I still can’t believe he has his wings back. They look amazing on him. Perfect in every way, except for the notch that I cut out of his wing when I first met him. I assume the feathers will grow back in over time, and all traces of me will disappear off him.
I want to say something about his wings and thank him for keeping me alive, but I don’t want to be overheard. I can tell that he sees it all in my eyes anyway, just as I can see him wondering how the heck I got here. I suppose I have a special talent for showing up where I shouldn’t be.
As the last of the angels fly away, Josiah lands beside Raffe. His unnaturally white skin matches Raffe’s feathers.
‘Well, that was an unexpected choice for a second,’ says Josiah, watching Raffe with his red eyes.
Raffe gives him a grim expression. ‘What are the chances that we can recruit a decent team?’
‘Very low,’ says Josiah. ‘Whether they back him or not, too many are convinced Uriel will win. If he does, he’ll make sure that anyone who opposes him will fall, and no one wants to risk that.’
Raffe’s shoulders slump. He must be exhausted after the operation.
‘How are you feeling?’ I ask.
‘Like I flew on my wings a month before I should have.’ He takes a deep breath and lets it out. ‘Nothing I haven’t done before.’
‘How many will Uriel have on his team?’ I ask.
‘A hundred maybe?’ says Josiah.
‘A hundred?’ I ask. ‘Against the two of us?’
‘You’re not actually going to be fighting,’ says Raffe. ‘No one expects it.’
‘Oh, so a hundred against just you. Why do you have a second if you’re supposed to have a team with you?’
‘It’s traditionally meant to make sure that no one stands alone,’ says Josiah.
He glances at Raffe with sympathy. ‘No one declines the honor of being second, but it’s completely optional as to whether someone joins a team for a trial by contest.’
Seeing pity in Josiah’s eyes makes me want to kick something. Raffe helped me, but now I can’t help him. A girl who can’t fly can’t play in angel games.
I look at the cages on the field. The two remaining hellions are attacking each other and fighting around Beliel. They probably would have shoved me in there too if Raffe hadn’t named me his second. How long would I last in there?
‘Uriel’s right,’ says Raffe. ‘I don’t have my Watchers anymore. I can’t count on anyone stepping into their duties.’
‘The warriors still talk about them, you know,’ says Josiah. ‘No group has come close to being the elite fighting team that the Watchers were. They’ve become legend.’ He shakes his head. ‘What a waste. And all because of—’ He looks at me with some hostility in his eyes and bites off whatever insult he was going to call Daughters of Men.
‘Don’t blame the women for the angels breaking your own stupid rules. Their women didn’t even break any rules, but they got punished anyway.’
‘The Watchers would still be here if it weren’t for the Daughters of Men,’ says Josiah. ‘We lost our most elite group of warriors because they married your kind. The least you can do is have the decency to—’
‘Enough,’ says Raffe. ‘The Watchers are gone and arguing about whose fault it is won’t bring them back. The only question left is, can we find a substitute?’
‘Where are they now?’ I suspect they’re still in the Pit, but who knows? I think what I saw in Beliel’s memory was from a long time ago.
They both glance at Beliel. He’s swatting at the hellions who are squabbling near his shoulder. They fly away from him to hang on to the bars and stare at us.
No, not at us.
At my sword.
The Pit hellions want to go home. However bad it was there, it had to have been better than being caged, waiting to be killed.
Home.
‘What if we could go into the Pit and get the Watchers?’ I ask.
It’s an insane thought, one I wouldn’t consider if the entire human race didn’t depend on it. If Raffe could dethrone Uriel, then no more war, right?
The guys glance at each other as if wondering whether I’ve lost my mind. ‘No one voluntarily goes into the Pit,’ says Raffe, scowling at me.
‘And once you’re in, you don’t get out without being let out by the Pit lords,’ says Josiah. ‘That’s the problem with the Pit. Otherwise, newly Fallen angels would be rescued left and right.’
‘Besides,’ says Raffe, looking at Beliel. ‘The Watchers aren’t what they used to be.’
‘What if we could get the Watchers you remember?’ I ask. I nod toward Beliel. ‘The Watchers he remembers?’
Raffe looks back at me, and I see a spark of interest.
34
We half drag, half fly Beliel’s cage off the torn grass toward an outer building that’s out of sight of the main hotel.
‘Do we have any reason to believe it’ll work both ways?’ asks Josiah.
‘I was hoping you guys would know,’ I say.
‘There are ancient stories of hellions jumping out through very powerful swords,’ says Raffe. ‘But there’s never been a reason to jump into the Pit.’
‘You mean to tell me that I discovered a talent of your beloved swords that even you guys didn’t know about?’ I pull as hard as I can on the cage bars.