Page 22

Chapter twenty-two

“ Y ou have the knife hidden in your leg?” Antony asked for the dozenth time since they left the Sanctuary.

“Yup. I’m ready to rip up my skirt and stab people at the drop of a hat.” For effect, Odelle extended her leg out of the daringly high slit on the dress she wore. She had chosen the white and gold gown from the impressive wardrobe Antony had created. She had reasoned that the slit would allow her freedom of movement and easy access to her concealed weapon. In reality, she had just itched at the opportunity to wear it again, even if it was to spring a trap for the Shadows.

Antony paced in the loading docks of the planetarium.

“Thad should have let us in by now,” he said.

“Probably just got too carried away with his flirting and schmoozing.”

“I would never.” The service entrance swung open to reveal a tuxedoed Thad, complete with white gloves. “In fact, it was the opposite. Normally, I do charm my way into parties, but this time you have me dressed as a caterer. It goes against my nature to fly under the radar.”

Odelle and Antony slid through the door he held open into a back corridor, glancing around to ensure they weren’t spotted.

“Just remember, you’re supposed to be handing people the champagne, not drinking it,” Antony reminded Thad as he led them deeper into the planetarium, glancing around each corner as they went before beaconing them forward .

“I don’t know why I couldn’t pose as Drew’s date,” Thad grumbled as they walked. “Seraphina could have been the undercover caterer instead, and then I would be able to enjoy a bit of bubbly.”

“Because Seraphina has spent the least time out of the Sanctuary and Drew will make sure she doesn’t do anything to give herself away,” Odelle reminded him. “Plus, once she saw the peacock feather dress Antony made, I didn’t have it in me to tell her to wear a caterer’s uniform.”

“Then I’ll just be hovering nearby with my plate of stuffed mushrooms, ready to intervene.” Thad stopped in front of a door and gestured to it. “Just through here, you should be able to slip into the party unnoticed, even without an invite.”

Odelle nodded and took Antony’s elbow before heading out into the ball, glad they had found a way to sneak in. Adam and Nora already had tickets to the ball thanks to Adam’s apparent long-term philanthropy, and Drew was able to score two for himself and a plus one through a former attending physician of his. With Odelle’s recently burned bridges, it left her, Antony and Thad to find their own way into the festivities.

The back entrance dropped them at the fringes of the ball, in an exhibit of the planetarium only occupied by a few couples who milled about the displays and chatted idly. Odelle and Antony wandered among them, trying to appear interested in the exhibit as they meandered towards the more populated areas.

Antony pulled Odelle to a stop for a moment, neck craned back to look at a telescope twice as long as Odelle was tall.

“Incredible,” he murmured so quietly that Odelle barely caught his words. “They mapped the entire solar system with these? The entire galaxy?”

Odelle felt a twinge when she remembered Antony once asking her about the International Space Station in fascination. She was far from an astronomy expert, but she vowed to herself that she would bring Antony back to the Planetarium when he had time to read every plaque to his heart’s content.

“Actually, most of what we learn now comes from telescopes that we launch into outer space.” Odelle leaned in to tell Antony as she gently tugged him away from the display.

As they drifted into a larger exhibit, Odelle scanned the dazzling guests for her friends—or Amy Biderman. Under the impressively large model solar system dangling from the ceiling, guests sipped champagne and nibbled crudité while chuckling at the jokes of their equally rich and distinguished friends. Even though the crowd was sparse as guests were just beginning to arrive, the group was dazzling. It reminded Odelle of when she had first seen the crown. This time, she was glad to have the Eteria at her back and Antony a warm and reassuring presence at her side.

Seraphina caught Odelle’s gaze, her posture in the cerulean peacock feather gown making her seem like a queen holding court where she stood with Drew under Saturn’s rings. Antony may have made the dress for Odelle, but it was meant for Seraphina.

Drew looked up from the elderly gentleman he was speaking to, nudging Seraphina with his elbow as he made eye contact with Odelle. Excusing himself from the conversation, he led the way towards where Antony and Odelle currently hovered underneath Neptune.

“Nice to see you made it,” Drew commented as they came closer.

“Thad managed his part perfectly,” Antony agreed. “Although I think he was put out that he didn’t get to spend his time flirting with you, Drew.”

Drew reddened and choked on seemingly nothing, coughing until Odelle pounded him on the back .

“Probably a good thing,” Odelle commented drily. “You’d get too distracted to do your job and then where would we be?”

Once Drew had recovered, Antony asked, “Are Adam and Nora here yet?”

“We just talked to them a few minutes ago.” Seraphina nodded. “They’ve already stationed themselves near the spot we discussed. Now that we know you’re here, too, we can head to the entrance to watch for the arrival of our…guest of honor.”

“I guess that means we should get into position too,” Odelle said, beginning to feel Antony’s nerves from earlier. Up until this point, it was easy to pretend they were just crashing a party. Now they had to face the fact that they were about to attack the Shadow at a public gathering. If things went awry, countless lives would be in danger. If they didn’t execute the plan at all, they were simply waiting for the Shadow to endanger more people with its growing influence.

Drew laid an encouraging hand on Odelle’s shoulder. “With any luck, the next time we talk this will all be over.”

Odelle swallowed thickly and nodded but remained silent. When it came to the business of this crown, luck hadn’t been on their side in the past. Once Drew and Seraphina began weaving their way through the thickening crowds, Odelle and Antony headed towards the predetermined location. On the far side of the planetarium, even farther from the main entrance than where they had entered, the number of people dropped to the occasional straggler. Antony glanced around them continuously, as if worried that people would wonder where they were going.

“Remember, walk like you own the place and nobody will ever stop you,” Odelle leaned in and whispered in his ear .

“Easy for you to say when you look like you do own the place,” Antony retorted, but he squared his shoulders.

Odelle thought Antony could own anything he liked as well in the aubergine velvet tuxedo somebody—most likely Thad—had found for him. The jacket accentuated Antony’s trim waist, and the slim trousers didn’t make Odelle want to stare at his legs any less than she had when he was wearing a skirt. Now wasn’t the time for that though.

By now, they were alone in the back corner of the museum, until they came upon Adam and Nora leaning against the wall near a roped-off entrance. Nora wore the same one-shouldered gold gown that Odelle had helped her pick out for the Field Museum gala last year, while Adam sported a navy blue tuxedo.

“You better not ruin that dress fighting when I spent half my life trying to get you into something sparkly,” Odelle commented as they approached.

“If we pull this off, I promise to wear a sparkly dress to every event I go to from now on,” Nora promised, and gestured to the archway beyond the velvet rope. “You better get in there and hide. I don’t know how long it will take Drew to lure Biderman over here, but he tends to be efficient when given a mission.”

Antony stepped over the rope before reaching back to help Odelle do the same.

“Will Drew be able to lure her somewhere guests aren’t supposed to go? Maybe we should move the rope,” he asked, worry creasing his brow.

“If you really weren’t supposed to go here, there would be a locked door. Besides, we need to make sure other guests stay away so they don’t get caught in the crossfire,” Odelle reasoned as she lifted her second shimmering leg over the rope, glad she had taken to wearing them all the time now. Even though they weren’t her running blades, they fit so well that they would be the best bet in a fight.

Any more concerns Antony may have been about to voice were momentarily forgotten as they approached what was to be their hiding place.

“What is that?” Antony asked, slack jawed.

“That is how humans went to the moon,” Odelle declared as they stopped before the space capsule.

“This has been to the moon?” Antony drifted forward, lips parted in awe.

“Well, not this one. This was just a model used for the training of the Apollo 11 crew, but something like this went to the moon,” Odelle clarified. “Go on, inside you go.”

Odelle lamented that they didn’t have time to look at the model Mars rover right next to the capsule. The exhibit even had remote controls to drive it around a sand enclosure, simulating the experience of a rover operator. Then again, Antony would probably try to take the whole thing apart to see how it worked.

Antony ducked inside the capsule, head on a swivel as he tried to take in everything at once. “I thought I stayed relatively up to date on most science, but now that I think about it, Adam hasn’t brought an Astronomy book to the Sanctuary in almost eighty years. It seems like a lot has happened in that short time.”

“I don’t think eighty years is a short time in science these days,” Odelle argued as she ducked in after him. “We will definitely have to get you up to date on the space age.”

Once Antony was inside, he made his way to one of the narrow benches in the pod and sat down, although one leg bounced with nervous energy. Odelle had expected him to want to explore as much as he could while they waited, but it seemed that his concern for the mission was even distracting him from questions about space travel. Odelle frowned.

“Hey there.” Odelle squeezed herself onto the bench next to him, laying a hand on his jostling leg until it stilled. “We’ve got this.”

Antony’s wide hazel eyes met hers for a moment before he sighed. “I know.” He slumped back against the wall. “It’s just…doing a mission outside the Sanctuary brings up old things. Having people fighting to protect me—if they get hurt…”

“You’re here because you can do something important in destroying the crown—something nobody else can do,” Odelle assured him, letting the thumb of the hand on his thigh rub in soothing circles.

Antony put his hand over her fingers.

“And you’ve helped me remember how important my role is, even though I have felt lesser for it for millennia. I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable with combat situations though,” Antony admitted.

“And you don’t have to want to fight,” Odelle reassured. “In fact, your appreciation for peace and creation over violence is part of what makes me love you.”

Antony’s breath caught in his throat as he stared at Odelle with wide eyes. She froze. Had something gone wrong with the plan already?

“You love me?” Antony echoed in a whisper.

“Oh.” Odelle hadn’t realized that was the first time those words passed her lips. It seemed so natural, so right, that it hardly even registered as an important step. She had never told any of the revolving door of himbos and jocks that she had loved them, and she expected it to be something she built up to for months—agonized over to get the moment just right. But here she was, admitting her feelings for Antony on accident while huddled in the back of an Apollo 11 space capsule.

“I guess I do,” she murmured .

There was a moment of silence as Odelle waited for Antony’s response, and her stomach turned to ice as he frowned. Perhaps after thousands of years of life, moving to I love you after a few weeks was too jarring. Heck, she would have thought it was too soon if it hadn’t just tumbled out of her mouth, so clearly the truth that she couldn’t deny it.

Odelle opened her mouth to do some damage control, to retract her statement if she could. Antony put a finger to her lips before she could speak. Being shushed in response to a love confession was a new low. Odelle was about to bat his hand away when she heard it. A feminine giggle drifted in from the hallway followed by something Odelle couldn’t make out in a deep timbre that sounded like Drew’s. As the voices came closer, Odelle sent up a silent prayer that Adam and Nora had hidden themselves thoroughly.

“Leading me behind the velvet rope? You are daring.” Amy Biderman’s voice drifted through the rocket exhibit and into the space capsule.

Odelle scarcely dared to breathe, and she could tell from Antony’s preternatural stillness that he felt the same tension.

“I told you, I don’t want to be overheard,” Drew explained, voice steady.

Odelle thanked the stars for Drew’s unshakable calm in times of crisis—if not when it came to flirting—honed by years of emergency medical care.

“Somebody needs to know what’s happening at the hospital,” Drew continued, “but I really want to remain anonymous.”

“That sounds serious.” Despite her words, Biderman sounded more excited at the idea of a story than concerned about what could be so horrible as to warrant an anonymous tip.

Odelle’s gut clenched, and she had to remind herself that Biderman was likely under the Shadow’s influence, prompting her to sensationalize negative stories instead of focusing on revealing the truth.

Next to Odelle, Antony inched to his feet, still crouched in the tight quarters of the capsule but tall enough to peak out a porthole. As the pair of footsteps drew closer, his eyes widened. He turned to Odelle, gesturing to his head and then giving her the thumbs up signal. She was wearing the crown.

Odelle’s heart hammered so hard she was shocked that Drew and Biderman couldn’t hear it from outside the space capsule. Still, she and Antony edged towards the door, Odelle in the lead. Peaking around the edge, she caught sight of Drew and then Biderman’s profile crowned in shimmering bronze laurels. Drew took a few steps around the woman, forcing her to turn her back to the Apollo 11 replica.

“So what is this scandal? I’m sure nobody will be able to hear us here.” Biderman’s tone snapped with growing impatience.

“Well—”

Nobody got a chance to hear what sort of story Drew had concocted. Odelle leaped forward, throwing her arms around Biderman’s neck from behind and jumping onto her back like an oversized monkey in a white gown. Despite Biderman’s smaller stature, the tackle didn’t drag her to the ground. Instead, she screamed in an inhuman voice and thrashed, but Odelle clung tightly, again thankful for every ounce of upper body strength she had built.

With Biderman’s arms pinned, Drew lunged forward and yanked the bronze crown from her head, pulling several chestnut strands with it. He paid no mind to Biderman’s shriek of protest and tossed it like a frisbee over Odelle’s shoulder to where she could sense Antony .

Biderman threw her head back the moment Drew touched the crown, revealing her eyes to be an inky black that consumed the entire iris. A choked noise escaped her throat, and with a final heave, she threw Odelle from her back. Her tailbone hit the ground with a painful thud , but she was too busy worrying about what was happening before her to pay the stinging much mind. Stygian smoke oozed through vents and around doorways, forming into horrible Shadow creatures like the ones that had attacked at the Whiteman’s house. So much for avoiding a fight by not attacking the Shadow on its home turf.

On cue, Nora and Adam burst around the corner, spear and sword that had been smuggled in by Adam in hand. They immediately jumped into the fray, swinging at the Shadows that exploded into fetid smoke when slashed by sharpened bronze. Thad jumped around the corner next, holding a serving tray in one hand like a hoplite shield while wielding a curved sword in the other hand. Odelle’s attention was drawn from the incoming reinforcements by a garbled shriek from before her. Amy Biderman rounded on her, hands clawed and smoke dripping from her eyes and open mouth, utterly inhuman. Odelle scrabbled backwards in a clumsy sort of crabwalk, but her back hit against the wall of the Apollo 11. Backed into a corner, she yanked up her gown, fumbling with the latch on her leg to release her dagger. It slipped into her sweaty palm, and she tried to raise it before her in defense, but Shadow Biderman was almost upon her.

Out of nowhere flew a brightly feathered form, landing on Biderman’s back and pinning her to the ground. Seraphina crouched with one knee on the news anchor’s back, long lethal knife pressed to the back of her neck.

“Snap to it Antony,” Seraphina commanded as Biderman bucked under her and she pressed the dagger more firmly against her captive .

Antony jumped where he stood, clutching the crown to his chest in the midst of the chaos. He glanced nervously at Odelle, but Drew had already stepped around the struggling women to help her to her feet. Her breath hadn’t fully returned to her, but she gave Antony a reassuring nod. She was unharmed.

With a nod in return, Antony held the crown out before him and closed his eyes. Odelle was prepared for it this time, but her heart still stuttered when his eyelids snapped open to reveal golden irises. She tore her gaze from him with great difficulty to check their surroundings, worried for his safety while he worked.

Nora’s dress hiked up around her thighs as she lunged, stabbing a creature through the chest with a forceful thrust. At her back, Adam ducked under the back end of her spear as she pulled back and swung it over her head, moving in perfect synchrony as his sword cut across the neck of another creature. Nearby, Thad bobbed and weaved with his long one-edged sword and makeshift shield, catching a misshapen limb on the back of the silver tray before slamming his blade into the creature’s flank. They held the Shadows at bay, but still more smoke coalesced into the horrifying forms.

An earsplitting shriek dragged Odelle’s attention back to the figures around her. As molten light centered around the crown in Antony’s grasp, Shadow Biderman began to thrash, fingers scrabbling at the carpet so hard it broke her nails, only for shadowy claws to grow in their place. The tone of her cries seemed to change from anger to pain.

“Is it hurting her?” Drew asked in horror.

“The crown has so thoroughly corrupted her, her lifeforce is caught up in its power,” Antony grunted, not taking his eyes off the golden fibers weaving their way through the delicate crown.

“Won’t that kill her then?” Drew asked .

Another shriek nearly drowned out Drew’s question as Biderman twisted in Seraphina’s grasp, swiping an arm out towards her, a talon of darkness scraping across her cheek and leaving a trail of red. Odelle lunged forward, dagger still in hand, to help the Seraphina contain the writhing woman.

She swung at the clawed hand still straining towards Seraphina. Instead of slashing the Biderman’s skin as she expected, the blade Antony had crafted was so sharp that it sank into flesh like hot butter, driving straight through to pin Biderman’s hand to the carpeted floor with a dull thunk.

Odelle released the handle with horrified gasp, skittering backwards. Bile rose in the back of her throat at the sight of her dagger embedded in flesh. Biderman’s shrieks became even more agonized if it were possible, but she stopped bucking as hard, now literally pinned to the ground.

Seraphina held firm, looking up at Odelle calmly, even as blood dripped down her cheek.

“She’s not really in there anymore.” Seraphina’s tone was gentle, completely at odds with the way she ground the thrashing reporter onto the floor. “If the Shadow has corrupted her that far, then she’s already dead. Worse, actually.”

Odelle swallowed, pointedly looking away from where blood bubbled up around the blade of her beautiful knife. Antony had made it for her so she could fend off Shadows, and she had done just that. After a few deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth, she looked back to where Seraphina had Biderman trapped.

It wasn’t hard to believe that the writhing creature before them was no longer human. Smoke poured from her eyes and screaming lips, and the voice tearing from her throat grated like metal against stone. As a fresh wave of Light pulsed from Antony, Shadow Biderman threw her head back, affording Odelle a better view of her face. Even as her lips curled up into an anguished snarl, her eyes flickered a very human blue, so quickly Odelle thought she must have imagined it. Then it happened again, this time accompanied by a momentary expression of fear.

“Wait!” Odelle shouted. “She’s still in there.”

Antony grunted in surprise.

“Is there any way you can destroy the crown without killing her?”

Antony’s brow, already glistening with sweat, furrowed. “I don’t think so. Her spirit is too tied up in the magic of the crown,” he forced out through gritted teeth.

“But if we kill an innocent person, doesn’t that play exactly into what the Shadow wants,” Seraphina argued.

“You’re the most powerful sorcerer alive, there has to be something you can do,” Odelle insisted, even as she eyed her sister and the others being forced back towards their little huddle by the encroaching horde of darkness.

Drew put his back to them, making himself a barrier between the raging fight and their discussion.

Antony sighed and the golden Light spilling from his hands dissolved. Biderman’s shrieks of pain instantly morphed back into snarls of aggression.

“I might be able to purify the crown from the Shadow’s influence,” Antony hedged, “but somebody has to wear it while I work.”

“Then put it on!” Thad had been pushed close enough to their group by the advancing creatures that he was able to yell over Drew’s shoulder into their conversation. “Now isn’t the time to worry about whether it goes with your outfit.”

Antony shook his head. “It needs to be somebody else, to help me fight the Shadow’s influence so I can replace it with Light.”

Odelle stepped forward and snatched the crown from his hands. “Then let’s get on with it.”

She lifted her hands to put the laurels on her head, but Antony’s hand on her wrist stopped her. “It’s going to grab hold of your most negative thoughts to control you. You have to fight back for me to be able to purify it.”

Odelle hesitated but Antony’s expression held trust. This was an important job, and one she could do. She gave him one sharp nod, looking into his still golden eyes, and then jammed the crown down on her head. Antony stared at her warily, and she instantly felt annoyed by his concern. She might not be a sorcerer, but she could hold her own for more than two seconds.

Cautiously, Antony raised his hands and filaments of Light spilled from his fingers. Odelle turned her eyes upwards to watch them approach the leaves on her head with a sigh of impatience. She had shown the Eteria time and again she could keep up with them and still Antony approached this so delicately, as if she were a lesser being simply because she wasn’t a sorcerer. Even after everything they had been through.

When the Light finally touched the crown, a jolt ran down Odelle’s spine all the way through the tips of the toes. The threads of Light running from Antony’s fingers thickened even as Shadowy darkness began curling around the filaments, obscuring some of their brightness and dancing around Antony’s hands.

“Come on, Odelle,” he grit out. “Fight it.”

Fight it? She had been fighting alongside him this whole time. She had come up with the original plan to capture the crown, and it would have succeeded if Antony had realized it was corrupted ahead of before it was too late. She fought through their trek in the wilderness and on top of the Sears Tower. Even though she had lost her job, the career she had spent her whole life pushing toward, she still fought with the Eteria. It was Antony who didn’t like to fight.

Wait. That didn’t seem right. Had she not just told Antony she loved his peaceful nature a few minutes ago?

As she watched, the tendrils of Shadow winding around Antony’s hands lost some of their opacity, revealing a stronger golden glow.

“Look at me, Odelle,” Antony said softly, barely audible above the crashing of battle inching ever closer behind them.

Odelle did as he bid, letting her gaze drift down to meet his despite the yelling behind her. His eyes were filled with Light, but the wonderous, open expression he wore was pure Antony. A screech and a sound like a car crashing came from behind her, but still Odelle stared at Antony’s face, utterly transfixed by the smallest, softest smile forming on his lips. Then his lips parted, and he murmured something only Odelle could hear.

“I love you too.”

That was right. He loved her ambition, and he loved her even when she didn’t do everything all on her own. She didn’t need to wear her carefully crafted armor of self-confidence around Antony, because he saw her strength without it, just as she saw his. They were a team.

The Light shining from Antony’s fingers multiplied a hundred times over as the Shadows around his hands dissolved. Odelle was forced to screw her eyes shut against the overwhelming brightness, but she felt the comforting warmth on her face. A ripple of force blew past her, knocking the crown from her head. It fell to the ground with a metallic clatter, and then there was silence.

Odelle peeled her eyes open. Antony still stood before her, but his hands had dropped to his sides and he stared at the ground next to her. Odelle followed his line of sight to the crown lying at her feet. It looked as it had before, stunning craftsmanship and delicate leaves, but it seemed different now. The eye only lingered on it for its physical beauty, and the otherworldly force that drew Odelle’s attention to it before was gone.

Mind clearing of fog, Odelle remembered the battle raging behind her and whirled around. The room only contained her panting friends, looking sweaty and red in the face, but none the worse for wear. The Mars rover model had somehow driven across the room and crashed into the railing defining the edge of its exhibit.

“The Shadows were attached to the crown,” Antony said behind her. “Once we purified it, they disappeared.”

“Good thing too.” Adam huffed as he bent and rested his hands on his knees. “They were getting to be a bit much.”

“Speak for yourself,” Nora nudged Adam playfully with the butt of her spear, although brown curls stuck to her glistening neck where they had escaped their twist. “Although I am glad you thought to run the Shadow over with the Mars rover before it could get to Drew. I’m not sure I would have gotten there in time.”

“Glad to see Adam’s familiarity with the exhibits pay off,” Thad objected, picking up a now irreparably dented serving tray.

Adam twirled the remote controller to the rover in his hand and grinned.

The conversation was cut off by a fit of coughing followed by a shuddering gasp. Amy Biderman began to twitch on the floor in the center of the room. Quickly, Seraphina removed her knee from between her shoulder blades and yanked out the dagger pinning her to the ground to roll her over. The strange darkness was gone from Biderman’s face, but the pupils in her wide, unblinking eyes had shrunk to the size of pinpricks. Breaths puffed through her lips in short, shallow pants, and she twitched lightly ,

“Grab my bag,” Drew barked, instantly taking on the persona of Dr. Coleman. As he checked for a pulse, Thad dashed from the room and returned with a leather case, which he set down by Drew’s side.

“He had me smuggle it in and stash it with the weapons,” Thad explained as everybody gathered around. Odelle chewed her lip nervously as Antony pulled her close with an arm around her waist. The whole purpose of purifying the crown of the Shadow’s influence had been to avoid killing Amy Biderman. If she died anyway, they might as well have just destroyed it.

“Extreme tachycardia,” Drew muttered as he pulled a cuff out of his bag and used it to hurriedly take his patient’s blood pressure. “High blood pressure too. It’s almost like she’s overdosed on a stimulant and is in adrenergic storm.”

“The Shadow pushes the human body beyond its capacity when it possesses a person.” Seraphina gently arranged Biderman so her neck was no longer crooked at an awkward angle, as the woman seemed to have no control over her movements.

“Shadow sickness,” Thad agreed. “I’ve seen it before on the few occasions somebody has been able to throw off the Shadow’s influence.”

“Then she is experiencing a catecholamine surge.” Drew’s expression was hard. “I don’t have anything in my bag that can help with that. We’ll have to call an ambulance.”

“Wait—” Thad interjected, placing a hand on Drew’s arm. “That tincture I had you put in your bag. It’s especially designed to help fight off the Shadow’s influence. It should do the trick.”

Drew rummaged in the bag and pulled out a small vial with a dropper lid. Thad snatched it from him, and Seraphina jumped in to help, tilting Biderman’s head back and opening her mouth. Undoing the stopper, Thad dripped a small amount of the vibrant blue liquid under her tongue.

Within moments, Biderman’s breathing leveled out and the twitching stopped. Odelle’s eyes widened in shock as even the wound in Biderman’s hand knit its way back together, skin smooth like it had never been marred. Drew, who still had his fingers pressed against her pulse point, raised his eyebrows.

“Heart rate is going back down to normal,” he confirmed, tone impressed.

“Thad for the win. Suck on that modern medicine!” Thad exclaimed, but quieted when Drew shot him a look that clearly intimated not the time . Still, he looked quite pleased with himself.

“What—where…” Biderman’s eyelids fluttered as she seemed to become aware of her surroundings again.

“You fainted darling,” Thad patted her hand sympathetically.

As Biderman began to look around dazed, everybody hurried to tuck their weapons behind their back, no small feat for Nora’s spear. Between her and Adam, they managed to conceal it. Antony snatched Odelle’s bloodied blade off the ground to hide behind him. Seraphina hastily slid the crown, lying forgotten on the floor, under the puddle of her skirts where she knelt.

“Why don’t we get you to a bench where you can sit down and I’ll get you some help.” Thad looked pointedly at the others as he and Drew helped the harried woman to her feet. She looked disheveled, but surprisingly steady on her feet for having been exorcised of evil incarnate minutes earlier.

As Thad led Biderman from the room before she could gain her bearings and wonder at the odd crowd of people gathered around her, she patted her rumpled updo in confusion and glanced around. Then with a shrug, she let herself be led past the rope that Thad lifted out of the way for her. They disappeared around the corner, Drew trailing behind to provide any unforeseen medical care.

“We’re going to need to make ourselves scarce,” Adam said as soon as the trio rounded the corner. “I’ll put the rover back and then we’ll split up to divert any suspicion.”

Seraphina began setting her dress and hair to rights, looking surprisingly unruffled despite her role in the fight. Odelle followed her lead, as Antony pulled a handkerchief from an inner pocket and wiped off her dagger. He handed it back to her so she could tuck it back into the safety of her prosthetic.

“I’m surprised security hasn’t come running already with the racket we made. I thought Biderman’s screaming could have been heard from Mars,” Odelle commented as she looked around to check if anything else was out of place. She scooped up the mangled tray of Thad’s shield on the ground. She threw it into a nearby trash can with Antony’s ruined handkerchief.

“The Shadow tends to mask its presence from non-Eteria-members when it can, like how no bystanders noticed the Shadow when you fell off the bridge,” Antony commented as he helped Adam redo the bowtie that had come undone in the fray. “If the general public knew about the physical Shadow creatures, they would be a lot easier to fight. Negative feelings and impulses when you don’t know where they’re coming from are a lot trickier.”

Adam, bowtie now in order, chimed in, “And when the Shadow disappeared a few minutes ago, we lost that lovely dampening on our presence, thus the need for a hasty retreat. ”

Nora gathered Adam and Thad’s swords, presumably to put them back in their former hiding spots to be smuggled out later. Seraphina meandered off through the exhibit, heading off through a different exit.

Antony took Odelle’s arm and began leading her out of the room. They stepped back over the velvet rope and strode back towards the exhibits where partygoers congregated.

“We’ve overstayed our welcome considering we weren’t even on the guest list. We should go,” Antony murmured to her as they meandered back into a room where a few people milled on the edge of the festivities.

It was odd to think of a party happening just a few rooms from the battle Odelle had just been witness too. Still, the whole encounter lasted only a few minutes, not even a full drink for these partygoers, even though it might have lasted a whole lifetime to Odelle. Was that how it always felt for Eteria members? Fighting on the outskirts while watching society pass them by for thousands of years? That didn’t fit with Antony’s narrative of resisting the Shadow’s influence by celebrating everything good in the world. Not letting everything be about the fight—that’s what the Light really called for.

“You’re telling me we snuck into a black-tie event and defeated the physical representation of evil, and you’re not even going to share one dance with me?” Odelle countered.

“I wouldn’t think you’d feel up to dancing after that ordeal.” Antony shot her a sidelong glance as they walked arm in arm.

Odelle contemplated his words before responding. “I don’t think I truthfully understood what fighting the Shadow meant until I put that crown on and faced what it did to my own thoughts. How it took things I like about myself—my confidence, my drive—and turned them against me. It used them to make me irritated and want to push away everybody around me, to isolate myself to prove that I don’t need anybody’s help. ”

Odelle stopped walking, pulling on Antony’s arm so she could look him in his eyes, back to their original dreamy hazel. She liked them better this way.

“Then I looked at you, and I finally understood the Light. That even when it is used for battle, it is rooted in compassion…and love . Even though we beat the Shadow today, letting it chase us home would be a victory for it. Sharing a dance with and celebrating the man who saved so many lives today? That’s exactly how we fight the Shadow.”

Antony looked down and interlaced his fingers with hers.

“The man who you love?” Antony’s voice turned up at the end, somehow asking for confirmation despite all they had just been through.

Odelle brought their joined hands up to her lips and brushed a kiss on his knuckles.

“The man who I love more than I ever expected,” she confirmed.

The smile that split Antony’s face was even more radiant than the golden Light he had channeled not ten minutes earlier.

“In that case, I consider it my sacred duty as a defender of the Light to show you my love by dancing you into a stupor,” Antony declared as he pulled Odelle by their joined hands to the room from which the sounds of a band drifted.

Stepping onto the dance floor, Odelle felt more like a goddess than she ever had in her life as Antony pulled her close with an arm around her waist. She drifted across the dance floor with him, feeling as if she were floating. Between the shimmering legs that never chafed, the white chiffon gown skimming her curves like water, and the lithe warm body pressed against hers, she felt Antony’s presence through every inch of her body. She basked in it, thinking of how much care he took in everything he crafted and knowing her heart was in good hands.