“Your father was a—an angel.” Maybe this pack mule’s back wasn’t as strong as I originally thought.

“Yeah. Let’s just say, my mother had widely differing tastes when it came to men.” He shook his head, his expression shuttering as if he’d realized he’d said far too much. “Come on, I’m taking you home.”

I needed more time, more information. But he’d put an end to it. Quite honestly, I think this was the most I’d ever gotten out of him. While mind-blowing, I considered it serious progress.

We caught up with Cassandra, and together we headed back to my house. Once there, it felt very strange to have Bishop come in through the front door. It seemed like such a mundane thing for someone like him to do.

Entrances through bedroom windows, however...

“I’m starving,” Cassandra said immediately. She hadn’t said much on the way here, keeping quiet and looking pale. Now that her secret was out, her real mission, I had no idea what was going on in her head. When I’d met her eyes to try to find out more by reading her mind, I’d found that her walls were up—solid and impenetrable.

She disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Bishop and me alone.

“Are we going to the party tonight?” I asked.

“No. The others have it under surveillance. We’ll go back to Ambrosia and look for Stephen. Someone there has to know where he is.”

His gaze moved over everything in the foyer, from the throw rug, to the coatrack, to the framed pictures of me and my mom.

“Pretty boring stuff,” I said, embarrassed by the level of mundane he was able to witness in such a small space.

His attention moved to me. “Hardly. I find everything here...very interesting.”

My face felt warm. His soul was hard to ignore right now, as was my hunger, but I hoped I had a decent lock on it.

The calm before the storm, I thought. Gets better before it gets worse.

Such a pessimist.

No, a realist. There was a big difference.

“Earlier, you said that you didn’t want to let me out of your sight,” I said cautiously.

He didn’t take his eyes off me for a moment. “That’s exactly what I said.”

“There might be a slight problem with that plan.”

“What?”

I took my coat off and threw it on the coatrack like I’d done hundreds of times before. “I need to take a shower.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Well, make it a fast one and I won’t have to check on you.”

“Fastest ever.” I turned away from him before he could see me blush and rushed up the stairs to the second floor.

Before I hopped in the shower I quickly checked voice mail. There was a message from my mom about how much she was enjoying her vacation. Another one from Kelly confirming the new location for Noah’s Halloween party and how she hoped I’d be there, even though I’d been missing in action lately. No calls from the school. I’d missed the better part of two days, but they hadn’t checked up on me yet. For all they would have known I was sick at home. It was a big relief.

When I hung up, I heard my bedroom door open, and I repressed a smile.

“It’s only been five minutes. You’re already checking on me?” I turned to the door, surprised to see Cassandra standing there, not Bishop.

“Are you all right?” I asked, concerned by how upset she looked.

She shook her head. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

I swallowed hard. “Care to be more specific? There’s a lot happening.”

“With the angel I was sent to find. How much damage she’s done—how many lives she’s destroyed after escaping the Hollow.”

“That’s not your fault,” I assured her.

“Feels like it is.”

I moved toward her and took her hands in mine and squeezed them. “No, it’s not. It’s her—she’s disturbed. Really disturbed. And this—it’s the only way she can cope. Can you think of any way we can help her without having to kill somebody she possesses?”

“I keep trying to find another way. I don’t know.”

“Can we talk to her? Can we reason with her?”

“I hope so.” She blinked, her eyes glossy. “But I’m not just upset about that. It’s...Roth, too.”

I watched her carefully. “What about him?”

“I can’t explain how I feel. Before, I—I could barely even tolerate being in the same room as him. He annoyed me so much. And normally, I’m very even tempered! I am praised for my calm and professional manner. Always!”

“I’m sure you are,” I agreed without hesitation.

“He’s become a distraction. He’s the reason I haven’t been able to concentrate on my real mission as much as I should.” Her forehead furrowed, but then her expression relaxed a fraction. “What am I saying? Am I seriously trying to blame him? It’s not his fault. But he’s...a great inconvenience to me.”

I couldn’t help but laugh just a little. “Yeah, that’s usually the way it is with boys—no matter who they are.”

Cassandra’s eyes snapped up to mine. “When he kissed me for the first time last night I slapped him. Really hard. But all he did was laugh at me before kissing me again. And that time...”

“That time you kissed him back,” I finished for her.

“He’s trying to make me look like a fool,” she whispered, her expression agonized. “He doesn’t really like me.”