Page 76 of Frosted Torment

I raised my arm to show Baz and Lex. “What’s happening?”

Lex’s expression mirrored my confusion, and right as I stepped forward, the sound of beating wings filled the sky.

“Get down!”Baz’s plea echoed in my ears. He bit my jeans and pulled us into the grass below, seeking cover under the lilacs.

I dropped into the bushes, covering my head like a tornado was ready to run us down. In a mere heartbeat, Lex tossed his pack into the field a few feet away. He army crawled to it, keeping as low as possible, unzipped a pocket to remove something, then crawled back toward me and Baz.

Baz growled into my head.“Don’t say a word,”he ordered me, his words laced with urgency.

“Is it Vincent or Maros?” I asked, my wrist burning like it wanted me to fight back. I didn’t expect to hurt Baz, but I didn’t know how to control any of the electricity radiating through my body.

Lex whispered as he lay down next to me, “Maybe both.”

“Noa, please stop talking,”Baz begged me, with a growl coming from his throat.

“We could easily outrun them,” I griped at him, my tone sharp from the pain stinging my skin.

Baz huffed a hot breath of air in my face, his frustration evident about my idea.“The point of hiding is so they don’t find us.”

I lifted my head and made an annoyed face at Baz, then asked, “They can’t touch the ground here, right?”

Lex shook his head no. For the first time, it was he and not Jossy who grabbed a ponytail holder from his pocket. He tied back his auburn hair to see better. Baz nudged me under my arm, and I carefully turned onto my back.

When I looked up, two angels with monstrous black wings hovered like vultures above us. The lilacs and grass in the field provided enough cover from them since they couldn’t get as close as they wanted to scan the area.

Staying close to me, Lex rolled to his side and opened one of the saddlebags attached to Baz, pulling out a small, yet functional, modernized war hammer. The black rubber handle was short enough for throwing if needed. It had a tapered, talon-like blade on one side, and the other side was a round, flat head. Sticking up from the top was a three-leaf spike.

“Hold onto this, Noa,” Lex said, placing the hammer in my hands. “Just in case.”

“What am I supposed to do with this?” I asked, shock obvious in my tone.

“If you need to,” he stated, shaking his head like I’d had years of practice. “Swing. Then swing some more.”

Although the wards did not have full power, they limited the angels’ scope of the area. I gripped the weapon with a firm hold, and a crackling sensation flickered at the tips of my fingers like I was a superhero.

“We need to get out of here, guys. Something isn’t right withthis bracelet that has decided to glue itself to me,” I worried, holding the hammer and gesturing for them to look at my hands.

“The wards are down,” Baz stated as he looked up at the sky.

“Yeah, and we need to get to that tree before it’s too late,” I demanded. My heart leaped into my throat before I added, “I’ve been thinking about how Vincent wanted this bracelet. It has to do with Vallen.”

“Why would he do that?” questioned Lex with a puzzled look on his face, inching closer to me. “Isn’t it better for Vincent if Vallen stays locked up?”

“Not if they need him to retrieve the secrets,” I said, and closed my eyes to think.

Wings of the dark fallen beat in the sky with a force that could lull one to sleep under different circumstances. I steadied my heartbeat and searched my mind, feeling the energy of the secrets, Callum, and the bracelet pulsing through my veins.

“I feel you. Come to me,”a raspy voice demanded.

My eyes popped open as goosebumps covered my body as I released a silent scream. “The guy in my head made contact,” I panted. “He knows we’re close.”

Lex’s eyes grew wide, and I could tell he was trying to find a way to get up and leave without us getting caught. Baz noticed too because he looked at Lex and growled, then shook his head.

I squeezed tighter to the handle of the hammer. “Oh my god!” I exclaimed in the quietest voice possible.

“What is it now?” Lex asked, a look of displeasure covering his face.

Releasing the hammer into the grass, I stared at the sky, my eyes gliding with the angels who searched for me. “It’s a key,” I revealed as I felt the bracelet move with my bones.

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