Page 114 of Angel Lost

We round the corner, and my steps falter.

The corridor is cold; the kind of sterile, institutional chill that seeps into the bones. The walls press in too close. A heavy metal door beside me draws my eye. The room visible beyond thick, reinforced glass is more like a cell.

Lottie.

Kai turns, eyebrows raised. His gaze follows mine.

“Chano’s sister.” My voice shakes as I point through the small glass window.

Kai stiffens, then instinctively steps back.

“How do I get to her?” Urgency knots in my chest. “How do I get her out?”

“We can’t.” His arm tightens around my waist, tugging me back. “She’s mid-session. We don’t know what stage she’s in. If it’s first stage, that’s the most precarious—it could kill her.”

“Shit!” Frustration boils over, and my palm smacks against the glass.

Inside, Lottie blinks.

“Move, Lorelei. The less time we’re here, the less likely my stepmom and her angels will work out we know, and the more time we have to get Lottie out.”

I let him lead us forward, but my heart is breaking. How can I just leave her? But Kai is talking sense, for once.

I don’t look back. I can’t.

Chapter Forty: Lorelei

I walk smack into the back of the kid we rescued. Ahead, Kai blocks the corridor. He tugs at his hair, shifting from foot to foot in agitation. He swears under his breath, muttering incoherent half sentences. He’s radiating pure, unadulterated rage. I squeeze up next to him, peering around his shoulder.

“Reye!” I elbow past him and bolt for the window. “That’s her, Kai, that’s my friend. Reye. We found her.”

“That’s Regina, my fucking sister.”

I stare at him, then at Reye. There is something, around the eyes…I didn’t see it before.

Kai pounds on the glass, shaking the whole metal door in its frame.

“Easy, Kai. You said we can’t interrupt. We only got the kid out because his session was done. Reye’s—I mean Regina’s—it’s still going.”

He turns to me, his eyes wild, and grabs me by the robe, lifting me up until my toes dangle off the ground. “Davina lied. She promised me. She promised Regina would be safe if I served her, if I took the bond.” With each word he gives me a little shake. Then he roars, dropping me and falling to his knees in the next second, pressing his head to the floor.

I stumble to my feet. “Kai, that can’t be your sister. She’s the Angel King’s bride-to-be…that would make her his niece.”

Kai’s fists bunch. “Never happening. The bastard would do it though, he would. He’d marry his own fucking sister if she were a first aether. He’d do anything for power.”

Alarm bells blare, and the lights in the corridor flash red.

“Move, Kai!” I yell, trying to pull him up.

“I’m not leaving,” he screams, shoving me off him. “You’re just saving your own ass. That’s my sister!”

Something inside me snaps, and I smack him in the chest. “When it was Chano’s sister you said we had to leave. And you were right.” He scowls. “We need to go, now. We can’t get them out. Not now. We don’t have the time to wait—we’d be unplugging them, risking their lives. That’s what you told me. We need help.”

“You’re saving your own skin,” he repeats, less certainly.

I grind my teeth. “Trust me, Kai. I wanted to investigate the shit going on here when you were ready to ignore it. And I am not leaving you here alone. Either we both go now, or we stay.”

I slip my hand into his, willing him to leave. He stares down at it, gaze moving uncertainly to my face. Footsteps pound on the floor above us, shouting echoing down through the ducts, the crashing sounding closer and closer.

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