Liz dropped into a chair opposite, nervously twisting a strand of hair. “Not to mention the humans who want us dead. You’re still public enemy number one, Willow. All we’ve got going for us is that no one knows whether we’re still alive. If anyone captured you, that’d be it for all of us.”

Alex had been sitting silently, looking deep in thought. “We’re going to have to do it,” he decided, squeezing my fingers and releasing them. He shoved his chair back ashe rose.

“No!” Seb’s fists clenched; the knife scar on his forearm gleamed in the harsh light. “There’s no reason for Willow to go. I’ll go instead – I’m just as psychic as she is. And much better with auras.”

Though I knew Seb was only trying to protect me, I was stung. “Not any more,” I protested.

“Oh, yes, I am,” he insisted. “You still don’t think to check them half the time.”

Liz bit her fingernail. “But look, if there’s another Wave coming, then we can’t stop it, so why should any of us go? Why don’t we just stay here and keep training?”

“That’s why only Willow and I are going – so the rest of you can do exactly that,” said Alex. “But, yes, we do have to go. We don’t know for sure that it’s another Wave; it could be something else. We’ve got to find out in case it affects our plans.”

“But why must it be Willow?” pressed Seb again. “Alex, hombre, you don’t want her to go any more than I do—”

“No, but that’s what she’s seeing psychically, so I’m going with it.” Alex propped his hands on the back of a chair and studied Seb, his gaze intense. “What about you? Leave your feelings out of it – can you honestly tell me you’re getting something different?”

An anguished expression crossed Seb’s face.

“No, I didn’t think so,” said Alex after a pause. “Okay, everyone, that’s it. Sam, you’re in charge until I get back. Seb, keep training everyone on the aura work, and, Liz, I want you helping out on the firing range as much as possible.”

“When are you leaving?” she asked.

Alex’s eyes met mine. “As soon as we’re packed.”

“You’re taking one of the sat phones, at least.” Sam’s face was stony; it wasn’t a question. The sat phones we’d found in the comms room were probably the only non-Eden phones in the country that still worked.

“Yeah, we’ll check in every few hours.” Alex glanced at Seb again; lowering his voice, he said something in Spanish. Seb gave a grim smile; Alex clapped him briefly on the shoulder and headed out of the room, moving with a loose, quick confidence.

As the others followed, Seb took my arm, holding me back. “Willow—”

“Seb, it’s all right – I’ll be okay,” I said softly.

I was painfully aware of the gulf yawning between us. And now, with his emotions raw on his face, I saw just how much Seb needed to keep himself distant from me if he could. And as much as I hated it, I couldn’t blame him. For him to have to sense, every day of his life, how deeply I was in love with Alex… I swallowed, imagining it.

“I’ll be fine,” I repeated, trying to keep my voice light. “Don’t work the recruits too hard. Or flirt with too many of them. You know that half of them would already throw themselves over a cliff for you.”

Seb didn’t even smile. As if unable to stop himself, he bent down and kissed my cheek, his lips warm against my skin. Our minds touched again, no barriers at all for a change, and my throat clenched as his naked thought came clearly:

I love you, querida.

My eyes pricked with sudden tears. “Don’t,” I said. “Please, Seb, don’t.” And whether I meant Don’t be in love with me or Don’t say the words, I didn’t even know. Both, I guess. Both were tearing my heart out.

I longed to hug him but realized it wouldn’t be fair. Instead I gripped his hand blindly for a second – and then hurried from the room.

RAZIEL STOOD IN THE EMPLOYEE parking lot of the Denver Church of Angels. The building’s high, curved wall rose before him – so similar to its physical counterpart in the angels’ dimension, yet wholly different.

Thinking of his home world, Raziel gave a private smile and gazed up at the sky, where he could sense the gate he’d prepared so painstakingly. It was a thrill to realize just how many secret things about it could be sensed by no other angels…mainly because none of them would ever imagine that he might do such a thing.

Bascal was with him: an angel who was shorter than average, with solid muscles and a shaved head. Raziel had never figured out whether the shaved head was meant to be ironic. Not that “irony” was a word he’d expect Bascal to know.

“Double whammy tomorrow,” Bascal said, his tone heavy with satisfaction. “They’re not even going to know what’s hit them.”

Raziel’s mouth twitched. “No, probably not,” he said.

Bascal stood braced, arms behind his back as he squinted upwards. “Well, if there’s any trouble, we’ll be ready.”

Raziel had a feeling there might be. Thankfully, most angels were still stunned from the deaths of the Council members ten months ago. None seemed to have noticed that he’d been unobtrusively putting together a small army for months now, made up of Bascal and his other angel cronies.

Bascal gave Raziel a sideways look. “So, anyway…once it’s all over with, we can talk about a reward, yeah?”

Raziel held back a sigh at the bluntness, thinking of Charmeine with her crystal wit and subtle mind. The energy wave that had slammed into them above Mexico City had stunned them both; Raziel, recovering first, hadn’t hesitated to do away with his scheming former collaborator – but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss her. Still, at least Bascal was strictly a right-hand man and knew it.

Raziel raised an eyebrow. “A reward?” he repeated, as if such an idea had never entered his head.

Bascal scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah. I was thinking maybe…better classifications for me and my friends.”

How predictable. Raziel nodded, bored already. “Don’t worry – you’ll get them.”

He kept gazing upwards, enjoying the gate’s intricate feel. It had taken almost a year of preparation, both here and in the angels’ world – much of it covert and made far more difficult by the execrable timings he had to worry about now. This was a new thing since the quakes: irritatingly, the destruction of the Council’s roots of energy had also affected the ethereal world – things had become jarred between the two dimensions, throwing them out of sync. He’d have been ready months ago otherwise.

But now, finally, the moment was nearly here.

With a shimmer, Bascal shifted to his angel form. “See you tomorrow, boss,” he said as he lifted into the air. “And don’t forget about that reward, huh?”

“Never,” Raziel promised, deadpan.

Once Bascal was gone, Raziel scanned the gate a final time, then extended his scan to include the earth’s energy field. This cloaked the planet on the ethereal level like a human’s aura, its vast presence constantly shifting like wind currents.

As Raziel concentrated, his brow furrowed. There it was again. That strange sense that he’d picked up on a few times since the earthquakes: a feeling like a deep core of gravity, separate from the earth’s energy field but weaving through it. Something strong yet unaware, which everything else in the world was straining towards.

The sensation was fleeting; he was left frowning and uncertain. Unaware – well, naturally; energy wasn’t sentient. Yet when he searched again, the unknown force was gone.

He shook his head impatiently. Didn’t he have enough on his plate without imagining things? Though he was ready for what would happen tomorrow, he wasn’t looking forward to it. No angel would be.

Yet it was needed – just like the angels needed his leadership, even if they didn’t admit it. Especially since most of them were convinced that the Angel Killers were dead now. Raziel saw again his daughter’s green eyes locked on his as she coolly stepped off the Torre Mayor – and knew it would have taken more than the destruction of one of the largest cities in the world to kill her.