moved aside to give me space.
I summoned my wings and the darkness that clothed me shifted around them. No more ruined clothing; that was a plus.
“So beautiful.” Azrael ran his hand over the golden membrane of one of my wings.
It was like having a fingertip trailed over my lower back—almost naughty. I shivered and spread my wings wide. “Where shall we go?”
“We can fly toward Austin,” he suggested. “Then you can see the truth of what's befallen the human cities.”
“All right.” I squared my shoulders and climbed up onto a merlon—the top of a battlement crenelation—with Azrael's help.
Azrael got up on another merlon a few down from mine, using the crenelation as a step, and grinned over at me. We lifted our wings and jumped. Air cracked against leather and feathers, catching us and sending us swooping upward. We glided over the treetops and off across Lexington. Despite Azrael's relocation of the homes closest to the castle, Lexington's layout remained mostly the same. But it was the only thing that was the same. The entire town had been overtaken by nature. I could still see the black asphalt and the buildings off the main street, but trees had burst through the roads, vines wound around the lampposts, and plants covered the architecture like moss on a boulder.
There was no one outside, only animals prowled the town and it was early afternoon. Most of them were strange creatures with bright fur, feathers, or scales but some were ordinary earth animals that had wandered free of their pens and stalls. A cow munched happily on faerie plants beside something that looked like a cross between a badger and a wolf. A massive bird flew past us, crying in joy, its vibrant feathers trailing behind it, and in the distance, a flock of starlings billowed and spiraled in phenomenal patterns. My heart lightened to see them sharing the sky—the old with the new, both magical in their own ways. Then the giant fey bird dove and snatched up the badger/wolf before flying off with its prey hanging limp from its talons.
My heart rethought the whole lightness thing.
“Circle of life, Carus,” Azrael called over to me as the murmuration of starlings murmured away. “It is the same on Earth as it is in Faerie.”
“Fair enough,” I muttered.
We flew over the police station that was now more of an open-air building. The roof was gone. Not crumbled or broken, just gone. And the walls were shards of quartz crystal. Metal desks sat abandoned within their transparent cubicles, looking out of place and very post-apocalyptic. Papers collected in corners, stirring lethargically in the breeze, and the station coffee pot was barely visible beneath a layer of lichen. I once again hoped that Cowboy Cop was all right but on the heels of that thought came one for my family—my human family on Earth.
“Forget Austin,” I said suddenly, meaning the town, not the cop. “I need to trace to California and make sure my mom's okay.”
Azrael frowned but also nodded, and we descended so we could step into the Aether. He'd been to my mom's house before so I didn't have to lead him but he took my hand anyway.
“I'm not going to run from you, Azrael,” I said firmly. “You need to trust me.”
Azrael sighed but nodded, released my hand, and stepped back. Honestly, I was a little surprised by that. I mean, I could have used my ring to leave him at any time if I'd wanted to, but he didn't know that or hadn't remembered it, and I wasn't about to remind him.
“Thank you,” I said instead, then put away my wings and traced away.
I came out of the Aether on my mother's doorstep. A jungle of fey plants surrounded her home and the old tree in the front yard now breathed, but the construction of the house appeared to be the same. The house across the street hadn't fared so well and now looked a little like an anthill. A rustling came from the bushes near the front door and then a growl. I turned toward the sound and snarled just as Azrael appeared. Another rustling came, this time of an animal fleeing.
I knocked urgently on the door. There was no answer.
“Mom!” I shouted and knocked more. “Mom!” I tried to peer in the window but the curtains were drawn. I hurried around to the backyard, shoving aside enormous ferns and the branches of a monstrous bush bursting with yellow berries. Something snake-like