ivy looked at me with wide-eyed wonder. "that was dark light."

"is that a good thing?" i asked.

"well, technically it's a little evil, but since i don't think you're evil anymore, it's probably okay."

i felt my eyebrows rise. "i thought you didn't like darklings."

ivy looked at the floor, pressing her bare toe into the carpet. "i think maybe they're not so bad. i kinda liked nightliss."

relief warmed me. she's thinking for herself. "why is your magical energy pink?"

"oh, i can change colors, but that doesn't mean anything, really." she held up a hand, displaying a white energy orb. "i can make it ultraviolet, but that doesn't mean it's dark light."

"what's the difference?"

a shrug. "i'm not sure. daelissa just told me it was bad." she inspected my hand. "can you do it again?"

i sighed. "no, the heat went away and i can't turn it back on."

"want me to light it again?" she gave me a mischievous grin.

i backed away. "uh, maybe not right now." even though i really wanted my angel powers to work, now wasn't the time to knock myself silly trying to accomplish miracles.

ivy reached up and patted my shoulder. "it's okay. you're not a failure."

"thanks, sis." i couldn't hide the grin. it felt so good to know my sister didn't think i was evil anymore.

"we should probably go," elyssa said. "we had to knock out a guard. it means jeremiah will know someone was here."

"where did you put him?" ivy asked, concern stitching her brow.

"in a closet in the library."

"i can make him forget." my sister smirked. "i'm not very good at blanking, but since you just did it, it shouldn't be a problem. can you put him somewhere else so he won't wonder why he's in a closet when he wakes up?"

"yeah," i said. "better do it now."

the three of us crept back upstairs to the library. bob was nowhere to be seen, probably off perfecting his proposal, i hoped. we moved the unconscious man to a chair at a desk.

"i'll make him forget," she said. "you'd better go. and watch out for trolls in the yard." she grimaced. "they're gross."

i hugged my sister, and kissed her on the forehead. "be careful when you get kassus's blood," i said. "please don't put yourself in danger."

"don't worry about me," she said, flashing an innocent grin. "i can be devious."

how well i know that.

we crept back to the stairs. the foyer looked clear, so we went up the stairs, and made our way to the stairs leading up to the third floor. we straightened from our crouches, stretching, and happy to be almost out of this place as we walked toward the third-story hallway. i opened my mouth to say something when elyssa's eyes went wide with horror. her hand clamped over my mouth, and she stopped dead.

i followed her gaze and saw a silhouette in the first room on the right. the room with the rocking chair. my night vision flickered on.

jeremiah conroy sat inside.

chapter 35

my bowels and bladder attempted mutiny. it was all i could do to keep my wobbly knees from dropping me to the floor. i felt elyssa's arm on my chest, pushing me gently backward. we backed up to the edge of the door, hidden from sight.

the arcane sat in a rocking chair with his profile to us. a candle flickered on the small round table next to him. i remembered how creepy this setup had seemed to me upon entering the house. seeing the old man there alone multiplied the creep factor by about a zillion. his gaze rested on something in his hands. i peered at the object, and realized it looked like the statuette of a woman carved from rock. the paint looked faded, though it was impossible to judge the age based on such a thing since a preservation spell might protect it.

jeremiah produced a clay flagon from his right, took a long draw from it. a trickle of red liquid down the corner of his mouth looked like red wine. surely it wasn't blood. i was wondering why a man with such wealth would use a clay container for his wine when i noticed his clothing. he wore the rugged robes i might picture on someone from the middle east. his goatee was no longer gray, but black, and his skin looked olive by the dim candlelight.

i rubbed my eyes. the man looked just like jeremiah conroy, but much younger and of a different nationality. i felt a pinch on my arm, and looked to elyssa. she mouthed, "who is that?" to me.

"jeremiah," i mouthed back.

she shook her head slowly with disbelief.

i texted shelton, and told him to open the portal in the hallway. a second later, it blinked into existence. i was immensely grateful it didn't put off more light than the sconces on the walls. shelton peered in from the other side of the portal. i put a finger to my lip, eyes wide with urgency.

he nodded and remained still.

before we made a run for the gateway, temporary insanity gripped me. i took out my phone and set it to a low light option, praying i had the flash set to off. then i snapped several pictures of jeremiah and his strange statue. there was something very odd about this man, and i intended to get to the bottom of it.

just as we took a step, the man moaned, and said something in a foreign language. he pressed the statuette to his lips, and murmured, "thesha."

elyssa pinched me again, probably because we'd frozen in plain view of the doorway. i suppressed a gasp and quickly stepped out of sight. i heard the scrape of the rocking chair against the hardwood floors and wondered if jeremiah was standing. elyssa and i ran for the portal. my entire body felt weak, as if i were trying to scramble out of a swimming pool while being chased by a shark.

we leapt through the portal. i looked at shelton, and slashed a hand across my neck. the portal winked off.

elyssa and i let out long gasps at the same time. her face looked as white as mine felt. that had been a close one. then we burst out laughing.

"oh my god, i thought i was gonna crap my pants," i said.

"you should have seen your face," elyssa said, tears of mirth gathering in the corners of her eyes. "i can't believe you didn't faint."

"i wanted to," i said. "but we made it!" i held up a hand, and elyssa gave me a high-five.

"hell yeah, we did," she said.

"whoa, people," shelton interrupted. "what happened?"

"i'd like to hear as well," bella said, looking up from a scrabble board on a table.

i told them about our close and very bizarre encounter with jeremiah.

"no wonder you two looked so scared," he said, chuckling. "i knew something had to be in that room the way you were looking at it."

"we also contacted ivy." i recounted the conversation.

"nice," he said. "now we're on easy street, right? just gotta sit back and wait for the sister to deliver?"

"this is good news, justin," bella said.

i felt my light mood fade into heavy sobriety. "no, there's the chance she won't see kassus for a while."

"she gave me the impression she doesn't see him often," elyssa said. "which means we need to plan for option b."

"giving a baby to lornicus?" shelton said.

"i already know how to take one baby," i said, feeling my lip curl in disgust at the idea. "just snag it with the portal. but the leyworms would never trust me again."

"i don't want that to happen," elyssa said. "you'd be compromising what you believe in. you might never forgive yourself."

"it would be hard to make myself do it," i said.

"well, it's a good thing you have me." she grinned. "because i know another way."

hope lifted my spirits. "really?"

"remember what we heard those guards talking about? kassus isn't done. he's going back to steal an angel even against jeremiah's orders."

"do you think he'll put in a personal appearance?"

"i would almost guarantee it," elyssa said. "if he ordered his men to disobey jeremiah and didn't show up himself to oversee it, they'd think he was a spineless coward."

"that moron is really gonna try for another baby?" shelton said with a snort. "oh, man. if jeremiah finds out, he's dog food."

elyssa tapped something on her phone. "i told hutchins to be on guard. we can have the special ops squad deployed in minutes if need be."

"then all we gotta do is wait," shelton said. "easy money."

i had the feeling it wouldn't be that easy. a yawn nailed me out of the blue. i checked the time and saw it was past four in the morning. it was hard to believe our sojourn into enemy territory had taken only a couple of hours. "i need some sleep," i said, as another yawn attacked my jaw.

"i agree," elyssa said.

"damned straight," shelton said. "besides, bella was kicking my ass at scrabble again."

we woke up late the next morning around ten. i leapt from bed, as if by hurrying, i could somehow make kassus show his ugly face. unfortunately, the world didn't work that way.

"hutchins told me his men are in position and will notify us the second anyone shows up in the nursery," elyssa said.

"and ivy will tell me if anything happens on her end," i said. i sighed. "i hope this isn't all for nothing. i just keep thinking..."

"about what, baby?" elyssa kissed me on the cheek.

"i realized that if it comes down to choosing between a cupid and my mom, i'll choose her every time." i looked into my girlfriend's eyes. "does that make me a bad person?"

a sad smile graced her face. "no. it makes you normal. for what it's worth, i'd do the same thing even if i had trouble living with it afterward."

"would you?" i asked. "could you live with it?"

her eyes seemed to focus inward. she nodded. "yeah, i think i could. these seraphim, they invaded our world. they killed our people. just because they're reborn doesn't mean they're not the same people who committed atrocities in the first place."