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The barn was quiet, almost too quiet. I moved slowly through the stalls, hoping they didn’t have some amazing supernatural senses that meant they could hear how hard my heart was hammering. I needed to come across as confident, or we could lose Remiel. I didn’t know the guy—angel, but in some weird way, I felt like he belonged to me now. He was my responsibility, and if he died, it wasn’t going to be because I hadn’t tried everything to save him.
I took a breath and peered around the edge of the stall. Remiel was asleep, but his breathing sounded labored and rough. I could hear it from where I stood. Ade sat next to his head, leaning back against the side of the barn. He held a nearly empty bottle of water, but his head was bent to the side, and his chest rose and fell peacefully. Eleth sat on the other side in a similar position, snoring quietly, and Jophiel was stretched out next to Remiel, his long, dark lashes lying against his pale cheeks. I hated to disturb them, but Remiel was not looking good. Even in the dimmer light of the barn, I could see a grayish cast to his already pale skin, and I was really worried we’d be too late. I knelt near Jophiel and gently shook him awake. He opened his eyes and smiled sleepily up at me. My heart leapt in my chest as he reached out and touched my face.
“Sorry to wake you,” I murmured.
“Don’t be. What a vision to wake up to,” he murmured softly, cupping my face in his hand. My breath caught in my throat as his thumb slid over my bottom lip. His eyes fastened on mine, gray with golden swirls, and I couldn’t look away until he did. He let go of me, and I found myself missing his touch.
“I... um... I need to help Remiel.”
Jophiel nodded and sat up. “You have an idea?” he asked, looking down at his brother-in-arms with a worried expression.
“I think so. It’s a risk, but I think he’s going to keep getting worse if we don’t do something.”
“What do you have in mind?” Ade chimed in, and I looked up to see him watching us from the other side of the stall.
I swallowed. “I think I need to go in and remove whatever it is that’s still lodged in the wound. If it’s part of a hellion claw or tooth, it could be what’s stopping him from healing and what’s causing the infection. It’s worth a try, and I’ll only cut as deeply as I need to.”
Jophiel looked at Ade, but Ade’s dark eyes were locked on mine. My heart thudded a few more beats before he finally nodded.
“We’ll wake Eleth first. It’ll take all three of us to hold him down.”
“You might not need to,” I said, reaching into my basket and pulling out a flat white box.
“What’s that?” Jophiel questioned.
“Ketamine,” I answered. “It’s a pain killer and anesthetic. It’s really strong.”
“A strange thing to have around,” Ade commented.
“Well, it’s usually used on horses,” I explained. Ade raised his eyebrows, so I hurried on. “I mean, people use it for... recreation, or so I’ve heard, but it does work on humans. We’ll just have to be careful how much we give him.”
Ade continued to watch me, his gaze so intense, I found myself looking at the ground. After a few moments, he sighed. “We should all decide.”
I laid out my rudimentary equipment while he woke Eleth and then finally Remiel himself. It had been hard to wake him, and although he did seem to understand what Ade was saying, he appeared to be struggling to stay conscious. He shook his head.
“No... No time. You need to leave. Leave me here...” His eyes rolled back in his head, and he went quiet.
“Why doesn’t he want us to help?” I asked Ade, looking up at him. “Doesn’t he trust me?”
“It’s not that,” Eleth replied gently. “It’s just that the longer we stay here, the more danger we put you and your father in.”
“How does you being here put us in danger?” I inquired.
Eleth looked over at Ade who shook his head. Eleth turned back to me. “Our energy can draw the hellions to us. We’re like magnets, so staying in one place makes us targets for large groups.”
I narrowed my eyes. Something wasn’t adding up. They definitely weren’t telling me everything. I had a sinking feeling that maybe my father was right, maybe we couldn’t trust them, but that didn’t seem to sit right with me either. I shook my head.
“Fine, we try this, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll decide what to do then.”
Ade nodded. “I agree.”
“But Remiel...” Jophiel seemed uncertain.
“Remiel is only trying to protect us. If we were in any other situation, do you think he’d back down and give up?” Ade challenged.
Jophiel shook his head. “Heavens, no. He’d be yelling at us to try anything. He’d say he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.”
“Exactly. Eleth?”
