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"What about him?" Luce stared at the dead man on the floor His shoes were freshly shined He wore a thin gold wedding band "He was just a janitor co in to see about the noise Now he’s dead " Daniel took Luce by the shoulders and pressed his forehead to hers His breath came short and hot "His soul has sped to peace and joy And et the relic, and get out of here" He squeezed her shoulders, then released her too quickly She choked back a cry for the dead man, sed hard, and turned to look at Phil

"Where are they?"

Phil pointed a pale finger skyward

Dangling froht were three black burlap pods One of the to be born

"Arriane!" Luce shouted

The saain, more violently this time

"You will never free theround A Scale member with a fish face rose up on his elbows "More Scale are on the way We will bind you all in the Cloaks of the Just and handle Lucifer ourselves--"

A bronze shield thrown like a Frisbee by Phil nicked off a piece of the Scale’s scalp, sent his

Phil turned to Daniel "If you do need Scale assistance to unbind your friends, we’ll have more luck while their force is small"

Daniel’s eyes burned violet as he flew around the wing,from one scaffolded restoration station to another, then to a wide marble table that looked like one of the museum restorers’ workstations It was stacked with paperwork and tools--h with intense scrutiny, flinging aside an empty water bottle, a stack of plastic binders, a faded picture in a fra, heavy-duty scalpel

"Take this," he told Luce, sliding Phil’s heavy satchel across her shoulder She held it close at her side and held her breath as Daniel arched back his wings and lifted off the ground

She watched hiically, and wondered hoas that his wings could low When Daniel finally reached the ceiling, he drew the scalpel cleanly along the rafter, slicing through the rope fro They slipped into his ars beat once as he carried the whole mass easily back to the floor

Daniel laid the black pods side by side on a bare stretch of floor Hurrying over to hi out of the top

Their bodies were bound up in the said black cloak that had kept Luce breathlessly constricted

But the angels had also been gagged with a strip of black burlap cloth Even as she watched, the gags seeh the rew redder in the face and looked so furious Luce thought she would explode

Phil glanced at the struggling black forel blinked, in a daze "Would you like the Outcasts to select a Scale vol-unteer to help you unbind your friends, Daniel Grigori?"

"We will never reveal the secrets of our knots!" the Scale angel cah to hiss "We would rather die"

"We would rather you die, too," Vincent said, approaching their circle with a starshot in either hand, drawing one to the throat of the Scale angel who had spoken

"Vincent, hold your fire," Phil instructed

Daniel was already kneeling over the first black cloak--Roland’s--working his fingers over the invisible knots "I can’t find the ends"

"Perhaps a starshot would slice it," Phil suggested, holding out a silver arrow "Like a Gordian knot"

"That won’t work The knots are blessed with an oc-cult charm We may need the Scale"

"Wait!" Luce dropped to her knees next to Roland

He lay still, but his eyes told Luce everything about hoerless he felt Nothing should restrict a soul like Roland’s Through this cloak she could see none of the class and elegance that el who he was--

whether he was out-fencing all the Nephili records at a Sword & Cross party, or stepping through Announcers more deftly than anyone she knew That the Scale had done this to her friend in-furiated Luce to the point of tears

Tears

That was it

The Hebreords caes She closed her eyes and, in her olden thread fall off the book She re the words--

And Luce said the they could help

"And Heaven wept to see the sins of Her children" Roland’s eyes widened The knots slithered loose

The cloak dropped to his sides and the gag in his asped for air, rolled to his knees, stood up and shot out his golden wings with stunning force The first thing he did was clap Luce on the shoulder