My mouth flew open. “Why would you even say that?”

“Because it's the right thing to do...disappear from your life to keep you safe. As long as we're together, you're in danger.”

“I won't let you,” I said, grabbing his shirt,. The thought of being without him terrified me. “If I can't be with you, I don't care what happens to me.”

Jared grabbed my hands. “I know. That's why I won't leave you. And now that we know what you are, we need to find out who it’s a threat to. And as frightening as it is…threatening Hel is the better option.”

Chapter Eight

Valediction

An unexpected knock on the door revealed Bex standing on the landing, holding a half-eaten apple. A backpack hung from his shoulder, signaling that he would be staying the night.

“You call ed him, didn’t you?” I accused Jared, crossing my arms.

Jared slipped on his jacket, preparing to leave. “You’ve had a long forty-eight hours. You need sleep.” He hugged me then, squeezing a bit too tight.

Bex shifted his weight nervously, holding the door open with one hand, holding his apple with the other.

“C’mon, Nina. You’re going to give me a complex,” Bex said. “I brought doves to put in the oven.” A sweet, hopeful smile lit his face, and I relaxed.

“Okay,” I said with a half-grin.

Jared patted Bex's arm as he passed, but just as he stepped out onto the landing, I grabbed his jacket. “Wait. What if it’s different? What if he needs to tel me something?”

“Who?” Jared asked, his attention focused.

“Gabe. Or Jack. We’ve learned a lot today, maybe the dream wil change.”

Jared and Bex traded glances, and then Jared sighed. “Tomorrow.”

“I didn’t think we have time to spare,” I countered.

“We don’t, but….”

“I’m right. You know I'm right. So stay,” I said, pul ing him into the loft.

Jared pointed at his brother. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Bex shook his head, and then shut the door behind us. “No way…I wanna see this.”

“Great, now I’m a circus freak,” I said, making my way to the table. Jared pul ed out my chair and I sat, taking his hand and kissing his palm in appreciation. We had spent the last two days together, yet I felt I hadn’t seen him at al .

Jared sat across from me with a smile. “You are far from a circus freak. You’re amazing. Big difference.”

“Watching me float and scream is not amazing,” I grumbled.

“You only floated once,” Bex pointed out, unwrapping the dove and seasoning it before shoving the baking dish into the oven.

We discussed the possibilities for over an hour: how I could do things in my sleep that I couldn't do in a conscious state.

“It doesn't matter how. What is important is why,” Jared said.

“It matters to me,” Bex said.

“You're going to overcook your birds,” Jared said, nodding to the oven.

Bex jumped up, tending to dinner. He placed our plates of tender, steaming dove and mixed vegetables in front of us, and then returned quickly with his own. “I’ve got to figure out how to do that. If she can do it, we have to be able to do it, right?” he said to Jared, shoveling meat into his mouth.

“She’s not doing it, Bex,” Jared said. His eyes darted from me to Bex in warning. It was clear he didn’t want to dwel on the subject during dinner.

“Oh. Right,” Bex said, chewing.

After I finished the diner dishes, I retreated to the downstairs tub, lingering long enough to let my fingers transform to dried raisins, and then I wrapped myself in my favorite terry cloth robe, making my way to the bed. Jared was waiting for me, his hair stil wet from the shower. I crawled under the sheet next to him, relaxing my cheek against his bare chest.

I breathed him in, focusing on the moment we were in, bathing in the gift of peace and stil ness. No one spoke of Others or giants. Just us, in our quiet space in time. It was in those moments that I found Heaven, and he was there with me, I could tel , as he pul ed me in closer.

“I’m right here,” he breathed. “Nothing bad wil happen to you, I swear it.”

“Don’t swear,” I grinned, my eyes growing heavy. That heaviness rested over my entire body, warm and inviting. Jared’s skin felt like a silky electric blanket against mine, and I let myself sink into it. Any light that seeped through my eyelids extinguished, letting the darkness take me deeper into oblivion.

“Nina,” a voice said somewhere in the shadows.

“I’m here,” I said sleepily.

“You’ve real y done it this time.”

“Daddy?” I said, sitting up. I was in my old bedroom. Jack sat at the foot of my bed. He was as I remembered him, his salt and pepper hair perfectly in place, his dark, no-nonsense eyes looking softly upon me, clean-shaven and in his favorite gray suit.

He smiled, but his eyes were sad. “I’m sorry I failed you. You’l have to save yourself, now.”

My lower lip quivered. “Why didn’t you tel me?”

Jack placed his thick hand on my ankle, his expression pained. “I tried, many times. I couldn’t bear to see those sweet eyes sad. I wanted you to have everything, Nina; most of al a normal life.”

I smiled. “I hope it’s nice where you are,” I said, my eyes burning from the salty tears lining my lower lashes.

“The only thing missing is you.”

I laughed once, and looked down to my hands. “I wish you were real y here. I need you.”

“Find the book, Nina,” Jack said. The change of his voice made me look up. His chin was lowered, and he looked at me from under his brow— the way he always had when he wanted me to listen.

“Daddy?” I said, seeing movement behind him, slowly approaching us from the darkness.

Shax strol ed into the light. His black eyes hadn’t changed.

“It’s time to wake up, Nina,” Jack said with an apologetic expression.

I glowered at Shax. “No,” I said, anger bursting from every pore in my skin.

Shax’s head cocked to the side like an animal. “What is she to us, Jack? Why do you protect her so?”

“Because she’s my daughter,” Jack said firmly, standing. He walked to the bedroom door, and then turned to face Shax, his hand on the knob.

“You’ve underestimated my family many times, Beast. This time may be your last.”

Shax waved him away, and a loud noise forced me to cover my ears. Misshapen arms exploded through the door, throwing splintered wood onto the floor and my covers. Before I could recover from the noise, Jack was pul ed through the door. Only traces of his blood on the door jamb and carpet had been left behind.

“No!” I screamed, reaching out from my bed.

Shax took a step closer, and I recoiled.

“Stay away from me,” I said, looking around the room for something to use to defend myself.

Shax lurched forward, his wild, black eyes and sharp features inches from my face. I scampered back, first against the head of my bead.

Panicked, I continued to crawl backward away from him, and found myself half- way up the wal .

Shax stood, looking up at me. He smiled with his crooked mouth and perfectly white teeth. “Running wil get you nowhere, Precious. We know what you are.”

He jumped, landing on al fours on the wal . My arms and legs couldn’t move fast enough as I climbed backward up the remainder of the wal .

Shax's arms and legs made quick, jerking movements as he moved slowly toward me. His body looked twisted and unnatural.

When I realized I was on the ceiling, looking down at my bed, I closed my eyes.

“Wake me up, Jared! Wake me up!”

I opened my eyes, and I was back at the loft. Jared, Bex, and the bed were al twelve feet below me.

“Agh!” I screamed as I fel face-down onto the bed.

“I’ve gotta learn how to do that!” Bex said, jumping once with excitement.

Jared immediately turned me onto my back. “Nina?” he said, brushing my hair from my face.

“I’m fine,” I said, angry.

“That…was creepy,” Jared said, scanning me with his dark-blue eyes.

“She was like Spiderman! That was freakin’ incredible!” Bex said. “I bet I can do that. I’m going to try.”

“We can’t float or climb wal s,” Jared said through his teeth. The skin around his eyes was tight with worry.

“But she’s human! Even if she’s influenced, if she can do it, we must be able to!”

Jared’s brows pul ed in. “What happened?”

I took a breath. “Jack was there.”

“And Gabe?”

“No, but Shax came. He said he knew what I was. Jack said that Shax had underestimated our family before. He said to get the book.”

Jared nodded. “That’s the plan.”

“I think he meant now,” I said, feeling a sense of urgency.

Jared looked to Bex, who was looking around the loft, listening.

“Bex?” Jared said.

Bex nodded.

“We al need to pack a few things,” Jared said. “We’re going to be gone for a couple of days. I want to be in the car and ready to go in five minutes.”

Jared's and Bex's forms turned obscure as they raced around the room at impossible speed, and I immediately pul ed on a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, and then shoved my bare feet into sneakers. Jared held the door open for me as I pul ed my hair back into a ponytail. The iron steps knocked and echoed with my footsteps alone, although Bex was in front of me, with Jared fol owing behind.

Bex threw our bags into the back of the Escalade, and then froze. He looked into the air, waiting for something.

“Are they coming?” I whispered.

Jared paused, and then took a step toward the loft. “No,” he whispered.

Bex shook his head. “They’re here.”

Jared left me, then. My eyes barely kept up with his blurry form sprinting into the loft.

“What…?” I said. Bex moved in front of me in a protective stance, and then gasped.

The building exploded. Multiple bal s of fire rol ed into the sky. Debris shot toward Bex and me, and he turned his back to the explosion, shielding my body from the blast. I crawled out from under him, seeing the bright orange glow of heat and smoke that used to be our home.

“No!” I wailed, reaching over Bex. I knew trying to escape from him grip was futile, but the explosion had happened less than a second after Jared had reached the stairs, and I was desperate to get to him.

I looked up to Jared’s little brother. His eyes were wide. He clearly didn’t know what to think. We waited there, and even though the fire roared before us, everything was silent.

I waited for Jared to emerge from the rubble. Every second that passed seemed like an eternity, and panic began to overwhelm any rational thought I tried to have.

“Come on, Jared,” Bex said, his grip on my arms a bit tighter.

“Go get him,” I demanded, my voice broken and shaking.

“I have to stay here with you,” Bex said. He seemed confused and in shock.

I pushed at Bex. “He’s in there somewhere! Go get him!” I screamed.

Bex grabbed each side of my face, looking deep into my eyes. “They are here, Nina. They’re al around us. I can’t leave you.”

“Good kid,” Jared said from behind us. His hair and clothes were singed, his face covered in soot, and the skin on his cheek bone was scraped and bleeding, but he was alive.

He held up two dusty picture frames; one with the black and white picture of me he took the day he fel in love with me, the other of us playing at the beach in Little Corn.

“Don’t do that to me ever again!” I yel ed, bal ing up my fists, and landing them straight into Jared’s chest.

He wrapped his arms around me tightly. “I’m sorry. I realized what was about to happen, and I had to go. These pictures were the only things in the loft I couldn’t lose.”

We turned to watch at our home fal in defeat to the fire. The beams creaked as they gave way, and glowing ash was thrown into the sky, floating al around us. My eyes poured out rivers of tears. I’d never realized how much I loved the loft until I witnessed it dying in front of me. Memories of our first date, listening to our song for the first time, cooking together, laughing, watching Claire and Bex grow a little more each time they entered the front door. It was al gone; reduced to cinders.

Sirens sounded in the distance.

“We have to go,” Jared said, gently escorting me to the passenger side of the Escalade.

As he pul ed away, I watched the flames and glowing smoke until I couldn’t see them anymore, and then turned to face forward. Jared placed his hand over mine, and then Bex put his hand over ours.

“It had to be Donovan,” Bex said.

I shook my head. “No. Claire took care of al the humans that might be a threat to us.”

“Except Donovan,” Jared said. His knuckles turned white against the steering wheel.

Bex leaned back in the seat. “He’s the closest human to Shax. Claire left him alive because he's the Taleh of a Half-breed.”

“What?” I said, looking to Jared for confirmation.

He nodded. “Isaac. Very fast, very strong, but emotional. He's been known to make mistakes, but he's stil dangerous.”

I blinked, processing what Jared had said. “So to kil Donovan we’d have to kil a Hybrid.”

“Not just any Hybrid,” Bex said. “The son of Michael. An angel in the Holy Army. A warrior of God. At His word, they would exterminate entire blood lines, entire kingdoms.”

I laughed once. “You’re joking.”

“No,” Jared said, pul ing the Escalade down a road leading us out of town. “Michael belongs to a family of angels that embodies God's Wrath, and if harm came to his son, that would be an act of war against Heaven. That is the only reason Donovan is stil alive.”