Chapter 26 #2
“I know.” My voice came out thinner than I wanted it to. “But you know it’s the truth.”
She turned to Gabriel, desperation bleeding into the line of her mouth. “You can’t be okay with this. With her doing this on her own. It’s too dangerous, Gabriel. Tell her.”
But Gabriel just looked at her with those careful, sorrowful eyes that had seen too much loss already. “I think she’s right, Tessa. You’re too vulnerable right now. Your presence will only complicate the situation. Especially if the Order discovers you’re pregnant.”
“They’ll use it against me, Tess, and you know it’s true.”
Tessa swiped at her face before a tear could fully form, the gesture sharp and angry. “So what, I’m just supposed to run away? Hide while my little sister goes to war?”
“You’re supposed to survive,” I said, needing her to understand. “You and your baby and Ares.”
Her eyes met mine, and for a moment, I saw my sister the way she used to be.
Before Hollow Hills. Before the Order. Before everything had fallen apart.
Back when the hardest decision we had to make was which movie to watch on Friday nights.
“I fucking hate this,” she said, her voice cracking around the edges. “It’s not supposed to be like this.”
“I know.” And I did, but it didn’t change anything.
Jaqueline cleared her throat gently from across the table, breaking through the moment. “Of course, none of this is going to matter unless we can actually bring the Barrier down.”
I turned to look at her, grateful for the shift in focus even as the conversation with Tessa still ached behind my ribs.
“What do we actually know about how it works?” I asked of no one in particular.
Gabriel leaned forward, his leather jacket protesting the movement.
“I’m not privy to the specifics, but the principles are generally the same for all protective barriers.
They’re usually anchored at multiple points throughout the area they’re meant to protect.
Those points are called nexus points. Each one reinforces the others, creating a network that’s nearly impossible to break through conventional means. ”
“Nearly impossible,” I repeated, choosing to cling to the qualifier.
He eyed me warily. “Generally speaking, the Caster who erected the barrier is the one required to take it down. But perhaps with your Nephilim abilities, you might be strong enough to interfere with whatever is holding them in place. We won’t know until we test it.”
“Then that’s what we do. We find the nearest nexus point and see if I can crack it.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Trace immediately, his hand tightening possessively on my thigh. “And I’m sure Goldilocks will want to come too.”
Gabriel nodded, his gaze moving between the two of us before landing back on me. “This is reconnaissance only. You test the barrier, gather information, and come straight back. No heroics. No deviations from the plan. Understood?”
“Understood,” I said, though we both knew plans had a way of falling apart the moment I stepped outside. They always did. Again, mostly because of me.
Trace bounced his knee against mine in that nervous way he did when he was working up to saying something I wouldn’t like. “I was thinking…” He hesitated. “Maybe it’s time we call Caleb. Get him involved.”
The suggestion landed like a stone in my gut.
“He’s a Caster,” continued Trace, apparently taking my silence as permission to keep going. “And he’s helped put up barriers before. He might know something about how to bring this one down.”
Mixed emotions churned through me at the mention of Caleb’s name.
Part of me was still angry at him for defending Carly after everything she had done.
For defending something that almost got me killed.
But another part of me knew I was being a hypocrite.
Because if the situation were reversed, if Tessa had been the one who’d done something terrible, I would have defended her the same way he had defended his sister.
At the end of the day, Caleb had always been there for me. Even when it was dangerous. Even when it cost him. And I wouldn’t forget that.
“Okay,” I said finally, the word coming out gentler than I’d intended. “Call him.”
Trace’s eyebrows shot up, clearly surprised I’d agreed so easily. “Yeah?”
I nodded. “We need all the help we can get.”
“When do we leave?” asked Trace, turning back to Gabriel.
Gabriel checked his watch, the silver catching the light as he turned it over and read the time. “Not until sundown. The darker it is, the less chance you’ll be spotted.”
That gave us a couple of hours. One hundred and eighty minutes before I’d know whether I was strong enough to break the barrier keeping us all trapped here. Whether I had any real chance of getting my family out of this town alive before it was too late.
I looked down at Ares, still sleeping peacefully in his bassinet, oblivious to everything being planned around him.
To the war being waged in his name. His tiny chest rose and fell in even rhythm, his face serene and unmarked by the violence that had shadowed his existence long before he ever drew his first breath.
Three hours. And then we’d find out if I had any real hope of saving them, or if I was just leading us all toward a completely different kind of ending.