This man was—
“Gabriel!”
“What?” I whirled around toward the open door.
Daniel stood there, his mouth hanging open. He dropped his motorcycle keys in the doorway and lunged for the man with the knife. But it wasn’t an offensive strike. The man grabbed Daniel by the arm, and the two embraced. It was a quick hug, but a hug nonetheless.
“Daniel, my boy!” The man clapped him on the back. “You’re looking much better since Christmas. Although I was hoping to see you without any bandages.”
Daniel shook his head. “You have no idea how much I need to talk to you right now.”
I glanced away from the two.
“Always glad to be of service.”
I shifted from one foot to the other and cleared my throat.
They turned toward me. “Grace,” Daniel said, “this is Gabriel.”
“Gabriel the Angel?” That was how I’d always referred to him in my head, because of the statue of him in the Garden of Angels.
“Angel, huh? Sounds like Daniel’s been making up stories about me.” Gabriel’s lips edged up in an ancient, friendly smile.
“I’m sorry to sound rude, but why are you here?” I couldn’t help asking. And how had Daniel followed me?
“Because I brought him here,” my dad said as he came through the narrow doorway into the already crowded room. “Gabriel came to help us.”
“You’re back!” I sprang at Dad the way Daniel had lunged at Gabriel, and wrapped my arms around his middle. As mad as I’d been at him for being gone, I couldn’t help feeling a rush of relief that he was here. “I thought you didn’t know when you were coming back.”
“I didn’t,” Dad said. “I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take to track down Gabriel and convince him to come to Rose Crest.”
“But why didn’t you tell me that’s where you were headed in the first place?”
“Because I didn’t want either you or Daniel trying to come after me.”
“Why?”
“Because hunting down a werewolf pack and visiting their den without an invitation is a dangerous and foolhardy endeavor. Especially for a human,” Gabriel said. “Your father is lucky he’s good with words. Sirhan, my alpha, was quite intrigued by his stories.”
I let go of Dad and turned back toward Gabriel.
“Your father was also lucky that I was already hoping to pay you a visit,” Gabriel said. “I’ve been wanting to meet you, Grace.”
“Me?”
“You’re gaining quite the reputation in my pack. They call you the Divine One.”
“The what?”
“It’s a silly name, yes. But they can’t help being fascinated by you. In the four thousand years since the first Urbat succumbed to the curse, nobody has ever cured someone the way you cured Daniel.”
Gabriel clapped Daniel on the back again, but this time Daniel dropped his gaze to his feet. Red flushed his face. I didn’t know why he’d be embarrassed by the notion that he’d been saved. But then again, sometimes I wondered if he still thought he wasn’t worthy of it. Or maybe he just didn’t want to look me in the eye. We were still in a fight, after all.
“They think you’re something quite special, Grace.” Gabriel crossed the distance between the two of us and took my hand. He held it for a moment and then bowed his head. The gesture felt like something from centuries ago.
I was the one blushing now. I glanced at Daniel to see what he made of this “Divine One” idea, but he was still staring at his feet. I looked back at Gabriel. “And you? Do you think I’m special?”
Gabriel gently let go of my hand. “I’m here to find out.”
It was then that the idea hit me. With Gabriel here, I finally had the chance to reach my full potential. I had someone with the same abilities as me who could really teach me how to use them. No offense to Daniel or anything, but it was hard for him to show me how to use powers that he didn’t have anymore. I mean, I’d outrun him even when he’d been on a motorcycle. But Gabriel had been using his superpowers for more than eight hundred years. And he was the one who thought it was possible for the Urbat to reclaim their blessings—to use their powers to help the world. Or at least that was what he’d written in those letters to his sister Katharine.
Using my powers to run this evening had been amazing. But now that Gabriel was here to help, my becoming a hero actually felt possible.
Dad cleared his throat. I’d all but forgotten he was still there. “Let’s move this gathering to my office so we can discuss what to do about Jude. It’s time to figure out how we’re going to find him.”
A FEW MINUTES LATER, IN MY DAD’S OFFICE AT THE PARISH
Gabriel sat in one of the cushiony chairs in front of my dad’s desk. It was so strange how he looked so young yet so old at the same time. And even stranger to be standing here listening to him talking for the first time when I already felt like I knew him so well. Reading the book of letters he had written to his sister all those centuries ago made it seem as if I’d looked into his soul. I was practically bursting to tell him my idea about wanting him to train me.
“Grace?” Dad said. His tone of his voice suggested he’d had to say my name a few times before getting my attention.
“What?” I pulled my gaze off Gabriel and looked at my dad.
He raised his eyebrows above the rims of his glasses. “I just asked you to tell us about the phone call from Jude.”
“Oh.” I told them about the call and what Jude had said about someone coming for us. “He also said that I couldn’t trust someone.”
“Sounds like Jude may still have it out for Daniel,” Dad said. “He still thinks we shouldn’t trust you.” Dad looked at Daniel. He sat in the far corner, picking at the white bandage on his arm.
“What else is new?” Daniel mumbled. It was the first thing he’d said since we’d left Don Mooney’s apartment.
“I think the more significant part of the conversation is that Jude said that there was someone coming for you,” Gabriel said. “Do you have any idea what he means?”
“Not a clue.” I shrugged. “Daniel thinks he’s just messing with us, but I don’t think he’d come back here just for a sick joke.”