Around two hours later, he frowned, not understanding what he was reading but feeling more than a hint of trepidation. “Emory?”
The angel had been sitting quietly on the couch near him, reading one of the books he’d pulled from the shelves. His head lifted. “Yes?”
“I told you about powerful beings gathering here, and I’m coming across conversations where they are obviously trying to mask their plans, but words like revival and restoration have been used. Now I just read resurrection.”
“They like their R words.” Emory got up and came to where Julien was sitting with his laptop. He looked over Julien’s shoulder to read. “We need to call Xavier.”
“What in the world could they be trying to resurrect?”
“I have no idea, but I don’t like this.” Emory straightened and pulled out his phone. He filled Xavier in, then nodded. “We’ll bring this in now.” He slipped his phone back into his pocket and looked at Julien. “He wants us to bring the information in so he and Daniel can read through it. Seeing it in context may help them figure out exactly what these sorcerers are up to.”
Julien nodded, downloaded everything to a thumb drive, and stood to get his shoes while Emory alerted the others.
They piled into Emory’s black SUV, which felt like an oven. Emory quickly flipped on the air conditioning, which spit out hot air.
“What information did you find?” Alaric asked from the back seat next to Julien.
“It looks like they’re trying to bring something back,” Julien said. “But from where? Hell?”
Emory glanced into the rearview mirror. “There is no such place. But there have always been rumors about other dimensions. It could be them trying to bring back a sorcerer. Problem is, I can’t think of a reason why, because from what I understand, these preternaturals gathering are powerful themselves.”
Bain shifted in the front passenger seat, his white-blond ponytail swishing over the headrest. “It’s possible they fed this information on purpose to misdirect us. It’s possible they’re out to take Xavier down.”
“But why?” Emory asked. “I mean, I see why they’d want Xavier out of the picture because he can probably stop whatever it is they’re doing, but they must be doing something big, and resurrecting something could work with the increase of magic.”
Alaric cleared his throat. “The main problem is all that magic is too unstable. Spells could go awry. They’re overdoing it for some reason.”
Emory stopped the vehicle at a light.
Julien’s skin began to prickle, and his eyes went wide when a tall man with a shock of bright red hair stepped right out onto the street in front of their vehicle.
Emory cursed, glanced behind him at the cars lined up there. Some were honking because the light had turned green. “Stay in the car, Julien.”
“Is he one of the sorcerers?”
“Wizard, and I can feel his magic. He’s a powerful one.” Emory gave Julien a hard look filled with concern, then he shoved open the driver’s door and shot into the air. Alaric and Bain both got out fast as well.
The wizard thrust his hands into the air just as two more people stepped up behind him. Another man and a woman that Julien was sure were more wizards. Or sorcerers. He had no way of telling the difference.
Cars were still honking behind them, but his attention was on Emory, who was zipping about in the air—possibly avoiding whatever spells all three were now aiming upward.
A trash can slammed into the side of the first wizard’s body, sending him sprawling, and Emory shot down to land right on the wizard’s chest. The woman was struggling against some unseen force, and Julien’s mouth fell open when Bain’s form suddenly grew and took on a half man, half snake shape. He had silvery scales with black stripes, and he grabbed the third man and stared hard into his eyes. That man just collapsed.
The cars had gone silent, and Julien could only imagine the people in those cars were too mesmerized by what they were seeing. An angel with obvious white wings who could leap high into the air and Bain, whose shifted form was… Well, it was terrifying. Or did these people see those things? Were their glamours still intact? They’d still see Emory up in the air even if the wings were still hidden.
He felt helpless stuck there in the SUV, and it wasn’t a feeling he liked. But William had been right about one thing—this wasn’t his world. He didn’t have powers, couldn’t fight these beings after him. He had no choice but to give up total control here.
His thoughts cut off when Emory went flying backwards, his wings smashing into one of the stalled cars. He quickly got control and flew back up into the air. He was really quite stunning with his massive wings fully out and stretched wide as they flapped.
Four more people stepped out onto the street, and utter panic gripped Julien. Bain was using his tail to knock wizards off their feet, Emory was leaping and aiming kicks and Alaric had his hands up, but his tight expression showed he was struggling.
Julien fumbled with his phone and called Xavier. As soon as he answered, Julien gave him the intersection location. “We’re being attacked. There are too many!”
“On my way,” was all Xavier said.
Julien dropped the phone, heart in his throat as Emory landed on the street right in front of the SUV just as Xavier and the warper wizard appeared on the sidewalk. The magic that had been prickling Julien’s skin increased until every hair stood on his body. Xavier was speaking but Julien couldn’t hear, so he got out of the car.
The red-haired wizard threw up his hands but before his spell could reach Julien, Emory dove down and snatched him right into the air. His wings billowed as he carried Julien high. He should have been scared being this high, but he wasn’t because Emory’s arms were secure around him. He stared down at the scene of chaos below him as Xavier spoke loudly.
