Everlasting Embrace (Embrace Series) (17 page)

“
Slow down
,
I agree with you
. B
u
t angels take care of
our own
,
just
as humans are to take care of
their
own
criminals. No
w look
…
life isn
’
t wond
erful no matter where you are. A
ll we can do is
try our best to get by. For me
,
my
best is protecting those I love
and follow
ing orders when given them. Now
,
c
an we just get this over with
so I can get out of here
?
”

“
Okay. S
o what do we have to do? How can we help Ben?
”

“
The angel h
unters know where to find him
, so
we have to throw them off his trail. Do you have someone
who
can do a cloaking spell? That way they won
’
t find him
;
he will look different
,
and his abilities can be hidden from them.
”

“
Yeah
,
we have witches
who
we work with.
”

“
They will have to be some pretty powerful witches to pull off a cloaking spell,
”
Michael huffed, thinking I don
’
t have a clue as to what he
’
s talking about.
“
I guess I
’
m going to have to help there too.
”
Michael rolls his eyes.

“
Well
,
they are the Magnificent Ones
;
powerful enough for you?
”
I snarl back, beginning to get really sick of this dude
’
s attitude. What the
heck is with these angel
types? And
they say vampires are bad.

“
You mean the
actual
Magnificent O
nes? You work with the most powerful wi
tches of this day and age
?
Yeah
,
i
f that
’
s who they really are
you should be alright. You get that taken care of
,
and I
will find you again in a week. W
e can then see if everything is working out. If you don
’
t succeed
,
I can
get in a lot of trouble
,
s
o
I suggest you don
’
t let me down. B
ecause
you don
’
t
want me to get mad. I have a little pent up anger
I would
just love
to take care of.
”

“
Yeah
,
I kinda gather that. M
aybe you just need a good lay.
”

With one huge flap of his wings, Michael knocks
me off my feet. I fly backwards
and land on my ass in the melting snow. Looking up
,
I see he
’
s gone just as fast as he
appeared. The only trace of him
i
s a single white feather
twirling to the ground from above. Getting back to my feet
,
I grab the feather
be
fore it reaches the ground
and
shove it in my pocket
before I head back down the trail.


  

  


I decide
to keep my encounter to myself
u
ntil we get back to the hotel. I don
’
t want to ruin the day.

“
Caspian, how was your walk? You were gone for a while
,
”
Florence asks as she pulls a glass of her blood punch from the picnic basket we
have
in the car.

“
Very peaceful
;
t
his is a great place. I understand why you chose to come back here.
”

“
Well
,
after we all have a little to eat, we can head on to Radium
Hot Springs
. You kids are going to love it there.
”


  

  


The hot springs a
re the perfect place to relax. T
he cool air
and the natu
ral
, fresh
hot water
cause
steam
to
ris
e
off it
,
creating a cloud of steam. Everyone brought their bathing suits
,
and we enjoy some time together. What might be
a slight sulphur smell to most
i
s a t
ouch stronger to us immortals
, but
l
ooking at
the mountain rock that surround
s
us and the snow only feet above makes the smells more tolerable. A small stream trickles down the side of the mountain from the melting snow above. The sun shines h
igh above us in the sky, bright
yellow
,
like a fresh lemon pie floating in the heavens. Who could ever want to leave this p
lace
i
f they didn
’
t have to?

Ideas

Caspian has been acting funny ever since he came back from his walk at Moraine Lake
;
I can
’
t help but wonder what happened. Ebony and I take the babies and tuck them in to their cribs. It
’
s been a long day
,
and they are beat
.
I
expect
both will sleep strai
gh
t through the night. Back out in the living area of our suite, I notice Caspian pacing back and forth
;
his
anxiety
is palpable.

“
Okay Caspian, we
’
re all here
,
so why don
’
t you spill the beans about what happened up at the lake today.
”
I take a seat next to Nathanial
,
and he take
s
a hold of my hand.

“
You
’
r
e
right Sophia,
s
omething did happen. I just wanted everyone to enjoy their day before we get back to business.
”

With a fatherly hand on Caspian
’
s shoulder, Elijah adds
,
“
Thank you son, but we came here to protect Ben
,
so if you learned something today that may help him, please share it with the rest of us.
”

“
I know
;
and I did learn something that may help Ben. The guardian angel I was told about
…
he was there.
”

“
I assume he had some ideas for us,
”
Isaac asks with a raised brow.

Over the next little while
,
Caspian explains what Michael told him. Ebony and Eliza pull out the
B
ook of
S
hadows
,
looking for the cloaking spell. With any luck
,
we can get it done before heading back home to Wenham
;
t
hat way the angels may think that we left him elsewhere.

“
I think we found it,
”
exclaims Eliza.

“
So can you do it?
”
Ben asks with sheer excitement.

“
Yeah, but we
’
re gonna need some supplies. I saw a
g
em store when we were down town.
”

“
Well
,
ladies
,
I guess we go first thing in the morning
.
”
Caspian points out that it may be too late
in the afternoon to get started today
.

“
There may be one thing that might be more difficult to find
,
”
Ebony says with slight despair.

“
What is it? I
’
m sure we can find it somewhere,
”
Isaac comforts.

Ebony looks at all of us
.
“
A
feather from an angel
’
s wing.
”

“
Well
,
I happen to have a few of those,
”
Ben smiles and
flashes
his large white wings, taking us all back a little. We knew he had them, but he hasn
’
t really flashed them at us like a bright
,
white smile before.

“
If it were that easy
,
I wouldn
’
t be so concerned.
”
Ebony reads from the book,
“
To successfully perform a cloak on one of angelic de
s
cent, you will need a feather from one that is deemed pure enough to hold presence in
Crossroads
.
”

“
Do we know what this Crossroads is?
”
Danika questions with worry.

“
From what I gather
,
it is the place where souls go when they die
.
T
he Crossr
oa
ds seems to be something like the gates to
Heaven
.
”

“
I think I can help
.
”
Caspian pulls the
downy
feather from the pocket of his jacket.
“
This fell off the angel Michael. I assume he has been to this Crossroads
,
since he works with the Twelve.
”

“
I guess it won
’
t hurt to try
.
T
his feather is our best chance.
”
Ebony takes the feather from Caspian and places it between the pages of the book. The pages begin to glow bright white.

“
Michael told me that the witches performing the spell
must be
the most powerful of witches, or he would need to help. I explained that you are the
M
agnificent
O
nes
,
and as he left
,
this single feather fell from him. He must have known that you would need it to perform the spell.
”

“
You know
,
I just remember
ed
seeing the souvenir shop downstairs also
sells
gems
. M
aybe we can check there,
”
Nathanial suggests.

“
I would feel more comfortable going directly to a gem store. I think they
’
ll have a larger selection
,
and we may find a few other things we need,
”
Eliza explains with full authority.

Florence decides
we should
call it
an early
night
and just relax around the hotel for the remainder of the day
.
“
I think we
’
ve done all we can for to
day
,
and some of you
are going to
need your sleep.
Let
’
s just relax today
;
plus I think the
newly
married couples might enjoy some more alone time.
We d
on
’
t
expect answers overnight
.
O
ne more night won
’
t do any harm.
”