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Where he and Jewels were crouched behind an armored vehicle, Travis whispered, “For someone so good at technology, you suck at holding a phone still, Arthur.” He chuckled as he watched the old man practically fight for his life to hold the phone straight. He was in the kitchen at Heaven’s Gate; Travis recognized it in the background.

The fact that the others had been forced to vacate Hell’s Gate because of Don was…well, it made Travis uneasy. But it was the right choice. Better to be safe than sorry, no matter how much they hated to be pushed to this point.

Arthur righted the camera. “Move the camera back to the left, Travis,” he said, his voice coming through the headset instead of the phone. “It’s that one,” he declared.

Travis crept forward and tried to grab the missile?—

“Holy hell, this thing’s heavy,” he breathed.

“I tried to warn you,” Arthur said.

“Hold on,” Travis grunted. He was already sweating. “Stay on the line—I need to use both hands for this.” He slipped thephone into his back pocket, then lifted one end of the missile while Jewels went to the other. “Ready?” he asked her as she curled her fingers under the base.

She nodded. “Ready.”

They hefted the missile up and carried it through the building. It was hella awkward, but it worked. Tanner stayed on the headset, watching on the cameras and directing them to either hide or go a different route if he spotted military personnel moving about. Eventually, they made it outside.

As they waited in the shadows of the building for Tanner to lower the spells for a second time, Travis leaned against the icy-cold wall and took a moment to catch his breath. Jewels was doing the same, the missile lying on the pavement between them. That thing was stupidly heavy. Way heavier than it looked. Once it was charged and they were ready to move forward with the last step of their plan, they’d have to move it with vehicle transportation, then take turns getting it up onto the roof of the tallest building that aligned with the Control Tower.

“So,” Travis began, panting. “When we get back to Angelthene…you want to go out again?”

The speakers on his headset crackled, then Malakai said, “Heard that.”

Jewels beamed, but she did not turn off her mic as she said to Travis, “I would love to go out with you again, Travis.”

Travis smiled. “Cool.”

Malakai grumbled on the other end. But he did not object.

Travis took it as a win.

Tanner came through on the headset. “Spells are coming down in five seconds.”

Travis counted. One, two, three, four, five…

The minute he felt the spells fall in a downward ripple that made his blood purl in his veins, he and Jewels were moving. They had to go through the gate this time, the missile waytoo heavy to get over the fence, and from there they crossed the dark, deserted road and disappeared into an alley between two buildings, narrowly avoiding an armored vehicle that was coming around the corner.

“Shit—hurry,” Travis breathed. He was at the end of the missile, walking forward while Jewels walked backward.

Loose gravel crunched under tires. Whoever was driving that thing was getting closer, and they were way too exposed in this alley.

But there was a dumpster up ahead, and that was where they hid.

“I feel like a goose,” Jewels hissed as she waddled backward, steering the long, heavy missile to the shadows behind the dumpster.

Travis’s chuckle sounded more like a grunt, the veins in his neck straining beneath his flushed skin.

He ducked behind that dumpster—right on time. As the armored vehicle passed by the mouth of the alley, he and Jewels set down the missile and took a breather. Sweat gleamed on her forehead, and she wiped at it with the gloves she’d borrowed from Raina.

By the time they made it to where the Reapers were hiding, they found Malakai pacing, and Aspen rubbing her arms to warm them, her teeth chattering.

“Now what?” Malakai said as Travis grunted, carefully lowering his end of the missile as Jewels lowered hers.

“Now we have to charge the warhead,” Aspen said. She waved Travis and Jewels aside and said, “You guys take a break, we’ll carry it from here.”

They’d come here in a truck that belonged to the Sylphen. That truck was parked about a block over—far enough away not to raise suspicion, if any soldiers were to spot it.

When they got back to the House of Violet, the charging began.