ECHO-10 WAS a flurry of activity when I awoke still in the recliner several hours later. I wondered if the sun was out, but there was no way to tell. I looked at my watch. Nope. It was five in the morning. I looked around the room, and Taiya was staring back at me. "Hello," she said in Katavukai.

I rubbed my eyes. "Good morning."

I looked through the glass wall into the other room. Warren was no longer on the bed.

"He said he would bring back breakfast," she said, causing me to wonder if she could read my mind.

"How are you feeling?" I sat forward, closing the footrest on the chair with a heavy thud.

She took a deep breath like she was testing the capacity of her lungs. "Very well, actually. I feel better when you're around."

I smiled. "I get that a lot."

Her face fell. "People used to be better around me too."

"I'm better around you. I've been very worried."

"What happened to me?" she asked.

Oh boy. This is a big conversation to jump into before coffee.

"Taiya, do you remember your father? Do you remember Ysha?" I asked.

With the mention of his name, I watched the blood drain from her face. She shuddered. "Yes."

"I killed him." I leaned forward in my seat. "Did you know that?"

She shook her head slightly.

"When he passed from this world, part of you died with him. We almost lost you," I said.

Her eyes darted around the room. "I'm no longer spirit, am I?"

I shook my head. "You're only human."

Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she buried her face in her hands. Swiftly, I moved beside her and put my arms around her shoulders. "I'm human," she wept into my lapel.

When she pulled back, I realized she was smiling.

I wasn't sure if I should apologize or not.

She gripped my biceps. Inside her forearm, my name was still scarred into her flesh. "I don't have to go back? He can't take me away again?"

I let out a deep sigh of relief. "No, sweet girl. He's gone forever. No one will ever take you away again."

A mixture of laughter and tears bubbled out of her. She hugged me again. "Thank you, Sloan. Thank you."

"Well, this is a pleasant sound very early in the morning. Laughter? Am I in the right building?" I turned as Nathan entered the room.

Warren was right behind him with a large Styrofoam cup and a plate of fruit with a bagel. He handed me the plate, then reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out two cartons of chocolate milk. "I love you," I said as I took them from him.

Nathan's head snapped back. "Geez, man. You said she'd changed, but this is terrifying."

I stuck up my middle finger. "Shut up, Nathan."

He winked at me. "That's more like it." He walked over to Taiya's bedside. "Hello, young lady. It's good to see you up and smiling."

Taiya's cheeks tinged with pink and she scooted down in her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin.

I looked at Nathan. "I think she likes you."

"Ah, I like her too." He turned to me. "I would like to formally thank you for having another crisis and getting me out of drills today."

"You're coming with us?" I asked, surprised.

He nodded toward Warren. "By special request from the boss."

Warren shrugged and sipped his coffee. "We've had enough adventures without him lately."

"You're leaving?" Taiya sat up straight again. "You can't leave me."

I put my hand on her knee. "I won't be gone long. I have to go handle some business, but I'll be back."

She furiously shook her head. "No. No, you can't."

"It's going to be OK, Taiya. I'll return before you know it."

Nathan leaned toward Warren. "When did Sloan learn angel gibberish?"

Taiya dug her fingers into my arm. "Let me come. Let me come with you."

I peeled her grip off me. "I can't do that. It's too dangerous. Besides, your mother is here. You don't want to leave your mother, do you?"

Tears—this time, not happy ones—streaked her cheeks again. "Please, Sloan. Don't leave. They're going to kill you. They're going to kill you."

I cradled her face in my hands and brushed away her tears with my thumbs. "I'm not that easy to kill. I promise I'll be fine." But the fear in her watery eyes was truly unsettling. So unsettling that I had to change the subject. Fast. I held up a plump, red grape. "Want one?"

She shook her head.

"What's wrong with her?" Warren asked.

"She doesn't want me to leave. She's afraid."

"I don't blame her," Nathan said.

"Nobody does," Warren agreed.

Just then, Melinda entered the room wearing a bathrobe over her pink pajama pants and shirt. Her hair was matted on one side and she had pillow lines on her face. "What the hell is goin' on up in here? Why are so many people up at this ungodly hour?" Before I could answer, her eyes settled on her daughter. "Taiya?"

"Ashta," Taiya said. It was the Katavukaian word for mother.

"Taiya?" Melinda said again as she swept across the room. I stood and moved out of her way.

Warren nudged me with his arm as the two of them embraced. "Come on. Let's give them some privacy."

I nodded in agreement and followed him and Nathan out into the hall.

Melinda was right. It seemed half of Claymore was in the lobby or in the first meeting room. "Are all these people going with us?" I asked, drinking from my carton of milk.

"Enzo called an SF-12 all hands meeting," Warren said.

Nathan swiped a grape off my plate. "I'm counting a lot higher than twelve."

"Me too," I said as we passed the meeting room. "Do we need to be in there?"

Warren shook his head. "No. I talked to Enzo about it this morning."

"Do I have time to take a shower?" I asked.

"Sure," Warren said, gesturing to the elevator. "I promised Nate he could see the penthouse suite anyway." He pressed the button to call the elevator, and almost immediately the doors slid apart.

On the other side of them was Allison Fury.

Warren groaned.

Nathan tipped an imaginary hat.

And I let out a labored sigh as Fury brushed right past me, purposefully knocking her shoulder against mine. I dropped my face back toward the ceiling. "Are you kidding me?" I asked no one in particular.

The three of us walked onto the elevator, and before the doors closed, I watched her walk into the SF-12 meeting. I pointed in that direction. "She's one of the twelve."

Warren shook his head. "You don't know that."

"Did you ask Enzo?" I asked.

He didn't answer.

Nathan leaned toward Warren. "She is one of the twelve, man. Hate to break it to you."

"And she's going with us today?" My voice was loud and squeaky.

Nathan nodded. "Between your luck and her talent, I'm sure that's a reasonable assumption."

I cursed under my breath.

Nathan looked at Warren. "I feel like all we need is Shannon Green here to complete the trifecta."

Warren chuckled.

I rolled my eyes. "Nathan McNamara, bite your tongue."

* * *

It was a two-and-a-half-hour flight from New Hope to Chicago aboard The Sentinel, Claymore's private jet. Nathan, Warren, Reuel, Lamal, Enzo, and I were gathered at a conference table in a semi-private cabin between the galley and the front of the plane where nine members of SF-12 were seated. Fury was among them.

I could see her through the crack in the dividing curtain. Her perfect head rested against the wall and earbuds were seated in her dainty ears. She was probably listening to music too cool for me to appreciate, like David Bowie or Depeche Mode.

Nathan leaned against my arm and lowered his voice in my ear. "If you stare at her any harder, I fear her hair might catch fire."

My lips spread into a smile. "One can hope, right?"

"Enzo, what's the plan when we land?" Warren asked.

"We will land at a small airport outside the city. Two passenger vans will be waiting to take us north to Uptown. If all goes well, Sloan will free Lamal and we'll drive right back to the airport and return to Claymore."

Nathan smirked. "That's a big if, my friend. You know things don't usually go well with us, so what's the real plan?"

"If there's trouble, we expect it to be from The Destroyer. As we understand it, there's a bounty on Lamal that Abaddon wants to collect. Right now, Sloan is like a blinking red dot on the radar of the universe, but once she taps her power to free Lamal, she'll go from a blinking red dot to a florescent red oil spill complete with smoke alarms and sirens. It will almost certainly stir up trouble."

Warren crossed his arms. "I'll bet that trouble doesn't wait for Sloan to use her power. I can feel the difference in her now. She's already an oil spill."

A brick dropped in the pit of my stomach.

"We need to get in and get out as quickly as possible," Enzo said.

"Abaddon will not come alone, especially since he expects Azrael to be there," Reuel said.

Everyone looked at me with questioning eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"Translate," Nathan said.

"Oh! I forgot," I said. "It really sounds no different to me. Um, he said Abaddon won't come alone because he expects Azrael to be there."

Enzo nodded. "We assumed as much."

Nathan crossed his arms and looked over at Reuel. "Why is it that you understand English, but you don't speak it?"

The looks on everyone's faces except for Reuel and Lamal made it clear we all wondered the same thing. Reuel and Lamal exchanged a puzzling glance. "Do we say?" Reuel asked him.

I leaned my elbows on the table. "Now you have to say."

Lamal was clearly worried. "Our language is the mark of our consecration. Speaking in a common tongue of this world means we have chosen to leave our home and become part of this one. Permanently."

I translated for the group.

Reuel cleared his throat nervously. "There is only one angel in our world permitted to speak other than Katavukai."

"He says only one angel in Heaven is allowed to speak our language," I said.

"Azrael," Warren answered.

Reuel slowly shook his head. "Samael."

The only sound was the roar of the engine of the plane.

"Are you saying…?" My voice faded away before I could even get all the words out.

"Azrael's one of the fallen?" Nathan asked.

Lamal looked at me. "The archangel forfeited his place with The Father when he aligned himself with The Morning Star."

I translated.

The boot Warren had crossed over one knee landed hard on the floor with a heavy thud. "He did what? How did I not know this?"

"Because he kept it from you, like he's kept everything else from us," I said.

Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose and squinted his eyes. "So he's working with Kasyade, the queen of evil, to use Sloan's kid to destroy the spirit line?"

"Azrael says his intentions are different. That he wants to protect Sloan," Reuel answered. "Which is why I agreed to help him."

My eyes narrowed. "Unfortunately, what he says is often very different from the truth."

Reuel didn't have a response.

"Lamal, you can see the future. What do you think?" I asked.

Lamal's eyes fell to the table. "I can only see the future from my world. Not this one." He looked back up at me. "For what it's worth, however, I do believe that though Azrael's methods are flawed, his intentions are not evil. I believe he wants to make amends with The Father and have his place in The Kingdom restored."

I sat back hard in my chair. "So best case scenario is he's going to use me and my daughter for his own salvation?"

Reuel and Lamal shrugged their shoulders in unison.

"What makes you so sure it's that and not world destruction?" I asked.

Lamal turned up his palms. "If he wanted to destroy the spirit line, wouldn't he have turned you over to The Morning Star already?"

I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Uh, Sloan?" Nathan asked, looking around the table. "We don't know what you guys are saying."

Just then, a blood-curdling scream came from the galley.

* * *

Warren and Enzo were on their feet before I could even register that someone might be in trouble. They pushed through the divider curtain and disappeared into the other compartment. I moved to get up, but Nathan blocked me with his arm.

I focused my attention on the other side of the wall and recognized one of the pleading voices immediately. It was Taiya. A moment later, Warren hauled her into the room by the arm with a startled flight attendant trailing behind them.

"Taiya, what are you doing here?" I asked, pushing my way past Nathan.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't let you leave me." She stumbled toward me and grabbed my arms. "I'm sorry. Forgive me. Please, forgive me, Praea."

I looked at Enzo who was behind the flight attendant. "How did this happen?"

He held up his hands. "I have no idea, unless she somehow hid in the cargo that was loaded beneath the plane."

"Remember we are talking about the master of prison breaks," Nathan said.

Taiya was still in her hospital gown. She wasn't even wearing shoes. I'd packed a bag of clothes from the closet that had been stocked for me at Echo-10, but none of my maternity wear would even come close to fitting Taiya. There was only one other female on board—apart from the staff and NAG, who was busy flying the plane.

I moved Taiya around me and put her in my chair, then I walked around the table and into the crew's cabin. I leaned across Kane who was seated next to Fury and tapped her on the shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes and turned to face me—no, scowl at me. "What?"

"I need your help," I said.

She blinked.

"I need to borrow some clothes."

She laughed. The bitch actually laughed. "My clothes won't fit you."

I gasped. "That's so mean."

Closing her eyes again, she leaned her head back against the wall. "No, honey, it's not mean. It's true."

"Hey!" My shock was replaced with anger. I almost ripped her out of her chair using my power, but I thought better of it.

She looked at me again.

"Why are you even here?" I asked her.

"Because this is my job," she said.

I leaned toward her. "Well, guess what, sweetheart. Your job is me. I'm your job. No one dislikes that more than I do, but right now I need your help. And if I have to ask for it again, it won't be nicely."

Her lips spread into a thin smile. "How may I help you?"

"I need clothes for another girl on the plane. I'm six months pregnant with Warren's daughter, so my clothes won't fit her. Otherwise, I wouldn't ask. Can we please borrow something for this poor girl to wear so she doesn't freeze to death?"

Her eyebrow rose in question. "Only six months?"

I lunged toward her, but someone from behind grabbed me around the waist. It was Warren.

"Can we all please calm the hell down?" he asked.

"What do you need, Warren?" she asked.

I'm going to kill her.

"You heard Sloan. We need clothes."

Without argument, she stood up from her seat and stepped over Kane. She opened the overhead bin and pulled out a black duffel bag, which she put on Kane's lap (he didn't object). From inside, she pulled out a pair of black pants and a black shirt. She handed them to Warren. "Bra and panties too?"

My fists balled at my sides.

He held up the clothes. "This is fine. Thank you."

Fury batted her lashes at him. "You're welcome anytime you want."

It was obvious this was all for my benefit; Fury clearly wasn't the flirting type. She got off on being on top, and I doubted it mattered who was beneath her.

"I want to throw her off the plane without a parachute," I muttered to Warren as we returned to the conference room.

"You don't have to deal with her," he said. "She's going to keep torturing you. It's what she does."

"She needs to know she doesn't intimidate me," I told him.

Nathan must have overheard because he laughed and pointed at me. "That's hilarious."

I ignored him and grabbed Taiya's hand to pull her out of my chair. "Enzo, where's the bathroom?"

"Back of the plane on the left," he said.

A few minutes later, Taiya walked out of the bathroom, carrying her gown. I frowned. She looked like an extra from Mad Max in Fury's black cargos and fitted Under Armor shirt. I shook my head and sighed.

"See if these will fit her," Enzo said behind me.

I turned to find him holding a pair of small black combat boots. "Thank you."

"We'll be landing soon, so you'll both need to buckle up."

"OK."

The three of us returned to the conference room. I put Taiya in a seat, then knelt to help her put on her shoes. "What are we going to do with her when we get there?" I asked, glancing around at everyone at the table.

Warren linked his fingers behind his head and leaned back. "I think it's pointless to expect her to stay here."

"We need one of those kid leashes," Nathan said.

It wasn't a bad idea. I tied her laces, then buckled her into the seat before sitting in my own.

After a few beats of silence, I realized everyone around the table was staring at Taiya. I didn't need to ask why. They were all thinking exactly what I was thinking: it wasn't a coincidence she showed up on the plane. Azrael said we couldn't trust her.

Looking around the table at my friends, I remembered his other warning: I couldn't trust any of them either.

"Where exactly are we going when we get there?" Warren asked Lamal, rattling me from my daze.

The wheels of the plane skidded along the runway as Lamal answered and I translated for him. "North of the city. A place called Watford Gardens."

* * *

"A cemetery? Are you kidding me?"

Lamal looked back at me from the passenger's seat of the van. "I'm surprised you haven't heard of it. It's quite famous. One of the most historic cemeteries in the United States."

"How on Earth would I have heard of it? That's not something they teach us in high school," I said with a smirk.

"I've heard of it," Warren said.

"You don't count. You lived here," I reminded him.

Nathan shrugged. "I've heard of it too. It was in that De Niro movie." He snapped his fingers. "Can't remember what it was called."

Warren nodded his head. "Oh yeah, I saw that."

"Something about the mafia, wasn't it?" Kane asked behind us.

I tossed my hands up. "OK, maybe I'm the only one who hasn't heard of it."

Warren patted my knee as Enzo drove through the cemetery gates and down the paved path.

"Which way?" Enzo asked when he stopped at a fork in the road.

Lamal pointed left.

Around the curve, the headstones and monuments made of stone and bronze were fractured and blackened with time. There were massive memorials, many guarded by marble statues that stood high in the gray sky. Private tombs lined the hillside with heavy iron and bronze gates that had soured to a dark green with the passing years.

Death was old in these grounds, calling up like a hollow echo from the deep, but it was everywhere.

Warren protectively curled his arm around me.

"Tell him this is far enough," Lamal said. "We should be far enough from the street to not attract too much attention."

"Lamal says you can stop here," I told Enzo.

He put the van in park and stretched his arm across the back of Lamal's seat to turn and look at us. "How are we doing on supernatural activity out there?"

I shook my head. "There's nothing."

"Nanta," Reuel agreed.

"There are humans in the area," I said, "but it could be present company that I'm sensing."

Enzo picked up his radio to call the second van behind us. "Fury, I want eyes on the future before we get out."

"Roger that," she called back.

I sat upright. "She can see the future?"

Warren smiled. "That means she's going to scout the area. Make sure we're clear."

"Oh." I looked around the van but didn't see Fury anywhere. "Enzo, can she see us? Can she see like you do?"

"Yes, ma'am."

I looked at Warren.

He leaned toward Enzo's seat. "She wasn't in a special unit when I was here."

Enzo glanced back in the rearview mirror. "Not as far as you were aware. Azrael sent her to Iraq to recruit you here, sir."

Warren's gaze fell to the floor.

"She didn't tell you?" Enzo asked.

Warren shook his head. "She didn't tell me anything." He looked at me. "I always assumed it was a coincidence."

I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt.

The van was silent. After a second, Nathan leaned across Taiya toward me. "Well, this is awkward."

I pointed a finger at him. "Don't make it worse."

He smiled and sat back in his seat.

Fury's voice came over the radio. "There's a woman putting flowers on a grave over the hill, but other than that, we're alone."

"Should we wait for her to leave?" Warren asked.

Enzo shook his head. "I really think we should get out of here as quickly as possible."

"I agree," I said.

Warren looked at me. "You've got one shot at this. Are you ready?"

"I'm ready." And I was.

The cold air and the icy sensation of death took my breath when we stepped out of the warm van onto the cemetery grounds. There was nothing but stone statues, tombstones, and bare, gnarly trees as far as I could see. It was a proper setting for another supernatural showdown if it came to it. And if it did, it would prove that God, the universe, or whoever had a definite flair for the dramatic.

Lamal got out of the car and zipped up his coat all the way to his chin.

"Hold on." I held up a finger and walked behind Warren. I reached into his back pocket and pulled out a billfold. There was eighty-seven dollars inside it.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

I handed him the wallet and carried the money over to Lamal. I shoved it into Jesse's coat pocket. "It's the least we can do, right?"

Warren smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

I looked at Lamal. "You ready?"

He took a deep breath and nodded his head.

Stretching out my hand toward him, I searched until my gift honed in on Jesse's mortal soul. I gripped him with my power of life and held him.

Breathe in. Slowly exhale, and pull the trigger.

I aimed my left hand…

BOOM!