Page 179 of Living Legend

I placed my hands on her upper arms, causing her to look at me, a bit stunned. "You are the only one who can stop this.” Natalia looked confused, her delicate eyebrows furrowing.

“Break her barriers and this will stop."

Natalia’s eyes cleared with understanding, looking around quickly and pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. Then, she nodded. "Watch my back." I dipped my head in confirmation. She placed her hands out, as if she was trying to extend them to reach all sides of the room. I didn't feel anything; I actually had no idea what the fuck she was even doing to break the wards or how that happened.

The air pulled from the room suddenly, like the walls were caving in. The fighting slowed as everyone tried to catch their breath. I looked over to Nick, who had Jonah's head on his lap, and he caught my eye. The room started to shake and the trees outside swayed and thrashed, as if they wanted out of their confines as well.

The glass from the windows were pulsing and branches from the violent trees outside were crashing into it. Natalia's whole body was glowing every hue one could imagine. Her fingertips were sparking, and the sound of glass breaking resounded against the walls, but the breaking sound was not from here -- it was from the wards destroyed out there. The air in the room was back and the feeling of heaviness on my chest was gone. A crack and then an explosive shattering boomed around us. The windows shattered, and glass blew around us, making us cover our heads.

Then, there was stillness. Not the kind of stillness of before where the eerie feeling of something bad was upon us, but the stillness of a quiet you didn't know existed. I peeked around the room and watched as Natalia seemed to sway on her feet, almost ready to fall over. I instinctively ran to her, helping her rest against my side.

The sound of swords and choice words were gone. Glass littered the ground and the cloudy murkiness of the sky peeled back to reveal dim sunlight. The smell of blood was thick, despite the copious amount of fresh air now filtering in from the broken windows.

I watched as every sentry still standing shook their heads and blinked rapidly. They looked around, trying to make sense of everything.

Natalia had done it.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

NICK

The shocked look on every angel's face had me wanting to question them, have them explain to me what they remembered, or at least try to help in some way. I watched as Natalia created magic so powerful, it shook the room. Blood dripped down from my cheek where small shards of glass had struck me. As I knelt on the ground, Jonah's body in my lap, I watched as Dani hooked her arm around the High Priestess's body and started walking over to where I sat. She gracefully placed Natalia on the ground, hovering over me.

"Is he going to be alright?" Dani asked. She sounded hesitant, as if she didn't know if that was a dumb question.

I heard feet land on the ground around me as angels who were once fighting against us in the air were now remembering themselves. "I don't know," I answered as I listened to Jonah's shallow breaths and watched as his wound leaked more and more blood. I had tried to apply pressure to it with my hand, trying to stop the bleeding, but it was too deep. This place was too chaotic to try to get him to the infirmary, and who knew what the fuck the rest of this place even looked like since Markus and Isabel's take over?

Elise and Reese saddled up next to Natalia, who was just starting to catch her breath. The question was on my tongue. She caught my eye before I could ask it, answering me without me having to open my mouth. "Healing a wound this deep would take much out of me, but I will try, if that is what you want." She looked tired and her hands were shaking.

I looked up to my best friend, whose eyes were wide with worry and shock. He shoved ahand roughly through his hair but remained silent. Elise crossed her arms over her chest and just stared down at Jonah.

"Is that Jonah?"

"What the hell happened?"

"Fuck, my head!"

I felt the bodies of different angels coming closer or seeking information from each other. This was about to be a shit show of uncertainty, and I wasn't in the right mindset for it.

"Yo, Cassial, what the fuck is going on!?" An angel I knew, Ryan I think his name was, asked from behind me, his voice demanding answers. "What happened to Jonah? What happened period?"

Before I could spin around to put him in his place, a harsh voice did it for me. More specifically, a sharp-tongued demon. "Hey, kid, back off!" Elise snarled, stepping around me, causing the sentry to take a few steps back.

"Woah, woah, you're a demon."

"Nice of you to notice; there’s a lot for you to catch up on," Elise mocked, looking around the room. Ryan looked from Elise to Dani, flicking his eyes back and forth to each of them. Reese pushed Elise back, causing her to practically hiss at him.

"Long story, but as for right now…" He clasped his hands around his mouth in a circle. "Everyone, follow me to the Ethereal Bastille. We have some shit to take care of! Everything will be explained on the way!" Reese looked down at me and nodded once before slowly gathering the lost angels, who seemed to follow him as if he had all the answers, which, in hindsight, he did. I was happy to hand the reins over to him and mentally decided I should do it more often. I can’t always be the one in charge. It seemed I didn’t need to be.

Dani sat down next to me and laid her hand on Jonah's arm.

"Do it," I told Natalia. Jonah's face was getting paler, his chest was rising and falling a little less frequently. His skin was damp and clammy.

Natalia sucked in a breath and let it out in one smooth movement. The glitter on her cheeks had returned and sparked to life every second, as if the sparkle was recharging itself. She reached her arm out, starting to place her hand on Jonah's wound when he caught her wrist. She stopped abruptly, her honey eyes widening in surprise.

Jonah released her wrist and glided his hand around her own, gracefully holding her hand. "You turned into a beautiful young woman; your mother would be so proud of you," he said between shallow breaths. Natalia smiled and squeezed his hand. "Save your strength. This fight is not over."

I screwed my face up in confusion. "What are you doing?"

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