Page 59 of Far From Center
Chapter 25
Gabe hadn’t calledor returned her text message. There was always a chance that he’d forgotten her instructions on how to use the phone, but she doubted that. Something was wrong. Something beyond the demon following her and the fact that half a dozen jewelry boxes with fake Tears had been stolen from her bag.
“There’s a problem,” she told Terrelle and Snip as she smiled and looked at the menu. “Marco-the-pickpocket must not have been as stealthy as he thought because I’m being followed and they know we have the Tear.”
Snip made a squeak noise. “Are we going to be able to evade them until we can get out of here?”
“They already grabbed the jewelry boxes from my bag. Once they find out they have fakes they’ll be back. And I’m not sure getting on a plane is going to make much of a difference. Is the Tear worth enough to kill off a planeload of humans trying to get it back? Is it worth killing us?”
“Demons won’t care about humans dying to get what they want,” Snip said. “Angels either.”
“But it can’t be the Gormand,” Terrelle argued. “He and skinny demon and the Ancient all boarded the gambling cruise this afternoon and haven’t been back on the island since. Marco’s good. He had them followed and none of them was acting suspicious. They were too busy eating tomatoes and plotting how to rob all the ship’s passengers once they were just off the coast, then swim to South America.
“Is it the Gormand’s other buyer?” Snip asked. “Maybe he discovered the one he bought was a fake and is coming after us.”
Terrelle shook her head. “If so, he’d go after the Gormand, not us. No, this is someone else, and there’s only one other person in play here.”
Nyalla stared down at her silent phone, her heart sinking. Gabe hadn’t responded. And his original reason for being on the island was to catch a rebel angel, a traitor. But something didn’t make sense.
“If the angel is aware that we stole the Tear from the Gormand, why is he bothering to follow us? He wants us to take the real artifact back to Sam. He’d probably be thrilled that we figured out the greed demon slipped us a fake and managed to get the original. He should be hustling us onto the next plane out of here and back to the States.”
Snip shifted in his seat, paying far too much attention to his menu. “Umm, I think not. When they were cutting off my fingers and toes, I had to tell them something. I made up a story about how the Iblis was fully aware that the artifact in question was the Tear and knew how to modify it as well as use it. I said that she had a plot to wipe out all the rebel angels with it, and in return the archangels had agreed to allow the demons reinstatement into Aaru. The angel was furious. I think that’s the only reason they let me live was to send a message back to the Iblis.”
Nyalla caught her breath. “Snip, why didn’t you tell us?”
“I forgot,” Snip complained. “It was just a story I made up to keep them from killing me, and once they dumped me on the beach, all I could think about was how much pain I was in and that I was going to die. Even after G-man healed me.” The Low lifted his fingerless palm. “I’m missing fingers and toes, and still don’t feel right inside. And we were busy plotting how to steal the Tear from the Gormand. I didn’t think it was important any longer.”
It was. It was very important. Nyalla bit her lip. “The angel doesn’t want us to have the Tear now. If he saw us double back from the airport, if he was watching the Gormand to see what happened to the real Tear, then he knows we have it.”
And she was concerned that they had Gabe. Had they recognized him? Followed him from the airport? He wouldn’t be able to defend himself if they attacked him. He wouldn’t survive a fight with an angel.
The thought made her want to throw up. She needed a plan, and she needed one now. And the plan had to not end with either her or Gabriel dying. She’d given up the collar. The wand was broken. She had nothing beyond her gift, which wasn’t exactly useful in an offensive or defensive situation, a few minor magical items and these two demons in front of her.
“They’ll probably contact me once they figure out the boxes they stole have fakes. And no doubt they’ll offer to ransom Gabe for the Tear.”
Terrelle’s eyes grew wide. “If you give them the Tear, we’ll be right back where we started. And Gabe would not want you to give it up. Who knows what those jerks will do with it..”
She couldn’t give the tear to them because right now it was working its way through a swan’s digestive system. “I’ll figure something out. All I need you all to do is sit tight, and if I don’t show up for the plane tomorrow, call Sam and tell her I need her and the angel right away.”
As much as Gabe didn’t want anyone to know his situation, and as much as Nyalla wanted to prove that she could handle these things on her own, she knew when to call for help. Not yet, but soon. If she couldn’t manage to get Gabe and the rest of them safely out of here without giving up the Tear, then it would be time to call in the big guns.
Snip and Terrelle nodded. Then they all sat and ate dinner and chatted as if nothing were wrong. Nyalla couldn’t remember what they talked about. The food tasted like sawdust. All she could do was keep checking her phone for any text or call from Gabe.
After dinner, Snip and Terrelle headed to their room. Nyalla wandered down the beach-side path, pausing to sit in one of the cabanas and wait for the demon, or angel, who had been following her all day to approach.
She felt someone with demon, or angel, energy close, felt him glide across the sand. When she turned she saw a fair-skinned angel with white hair and a face so emotionless it could have been carved from stone.
“You know why I’m here,” he said, looming over her.
“Yes. But I don’t have it.”
“Then you best get it and give it to me or your angel friend dies. And die he will, because he is no longer immortal.”
She tried to mirror his bland expression as she looked up at him. “Then the other three archangels will dedicate their lives to finding and executing their brother’s killer. Plus, you’d be killing the only archangel who has ever been remotely sympathetic to your cause.”
He shrugged. “One less archangel to deal with sounds like a win to me. If you don’t care about his safety, perhaps you care about your own. You saw what we did to your little Low friend. We could do the same to you. It would be a shame to mutilate such a pretty face and body.”
Nyalla took a steadying breath. “Then you’d have the Iblis on your tail. And she’s an unpredictable imp with a powerful sentient sword and fate on her side. I think you’d be better served pissing off three archangels than her.”
