I adopted a casual tone. ‘I can see things around me when I need to. We’ve started to call it a Sight.’
Evelyn’s eyes went wide. ‘A Sight? Who called it that?’
I shifted in my seat. ‘Phoenix.’
‘Jesus Christ! Is there anything our enemy doesn’t know?’
I rolled my eyes at her outburst. ‘It wasn’t as if I knew what it was and we weren’t exactly enemies at the time.’
‘Do you leave your body?’ she asked.
‘In a way. It’s like I can go anywhere if I just let myself. It’s amazing, I see things differently.’
‘You’re seeing energy.’
Now my eyes went wide. ‘How do you know?’
She pressed her lips together, looking up and shaking her head.
‘Do you know of other Grigori who can do it?’ I asked when she didn’t say anything.
‘It is not a Grigori trait, Violet. No human Grigori that has come before has ever had the power of Sight.’ She sighed.
I swallowed. ‘Then, who does have it?’
Evelyn studied the markings around my wrists for a long time, eventually reaching out and taking one of my hands when I let her. She ran her fingers over the patterns as they swirled around my wrists like a silver river, something deep within me powering them. When she looked up, there was fear in her eyes but also something else.
‘Violet, Sight is not something that humans have ever had before because it’s the power of the non-corporeal. Sight is the power of angels.’
Old fears rose to the surface. Since I’d first embraced, I’d questioned what I was becoming, what I had left behind. I shook my head, refusing to entertain this idea, whatever this idea was.
‘Well, we’re calling it the wrong thing then, because I have a very real body, as you can see,’ I said, gesturing.
She smiled. ‘Yes, you do. And you’re going to have to make sure that you always remember that. Tell me, when you pull away from yourself and use your Sight, is it empowering? Do you feel like you are invincible?’
I looked down and didn’t respond. The truth was, it was intoxicating. I knew I had barely begun to explore my ability, and while fear had kept me from testing any limits, the desire to see how far I could go was strong.
‘You have to be careful of the lure. Use your Sight only when you have no other choice and limit the time you allow yourself to slip into it.’
‘Slip into what?’ I snapped.
Evelyn seemed anxious and that unnerved me. I could almost see her mind ticking over, carefully selecting the words she would use.
‘You’re human, Violet. Never forget that. But you also have angelic qualities from one of the most powerful angels to have ever existed. If I had to guess, I’d say that just as angels can exile to earth and become human, you may be the first human who has the ability to exalt yourself and become an angel.’
An angel.
I dropped my head into my hands and tried to stop my head from screaming at me.
‘I don’t want to talk about this.’
‘Who else knows about the Sight?’ Evelyn pushed on like she hadn’t just dropped a gigantic – and potentially species-altering – bomb on me.
‘Griffin, Lincoln, Steph, Phoenix …’
She huffed, unhappy with my response. ‘Anyone else?’
I thought back. ‘Spence. He saw me use it once.’
‘Do you trust him?’
I nodded. ‘With my life.’
She grabbed my shoulder. ‘You had better be sure, because that might be exactly what it comes down to.’
I shook her off. ‘Spence wouldn’t betray me. Ever.’ He’d proved his loyalty time and time again and he had mine in return. I raised my eyebrows. ‘What would you have done about it anyway? What if I’d told you he couldn’t be trusted?’
She looked away. ‘It doesn’t matter. You said you trust him. I believe you. But you need to make sure no one else ever finds out about this. Do you understand me? This proves you were created by one of the Sole and one of the most powerful of them, no less. There are people who won’t be pleased to discover this. Are we clear?’
I nodded, unsure what else to do and checked my watch again as I picked up my phone to call Lincoln. But the moment I did, it beeped with a text message.
On my way home.
No joy.
L.
I let out a breath of relief that he was okay, even if I was disappointed that he hadn’t found a miracle cure for severing my physical bond with Phoenix. I looked back at Evelyn, who had turned her attention to her book, which was now resting on the table.
I drained the last of my now-cold coffee. ‘I can’t talk about this stuff any more. How about you show me whatever that is?’
The book turned out to be filled with newspaper clippings and internet print-outs from all around the world, with every single one relating to a disappearance, kidnapping or suspected murder, sometimes of individuals, sometimes groups, many involving families.
‘Why are you showing me these?’ I asked eventually, not seeing what they proved, other than that the world was a twisted place.
‘What is the one thing they all have in common?’ she asked, tapping the scrapbook.
I rubbed a hand over my face. ‘I don’t know … Tragedy.’
‘The only constant is that in every case there is a young child involved and that the child is missing or presumed dead. Whatever the circumstances, no bodies have been recovered.’
‘What are you saying?’ I asked, studying the articles and seeing the pattern for myself. I was starting to dread where this was going.
‘Lilith has always been a bringer of death to children.’
I nodded, thinking back to the stories I’d read. When Lilith fled Adam she vowed to bring death and destruction to humanity and swore to take out her vengeance on children. It was why the amulet my mother had left for me as a child was so important. Lilith had struck a deal with the angels Sanoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof that she would not harm children who bore their names in an amulet, but all other children were fair game. Some described Lilith as the original cot death. I felt the blood drain from my face.
‘If Phoenix gave her the Grigori Scripture, which she will have made him do, her first plan of attack would be to take out the children – it’s what brings her the most satisfaction, her middle finger to the sky.’
Phoenix had promised he would never use the Scripture – he’d even indicated he’d be open to trading it with us for something he wanted more. The only problem was that that something happened to be me. But if Evelyn was right, Lilith wouldn’t have had to do too much investigating to find out he had the Scripture in his possession, then …
‘Oh my God! These are all children destined to become Grigori. She’s taking them and killing whoever stands in her way!’
Evelyn nodded. ‘These date back about two weeks. Knowing her, she’ll want to stage something dramatic. At least that gives us a chance. My guess is she’ll keep the children alive until she’s ready to make her statement.’
‘How did you figure this out?’
She shrugged. ‘I know her.’
Super.
‘Does Griffin know?’ I asked.
Evelyn took our cups to the sink and began to rinse them. ‘I showed him the clippings earlier.’ She turned off the tap and looked at me with a grim expression. ‘Violet, Lilith is not like any other exile you’ve faced. They’re all insane but, Lilith … Lilith is insanity. She gives it to others, drives people to madness. I’m the reason she went to Hell and if she ever gets her hands on you she will punish me by breaking you. She won’t just kill you, Violet, she’ll destroy you and everything you care about. I’ll go to New York, but it would be safer for you if you and Lincoln run. Get as far away from her as you can.’ She watched carefully for my reaction.
I looked over the newspaper clippings again. Children, some as young as three years old, had been reported missing.
One article show
ed an entire petrol station had been blown up in Brazil, the body of a five-year-old still missing but presumed cremated in the flames. In all cases there were no known survivors and no witnesses.
Lilith was covering her tracks. And she was moving fast.
‘We both know you didn’t let me become Grigori and spend the last seventeen years in Hell so I could run and hide. I appreciate the offer but there is only one way to stop her and you put it perfectly – we have to kill her.’
Evelyn smiled and I couldn’t help but be a little scared by the amount of violence promised in that one expression.
‘Well, well. You are my daughter after all.’
And I realised – I’d just passed her test.
It totally pissed me off. Even if I did feel oddly pleased with myself.
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘Love of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.’
Lao Tzu
I stepped out of the limousine that had collected us from the airport. I wasn’t sure of the exact number of Grigori that had been there waiting for us – there were a number lurking in the shadows, using their ghosting abilities to follow us. For the first time, I wasn’t sure if they were there to protect us or secure us.
The New York air was dense, thick with an energy unlike anything I’d ever experienced. People flowed along the pavements in a constant stream.
So. Many. People.
Cars moved surprisingly fast, considering their sheer number, dominated by the fearless yellow cabs that featured in every New York movie known to man.
‘Welcome to Manhattan,’ Griffin said, standing beside me.
He had travelled with me, Lincoln, Zoe and Spence. The car in front had taken Dad and Evelyn and the four guards who had taken her into custody at the airport. And there were two more vehicles … that I knew of. Personally, I felt it was overkill. We’d already agreed to come to New York – it wasn’t likely we’d travel all that way to do a runner at the airport. Then again, this was Josephine’s turf.
‘Amazing, right?’ Zoe said proudly. She glowed as though just being in the city was somehow recharging her.
‘Did you grow up in New York?’ I asked.
She nodded. ‘Born and bred. Wait till I take you to a Yankees game.’
I was about to respond, when I was struck by my angelic senses. The familiar apple flavour washed through my mouth, the sounds of cars fell second to that of branches crashing and wings flapping frantically. My vision faltered as images of pure light followed by pure darkness and morning and evening flashed before me.
‘Exiles,’ I managed to say, desperate to give everyone some kind of warning even as the smell of flowers overwhelmed me and I started to shake with the energy flowing through my body. Ice for bones, fire for blood.
Lincoln wrapped his arms around me, tilting my face up to his. ‘Focus, Vi. Manage the senses,’ he murmured, bypassing the senses and finding me. But there was so much, so many. I tried to tell him to run but I couldn’t speak.
I could see he was talking again but I couldn’t hear over the sound of wings flapping.
I began to panic.
Too many.
We couldn’t possibly fight them all. Had Lilith brought an army to meet us? Were they already here?
Too many. Too many.
Lincoln kissed me.
His lips were soft, warm and felt overwhelmingly right against mine. I fell into it, oblivious to anything other than the safety in his touch. One by one, the senses flowed from me as he pulled them away and set them free. It must have hurt him. The senses hurt the hell out of me.
But he was unfaltering, taking from me what I could not manage. He was my partner, my soulmate. As my body started to weaken, he wrapped his arms around me, supporting me. He kept his focus until the last of the senses had floated from me to him and then, when it was just us, the kiss lingered as we stole a few extra seconds. We both knew it was wrong – but letting go seemed impossible.
Lincoln started to tremble – his fingers digging into my sides, holding on to me, to us, yet also somehow trying to move away. I didn’t ever want to let him go, wanted to pull him closer. My soul demanded it of me. It made no difference that we were out in the open, in the middle of the pavement.
But he was already shutting down – the honey from his power encircling me as he rebuilt the walls between us – and I knew I had to do the same.
‘Linc,’ I whispered, trying to put myself back together.
He rested his forehead against mine. ‘It’s okay. We’re okay.’
He took a few deep breaths. Acting as a conduit for the senses always took a hefty toll on him.
I wrapped my arms around him. ‘I know.’
We stayed like that for only a few seconds before he pulled away, regaining the control we both fought so hard to maintain.
I wish I had his strength.
‘Let’s get inside,’ he said, his voice hoarse.
It was only then that I looked around and saw both carloads, including Dad and Evelyn, were staring at us. Zoe was fanning herself.
‘Exiles,’ I blurted out. ‘They’re … they’re everywhere. The senses were suffocating me!’
‘We’re in New York, Violet,’ Griffin said, a smirk on his lips. ‘There are over one and a half million people on the eighty-seven square kilometres of Manhattan alone. And this is the home to the largest population of exiles in the world. You should be bombarded by your senses.’
‘How am I supposed to stay here then?’ I asked, my panic levels rising.
Lincoln, who’d put a few feet between us, answered. ‘You’ll adjust. And inside the Academy it will be easier.’
‘Why?’
He smiled grimly, still recovering from the power-drain, and pointed to the top of the skyscraper we were standing in front of. ‘Because they have strong shields and occupy the top floor. You can be certain there are no exiles in any of their buildings.’
Did he just say buildings, plural?
The black-suited Grigori who had collected us from the airport held open the large glass doors of the building.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, concentrating on the senses, letting them come to me, but on my terms. I had to master this. If I was bombarded by another attack of the senses and it was during a fight, I needed to be able to control them.
I felt the senses come to me. There were so many exiles and all so close by. It took the concept of fear to another level altogether.
The senses built inside me and started to become unbearable but, breathing deeply and steadily, this time I managed to push them down and move them to the background. They were still distracting, but for now, it was going to have to do.
I looked at Linc, who was waiting, and nodded. He smiled, the type of smile he gave me when I’d done well in training.
As we walked through the doors I ignored the stern looks coming from Dad, who didn’t realise Lincoln had just saved my ass, and moved ahead – now was not the time for explanations. I was fairly certain Evelyn understood exactly what had happened since she had a tight grip on Dad’s arm and was steering him away from us.
I nodded to her in thanks.
She ignored me in that annoying way of hers.
As soon as the lift doors opened on the top floor I was washed with another bout of senses, but they were different – subtle and comforting – signalling the presence of my own people.
‘How many Grigori are here?’ I whispered to Griffin.
‘Around a hundred students plus up to another hundred senior Grigori are based here at any given time.’
‘Wow.’ That explained the sensory influx.
Eight silent and heavily armed Grigori dressed entirely in black appeared to take Evelyn to their holding rooms. Griffin had prepared us for this, but Dad struggled to keep his cool as she was led away in restraints.
The waiting room – where the rest of us had been deposited – was massive, and ultra
-modern. The walls of the building were glass, offering magnificent views over Manhattan. It was astoundingly beautiful, and a touch like being in a fishbowl.
‘Come with me,’ Lincoln said quietly, moving to the side of the room. I followed him to the windows.
‘What?’ I asked.
He pointed outside and then I saw it.
Nothing could have prepared me for the sight before me. And when his extended arm panned to the right, I gasped.
‘How … how? That’s not … Are they flying?’ My eyes could not make sense of what I was seeing. People were walking around in mid-air, literally. Nothing below them, nothing above them, and yet they looked like it was the most natural thing in the world. I looked down to the street – there was a wind blowing, trees swaying – but when I looked back at the people wandering around in the sky no one seemed affected.
Lincoln grinned. ‘The Academy owns a number of buildings. There are walkways between them.’
I couldn’t take my eyes off the sky-folk. ‘There are people wandering around in the sky, Linc. Explain this to me.’
He laughed one of his low, secretive laughs. One that echoed through my entire body. One that told me he adored me. One that somehow I knew, out of everyone in the world, was reserved for me. The laugh that broke my heart.
Breathe.
‘I’m glad you find me amusing. Less laughing, more telling!’
He laughed again and I was about a second away from either throwing a punch or throwing myself at him, when a woman’s voice caught our attention.
‘I see we have all made it,’ Josephine said, her tone of superiority cutting through all the other noise.
She stood tall and prim, dressed in a navy suit that was cinched at the waist, her dark hair held back in a bun. She was attractive, in a very severe way. Appraising us one by one, Josephine may just as well have called us riff-raff to our faces.
She nodded to Zoe and Spence. ‘Welcome home. You will have the same rooms as before you left. I assume you remember where they are. Zoe, unless you have any objection,’ she actually rolled her eyes, ‘which I’m sure you won’t, Violet will be sharing your room.’