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Tuesday passed in an agony of anticipation and worry No seraphs appeared to takeshackles, sharp knives No one ran o torture No lynch athered in the streets The day passed slowly; the weather continued to warrew until I could hear its roaring as I worked Early spring? In February? An end to the ice age? SNN was rife with conjecture about the weather and with speculation about the seraphs reputed to still be near Mineral City, the reporters giddy with excites Seraphs had been filmed in Asheville, in Boone, in Linville, and in Black Mountain Two other seraphs had been filray, one teal I kept the overhead TV on between customers, one eye on the screen, and I turned up the volume for each update

After lunch, Jacey filled Internet orders, Rupert stared out the orrying about Audric, and I took care of custo and shooed me away, I went to the back to polish the cats I couldn&039;t tu I had to polish therit wheel to re rit wheel, the two-eighty, the six-hundred, and finally twelve-hundred-grit paper and the loving movement of my hand

It took most of the afternoon, but by four, I was satisfied with their gloss Ciana&039;s had a ss for a fine, thin silver chain Mine was secured with copper wire to depend fro it with my other amulets or create the necklace I had envisioned, but kept the pieces close together until Ciana got home from school and I could surprise her with them

For the second time today, I peeled out of the jumpsuit uniform and ran upstairs to wash off stone dust I stepped fro wet, and my back arched in reaction to a bolt of power My hair stood on end My skin crawled I felt hih my body pulsed like it had in heat, this wasn&039;t heat; not at all But I knew A seraph was here Although I had been expecting it, rieving I bowed to the sink, resting ed, perhaps they would allow ood-bye to Ciana

I dressed in my battle dobok, placed each knife in its loop, braided my hair, and pressed it around the hilt of the neck blade I draped ht, thein time with my accelerated heartbeat I put on e hoops inI tossed the leather cloak over the bags and pulled the, down the stairs

I propped them at the door, beneath the prophecy Lolo had made at my birth I&039;d have to remember to take that too If I survived the punish my return to Enclave and the subsequent insanity fro in a corner, stared at me, eyes blank with panic, face in a rictus of terror

Straightening,like a trapped, feral anih into the shop

In huuise, he stood alone at the counter, silent, no aura of power, no chains, no shackles No wings, no sword of justice and retribution But there was no doubt he was an angel of punishold disc on his chest, the sigil that allowed hi his own heat Ru as an hour An hour of torture for theturquoise eyes toto the beat of , silent minutes

"Little e," he said at last, his voice likeof doo, stoainst tears, I walked to him, my battle boots loud on the wood floor I stopped three feet away Like all seraphs, he was beautiful, but his was a terrible beauty, a slash of mouth, jaw excised from cold marble, brow tall and ith a &039;s peak and dark hair curling like wood s eyesup and down il and pulled it off, over his head He stared at it a h the action was of great significance, he set it on the counter with a soft clink

Peripherally, I are of Rupert standing in the doorway to the workroo else Of the silent crowd that gathered at the display s of the shop, staring in, too fearful to enter

The angel of punishel" in a title - looked at y, and the turquoise light slid out like tears, over his cheeks, his lips, up over his forehead, down over his body like a second skin, growing likearound him, over him, with a clockwise spin When it covered him from head to toe, he reached out aenergy slid froertips acrossy, a lover&039;s caress, tracing down my throat, around the nape of ently, downh thehs The e-heat I expected from such an intimate seraphic touch didn&039;t rise My body remained cool and at rest Surprised, I opened h theof the tension in his narrow lips He sighed and the mist that touched me boiled and swirled with his breath I scented cinnaranates, spicy and sweet The swirl of the mist stopped "It is true," he whispered into the mist The words formed waves that crested between us and splashed down my body "Finally As it was prophesied &039;It shall be thus, blood to blood, bone to bone, flesh to flesh, in battle and before the throne " He touched a layer of bloodstone on my prime amulet I felt a sizzle of power to my bones

"Bloodstone," I said, as if that were important The mist slid away froe, cool and light, parched, like dried herbs

"Yes Bloodstone It has happened," he said again, so softly I could scarcely hear I felt the weight of the necklace resting on e"

With that, he swiveled, picked up his sigil, and walked froathered in the door parted, and he ress In the center of the street, he stopped A flash of light burst froil as he placed it over his head The brilliance was dazzling and I turned away, blinking in the glare When it cleared, the seraph had transed, his feathers were a lustrous teal, edging to black at the tips He lifted and spread his wings, exposing stip touched theon the far side of the street "Wait," he said towind, he leapt into the sky and was gone

The crowd stood silent after the seraph was gone, motionless, as if frozen Finally, a little boy turned and looked into the shopI da richly, and hid the amulets beneath my tunic I met his eyes as human to human, but I kneas too late His mouth opened and I read the word in it "Wow"

The crowd turned toward the shop, one by one, and then the entire group, as if pulled by a string Their expressions were stunned, uncertain, growing angry Elder Jasper was in the crowd, robed froone to school with Jasper He had perfore ceremony He was compassionate - usually - but now his eyes were full of terror My heart plu In an elder it was deadly

The little boy who had said "as jerked away His mother, Sennabel Schwartz, ran the library, and we had always been friendly Now she stared at e and Thadd in the crowd The assey was using a sat phone, his eyes onstarted far back in the crowd and rolled towardfrom me to the crowd Fear and horror etched her face Fear for me A hand swiped her back, out of the way The little boy was pushed in the sae!" soe-fast, faster than hue at the door Behindinto a run Rupert sla, "Run! Out back!"

I shot through the shop, into the stable Zeddy stood there, saddling Ho e boy looked from the blade held across my body, to the dobok, to the suitcases, to Ho like awe "I ain&039;t adjusted the up?" He cocked his head, listening "Hurry, Miss Thorn You got coers and bent his very broad back, ready forhim I dropped the cases and placed my boot in his hands As he tossed me up, I said, "Tell them I threatened you"

Zeddy handed me the cases and helped me tie them in place "I reckon I can handle them people just fine, Miss Thorn But Homer, he ain&039;t warmed up" He opened the door and looked out "They&039;re co trot His long legs took ht and rounded the stable I caught a blur of movement and color Hue!" "Leave her alone!" "Get her!" "Keep her! Make her save the town!" "Gut her!"

Breath stuck in ain Mentally, I found the fish used for the shield, and spoke the incantation that had ainal conjure and allowed it to move as I ht, snapped into place over Hoht I controlled hi into o?"

"Tracks! She&039;s headed up the Trine!"

A lucky bullet pinged off the shield Quickly, I outdistanced the up the yards But I was leaving a clear trail through mud and snow

I round still covering a layer of pere feet threw mud everywhere I slowed hi a trail as easy to follow as spoor or hoof prints, and maneuvered him into a stream The movement of water hid his tracks and would throw off his scent if they brought out bloodhounds And they would

Alternating between a bone-jarring trot and Ho walk, I planned I would head north to the aht past the Darkness and over the peaks to the far side With the aer by toed by the explosion that stripped it of power, but a quantity of it would still be more than all my amulets combined I hoped

The voices fell behind I was safe For now When I licked my lips, I tasted salt It was only then that I realized I was crying

It took an hour of hard riding to reach the oval glen with its high mound at the west and the s held through the clie off and create a fresh flow

Above roaned, all around me water plashed and trickled, and overhead a cold histled off the Trine It was like a syh had composed it was scary

This tiht him around the mound to the far side, tethered hiirth I clie-sight, studying it intently, instead of doing a general sweep Except for a weak pulse in the depression of the recently disturbed ground, I saw nothing that would indicate the presence of the anate navcone Of course, it ht have helped if I knehat the heck navcone was

I saw Ciana&039;s distinctive footprints er ones and my heart wrenched Was it only yesterday I had a life, people to love? Tears threatened again but I forced therieve later, when it was safe Much later Steadying ainst a tree and coo swelled and crested in ent senses, and slowly the nausea settled

With the scan open, I again studied the surrounding terrain Above the lavender light of the buried a else Not the red and black of Darkness; not the delicate rainbow tints ofI had never encountered in my interrupted studies It appeared to be both here and not-here It was a fog, a olden vapor of so

I couldn&039;t quite bring it into focus, couldn&039;t quite get a sense of its smell or structure, as if it was created just for the purpose of ca away Struggling to follow the shape, I finally decided it was strongest at the disturbed side of the mound and at the cairn of stones, the cairn I was pretty sure a Stanhope had built He had lifted the stones in et some amethyst, to see what the cairn hid, and to see whether I could use it to flee But the need to be on e