Page 67 of Archangel’s Lineage

When she looked from the landscaping to the Legion building, she saw that the luminous scales were climbing it, turning the leaves and branches into jewels.

“I’m afraid what you’re seeing is very real.”

At his grim tone, she looked away from the astonishing sight below—and was caught by the electric energy that sparked in the mark on his temple. It took effort to focus. “What am I not seeing?”

“If an Ancient is waking—and all indications are that they are,” Raphael muttered, “the Tower appears to be the focal point.”

Elena’s eyes went wide. “Um, would an archangel be able to obliterate the Tower if they woke below it?”

“I can obliterate the Tower if I want. So yes.”

“Well, shit.”

“Yes. Shit.” Raphael folded his arms across his chest and glared down at the ripple of iridescent color. “This has never before happened, to my knowledge. The odd angel in Sleep has woken below a house or similar, but no archangel has ever made that mistake.

“From what I know of those who have Slept, they seem to have a subconscious awareness of what lies above—a few even talk of sleepily shifting within the earth to ensure they come out in open air.”

“Like they just, what, tunnel in the earth?”

“No. They say there are never any tunnels around them when they wake, but often, neither are they where they were when they went into their Sleep. Perhaps the ability to shift position without physical movement is a gift of deep Sleep.”

“Makes an immortal kind of sense.” Because he was right; otherwise, they’d have heard of angels accidentally destroying monuments, warehouses, garden sheds, and who knows what else. Given enough time, a lot of stuff got built over what was once open ground.

She chewed on her lower lip. “Tell me the rest of the Cadre’s started to see the signs.”

“No. Only I and my mother.”

“I need to learn swear words in Old Angelic.” Elena rubbed her face. “But look at the bright side of things. At least we won’t have to rebuild New York again. Only a few roads. No big deal.”

Raphael exhaled, hands on his hips. “You are right. The damage, even the possible loss of the Tower, doesn’t matter in the greater scheme of things.” His expression turned bleak. “Right before the quake, the Cadre heard from Tasha.”

Elena’s blood chilled. “Is she still head of security on the island with the children?” A deeply trusted member of Caliane’s senior team, the angel had volunteered for the position, her duty to protect angelkind’s greatest treasures.

“Yes. A tsunami hit it an hour ago, swamping the entire landscape.”

Ice forming in her cells. “The children.”

“Safe underground.” Raphael shoved a hand through his hair. “But Tasha told us they’re trapped until the water recedes, which it’s showing no signs of doing.”

“What—” She never got to finish her question because the sky exploded.

A literal blast of sound above the Tower that spread outward in a burst of stark white that cleared the sky of blue in a surge that soon obliterated the horizon.

“It’s everywhere now!” Raphael called out to her over the ringing in her ears. “Dmitri’s just had a call from Tzadiq, asking if we’re seeing the same.”

Tzadiq, Elena remembered, was Titus’s second.

She glanced down on that thought to see Dmitri on the balcony outside his Tower suite, phone to his ear. And it struck her. “We need to evacuate the Tower!” Because the scales were still crawling up over the Legion building... though they’d stopped at the base of the Tower. “Oh no! I think the Sleeper’s under the Legion building!” She began to turn, more instinct than conscious thought.

“No, Elena!” Raphael put himself in front of her, a wall of immovable power. “If it falls, we can rebuild it.” The waves crashed into her mind as his eyes became her world. The Legion would not want you to put yourself at risk.

Gritting her teeth, Elena forced herself to stop as emotion lodged in her throat and twisted in her gut.

Her heart would break when that building fell.

I know, Elena-mine, Raphael said as a siren sounded. It was loud enough to reach across Manhattan, and those within a block of the Tower in any direction knew that was their warning to get the hell away from the Tower.

Angels erupted from the Tower, going not skyward but sideways to land on buildings far from the Tower. All strong enough to do so held a non-flyer. Meanwhile, on the ground, cars began to turn, while pedestrians just dropped what they were doing and ran.

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