Chapter Fifteen
Liss looked over at Maisy, who was relacing her rainbow Converse. “We’re sitting in the Order’s library. Why redo your laces?”
“They’re uneven. Because you yanked me out of bed at the ass crack of dawn.”
“I did not. You volunteered.” Liss shook her favorite pen used on waitressing shifts, with four different colors. “You, in fact, begged to come along.”
“Wanting to support my friend’s return to the place she nearly died is a whole separate…idea,” Maisy circled her hand overhead, “from the reality of doing it before McDonald’s even opens.”
“Thank you. I love support. You do know, though, that I don’t need it?” Because this wasn’t her first trip back to the Stronghold since the attack. Over the past two weeks, she’d pestered Eva and Zavier into bringing her there covertly multiple times—much easier to do now that they were working with Caraxis. “Not with Eva here to keep me safe.”
“Bite your tongue.” Maisy planted her hands on the wide wooden table. “Are you actually intimating that you don’t need your best friend?”
“How does leaving early become my fault for relacing your shoes?”
Maisy straightened her lilac hoodie. “They were still drying. I washed ’em last night. I thought about how there might be Hell dirt on them and had to get rid of it. Traipsing even a speck of Hell into the Nephilim’s space seemed both disrespectful and just plain wrong.”
Thanksgiving was in a few days. Liss pointed out the obvious. “Your one and only time in Hell was in May. When you met freaking Lilith and battled Hell’s Keeper and came into your powers as the Keeper of the Key.”
“I know .” She scrunched up her nose like she’d sniffed two-month-old milk. “Think about all the horrible flecks of Hell I’ve been spattering all over Buffalo since then.”
Evangeline crooked her fingers and shoved her long blonde hair behind her ears with a sigh. A distinctly irritated huff of a sigh. “If you two are just going to babble, why did I fly you here? At the aforementioned ass crack of dawn?”
Oops. Liss reached over to pat her hand. “Sorry. Maisy caught my eye when I was staring at the floor.”
“Why? You can stare at the floor back in Buffalo. And I could’ve stayed in bed with my super-sexy boyfriend.”
Wow. Eva was very much not a morning person. Normally Liss wouldn’t be, either, but she’d been eager to get here to find more that backed up her new theory. It turned out that excitement provided just as much of a wake-up energy pump as an oat milk pumpkin spice latte.
“Do you see the pattern? In the wood?” It was an intricate parquet. Liss liked to trace it, like a maze, to help her think. She’d been doing that a lot the last few visits. Mulling. Putting the pieces together.
It had been important to find a positive use for her new powers. One that made her not hate them. Liss didn’t want to hate a side effect of Zavier saving her life.
Turned out that she had a super-handy power. Handy in that it—hopefully—helped to discover something game-changing in their upcoming possible apocalypse.
Maisy bent over, feathered her fingers across the wood, and then popped back up with anticipation brightening her face. “Oooh. Are you wondering if there’s a loose panel and there’s secret…stuff underneath?”
“I wasn’t.”
“I am now ,” Eva added.
“There isn’t,” Hariel said with finality from his perch at the circle of a desk in the center of the room.
“Like you’d tell us,” Maisy scoffed.
Liss had forgotten Hariel was here. For a moment, she wondered if she should take the conversation to a more private area. But that was knee-jerk basic distrust from being at the Order now that she knew it was at least partially full of traitors.
Hariel had more than proven himself to be on their side. And fully capable of keeping all secrets. “The pattern helps me concentrate. Focus.”
“Or we could just get some coffee,” Eva muttered.
Liss would buy her a case of Keurig pods if the woman would stop interrupting and let her get this out. “No. You don’t understand. I think I figured something out. Something big. Something…game-changing.”
“Then spill.” Maisy rolled her hand in a go-on gesture.
“I know I asked you to bring me here so I could learn more about Nereids . But I actually veered a little bit off-topic as I researched power through singing.” Liss took a deep breath. “I think, maybe, that I discovered the secret behind Atlantis?”
“ Atlantis is real?” Maisy thunked the heel of her hand against her forehead. “Why am I even surprised anymore?”
“I’m right there with you. Atlantis is just a legend.” Eva at least paired the dismissal with an apologetic half tilt of her mouth.
Liss waved her arms to gesture at the three stories of books lining the walls around them. “Uh, most of the stuff in this world was dismissed as ‘just a legend’ as centuries ticked by. There’s a distinct possibility, Eva, that you don’t know everything.”
Evangeline exchanged a look with Maisy. A sure, let’s give her a listen look that was a bit patronizing. They were listening out of friendship rather than any real attempt at consideration. “But I want to. Shove over.” She pulled the open book toward her. Then her gray eyes popped wide. “How are you even reading this? It’s in the language of the angels.”
“Oh.” Whoops. Liss hadn’t planned on revealing her, ah, sneakiness. “Don’t be mad.”
“You realize in the history of that phrase being used, nobody has ever refrained from being mad?”
Liss picked up the magnifying glass she’d hidden under a set of scrolls. Admitting this part would probably go worse than trying to convince them Atlantis still existed. “It’s a relic. From Harold’s study.”
Eva snatched it away to examine. “You mean the relics that you aren’t supposed to go near on your own?”
“Not exactly. That rule was for human Liss. Now that I’m a Nereid , I figured I could take a peek at a few.” She’d made sure to avoid anything with a pointy end that even had a chance of being fatal to others.
The visible swallow proved that Eva was trying very hard not to yell at Liss for being reckless. Pretty much as expected. “Liss, that transport ring could’ve left you stranded who knows where. You can’t risk using any of those relics until we get Harold’s logbook fully unencrypted.”
“Too late. But this was mostly an accident. Honest. I was poking around at his shelves.” She picked up the magnifying glass. Its frame was a burnished gold, etched with markings. The glass itself was round and thick. “This looked normal. Pretty, and old, but not magical. So I moved it onto the desk. Right on top of a thing written in, um, Greek? But when I looked through it, I understood every word.”
Maisy grabbed for it. “You’re saying this is a universal translator? Star Trek– level stuff?”
“Probably oodles more magic than technology. No buttons or lights.”
“It’s the Lens of Omoikane.” Hariel was suddenly behind them, looming over Maisy.
“That sounds special.” And with enough oomph to be something that Liss probably shouldn’t have touched.
He slowly took it from Maisy. Held it across both hands. “I…didn’t think it was real. Merely a Japanese legend.”
“Who’s Omoikane?”
“A Shinto god of wisdom and intelligence.” He turned it, reading the inscription. “May this lens illuminate knowledge for all.” Abruptly, he handed it back to Liss. “As an angel, I can read all languages. You must prove to me it works.”
“Sure.” She pointed at the open book. “That’s the language of the angels, like Eva said, right?”
“Indeed.”
“No way I could read it as a human, or a Nereid .”
“Correct.”
She put the burnt orange–painted tip of her finger on the line, so he’d know where to follow along. The line that wasn’t inscribed in ink. Each word was seared into the page. “ Even though Atlantis has been disappeared, the angelic chorus can still be heard through the spheres on nights when the veil thins. We go there to listen, regretting what had to be done. But our hearts are at peace with the decision as we listen to the angel song .”
Hariel’s one good wing audibly snapped to full extension. He grabbed for the book with both hands. “What is this? What have you found?”
“It reads like a diary. Who would’ve thought that an angel would need to secretly write down his innermost thoughts?”
He flipped through the pages. “This is not the ancient equivalent of Instagram. He is not scribing what he ate for dinner on the daily.”
“Look at you go with the modern lingo!”
“This is the record of a strategy. Of the plan to unseat the leaders of Heaven and Hell.” He closed it with as much care as a bomb defuser. “This is your proof. Where did you find it?”
“Eva, you told me that Nereids can help lost sailors find their way. So I thought that maybe I could help other lost things.” Liss pointed to the velvet curtain at the farthest corner of the library. “I went back to the place where you hide all the good stuff.”
“You broke into the sacred vault? The information in there is not even for Nephilim’s eyes.”
“How could I break in?” Not that they hadn’t all discussed the possibility one night over burgers and a few too many beers. “I just tried singing while thinking about what lost information could help us. It took a lot longer than anything else I’ve tried. But eventually, books and scrolls started pushing through the curtain to stack at my feet.”
“All of these?” Eva tapped the stack in front of her.
“Yes. That’s what I’ve been slogging through the past few trips.”
“I will save you some reading,” Hariel announced abruptly. “Atlantis is real. Or it was.”
Holy shit .
…
A wind gust slammed the back door behind Rhys. “Sorry about that. My hands were full.” He lifted four bottles of red wine as proof. “My contribution to dinner.”
“Then you’re forgiven for being late.” Maisy stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “ This time.”
Liss got a kick out of her friend not giving her boyfriend a single inch. The fifty years he had on her, the power, the actual saving the world he did on a daily basis—none of that gave her pause. She treated him like an equal, and Rhys did the same for her. Those two crazy kids looked like they were in it for the long haul.
If— BIG if—they all survived the next few weeks…
Zavier slouched against the doorframe between the kitchen and dining room. “I postponed our mission for tonight. A dinner party isn’t my idea of a reason to let demons keep cavorting unchecked, though.”
“This isn’t a dinner party. It’s a dissemination of information. With food. Would you rather we not feed you?” Eva asked as she pushed past him with a bowl of rice.
Zavier was his usual grouchy self. In the group. He’d been wonderful to Liss when they went to call the Hippocamp . But as soon as they got back, his emotional walls went up again. It was like being around everyone else reminded him that he shouldn’t go beyond friendship with her.
It was frustrating.
It was maddening.
It was confusing.
“Look, we made a huge discovery. A game-changer. Something that shouldn’t just be sent in a text. Something big enough to, yes, drag you all away from everyday demon battling.” Liss circled her arm to include Maisy and Eva. “Clearly, if all three of us agreed on its impact, you should be willing to sit down and listen.”
Oh, she’d meet his snark with equal snark every time.
Gideon hefted the giant platter that only a week ago had held their Thanksgiving turkey. Tonight it overflowed with saucy Cuban ropa vieja. “We’re grateful—even if one of us has a stick so far up his ass that it blocks appropriate words from coming out of his throat—for the meal. And we’re ready to listen.”
See? Was that so hard?
Zavier said nothing. But he did pick up the salad bowl and carry it into the dining room.
“Does this mean we shouldn’t end dinner by asking him to help decorate for Christmas?” Maisy whispered.
“Who needs his attitude ruining tree-trimming? We’ll do it, just the two of us, this weekend as planned.” Liss paused in her final scrape of the knife through the loaf of sourdough. Her disappointment in Zavier’s constant and inexplicable running hot and cold shouldn’t put a damper on Maisy’s holidays. “Unless you want Rhys to help?”
“Nope. We can do something at the WatchTower. You and me in our new house—this is our tradition. Waffles, cocoa, and cheesy Christmas movies in the background.” Maisy hugged her. “I appreciate the offer, though. It’s sweet of you to want to include him. You really are the best best friend ever.”
“Probably true.” It was such a relief to be back on even footing with Maisy. Their fight had only really lasted for a few days. Even if the coldness between them had felt like weeks of horribleness.
Liss wouldn’t forget that it had happened. That she’d let out her feelings without thinking through the consequences. That if she’d waited, her snit would’ve evaporated on its own. Or if she’d at least hit pause on blurting out her feelings and considered how to share them with Maisy without being a self-centered bitch about it.
It was a good lesson.
An important one, that kept her from making the mistake of sharing her true feelings with Zavier.
Because what would be the point? He’d insist that he was no good for her— again . And hopefully, by Christmas, the threat of imminent apocalypse would be settled one way or another and she wouldn’t even have that excuse to coax him back into her bed.
“Wine’s poured,” Rhys yelled from the other room. “Let’s get started.”
Maisy bumped Liss’s hip. “Don’t let them shout you down at the beginning. Hariel’s our ace in the hole. He believes all of this. These guys? Way easier to convince than an actual full-blood angel.”
Rhys stood at the head of the table, wineglass raised. “I’ve got a toast.”
“Actually, I’d like to do the honors.” There wasn’t any point to small talk and easing into this. She slid into her seat next to Maisy and lifted her glass, shocked that it only trembled a little. “Here’s to bringing back the lost colony of Atlantis!”
Maisy clinked glasses, as did Eva.
The men stayed frozen.
Liss boosted halfway up to reach across and tap her glass to Zavier’s. “Man, you really made me work for that.”
“It’s bad luck not to clink glasses after a toast has been put out there.” Maisy stared down everyone with a Y chromosome. “Do you truly want to bring even a speck more bad luck into this house?”
Hurriedly, the men completed the ritual. Eva started filling everyone’s plates.
Silence hung as thick as the tomato and olive sauce coating the shredded beef.
Rhys cleared his throat. “You’re joking, right?”
“Not even a little.” Pointedly, Liss glared at Zavier. “Is that major enough to make it okay you postponed your mission tonight?”
“Jury’s out until you provide further details.”
Fine. She had every intent of suffocating him in info. “You know I’ve been spending the last two weeks holed up at the Order’s library anytime I wasn’t working. My research took a turn. Because I unearthed rumors of a vanished colony of angels.”
“You unearthed it? When you can’t read the languages of ninety percent of the books in the library?”
Glossing over that bit for now was the smartest tactic. “I had some help,” she said vaguely. “To summarize, the original Watchers—not Fallen Angels and not Nephilim, but full angels—were sent down to Earth to watch over and safeguard humanity. They made their home on Atlantis.”
Gideon tapped the rim of his wineglass. “You’re sure about this? Not a myth? Atlantis and angelic Watchers were for real?”
“Yes.” Liss raised her index finger. “And before you start trying to pick apart this story, know that Hariel is aware of all of this. Now, I mean. He hasn’t been keeping it from us or anything.”
A little bit of the shocked, frantic burn in all the men’s eyes settled at the mention of the librarian.
“Our rogue team of angels and demons attempted to start their coup eons ago. They kicked it off by vanishing Atlantis. The idea was that it would immediately take out a large number of angels who would’ve been on the front lines for the side of Good. With them gone, there’d be fewer angels ready, or willing, to fight.”
“You keep saying ‘vanished.’” Rhys made deliberate air quotes. “Not ‘destroyed.’”
“That’s right.” Liss had practiced this speech in front of a mirror. Twice. She had her facts straight. Their skepticism wouldn’t throw her off her game at all.
“So Atlantis could reappear? Full of angels?”
Eva handed him a heaped plate. “And some of their Nephilim children. All primed and ready to kick the asses of the ones who made them disappear.”
Gideon made a wordless noise of… maybe approval in his throat? “That’d be a powerful fighting force. If it could be done.”
“You’ve skipped ten steps ahead. How about filling in the obvious gaps?” Zavier stabbed his fork in the air. “Like why wasn’t Atlantis destroyed? Seems more foolproof than a vanishing.”
It was fine. Liss welcomed him trying to poke holes in her facts. In the end, it would simply prove the truth.
Although he didn’t have to be quite so curt about it. “The rogue team couldn’t. They underestimated the power it would take. On top of only being able to shift Atlantis to another phase, or dimension, it drained their powers and almost destroyed them . That’s why there hasn’t been any forward motion toward this coup for centuries. They simply couldn’t do it.”
Rhys gave a slow nod. “I buy that.”
Maisy took over. Liss appreciated it, so she could shovel in a few bites. “But they’ve finally recovered. Regained their powers. Which led to systematically murdering Nephilim and angels and demons—anyone who might join forces to stand against them in the next step of freeing the Titans.”
Zavier dropped his fork with a clatter. His mouth turned down on one side. He swished with wine as if the story left a bad taste in his mouth. “This doesn’t sound like conjecture. It sounds like you captured an angel, tied them up in a room full of speakers playing Nickelback and reeking of cabbage until they babbled out the whole plan just to make it stop.”
“Even better.” Liss rubbed her hands together with glee. “I found a diary.”
Eva shushed her. “Hariel told you not to call it that. He said it diminished the impact of the find.”
“Whatever.” Liss thought it made for a stronger story. A diary revealed the secret weakness of the plotters.
“She found several ancient texts mentioning Atlantis and its chorus of angels,” Eva explained. “A thriving community of good angels sent to watch over humanity.”
Zavier looked…maybe 5 percent more convinced. “So we’re the Watchers, version 2.0?”
“Maybe a couple iterations past that, but yes.”
“Multiple sources spoke of the Angels of Atlantis. And then I found the diary. Battle plan.” Liss leaned forward, hands braced on the table. “It laid out the whole thing. Written by one of the angels who did the vanishing. As if he didn’t want to risk forgetting a step. Like a textbook, almost, with its attention to detail. Something for future generations to learn from.”
Zavier pushed out of his chair. He stalked around the end of the table, into the dark-paneled living room. Stared out the windows at the house across the street with blinking colored lights lining every straight edge.
Then he thwapped his thigh and marched back in, straddled backward the chair next to Liss, and asked, “You found this? Did you go to Hogwarts and use the fucking Room of Requirements?”
From the one psychology class she’d had to take as part of her education major, Liss knew that people often got angry when they didn’t understand. What she was telling the men upended everything they’d known for their entire lives.
However…Zavier’s attitude teetered on calling her a liar. So she wouldn’t give him much more leeway. “Sort of? My new power brought it to me.”
“Of course. The thing where Nereids can help lost sailors find their way.” Gideon stabbed a slice of break toward her. “You sang? Asked for lost important things to appear?”
“More or less.” And she had to admit that it had been very, very cool. Not as amazing as calling a Hippocamp , but a reminder that her power had the possibility to be useful rather than soul-sucking.
“That is kick-Rhys-in-the-balls tremendous.” Gideon clinked her glass. “Way to go, Liss.”
Rhys braced his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers. “Obviously, we’re going to need more details. But Hariel saw this? He read it all himself?”
“Yep.” They were coming around. Why oh why didn’t her life come with a soundtrack? There should be big, swelling chords right about now. With brass. Maybe a full choir on ascending ooh s.
“Then this…this could be the answer to stopping the coup. Dead in its tracks.” His wide-eyed shock had turned into hope shining out of those ice-blue eyes.
“Bringing back an entire island of full angels would provide the might needed to stand against the traitorous angels.” Gideon stood. His hips swayed provocatively, but Liss assumed it was his version of a happy dance.
“Right. Perfect solution. Piece of cake,” Zavier snarled. “All we need to do is one, find Atlantis, and two, figure out how to bring it back into this plane of existence.”
“It’s better than having no plan…” Liss let her voice trail off. Why was he being such a complete and total ass about this good news?
And then it hit her. Zavier hadn’t expected to survive their apocalyptic battle. Hope was the thing making him cranky. He didn’t know how to deal with it.
Because Zavier Carranza still didn’t believe he was worth saving.