My eyes went wide. "I have to kil this guy?"

  "No!" Nathaniel said quickly. "
No, no, of course not, as long as he's human. Just a little sneaking in though a window, nothing huge."

  "We're breaking into a house?"

  "You make it sound so terrible."

  "Wel , that's because it is. It's also il egal." I couldn't believe what he was proposing.

  "Just pray it won't get any more complicated than that."

  "How so?"

  UNCORRECTED E-PROOF--NOT FOR SALE

  HarperCollins Children's Books

  ..................................................................... 20

  "I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DOING THIS," I GRUMBLED A few hours later, as Wil drove us cross-country through the darkness. We had rented a U-Haul, and I was stil trying to understand why Wil and Nathaniel thought we'd need something this big. I thought we could just throw whatever it was we found into the trunk of my car.

  "It's a very effective plan," Wil offered.

  "What do we do if it's the Enshi?" I asked.

  "Take it."

  "So, now we're robbing this guy?"

  "It's not his anyway."

  "He bought it."

  "We were told he acquired it. That doesn't necessarily mean he bought it. He might have kil ed somebody to get it, and he probably did. You don't know."

  I glowered at him. "Is that how you plan for us to acquire this thing?"

  "I plan to avoid going to that extreme."

  I shot him an angry look. "I'm not kil ing anybody. Reapers, yeah, sure, but only because they'l kil me if I don't kil them first."

  "Wel , what if this guy pul s a gun on you? Are you going to let him shoot you?"

  "I'l . . . run away."

  "Sure you wil ."

  He was infuriating sometimes. "How'd you even rent this van? I thought you didn't have a job."

  "I don't," he explained, smugly imitating my voice in a high-pitched whine that, in fact, sounded nothing like me.

  "Nathaniel funds just about anything we need. I need to eat and my clothes get torn a lot. I have to replace them. His job at the library is more of a hobby."

  I huffed, half expecting him to tel me he was a professional thief. When we got close, we pul ed out the directions Nathaniel had printed out for us back at the library. We found the gigantic house set off a main road that was nearly deserted in the early-morning hours. Wil instructed me to pul the truck over a hundred feet or so down the road and we hopped out.

  "If this thing we're looking for is big enough that we need this huge truck, why the heck are we parking so far away?" I asked. "Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose? We'l just have to carry that big-ass thing al the way over here from the house."

  "I can get the artifact out of the house by carrying it, but it won't be quick. The truck is so we can make a fast getaway. If there's one thing I've learned in the last few centuries, it's that it's better to be safe than sorry."

  I crossed my arms and laughed. "Why do you always make so much sense?"

  He shrugged. "I've had plenty of chances to make no sense at al . It's about time I got things right. Are you ready?"

  "Yeah." Or not.

  "Aren't you excited? We're about to undertake a heist. That's cool, isn't it?"

  "In the movies, Wil . In real life, it's not such a great idea. I don't want to get shot."

  "You won't get shot, I promise," he said. "We need to secure the perimeter first. We'l move through the Grim so we can see any reapers hiding there."

  We circled the house careful y, looking for any possible windows to enter through or any employees who might stil be working inside. The mansion spanned the width of at least two of the lots like my house sat on. When we reached the backyard, I was absolutely amazed. Fine flowerbeds and topiaries outlined the lawn, and tal , majestic statues stood in strategical y designed areas. The stone figures shone silver beneath the moonlight. There were replicas--or at least I thought they were replicas--of ancient Roman sculptures, medieval stone figures of knights with jousting lances, iridescent orbs, and dazzling fountains. I blinked several times, certain I was imagining things.

  Wil passed them without a glance and settled on the doors to the walkout basement. He pul ed out a kit containing various smal tools from inside his coat.

  I almost laughed. "Did you pluck that off your utility belt, Batman?"

  He put a finger to his lips, presented a thin device that looked like it came from James Bond movie, and inserted it into the keyhole. A minute later, the door clicked and he opened it slightly. Then, he froze, stil as a statue. He didn't even blink. He was listening.

  He slipped inside, and I fol owed him into the dark basement, only it resembled no basement I had ever seen. The lower level of this mansion was vast. It was like an entire house down there. There was a fine kitchen, a living room, a dining room, and several hal ways leading off to other rooms. We heard voices upstairs and the clinking of glasses. Once my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I saw that artworks like those outside were also to be found indoors. Priceless-looking paintings decorated the wal s, and statues sat atop marble stands around the wide room. And there, just beyond a plush wraparound couch, was a large, dark box placed on a low slab blanketed in red velvet.

  Wil made a beeline for it. When I reached it, I was surprised at how large the box was. It was about seven feet long and three feet wide and high, excluding the few inches the slab raised it off the floor. Even in the failing light I could see how elaborate the box was. It looked to be made of sandstone, with gold accents and jewels embedded in the surface. I recognized the seal of Azrael on the lid, surrounded by strange markings, scratches, and more inset jewels. Wil careful y examined the markings.

  "What is this?" I asked, my voice as quiet as I could possibly muster.

  "A sarcophagus."

  My eyes widened. Could it have been this easy? Was the Enshi contained within?

  "Who are you?" shouted an unfamiliar voice. A light flicked on, blinding me for a second.

  I cried out and spun around. Wil jumped in front of me fearlessly. We were caught. I was going to jail. My mom was going to slaughter me. I was--

  "Why are you in my house?" A man in a very nice casual suit stood at the bottom of the stairs. He was clearly the owner of the mansion, and it surprised me that his voice was so aggressive. I would have expected him to have gone running for a phone to cal the police.

  "We are taking this now," Wil said in a deathly cold voice. It was then that I felt that familiar, frightening energy prickling the hairs on my arm. And I remembered that we stil within the world of the Grim. Could the man be a psychic?

  "I don't think so," the man said. "I paid a lot of money for that. There's no way you're taking it."

  Wil cal ed his sword into his hand and leveled its point at the man.

  "Wil , no!" I cried.

  "Stand aside, vir," he said. "You'l never defeat me. You've got nothing on my power."

  I blinked and looked from Wil to the man. Was the owner a reaper? He looked so . . . human. But, then again, so did Wil .

  "You certainly aren't going to leave my house with that,"

  the reaper warned. "If you don't depart immediately, I wil kil you and your little girlfriend. Of course, I may keep her for myself and eat her later."

  Wil narrowed his gaze. "Try it."

  The reaper bared his teeth and hissed like a leopard. He charged; I wil ed my swords to appear in my hands and light up in angelfire. Wil swung his own blade fast as lightning. The reaper grabbed his wrist, but Wil drove his knee deep into the reaper's gut. The vir bent over, choking, and I was behind him in a heartbeat, taking both swords, crossing my arms across my chest for maximum force and slashing the blades across the reaper's neck, decapitating him. He burst into flames and was gone. The angelfire vanished from my blades, and the room was dark again.

  "That was way too easy," I said, wiping at a warm spot of blood on my forehead, feeling disgusted.

  I felt another power nearby, only far, far stronger than the reaper I had just fought. I looked up to see
a man--no, a new vir--standing in the door we had entered through moments before. His face was in shadows as he stood silhouetted in the moonlight.

  "Yes, that was too easy," the reaper said. "You didn't think you'd be that fortunate, did you?"

  Wil locked his gaze on the reaper with hate I'd never seen before on his face. His power was growing steadily; I could see it spiraling with his anger like a damned double helix of black Hel fire, his green eyes brightening and intensifying. "Geir," he growled.

  I held my swords tightly, the dead reaper's blood trickling down the blades, and I faced Geir. He stepped forward into the room, and I could now see his face under a mop of wild, reddish brown hair. His smile was wide and insane, like some cracked-out Mad Hatter's, flashing a mouthful of sharply pointed shark's teeth, and his eyes were yel ow beneath heavy lids and a thick brow.

  "What a fool," he said. "Jonathon was correct. He did have something very special in that box, but he had no idea how special. Bastian wil reward me greatly. Thank you for disposing of my friend here so I won't have to waste my time on him."

  He watched me with a hunger in his eyes. "And so I find myself face-to-face with the Preliator," he said, my title rol ing over his tongue like sticky-sweet syrup. "I thought you'd be tal er."

  I narrowed my eyes. "I think that about myself every day."

  "Stil , you are prettier than I was told, but Ivar doesn't like other girls."

  "Don't even think about it, Geir," Wil warned. "Your head wil be rol ing across this carpet before you lay a claw on her."

  Geir's smile curved into a sinister half snarl. "Is that a chal enge?"

  Wil lifted his sword and leveled it at the demonic vir.

  "Take it as you wish."

  With a laugh, Geir held out both his arms. His hands stretched as bone popped and skin bubbled, his biceps and forearms bulging sickeningly until they were twice their original size. His hands lengthened and his nails grew into long talons, leaving the skin on his arms ripped red and raw as if there hadn't been enough room inside for the monster arms to grow and they had just burst through the surface. Wings burst from his shoulder blades, scattering dirty brown feathers, blocking the light from outside. His wings flapped deafeningly. Horror engulfed me, and I could do nothing but stare at him as the vir reaper unfolded his power before me. He held out a clawed hand and beckoned to me. My swords erupted with angelfire as I lunged forward in a rage, but I was suddenly hit by a brick wal of energy as Geir spread his wings wide and detonated his power. The glass doors and windows behind him shattered with a thunderous roar, and the infinite shards glittered in the moonlight like rain. A tsunami of black power rushed into me, knocking me off my feet, and I hit the floor on my back. As glass showered down on me, I looked up to see Wil leaping over me, his sword high. He swung and slashed, but Geir stepped fluidly out of the path of each stroke. I jumped up. Geir grabbed Wil 's arm, halting the sword in midair, clamped his other hand around Wil 's throat, and swung. Wil smashed through the exterior wal and disappeared. Drywal , wood, and brick exploded.