Chapter 15

Atlas

Say nothing, Rome warns me now as we listen to Ivy calling to us, her fear and dread apparent in her voice, the feeling pulsing up the connection to me. It won't help if she gives us away.

My heart breaks. All I want to do is reassure her as I crouch on the edge of a building outside of a dilapidated warehouse outside the city where I know she's been taken. Samson and I followed the van here, and Rome, Luka, and Tate are somewhere on the property scouting the situation on the ground. It's dark outside now, yellow light gazing out into the night from windows offering something to see by. There are several sereph—at least seven that I've seen—but there are also men and demons.

"I'd never thought I'd see the day when sentinels would be in cahoots with demons," Samson says from his perch on the roof where we're waiting.

I glance at him, his dark wings collapsed to accommodate the space and wrapped around his shoulders. Mine have receded as well, the white too stark in the dark, a beacon. "I can't fathom why."

"Greed, envy, lust. I can probably continue the list if you want," he says quietly, his humor gone.

"I don't know how much longer I've got," I admit, my body shaking with the adrenalin of needing to get to her. I don't know what she's facing, but my imagination is creating worst-case scenarios. My instincts are pushing me to rush the building.

"Use your head," Samson says quietly. "I know it's difficult right now." There's no teasing in his tone, nothing to belittle what I'm feeling. Just understanding, and I guess it's probably because of all my brothers, he can relate. He's experienced the bond and what follows, but also the pain of loss.

I sigh, and focus, recalling how Ivy was taken to see if there is anything I've missed. It had happened so fast, as if the abductors had known we were there. Only I don't think that is the case, because they weren't wary about being followed. This seems like a very coordinated machine for abducting women—calix, I would guess—for some nefarious purposes. But arrogant. They weren't worried.

The moment I heard Tate's panic, I've lost her! I've lost her, the wings ripped from inside me. I burst into the sky as they unfurled, snapping open and catching me, holding me steady as I tested them for the first time. With a quick chant, "Obscurus," I camouflaged myself in the sky, then shot forward, using the gift of my wings to scan the park, panic fueling me with adrenalin. I wasn't adept at using them, but I didn't have time to worry about it either. I had a purpose. Get to Ivy.

What do you see, Tate?I asked, able to see the park, that tunnel from both sides from this bird's eye view.

There's too many… wait! Two men. They've got her!

I caught sight of my little brother bursting out from the tunnel and running through the park, and with my eyes, I tracked his route ahead of him, where I saw them—two men holding Ivy like a rag doll between them. Rage slammed into me—rage unlike anything I'd ever experienced—and I darted after them to intercept them.

Don't! Atlas don't! Samson yelled at me. Don't intervene. Not yet. You do, you lose her sister.

As muddled as my thinking was, I knew he was right. We were there for her sister.

I caught sight of Luka, Rome, and Samson behind Tate, converging toward the path.

Where are they?Rome yelled.

About fifty yards ahead of you, moving toward the main road. I watched as they muscled Ivy into the back of a waiting van. Three of them.

Samson into the sky. Both of you—Rome said—stay with them. We'll follow from below.

Which was how I'd come to be outside this building with Samson, waiting for Rome, Luka, and Tate to share their assessment.

"Maybe I should go in. Use the obscuria for reconnaissance," Samson suggests.

"Already thought of it," I answer. "They're sentinel. They'd know what to look for."

"But only if they're looking," Samson says.

No.Rome answers. Too many. He disseminates what he, Luka and Tate have learned. There's a nezzah demon.

Samson and I exchange glances.

"Fuck," I whisper and look back at the warehouse, offering Ivy feeling instead of words. Offering her my presence, unsure if she'll feel it wherever they have her, but needing her to know I won't abandon her.

So what's the play?Samson asks.