A shock ripped through my body when my other self fell. I severed our link, and she turned back into a chair. Ivy was already tearing through another lookalike. This battle was going on too long. I was starting to have trouble maintaining the spell. Nero had told me that shifting people outside yourself was harder than shifting yourself. And shifting non-living beings was harder yet.

Drake ran into the room, carrying the mini-generator on his shoulders.

“You carried it all the way here? Alone?” I said in shock.

“I couldn’t wait. Ivy is in danger.”

Wow. He really loved her. Who said romance was dead? Too bad Ivy was too out of her mind right now to comprehend what he’d done for her.

“We need to get the generator closer to her,” I told him. “Do you see how she’s not moving out of that spot. It’s like she knows this thing will trap her.”

Which was weird because the infected people didn’t seem to think all that much.

I grabbed one end of the generator. “Gods, Drake. This is even heavier than it looks.”

“And you’re stronger than you look, Leda.”

We ran at Ivy, throwing the generator. She dodged, but the generator was close enough. A golden barrier slid around her like a veil, enclosing her.

Harker and Nero came running into the apartment with a group of soldiers.

“You’re late, boys,” I told them, dusting off my hands.

The two angels looked at Ivy, who was pounding against the barrier with magic fireworks. The barrier buzzed but held.

“My idea worked,” I said to Harker.

“I can see that,” he replied. “But unfortunately we don’t have an unlimited supply of Magitech generators. How did you trap her?”

“We threw the generator at her and activated it.”

“You threw the generator at her?” He wasn’t able to keep the surprise out of his voice.

I looked at Drake. “Well, Drake helped a little.”

“A little? Thanks, Leda.”

“I trust there’s no point in lecturing you about the Legion’s policy on throwing expensive machinery?” Harker said.

“Why on Earth would the Legion need a policy on that?”

“Nero implemented one shortly after you joined the Legion.”

I looked at Nero.

He shrugged. “You do like to throw things,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, water bottles and rocks. Not Magitech generators.”

“A preemptive move,” Nero said. “I figured it was only a matter of time before you grew strong enough to expand into heavier objects.”

I almost laughed. Harker’s expression checked that urge.

“So am I getting punished?” I asked.

Nero looked at Harker. Right, it was his call. Nero was just observing. And taking notes for his report. He wouldn’t interfere with Harker’s decisions, no matter how much he wanted to protect me. Maybe he’d even applaud a little discipline. Nero valued things like order and dignity. He was an angel after all.

“Pick up the generator, Pandora,” Harker told me.

I stepped toward it. Drake moved to help me, but Harker cut him off. “Stop. She’ll do it alone.”

I tried to lift the generator off the ground. It stubbornly refused to cooperate.

I tried again. This time, I succeeded, powered by stubborn will. Ok, so I also drew a little on my bond with Nero for extra strength. I knew he felt it, but he didn’t say a thing. That was the great thing about Nero. He let me handle things that I could do alone and helped me without question when I really needed his help. Now was one of those times.

“Bring it to Dr. Harding’s lab,” Harker said.

“You want me to carry it all the way there?”

Ivy was thrashing above me, adding to the weight I was carrying. It was a good thing the Legion of Angels had buildings with high ceilings or Ivy would have taken out the ceiling. Unfortunately, high ceilings also meant lots of stairs.

“Yes,” Harker said as I gaped at the stairwell looming before me. “Down the stairs. It is a good reminder of the consequences of throwing things.”

As I walked, that weight pressing down on me, sweat drenching my skin, I muttered, “You won’t be so smug when I throw you.”

“I heard that,” Harker told me.

“You were meant to, genius.” I resettled the generator’s weight when we reached the bottom of the stairs. “I can’t believe you carried this thing all the way from the garage,” I said to Drake.

“Maybe you need to increase your weight training.” He grinned. “Practice with me.”

“No thanks. I see the weights you lift. No way.” I stumbled, but caught myself before I fell.

“Perhaps instead of smarting off, you should concentrate on the task at hand,” Harker said.

“Na, smarting off takes no energy. It’s just like breathing.”

Harker looked at Nero. “I think I understand why you were complaining about her when she joined the Legion. Her mouth is considerably less charming when I’m in charge.”

“Perhaps instead of considering the qualities of her mouth, you should concentrate on the matter at hand,” Nero replied coolly.

I smirked at Harker. Haha.

“I’m letting you off easy,” he told me.

“You carry this generator, and then you can call it easy.”

“I could have punished you more severely. I will overlook your transgression this time because you contained the threat.”

“That threat is my friend.”

“And if we put an end to this plague, she might get to be your friend again.”

We entered the lab. Nerissa froze when she saw the enormous generator I was carrying.

“So a city-wide disaster is what it takes for me to finally get the new equipment I’ve asked for,” she commented.

I set down the generator at her feet. “You have a new patient, Doctor.”

Nerissa frowned. “And just when I’d finally put the last one to sleep.” She watched as Ivy smashed spells against the barrier, doing her best to blast it—and all of us—to smithereens. “So Angel Fever has spread to the Legion.”

“How is it spreading?” Harker demanded.

“Oh, I’ve got that figured out.” She pulled a handful of syringes out of her cabinet. “It spreads by sound. Every time an infected person uses their magic, the song of that spell spreads.”

Sound, huh? Now, that was a new one.

“Song? As in Siren’s Song?” I asked. “Could sirens be behind this?”

“Perhaps. The infected people are showing signs of being compelled. But I’ve never heard of sirens who could bestow people with new abilities,” Nerissa told me.

“Are you familiar with the drug the Legion sometimes gives its soldiers before they face hell’s army?” Nero asked.

“Yes, it’s an anti-compulsion drug.” She nodded. “Good idea. I’ll try to cook up something.” She held up the first syringe. “But first I need to test each of you. I’ve found the identifying magic in all the infected people, a magic mark in their blood.”

She drew blood from Drake first. “Sorry,” she said after looking at it under her microscope. “You’re infected.”

He glanced at Ivy. “How long until it takes me over?”

“I’m not sure. We’d best lock you up just in case.”

She tested Nero and Harker next. Both were clear.

“I think angels are unlikely to become infected due to the high amount of Nectar in their blood.” She looked up from her microscope and gave me a strange look.

“What?” I asked. It was my blood she was looking at now. “Do I have cooties?”

“You’re clear. But you have an unusually high Nectar count in your blood. And it’s coupled with…Venom.”

“Oh.” I tried to make my response as noncommittal as possible.

“Nectar and Venom, intertwined. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” She chewed on her lower lip. “It could be the infection in a mutated form.”

“No, she’s clear,” Nero told her.

“How do you know?”

“Because we’re linked, so I would know if her magic were infected.”

“So you’re saying she’s…always been like this?” Nerissa began mixing potion ingredients over a small cauldron.