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CHAPTER SIXTY

FRANKIE

I let myself cry. As the green glow of the Seelie tunnel faded against my closed eyelids and the cold air swept across my body . . . I let myself cry. Not for me, but for him. I knew I was the lucky one, the one who didn’t have to suffer through eight centuries without my soulmate. For me, I knew by the sound of cars honking around me and the girls talking about the selfie they’d just taken, that I was back in the future. In my lifetime. Not that I expected anything less than Everest sending me home. While I was relieved to be back and to have successfully completed my quest, my heart hurt for my soulmate. I knew I’d find my Everest any minute now and I was excitedly impatient to see him, for him to know his wait was finally over.

But for a moment, I let myself cry for him. Because there was no way he wasn’t in that beautiful secret tower room watching the moonlight glisten over the snow around Avolire, wishing I had not left.

“It was the worst April Fools’ joke ever,” some girl said as she walked by me. “There are some things that just aren’t funny, ya know? So, I haven’t spoken to him since. Twenty-six hours and counting. He’s losing it.”

April Fools’ Day? I frowned and opened my eyes—and gasped. I was not in Eden. Nor was this Tampa, or New York City, or any city that I recognized. I had no idea where I was. The air was cool, but after being in Avolire it was hard to think anything higher than freezing was cold. Especially as I was still barefoot. Where the hell am I?

I stood at the corner of an intersection as cars flew by me. The sky was a vivid navy-blue with stars twinkling above, the moon a teeny sliver of a crescent. There were people walking up and down the streets in every direction, not a ton of people but a decent enough crowd to suggest it wasn’t late at night. To the left it looked like a busy street full of shops and restaurants, or at least from what I could see. Straight ahead was quieter, but there was definitely a busy intersection just up ahead. To my right was a hotel with a sign that read Salem Waterfront Hotel & Marina.

Wait. WHAT? Salem? Wait, wait, hold on. I walked over a few feet to read the other sign that had an arrow pointing down the road to where I’d find the House of Seven Gables. My breath caught in my throat. This was Salem, Massachusetts. I’d read that book by Nathanial Hawthorne. I’d been begging my aunt and uncle to take a trip here since I was a kid and saw Hocus Pocus for the first time. Hindsight answered the question of why they never did, with my magic being repressed and Salem being such a magical town. Wait. Was my magic repressed as a part of being reincarnated? I need to ask Everest now that I know the truth. He knew me for three hundred years. He definitely knows more about my magic than I do at this point.

I needed to ask Everest a lot of questions, the most pressing being why he sent me to Salem. But my phone was inside my magic bag, which had been transformed into a gold chain that was wrapped around my waist, beneath my dress. I’d have to flash everyone on this corner in order to get to it. I narrowed my eyes on the buildings in search of somewhere I could go when I realized that hotels had lobby bathrooms. With indoor plumbing. I can wash my hands. Cold water. I was running through the parking lot in the blink of an eye. The front lobby was super adorable with a fireplace and two blue couches. I made a mental note to remember this place if I ever came back. There was no one at the check-in desk, but the sign on the wall was gracious enough to point me toward a restroom.

After I’d used the toilet and given myself quite a pirate bath in the sink with cold water, I reached under my dress to the gold chain and transformed it back into the magic bag Tegan had given me. With that in hand, I walked back out to the lobby and sat down on the blue couch to rest my feet and just enjoy the cool air. My skin was clammy and sticky because the temperature outside was probably well over fifty degrees warmer than Avolire. I reached into my bag for my iPhone, relieved and shocked to find it still had battery left, but when I tried to make a call, it failed. Up at the top it read ‘ SOS’ instead of showing me service bars. I attempted to send text messages, yet those failed too. My social media apps wouldn’t even load. Dammit. I’d have to use the hotel phone to call for help. Unfortunately, the only phone numbers I knew by heart were my aunt and uncle’s and Mei-Ling’s. The front desk was still empty, so I ran around and picked up the phone, dialing my bestie’s number.

“ We’re sorry. The call cannot be completed as dialed. ”

“What?” I huffed and dialed again, making sure to hit the right area code.

“ We’re sorry. The call cannot be completed as dialed. ”

“Dammit, ” I whispered and hung up. I dialed Aunt Kimmy.

“ We’re sorry. The call cannot be completed as dialed. ”

I dialed Uncle Kyle.

“ We’re sorry. The call cannot be completed as dialed. ”

“What is happening right now?” I hung up and dove for the computer, but nothing would open. “This is not normal.”

Sharp pain shot through my arm.

I grimaced. Son of a bitch. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My quest isn’t over, is it, Valathame? With a knot in my throat and dread in my stomach, I slipped back out of the reception area, then pulled my sleeve up. The string of curse words that left my lips was Tenn-worthy. Because sure enough, there was a message from Valathame for me. This one was ten lines long.

Dearest daughter of Storm & Sea,

The time is now, return to me.

A tide to wash away his greedy bones,

On your wings, follow your stones.

Thy arrow first will lead you home,

A trusted face for a page in the tome.

Then let him leave on wings of fire,

For your quest is now for the choir.

In Leyka’s old house by the river,

Seek the door that will deliver.

I blinked, then re-read it. Five times. Gibberish. It was gibberish. “ What the fuck did I just read? ”

The only information I got out of that was that I needed to follow my rune stones, they’d bring me to someone I trusted, and I would give the page to them. My head hurt. My thoughts were spinning. I was exhausted. I was done with riddles and being confused. I wanted my memories from my first life. I wanted to remember Everest and my own daughter. It was wrong to know I’d given birth to another living being and not remember any of it. My heart hurt over it. No, my soul. It hurt my soul. Now I understood why I always had this anger, this frustration with life. My soul was mad for what it lost, for what it gave up, and for not being whole yet.

“Fucking hell, Franks. Focus.” I was talking to myself out loud now.

With a shake of my head, I pulled my rune stone bracelet out of my bag and hooked it on. The rest of this message confused me, but at least I knew that one part, so I was just going to go with it, so I hurried back out the front door and down away from windows so people wouldn’t see. Then I wrapped my fingers around the bracelet and exhaled a deep breath. Okay, Lassie, please show me wherever Valathame wants me to go.

The stones warmed against my skin. The runes flashed gold, then pink, then that familiar pink arrow hovered above my wrist, pointing to the right. I took a deep breath, then started walking, immediately stepping on a pebble and cursing everyone in the city for it. Then it occurred to me that Tegan might have given me a spell for clothing, so I dove back into the bag for the notebook and found on the very first page a spell to give myself shoes. I’d never been happier to have on socks and a pair of Vans sneakers. About two blocks down I realized I could have just changed my entire outfit but just shrugged the thought off. I wasn’t cold yet and just wanted this quest done.

I walked alone down the street through a quiet neighborhood just looking around at all the different architecture without running into another person. I hadn’t even seen anyone through the windows of houses. So, when a lone figure stepped out onto the sidewalk up ahead, my nerves started firing. It looked like a man based on the height and width of shoulders, yet I couldn’t have been sure yet since they were in shadow. And across the street. But this was a busy city, and a residential area, so it wasn’t weird. It wasn’t. Even if the hairs on the back of my neck stood tall. I shrugged it off and kept walking. The arrow was guiding me closer to this person who still hadn’t moved from the shadow of the building across the street.

When I was two blocks away, the person stepped into the glow of the streetlight on the corner. It was a man. My stomach tightened into knots. Not all men. Not all men. He’s fine. It’s fine. Besides, I have magic. And weapons . The man looked familiar, though I wasn’t quite close enough to know for sure. There wasn’t anything particularly alarming about him aside from him being attractive. That tended to be dangerous enough. He had strawberry-blond hair, blue eyes that sparkled even from this far away, and freckles on his pale skin.

It’s fine. He’s fine. He probably lives in that building right there and is waiting for an Uber or something. Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out.

The man walked out into the middle of the empty street and rolled his shoulders. Massive wings popped out of his back. Wings made of black feathers. My feet stopped of their own accord. He turned and looked right at me. A menacing grin spread across his face.

OH GOD. FREAK OUT. FREAK OUT. FALLEN ANGEL. FALLEN ANGEL. RUN, FRANKIE, RUN.

I lunged to the left, ditching my pink arrow to try and break his sight of me. I dug my heels in and ran as fast as I could. My legs were already screaming. That was a fallen angel. In Salem. Did he come here for me? Or stumble upon me as I did him? Which one even is he? I knew which were Asmodeus and Azazel. They were easy. Soneillon was a female and Astaroth had the snakes. So that meant this one had to be Mammon.

A tide to wash away his greedy bones. That was what Valathame’s message said. Mammon was the Angel of Greed. The line was about him. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that I ran into him, but I wasn’t so sure what she expected me to do about it by myself. I darted down a narrow path between houses, holding the skirt of my dress up off the ground as I ran as fast as I could through the darkened alley. Without slowing down, I reached into my bag for my phone, but I had no better luck than I did inside the hotel. It made no sense. Something else was at play here, had to be. I cursed and shoved my phone back.

A cold gust of wind swept over my back, pushing my hair into my face. I reached up to push it back and something slammed into my back. A scream ripped up my throat as I crashed to the sidewalk. Hands gripped my arms, then I was lifted off the ground. I screamed and thrashed in his grip.

“You’re a pretty little angel, aren’t you?” he grumbled in my ear, his breath smelling like coffee and cigarettes. “Perhaps that is why Sweyn wants you?—”

I threw my head back as hard as I could right into his nose. He bellowed. His grip loosened enough for me to swing my elbow into his gut. His breath was a burst in my hair, but he still had a hold of me so I threw my magic at him as hard as I could—and then I was falling. Sharp pain shot up my heels as I crashed to my knees. But I couldn’t stop. That was not going to keep a fallen angel away from me. I didn’t look back or up as I took off running again. His aura was a pulsing, sticky heat in the air behind me. I still felt the heat from his hands on my skin.

Everest, where are you?

A deep chuckle echoed down the narrow alley. “That all you’ve got, little angel?”

I slowed to round the corner, pausing only long enough to throw a wall of my neon-blue flame magic into his face. He hissed and ducked his head. I made a sharp turn back onto the sidewalk of the main road, heading back in the opposite direction. That pink arrow was now pointing straight ahead. A chill slid down my spine, then his fingertips grazed the back of my neck. I threw my hands up, shooting neon-pink flames into his face.

Go, go, go, go, go. My heart pounded against my chest. My throat burned from how hard I was breathing through my mouth. A blue lightning bolt shot right by my face, barely missing me before it shattered a glass window beside me. I ducked but kept running. The pink arrow demanded a hard left turn at the next street, so I rounded the corner while firing magic into Mammon’s chest. He flew back and slammed into the side of a building. His blue lightning shot over my head one after another. I tried to duck and dodge them while he screamed obscenities behind me.

I followed the arrow around another corner—blinding, searing hot pain speared through my ribcage. My scream burned a path down my throat as I rolled through the air. I couldn’t see him but I felt his aura, so I threw my magic in his direction as hard as I could. I hit the rough asphalt of the street and bounced. My skin burned everywhere I hit. I threw my magic out in every direction.

“Pretty angel, pretty magic.” His hands gripped my arms and dug into my skin. He lifted my face up to his. “Is that all you’ve got?”

I gripped the lapels of his blazer and dragged him closer to me, flush against his body. María’s fangs were long gone but the rage flowing through my veins needed an outlet, so I leaned forward and sank my teeth into the skin on his throat at the same time I slid my hands down to squeeze him through his pants. He bellowed—and then we were rolling through the air again. I screamed with him because it felt good to roar as I pushed my magic out of my body. We flipped head-over-heels, then rolled and dropped like a rollercoaster.

His black wings flapped, and we stopped flipping. “You put up a good fight?—”

“ What do you want? ” I screamed back right into his face.

“You, little angel,” he snarled.

“FINE.”

I dragged his mouth to mine and kissed him. He jerked, his whole body going soft beneath my touch. I slid my hands up and over his shoulders, then down to where his wings were attached to his back. I gripped one of his wings in both hands and yanked as hard as I could. He growled in my ear, but we went flying to my left. He reached for me, but I ducked under his arm and swung my legs, using all of my body weight to pull one of his wings. He screamed and his back arched.

“You greedy son of a bitch.” I pushed my magic into my hands—and ripped his wing right off his back. Blood splashed onto my face and arms.

And then we plummeted toward the ground in a free fall.

He fired his blue lightning bolts into my chest. White-hot pain shot down my spine. I gasped. My whole body spasmed and locked up. I couldn’t catch a breath. My vision was blurring worse by the second. Blue bolts of electricity crawled up and down my body. I sucked in a ragged breath just as Mammon pulled a dagger and dove for me. I screamed and pushed my magic out with everything I had in me, every ounce of strength and rage I could muster I threw straight into him. Neon-pink and blue magic slammed into his chest, sending him soaring into the night sky and out of sight.

Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. What was that? Fuck I don’t know. Oh God.

I crashed into the sidewalk, bounced off, and slammed into the side of a wooden house. Everything hurt. Everything was screaming in pain. But I couldn’t just lay there so Mammon could return and finish the job. This had me pushing to my feet. I glanced around. He was nowhere to be seen. I lifted my wrist and watched for the arrow. I was running again in seconds, pushing through the pain burning through my muscles and into my bones. My breath was ragged. My whole body protested, but I pushed through it.

I ripped an angel’s wing off. My stomach rolled. On your wings, follow your stones, maybe that’s what that line meant? Or was it the let him leave on wings of fire part? No, wait, that was about the trusted face. Mammon is definitely not a trusted face. For your quest is now for the choir—what does that part mean? The choir? It makes no sense.

Blue lightning streaked across the sky. In the distance, I heard the bellowing roar of Mammon. My stomach tightened into knots. He was coming. He was going to find me and kill me for that. I needed a better plan, but the only one I thought of was to get to Leyka’s house. I wasn’t sure why. It was just a gut feeling. My answer would be there. Somehow.

It took me another few minutes to hobble through the streets of Salem, feeling like I was living a scene out of Jurassic Park. My pulse was flying so fast my hands trembled. A cold gust of wind washed over me, carrying the scent of salt water. In Leyka’s old house by the river, this is it. I’m getting closer. I have to be. I rounded a corner, then hobbled through a narrow alley between houses to come out on a riverbank. Massive sprawling oak trees surrounded a wooden house that looked downright ancient. There was absolutely nothing modern about the outside. It was like a piece of abandoned history no one in the town had ever touched.

And my arrow pointed right at it.

The front door had a pentacle carved into the wood. When I turned the handle, I was surprised it flew open so easily, but I didn’t have time to think on it. I carefully shut the door behind me, then turned to peek out the dusty, dingy windows filled with cobwebs. So far, Mammon hadn’t reappeared, but I knew better than to believe he’d given up. Inside, the house was nearly pitch-black, with the only light coming from the city-lights outside the windows.

“ Meemaw? ”

I gasped and spun around so fast my feet slipped on the dust-covered floor. I threw my hand out to catch myself on a wooden table, but the dust had to be inches thick. I cringed and wiped my hand on my dress as I looked up to meet the wide gaze of a man I’d never seen before. He was tall, with deeply tanned skin, short black hair, and big black eyes. There was something familiar about this face, but it was so dark in here I needed to get a better look.

And then his word registered. He’d said Meemaw.

I swayed on my feet. My eyes tearing up. “ Raeven? ”

He grinned and his eyes flashed through every color in the rainbow in rapid succession. His shoulders sagged. “Meemaw. Finally.”

I leapt for him at the same time he dove for me. He swept me up in his arms and lifted me off my feet, giggling in my ear. “I can’t believe the wait is finally over. You’re here. We’re in the same timeline.”

I squeezed him tight. “Your waiting is over.”

He pulled back, then glanced over my shoulder out the windows. “Where’s Grandfather?”

“I don’t know. I just got back. He put me in the tunnel in 1712 and I came out here—Wait, what’s today?”

“April 2 nd , 2019. Only a few days after you left, or that’s what they told me.” He must’ve just realized what shape I was in because his face fell. He looked me up and down. “What happened to you?”

“Mammon.”

His dark eyes widened. “He’s here? In Salem?—”

“He’s pissed. He’s coming for me and he’s going to find me. You need to get out of—Why are you here?”

“I live in Salem now. Have for a decade. Father called a few minutes ago and told me to get to Leyka’s old house and wait here?—”

“ Thy arrow first will lead you home, a trusted face for a page in the tome.” I pulled my sleeve up to show him Valathame’s message. “It’s you. Home means you because my family is my home. I’m supposed to give this to you?—”

The front door flew open, sending a wave of dust rolling towards us. We both coughed as Silas and Yaluk rushed inside, though I only knew he was Yaluk based on the orange color of his eyes. Silas had a gnarly wound going down his forehead, through his eyebrow, and straight down his eye and halfway down his cheek. Somehow the eye itself wasn’t sliced, but it was a little foggy-looking.

“Then let him leave on wings of fire,” I whispered. “Hi, Silas. Yaluk, right?”

He nodded.

Silas gave a short nod. “Elan—I mean, Akecheta—sent us.”

“Do you know where Tegan and The Coven are right now?” When Silas nodded, I turned back to my grandson. “You have to deliver the page I stole back to them?—”

“What? Why me? Why not you?—”

“I don’t know. Valathame’s message was clear though.” I pulled my magic bag off my waist and sat it in Rae’s hands. Then I pulled my rune stone bracelet off and slipped it inside the bag. “Trust me, okay? I need you to guard this bag with your life. It has the missing page from the tome inside. Take the whole bag and get it to The Coven. Your mother and grandfather should be there with them. They’ll know what to do. Just get this bag to anyone in The Coven. Okay?”

He wrapped his fingers around the rope cord, then slipped it around his neck and shoulder so he wore it cross-body. “I won’t let you down.”

Blue light flashed from outside.

I cursed and spun around to look out the front window. My heart sank. There he was, walking down the street with only one black wing and his magic coiling around his hands.

I pointed. “Mammon.”

All three guys grumbled and cursed.

“Silas, Yaluk, go out the back door and shift. Be ready. Then get Rae and this bag to The Coven. Got it?” I held their stare. Yaluk gave me a salute, then ran for the back of the house. “Silas?”

Silas narrowed his eyes on Rae, then looked to me. “You two know each other?”

I opened my mouth, then shut it. “Story for when I get back?”

Silas shrugged. “Fair. Rae, we’ll be waiting out back.”

“Thank you, Silas. Be careful.” When Silas rushed after Yaluk, I turned back to Rae and pressed my palm to his cheek. “We will catch up when I get back to Eden. For now, protect that bag. Tell Everest, well, tell him I don’t know what is about to happen?—”

“ We do. ” He pulled me in for a hug and held on tight, then whispered in my ear. “This is the last step of your quest, Meemaw. Just find the door and take him with you.”

I frowned. “Wait, what?—”

“ The tide has finally come in. Do not fear your wings, ” he whispered. “Find the door, take him with you, and we’ll see you on the other side.”

“Rae—”

“He’s coming.” Rae pointed over my shoulder, his face looking pale and his eyes glassy. “Time to go.”

I followed his stare and cursed. “Go. Go, go, go. Stay in Eden until I get back.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Blue lightning shot across the front lawn, striking the street all around his feet.

“Go out the back door. Fly low. I’ll distract him.” I squeezed Rae’s hand. “Please be careful.”

“Trust me.”

I hurried over to the window and cracked it open. I waited to feel Rae’s aura leave, then I fired my magic out the window. Neon-pink flames slammed into Mammon’s face, throwing him back a few feet but probably only from surprise. I hurried down the row of windows, then when he glanced in my direction, I fired more magic right through the glass. I didn’t watch to see if it hit him. I had a door to find.

Seek the door that will deliver. Deliver what, I had no idea. Rae’s comment replayed in my mind. The tide has finally come in. Do not fear your wings, he’d whispered. That was exactly what Lavinia Bishop had said to me. Find the door, take him with you, and we’ll see you on the other side. What does THAT mean? I took a deep breath and crept through the dark house as I tried to make sense of all of this. There were thoughts and words bouncing around my head that I needed to sort through.

Starting with this house. I’d been in old houses but there was something off about this one. It was . . . older . Deeper. It smelled like the earth. Something else familiar nagged at my brain, but I couldn’t place it. Something in the aura of this house was screaming out to me, but I couldn’t hear the words it sang.

A cold breeze swept over my hands. I frowned and turned. There was only a wall behind me. I ran my fingers along the wall until I found a small section that was ice-cold while the others were cool. I tapped over the wood. The icy-cold parts were hollow. There’s a door here. I crouched down and pushed my magic into the wall. The blue and pink flames swirled around — and then there was a click and a pop. A door appeared and it was now cracked open.

Find the door. Take him with you.

That had been rather specific of Rae to say. Find the door and take him with you. That wasn’t a coincidence. I had no idea what was on the other side of this door, but all signs were pointing to me going through it and taking him with me. I cursed under my breath and glanced around just as the front door of the house flew open and slammed into the wall.

“You can’t hide from me, little angel,” Mammon growled. The whole house rumbled.

I crouched down and backed into the wall across from the door. My plan was crazy, but with a fallen angel the element of surprise was going to be my best bet. I sank low and stayed crouched on the balls of my feet so I was ready.

My heart was pounding. Butterflies danced in my stomach. Mammon stomped through the house, taunting me with every step, but I wasn’t listening to what he said. My brain was busy trying to put my own pieces together. Not to mention this crazy plan. The house was dark enough that I was completely cast in shadow, so unless he looked down here for me, I would be hidden. Hmm. Maybe that’s not good enough. I need his attention on something else not here. The wooden floors creaked to my left. I peeked around just as he stepped into whatever room this was. I bit my bottom lip and summoned my magic to my hand, then I flicked my wrist, throwing my magic so it swerved in a curve and then whipped around and hit the window at the far end of the house about twenty feet away.

Mammon chuckled deep in his throat.

I rolled into position, bracing my fingers on the floor. Mammon charged ahead, all but jogging toward where I’d smashed that window. I took a deep breath, counted to three, then lunged out of the darkness. I tackled him from the side, throwing him into the door. It snapped off its hinges the moment we hit it. He growled and wrapped his hands around my arms. There was a moment where we seemed to hover, then we both fell into darkness.

Mammon choked on a gasp. “ No, ” he whispered but his voice cut off.

It was pitch-black. It was impossible to see my own hand let alone him. The air rushing over me changed from bitter cold to warm. I smelled salt water. Bright white light flashed—and the world stopped moving. My breaths evened. The tension and knots in my muscles loosened. I blinked a few times before I realized I no longer felt Mammon’s arms beneath my hands.

Bright golden light suddenly surrounded me. I sat up straight and looked around. I was on a beach. The sky was a perfect cloudless blue. The sand that stretched in every direction was my favorite shade of pale white-yellow that felt like powder between my fingers. The ocean was a glorious aquamarine with gentle waves rolling onto the shore. I looked down and found a pile of bones between my feet.

And one ripped-off black angel wing. The blood on the wing changed from red to a shimmery pretty gold. Little golden flames flickered off the feathers one-by-one until the entire wing burned to sparkling dust that swirled in the air.

“We have been waiting for you,” a deep male voice rumbled in front of me.

I looked up and found a familiar face standing right in front of me, yet one I hadn’t seen in a long, long time. His eyes were white and surrounded by gold irises, just like Tegan’s when she went White Witch. He had some kind of metallic material wrapped around his hips. His entire body from his bald head down to his bare feet was covered in a vine-line glyph with a golden heart-shaped crystal over his chest. His wings were as white as snow and looked soft to the touch. I looked up and met his stare.

His lips curved into a crooked smile. He crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back on his heels. “The Angel of Tides has finally returned to the Garden of Eden . . . and she brought me a present.”

And just like that, my memory was back. I remembered everything.

I was Celina.

I was the Angel of Tides.

And I had a score to settle on Earth, now more than ever.

I grinned up to my old friend and felt the relief finally fill the crevices of my soul that had been aching these last eighteen years. “Gabriel, I know better than to return home without gifts.”