Page 81 of Grave Revelations

Flooding on a scale never before seen had occurred across three continents. In China, the Yangtze River swept over ten thousand square miles of land. Beneath the massive force of the world’s third-longest river, rice fields were decimated, and villages were washed away. The death toll was expected to be catastrophic.

In South America, the Parana River, which runs through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, flooded, wiping Sao Paulo from the map. It had occurred so quickly that no one had prepared for it, and a city of over twelve million was expecting mass casualties.

Terror twisted her gut as she read the last one. The Mississippi River, bisecting the entire continental US, had somehow merged with Lake Michigan, destroying most of Wisconsin in one go and drowning the city of Chicago beneath over thirty feet of water.

Rebecca stared in horror at the aerial footage of the former city. Where there had once been high-rise buildings densely clustered along the waterfronts, only a few shining rooftops protruded from the newly expanded lake. With over five million people in the surrounding Chicago area and another five million across Wisconsin, the death toll may even rival Sao Paulo.

Experts argued loudly with one another, debating the cause of such widespread destruction and the potential long-term repercussions of sustaining such a loss to three major agricultural centers.

Some experts predicted that something close to twenty million lives would be lost in the short term. Still, there were much more dire consequences as the human population prepared to head into one of the coldest recorded winters with the major loss of world food supplies.

“What does it mean?” Rebecca whispered.

“It is the first tribulation,” Jophiel said, looking past Rebecca to Azazel.

His dark brow furrowed, dipping to Rebecca. “We need to test your power. You’ll need to be in full control of your gifts for what’s coming.”

Rebecca swallowed back the lump rising in her throat. She was stronger now, and less easily killed, but some part of her was still terrified of using her gifts.

Don’t worry, Light. I’m with you to the end.

She hadn’t seen him the night he saved her, but when they’d awoken her seraph side, some of Azazel’s memories flooded her. He thought of that night often, but occasionally, other memories slipped in. In every one of her lives, he’d been there. He was the breeze caressing her face on a warm spring day, gliding between the illusory butterflies Sarah was so fond of. And every time she died, he was with her, an invisible hand holding hers as she took her last breath.

Now that Rebecca had power-shared with an angel, her mate, she felt alive in a way she could have never imagined. She was impossibly strong, her gifts straining against her skin, begging for release. Wind whipped around her, whispering stories; moisture in the air clung to her curls; every living thing hummed at the edge of her mind.

Jophiel had said her strongest gift was air, like Azazel’s, but the fire burning within her was alive, ready to detonate and be unleashed upon the world. She struggled to contain it. It burned her insides, demanding an outlet.

Azazel stood, holding out a hand. “Come.”

She reached for him, letting him pull her up.

When they were standing several feet apart, shoes sinking into thick snow, Rebecca sighed, marveling at clouds of frigid air leaving her chest.

“It’s strange,” she said. “I know it’s cold. I can feel it. But it doesn’t matter.”

A lopsided grin appeared on Azazel’s face, warming that tether between them in her chest.

Close your eyes, he said inside her mind.Feel your surroundings.

She let her eyelids drift closed, expanding her awareness. It was like using her third eye, butmore. It wasn’t taxing or tiring, wasn’t like peering through fog; instead, life swam around her. Air circulated in intricate patterns around everything, redirected, displaced.

A cricket leaped from a tree branch into the sky. The air moved, making space for the creature. Energy pulsed in time with its movement, leaving a residual trail in its wake. Smaller tremors of energy vibrated around the branch, hovering in the air.

The sun, nearly even with the tree line, burned a path over every living thing, stretching tendrils of heat across the treetops in its dying effort to suffuse the world with life before it sank below the horizon.

Lift your hands.

She did, eyes remaining closed.

Reach for the sun’s energy.

She stretched her hands out, running her fingers along the remnants of heat trailing overhead, and curled them down, hooking the energy between thumb and forefinger. Blue flame erupted across her palm, and she opened her eyes.

Very good. Let it grow.

Rebecca’s breathing hitched, waiting for the pain, the aches, the effect of using her magic.

Your magic will not harm you, Light.

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