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“We’ve captured a few people we discovered were previously at the massacre sites,” he said. “But we’re not sure how they could have possibly killed the angels. And so far, our prisoners aren’t talking.”

“Maybe they aren’t the ones who did it,” I suggested.

“The Interrogators have them now. We shall soon find out who they work for and what they want.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Not feeling confident?” he asked me.

“There is something bigger going on here, Nero. And my gut tells me it has to do with what happened in the past.”

“Have you had any more visions?”

“No. But I wish I had. I’m sure the answers we need are buried in the past,” I said. “Cadence thinks I’m the common link between all the angel pregnancies now and when it happened twenty-five years ago.”

“I think she’s right,” Nero agreed.

“Have you heard about Leila and Basanti?”

“Yes.” A smile flitted across his face. “I’m not sure how that happened, but good for them.”

“Magic is pretty wonky right now.”

“Indeed.”

“I’ve been thinking about the attacks on my family,” I told him. “Are the Guardians truly targeting Zane? And is this connected to the Guardians’ plans to kill all the people they ‘saved’, including Arina’s kids? Furthermore, could this all be related to the massacres you’re investigating? How is all of what’s going on connected? Because figuring that out might be the key to stopping the Guardians.”

“You’ve been having visions?” Arina asked me.

“Yes, of the past.” Then I described them to her, especially the ones from the Lost City. When I was done, I asked her, “Do you know what it means?”

She shook her head. “No.”

I had a thought. “Zane once told me: ‘The Guardians have a prophecy about a divine savior who will be born human, with equal light and dark magic. She will grow her magic one ability at a time, and someday she will upset the balance of power….The Guardians…believe you will change the balance of magic back to the middle, back to mixed magic of light and dark origins. They believe the savior is a god killer and demon slayer.’ What do you think?”

Arina chewed on her lip, obviously mulling that over.

“When we first met, you told me the Guardians wanted me dead,” I reminded her.

“They do. But they…they must need you too.”

“According to what Zane heard, they need me to change the balance of magic. So why did they try to kill me on the rooftop in Purgatory?”

“There’s a way we might be able to answer all of these questions,” Arina said.

“I’m listening.”

“You don’t happen to have the weapons of heaven and hell on you, do you?”

* * *

I did,in fact, have the weapons of heaven and hell with me. Before leaving on her quest with Nero and the others, Nyx had sent them up to the airship, along with my cat.

We all gathered around Arina in the garden library, as she tried to read the memories branded into the four immoral artifacts’ magic.

“These are very old.” Arina’s eyes were closed, and her hands slid over the shield. “They were made by the legendary Immortal smith Sunfire. One of the surviving Immortals gave them to a special soldier, one of balanced magic: light and dark, active and passive.”

Her fingers traced the blade of the sword, her eyes still closed. “There’s a missing piece of the Prophecy.” She opened her eyes and looked at Zane. “One the Guardians didn’t tell you.”