Oberi reached forward to nudge Charlie’s hand gently with his nose.I know you desire to be free of this place. But our exit must come at the proper time.
Charlie turned away from him. “Seems like that day will never come.”
It will,Oberi insisted.Trust me. Once that day arrives, there will be nothing that can hold you back anymore. It is my vow.
Charlie’s shoulders slackened at Oberi’s words, but within me, they only caused terror to rise. It didn’t feel like we were safe anywhere.
But at the same time, if we really wanted to fulfill these prophecies and set things right, we had to make the choice between remaining here and searching for the keys, or taking our chances somewhere else, where it could be even more dangerous.
Charlie squeezed my hand. “I'll go wherever you want me to. As long as you promise me we're getting out of here soon.”
A lump formed in my throat, because I didn’t know if that was a promise that I could keep. Leaving the Institute wasn’t an option. Neither was staying.
Unlike Charlie, I didn’t think we had a choice. Fate would put us in the right place.
We just had to survive wherever it took us.
CHAPTERFIVE
CHARLIE
Iwas done with the prophecies. I was done being a prisoner. I was ready to leave.
Ava wasn’t, though, and I’d made a vow to my wife that I intended to keep. I just had to be ready to move the second we found the merfolk key. Kallie was still working on uncovering clues, but it was my job to get us out once she found them.
And I intended to make Ava keep her promise once we had the merfolk key in hand. Once we got that key, we were out of here. I wasn’t sticking around anymore.
I sat on the bleachers in the prison yard, listening to the sounds of Kallie and Marcus tossing a ball for Oberi and Rishi to chase. Ava was sleeping, so Oberi had come down to see me for a few hours. Chancey stretched his wings above us, flying as high as the noxite fences would allow, which wasn’t more than a few feet off the ground. It was the end of February now and the air was chilly, but not too cold. We had some free time after class, and we were waiting until Ava awoke before we could go see her.
“I think we should assassinate the Warden,” I stated simply.
My friends went silent, as if my suggestion had come out of nowhere. Even the pad of Oberi’s paws on the ground had stopped.
I didn’t know why they were so shocked. I’d been thinking about this for a while now.
Marcus was the first to speak. “How do you think you’re going to get away with that?”
I shrugged. “I’m sure we can come up with something.”
“We’ve already discussed this,” Kallie said. “Angels are immortal, and nearly impossible to kill.”
“There’s got to besomeway to kill them,” I argued. “Getting rid of the Warden would solve a lot of our problems.”
Chancey flapped his wings, then landed beside me. “We’d never pull it off. My kind doesn’t cork over easily.”
“Tons of angels died in the bombings of Celestial City,” I argued.
“Yeah, because they were torn apart so badly they couldn’t heal quickly enough,” Chancey said. “You ain’t gonna get a bomb where you’re at, buddy.”
“Ava did it,” Marcus said nervously. “She blew apart the Underground.”
“She barely came back in one piece,” Kallie shot at him. “We can’t try that again without killing ourselves. That kind of magical prowess is impossible to control.”
“If you wanna survive an attempt on an angel’s life, you’re gonna need magic, and a lot of it,” Chancey insisted.
“And we’re demigods, so we’ve got access,” I sneered. “Professor Cusak was found dead just a while ago, drowned in the ocean after someone plucked all the feathers from his wings and tossed him off a cliff. He was an angel, so if he can die, so can the Warden.”
“It ain’t the same. Number one, Cusak died because angels can’t survive prolonged damage. His body couldn’t rapidly heal fast enough after his wings were plucked, so it gave up, and he drowned. To kill an angel, you’ve gotta torture them longer than their body can heal,” Chancey replied. “Number two, Cusak was nothing more than a glorified grunt for the Warden. Angels got a hierarchy, levels, kinda, with more access to power the higher you go. There’s a big difference between some ordinary angel and the Deacons of the Celestial Church, who are basically untouchable, and the Warden’s the strongest Deacon the Church has.”
