“HOW BLESSED ARE THOSE UNIONS THAT PRODUCE A SAINT! WHAT GREATER SACRIFICE TO MAKE TO THE HERALDS THAN ONE’S OWN CHILD. THOSE WHO DO ARE EXALTED AND BLESSED WITH PROSPERITY BEYOND MEASURE. AND THOSE WHO DO NOT, RISK DAMNATION AND EXCOMMUNICATION.”
—TREATISE NO. 13BY MOST HOLY PREACHER HAL LOURDE, ORIGINAL CHAPEL FOUNDER
The instant my sisters’ eyes shut, I’m vapor, pouring across the gleaming metal roof. I phase so fast and so fluidly it almost feels like I manage to be everywhere at once, striking hard with Toothpick, aiming for the base of the Gold Towners’ skulls.
Each time, I strike true.
The thirteen of them collapse like puppets, their strings cut, and all goes still.
In the corners of my eyes, I see the bright sizzle of flashlight powder, capturing me, capturing everything that just happened. There are lights on in the windows of boardinghouses aroundthe hall and the dark outlines of faces pressed against the glass, watching.
Seeing me. Seeing what I can do. How long until they take it to the chapels? Until the bells start ringing?
It doesn’t matter anymore. I made my choice the minute I stepped onto this rooftop.
Retracting my arm blade, I retrieve my knives, stepping over the bodies of the Gold Towners to crouch down in front of my sisters and cut away their gags and bonds. Halle’s eyes flutter open at the feeling of my fingers on her wrists, and so many emotions flood her face as she takes in the sight of me… and the carnage behind me. Shock, surprise, horror, maybe relief. She rubs at the sores on her wrists absentmindedly as I shift over a bit and gently take Kelda’s arms. She starts to open her eyes as well, but I put my hand over her face.
“Not yet, smalls. Keep them closed just a little bit longer, okay?”
“We heard the explosion,” Halle says, her voice hoarse and dull. “We thought you were…”
“I got out just before.” I slice Kelda’s gag free and toss it away. “I’m so sorry it took me this long to get you. I was hurt, I had to get help, and then people were after me and—”
Kelda throws herself onto me, eyes still dutifully closed as she squeezes her arms tight around my neck. All the tension in my body drops away. I can’t remember the last time she’s hugged me like this or let me hold her. Years, maybe. I rest my cheek against her soft hair. I hate that it smells of sweat and dirt and blood instead of peppermint soap. But it doesn’t matter. She’s real and warm and safe andhere. They both are.
“Thank you for coming for us,” Kelda whispers into the leather of my top, and the words hit like pulse rifle shots in my chest. Because I can hear the unspoken implication under her words.
That the Val they knew, the Val I’ve been to them for months and months now—that’s not someone they trusted to rescue them. That Val was cold and distant and rough, always gone on “jobs,” focused on cash at the expense of anything else. In their eyes, I can see how they’d think that Val might’ve just cut their losses and skipped town. I hate that they thought that. Even for a moment.
“I’ll always come for you,” I whisper into her hair.
I look over at Halle, who is sitting nearby but also carefully apart from us, curled in on herself. Every bit of her, from her expression to the lines of her body, is wary. Tense. Her eyes glance down at my right arm, where my arm blade is hidden away.
“Val… I…” She drags her gaze back up to meet mine. Her whole expression is wide, exposed, filled with hurt. “What… what is this? Whatareyou?”
All the air squeezes out of my lungs. Her words hit hard enough to leave bruises.What are you. Not who—what. Like I’m more thing than human. Like I’m a monster that’s finally crept out of the dark.
I suck in a shaky breath, and Kelda goes still in my arms, listening. But my courage fails me.
“Not now. We need to get out of here.”
I help Kelda to her feet and reach out a hand for Halle, but she just stares and shakes her head. “No, not later.Now. Val, you moved so fast. It’s like you—” She sucks in a sharp breath. “Like you’re storm-touched.”
Kelda tilts her head toward me, her curls brushing against my chin as she finally opens her eyes. “That makes you a saint, right?”
I reach over to brush a stray hair off her forehead. “Mama made me promise to keep it a secret, so the Archangels couldn’t come take me away. But then she was gone, and Papa was gone, too, and I had to use it for… for the job I was doing. I had to.” I catch Halle’s eyes, deep brown and spilling over with tears. I wonder if she can see inside me, if she realizes that I didn’t just have to. Iwantedto. I was good at it and proud of how good I was at it.
“They called you the Butcher.” Halle tightens her fists at her side. “As in,theButcher? That’syou?”
Silence drops over us, thick as smoke. I thought I’d made my peace with my alter ego, with what I did and what I’ve done. But right now, I can’t even find my voice to answer her. It’s choked off somewhere in the base of my throat. So I just nod.
In the distance, chapel bells start to peal, ringing out a very particular song. One I haven’t heard in about six years.
Calling the Archangels.
“We can’t stay here. We have to go.” I tug Kelda forward, trying to cover her eyes as I lead her past the bodies and toward the staircase down to the main hall. I don’t look back at Halle, but I hear her footsteps padding softly behind me. She doesn’t say anything more until the rooftop door closes behind us.
“You didn’t say anything.” Halle’s voice is clearer and stronger now, angrier, ringing against the walls of the stairwell. “You didn’t sayanythingthis whole time. You just let us believe you were out there doing normal Gold Town work, coming home late,disappearing into your room with a bottle of moonshine every night—”
