Page 48 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 2

“Dim the light,” Gabriel said. “We don’t want to be spotted when I open the door.” I turned the light down to a mere flicker, holding it in my hands to dim it even more. But when he tried the door, the knob didn’t turn.

“Locked?” I asked.

“Or stuck,” he said with a frown. He braced one foot against the doorframe and yanked hard. The old, damaged wood gave way, splintering around the handle. The door swung open from the momentum with a raspy creak. So much for the element of surprise.

“Ah,” Gabriel said, sounding nonplussed.

“What?” I asked.

“I think you may as well turn the light back up.”

I did, and saw what was beyond the door. It was a smooth brick wall. The door went nowhere.

“Okay, that could’ve gone better,” I said.

We went back up the stairs, but when I got to the middle landing between the two doors, I stopped in my tracks. Up above us on the next stairwell, the door we’d come through was now hanging open, its handle splintered away, revealing a brick wall.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered.

“What—Oh. Yes. That’s…” Gabriel frowned. “Excuse me. I expect I’ll be right back.”

Before I could ask him where exactly he planned on going, he vaulted over the railing of the stairway and plunged down into the darkness.

“Gabriel!” I yelled, rushing over and trying to spot him. It was useless. He was dark haired, wearing a dark coat, and dropping into the dark, so he was basically camouflaged. “What the fuck?” I hissed.

But then there was a blur of movement and a soft ‘oof’ as Gabriel dropped down from the stairs above and landed right next to me. He dusted his coat off nonchalantly.

“I thought as much,” he said. “It?—”

I shut him up with a furious kiss.

“What the fuck?” I said again when I pulled away. “What the fuck!”

“I wanted to test a theory,” he said weakly, looking dazed.

“What if you were wrong?”

“That would’ve been a useful data point?” he tried.

I glared at him.

“An unfortunate data point,” he said sheepishly. “It’s not as though I would’ve been killed.”

“No, but you could’ve wound up somewhere else. We don’t know what the limits of the spell are. What if we’d gotten separated?”

Was I overreacting? I didn’t care. I had a lot on my plate, and I didn’t need this sort of reckless bullshit stressing me out even more. All the tears that hadn’t come out earlier were eager to join the fun now, and I blinked them back.

“Evangeline,” Gabriel said worriedly, stepping closer and looking down at me with a furrowed brow. “Evangeline, I’m sorry.” He bent down and kissed me, and it was much softer than the panicked one I’d given him.

With my face cupped in his hands and his mouth against mine, I did feel safer. I kissed him back, and felt a few tears sliding down my cheeks. When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine.

“Don’t scare me like that,” I muttered.

“I’ll do my best,” he murmured.

I let him hold me like that for a minute, then wiped my cheeks.

“All right, good news and bad news,” I said. “Which one do you want first?”

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