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"I think there are people on top of the church," I said

"Please, go back to the assembly," he said "We have people positioned on the church standing guard"

"I need to be sure they’re supposed to be there," I said

The o with you"

"Thanks," I said, and turned toward the church

A flash of blinding pain struckofa knife at me My hand flashed to his wrist Gripped it and squeezed until I heard bones crack and a screa ainst Thoto date his daughter

One of his fists slaed the next blow directed at my throat, and lashed out with ed him in the face He dropped like a rock The people on the church roof had to be with this guy Assassins

I wanted to shout an alarm, but the crowd burst into loud cheers I saw the other co up in front of the podium, and realized with sudden horror why the assassins hadn’t struck at Thomas yet They didn’t want just him They wanted to kill as many leaders as possible I ran to the church doors Locked I kicked theically reinforced, those bastards!

Running to the side of the building, I ju purchase on the stone blocks so I could scale the building My hands slipped as though the building were coated with grease How in the hell aet on top of this place? I had no choice but to run for the front of the asse hi ic, but not all of theht and remembered ain I had to I looked at the nearest assassin I focused on that spot with alla portal there The world vanished in a puff of black When it reappeared, I saw blue sky for an instant before I fell, crashing on top of someone who let out a muffled cry of surprise

Dizziness washed overI looked and saw severala sniper rifle that could probably stop a charging rhino

I aure closest to un into the side of my head I saw stars, and felt the stone roof smack my face

"Execute your orders!" one of the uns cock Heard the h ritted ers pulling on triggers

I raised my hand, and shouted, "No!"

A brilliant fireball burst fro above the heads of the assassins Shots exploded I heard the sound of ricocheting bullets and a cry go up froe barrel of a gun at h his chest His s had charred to ash

I crawled, watching other bodies cru nearby, some full of the silver Lancer darts used to incapacitate One of the figures ducked low, tugging a lever on his gun, apparently trying to fix it Teed to gainin deep breaths to ward off the dizziness and nausea threatening to overwhelure looked at the Templars He snatched a device with a switch froe backpack at his feet, and evenout of it He had a detonator!

"Die you demonic son of a bitch," the man behind the mask said, and flicked the switch on the detonator

I didn’t think I acted by pure instinct, and threw

A tremendous boom went up from the roof Heat washed over h the air, end over end I bounced off the roof of the house Rolled over the peak, and slid down the other side My fingers caught on the gutter before I plummeted three stories to hard concrete and the proripped a sturdy downspout, braced my feet to the sides, and slid down

The Templars had formed ranks around the podium, and I saw the bluish tint of a shield in place Other Teround bunker facility, while teams of black-clad soldiers fanned across the area, probably looking for ering, I weaved through the crowd to the front Two grim-faced Templars parted ranks to let me inside the protective circle What I saw made me even sicker

Two of the commanders lay dead, a fact e sniper rifles had round nearby, a gaping hole in his shoulder being tended by healers Christian Salazar looked unhurt, as did the other coht around me I looked into Elyssa’s worried eyes She kissed od, I saw you up there I tried to get to you but there were tooback her hair with my hand "I’m okay" I looked at Thomas "How’s your father?"

"He’ll be fine," she said, relaxing her embrace "Whatever you did up there saved his life"

I h to hurt their aim But what if Ivy hadn’t warned me? Would I have still been up on the podium? Would my head look like a pulverized tomato? I felt relief and, despite the terrible circumstance, happiness my sister had risked so much to help et Ivy out of there If she was starting to see Daelissa’s bad side, maybe it wouldn’t be hard to convince her On the other hand, she still adored Jere the Tes for the crotchety old bastard She wouldn’t betray the people she thought were her grandparents, even though I knew by now they had no relation to us at all

I watched Nightliss as she helped with a wounded initiate Anger flared in her eyes She looked at ht I knew she wanted to punch Daelissa in the throat as badly as I did Unfortunately, during her last confrontation with the other angel, she’d nearly died Despite her recovery, she couldn’t solo Daelissa--not a chance

Thoround war room despite the healer’s recommendation he rest for the reranted hie wound in his shoulder to heal The only reason I knew about thewas because, for some unknown reason, Thomas had invitedwith Nightliss