30 Ways to Fool an Angel (Tales of a Midlife Witch #7)

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

T he tiny commuter plane connecting our flight between New York and Boston landed on time. Although the airport was busy, collecting our bags was quick. I hadn’t told Mom I was returning because I’d had a childish urge to surprise her.

We’d had to hire a car to drive us the last forty-five minutes to Salem. Because he was still grumpy, I gave Tony the most emotionless expression I could produce. “Take a break. Go for a walk. I’ll stay with the luggage. Our ride is still twenty-five minutes away.”

“That’s a good idea,” he said, barely acknowledging me.

Instead of flying in pants, I’d foolishly chosen a cute skirt that would flash my knees and three inches of thigh for the entire plane ride. I might as well have worn sweats for all the attention he paid to my legs.

The only attention I got was a stern three-hour lecture for talking too much and not insisting Kabir leave sooner than he did. It had me wishing I’d taken a sleeping pill. When I told him that, I got the silent treatment for the other two and a half hours of our flight to Boston. His grumpy behavior was inexcusable and more immature than my brooding the whole time would have been.

I watched with relief when Tony took off walking without saying thanks or acknowledging my thoughtfulness. It took him less than a minute to disappear into the bustling throng of humans.

Happy to be left alone, I waited by the exit doors with our luggage while Tony took a lap around the Logan Airport’s formidable baggage area. I needed a break from him.

We’d argued the whole time in New York while we were changing planes for our connecting flight. Exasperated, I’d finally ordered him to give his bitching a break and informed him he could fly home on his own for all I cared.

He’d gone silent again on me. But he remained physically tense, and I was too attuned to him to overlook it. To be fair, I was likely the root cause of his tension.

Tony had asked me detailed questions about my conversation with Kabir and I’d told him I wasn’t ready to talk about it. Some of my concern rested in knowing Tony might throw one of his angel tantrums and fly off half-cocked looking for a non-existent battle. After telling Kabir I wanted to stay with Tony, I couldn’t risk him leaving me. Demonic djinns were powerful and might just be powerful enough to be watching me all the time. I preferred Kabir thinking I’d refused to discuss him with Tony than for Kabir to hear us discussing details.

Mom’s property was heavily warded. The chances of having a private conversation were better there. Discussions about Kabir could wait that long. Besides, Kabir said plainly that he would return in two years and I’d heard the resonance of truth in his statements.

I figured that gave me some time to learn what I could about him and his insistence that I switch rings. That seemed impossible since the ring I wore still refused to let me remove it. But the ring I wore held Kabir in some kind of awe. It currently refused to give me any details about why. Nor was it volunteering any reason for its reluctance.

I needed to talk to Conn... and to catch Mom up on what was going on with me. Sharing with Tony was nice but not as nice as my mother understanding and supporting me. I missed my mother. I even missed her fussing at me.

Arguing with me was one way Mom showed she loved me. It was also a show of respect because neither she nor Conn ever bothered arguing with people they assumed would never understand. They’d kept many things from me in the past because they knew I would not have understood them. There were fewer of those now and I was grateful.

Plus, I missed my house—the one I still had yet to see. Mom was paying for it, currently. Once I found a proper job, I’d be able to contribute to the mortgage pool and earn my share of equity when they sold the property. I’d set that as a goal the moment they’d bought it. I would make myself useful to them and they would want me there.

Tonight, Tony and I would have to sleep in the main house. The quarters Mulan’s parents used were now vacant. Mom’s new caretakers had prepped it for Tony and me. It had a sitting area and two bedrooms with their own bathrooms. It sounded amazing. I couldn’t wait.

According to Gigi, I would have to stay with Mom for quite a while. She also said it would take a week just to catch up on everything that had happened since I’d been gone. Leaving felt like a lifetime ago. In reality, it only had been a few weeks.

I browsed until a text came that our hired car was making its final way to us. It would be at our exit door in a few minutes. I hastily tapped out a message to Tony to let him know.

A set of four handsome men suddenly appeared in front of me. They arranged themselves in a way that blocked my view of other travelers.

Freeze them , I ordered the ring.

We cannot. They are projections and therefore immune from all magick. Be cautious. Their weapons are made of energy and can strike you down.

I looked at the men and blinked. Projections? Are you saying they’re holograms?

Their manifestation is too complicated to explain quickly. Call the being tasked with guarding you. He can fight them. You have no skills for this.

Was this going to be a physical fight? I tucked my phone away and swallowed hard. Rather than panic, I needed to buy Tony some time to return. “Who are you?”

“Fiona Derringer, you have been judged unworthy of being a protector by the Counsel of Mystic Knowledge. We require your death so the ring may choose a worthier being to protect it.”

“The ring doesn’t acknowledge your power to choose for it,” I said, trying to sound confident.

“ The rings accept their fates to show us how to bow to the greater good. Today you will find yours. Adya bhavatah mrutyoh divasah asti.”

Tony stepped between the men and me. “No, Shagari. It is not her time to die. Even Kabir would tell you that. She is not only a protector. She possesses the power to use the rings.”

The man Tony called by name smiled at both of us. “That makes her even more dangerous, Devadoot.”

The four of them all summoned spears. They were made of energy like my mother’s swords. Tony summoned a small shield for his arm and a humming sword for himself. Behind the men, travelers kept moving, unaware of the confrontation happening right in front of them. The strange beings somehow blocked everyone from seeing us.

All I could think was that we were going to miss our ride. The driver would wait the ten required minutes and then leave without us. I would end up paying for a trip I would not get to take. These beings were going to keep me from going home.

I ended up pressed against the very real glass window at my back that showed the bustling world of Boston going on outside the terminal.

Tony’s back ended up pressed against me as he blocked me with his sword swipes.

I squealed a bit when I felt in danger of being squashed. Tony’s angel elbows were deadly weapons, and I was catching the brunt of them as he fought the men. He was holding his own as four against one, but I was a hindrance he kept bumping into.

When I saw an opening to escape, I darted out from behind him to run to the side.

“No. Stay behind me,” Tony yelled, his commanding voice booming toward me.

I heard him but never got the chance to respond. Oddly, I didn’t feel the spear sliding through me, but I looked down and stared at the very real blood seeping into my clothes.

The world blurred.

The men immediately ceased their attack on Tony and stepped back. I watched as Tony pounded his fists against some sort of force field around them that prevented his blade from getting through.

My body gave out and I fell to my knees. I blinked up at the four of them who were closely studying me. “What did I ever do to you?” I asked.

“Nothing,” the one Tony called Shagari said. “You were simply born into the wrong family. Choose more wisely next time you reincarnate.”

Then they were gone—fading into nothing. Tony turned and paled at the sight of me still bleeding. “No!” he yelled again.

“I’m getting cold,” I said, touching the spear that pierced me.

It dissolved into nothing but the damage was already done. Blood poured out of me.

Breathing hard, Tony stood looking down at me. His sword and shield dissolved like the spear did. I smiled up at him. “It was four projections against one real person. It was an unfair fight. This is not your fault.”

He screamed a word that stole my hearing from me as his wings presented themselves in their largest manifestation. His eyes turned a brilliant white with blood-red streaks as the only color in them. Tony’s normal clothes even morphed into a white, nearly transparent robe that moved around his now bare feet with a life of its own.

An energy sword returned to his hand, but this time it erupted along its edge with flames.

The Boston airport faded around me until it disappeared from view. The pain of being stabbed had numbed my body and chilled my soul. I knew I was dying because I felt ice in my veins as I hallucinated.

A partially visible wall appeared in front of me. Instead of seeing airport travelers, I saw a massive crowd of winged people watching me bleed out on the airport lobby floor. Did everyone see all these angels when they died? I tried to laugh at my thoughts but it hurt too much.

Tearing my gaze from the wall, I turned back to look up at the creature Tony now was. Intense energy rolled off him, but I only felt comforted by it, which I’m sure was the intent. He wasn’t a bad guy—not really. He was just a product of his experiences.

Weren’t we all?

I smiled and raised a blood-covered hand from my chest to point one bloody finger at him. “See? I knew you were an angel.”

Getting the last word in cost me the rest of what was keeping me alive. I fell sideways to the floor and curled into a shivering ball while the darkness closed in.

Tony had yet to say a single word about what was happening. I doubted he would even say goodbye. He’d watched all my predecessors die. Why would I be special? His face was impassive as he stared at me. I felt hope that he would save me slip away as I groaned at the pain in my chest. I badly wanted it gone, so I let what I believed would be my death claim me.

I prayed the stories Tony told my mother would be good enough to convince her I’d died because of the magick she always believed I had. It might give her some peace about it.

As the darkness took me over completely, the invisible wall holding back the waiting angels shattered into tiny microdots that evaporated as they all rushed forward at once.