The view from Ru’s hotel room wasn’t too shabby. While she didn’t have a direct view of anything too important, that she knew of anyway, off in the distance she could see the London Bridge and some tall buildings, which looked breathtaking all lit up at night. She could’ve sat and stared out the window all night if a knock at the door hadn’t interrupted her.
She had a feeling it was Cutter before she even went to open it. It had been evident all the way back from Holy Island that he wanted to speak with her, but it had been too much for Ru. She’d laid down in the back seat the best she could with her seatbelt on and fallen asleep pretty quickly after they’d made it across the causeway. When they’d reached the hotel, she had gone to her room, saying she’d order something from room service for dinner. The night before, she’d thought it might be possible her mother could be returning back to this rented room with her. T
Ru had seen Cutter shocked before, but nothing like this. She thought if his eyebrows raised any higher, they would end up on the back of his head. “How is that possible?”“Whoever thought Larkin had told her was mistaken.”“No, but… she…. We knew that…. Everyone said….”“I know what we thought, Cutter, but she really doesn’t know. She said she’d do some searching, but for now, my mom is not the key to the portals.”“Shit….” The word was whispered so quietly, she almost didn’t make it out.“The good news is, there’s no reason to tell Sky that we even found her.”“I guess so.” Clearly, that was not consolation enough. “I just can’t believe it. Damn. I really thought she’d know.”“I’m sure she didn’t. I think she would’ve told me if she knew and jus
The sand beneath her feet felt soft and squishy. The water was warm as it lapped against her ankles and then retreated only to come and kiss her calves before darting back into the sea. The sun was high but it wasn’t particularly hot, and she knew immediately this must be a dream of some sort, though she wasn’t sure if she’d left her body. It couldn’t have been a memory, though, because Ru’d never walked along a beach like this before. The sea was a tranquil turquoise and the white sand led off into a mountain range covered in emerald green. Bouquets of flowers bloomed from the plants both in front of her and to her right, though they were a far distance from the string of footprints she was laying down, letting the pristine beach fill up most of her field of vision. The scent of the ocean, mingled with coconut and pineapple, was a sure sign she was either fast asleep or had just knocked over a display in a Bath and Body Works store. It smelled divi
It was almost impossible to avoid his eyes, or the sincerity in his voice. He sounded as if he was genuinely scared for her safety, though there was a nagging in the back of her brain reminding her that he was the enemy. He could’ve been making this argument to avoid his own destruction. “I’m sorry, Nat. I don’t really have a lot of control over what the team decides to do.” It wasn’t true, and she could see in the way that he arched his eyebrows that he wasn’t buying it. She wanted to say more, to attempt to justify her reasoning, but she knew for certain now that someone was approaching. She turned her head to look behind them and saw a speck of a silhouette in the distance, gaining quickly. “You need to go.”Nat could see it, too. He stared for a long moment before he returned his attention to her. “Just think about it, Ru. Think about your father. He may never be able to get out of his predicament if
“Mitto ego te ad vidisse igneos puteos horrendam daemonium de inferno!” Ru Roberts repeated the phrase over and over again under her breath as she paced back and forth across the floor of her bedroom in Angel Grove, the ancient wooden floorboards squeaking in protest at each step. She’d been practicing that phrase, along with the other two Rider Michaels had taught her on the long flight from London to La Guardia Airport the night before. She alternated between them, making sure she had all of them down before they left for their mission later that evening. She knew this particular incantation meant a captured Reaper would be sent to Hell but not destroyed. There was another incantation for that, which went, “Infernus et perdere faciam te in nomine Domini,” and she was told this is the one they usually used, unless of course they had a particular reason why they would want to question the Reaper. Cutter Michaels, another Keeper, and Ri
Angel Grove was well over two hundred years old. The house had been constructed just before the Revolutionary War when Keepers realized there was a portal in the area and that they needed to be nearby so as to control the flow of Reapers from one world to the next. They had thought for many years that the portal lay dormant, yet about the time that Sky, Lyric’s sister and their lifeline to the realm where an entirely different group of Keepers operated sort of behind the scenes, instructing teams of Keepers on Earth, found out that there was a possibility Ru was in New York, activity around Reaper’s Hollow began to increase. That was one of the reasons Cutter had determined it was worth it to look at Reaper’s Hollow more closely, which had led him to Ruin Roberts, fourth grade teacher at Thomas Elementary School, Keeper of the Light, lost to the Keepers as a small child when her mother fell in love with a Reaper and was nearly destroyed by the Archangel Raphael. It
Ru had only seen manifestation once, when Rider had shown up in her bedroom in Los Angeles after she’d had a run-in with Nat. She’d never even tried herself. “You think Sky will go to my mom in person so that she can physically take her out—but we can get there first if we manifest and warn her—and what else?” “Ward Sky off, hopefully,” Lyric explained. “Maybe if I get there before they take your mom, I can talk some sense into my sister. Although, she’s never been that sensible.” The last part was a mumble, barely audible, and it didn’t make Ru feel better. “So… we need to get over there as soon as we can,” Cutter said, his tone even and soothing. “That way, your mom will have a fighting chance.” “But I have no idea how to do that,” Ru reminded them. “I know,” Cutter nodded. “And hopefully, I can show you. But if you can’t do it, Ru, we won’t have any choice but to go without you.” “Go without me?” she repeated. “No, I need to be there. My mo
A wave of confusion washed over Ru as she realized what she was looking at. She was standing in an unfamiliar church nave, looking at the backs of rows of pews. Only she wasn’t exactly standing there. Looking down, she could see her feet weren’t quite touching the floor. It wasn’t as if she was hovering, exactly, but she couldn’t make contact with the wooden beams either. A quick glance around told her no one else was in the room, which she was happy for; she may have somehow figured out how to get her spirit to manifest thousands of miles across the ocean on a remote island, but she had no idea how to prevent people from seeing her either.There was also the problem that she still had no idea where her mother was. Before she could decide what to do, she heard footsteps behind her and turned around. Luckily, she didn’t have much of a chance to think about how to do that and it had naturally happened. Pretty good for someone who wasn’t actua
Rider stepped over and put an arm around Ru’s shoulders. Exactly how, she wasn’t sure. “She just took off the first cloaking spell.” Ru realized the hum was gone. She wondered how her own cloaking spell had been discharged, or had it? It seemed like it must be since Nat could find her so readily now. She would have to ask about that some other time.“In nomine tenebras quam ego sum petere inobservabilis umbra facti sunt: non est inventus quis poterit!”There was a burst of warm air, and suddenly, Ru felt as if she was standing in the room alone, except for Rider’s arm on her shoulder. No longer could she sense her mother’s presence, though she could still see her sitting hunkered in front of her. Whatever spell she’d cast, it had worked.“This is the most powerful cloaking spell I know of,” Maggie said, quietly. “The only way they will find me is through conventional means.”