Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery Trilogy #1)(10)
Author: Kim Harrison

I bit my lower lip worriedly when Barnabas moved his attention to the road at the top of the hill as a car went by. Seraphs. They had the clout to make big decisions. Reapers were below them, and guardian angels lower. Barnabas talked about seraphs like they were spoiled children with power. Scary. "This is bad, isn’t it?" I offered softly.

Ron’s bark of laughter died quickly. "It’s not good," he said; then, seeing my pinched brow, he smiled. "Madison, you claimed Kairos’s stone. It’s yours. I’ll do my best to see that it stays that way. Just give me the time to get the political machine working."

I slid from the wall, nerves demanding I move. "Ron, I know why he’s after me now, but this started months ago. What did I ever do to make him come after me in the first place?"

Barnabas turned from the edge of the shadow to face us, but Ron interrupted him before he could speak, coming forward to take my hands and smile reassuringly. At least I think it was supposed to be reassuring. But there was something in the back of his eyes that made me queasy.

"I have a few ideas," he said, his gaze touching mine briefly before darting away. "Let me find out more. No need to worry you needlessly."

"Ron, if she has Kairos’s stone, then perhaps – "

"Oh, look at the time," Ron blurted, taking Barnabas’s arm and actually jerking the reaper off balance. "We have to go."

Go? Go where? Startled, I took a step forward. "You’re leaving?"

"We’ll be back soon." Ron squinted as he dragged Barnabas into the sunny patch. "I have to talk to the seraphs, and I’ll need Barnabas as a go-between." He smiled, but it looked strained. "I’m not dead yet, you know," he said with forced good humor. "I don’t have a direct line to the divine plane. No need to worry, Madison. Everything is fine."

But it didn’t feel fine. Things were happening too fast, and I didn’t like it.

"Sir!" Barnabas exclaimed as he yanked out of Ron’s grip. "If Kairos comes after her, changing her amulet’s resonance won’t be enough. He knows what she looks like. So does Nakita. Either of them can simply walk around and find her. Shouldn’t we leave her with a guardian angel?"

Ron blinked as if shocked that he hadn’t thought of that himself. "Uh, of course," he said as he came back into the shade. "What a perfectly proper thing to do. But, Madison," he said as he gripped his stone and a glow of black light leaked from between his fingers, "I’d advise saying nothing about Kairos’s amulet to your guardian." His eyes went to my amulet and then back to my gaze. "The fewer who know you have it, the fewer I will have to convince you should be allowed to keep it."

Frightened, I nodded, and he smiled. Almost before my head stopped moving, a faint sphere of golden light hazed into existence in the shade of the oak tree. I stared at the dancing, hovering glow. It had to be a guardian angel. For me? Barnabas was clearly relieved, and I wondered why he cared when he’d been so hot to get rid of me not twenty minutes ago.

The ball of light shrank to nothing when it landed atop the wall, and I started when an ethereal voice seemed to insert itself into my head, saying, "Guardian, Reaper-Augmented Cherub, Extinction Security, as requested!"

Patting my shoulder, Ron turned, apparently having heard it as well. "And you are?"

"G.R.A.C.E.S. one-seventy-six," the curious chiming came again, making my ears hum.

Cherubs? As in flying naked babies with arrows?

Barnabas looked worried and the ball of light reappeared as the voice belligerently shot out, "You got a problem with cherubs, reaper?"

"No," Barnabas said. "I didn’t think G.R.A.C.E.S. employed the cherub union until the protected was eighteen."

A tiny rude snort filled my mind. "Like anyone is going to fall in love with her?" the light scoffed. "I’m a guardian angel. Not a miracle worker."

"Hey!" I exclaimed, insulted, and the globe of light darted to me. I backed up when it got too close. Graces, eh? More like a firefly from hell.

"You can see and hear me?" the ball of light chimed as it ran a quick circle around me, and I spun to try to keep it in view.

"Hear, yes. See? Not really, no." Disoriented, I stopped turning, and the glow settled on the bars of my bike and faded away. Barnabas snorted, and the glow reappeared and dimmed.

"Delightful," Ron drawled. "One-seventy-six, this is a temporary duty, not till death do you part. Keep her safe, and I want to know immediately if anything unsavory should come within thirty cubits of her."

The light lifted from the bike and shifted to me. "Thirty cubits. A-a-a-affirmative!"

Affirmative? This is an angel, right?

Ron gave me a last warning look to behave, grabbed Barnabas’s arm, and started pulling him away. "I’ll be back when I can. Oh, and I like your hair. It’s very…you."

I tried to smooth out my brow as I fingered the tips of my hair, then jerked when the two of them vanished. My breath hissed in, and I actually saw the shadows shift to later in the day. Not by much. Maybe a few seconds was all, but Ron had stopped time to cover his tracks. My stone was warm as if in reaction to his own amulet, and I held it tight. Looking out from the shade into the bright parking lot, I thought the world looked a whole lot more dangerous.

For the first time in four months, I was alone.

CHAPTER 3

"I hate it when he does that," I muttered, jumping when my guardian flew in front of me.

"Does what?" it chimed out.

Maybe not so alone. Sighing, I reached for my bike. "Stops time and jumps the sun like that, but I really wasn’t talking to you." If anyone saw me talking to the air, I’d definitely end up in the weirdo clique when school started back up. Not my senior year. I didn’t have time to work myself out from that again. You come to school one day with bat wings for Halloween, and you never live it down. A faint smile curved my lips up. Wendy, my friend back in Florida, had worn them too. It had almost made the batgirl-twins jokes funny.

The ball of light made a burst of indignant sound. "You’re really short, for a mortal."

"Look who’s talking," I shot back, then swung my leg over my bike. I shoved on the pedal, and the wheels made a pained sound, resistance keeping me from moving. "Hey!" I exclaimed when I realized my front tire was flat. The guardian angel was laughing. It had to be; its color was wildly shifting through the spectrum. "What did you do to my bike?" I said, though it was obvious.

"I’m protecting you!" it sang merrily. "Don’t you feel safer already?"