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"Not until we both get some rest." Sarah eyed the iron fittings, recognizing the same ward-work Amelia had used on her own shop window, and something in her chest eased at the sight of it, small proof the universe hadn't gone entirely off its rocker. "Do you think you can fix the fountain? I’m not sure I’d trust a magical fix on something that pumps that much water through it."

“I would agree. There’s got to be some kind of cement repair someone can do to it,” Amelia insisted. “Camael got that for me. I don’t want to have to replace it. He’s not going to be happy when he sees it.”

"He's already aware of what happened," the younger angel blurted with a wince.

"And?" Sarah pressed, waiting.

"He wasn't thrilled." The angel replied.

"Nobody's ever thrilled around here." Izzy dropped onto a chair and put her elbows on the table. “We can call a pool repair company. They deal with this kind of thing all the time. This will just be a smaller job.”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” Sarah admitted. “I’m going to go do some reading. I want to see if I can find anything on Ithuriel in the library.”

“Who’s Ithuriel?” Elsie asked.

Sarah stood. “Long story. They can update you while I do some reading.”

With that, she headed to the library. "You never actually answered him." Izzy followed closely behind her. She was still carrying the smell of dead demon on her jacket.

"Out on the porch. He asked if you understood, and you gave him attitude instead of an answer," she continued as she dropped into the chair across from Sarah, propping her boots on the edge of the desk like she owned the place.

Sarah sighed, suddenly beyond exhausted. "Because I’m not sure what answer to give him yet." She pulled the stylus out of her bag and turned it over in her fingers. There was a faint hum of power against her palm.

"There's a really simple one available. It's called the word no." Izzy reached over and plucked the stylus straight out of Sarah's hand before she could stop her. The vampire princess held it up to the light as if she could read its whole history on the surface.

"If you want simple, go bother somebody else. And my love life is off limits as well." Sarah snatched the stylus back. She was more careful than the princess. The last relic she'd touched without thinking had made her a Guardian and Scribe. "What do you think of the First Scribe?”

Izzy dropped her feet to the floor. “Aside from the missing fingers? He’s got a chip on his shoulder the size of the Superdome.”

“What's your working theory on all that, genius?" Sarah asked Izzy. She liked the vampire princess. Sure, she was snarky and irreverent, but she appreciated that about her.

"We know there were a dozen of them one time. He was the first, and now he’s the last. He’s handing out magic pens like the world's creepiest substitute teacher." Izzy tipped her chin toward the journal resting on the table. "You get anything useful out of that book yet? Or are you still stuck fighting your grandmother's terrible handwriting?"

"Nana's handwriting is a war crime, but I'm fluent in it after thirty-one years of practice." Sarah drew the water-stained journal closer. The book flipped open on its own.

“That’s new and frightening,” Izzy observed. “What does it say?”

Sarah scanned the pages quickly, a lump forming in her gut as she did. "I’m sure you can guess it says something that isn't going to make either of us happy."

"We have to steal moments of happiness in our lines of work." Izzy dropped her boots off the desk and leaned in.

"Fair point." Sarah traced the line with one finger. "It says the first seal wasn't written just anywhere. It had to go down at the exact spot where the prison is weakest. Which happens to be right on top of the convergence."

Izzy's mouth flattened into a frown. "You can't just scribble in this thing from the safety of an armchair then."

"Nope." Sarah flipped the page, and her stomach dropped another inch. "Whoever writes the new seal has to stand where the old one's failing. Which, last I checked, happens to be directly under wherever Lucifer's currently pacing on his little leash."

"Wonderful." Izzy dragged both hands down her face like that might erase the facts. "You have to walk straight into the one place crawling with the being who is trying to enslave you. And do your magical homework before he turns you into his puppet."

"Pretty much, yeah." Sarah shut the journal, more forcefully than she meant to. "Nana left off the part where she explains how anyone's supposed to survive working that close to Lucifer and finish the seal."

"She couldn’t make it too easy for you." Izzy shook her head, some of her usual bite creeping back in. "Apparently, guardians are really big on cryptic warnings, but short on actual instructions."

The front hall erupted into noise before Sarah could answer. She felt the power before hearing the heavy boots against the floorboards. Camael's voice cut through the racket. She was on her feet before she'd consciously decided to move. Izzy was ahead of her this time. The pair entered the hall where Camael stood, soot streaked across his face and arms. His mouth was set in a grim line.

"Araton and Ayil are alive," Camael told Abraxos, who was standing in the doorway to the war room. "Ayil has broken ribs, and Araton has a wing that'll need Jace. Araton's already plotting revenge against Lucifer."

"And the port itself?" Abraxos asked, moving to stand close enough to Sarah that his shoulder brushed hers. They’d only been separated a few minutes, but she found she’d missed him.