33. Summer #2
Farrah bursts into tears, and I can hear her moving closer. There is muffled movement on the other end of the line, and I can picture her on his lap.
“He’s okay,” she says, and I hear both her and Uriel break down, their broken sobs heart-rending.
I listen, holding space for their relief and pain. As I let my silent tears fall, Alice wipes away the old salve and replaces it with new, visibly pleased that his skin is slowly regenerating .
“Did he say anything?” Uriel asks wetly.
“Just that he’s in pain. I redid his runes, and Alice is applying a new salve, which will hopefully help.”
“Jim got the paperwork through, so he’s enrolled. We were notified this morning.”
A weight lifts off me because that means he’s safe from Lucifer. No student of Avalon can be taken from the dome without their consent.
Unable to look at either Rafe or Alice right now, I stand up and walk across the room to the window, pressure building in my chest. “Mom? Dad?”
“Yes, my darling?” Farrah’s loving voice unravels one of the knots in my stomach.
“Rafe, he?.?.?.” I swallow. “He did it for me.”
There is a long moment of silence before it seems to dawn on them.
“You saw Connor,” Uriel says, and it’s not a question, but a statement.
“I did.” Farrah’s whimper smashes through any strength I was holding on to. “He’s?.?.?. he’s okay. He’s happy.”
“We knew something was different with him,” Farrah says, choking on a sob.
“We felt it, but we never thought?.?.?.” Uriel can’t seem to finish the thought.
“I’m-I’m so, so sorry.”
“For what, kiddo?”
“It’s my fault that you’ve lost?—”
“Enough,” Farrah interrupts, her voice sharper than I’ve ever heard it when directed at me. Usually she reserves this tone for the twins. “No part of this is your fault. Do you hear me?”
“Okay, Mom,” I whisper.
“We love you so very much, Summer,” she says, sounding stronger, and I realize that this is what she does. Farrah is there for her kids, even above her own feelings, emotions, and needs. She was broken until she knew I needed her, and then she shoved her own distress aside. Mom mode activated.
“We love you and your brother,” Uriel says. I can hear the affection in his voice, and I know it’s directed toward his wife, whose strength astounds him even after all these years.
“I love you too.”
“You take good care of your brother, all right?” Uriel says .
“I promise.”
“And make sure you rest too, my darling,” Farrah adds.
“I will, and I’ll call soon,” I say, and end the call, turning back to Alice and Rafe.
Alice is just finishing applying a new layer of salve. She gently brushes her fingers over his wrist. “Look how well it’s healing,” she says.
I look and notice that his hand is almost completely reattached. When we found him in the crater his body made, it was hanging on by a nerve. “It’s incredible,” I say, grabbing the book and opening it again.
“What are you reading?”
“A book on demons.”
“Where’d you get it?” she asks, and I can hear the suspicion in her voice.
I shrug, not looking at her. “It was on the counter.” Her stare intensifies, and I glance at her. “What?”
“The stranger, then.”
I look back at the book, though I can barely see the words as they blend together. “Maybe.” Hopefully. While I don’t love the idea of him being in the bathroom with me, the idea of it being anyone else is even scarier.
“So we’re friends with him again?”
We?
“No,” I answer simply.
“But he’s giving gifts?”
“No.”
I can practically feel Alice’s smirk as I bristle, but for reasons known only to herself, she turns her attention back to Rafe, and I continue trying to read.
“So what does it say about our demon baby?” she asks a bit later, after getting bored scrolling on her phone.
“We need to get more brimstone,” I say, flipping the page.
“From where? We’ll need a steady supply.”
“I still have to work that part out,” I say, my stomach curdling with the truth. With every page I read, it’s becoming clearer how vital it is to make this process as easy as possible.
“What did Uriel and Farrah say?” she asks, and I close the book. Usually this type of questioning is a sign of anxiety from her, and when I look at her, I know I am right. Her eyes are shining with concern, and she is picking at her nails .
“They’re just very relieved.”
“Even though he’s . . . you know?”
I look at Rafe, thinking of the centuries-long battle between Heaven and Hell, the ongoing war, and the tension. “I’m not sure it was a complete surprise.”
“What do you mean?”
“Rafe has always been different.” He has always been uncomfortable in his own skin, and his family has long been aware of his struggles.
“But Fallen different?”
I shrug.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Alice asks.
“What?”
“Your eyes. You look shifty.”
“I don’t know, Al. I’ll need to talk to the Morningstars.
” I have a faint memory of reading about prophecies in a different textbook.
Many of them are bogus, but some rang true.
I can’t remember enough for me to be ready to delve too deeply into it quite yet, not when Rafe has just Fallen, and it might not apply.
I’m not even sure where the memory came from, but it appeared when I was reading about the King of Hell and his elusive wife.
“Okay, Sum?.?.?.” Alice says, still sounding unconvinced, but she doesn’t push it. Instead, she reaches out and rubs the small nubs on the top of Rafe’s head. “Look at his tiny baby horns.”
“You know, angel never really suited him,” I say, my lips twitching as Rafe’s nose wrinkles even in his sleep at the unfamiliar sensation.
“I couldn’t agree more,” a dark voice, thick with arrogance, echoes from the corner of the room. A dark energy permeates the air, sliding stealthily over each of us as if determining if we are prey. My eyes snap to the tall, shadowy figure standing in the doorway.