Page 72 of Light Magic

In the end, I nodded my head once at her and walked through the portal.

I glanced around, but only saw trees. Great. No humans had seen me. The portal disappeared and my chest tightened.

It was okay. This was part of the journey. We were moving forward.

I channeled my magic. It trembled in my veins, but I felt it right there, alive as if it had been switched on. Inhaling deeply, I dug deeper and felt as if it muted my aura. Perfect. Now, hopefully, no angels could find me.

But as far as I knew the reward was still on my head and I could walk by a bad-intentioned supernatural at any time.

So, I pulled my leather jacket’s hood over my head and hid all of my hair before walking past the trees. A few yards away was George Washington’s statue. All right, now I knew where I was. I found an empty bench under a tree, sat down, and fished my phone from my pocket.

Soon, I would fall from exhaustion, but until then, I didn’t allow myself to stop. Why go bury myself in an inn and sleep while I could get something done?

I didn’t have his phone number, but I knew someone who had it.

The phone rang once before her voice came from the other side.

“Ariella? Is that you?”

“Hi, Queen Thea, yeah, it’s me.”

“Holy night, we’ve all been worried about you,” Thea said. She was the Witch Queen of the Silverblood coven, and fated mate to Drake, the Lord of DuMoir castle. Together, they were probably the most powerful supernatural couple of this century.

Stronger than them, only their daughter, Aurora—a half vampire, half witch destined to be the Queen of All Witches. The little, beautiful girl was probably eight now, maybe nine, and she already had a big destiny laid out in front of her.

“I’m fine; everything is fine,” I said. “Before you ask anything, just know I’m innocent of whatever is being said about me.”

“Oh, we know that, even though the angels won’t say what crime you committed. Just that you’re guilty and dangerous.” She scoffed. “So much bullshit.” Then she gasped. “Never thought I would say that about angels.”

I chuckled, though there was no pleasure in it. “I know. I’ve been having contradicting feelings about them for years now, to be honest.”

“I’m sorry. It’s not easy to feel like an enemy to your own kind.”

I nodded, knowing she spoke from experience. “Thea, you’ve probably guessed I called because I need something.”

“I did. What do you need?”

“I would like Zadkiel’s phone number, please.”

“Of course. I can send you his contact via text, is that okay?”

“Yes, that works.”

“May I ask why you want to talk to him?”

“Well, I got my magic back.”

“You did? That’s wonderful!”

“Yeah, but it’s unstable, and I need to train it a little before I try using it.”

“Oh, so you thought Zad would be a good choice, since he’s also an angel.”

I nodded to myself. “Exactly.”

“Well, I’ll send you his contact information, but he and Elisa are on a mission for the next two days. Try calling him. If he doesn’t answer, leave a voice message, or send him a text. I’ll warn Drake you’re looking for him, so when Zad reports, Drake can tell him. If that’s okay?

My shoulders deflated. So even if I spoke to Zad, he wouldn’t be available for the next two days. “Oh, yeah, that helps for sure.”

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