Page 403 of Castings & Curses

Something about it seemed familiar, but I couldn't think why. We flew up several levels and down a long corridor. There, we took cover in what appeared to be someone's quarters. They were simple, but rather nice; sparingly decorated, but with a feminine touch.

"These are your rooms?" I asked Aurelia as we caught our breaths.

"They are. You're very perceptive," she replied.

I paid more attention. We were in Aurelia's living room, but I could see a bedroom beyond it through an open door. There was a four-poster bed with a silver and white patchwork quilt, and a soft rug spread over the floor. I couldn't see what else.

The living area held two comfortable chairs with velvet seats near the fireplace, which was lit. A few bookshelves lined the walls, filled with books on magic and mythology, as well as trinkets that probably held meaning for Aurelia.

A small table sat in one corner of the room, just beneath a window that overlooked a garden below. I wasn't sure the garden was real, as her rooms had been in a corridor with many similar doors, but it looked like it was. A child's drawing, framed in silver, had pride of place on the wall. It was created with crayons, but it was well done.

"What's the story of this?" I asked her, suspecting I already knew the answer.

"I had a daughter in my past life, as a human," she said as she sat down in one of the chairs. "She's still alive, and has a son and grandchildren of her own now. I was a spirit for a while before they chose me to become an angel, so what only feels like a few years to me has been far longer for her."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked her. I hoped I wasn't making her uncomfortable, but she didn't seem to be.

"It just never came up as relevant," Aurelia replied with a bittersweet smile. "I've been to see her a few times. They told me they'd prefer I didn't, but they never said I couldn't. I like to check in on how she's doing, and have a chat with her over a cup of coffee."

"That's wonderful that you do," I replied. "Let me just say, you're not the most law-abiding of angels, Aurelia. Maybe that's why we get along."

"I'm not breaking any rules," she asserted. "I just believe that sometimes when dealing with authority, saying less is better."

I smiled because I agreed wholeheartedly with her.

"Melinda, can I ask you — did you tell the officers questioning you about… us?"

I hadn't expected her to ask; I wasn't sure why.

"No, I didn't," I said simply before I heard a loud blast in the distance.

The room rattled, and I took a step forward toward Aurelia, where she sat.

She flew several feet up into the air and I did the same, and it seemed as though we were standing in a tranquil void while the world shuddered around us.

"I should never have left Raphael alone there," Aurelia said as she flew to the door.

She didn't need to open it — she changed to an insubstantial form to pass through it and retook a solid form once she was outside.

With a sigh, I followed. I wanted to keep her safe, but I could understand her concern. It was a wonder we'd managed to stay away from the chaos for this long.

The hallways shook with eerie reverberations. The floor trembled and the lights clinked in their sconces. Without warning, another powerful vibration rippled outward, creating a wall of sound that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

As Aurelia flew back toward the security block, I did my best to keep pace. I also threw up a shield in front of us.

"It tried to take my soul, Aurelia, and the officer Leoriel's too. Please… please be careful."

She slowed her advance slightly to glance back at me.

I knew my words upset her, but she had to know the risk. "It had this net. I destroyed the net to free Leoriel's soul, but it just summoned it again. I don't know how it did it so quickly, unless… it's using a magical object to store the spell. That would account for the speed of it."

"The officers should've taken all objects off Joanne when she was placed in custody," Aurelia replied. "It's possible they missed something, or she got it another way…"

"I don't remember seeing any. If she does have a talisman, it must be hidden on her body."

"The others have to know," Aurelia replied. "I'll call out telepathically as we fly."

AURELIA

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