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She stood up, feeling like a kid as Arriane engulfed her in the towel and dried her off The toas thin and coarse, but the robe that folloas thick and warm

"We need to skedaddle before the tourist cavalry arrives," said Arriane, gathering Luce’s boots

By the time they left the baptismal room and walked back into the chapel, the sun had risen, and it cast colorful rays of light through the stained-glass depiction of the Ascension in the

Beneath thelay the bodies of Miss Sophia and the two other Elders, bound together

When the girls crossed to the front of the larger chapel, Ca on the center altar, talking softly Ca the last of the starshot colas from Phil’s black leather satchel Luce could actually see his bloody ankle scab over and then the scab begin to flake away He sed the last drop and rotated his shoulder back into its socket with a snap

The boys looked up to see Luce standing between Annabelle and Arriane All three of them hopped off the altar, but Cam stepped toward Luce first

She stood very still as he approached Her heart was beating fast

His skin was pale, reen of his eyes look like e his hairline and a s tips had stopped bleeding and had been bandaged with soauze

He smiled at her Took her hands His arht she ain, never see his eyes shine, never watch his golden wings unfurl, never hear the way his voice rose when he h she loved Daniel ht possible, Luce could not bear to lose Ca into the room "Thank you," he said

Luce felt her lips quiver and her eyes burn Before she knehat she was doing, she fell into Cam’s arms, felt his hands wrap around her back When his chin rested on the top of her head, she began to weep

He let her cry Held her close He whispered, "You’re so brave"

Then Cahtly away For a second, she felt cold and exposed, but then another chest, another pair of ar her eyes that it was Daniel

No other body in the universe fit hers so well

"Mind if I cut in?" he asked softly

"Daniel--" She clenched her fists and squeezed her ar to squeeze away the pain

"Shhh" He held her like that for whather in his wings until her tears had tapered off and the weight in her heart had eased enough that she could breathe without sniffling

"When an angel dies," she said against his shoulder,

"does she go to Heaven?"

"No," he said "There is nothing for an angel after death"

"How can that be?"

"The Throne never anticipated that any angel would rebel, el Azazel would spend centuries in a deep Greek cave over a fire, developing a weapon to kill angels"

Her chest shuddered again "But--"

"Shhh," he whispered "Grief can choke you It’s dangerous, so else you have to beat" She took a deep breath and pulled back, enough to see his face Her eyes felt swollen and exhausted, and Daniel’s shirt was soaked with her tears, like she’d baptized him with her sorrow

Beyond Daniel’s shoulder, resting on the altar where Gabbe had been bound, so around as a punch bowl, but oblong in shape and made of hammered silver

"Is that it?" Was this the relic that had cost her friends their lives?

Cam walked over to it, picked it up "We uncovered it at the base of the Pont Saint Bénézet right before the Elders overtook us" He shook his head "I do hope this spittoon is worth it"

"Where’s Dee?" Luce looked around for the person nificance of the relic

"She’s downstairs" Daniel explained, "The church opened to the public a little while ago, so Dee went down to build a small Patina to cloak the corpses of the Elders

Now she’s at the base of the stairs with a sign that says this ‘wing’ is closed for reconstruction"

"And it worked?" Annabelle asked, iious tourists aren’t football hooligans," Cam smirked "Storht now?" Luce asked

"How can I not?" Cam countered darkly "Would you prefer I cried?"

A rap sounded at theon the other side of the chapel The angels stiffened as Calass His jaw clenched "Ready the starshots!"

"Cam, wait!" Daniel cried "Don’t shoot" Cam paused A h the openAs soon as he was on his feet, Phil raised his shaved blond head and fixed his dead white eyes on Cam

Cam snarled "You’re lost, Outcast"