Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130619 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
I have the strange pinch of disappointment at this suggestion, as if what I share with Micah is somehow diminished, but I shake it off. I focus on protecting him right now. “I only know we’re connected. And I know Micah can’t fight Jeremy without us, without me, and the best place for me to prepare for this, for us to prepare for what’s before us, is the Underbelly. I cannot allow myself the luxury of fear when I go after Jeremy. I need to be confident, and we need to be a well-oiled machine. That takes practice and time we may not have.”
They share another look before they both straighten with determination. “I’m in,” Silas declares. “Let’s go make the Underbelly our bitch.”
“Me too,” Gabriella says.
Magic has memory, I’ve discovered, as I knew exactly how to return to the Underbelly without Micah, and when I hold my hands out to Silas and Gabriella and we’re all connected, I rift us there.
Over the course of the next seven days, the three of us spend every night in the Underbelly, and the list of demons I face, defeat, and check off a training kill list is long and plentiful. We develop a plan to work together that’s all about precision. In one scenario, Silas lures the demons out. Gabriella then shoots water at them that I turn to fire. The demons die. In others, we engage in combat, practicing knife skills and even the talent of throwing stars, learning how each of us moves and how we think. When it’s said and done, we end every session at the cove, where, for some reason, I can feel Micah the strongest. Some nights I even sleep here, just to know he’s alive and well.
On this particular night, Silas heads to the lighthouse ahead of us, in need of a bottle of soto for a wicked arm wound, leaving me and Gabriella on our own at the cove. It’s a bright night, stars twinkling, their beauty rivaling the diamonds in the cove, the moon glowing bright white.
“Do you feel him?” Gabriella asks, sitting with me on the edge of the embankment, our feet in the warm water, a red sunshine breaking over the horizon. Last night was the seventh night, the blood-red sunset followed by pitch dark, and for just a moment, I hadn’t been able to feel Micah. It had been terrifying.
I wonder if he felt the same, if he knew why he lost me, if only for a minute.
I shake myself back to the moment, to the question and answer. “I feel him. He’s okay. I keep thinking that maybe Jeremy knows why he’s there. That he plans to kill him before I come out of hiding. Maybe he’s hiding until I show myself.”
“Maybe. It makes sense. Can you tell Micah to come home?”
“No. I can only talk to him when he’s in the same world with me.”
“That’s how the inked magic works, too, but you two don’t have an inked spell, right?”
“No. Just this path to each other. Do you know that when Micah rescued me, Jeremy kept pushing into my head, and Micah was able to push him out?”
A puzzled look flickers across her face. “And yet, his powers were bound?”
“Yes. I guess it’s the Crystal Seer link you mentioned.”
“I don’t know if that’s real. I was speculating.”
“Either way, I think he needs me with him. I’m worried.”
She squeezes my hand. “I know. He’ll be okay, and we’re doing everything we can to be ready to fight with him.” She twists around to face me. “I’ve been researching demons that can bind a Crystal Seer’s powers.”
“And?”
“Jeremy has to be an Archdemon, equal to an Archangel.”
“That doesn’t sound good. How do we fight an Archdemon?”
“That’s the problem. He cannot be defeated without the aid of an Archangel.”
My mind goes to the man with the red wings, who hasn’t visited me since Micah left, but I don’t really think he’s Michael. That idea feels off. “There has to be another answer,” I argue. “I’m the Aza. I must be able to defeat him. Otherwise, my coming of age wouldn’t be such a huge thing, right?”
“Every book said an Archdemon can only be killed by an Archangel.”
“There has to be a way. Because based on what you just said, even if I find my way to Micah and fight by his side, we’re doomed.” I shake my head. “No. No, Jeremy wants me for a reason. I have power we don’t know of yet, and I can kill him. I know I can. I just don’t know if I can kill him before I declare my allegiance to the light, but maybe I can at least wound him.”
“Then you have to try. I think after another week of training you’ll be strong enough to go to the Diviner. Silas agrees. Maybe you can get to Micah and the Diviner before Jeremy gets to him or you.”