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I turn back toward hiive you ive it to me You can hold it while I just touch it’

I look at hithe truth?’

‘There is no risk The sill not allowto me like I’m an idiot ‘It’ll be perfectly safe for you’

I envisionin a memory trance within easy reach of Beliel ‘Thanks, but no’

‘Afraid?’

‘Not stupid’

‘You can tie e Do whatever you like to ensure your safety froet up on his own anymore Once you do that, you know the son’t allow me to take it, so you’ll be perfectly safe’

I stare at hiame

‘Are you really afraid ofyou?’ he asks ‘Or maybe you just don’t want to know the truth about your precious archangel? He’s not what he seems He’s a liar and a betrayer, and I can prove it The son’t let me lie – it doesn’t pass on pretty words Justaround to leave, and he knows it I should be ignoring everything he says

But instead, I stand rooted to the porch ‘You have your own agenda that has nothing to do with showing o after you realize that he’s really the bad guy, not uy now?’

Beliel’s voice turns cold ‘Do you want to see it or not?’

I stand in the sunshine, looking at the beautiful view of the bay and the green hills beyond it The sky is blue with only a few puffy clouds

I should explorehere we could use I should be coetwith disaster

Butback to me Could Beliel have been one of Raffe’s Watchers?

‘Were youdid you used to ith Raffe?’

‘You could say that He used to beofficer There was a ti That was before he betrayedto do to you It’s in his nature’

‘I know you lied to my sister just for sport I’m not a lonely, scared seven-year-old, so drop the evil hter of Man You wouldn’t have believed what you saay You’re too loyal to the archangel to believe that he was the source of so much misery’

I turn around and walk into the house I check to see that Paige is sleeping in her room I check the cupboards in the kitchen to take stock of the few cans of soup left by thearound, the desire to see what Beliel is offering nags at s me to my senses about Raffe Maybe I’ll snap out of it and s, where I belong

I can’t even think about what happened earlier with Raffe withoutin embarrassment How am I supposed to look at hiht twists ut into a knot

I kick a decorative pillow on the floor, getting no satisfaction out of seeing it bounce off the wall

Okay Enough