Page 46 of Expose Me

I suddenly felt like a schoolteacher, making two boys shake hands and call a truce on their schoolyard tiff.

“So, you expect me to harbor two dangerous fugitives, lie to my House, and help you steal something from them?” Abraxos raised his brows, putting on an incredulous expression.

I narrowed my eyes. We both knew very well he had no interest in House politics on Earth and only remained a member because it was convenient for him at times. He had no qualms about any of this.

“The item does not belong to anyone of your House,” Zey said. “It’s hardly stealing. And the rest seems trivial to get what you really want.”

Abraxos watched Zey thoughtfully as he leaned forward, his arm brushing mine, and popped a small, fluffy pastry into his mouth. Then his attention turned back to me.

“And in exchange, you’ll summon the Orb of Sinne for me?” Now we were getting somewhere.

“I can’t summon something I haven’t touched before—not something that unique. There are limits to my magic, like all magic. But I can seek it and tell you where you can find it.”

“Now.” Abraxos leaned forward too, setting his wine down on the stone table with a clink. “Once I have the Orb of Sinne in my possession, I’ll escort you to the House.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Once we safely and secretly reach the item we’re looking for, I’ll tell you where to find yours.”

Abraxos clenched his teeth, clearly hating he wasn’t getting everything he wanted immediately. “You will seek it now and tell me something so I can be sure you have indeed located it.”

I nodded. “I can work with that.”

“Then we have a deal.” Abraxos grinned and held his hand out for me to shake. Before I could say anything, Zey piped in again.

“Just to clarify—you will do this as soon as possible, you will ensure we are safe and hidden, and you will get us to the item. Sky won’t be telling you anything until what we’re after is in our possession. Additionally, you will not make any plans to go back on your word once you have the information you want. No plotting to have us captured right after, no secret deals to undermine us, no—”

“Yes, yes,” Abraxos cut him off impatiently. “No shady shit, as you humans like to say. Although you’re not exactly human, are you, Zey?”

They stared each other down, and I felt like a schoolteacher again.

“Right. Anyway. Do we have a deal?” I held my hand out first this time, breaking their weird staring contest. Abraxos gave me his full attention and shook my hand firmly with a grin.

In the back of my mind, I imagined the sound of a prison cell door clanging shut. There was no going back now. We were locked into this shitstorm with a fallen angel I couldn’t entirely trust. I wasn’t sure what the Orb of Sinne was or what it did, but anything that was coveted so fiercely, and hidden so well, must be very powerful. I mean, look at the lengths we were going to in order to find the Onuei.

What other choice did I have?

Once I explained to Abraxos how my ability worked—that I needed something or someone with a connection to the item—he abandoned his wine halfway through the glass and marched us through his cavernous mansion.

There were people around, guards and servants, only a few angels and plenty of humans, but they were scarce. For the most part, the place felt eerily empty.

Partway up a staircase, he stopped us in front of a painting that was twice as tall as me and three times as wide. It was a battle scene with majestic angels and demons clashing on the ground and in the sky. When I didn’t look at it directly, it seemed to move out of the corner of my eye, like the scene was coming to life for a brief moment. But that wasn’t the interesting thing about it.

Abraxos flapped his wings and lifted himself into the air so he could point at something in the top right corner of the image.

“This is what it looks like.” He gestured to an orb held in the arms of an angel flying away from the battle scene. It was about the size of a large decorative paperweight and appeared to glow from within. “The depiction is accurate, right down to scale.”

I climbed a few more stairs and craned my neck for a better look, but it was so high up.

Abraxos landed on the step below me with a flourish.

“Allow me,” he said, holding his arm out.

I glanced over his shoulder at Zey. He stood with his arms crossed, focused intently on the painting, a muscle in his jaw twitching.

Eager to get this over with as quickly as possible, I took Abraxos’s hand. He pulled me in close and lifted me into his arms before flying me up to the corner of the painting. Nose-to-nose with the Orb of Sinne, I studied it, then took a picture on my phone.

Zey was silent as Abraxos returned me to my feet, and we continued deeper into the house. In what appeared to be a study—walls lined with books, a big desk in the middle—he went to a cupboard and extracted a box.

It was wood, polished to a high shine and every corner smoothed out so there were no sharp edges to be seen. Inside was nothing but silk lining and a cushiony, soft place for the Orb of Sinne to sit.

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