Page 45 of Rage of the Fallen

“Little help here?” Brody called, trapped between the advancing demons and his target.

“I got you, Captain.” Damon launched off a broken pew, his blade slicing through Rage’s shadows, creating an opening. Brody threw the grass like a grenade, and Damon’s blade knocked it the final few feet into Gluttony’s maw. More light flared, and the chapel’s temperature dropped several degrees.

“Three more!” Justice shouted over the chaos. “Scales for Lust, hourglass for Sloth, and?—”

Maci’s tail smashed through a column, and part of the ceiling began to cave.

“The scales!” Justice shouted as chunks of ceiling rained down. “It has to reach Lust!” The sculpture writhed high on its pillar, half-hidden by shadows and decades of dust.

“Little occupied here!” Damon called back, blade flashing as he kept Rage’s darkness from engulfing Brody, who was still trying to recover from his throw.

The phoenix’s wings swept past me as she dodged another of Maci’s attacks. The downdraft nearly knocked Lisa and Zara off their feet. They stumbled, but the crown finally settled intoEnvy’s greedy hands, sending another burst of light through the chapel.

I clutched the harp tighter, knowing it needed to reach Wrath, but Lust’s sculpture seemed to mock us from its perch. Time was running out. I heard the ancient stones groaning above us.

“Together!” Brody’s voice cut through the chaos. He snatched the Scales of Balance and braced one foot against a half-destroyed pew. “Justice, give me a boost!”

Justice blurred across the chapel, hands locking together to form a step as Maci’s tail swung through where he’d been standing. Brody leaped, his soldier’s precision making the impossible look easy. Justice’s vampire strength launched him high enough to slam the scales into Lust’s waiting grasp.

This time, the burst of light was blue-white, pure as a mountain stream. Rage howled as it touched his shadows, making them recoil.

“Two more,” I gasped, watching Justice catch Brody before he could fall into the debris below. “But Sloth’s in the floor, and Wrath?—”

Maci’s fire cut off my words, turning the air to steam.

“The hourglass!” I shouted over Maci’s roar. “It needs to touch Sloth’s carving, but we’re all walking on it!”

The floor beneath us was a maze of broken wood and stone, Sloth’s lazy figure barely visible through the debris. Rage’s darkness swirled around our feet like black water rising, trying to keep us from reaching it.

“Everyone up!” Brody commanded. “Get off the floor, now!”

Lisa and Zara scrambled onto the remaining pews. Justice snatched Damon out of the way of Maci’s tail and deposited him on a stone ledge. The phoenix wheeled overhead, her wings stirring the air like a hurricane.

“Sawyer,” Justice called, his gaze meeting mine. “Together!”

I understood immediately. Still clutching the harp and hourglass, I ran toward him as Maci’s fire chased my steps. Justice’s hands caught my waist, then I was airborne, spinning above the chaos. For one heart-stopping moment, I hung suspended over the chapel floor.

I threw the hourglass.

It tumbled end over end, catching the light from the artifacts we’d already placed. Rage’s darkness surged up to intercept it.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Damon’s blade flashed, cutting through the shadows at the perfect moment. The hourglass slipped through, striking Sloth’s carved figure dead center.

Light exploded from the floor like a geyser, forcing Rage’s darkness back. But we weren’t done. Wrath’s sculpture still waited in its alcove, and the harp in my hands hummed with anticipation.

And now Maci was between us and our final target.

Justice caught me as I fell, but Maci’s massive form blocked our path to Wrath. Her scales blazed like fresh-forged metal, her wings spanning nearly the width of the chapel. Behind her, Rage’s darkness gathered like a storm cloud, knowing we had only one artifact left to place.

“The harp,” I gasped, feeling it pulse against my chest like a second heartbeat. “We have to reach Wrath’s sculpture!”

“Through that?” Damon gestured at the wall of dragon and demon blocking our way. “Great. Just another Tuesday for us, right?”

Six artifacts glowed now, their light creating a web of power through the chapel. But without the seventh, without the harp reaching Wrath, it wouldn’t be enough.

Maci’s tail smashed another pew into splinters. The impact sent Justice and me rolling in opposite directions. The harp’s strings hummed with tension, almost singing with the need to complete the circle.

“We need a distraction,” Brody shouted. “Something big enough to?—”

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