“I knew it the whole time! Even before one of her master Lumens said he saw you, I knew you’d saved me from that beast.” I reached out to smack his arm and then thought better of it.
Gage gave me a halfcocked smile. “Turns out I can’t really leave you. Only stalk you from a few blocks away.”
“Slightly creepy, but in this case totally romantic.” I grinned. He chuckled and then grabbed his stomach with a pinched expression.
“Okay, lay back and rest,” I said, and this time he let me coax him to lie back on the bed. “We’re going to the Netherworld to save my mom in two weeks, and I want you by my side.”
Would Aurelia allow that? I had no idea, but we both needed something to look forward to, so I would figure out a way to make it happen.
CHAPTERELEVEN
The shockwave hit me right in the chest. My back slammed into the concrete wall before I’d even registered that I was thrown off my feet. I landed in a heap on the floor, coughing and sputtering as I struggled to suck air back into my lungs.
“Always be on guard,” Marlow said as she reached down to help me up, the least she could do after laying me out with one of her shockwaves. “Demons pack a hard punch, and some of the higher level ones have some really scary powers. Same thing goes for Shades. They won’t think twice about putting you down, and since it’s now common knowledge you can close portals, they’re going to be gunning for you twice as hard as anyone else in a fight.”
Great.
Pain lanced my side as I got to my feet. I took a shallow breath and gingerly prodded the sore spot. “I think I might have cracked a rib,” I complained.
Skye poofed into the training gym, her hair up in a sleek ponytail. “Then it’s a good thing you heal fast,” she quipped.
Yeah, beat up Tatum because she heals fast. Awesome.
Due to my super angelic healing, my friends were taking the train Tatum thing to epic levels. They didn’t hold back.
I let out a humorless laugh. “Yeah, good thing. Hey, Skye.”
“Skye’s here?” Marlow’s head snapped up and she did what everyone did when they heard Skye was in the room: search the space like they’d be able to see her. I pointed in Skye’s direction so Marlow at least knew the general area to look. “Ask her about the archangel-Watcher dating rules. I want to know if I should be saving myself for one of those hunks or not.”
Skye perked up. “Tell her that it’s kinda frowned upon but not really off-limits. Definitely worth the wait, at least in my opinion. I mean, we’ve all seen some of the archangels. Day-um, right?” She fanned herself.
Oh no. I’d been in this situation before. If I didn’t shut this down immediately I was going to get stuck translating a gossip session between these two.
“Skye, why are you dressed like that?” I asked, abruptly changing the subject. Usually Skye showed up runway ready. Today she was dressed in workout clothes similar to what Marlow and I wore.
Skye flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. “I’m here to take you to your training with Aurum, and I’ll be assisting.”
My stomach bottomed out. “Training where?”
I hadn’t seen the winged lion since we’d killed that level ten together.
Skye chuckled. “We’re obviously going to Avalon. You don’t train with a guardian here on Earth.”
Avalon?I straightened. I hadn’t been back since I’d ascended, and Drea’s lesson came back to me then about only being allowed to go once.
“I thought you could only go for your Ascension Ceremony and that was it?”
Skye stepped closer to me. “You’re a special cupcake, you get special rules.”
I rolled my eyes. “What kind of training?”
Skye planted her hands on her hips and shot me anare-you-dumb?look. “Destroying the Netherworld and freeing trapped souls is no small task. Did you think Avalon was just going to let you bumble around without proper training and preparation?”
I blinked back at her.Well… yeah. I’d assumed Avalon was responsible for doling out the missions and then left it up to us Watchers to fulfill them. I did have all the fancy swirly marks. Part of me assumed that was all the help I was going to get.
“Iamgetting training,” I argued, and pointed to Marlow. To be fully honest, Aurum was hella powerful and that freaked me out a little. I could probably get killed if I trained with him.
Marlow’s brows pinched in confusion as she listened to only one side of our conversation.
