Earthbound Wings: An Earthbound Novel (The Psychic Seasons Series Book 6) Read online

  I sighed. “How much time do we have?”

  “Seven days.”

  “Nothing like leaving things until the last minute.” My attempt to suppress an eye roll failed.

  “It’s not our fault you took your sweet time getting here.” Soleil’s hot retort generated another puff of steam.

  “I had places to be,” I pushed the image of Leith to the back of my mind, though he didn’t go willingly, “and no idea I was needed here. Besides, I don’t get to choose my assignments.” Not anymore. The unspoken comment burned at nerves already raw.

  “Now,” I leveled a look at the three sisters, “tell me the rest.”

  “The rest of what?” Identical expressions of feigned innocence failed to impress me. Julius had given them a message for me that they were doing their best not to relay. I would have that information or we were done here. I crossed my arms and waited.

  “Tell Adriel not to come after me.” Estelle spoke from behind me and I jumped at the sound of her voice. “Blasted fool. Stubborn in life, foolish in death, and not even being promoted to…” Estelle paused as though searching for the correct word, “…guardian angel in training has improved that particular character trait.” My other trainee slash personal guardian appeared much as she had in life. A gently-aged firecracker of a woman.

  Wispy curls of hair faded by time from a rich sable to a warm gray framed a round face with dimpled cheeks. Fine lines and creases belied a lifetime of laughter where they edged her eyes and a bow-shaped mouth. Estelle had been a looker back in the day, no mistake. I filed away her hesitation at using the word angel to describe herself for further reflection.

  “You have a bad habit of sneaking up on people.” The mild rebuke only brought a fleeting smile to snapping gray eyes before the frown of concern returned.

  “Sorry.” I knew she wasn’t. Evian spirited a fifth chair from somewhere and wedged it in around the already crowded table. “We’re going after him anyway, right? What’s the plan?”

  When I didn’t answer right away, Estelle became agitated. “He was helping you and you’re not going to do anything?”

  “He doesn’t want my help. Isn’t that what you just said?” The force of Estelle’s disapproval prickled over my skin while the three faerie sisters remained silent, but watchful. I held no illusions that they had more than a polite concern for Julius as long as I helped them rescue their sister. What I needed most was more information.

  As a guardian angel, it had been my job to encourage my charges toward the path of light while still allowing them the freedom of choice, which meant my awareness of the ways the forces of darkness operated was mostly peripheral. Observing a thing is rarely as informational as experiencing it. Up until taking on Billy the Earthwalker, my main concern had been to help my charges make better choices and occasionally save them from their own folly. Out and out battle was not part of my job description. Warrior angels normally handled those types of confrontations, and even they were only called in when circumstances became dire. I had gone well past the limits of my orders to banish the evil Billy from the physical body he had taken over. Accepting mortal help had been an order of magnitude beyond the limits of my authority. Now that I was paying the price for my rash behavior, I was determined not to make the same mistake again. Fool me once, and all that jazz.

  “What he wants and what he needs are two different things. We can’t just leave him in danger.” The level of energy coming off Estelle intensified until it caught in my throat and made my ears buzz, but I was no mere mortal to be cowed by a show of power. Enjoying that fact that I could once again do so, I lifted a finger to indicate I’d handle this before the faeries got involved. I reached into that small, silent place inside and radiated a calm that fell like a blanket over the vibrating electricity and cut it off like the flipping of a switch.

  “Was I doing it again?” Estelle said.

  I don’t mind saying I was a little proud of what she could produce, and with such minor effort, too.

  “What in our history together makes you think I would allow Julius to remain imprisoned? Get a grip, Estelle.”

  Chapter Six

  Evian led me back to dry land, flicked away the underwater breathing charm, and handed me a small white shell with a delicate pink pearl interior.

  “Hold it to your ear and you will be able to reach me at any time. Put it in your mouth and you will be able to breathe underwater should you need to return to the grotto without me. I trust you will remember the way.”

  There was only time to shoot her a raised eyebrow and see the smirk it put on her face before she turned and sank below the surface, leaving not so much as a ripple to mark her passing.

  I hadn’t taken ten steps back toward the heart of the city before the base needs of my human body made themselves known. Between the skirmish with Leith and my time underwater, it felt like a week since I’d eaten or slept. I could crawl in under a bush somewhere and get an hour or two of shuteye once the nagging beast in my belly was soothed. Finding food zoomed straight to the top of the list.

  Shoulders hunched, I reached to shove the charm into my pocket where I encountered the hard plastic case of my cell phone and the reminder that I still had calls to return. My finger hovered over the keypad. One, or more likely, all of the four women would drop everything and come to my rescue if I made the call. Even in the face of danger they would come, because Julius was precious to them—but that wasn’t the only reason. They would come for me. Because I mattered enough that they had pulled me into their circle with warmth and acceptance. Not because I had power or might. Not because I had anything other than myself to offer them. Most definitely not because I had done anything to deserve their allegiance. Just because their hearts were true and open.

  Should I call on them now? There would be questions. Valid questions to which they deserved answers I wasn’t ready to give. Still holding the phone, I moved to shove the seashell into my other pocket and found a small wad of paper that delayed my decision.

  When my fingers closed over the folded money, I sent up a prayer of thanks. My last pay from the bakery. Not much over a hundred dollars, but enough to fill my belly and maybe find a cheap room for the night. Now that I had an assignment, chances were good the Powers would leave me here long enough to complete it. A night’s sleep would clear my head and give me time to make some plans. I could call my friends then next day when I had something concrete to tell them.

  Resolute, I turned back toward the noise and rush of the city where there were hamburgers, and donuts, and fries, and pizza. A mere block away from the park a flashing neon sign caught my eye and drew it to a board mounted on the wall with the day’s specials marked out in chalk. Today’s special was a turkey club sandwich with a side of fries at a price that would not deplete my meager funds unduly. Sounded like a winner to me.

  Inside, out of the glaring sun, the tiny pub was blessedly cool and dark enough that my eyes needed a moment to adjust. A long bar polished to gleaming spanned the area behind a dozen or so tables. Background music, heavy on guitars and wailing vocals, was low enough to talk over but loud enough to enjoy if you liked that type of thing. Flickering neon advertising beer in red and blue centered a handful of signed celebrity photos, one of whom I recognized as a former charge. Those Hollywood types were always on the verge of selling their souls for the right part. It had taken all my ingenuity to persuade him from making an irrevocable deal while concealing my true nature. I wondered who was working with him now.

  The man behind the bar kept up a running chatter with his patrons while efficiently serving food and drink. His narrow face and dark, beady eyes gave him a ratlike appearance that was only softened somewhat by a wide grin. He greeted me warmly and offered a menu, which I refused in favor of the special from the board.

  As hungry as I was, I ordered two sandwiches while ignoring the sidelong looks I received from a stick-sized woman whose neck was almost too thin to hold up her head. She watched
me eat with an intensity that bordered on intrusive, her expression horrified. Without thinking about it, I tuned in to her deepest emotions and found that she had become trapped into thinking food was evil. What a sad way to live.

  It wasn’t my place to change her or to force a lesson on her that she wasn’t ready to learn. I did the only thing I could do in the circumstances and turned a smile her way. The smile of an angel carries power. Not the kind that alters free will, but offers enough comfort to lift emotional burdens, if only for a moment. It was all I had to give.

  My back was to the door, so when it opened behind me I didn’t see who entered. What I did see was the smile falling off the proprietor’s face like snow off a tin roof.

  “The usual?” He said to the newcomer, who took the seat to my left. I turned my head just in time to see Leith’s nod.

  “Hello, Adriel.”

  “Leith.” Why was he here?

  “You just seem to be turning up everywhere.” The tingle his voice created had nothing at all to do with getting a new assignment, and everything to do with things lower in my body. Unlike an assignment, these feelings I could ignore. I hoped.

  “As do you. I don’t believe in coincidence.” In my line of work, genuine coincidence was rarer than hair on a bald man’s head. “Are you following me?”

  “If I said I felt you here and had to come, would that make me sound pathetic?”

  “Depends on why. We didn’t exactly hit it off well enough for you to waste time flirting. If the…” I lowered my voice so no one would hear, “package has been delivered. I think our business is done.”

  “Not even close, Sweetheart. You and me? Trust me, we’re only getting started.” The smile on his face took the threat from his tone and turned it to promise. Light eyes met my annoyed gaze and the smile deepened. “The package,” I heard the air quotes even if he declined to make them, “has definitely not been delivered. Besides, I think we are destined to help one another, and I can’t say I dislike the prospect. All I’m asking is for you to give me a chance.”

  “A chance to what? Show me your third personality?” I scoffed at him. “You remind me of someone I used to know. He had a silver tongue and, as it turns out, a black heart. Full of promises and lies, but always with the best of intentions. As I recall, he ended up paving the road to his new home with them.”

  “Did you just compare me to the devil?”

  “If the horns fit, and if they go with the cape….” My brain caught up to the conversation. “Wait, what do you mean by not delivered? I saw her heading toward the light.”

  The look he gave me said plainer than words how extremely clueless he found me.

  “Given the fact that she followed you in here, I’d say it’s a safe bet she didn’t cross over.” He nodded his head to indicate a spot behind and to my right, and I swiveled my head to see nothing but empty space.

  “I think you’re seeing things.” I pulled the cash out of my pocket and laid a twenty on the table, but before I could pull my hand back Leith covered it with his own and gently squeezed. The contact triggered a vivid mental image of Leith pulling fire from the air and hurling it toward the rising darkness, but his fire wasn’t strong enough and the roiling black cloud swallowed him whole.

  The vision left me shaking with a sense of profound loss.

  Could I turn my back on him and leave him to that fate when he had asked outright for my help while offering his own? This was uncharted territory for me—seeing what might happen and feeling like I was allowed to choose whether or not to act. What little free will I harbored on my human side clashed with my angel sense of destiny. Nothing like having a split personality to make a girl feel confident.

  “What makes you think I need help, anyway?” Or more help than three faeries and a fledgling angel. Not that he needed to know about them just yet.

  “Well, you weren’t exactly what I’d call a ball of fire in that alley. I mean, if that’s your best work, you need somebody. It might as well be me.”

  I yanked my hand out from under his and turned hot eyes on him. “You know nothing about me or my best work, or even what put me in that alley to begin with.” My voice rose high enough to attract the attention of other customers and so, with an effort, I lowered it back to just above a whisper. “You have no idea.”

  “Galmadriel. Guardian angel since…well, forever, I guess. Forced an Earthwalker out of his chosen vessel and the guy lived. You’re already well on your way to being a legend. The darkness knows you now.”

  “You left out the part where I didn’t do it alone and one of the women helping me crossed over before her time, so I sent another human over to get her while I used a couple of ghosts to help me anchor the bridge.” Bitterness colored my voice. Maybe there had been a better way, but if there had, it was too late now. “We weren’t strong enough to hold and when the bridge went, it dragged me along with it. Now I’m anchored to the physical world, can’t depend on what powers are left to me, and am considered so much of a menace that my bosses have cut off most forms of direct contact with me.” Legend? Right.

  “Okay, so that part isn’t common knowledge.” He curled his lips under to keep from grinning and I wanted to smack him. “Doesn’t change the outcome, though. Vanquishing an Earthwalker without killing the host makes you a total badass.”

  There was that description again. I’ve never been able to figure out how that particular part of one’s anatomy could determine strength. Something else niggled at me. “Didn’t you just say I needed you because I didn’t live up to your standards five minutes after regaining consciousness in a strange alley? And now I’m a bad—you know. Stick out your tongue so I can check if it’s forked.”

  Leith’s husky laughter slithered over me, tantalized me to join in. This whole situation was absurd.

  “I can help. I know things. Things your Powers won’t or can’t tell you. Maybe you’re better than me, maybe not, but if we work together, there’s no stopping us. Trust me, Adriel. I’m on your side.”

  “Trust you? I don’t know you, and I’m not even sure what you are.” Not straight human—of that I was certain. Not a dark thing, or he would not have concerned himself with saving a ghost from the darkness. Tuning in, I sensed nothing of the fae about him. What did that leave? Wizard or warlock, maybe—and yet he didn’t smell like one of those, either.

  An odd tone came into his voice. “Does it matter as long as I’m trying to help? Maybe I’m just like you—not one thing or another.”

  “You’re like the devil on my shoulder,” the retort held no heat.

  “You sure I’m not the angel?” His voice purred in my ear seductively. Leith picked up my money, handed it back to me before I had a chance to protest, and paid for my meal. With his hand on my elbow, we left the pub together. Based on the electric feel of his hand on my flesh, yeah, I was sure he was no angel.

  Maybe I wasn’t one anymore, either.

  ***

  As we stepped out into the fading day streetlights twinkled on across the city, reminding me I should be looking for a place to sleep. Ignoring Leith’s presence as best I could, I took a moment to think. The cheaper hotels were going to be on the north side of town, a fifteen minute walk from here if the map in my head was correct. Before I landed myself in this situation, flitting from place to place took no more work than a thought and I never needed to sleep. Those were the abilities I missed the most right this minute. Admittedly, I hadn’t tried a spatial jump since getting back a few of my powers. Lacking finesse and fine control over them made results unpredictable at best and disastrous at worst. Plus, a woman my size appearing and disappearing into and out of thin air was bound to attract unwanted attention.

  “Thank you for the food,” I said dismissively, and turned my feet northward.

  “See you around, Adriel.” He drew out my name into long syllables and pronouncing it Ahh-dree-elle.

  He was gone before I could mutter the entirely unoriginal comeback, “Not if
I see you first.” I used to be sharper than that.

  I was still staring after him when my phone rang. Out of reflex, I answered. Kathleen Canton, Kat to her friends—of which I was lucky to count myself—didn’t even waste time with hello. “218 Canal Street. There’s a key hidden under a loose shingle on the back of the garage. Fifth row up, seventh from the left. Pull it out gently and slide it to the right. You can use the place for as long as you need it.”

  “How did you…”

  “Know you would need a place to stay? Please. Remember who you’re talking to. It’s Ammie and Reid’s cottage house. The one they lived in when they got married. Reid kept it for when he has to spend time in the city on foundation business.”

  “I can’t…I don’t want to intrude.”

  An icy silence on the other end lasted several seconds before Kat said evenly, “218 Canal Street. Use the key. Don’t make me come down there.”

  Kat is a powerful psychic and medium, but what was she going to do? Give me a bad Tarot card reading? I’m an angel for crying out loud. That ought to earn me a modicum of respect.

  “I…”

  She cut me off. “There’s a service that keeps the place clean and Reid arranged to have the fridge stocked up. If you need anything, you’re to call one of us—which you’ll be doing anyway because you know Julie is concerned about Julius. We won’t talk about how long you’ve been ducking our phone calls.”

  I couldn’t help the grin spreading over my face. A more loyal group of women I’d yet to meet, and given the length and breadth of my history, that’s saying something. “You’re not worried about repercussions from ordering a higher being to do your bidding?”