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34

The Best Laid Plans

In under an hour, our battle against the Guardians would begin. I just hoped that it ended as we’d planned. If I’d learned anything in my time at the Legion of Angels, it was that even the best-laid plans inevitably went sideways.

I sat in the garden library, surrounded by my family and friends. I’d just finished bringing them through everything Nero and I had learned in the memory stream. I hadn’t invited any of the octuplets. Since Ava was controlling them, I wasn’t going to risk that anything we said got back to the demon.

“So Ava is limiting what the octuplets can do and say, just to manipulate Leda into following her wishes,” Harker said.

I nodded. “Yep.”

“Ava wants me to find Thea,” Bella said.

“Since you’re linked by blood and magic, it is doable,” Arina told her.

Bella drummed her fingers against the armrest. “Ava gave me the wand so I could find Thea. But what does Ava even want with Thea?”

“Let me see the wand?” Arina held out her hand.

Bella hesitated for a moment—understandable, as I’d just told her how the immortal artifacts linked to the octuplets could control them—but she handed it over.

Arina held the wand between her hands, eyes closed. A few moments later, her eyelashes swept up, and she returned the wand to Bella. “Some years after Thea disappeared, Ava learned that Thea was the only one who’d heard a Prophecy from the powerful telepath who was Zane’s father. Since Zane’s father is dead, Thea is the only one alive today who knows what that Prophecy says.”

Zane sat up straighter in his seat.

“This Prophecy is about the savior and the different paths she might take, including which one would lead to the result Ava wanted: the total defeat of the Guardians without great losses and the certainty of demon dominion in the universe,” Arina said.

“Our plan will cripple the Guardians but surely not end them,” Damiel said. “That’s why Ava wants to know the Prophecy Thea heard. She’s looking for the key to achieving the demons’ ultimate goal: to rule over all.”

“As the one who brought this about, Ava will rule over all.” I shook my head. “Obviously, we can’t let Ava gain this information.”

“And as long as she’s in control of the octuplets, she’s too powerful,” Nero added.

“So we need to free the octuplets from Ava’s control, destroy the barrier hiding the Guardians’ Sanctuary, and find Thea without Ava ever finding her too.” I counted off the tasks on my fingers. “That’s a tall order.”

“Try not to look too excited at the prospect of defying impossible odds,” Nyx said.

“Don’t be such a killjoy, Nyx,” I told her.

Nyx’s mouth drew into a very hard, very humorless line. People didn’t tease the First Angel nearly enough, so she wasn’t used to it. Or maybe being suddenly nine months pregnant had made her cranky. It was certainly overwhelming. I’d thought I would have so much time to prepare for motherhood.

“Rosette, the djinn, changed the direction of the magic mirror Harker and I were in when we left Valerian’s world,” Bella said out of the blue. “That’s how we ended up on a world with Ava, not on Earth.”

We all looked at her.

“Sorry,” she said, her face sheepish. “I just figured out something that had been bothering me for a while.”

“We need to discuss the upcoming battle,” Damiel declared, which scored him an approving nod from the First Angel.

“We need to watch out for all the people the Guardians have ‘saved’. We need to rescue them before the Guardians start killing them.” Cadence looked at Arina. “The Guardians are planning to drain the power out of these supernaturals, right? That’s why they’ve been collecting them?”

“For so long, the Guardians have collected people with all kinds of powers and combinations of powers.” Arina cringed, likely thinking of her kids. “They’ve gathered together many supernaturals of every ability—dark and light, active and passive.”

“And the gods and demons, with their obsession of collecting these kinds of people, have driven them right to the Guardians.” I couldn’t help but feel really annoyed at both the gods and the demons. “After being hunted so mercilessly, the Guardians’ Sanctuary must have seemed like paradise to those people.”

“The Guardians worked slowly, taking these people over many centuries, as to not draw too much attention to themselves,” Arina said. “But lately, they’ve upped their pace, especially in collecting sirens.”

I supposed that was my fault. Several weeks ago, I’d unknowingly killed a bunch of the Guardians’ sirens. It had all happened inside my mind. At the time, I’d thought they were only machines, not people. Still, I felt really guilty about it.