“We’ll manage.” She won’t be traveling with another male.
My angels picked up the sack with my wings, and Cayen struggled to fit his body into the sack around my bulky wings. I crouched next to him. “Remember, if Michael wanted you dead, he’d have killed you already. He’s not merciful, but he seems to respect your skills as a battle angel.” I stood and faced my males. “When the fleet catches up to you, drop him into the water. Thank you for your sacrifice. I will honor it.”
The two tied two pieces of rope to their ankles, then to the sack. They nodded at me and took flight, knowing full well that when the fleet found out I wasn’t inside the sack, they’d execute them. Cayen might or might not survive. Immortals couldn’t die, but there were worse things than death. My heart would bleed if Cayen didn’t make it to my Court, and Michael would pay for that too.
The vessel slowed almost to a halt. The girl searched the sky again, but I didn’t bother doing so myself, content to simply watch her. Mortals were expressive, their emotions always running and ruining their lives. I could discern what was happening just from watching her. Besides, she was a beautiful mortal. A pleasure to look at.
The girl’s eyes widened. She saw Michael’s angels. I leapt to her side and covered her with my body, pressing a palm over her mouth. “You weren’t going to give away our position, were you?”
She shook her head.
“Listen, mortal, I’m not returning to the keep, and I have one chance at escaping. This is it. You will behave and do your best to stay alive, namely by following my lead.” I removed my hand from her mouth and checked my watch again. “Took them all of eight minutes to start the search. Michael will be displeased.”
Her gaze traveled the skies above us. “They broke through the clouds. You should let me go. My mom is the chef, and the commander likes her a lot. She’s gonna pull strings for me, and he’s gonna come after you.”
“Likely.”
She swallowed. “They’re right above us, descending. Oh my God, they’ve got spears. Let me go, let me go!”
I sent out a fast power probe, seeking angelic biological signatures. There weren’t any. Amused, I asked, “You took acting in school?”
She twisted and turned under me, and I kept staring down at her. The fleet would first search the skies and not the waters, as they would presume my crew carried me. There was nobody above us.
The mortal stilled and pursed her lips.
“I can sense bodies around me,” I said.
Her eyes lifted at the corners, and she smiled, a tiny blush coloring her cheeks. “Ah. Was the act good, though?”
“Certainly. Most convincing.”
She chewed her bottom lip. “Your plan is to…sail your way across the seas?”
“Not exactly.” Once the fleet figured out I wasn’t in the sack my angels carried, they’d search for me in the waters. The seas were a dangerous place for an angel. For all intents and purposes, we belonged with the birds in the sky, not with the penguins in the sea.
“Swimming to the Court of Sunder would take forever,” she said.
“I have forever.”
“I don’t.”
“You will survive because I will help you.”
“How?”
“I will regulate your bodily functions such as your fluid and air exchange.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Cycle and recycle.” I frowned. “It is simply energy.”
“That’s creepy.”
For the past two days of our voyage, the mortal grew quiet and tired. Repeatedly, I asked her to sleep, but she refused. I pardoned her disobedience. These were extenuating circumstances, and clearly, I couldn’t muster the same reverence in a mortal now as I would if I had my damn wings. She kept to her side of the vessel, and I to mine.
“Nevaeh is heaven spelled backwards,” I said, trying to strike up a conversation with her. She’d barely spoken to me. I couldn’t read minds, and more often than not, I wanted to develop that power, but then I reminded myself that becoming an angel such as Lucifer carried risks. Falling from grace wasn’t on my agenda.
She licked her dry lips. While I regulated her bodily functions, I did so in a minimal fashion. I didn’t want to invade her completely, and I needed to reserve my strength. At this pace, we would reach my Court in about a week, depending on wind and luck.
She simply nodded.
“Where did you grow up?”
“The Court of Command.”
I snorted. Only a few months ago, Michael struck the Earth with the Sword of Creation and changed the mortal realm, along with all they’d ever known. Hence, she believed she’d been born on that island, even though she spoke with the subtle accent of someone from a former African country. “Born a soldier, then. Do you have any brothers and sisters?”
“Many.” She smiled.
“I also have many.” I was unable to have a flowing conversation with this girl. “Some good, others evil.”
“Which are you?”
I chuckled. “That depends on my enemies. I can heal or crush. My power is…flexible.”
I felt them. Two bodies in the sky. Scouts. I sent out a power probe, a gentle brush against the bodies. One male, and the other was Alcona, one of Michael’s finest and also a female battle angel, which was why breaking her would be my last resort. I retracted my power from her and contemplated killing the male, but that would tell her I was near, and she’d try coming after me, in which case, I’d have to break her.
I flipped the vessel over. The girl screamed, the water swallowing the sound. She swam up, but I couldn’t let her surface and reveal our position. I grabbed her wrist, tugged, and pressed her against me. I didn’t want her to waste oxygen on screaming.
While the angels circled above us, in the water, predatory creatures rounded us, waiting for the right time to strike. We stayed still, and I watched the creatures, trying to figure out which one would attack first. The most aggressive and strongest one for sure. As I observed the sea monsters, the mortal started struggling against me. She was out of air.
I removed my hand from her mouth and pressed my lips against hers, exhaling oxygen into her lungs. She widened her eyes and inhaled, nodding once her lungs were full. I would have to channel my power into her for the duration of our swim home. It would be a slow journey back, taking weeks or more. I needed fast transport. Another vessel.
An eel-like creature three times the length of our overturned boat joined the fray and stared at me with seven eyes, three on each side of her head and one in the middle. A female oye, judging by the horn on top of her head, one of the serpent species Michael brought into the world, not one that had existed in the mortal realm before we crash-landed in a hurry to save mortals from annihilation. As she was at the top of the food chain, the oye would strike first.
I breathed into the girl again and hiked her up onto my back. She held on to me as I braced for the attack. The oye opened her mouth, showing three rows of pointy ten-inch teeth. Here comes my vessel.
The girl let go of me and started swimming up.
I grabbed her ankle, yanking her back down.
The oye snapped her jaws. I twisted, but she got me, nicking my arm. Blood seeped out before I could close the wound, because I was too damn busy struggling with the mortal, who was trying to swim to the surface. Blood would attract more hungry predators, and soon we’d have a school of them circling us.