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  Josephine’s face paled. She took several sips of her tea before she was able to speak again. “I left with her and helped her through her pregnancy. Your mother refused to go to the hospital so she gave birth at home with just a well-paid midwife on hand. It was such a difficult birth. Over twenty-four hours of labor. And when you were finally born…she had lost a lot of blood. She was so weak. She…” Auntie’s voice faded to nothing.

  Tobias’ face contorted; he stood quickly and walked over to the window, holding his hands on the sill and leaning against it with his back to the room. Israel could feel the pain emanating from him, filling this room with its bitterness.

  “Before she died she told me the last secret she had been keeping. The angel had told her it would be a difficult birth and if she went through it, she would surely die. He had given her a choice: to live and he would terminate her pregnancy, or to accept it. She chose to keep you, Israel.” Josephine’s eyes filled with tears. “She chose to die so that you may live.”

  “Maresa never told me she was pregnant,” Tobias said, his voice quiet. “She never told me about Israel.”

  “No. She was afraid you would try and convince her to not have the child. Don’t tell me that you would have done otherwise, Tobias.”

  “I…” Tobias stared at Auntie and then at Israel, the great pain and guilt evident across his face.

  Auntie wiped a tear from her eye and took a deep breath. “Before she died she made me promise to look after you. She made me promise to hide you from everyone, even from your father. You weren’t safe from anyone. She knew there were those who would either try to kill you or use you to their own gains.”

  Tobias spun violently around from the window. “So when I found you several months later, you lied to me. You never told me I had a son. You kept my son from me.”

  “I did what she asked me to do. If you knew she had your son, you would have taken him back with you and news of him would have traveled through your community like wildfire.”

  “I would have protected him.”

  “You could not protect him from everything. He would not have lasted to his first birthday before someone succeeded in killing him or kidnapping him. This way he at least had some semblance of a normal life before being exposed to you and your world.”

  “It’s my world too,” Israel said, his voice cold. “I had a right to know.”

  She turned to him. “I’m so sorry, Israel, for not telling you sooner. I was trying to protect you.”

  “By keeping my real father from me? By marrying that asshole who you let institutionalize me? Even when you knew that what I was seeing was real? You made me think I was crazy. But you knew. And you kept it from me.”

  “What could I have done instead? I was trying to make your life as normal as possible.”

  “I was never going to be normal. Never.” Without another word and before anyone could stop him, Israel strode out of the house without looking back.

  Israel ran along the rooftops of Marrakesh for a long time, until his legs trembled from exertion and his breath grew labored. Until the wind ruffling through his hair carried away with it his tumbling thoughts and cooled the heat of his anger. Until the strains of the mosque echoed the call to the prayer at dusk across the city.

  “Allahu Akbar… Allahu Akbar…”

  God is the Greatest.

  He found himself back at the same spot where he and Tobias had sat, painted in the early Moroccan sunrise before they confronted Josephine, almost a full daylight ago. A lone figure sat in that very spot.

  Israel leaped across the gap in the rooftops, a dusty man-made canyon, startling several pigeons into flight. He landed in front of Tobias in a half-crouch. Israel wiped the sweat off his face with both hands, flicking the precious liquid to the thirsty rooftop. “How did you know I’d end up back here?”

  “Everything circles back, Israel. Everything always circles back.” Tobias glanced down towards the direction of the street. Israel knew he was looking at Josephine’s door. He knew what Tobias was thinking; Tobias didn’t have to say a thing.

  “She doesn’t deserve an apology.”

  A wash of pain crinkled Tobias’ eyes, making him look older than he usually did. Israel realized that he would keep growing old while his father barely aged. One day he would look like his father’s father instead of his father’s son. And one day he would leave his father behind in this world. Like he would leave Alyx.

  “Israel, I haven’t had a chance to be a father to you…I’m not even sure how to start. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, and learned too late − don’t wait to mend things.” Tobias locked eyes with him. “You might not get another chance.”

  A swirl of doubt was able to penetrate his feelings around this great injustice done to him. But his anger was such and Israel fed it so that the doubt had no chance. It was swallowed up like a flower fallen into a fire. “Let’s go.”

  “Israel, I−”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just go.”

  Tobias paused, then he let out a long exhale and nodded. He reached out his hand so that Israel could grasp it. Israel felt the tingle of magic flow over them as Tobias miraged them both over and pulled him up into the sky.

  Israel closed his eyes for most of the flight back. But as much as he tried, he couldn’t get the image of a peeling red door out of his mind.

  Chapter Two

  The RaceKeeper took another toke of his shisha pipe. The apple-flavored smoke drew into his mouth and down into his lungs, filling him with a temporary rush of calm. He let it out and the smoke rushed around his tent, decorated as always with rich hanging fabrics, colored cushions, flat floor cushions and low wood tables. Wrought iron lanterns with colored glass, all different shapes and sizes, lit by small white pillar candles hung in random patterns adding to the colorful chaos of his home.

  Tonight’s race was marked across the Black Forest in Germany. His tent was currently erected between massive sturdy fir trees near the River Elz. Speaking of river, where was his goddamn water? That boy should be back by now.

  The tent flap moved aside. Finally. The RaceKeeper yanked the pipe away from his lips. “There you are. Where the hell−” his sentence ended in a choking noise as a dark figure leapt over him, grabbed him and held a cold blade to his throat.

  “Y-You,” the RaceKeeper managed to choke out. “G-Guards!”

  “Sorry, RaceKeeper,” Alyx hissed in his ear. “They’re indisposed at the moment. In fact, there’s nobody friendly to you within screaming distance. It’s just you and me and my friend Vix. Vix, meet the RaceKeeper.”

  “Y-You.” The RaceKeeper’s eyes widened at the sight of Vixen Demetri, standing by the tent entrance and swirling a dagger in her hand. He would never forget her pale face, sharp chin and pixie-like features, and her pale blonde hair, almost silver in the right light, her hair flaring in choppy short pieces around her head like a silver flame. Even God couldn’t help him now.

  “There’s no need for introductions,” Vix said, “the RaceKeeper and I go way back, don’t we, sweetheart?”

  The RaceKeeper heard a choking sound and realized it was coming from his own throat.

  Vix winked and blew him a kiss, her eyes full of menacing promise. “That’s right. I’m back,” she sang.

  “Oh God, p-please don’t kill me.”

  “We’re not going to kill you…if you cooperate.”

  “What do you want?”

  “The key to Sparrow’s shackle.”

  The RaceKeeper cursed internally. She wanted the boy. Anything but him. “I don’t even know why you want him. He’s a terrible servant and is no use to−” The RaceKeeper howled as the blade cut into his throat.

  Alyx made a noise that sounded like disgust. “Stop your whining. It’s not even a scratch. But it’ll be more if you don’t tell me where the key to Sparrow’s shackle is.”

  The RaceKeeper whimpered but remained tight-lipped. Did Alyx know who the boy’s
father was? Did she know how valuable he might be?

  “Now, RaceKeeper,” Alyx pressed the blade into the shallow cut.

  He felt like he was about to pass out. “Alright,” he managed to choke out, “alright, I’ll tell you.”

  * * *

  “That was so cool how you just came in there and The RaceKeeper was so scared he was squealing like a little girl.”

  “I didn’t realize you were listening in.”

  “Then you were all, ‘Dude, your guards are knocked out.’”

  “I’m pretty sure I didn’t call him dude.”

  “And then you were like, ‘Give me the key or I’ll kick your ass.’”

  “Sparrow, don’t say ass.”

  “And you,” Sparrow turned his small eyes from Alyx towards Vix. It wasn’t hard to see that they shone with admiration. “He was crapping his pants because of you.”

  On Sparrow’s shoulder Piki the swallow sat chirping in happy agreement.

  “Sparrow, don’t say crap.”

  Sparrow ignored Alyx and instead spoke to Vix. “What did you ever do to him to make him so afraid?”

  Vix gave him a sly smile and bent down so that her face was close to his. “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” She winked. Then straightened and continued floating along.

  Awe mixed with definite fear shone from Sparrow’s face as he followed Vix with his gaze. Alyx grinned to herself. Sparrow might just have his first crush. Oh dear, he might be disappointed then when he met Xiang, Vix’s partner.

  They broke through the Scottish forest into a grassy clearing, the Castle Speranza looming like a gray mountain before them.

  “Whoa,” said Sparrow. “What the hell is that?”

  “That’s our community where you’ll be living too,” said Vix. “Welcome home, little man.”

  “And…don’t say hell,” Alyx added.

  As she moved towards the castle she realized Sparrow wasn’t beside her anymore. She spun. Sparrow was frozen to the spot, a competition between his eyes and his mouth as to which could open the widest.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Are you serious? You live in a castle?”

  Alyx burst out laughing. “Of course. How else would we fit everyone in?”

  “Everyone?” Sparrow blinked rapidly. “You mean there’s more of you badasses?”

  Vix snorted. “I wouldn’t call them all badasses, but yeah, there’s more of us.”

  Sparrow’s response was almost a whisper. “No. Frickin’. Way.”

  Alyx heard a sharp piercing whistle. She whirled around, scanning the area for the source of the noise. She spotted Balthazar leaning against one of the trees at the edge of the forest, staring at her. He was wearing a different mortal body than the last time she saw him, but his true skin shimmered blue underneath. He gave her a dainty little wave with his finger.

  The nerve.

  She would break those damn fingers.

  “Vix,” Alyx said through clenched teeth, “can you take Sparrow inside? I need to deal with something…unpleasant.”

  “That’s a demon,” she heard Sparrow say behind her as she stalked towards Balthazar. “Are you friends with demons? Such badasses.”

  Balthazar was Lucifer’s right-hand demon. Oh yes, that Lucifer. Now here he was hanging around their FreeThinker community like a bad smell. As Alyx stormed over to him, her head whipped around to see if anyone else had noticed him. As far as she could tell, the few Seraphim milling around the grounds hadn’t.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Alyx demanded as she came to a halt meters from him. Alyx eyed his body but it didn’t seem like Balthazar came armed, or at least if he did, she couldn’t see their bulk under his clothes. His mortal “host” had light skin dusted with freckles and pale blue eyes looking out at her from under a mop of reddish-brown hair. And Lord help her, wearing a skirt? “And what are you wearing?”

  “So lovely to see you too, Alyx. You’re looking well after your fresh victory.”

  “No thanks to you.”

  “I would have helped if you had told me your plan.”

  “You’ll pardon me if I don’t exactly trust you, Balthazar.”

  “We’ve gone back to the angels are good, demons are bad thinking, have we?”

  “No, I just don’t trust you.”

  “This is about your boyfriend. I was just doing what I had to. I didn’t force you to take the deal. And it’s not a skirt, it’s a kilt.”

  “A what?”

  “A kilt. These local humans wear these things. Well, at least the men do.”

  “What?”

  “Hey, you’re the one who chose to live in Scotland. This mortal was wearing it when I…acquired him. At first I thought it a bit odd but once you get used to it, it’s fabulously freeing and did you know that underneath they don’t wear any−”

  “I don’t need to know,” she cut him off.

  “Suit yourself.”

  Alyx growled low in her throat. She would break everything under that kilt if he wasn’t careful. “What are you doing here, Balthazar?”

  “You stopped answering your communicator. I had no choice but to seek you out.”

  The communicator he was referring to was the demon-bug necklace Balthazar had given to her as a way to communicate with him. Alyx had unceremoniously stuffed it into the back of her closet when it wouldn’t stop fluttering in an attempt to get her attention. I knew I should have buried that thing.

  “Maybe that’s because I don’t want to communicate with you.”

  “You are still angry about Israel. The potion I gave you did save his life, remember?”

  “Only after you blackmailed me into cleaning up your mess.”

  “Samyara was hardly our mess.”

  “He was one of you.”

  “Oh really? Then perhaps, as Michael is one of you, then he is your mess. Or have you forgotten about our homicidal friend? He won’t stop. He won’t stop until he gets his hands on the keye and unleashes Hell. Pardon the pun.”

  “The keye has a name.”

  “Oh that’s right. You’re quite fond of Israel. Have you two stopped dancing around your feelings and gotten together yet?”

  “You think I’ve forgotten about Michael?” Alyx heard her voice rising. “You don’t think I know how much danger Israel is in while Michael is still alive? I live with that fact every second of every single minute of every single day, Balthazar. It’s a guillotine hanging over my head cursing my waking hours. I don’t breathe without worrying about what Michael has planned.” She took a breath, inhaling deeply, trying to let the cool air in her lungs settle her fluttering heart.

  “Well, I have bad news for you. Michael has convinced the Elder Gabriel to hand over the second piece of the Trinity Amulet. Now he has two pieces.”

  Alyx tensed. “So?”

  “May I remind you what Michael would do if he were to gain control of Lucifer and his army by using that Amulet?”

  “He still needs the third missing piece to do that.”

  “He’s searching for the third. It’s only a matter of time before he finds out where Raphael hid his piece. Help me find the third piece before he does.”

  “What makes you think I can help with that?”

  “I have heard rumors that Raphael left you something. I’m sure that it will lead you to the third missing piece of the Amulet.”

  Alyx’s mind flashed to the charm that Mayrekk gave her. Mayrekk said it was from Raphael. Was Balthazar right? Did that charm hold the secret to the location of the missing Amulet piece? Was this what Elder Raphael wanted her to find?

  Balthazar continued, “Let’s find the missing piece together, then we can worry about recovering the other two from Michael.”

  “Those three pieces are too dangerous to be kept together. That third piece was hidden by Raphael for that reason. He probably destroyed it.”

  “It can’t be destroyed.”

  “Then what the hell wo
uld we do with the complete Amulet?”

  “It should be returned to Hell. To Lucifer.”

  Alyx glared at Balthazar. This sneaky demon always had a hidden agenda, didn’t he? “No one is getting their hands on the completed Amulet. There was a reason it was made, as per legend, and it was to ensure that we would be able to stop Lucifer in the event that he decides that he would like to take over Earth.”

  “He wants to do no such thing.”

  “And I’m supposed to just take your word for it?” Alyx narrowed her eyes at him, her fingers itching to grab at her dagger. “I suggest you leave this place, Balthazar. The only reason I haven’t killed you is because you helped me once.”

  “And you need my help again.”

  “No, I don’t. I defeated Samyara without your help. I’ll defeat Michael.”

  She turned and was about to leave when Balthazar spoke again. “You’re really going to refuse our help because of a personal matter? The fate of the world is greater than your personal feelings, Alyx. Let me help you again. Tell me what Raphael gave you.”

  “He gave me nothing. Your sources are wrong.”

  Alyx stormed off before Balthazar could say any more. Raphael’s charm, hidden in the back of her things in her room in the castle, burning in her mind.

  * * *

  Alyx closed the door to her room in the castle. The castle was drafty as all old castles were, but she had made this room a kind of home by keeping a low fire going in her fireplace and throwing thick rugs across the floor. She had also bought a series of sheepskin throws, two of which were across her bed and one final one along her couch. Along one wall there were hooks from before, probably used to hang decorative pieces. Now her weapons hung off them from silk ropes tied to the pommels. On the fireplace mantle was where she kept a few books and candles and one small vanity mirror. But Raphael’s charm was not kept there. That special piece she had hidden amongst her things in a hidden compartment in the back of her drawers.