Earthbound Wings: An Earthbound Novel (The Psychic Seasons Series Book 6) Page 2

  She had my full attention.

  Julius was my responsibility—a guardian angel in training under my care—and if I took time to think about it, the direct reason for my earthbound predicament. Loathe to let his earthly fortune go undiscovered, he had chosen not to cross over after death.

  It happens more often than you think.

  Spirits remain anchored to this plane for many reasons, most of them benign. Some stay thinking they will find a way to avenge a perceived wrong. That motivation alone is enough to provide a tenuous connection with the evil forces that inhabit the dark realms, and can set an otherwise well-meaning ghost on the path toward becoming something else: Ghoul, Earthwalker, or some other form of darkspawn. Few ever make it that far; it takes an inordinate amount of determination and a truly blackened soul to descend to darkness, which means there are a lot of misguided spirits wandering the earth.

  When an Earthwalker takes a human vessel, the human dies. That’s how it has always been—until recently, anyway. As far as I know, I am the only angel to save a human vessel. More or less, anyway. Years of bilking the elderly out of their life savings had done plenty to blacken the soul of Logan Ellis long before the Earthwalker got hold of him. If not for the faith of four unique women, the remaining shred of decency he had buried deep inside might never have been strong enough to let him survive. I could only hope he would find atonement behind prison walls as he served his sentence.

  Julius, his own soul in no danger of becoming dark, had still managed to inadvertently serve as a conduit between Billy the Earthwalker and Logan, the ex-fiancé of his own great-granddaughter, Julie Hayward-Kingsley. The situation had spun out of control long before one of my charges, an aura reader named Amethyst, stepped into the fray to help Julie and, by extension, dragged me into the escalating problem. By the time the dust cleared on that debacle, Logan was saved and Billy was banished back to the darkness. But the error in judgment had also rendered me earthbound, and everything in my world was changed.

  Now Julius was in trouble—most likely because of my own lack of foresight—and I felt duty-bound to save him. If this faerie could help, I would go with her despite the legends warning against following any of the fair folk back to their homes.

  “Evian? Like the bottled water?” I swear I didn’t mean it to come out all snarky like that. I guess it was a good thing Evian was a water worker and not a creature of fire given the scorching look she tossed over her shoulder.

  “I vow to provide you safe passage to and from our destination. Now do you want to help Julius or not?” I did, so I stopped talking and walked alongside her, our long strides eating up the blocks between downtown and Tidewell Park. Halfway there, two things occurred to me. First, that this was the second time today a map had formed in my head to tell me where I was and predict my destination given my current trajectory. An angel ability I thought I had lost. And second, no one was paying any attention to us. At all.

  Odd. Now that I was human, more or less, I expected to blend in somewhat, but Evian stood out like a poppy in a field of dandelions. She must be casting a glamour to hide her true appearance. Following that thought to its logical conclusion, if her efforts didn’t work on me I must have regained some of my other inherent angel powers—like the ability to pierce veils.

  “Not very chatty, are you?” I was saved from hearing what would probably be a scathing retort when a warbling noise rose from my pocket. Reaching in, I pulled out the cell phone acquired during my last assignment. The thing should have been all but dead given my negative effect on electronics since I’d gained a physical body. Miraculously, it appeared to be in perfect working order. Amethyst’s name popped on the display along with the date.

  Two weeks had passed while I was…well, I wasn’t sure where I had been or why I had no memory of where I went between assignments. Muttering a request for forgiveness, I pressed ignore, and pulled up the call log. Missed calls from Amethyst and the others—at least one from each of them for every day I had been gone marched down the screen. Scrolling back, Pam Allen’s number showed up for a few days, then petered out. Maybe that was for the best, but I felt bad about not getting a chance to say goodbye to the woman who was both my former employer and my first assignment as an earthbound angel.

  A yellow banner reminding me to set up voicemail if I wanted to receive messages popped up over the top of the call log. That, too, would have to wait until after Evian finally decided to clue me in. I stuffed the phone back into my pocket. Figuring out the reasons behind my changing effect on electronics would have to go on the To Do list.

  Heat spiraled up from the dark pavement like impending doom without the slightest breath of a breeze to bring relief. And while I knew complaining about it wouldn’t change anything, I admit to being tempted. Brick and steel speared skyward on either side, forming the street into a man-made canyon with traffic running like a river between its walls.

  There was no need for a mirror to tell me I looked like a wilted flower. Pale skin prone to freckling reddened quickly under even the gentlest rays, and today the sun was blazing down like an angry god. Hair the color of autumn leaves ran in tangled curls down my back and plastered itself against my scalp. Evian, blast her, looked fresh as a water lily. That alone was enough to make me cranky.

  It took less than half an hour and felt like double that time before we passed between the stone pillars that served as gateway to the park. intricately carved gargoyles leered down at me from the top of each column, their faces seeming creepily real despite the bas relief.

  Leading me toward the grassy banks of the bay lining the far edge of Tidewell Park, Evian indicated with a quick nod of her head that I was to follow her as she stepped into the water. Green scum ringed the shoreline and floated greasily among a patch of reeds. Her passage through cloudy water released the scent of long dead fish and mud.

  “What are you doing?” I planted my feet at the water’s edge. I was not going to wade through that muck.

  “We need to speak privately. This is the place where I have the most control. It’s my element. Are you going to stand there all day or follow me and help Julius?” Evian made a complicated gesture of her hand toward me and I shivered when it triggered a feeling like cobwebs settling over my skin. She waited, impatience written in the tightness of her shoulders and the tilt of her head.

  “I’m coming.” At least the water would cool me off. I wrinkled my nose and took a step into the wetness. To my utter shock, the liquid flowed around my foot, which remained completely dry. “Nice trick, but you know I can’t breathe under water, right?”

  The tiniest smile played around Evian’s mouth. “Thanks for stating the obvious. Will you come? I promised you safe passage, remember?”

  A promise from the fae was solid as gold, so I followed her into the murky depths of the bay.

  Chapter Four

  I’ll admit to a momentary freak out when the water closed over my head, but since Evian’s back was to me, I didn’t think she saw me lose my cool. Her spell worked like a charm, or maybe it was a charm, who knew? Call it whatever you want, it let me breathe under water without drowning. Pretty nifty.

  Once the panic subsided, I started noticing things. Like the way Evian’s body gave off light in a radius of about six yards. And the way the silt and mud under our feet turned solid enough to support our weight without sinking into the squelching depths. We passed several rusting hulks of old cars and trucks that had no business being here, and I wondered what catastrophe had sent them into the watery depths.

  Everything around me undulated to the beat of a slow rhythm that even our passing couldn’t completely alter. The dance of the sea was a waltz in three:four time.

  At the point where I was beginning to wonder if we were going to walk forever, Evian passed through an archway built from a pair of airplane wings jammed into the sea floor and topped by the overturned hull of a boat with its name emblazoned upon the side, Ship of Fools.

  How appr
opriate.

  Evian’s lair would have been the perfect set for a live-action retelling of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. I expected a singing crab to float by at any second. Discarded items lay on shelves formed from rocks and debris. A brass teapot, a puddle of gold and silver chains, and a large bucket filled with rusting guns were among the detritus.

  “Sit.” Ever the queen of brevity, Evian led the way to a pair of paint-flaked bistro chairs, and prepared—I hoped—to tell me why she felt it necessary to go to such lengths to have a private conversation. “We’re just waiting for my sisters to get here. Shouldn’t be long. In the meantime, tell me how this,” she waved a hand at me, I presumed to indicate my fleshly body, “happened.”

  I shot her a raised eyebrow. Now she wanted to chat?

  “Earthwalker. Battle. Error in judgment. Earthbound.” I nutshelled it for her.

  To my surprise, Evian threw back her head and laughed. “You’re everything I had hoped you would be.”

  “Is that so?” I was about to demand she explain herself when a disturbance overhead drew my attention. A fireball, of all things, arced through the water on a collision course for where we were sitting. Instinct sent me diving for cover under the table while Evian’s silvery laugh pealed out above my head.

  The flaking lattice of metal chair back only partially obscured my vision as the fireball resolved itself into another female figure.

  “Adriel, this is my sister, Soleil.”

  I attempted to rise with some semblance of dignity and probably failed utterly as I scrambled out from under the table. Soleil was a vision of opposites compared to her sister. A short cap of disordered hair the color of glowing embers set off a pair of wide, dark eyes in a narrow face of palest ivory. Her lips were black as coal.

  “What do you think? Can she handle it? Is she as good as we hoped?” Soleil ignored me to ask Evian the questions. Angry heat prickled over my face.

  “You can see me, right? I’m standing right here.” Courtesy between species of supernatural beings aside, I’d had just about enough of this. Drawing myself up to full height, I let my voice thunder with power. “Stop wasting my time.”

  The command had an effect on the pair of them, but not the one I expected. Wide smiles creased their faces and I’m sure I heard a giggle. “I guess that’s as good an answer as any. Be calm, Adriel. Terra should be here any second and then all will be revealed.” Soleil assured me while I silently named the stars until I had myself under control. Very little gets on my nerves more than being ordered to remain calm. “Julius said you were a badass.”

  “If anything happens to Julius while we’re having this underwater coffee klatch, rest assured, I will show you exactly how bad my fnirk can be.” Another giggle did nothing to help my mood, and neither did the frustration that went along with the filters the Powers had installed to make me incapable of uttering certain words. Seems like free will should have come along with this angel/human deal, but apparently it had not.

  The temptation to storm out of there was great, but I estimated my chances of drowning before I could get to the surface to be somewhere above fifty percent. In full angel form, I could have walked here without a charm to protect me. Now I wouldn’t bet my life on being able to pull it off. Plus, I really wanted to know what the sisters could tell me about Julius, so I bit my tongue and waited in seething silence for Terra to show up.

  Blessedly, it didn’t take long. A whirlpool of mud bubbled up from the mucky seabed. Layer upon layer of wet soil and silt built into the form of a lushly endowed woman. Mahogany hair streaked in shades of earth tones swirled around a stunning face. Lips of apple red smiled below eyes the color of pink marble, her skin held the ripe blush of a peach.

  Evian pulled two more chairs from some hidden alcove and we got down to the business at hand. Guardian angels and faeries don’t normally spend a lot of time together. We run in entirely different circles, plus there’s that whole misconception that all fae are evil and angels are sworn to fight them. The truth is nothing is ever entirely black or white, particularly not an entire race.

  Being new to guardian angel status, Julius was technically still in training, with me serving dual roles as both his instructor and his charge. It was galling really to be on the receiving end of the work I had spent lifetimes perfecting. And that reminded me about my second trainee, Estelle. Related to Julius in life by way of being married to his only son, Estelle, upon her death, had been recruited by him to help their granddaughter, Julie, find her hidden inheritance. Neither one had foreseen the consequences of their decision to remain in the spirit world. Nor had I, come to that. And if I had I probably would have made the same choices, so if there was anyone to blame, it was me.

  “You seem to know a lot about Julius, but have any of you been in contact with Estelle?” I hoped she wasn’t in trouble, too. Honestly, dealing with two green angels at the same time felt a lot like herding kittens. Julius maintains training him is my punishment for breaking the rules, but I suspect it’s really his.

  “She’ll be along soon, I’m sure.” Terra’s voice was earthy like the rest of her. “We’ve already given her the rundown.”

  “Then can we please get on with it.” Curiosity fought with a sense of urgency to produce impatience.

  “The little guardian has untapped potential.” Admiration colored Soleil’s tone. “It will be a few days more before Julius is beyond saving. He’s wily, that one. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was fae-touched.”

  The urge to war must be coded somewhere in human flesh, because I couldn’t remember ever being tempted to commit murder until taking my place among the living. “Where is Julius?” I ground the words out from between clenched teeth.

  “Being held prisoner by one of your own.” I knew exactly who she meant, and Evian’s matter-of-factness honed the edge of my temper to a sharp point that I wanted to stab him with.

  “Malachiel.” I spit the name like a forbidden curse word.

  “Yes. He calls himself Blackwing now, and his firsthand knowledge of angel ways makes him doubly dangerous. It was he who lured your compatriot to his doom.”

  “His doom?” My heart skipped a beat, then pounded in my chest. “You don’t mean Julius is…tell me he is not among the fallen.”

  A look passed between the three of them that I couldn’t define. “No, he still shines.” Soleil sighed and her expression turned thoughtful. “The fallen angel is the least of your worries. Are you not aware of the subtle alterations in the balance between darkness and light? The underworlds have been rising in power.”

  “How long?” A feeling of foreboding threatened to steal my breath.

  “A few months in mortal world time.”

  Just about the length of time I’d been earthbound. Could this be my fault?

  “And Julius has gotten caught up in the aftermath.” It was just like him to end up in the center of controversy. “Tell me everything. How did you find him? Please tell me so I can find a way to help him.”

  Another look passed between them and it was as though a veil fell away. “Julius insisted you could be trusted, but we needed to know for ourselves.” And they told me everything that had been happening since my epic feat of stupidity. Everything except where I’d been during the past two weeks and the three months directly after my initial transition.

  None of what they had to say came as a shock. Would it surprise you to know that the ultimate goal of evil is not to create some sort of apocalyptic imbalance that would wipe out the light entirely? Why? Because the universe and all the worlds require duality. Good and evil, light and dark, Seelie and Unseelie, on and off, in and out. An abundance of opposites. Taking away the light does not mean the dark will rule, it means that both will disappear into the vacuum and cease to exist.

  Demons are not nihilists. But, within the flux state, there will always be room for power struggles that push the balance toward good or evil without passing the ultimate tipping point. A few more soul
s choosing darkness in the human realm has repercussions everywhere, even among the fae, where power and politics take the place of religion, and where right and wrong are only concepts, not laws.

  Luring Julius into harm’s way had been all too easy. When he attained angelhood, his highly developed instinct for justice in life had strengthened into what could be his biggest asset or his greatest downfall. A whisper in his ear that an innocent required assistance and he would have walked into the trap willingly.

  Half of me reacted to this news with an all too human inclination for violence. If the hair-brained idiot had been within arm's reach, I might have throttled him for overstepping his bounds and wandering off into avenging angel territory. Barely trained and greener than the seaweed currently swirling around my ankles, he’d be lucky to last a week in the halls of vengeance. The other half of me admired his quick thinking and willingness to stand for the light. The arrogant idiot could have asked for help, though. Isn’t there a saying about learning from the mistakes of others?

  “Just imagine what would happen if the netherworlds in each realm pushed to the very edge of the darkest balance limit at the same time.” Terra’s face and voice were grave. “It wouldn’t be Armageddon, but it’s as close as you’re going to get to hell on Earth—and everywhere else.”

  I pressed a hand against my forehead. Hard. The headache came on anyway, and brought with it a healthy dose of guilt. Given the timing, this could be all my fault—brought on, somehow, when I partially demolished the rainbow bridge. The thought shoved the pain up past dull throb to pounding agony.

  “How did you get involved?”

  All three sets of eyes found someplace else to land that was as far away from meeting mine as possible. Soleil shuffled her feet like a small child called to the principal’s office, and quailed under my best withering stare.