“Hey,” Drea cut in. “You’re already officially part of our crew. This only means you won’t need that bracelet to come and go from the compound anymore.”
Marlow and Jacob both nodded their agreement from where they stood behind Drea.
The tears that had threatened Indigo’s eyes only a moment before started to pour over. She swatted at them with her hand while her lip trembled.
Aurelia, who most likely had been somewhere in the courtyard this whole time, joined us then.
“You’re confident in your decision?” she asked Indigo. “You could wait until all this craziness is over to have your Ascension Ceremony.”
Indigo nodded and smiled even though tears were still forming in her eyes. “I’m sure. I don’t want to wait. When we go up against Apollyon and his demons, I want to be a Lumen.”
“I can take you to the portal,” Marlow said, stepping up next to Indigo. “You should have a friend with you.”
“I’ll go too.” Jacob grinned.
My heart warmed when I remembered how Drea had accompanied me to the sanctuary the day I ascended.
“Thanks,” Indigo said. Another round of quick hugs from the rest of us before she, Jacob, and Marlow headed toward the sanctuary.
I watched her climb the stairs and then disappear into the sanctuary. I couldn’t wait to see what powers she came back with.
When they were gone, Aurelia turned to me. “We should talk and get caught up. A lot has happened in the last day. Not the least of which are all the new Lumens here at the compound. Gage included,” Aurelia said, as she eyed Gage’s wings and smiled broadly. “You’re going to have to put them away. I don’t think you’re going to fit through the academy doorways with those,” she told him.
Gage rolled his shoulders and his wings vanished. He also disengaged his angel marks so the white swirls and patterns faded into his skin. Even with his wings and angel marks gone, he still looked different. Changed. It was his internal transformation that shone through him now, not any special powers or abilities that had been bestowed on him. Gage had truly forgiven himself and accepted who he was, and it made him radiant.
I went up on my toes and kissed his cheek.
He glanced down at me, his face relaxed. “What was that for?”
“Because I couldn’t help myself,” I said with a grin.
Reaching out, he tugged me closer, tucking me into his side.
“Okay, you three, come with me.” Aurelia tipped her head toward the academy. “It’s time to plan.”
I blew out a shaky breath. Gage’s powers were restored. Harley was in hiding. Lumens were arriving from all over the country to help us. It was time to go to war.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Aurelia pointed to a large whiteboard where a bunch of diagrams had been drawn up.
“This is Tartarus.” She pointed to an impressive hand-drawn picture of a dome with a net over it. “I’m going to work all night to create a semi-permanent portal there for some of our troops to infiltrate.”
The master Lumens around the room nodded. Some of them I recognized, many of them I did not. There were over fifty of us crammed into one of the academy classrooms.
“The Netherworld,” Aurelia tapped a drawing of a skull, “is where Apollyon has the souls trapped.”
Aurelia looked at me then. “Tatum, where do you think we need to put the bulk of our army? The Netherworld, or Tartarus?”
My heart hammered in my chest as all eyes seemed to focus on me. I hated public speaking, but I needed to get past that to help form a solid gameplan. The cube was in Tartarus, and I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure how but the idea was that I would reverse whatever Apollyon had done to it and suck the souls out of the Netherworld and bring them back to Tartarus, and then destroy it. We were hoping my energy would heal them as they moved through it, restoring the souls to health. With any luck, the Netherworld would be destroyed once I returned all the souls to Tartarus, killing two birds with one stone.
Doing all that without stepping foot on Netherworld soil would be preferable, since that was Apollyon’s realm. He’d created that world and controlled everything in it, so drawing him away from the Netherworld would be a huge advantage for us.
“Tartarus,” I said boldly. “Once I mess with the cube, Apollyon and his army will come for me. I think this war needs to be fought there.”
Aurelia nodded, looking lost in thought as she chewed on my decision. “The second Apollyon knows you’re going to take back the souls and destroy that cube, he’ll send every demon he has after you.”
I nodded, and Gage growled beside me, but turned it into a cough when I slanted my gaze at him. I was pleased to hear it was a human growl with no animalistic hellhound tones underneath, but the protective alpha boyfriend in him would always be there.
