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A nothing that was everything
Daniel fell
ONE
THE BOOK OF WATCHERS
"Good "
A warm hand brushed Luce’s face and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear
Rolling onto her side, she yawned and opened her eyes She had been sleeping deeply, drea her cheek There he was
Daniel was sitting next to her He wore a black sweater and the same red scarf that had been knotted around his neck the first time she’d seen him at Sword & Cross He looked better than a drea a little and Luce drew up her legs to snuggle closer to him
"You’re not a dream," she said
Daniel’s eyes were blearier than she was used to, but they still glowed the brightest violet as they gazed at her face, studying her features as if seeing her anew He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers
Luce folded into hi her arms around the back of his neck, happy to kiss him back She didn’t care about her unbrushed teeth, about her bed head She didn’t care about anything other than his kiss They were together now and neither of the back:
Razor claws and dull red eyes Choking stench of death and rot Darkness everywhere, so coood in the world feel tired and broken and dead
That Lucifer had once been sooyle she’d mistaken for a friend, was actually Lucifer hiet too close, and now, because she had not done as he wished--choosing not to kill her soul in ancient Egypt--he had decided to wipe the slate clean
To bend ti since the Fall
Every life, every love, every elic soul had ever experienced would be balled up and discarded at Lucifer’s reckless whi child giving up when he began to lose But what he wanted to win, Luce had no idea
Her skin felt hot as she remembered his wrath He’d wanted her to see it, to tremble in his hand when he took her back to the time of the Fall He’d wanted to show her it was personal for hi an Announcer like a net to capture all the angels who’d fallen froht her in that starry noplace, Lucifer blinked out of existence and incited the Fall to begin again He was there noith the falling angels, including the past version of himself Like the rest of them, Lucifer would fall in powerless isolation--with his brethren but apart, together but alone Millennia ago, it had taken the angels nine mortal days to fall from Heaven down to Earth Since Lucifer’s second Fall would follow the same trajectory, Luce, Daniel, and the others had just nine days to stop him
If they didn’t, once Lucifer and his Announcer full of angels fell to Earth, there would be a hiccup in tiinal Fall, and everything would start anew As though the seven thousand years between then and now had never happened
As though Luce hadn’t at last begun to understand the curse, to understand where she fit into all this, to learn who she was and what she could be
The history and the future of the world were in jeopardy--unless Luce, seven angels, and two Nephilim could stop Lucifer They had nine days and no idea where to start
Luce had been so tired the night before that she didn’t re this thin blue blanket around her shoulders There were cobwebs in the rafters of the ss of hot chocolate that Gabbe had ht But it all seeht down from the Announcer to this tiny island off Tybee, this safe zone for the angels, had been obscured by blinding fatigue
She’d fallen asleep while the others had still been talking, letting Daniel’s voice lull her into a dream Now the cabin was quiet, and in thebehind Daniel’s silhouette, the sky was the gray of almost sunrise
She reached up to touch his cheek He turned his head and kissed the inside of her pal Why, after all they’d been through, did Luce and Daniel have to beat the devil before they were free to love?
"Daniel" Roland’s voice came from the doorway of the cabin His hands were tucked inside his peacoat pockets, and a gray wool ski cap crowned his dreads He gave Luce a weary smile "It’s time"
"Time for what?" Luce propped herself up on her elbows "We’re leaving? Already? I wanted to say goodbye to ht I’d take you by their house now," Daniel said, "to say goodbye"
"But how a dinner?"
She reh it felt like they’d been inside the Announcers for an eternity, in real time only a few hours had passed
Still, to Harry and Doreen Price, a few hours of a hter was eternity
Daniel and Roland shared a glance "We took care of it," Roland said, handing Daniel a set of car keys
"You took care of it how?" Luce asked "My dad once called the police when I was a half an hour late from school--"
"Don’t worry, kid," Roland said "We’ve got you covered You just need to e" He pointed toward a backpack on the rocking chair by the door "Gabbe brought over your things"
"Um, thanks," she said, confused Where was Gabbe?
Where were the rest of theht before, positively cozy with the glow of angel wings and the smell of hot chocolate and cinnamon The oodbye to her parents without knohere she was going,feel eainst her bare feet
Looking down, she realized she was still wearing the narrohite shift dress she’d had on in Egypt, in the last life she had visited through the Announcers Bill had made her wear it
No, not Bill Lucifer He’d leered approvingly as she tucked the starshot into her waistband, conteiven her on how to kill her soul