all I would accomplish was the loss of that hand. But it was a reflex. An automatic response to someone slicing me in two.
A heartbeat before he swung, the smoke appeared again. The same smoke I’d seen earlier in the storeroom. It billowed up and around the being. The angel. It had to be an angel.
The angel stopped, lowered first the sword, then his head. He kept a wary eye on the smoke. Tightened his hold on the hilt. Then, to my surprise, spoke.
The language had round vowels and soft consonants. It was ancient and graceful and untainted.
“Show yourself,” he’d said, and somehow the fact that I knew a celestial language got lost in all the other crap going down.
The black fog ignored the command and continued to grow until it obscured my view of the angel completely. But I heard the clanging of swords even over the roaring train. Before I could make out what was happening, the train crashed into me. Time crashed into me. I felt like I’d jumped from a high cliff and splashed face-first into freezing cold water, the force was so jarring. It knocked my breath away, but at the last second, I remembered I was supposed to be with the robber.
I jumped to my feet and sprinted through the awakening of time. Movement that started out slow progressed quickly until, just as I slid into place beside the robber, it bounced back completely.
The bullet zinged through the glass. It didn’t shatter it, but the café would now have a nice-sized hole to cover up.
Finding it impossible to get his balance, Lewis stumbled and fell back against the hard floor, but as he did, his gaze locked on to the gun that had magically appeared beside him. He lunged for it and closed his fist around the handle.
The man beside me struggled to remove the barrier on his face. In an almost comical move, he tore it off, then searched frantically for the gun. A gun that was now being held on him.
“Get down!” Lewis shouted, and everyone in the café dropped to the floor. Everyone but the robber. He stood stunned, unable to figure out what had just happened.
I stepped back as Lewis advanced.
“Get the fuck on your knees,” he said, his tone suddenly menacing.
Shayla hurried toward us but stopped short to let Lewis do his thing. Left with little choice, the robber raised his hands and slowly sank to his knees in disbelief.
The only ones who didn’t drop to the floor were Erin, Shayla, and Reyes.
Reyes!
He was right where I’d left him. The same hard expression on his face. The same sour disposition. His muscles tightened as I studied him. His jaw clenched. His hands curled into fists. When he lowered his arm and pressed it to his side, realization hit me. He was hurt. A dark red stain spread over his rib cage to saturate the shirt he wore.
I gasped and started toward him, but his expression hardened even further. He rose from the seat and strode out the back door. I wanted to run after him, to check on him, but I couldn’t leave Lewis to take on the bad guy alone.
The sirens grew louder, and I braced myself for what was to come. Cops. News crews. Gawkers in every shape and size. The spotlight was not a place I liked to be, so I slowly sank into a chair and willed myself to become invisible. I’d let Lewis absorb the brightest rays and keep to myself as much as possible.
Two hours later, the cops had taken our statements, arrested the bad guy, and both congratulated and admonished Lewis for his bravery-slash-bullheadedness. He would’ve died if I hadn’t stopped time.
Or had I?
Did I have anything to do with what happened? Clearly there was more to Reyes than met the eye. Even my supernaturally inclined one.
He’d managed to elude the cops. No one could say for certain he was in the café except Francie and me. And she wasn’t talking. I had to give her brownie points for that. Not a lot. Maybe, like, three.
Cookie and I had been sitting together through most of the interrogations, along with Bobert, who’d stormed in after the fact. Cookie was shaken up. No doubt about it. And yet she was handling it all way better than I thought she would. She seemed more concerned about me than about herself. Come to think of it, the second Bobert found out she was okay, he seemed