What had he seen? Ew.
"He is. But it's okay, most animals are. They just can't communicate it to humans."
Jellybean came running back into Mary's apartment and sat beside me, looking up at me with soulful eyes.
I leaned over and hugged him. It wasn't hard, given how enormous he was. "Thank you for being loyal to me, Jellybean. I love you."
He whined and wiggled against me. "He loves you, too," she said. Then she clapped her hands. "Now, why do we need to steal power? You going after Raphael's power?"
I stared at her in shock.
Why in the fuck hadn't we thought of that? Take Raphael's and hold it hostage. It was the perfect plan.
"Yes," I said quickly. "That's what we'd like to do."
The guys looked at me, but all of them were smart enough not to show any surprise on their faces. I knew they'd get with the program. "We thought about trying to take Ariel's, since she's the strongest creature alive, supposedly, but first we want to try Raphael's. If it works out, we might put Ariel's power in Lucifer and give it back when this is fixed."
Mary pursed her lips and walked into the kitchen. "I'm perfectly willing to help you take Raphael's powers, and feel a bit silly we haven't tried before, but I'm unsure about the child."
"Why?" I watched her make coffee and felt like a heel for not bringing her some. I could've magicked some, but at this point, it would've just drawn attention to the fact that we hadn't thought of her caffeine needs.
"We don't know what she is. She's not an angel. She's not a Nephilim. She's not a cambion or vampire or even human. Who knows if the spell would work?" Mary shook ground beans into a small coffee maker and then pushed a button before facing us. "It's dangerous."
I nodded. "Okay. I had reservations, but you're right. Let's scrap that idea for now and think of it as only a last resort."
She nodded. "I agree."
Lucifer, Michael, and Gabriel all murmured their agreements as well.
"Good," Mary said. "Let's get started."
She shuffled to the trusty microwave cart, which was already pushed to the side. It was where she'd kept Jellybean, in the magic room, as I thought of it. It was far more than one room. It was the whole apartment. "The spell is easy enough, but it takes a while," she said. "And whoever is absorbing the power must be present for it." She ran her fingers over several volumes of books on a bookshelf on the opposite side of the apartment. "Who is absorbing?"
I raised my eyebrows. "It'll have to be Lucifer. Otherwise, we'd have to split it, I think. We've never tested holding that much power. We wouldn't want to burn out."
Mary tutted. "Very true. I've seen that happen." She pulled out a couple of books. "It's in one of these. I haven't done it in a few years. And there's more than one version."
We tried to stand patiently while she shuffled. "No, that's for cosmic power."
I looked at Michael, to my left, with wide eyes. "Cosmicpower?" I mouthed. I'd never heard of such a thing! Maybe it was a notion made up by the humans. If it existed, I would've heard at least a whisper of it.
Michael shrugged. I looked to my right, where Lucifer and Gabriel looked equally baffled.
Okay, then, it must've been a human thing.
"Ah," Mary said. "Here it is."
She turned as she read. "We need a piece of the person we're taking the magic from. Hair, skin, whatever, as long as it has his and only his DNA on it."
My jaw dropped. I'd never done a spell like this, but of course, we'd need a piece of Raphael.
Gabe cleared his throat. "Get the spell ready. I'll go search his quarters in Elysium. There's sure to be a hair or something."
Mary nodded absently. "Sure, sure." She murmured to herself as she read the spell. "A bit of oil, easy enough." She nodded at me. "I like to use essential oils nowadays. It makes the whole affair smell so nice."
I chuckled. "Connie was into essential oils."
Mary looked at me with her eyebrows raised. "Your human persona?"
