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We will all know"

"But you at least knohere the third artifact is?" Roland passed around a plate of sliced le one into his tea

"Indeed I do"

"Our friends," Roland said, "Caone to Avalon to search for it If you could help theels must locate each artifact on their own, Sir Sparks"

"I thought you’d say that" He leaned back in his chair, eyeing Dee "Please, call ht you’d ask Roland" She slad you did It makes me feel as if you trust me to help you defeat Lucifer" She tilted her head at Luce "Trust is important, don’t you think, Lucinda?"

Luce looked around the table at the fallen angels she’d first met at Sword & Cross, epochs earlier "I do" She had once had a very different kind of conversation with Miss Sophia, who had described trust as a careless pursuit, a good way to get oneself killed It was eerie how much the two resembled each other in body, while the words produced by their dissimilar souls differed so completely

Dee reached for the halo in the center of the table

"May I?"

Daniel handed over the piece, which Luce knew from personal experience was very heavy In Dee’s hands, it see

Her slender arold circumference, but Dee cradled the halo like a child Her reflection peered back dilass

"Another reunion," she said softly, to herself When Dee looked up, Luce couldn’t tell whether she was content or sad "It will be wonderful when the third artifact is in your possession"

"Fro froranddaddy’s route!" Dee said with a shed, a little nervously

"Speaking of the third artifact"--Dee looked down at a thin gold watch buried ale of pearl bracelets--"did someone mention you all were rather in a hurry toback into their saucers, chairs being pushed back, and wings whooshing open around the table Suddenly, the hter and Luce felt the fah her body when she saw Daniel’s broad wings unfurled

Dee caught her eye "Lovely, isn’t it?" Instead of blushing at being caught staring at Daniel, Luce just smiled, for Dee was on their side "Every time"

"Where to, Cap’n?" Arriane asked Daniel, tucking scones into the pockets of her overalls

"Back to Mount Sinai, right?" Luce said "Isn’t that where we agreed Cam and the others are supposed to lanced toward the door His forehead wrinkled in agitation "Actually, I didn’t want to mention this until we’d found the second artifact, but"

"Coori," Roland said "Let’s have it"

"Before we left the warehouse," Daniel said, "Phil told e froroup was intercepted--"

"Scale?" Dee asked "Still harboring fantasies of their importance in the cosmic balance?"

"We can’t be sure," Daniel said, "though it does seem likely We will set a course for the Pont Saint Bénézet in Avignon" He glanced at Annabelle, whose face turned a shade of scarlet

"What?" she cried "Why there?"

"My est it is the approximate location of the third artifact

It should have been Cam, Gabbe, and Molly’s first stop"

Annabelle looked away and didn’t say anything else

Theroo them bound up in black Scale cloaks like Arriane and Annabelle

Angel wings rustled along the narrow brick walls as they walked back down the endless hallway When they reached the curved wooden doorway leading back outside, Dee swung open an iron circle covering the peephole and peered out

"H shut

"What is it?" Luce asked, but by then, Dee had already opened up the door and was gesturing for everyone to leave the peculiar brown house, whose soul was so ested

Luce went first and stood on the porch--which was really just a heap of frost-kissed straw--to wait for the others The angels poured out of the doorway one at a tis back as he exited chest out, Annabelle tucking her thick silver wings fast to her sides, Roland bundling his golden s around the front of his body like an invincible shield, and Arriane plowing through recklessly, cursing an unnoticed candle by the doorway that singed a tip of wing

Afterward, all the angels stood together on the lawn and flexed their wings, glad to be out in the crisp air again

Luce noticed the darkness She was certain that when they’d entered the Foundation, the sun had not been far fro four o’clock, and the sky had been grasping for the precious gold of dawn

Had they been inside with Dee for just an hour? Why was the sky now a dark, dead-of-night blue?

Lights were on in the white stone townhouses People passed behind the s, frying eggs, pouring cups of coffee Men with briefcases and women with smart suits walked out their front doors and, without ever once glancing at the congregation of angels in the ot into cars and drove away, tohat Luce assumed ork

She remembered Daniel had explained that Viennese people could not see them when they were inside the Patina They didn’t see the brown house at all Luce watched a woman in a black terry cloth bathrobe and a plastic rain bonnet walk groggily toward therown pebble path that led to the front door of the Foundation