is a spiritual battle as well as a physical one,” Raven said.
Kaylyn nodded. “Very much so. Almost more a spiritual battle than anything else. You need weapons. Faith, peace. As I said, you will have to face the seeker. You can’t run forever.”
Nikki agreed. “I’m tired of running already. I’d rather just get it over with.”
Kaylyn reached over and touched Nikki’s arm. “Not until you’re ready. Trust me on this one. But Pastor Layton can help prepare you.”
Nikki imagined herself being encouraged onto an armored horse at a jousting tournament.
Kaylyn smiled. “Layton will help you prepare spiritually. Right now, your spirit is probably just about dry.”
Nikki’d never given much thought to her spirit — practically her entire life had been spent learning to protect her body. But if preparing her inner defenses would help end this nightmare, she was game. She thought back to the faith ball, and the breakthrough she’d had. “I do have faith.”
“You don’t have faith, Nikki!” Raven’s outburst shocked her.
“It wasn’t your faith, okay?” he almost whispered. His face looked like a small child’s.
A thousand icicles sliced through her stomach. “But I felt the faith ball. I held it in my hands. I did what you told me to do and I succeeded.”
He looked everywhere but at her. “It was a trick. I used my own faith to make you think you’d found yours.”
A short puff of air forced all the oxygen from her lungs. A trick? “Are — are you kidding? Why would you —” Then she knew. He’d wanted to do something Mace couldn’t. Raven had let her think she possessed something she didn’t have — that she needed to have — just to make Mace look like a fool.
Her head was hot, her ears were ringing, and if she didn’t get away she was going to scream or faint. The tiny black spots in front of her eyes suggested the latter. He tricked me. Boiling anger chased the spots until they all but disappeared in the periphery of her vision. All that time, she’d been frustrated with Mace’s slow instruction. Now she understood he was the only one actually trying to help her. And just that quickly, she made a decision. “I’m going back to Viennesse.”
Raven grabbed her. “Nikki, you can’t. They’re on their way here. I was trying to help you back on the boat. I wanted —”
She pulled away from him. “To trick me into thinking I have a weapon I don’t? That’s not help, Raven. My life is on the line.”
He grabbed her again, this time harder, so she couldn’t even thrash. “You think I don’t know that? Look, I wouldn’t have done it if I’d had any idea this was going to happen.”
“Oh, right, because it’s so unlikely I’d be hunted and chased by people and things wanting to kill me!”
“I figured if you held the faith ball and believed in it enough, it would become a part of you.”
“You figured? Well, thanks for gambling with my life.”
Kaylyn stepped between them, and Raven let go. “This isn’t helping the situation. The fact is, Nikki, whether you have faith or not right now, you better find a way to tap into that well inside you. Layton can help you do that.”
Nikki swallowed, and Raven’s betrayal slid down her throat with all the other emotions that were bubbling to the surface. She was just so tired of being a victim, being hunted. First by hell hounds, then by evil men and demons, now by a monster from hell. It wasn’t fair to release all her anxiety on Raven, she knew, but at the same time what he did was almost unforgivable.
Kaylyn’s bright blue eyes were now pleading. “Let Raven take you to Philadelphia.”
After a long time, Nikki gave a reluctant nod. What choice did she have? She couldn’t fly, and she clearly couldn’t protect herself on her own. Why is it even a rebel like Raven has more spiritual power than me?
“Before you leave, I’m going to need some of your blood.” Both Raven and Nikki gave Kaylyn a quizzical look, but she was too busy inspecting items along the table to notice. “You’re headed to Philadelphia, we’re headed out West. Miles and miles of desert.”
Nikki and Raven exchanged shrugs, as if it was the only form of communication they could now share.
“Ah, this should work.” Kaylyn brought an empty Perrier bottle to Raven then held out the dented cap. “Bend it back?”
Raven took the lid and smoothed out the crease.
Kaylyn