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"The story was bound up in relics--many relics, over millennia But there are three especially that seem relevant to our search, three that els fell to Earth
"We don’t knohat these relics are, but we knohere they were last mentioned: Venice, Vienna, and Avalon They were in these three locations as of the ti of this book But that was a while ago, and even then, it was anyone’s guess whether the items--whatever they are--were still there"
"So this h "Excellent We’ll squander our ti for mystery items that may or may not tell us e need to know in places where they ed "In short, yes"
"Three relics Nine days" Annabelle’s eyes fluttered up "That’s not a lot of tiaze flashed back and forth between the angels "We need to split up" This hat Ca about before the roo Whether they’d have a better chance of finding all the relics in time if they split up
Gabbe waited for Cam’s reluctant nod before she said, "Then it’s settled Daniel and Luce--you take the first city" She looked down at Daniel’s notes, then gave Luce a brave smile "Venice You head to Venice and find the first relic"
"But what is the first relic? Do we even know?" Luce leaned over the book and saw a drawing sketched in pen in thehis head slightly at the io It looked al for at antique shops "This hat I was able to glean frorapha--the dis-shaped with a glass bottoround on the other side of the clear base The tray, or whatever the relic was, had what looked like small chipped handles on either side Daniel had even drawn a scale below it, and according to his sketch, the artifact was big--about eighty by one hundred centi this" Daniel sounded disappointed in himself "I don’t knohat it is any et there, you’ll be able to figure it out," Gabbe said, trying hard to be encouraging
"We will," Luce said "I’m sure ill" Gabbe blinked, smiled, and went on "Roland, Annabelle, and Arriane--you three will go to Vienna That leaves--" Her mouth twitched as she realized what she was about to say, but she put on a brave face anyway
"Molly, Cam, and I will take Avalon"
Caolden wings with a great rush, sla her lunging back five feet
"Do that again and I reck you," Molly spat, glaring at a carpet burn on her elbow "In fact--" She started to go for Cam with her fist raised but Gabbe in-tervened
She wrenched Ca, I would really rather not have to wreck the next one of you who provokes the other"--she smiled sweetly at her two de nine days"
"Let’s hope it’s long," Daniel muttered under his breath
Luce turned to hiuidebook: postcard pictures of boats jostling down canals, sunsets over tall cathedral spires, and dark-haired girls licking gelato That wasn’t the trip they were about to take Not with the end of the world reaching out for them with razor claws
"And once we find all three of the relics?" Luce said
"We’ll meet at Mount Sinai," Daniel said, "unite the relics--"
"And say a little prayer that they shed any light what-soever on where we landed e fell," Ca his forehead "At which point, all that’s left is so our entire existence in his jaw that he should just abandon his silly scheme for universal domination What could be simpler? I think we have every reason to feel optilanced out the openThe sun was passing over the dormitory now; Luce had to squint to look outside "We need to leave as soon as possible"
"Okay," Luce said "I have to go hoet my passport" Hera mental to-do list Her parents would be at the h tiether
"Oh, cute" Annabelle laughed, flitting over to thes werethrough the invisible slits in her hot-pink T-shirt "Sorry to butt in butyou’ve never traveled with an angel before, have you?"
Sure she had The feeling of Daniel’s wings soaring her body through the air was as natural as anything
Maybe her flights had been brief, but they’d been unfor-gettable They hen Luce felt closest to hi close to hers, his white wings protecting the Luce feel unconditionally and impossibly loved
She had floith Daniel dozens of ti hours: once over the hidden lake behind Sword & Cross, another ti the coast at Shoreline, and down froht
"I guess we’ve never flown that far together," she said at last
"Just getting to first base see