Page 4 of Into the Abyss
“I do not know,” he replied.
I’d assumed I would have to prod himfurther, but Raphael crossed over to kneel at Bale’s side. Hebrushed aside the fire red hair covering her face before placinghis hand on her forehead and closing his eyes. Bale’s chestcontinued to rise and fall, but she showed no other signs oflife.
After a minute, Raphael released her andturned to the human closest to him. He touched the man’s foreheadand closed his eyes again. He stayed beside the human for a fewminutes before removing his hand and rising.
“I cannot,” he answered. “Whatever happenedto them is beyond my abilities. This isn’t physical; it’s somethingelse entirely.”
But what?
Striding forward, I knelt at Shax’s side,and resting my hand on his shoulder, I turned him over to see hisface. Dirt caked his golden blond hair, crusted blood had driedunder his nose and upper lip, but the injuries that caused thebleeding were already healed. Shax was a fast healer, but Isuspected at least an hour had passed since they were all struckdown.
I squeezed Shax’s shoulder before rising towalk over and kneel at Hawk’s side. The former human turned canaghdemon had fallen on his back. He had one arm draped across hischest, and oddly enough, a smile tugged at the corners of hismouth. That smile was almost as confusing as the numerous sleepingbeauties.
“What the…?”
My voice trailed off as I lifted my head togaze at the rest of the bodies. We were missing something here, butwhat?
“Where’s Caim?” I asked Raphael as I rosefrom Hawk’s side.
He waved at one of the trees and the massivethree-foot-tall, one-hundred-pound raven perched on a branch there.The raven’s claws almost encircled the entire limb as it twistedits head to survey the scene below. Rainbow colors danced acrossthe raven’s black feathers, and the same colors danced within itsonyx eyes.
“Wren!” Corson shouted.
My attention returned to Corson as he leaptover the fallen bodies and ran fifteen feet into the woods. Wren’spale blonde hair shone in the sun when Corson rolled her over. Mythroat went dry as his hands skimmed her face to brush away thedebris clinging to her.
“He’s going to lose his mind,” Imuttered.
“He must maintain control now more thanever,” Raphael stated. “So far, we are the only fourunaffected.”
“Aren’t you observant?” I drawled.
Raphael frowned at me before nodding. “Iam.”
Apparently, sarcasm was lost on angels.Unwilling to hear anything more from Raphael, I made my way acrossthe clearing toward Corson. Placing my feet carefully between thebodies, I managed to avoid stepping on any of them. I was fifteenfeet away from Corson when he lifted his head and his blazingorange eyes locked on mine.
He would murder everything he got his handson if we didn’t figure out what was going on and fix it soon… if itcould be fixed.
“Whatdidthis?” Corsonsnarled.
When I looked at the bodies again, Irealized some more of them were smiling while others grimaced. InCorson’s arms, Wren’s mouth pursed and her brow furrowed. Whateverheld her within its grasp troubled her.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“What could have the power, the strength,theneedto do this?” Corson demanded.
Before I could reply, Caim launched himselfout of the tree and, with a loud caw, dove into the woods. Branchessnapped as he plummeted with the speed of a meteor toward theground and out of view.
A startled, female cry followed hisdisappearance.
CHAPTER 2
Magnus
I only beat Corson to where Caim vanished because hepaused to lift Wren into his arms and carry her through the woods.Raphael soared overhead before arcing toward the ground.
When I saw Caim again, he wasn’t in ravenshape but had resumed the form of a man. He darted back and forthin front of a woman as he used his open wings to block her fromrunning past him.
The silver spikes protruding from the upperand bottom tips of his wings flashed as he moved. Like in his ravenform, his ebony hair and coal black eyes shimmered with hints ofrainbow color. Unlike the other fallen angels, who regrew morebat-like, veined wings after shearing them off when they first fellto Earth, Caim’s wings had regrown feathers, but those feathersgrew back black instead of white like the non-fallen angels.
