Finale

Three boat ramps stretched into the wide river, but no boats. I walked to the end of the first ramp, shielded my eyes from the glare of the sun, and looked around. No Patch.

My cell phone chimed.

I’M IN THE THICKET OF TREES AT THE END OF THE WALKWAY, Patch texted.

I followed the walkway past the docks to the thicket, and that was when Pepper Friberg stepped out from behind a tree. He had Patch’s cell phone in one hand and a gun in the other. My eyes fixed on the gun, and I took an involuntary step back.

“It won’t ki son&o stall you, but a gunshot can be excruciatingly painful,” he said. His polyester trousers rode high on his waist, and his shirt hung at an ill-fitting angle—he hadn’t lined up the buttons properly. However, despite his goofy, bumbling appearance, I felt his power ripple over me like the sun’s hottest rays. He was far more dangerous than he appeared.

“Am I supposed to take it from someone who knows?” I returned.

His eyes darted both ways down the path. He sponged his forehead with a white handkerchief, further proof of his anxiety. His fingernails had been chewed to stubs. “If you know what I am, and I’m betting Patch told you, then you know I can’t feel pain.”

“I know you’re an archangel, and I know you haven’t been playing by the rules. Patch told me you’ve been living a double life, Pepper. A powerful archangel moonlighting as a human? With your powers, you could really work the system. Are you after money? Power? A good time?”

“I already told you what I’m after: Patch,” he said, a fresh sheen of sweat breaking across his forehead. He couldn’t seem to mop it up fast enough. “Why won’t he meet me?”

Uh, because you want to chain him in hell. I jerked my chin at the cell phone in Pepper’s hand. “Nice trick, luring me here with his phone. How did you get it?”

“I took it from him last night at the Devil’s Handbag. I found him hiding out in a brown van parked across the street from the entrance. He bolted before I got my hands on him, but in his hurry, he missed grabbing his belongings, including his phone with all his contacts. I’ve been dialing and texting numbers all morning, trying to reach you.”

Secretly, I breathed in relief. Patch had escaped. “If you brought me here to interrogate me, you’re out of luck. I don’t know where Patch is. I haven’t talked to him since yesterday. In fact, it sounds like you were the last to see him.”

“Interrogate?” The tips of his Dumbo ears glowed pink. “Golly, that sounds ominous. What do I look like? A common criminal?”

“If you don’t want to question me, why lure me all the way out here?” So far, we’d kept our conversation light, but I was growing increasingly nervous. I didn’t trust Pepper’s bungling, inept antics. They had to be a ploy.

“See that boat over there?”

I followed Pepper’s gaze to the river’s edge. A gleaming white motorboat bobbed on the water’s surface. Sleek, expensive, and probably very fast. “Nice boat. Going on a trip?” I asked, trying not to sound worried.

“Yes. And you’re coming with me.”

Chapter 9

I GAVE YOU A CHANCE TO DO THIS THE EASY WAY, but I’m running out of patience,” Pepper said. He stuffed the gun into the waistband of his trousers, freeing up both hands to wipe his gleaming brow. “If I can’t get von&o epper said to Patch, I’ll make him come to me.”

I saw where this was going. “This is a kidnapping? You’re most definitely not a common criminal, Pepper. Felon, sociopath, and nefarious evildoer all sound a bit closer to the mark.”

He loosened his collar and grimaced. “I need Patch to do something for me. A little . . . favor. That’s all. Harmless, really.”

I had a feeling that “favor” included following Pepper down to hell, just before he jumped clear and slammed the gates shut on Patch. It was one way to take care of a blackmailer.

“I’m one of the good guys,” Pepper said. “An archangel. He can trust me. You should have told him to trust me.”

“The fastest way to break his trust would be to kidnap me. Think this through, Pepper. Taking me isn’t going to make Patch cooperate with you.”

He tugged harder at his collar. His face had flushed to the point that he resembled a sweaty pink pig. “There’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye. I’m out of options, can’t you see that?”

“You’re an archangel, Pepper. And yet here you are, strolling around on Earth, carrying a gun and threatening me. I don’t believe you’re harmless, just like I don’t believe you mean no ill will toward Patch. Archangels don’t hang around on Earth for extended periods of time, and they don’t take hostages. You know what I think? You’ve turned bad.”

“I’m down here on assignment. I’m not bad, but I do have to take certain . . . liberties.”

“Gee, I’m almost tempted to believe you.”

“I have a job for your boyfriend that only he can do. I don’t want to kidnap you, but you’ve forced my hand. I need Patch’s help, and I need it now. Walk toward the boat, nice and easy. Any sudden movements and I shoot.”

Pepper made a summoning gesture, the boat glided obediently through the water, moving toward the closest boat ramp. Patch hadn’t told me archangels could command objects. I didn’t like the surprise, and I wondered how much this would complicate my attempt at escape.

“Didn’t you hear? He’s not my boyfriend anymore,” I told Pepper. “I’m dating Dante Matterazzi. Surely you’ve heard of him? Everyone has. Patch is one hundred percent in my past.”

“Guess we’ll find out, won’t we? If I have to ask you to start walking again, I’ll put a hole in your foot.”

I raised my arms level with my shoulders and walked to the boat ramp. A little late, I wished I’d worn my jean jacket with the tracking device. If Patch knew where I was, he’d come for me. Maybe he’d sewn a device into my puffer vest too, but I couldn’t count on it. And since I didn’t know where Patch was, or if he was even okay, I couldn’t count on him, either.

“Climb into the boat,” Pepper ordered me. “Take the rope on the seat and tie your hands to the guardrails.”

“You’re serious about this,” I said, stalling. I glanced at t { glng gestuhe trees framing the river. If I could get to them, I could hide. Pepper’s bullets would have more success hitting trees than me.

“Thirty miles from here, I have a nice roomy storage room with your name on it. Once we get there, I’ll give your boyfriend a ring.” He made a fist, extending his thumb and pinkie finger, and placed the hand-phone near his ear. “We’ll see if we can’t come to an agreement. If he swears an oath to handle a personal matter for me, you just might get to see him, and your friends and family, again.”

“How are you going to call him? You have his cell phone.”

Pepper frowned. He hadn’t thought this through. Maybe I could use his disorganization to my advantage. “Then we’ll just have to wait for him to call us. For your sake, I hope he doesn’t dawdle.”

Reluctantly, I climbed inside the boat. I picked up the rope and started looping it into a knot. I couldn’t believe Pepper was this stupid. Did he honestly think a run-of-the-mill rope would contain me?

Pepper answered my question. “In case you’re having any escape-type thoughts, you should know that rope has been enchanted. It looks harmless, but it’s stronger than structural steel. Oh, and once you’ve secured your wrists, I’ll enchant it again. If you so much as tug against the rope to break free, it will pump two hundred volts of electricity into your body.”

I tried to keep my composure. “Special trick of archangels?”

“Let’s just say I’m more powerful than you think.”

Pepper swung one short leg over the boat, balancing his foot on the driver’s seat. Before he could bring his other leg over, I slammed my body against the side of the boat, rocking it forcefully away from the ramp. Pepper stood one foot in, one foot out, with the gap of air between his legs widening.

He reacted instantly. He shot into the air, hovering several feet above the boat. Flying. In my split-second decision to unbalance him, I’d forgotten he had wings. And not only that, but now he was clearly furious.

I dove overboard, swimming hard for the center of the river, hearing shots being fired into the water from above.

A splash sounded behind me, and I knew Pepper had dived in after me. In a matter of seconds he would catch me and fulfill that promise to put a hole in my foot—and probably a lot worse. I wasn’t as strong as an archangel, but I was Nephilim now, and I’d trained with Dante . . . twice. I decided to do something either incredibly stupid, or incredibly brave.

Planting my feet firmly on the sandy riverbed, I pushed up with all my strength, vaulting straight out of the water. To my surprise I overshot, soaring above the treetops crowding the riverbanks. I could see for miles and miles, past the factories and fields, to the highway strung out with tiny cars and tractor-trailers. Beyond that, I saw Coldwater itself, a cluster of homes, shops, and green-lawned parks.

Just as quickly, I lost velocity. My stomach flip-flopped, air skidding over my body as my direction reversed. The river rushed up at me. I had the urge to pinwheel my arms frantically, but it was as if my body wouldn’t stand for it. It refused to be anything less than graceful and efficient, tucking into { tuI kne a tight missile. My feet crashed into the boat ramp, smashing through the planks of wood, plunging me back into the water.

More bullets whizzed past my ears. I scrabbled out of the debris, lunged up the riverbank, and took off sprinting for the trees. Two mornings of running in the dark had given me some preparation, but it didn’t explain why I was suddenly running at speeds that rivaled Dante’s. The trees passed in a dizzying blur, but my feet leaped and bounded with ease, almost as if they could anticipate the necessary steps a half second before my mind.

I raced at top speed up the walkway, flung myself inside the Volkswagen, and floored it out of the parking lot. To my amazement, I wasn’t even out of breath.

Adrenaline? Maybe. But I didn’t think so.

I drove to Allen’s Drug and Pharmacy and slid the Volkswagen into a parking space nestled between two trucks that hid me from the street. Then I slouched in my seat, trying to make myself invisible. I was pretty sure I’d lost Pepper at the river, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious. I needed time to think. I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t go back to school. What I really needed was to find Patch, but I didn’t know where to start.

My cell phone rang, startling me out of my reverie.

“Yo, Grey,” Scott said. “Vee and I are on our way to Taco Hut for lunch, but the big question of the day is, where are you? Now that you (a) can drive, and (b) have wheels—ahem, thanks to me—you don’t have to eat in the school cafeteria. FYI.”

I ignored his jesting tone. “I need Dante’s number. Text it to me and make it fast,” I told Scott. I’d had Dante’s number stored on my old phone, but not this one.