Page 56 of Wings of Valor
“That is foul,” Kirach says with a grimace.
“Thank fuck someone else said it,” Raph adds through a cough.
Even Mira shudders, looking at the now empty vial in her hand. “Look, ensuring these have the intended effect is easy, but the taste is never something I’ve been able to figure out.”
“We’ll make that our top priority after all of this is over,” I tell her, half joking. My mind races with different options she could use to make them taste better, but without knowing the full list of ingredients, I can’t be sure if they’d counteract whatever else is inside.
“I’ll hold you to that. Now, these will only last a few hours—eight tops, but probably closer to six.”
Hayliel checks the clock on her slate, and when her gaze meets mine, I know it’s time to make our move. “Let’s head out.”
When Kirach opens the door, we find another angel waiting for us on the other side.
“Are we ready to go?” the unfamiliar angel asks. He’s dressed in the same armor we’re all wearing, but over it he’s wearing a similar wing jacket to the one we bought Hayliel. Either he’s a secret Seraphim too, or the poor guy has trouble regulating his temperature. Something tells me it’s the latter.
“You’re on the council,” Hayliel says, stepping forward and eying the newcomer with confusion.
“Darok. I am but a gift from the Archangels, sent to help you achieve your goals.”
Right. As if we needed some random council member to save our friends.
Hayliel sighs, and I feel her frustration flow down our mental pathway. “Well come on then, Darok. Try to keep up.”
Examine the blueprints, they said.It’ll help you, they said.
Except the blueprints we have are clearly outdated since the entrance we’re supposed to be standing in front of is nowhere to be found.
“Dammit!” Hayliel whisper-shouts, letting her fear and frustration seep into the air.
This can’t be it.
Reaching into the bag on my back, I pull out the blueprints and look at them again. Kirach comes up beside me, surveying the paper over my shoulder while Raph does his best to comfort a very frustrated Hayliel.
Darok doesn’t move to help. He just stands there with a smile on his face like we’re not paddling up shit creek with our hands. What the fuck is his deal?
“It should be here,” I mumble to myself, tracing the lines marked into the paper. There should be a door right here, but instead there’s only a tall sand dune that isn’t marked on the map like all the other ones. A thought hits me, and I almost keep it to myself, but now isn’t the time to shy away. “Could they have built this dune to hide the entrance?” I ask Kirach, whose eyes light up as he follows my train of thought.
He studies the pile of sand, then reaches toward a spot that looks perfectly normal to me. “Only one way to find out.”
When his hand makes contact with the sand, it doesn’t tumble to the ground or shift the thousands of grains. It presses in by half an inch, and the dune shudders as a door slides open, revealing the entrance we’ve been looking for.
No one moves for several seconds as we listen for any sign of movement from within. Finally, when we sense no immediate danger, Hayliel says, “We all know the plan, right? We get Zeke and my parents out while the others distract and destroy as much as they can. We’re short on time, so we can’t stray. Does everyone understand?”
I nod along with the others, a smile threatening to tilt my lips as I watch my firefly take charge. Raphael sends me a look that screams,fuck, she’s hot, isn’t she?and I’d have to agree.
But this isn’t the time for ogling. I tuck those thoughts away until after. Once we have her parents and Zeke safely secured within the sanctuary, then we can shower our girl with all the love and praise she deserves. But right now, she needs my head in the game. And with demons most likely crawling all over this place, I’ll need as much of my focus as possible to keep from converting to the shy, scared little boy who only wants to protect those he loves.
I will not lose focus today.
As silently and swiftly as we can, we make our way through the maze-like hallways en route to what we think—or hope—is where they’re keeping Zeke. We found two areas on the blueprints that would be perfect for holding hostages. The first one is at the end of the hall. Let’s just hope we’re not wrong.
A commotion up ahead has my body tensing. Is it coming from the room we’re heading for or one of the doors that branch off the hallway?
A booming, raspy laugh echoes from one of the side doors. Demons. But how many? My eyes lock with our group as I ponder our options. We can try to sneak past them, but that means we may need to fight them on our way out. Is it better to get it out of the way now than try to do it with our friends in tow?
A rock skitters down the hall and smacks into the door. The same door the demons are behind. We all turn to look at Darok, who starts fucking whistling. He stops when he notices us staring at him. “What?”
All fucking hell breaks loose.
