And I had to admit I didn’t want Jude getting in any trouble either. Not that I cared about him per se, but having to deal with another Fallen gave me an instant headache. At least, I kind of knew what to expect with him.

“Have you seen Seth?” my dad asked with perceptive eyes.

Ugh.

“Yes,” I nodded. “I saw him after my soccer game.”

To my dad’s credit he didn’t ask about the nature of Seth’s visit….

“Was he at all recognizable?”

I thought about that for a few moments. “Yes, at first. I mean, he seemed, I don’t know, harsher or more serious maybe, but still him. There were still things about him that were familiar. But by the end…. he was obviously different.”

“What made him different toward the end of your encounter?” My dad leaned forward, giving me all of his intelligent attention. I realized then that I did want to talk about this. It was so hard to process everything that was going on; it would be nice to get his opinion.

“Well, Seven showed up and his entire attitude changed. He went from being a little aggressive to cold and bullying. But then, right before he left he reminded me of our relationship. Honestly, it was very confusing.”

“Did Seven hurt you?” Suddenly my dad was very angry. His eyes flashed with light and his shoulders tensed for action.

“No!” I assured him. “She didn’t even try to touch me.”

“I suppose she’s not allowed to now.” He relaxed his shoulders but still seemed tense.

I thought about my episode in the hallway this morning and wondered if it was her.

“Did Seth hurt you?”

“No.” I thought about it for a moment. “Do you think he would though? I have never been worried about Seth hurting me, even after I found out he’d given up his soul. But then Jude was there, and after Seven and Seth left, I asked him why. He said he was contracted to protect me from every threat- even Seth. I don’t know. I would never have thought Seth would be capable of something like hurting me, but he just…. he wasn’t himself.”

“And it’s only going to get worse, Stella.” My dad answered my question without actually answering it. Seth would and could hurt me. “He’s without his soul, yes. But he still remembers what it was like to have one, he still has some connection to his morality. The further he is removed from that memory, the worse he’ll get.”

“Have you ever known anyone that’s done this before?”

He shook his head. “Not personally, although it does happen.”

“And do they…. has anyone ever come back from it?”

“Not that I know of.” My dad looked down at his hands while I shattered into a hundred million pieces at his words. “But if anyone could….”

“I know, it would be Seth,” I whispered. Although I wondered if that was true. To be detached from his soul for fifteen months, to live with Aliah and carry out his evil bidding, to be submerged in a culture that was the exact opposite of what he was born for…. it didn’t seem likely that even Seth could overcome that.

You are my anchor.

That’s what he’d told me. But was that true? Could I tether him to this life, to his soul?

“I know you want to be out with Nate and Serena more.” I looked up and met my dad’s resolute gaze. “Maybe that’s a good idea. Maybe you should expose yourself to as much as you can. You’ll know to pull back if it gets too dangerous for you.”

“So I can go?” I asked with childlike excitement.

“Call Jupiter,” he smiled at me. “Find out where Serena and Nate are. He might want to go with you. I think he’s bored.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because he came over this afternoon and asked if I needed any help farming.”

I couldn’t stop the laughter from spilling out. “But, it was raining this afternoon.”

“I am well aware. Go call him, get him out of here for a while.”

“Love you, Dad.”

“Love you too, Kiddo.”

I felt infinitely better after talking to my dad. It was amazing how he could do that for me. When I bottled things inside, they seemed to expand and fester into gigantic problems that were unconquerable. But talking about them with someone I respected and who’s opinion I valued, seemed to deflate every issue and make life seem…. beatable.

I went upstairs to change into yoga pants, a long sleeved t-shirt and tennis shoes- the outfit of every modern assassin. And then I called Jupiter.

He was ecstatic that he would meet Nate and Serena. And by ecstatic, I really meant he just said, “Yes.” But it was the fastest he had ever replied positively to me.

He called Serena and found out that they were taking care of a problem in Budapest. Jupiter and I met up immediately, and off we went. Anticipation bubbled through me like lava over rocks. Instinctively I knew I would run into Seth. I just knew he would be out there, wherever there was the most damage or destruction, or the biggest opportunity for a threat. That was part of his old personality; when he was fighting against all of that, somehow I knew this would also be a part of his new personality.

The worst part about knowing I would see him was that I couldn’t decide if I was dreading it or longing for it.

Flying was a little weird for me. Maybe if I had grown up anywhere but Earth, it would have seemed more natural. But honestly I felt very Superman meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer whenever I flew. It was obviously the fastest way to travel and the cold and wind didn’t bother me since I had the whole glowing thing going on. Plus, as an Angel I had this incredible inner GPS thing happening, and I could find any place on the planet whenever I needed to. That came in handy.

I could also find Seth if he wanted me to.

Which he didn’t.

Jupiter and I landed in a shadowy alley in the middle of the Buda side of Budapest. The city was divided by the Danube River and rose up into two great halves on either side. The architecture was all antiquated European with buildings on every corner that were older than the United States had been a country. Everything was gothic and beautiful, even in the darkness of night.

Lights from windows cast long, luminescent shadows onto the cobblestone walks. Laughter from nearby pubs created a rowdy soundtrack to the cool night. The speech was in a language I couldn’t understand, but, or maybe because of that, it felt musical and melodic sound.

At the same time I could feel the evil around us. Frost shone on the walls of the antique buildings and the faint scent of sulfur hung in the air.

We had landed in kind of an epicenter of Shadow activity, and we came out ready to fight. We’d followed Nate and Serena’s lights from our sky-high vantage but now, on the ground and with buildings in between, they were nowhere to be seen.

I pulled my two katanas from my crisscrossing back straps and readied myself to engage.

I had never fought in the middle of a city like this before. So far my field experience had been limited to actual fields, but I was excited to see how interesting this would get.

I followed Jupiter around a corner into a darker alley, across the road and further into the bowels of the Hungarian city. We ignored the Shadows that slithered along every surface around us. We remained intent on finding Nate and Serena; engaging the Shadows was only going to slow us down. But it just didn’t feel right, especially after today when I had been nearly choked to death by the world’s largest Shadow colony.

As we moved through the city the sound of swords crashing together could be heard clearly over the raucous city sounds. We could see an alley way that seemed to be….. glowing, of course.

We could also hear voices shouting or arguing, even laughing at times, coming from the same alley. We immediately converged. Jupiter gripped his sword tighter, the huge long sword that was honestly a struggle for me to hold.