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‘Aracals,’ Isaac shouts.

Shae runs up close and shields me from behind, while Isaac and Jez close the circle around me.

‘Run, Brother Tim! Tell Brother Bernard to prepare a safe room,’ Isaac calls to the Brother slightly ahead of us. He then turns to Shae. ‘Report to the watchtower and find out what’s happening. Get us numbers, whatever you can. Inform Nathaneal. Stay there until you know exactly what’s coming after the Aracals. I’ll meet up with you in the courtyard grounds as soon as I can.’ Her face crumples. ‘Right now, Ebony needs guards around her who are not emotionally attached. Go, Shae, we’ll get Ebony inside. We will keep her safe.’ When she doesn’t release me, he yells, ‘Go!’

Brushing her cheek against mine fleetingly, Shae takes off. Then Jez and Isaac shuck off their coats, release their wings and spin me around so fast my feet don’t touch the ground. Just before their wings wrap around me from both sides, I get a glimpse of black uniforms with weapons hanging from belts at their waist. I peer between Jez’s blue feathers and Isaac’s white, and watch the first Aracal land perfectly on its feet in the centre of a raised flower bed.

I’ve seen these birds before, around the school. Jordan says they’re spies, but this one looks more like a soldier than a spy. As with other Aracals I’ve seen, the eyes of this variety are still the dominant feature, too large for the head, and circular with a single black dot in the centre, but where the other ones had bright blue irises, these have orange ones that glow like solar flares.

It senses us, turns its head and looks straight at me. When our eyes connect, it shrieks like a banshee. Its wings shoot
out at sharp angles like elbows with long, sharp talons at their tips.

Isaac and Jez spin me again. Their desperation shows in the speed with which they whisk me away.

‘Where is this
door
?’ Jez’s impassioned cry scares me almost more than the creature closing on us.

A look passes between her and Isaac over my head, and the next instant Isaac is loosening his hold on me. He turns and faces off the creature.

‘No!’ I cry out as Jez pulls me further away. ‘We can’t leave Isaac to fight that thing on his own!’

‘If you really are one of us, you have many battles to come, but this one isn’t yours to fight.’

‘But this
is
my battle.’

‘You’re not ready to fight demons.’

Brother Bernard, bald and barefoot in his white tunic, holds open the heavy steel door.

‘Aren’t you going back?’ I ask Jez when the door locks behind us.

‘Are you giving me orders already?’

‘Yes. No. What do you mean? I just thought to help Isaac, that’s all.’

‘Hmm, well, Nathaneal would have my head on a platter if I left your side now.’

‘Hurry, my ladies, this way.’ Brother Bernard indicates we should follow him into the inner sanctum of the monastery.

But outside I hear more screeching. ‘What’s going on out there?’

‘Aracals are attacking.’

‘But I thought Aracals weren’t bred for attacking.’

‘It would seem that the Dark Prince has engineered stronger ones, which fight like soldiers.’

‘He
made
them?’

‘He likes to dabble where he shouldn’t by creating his own demons. The Aracal is his most successful species so far.’

Outside, the sounds of screeching have been joined by fighting, swishing swords and bodies hitting hard surfaces. ‘There are more than Aracals attacking out there now. What’s happening?’

Jez receives a message. I see it in her eyes as they find their focus on me, followed by a slight nod. ‘Michael’s called for reinforcements from Avena.’

I’m starting to feel dazed, as if this is happening to someone else. But it is happening, and while I’m in here with Jezelle protecting me, who’s looking after Jordan? Is anyone with him? I should be with him. What if he was outside when the Aracals came down?

‘Where’s Jordan?’

‘I don’t know!’ I shrink back at her venomous tone. ‘Listen, making you safe is my only concern right now. Someone else will be taking care of your little human boy toy.’ She eyes me sideways again, her over-bright eyes lingering a smidgen too long for comfort. My skin crawls under her scrutinising gaze. ‘How close are you two anyway?’

‘Pardon me?’

‘You know what I mean. Are you two involved?’

‘Well, yes, actually, we’re very close. Haven’t you heard? I’m his Guardian Angel.’

After a vicious look she goes silent, and I smile just a little.

We follow Brother Bernard through the chapter house
and adjoining dining room to a corridor lined with the Brothers’ dormitories. At the end of this long passageway we stop while Brother Bernard pulls out a ring with many keys hanging from a chain around his neck. He opens the door and Nathaneal bursts through, relief flooding his eyes when he sees me. He lifts me into his arms and whisks me down a dark circular staircase as if I’m made of air. The sound of his heart beating comforts me as no words could.

‘Ebony,’ he says, his voice grave, ‘I’m so sorry, but the unthinkable has happened. A unit of dark angels, all Prodigies, has breached the monastery’s fortified walls.’

Lifting my hand, I run the backs of my fingers around his jaw. His skin is smooth and warm but he’s coiled tight and tense as a rock. ‘Nathaneal, I need you to listen to me.’

‘Stop there. Please say no more.’

‘But I have to. Don’t you see that? I don’t want anyone hurt because of me.’ I lay my head against the comforting thud of his heart. ‘It’s
me
the Dark Prince wants. If I go to him willingly, will he withdraw?’

He shudders and the tremor passes through him from head to foot. ‘Don’t say that. Don’t even entertain the thought.’

‘Answer my question, Nathaneal.’

‘Then ask me one I
can
answer.’

‘Can the Dark Prince reach us here?’

His pause is short, possibly no more than a fraction of a second, but I hear it as if it’s screaming in my head.

After Thane drops me in the sacristy, I check the room out for weaknesses. Lining the walls are timber shelves stacked with vestments, candles, chalices and other items the Brothers use in their services. Behind the shelves is solid brick. With no windows, it’s a secure room, but nothing special. What bothers me is the lack of an exit. There’s no way out except to backtrack through the church.

Thane is always saying to trust him. If anything happens to Ebony tonight, it’s all on his head. I might not have angel powers, but I’ll come after him all the same.

He brings Ebony and she runs straight into my arms, knocking me against the wall.
Man
, the smell of her skin is intoxicating. I hardly notice shelves digging into my spine. I hold her tight, breathing her in and stroking her hair. I don’t want to let her go, not now, not ever. I love her!

Thane frowns and I quickly shift my thoughts from the pain in my heart to the Aracals that attacked us and the dark angels I saw, the Prodigies. How on earth are we going to defeat them? ‘I was so worried about you,’ Ebony says, pulling away to check my face for bruises. She pushes hair from my forehead and smiles with relief in her eyes.

A surge of anger spikes through me. Thane promised my life would get better, but, man, it’s been anything but. And this room will be a death trap if those Prodigies break down the only door.

Thane hears them first. ‘They’re in.’

‘How far away?’ Jez asks.

It feels as if someone is strangling me from behind.

‘Ground level.’

‘
Shit!
’

Sounds of battle are filtering down now. How long before they’re in the corridor right outside? ‘What happens now? We’re stuck in here, and this is supposed to be the safest place!’

Thane looks at Jez and nods at some silent communication. They get down on their haunches and start shifting a heavy chest of drawers. Ebony figures out what’s happening before I do.

‘I’m not going anywhere without you,’ she says in a voice that sounds like her heart is breaking. The thing is, she’s not looking at me when she says this. She’s looking at Thane.

‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ Thane replies.

Well, isn’t he a fast worker!

He glances at me, hearing my thoughts, but I’m past caring. I’m about to die anyway.
What about your fiancée back home
? I yell at him from inside my head.
Huh? What about the one you left behind
?

Jez frowns and looks between us. He’s up and in my face in a split second, whispering, ‘Now is not the time, Jordan. Trust me, I will explain everything when this night is past and you and Ebony are safe.’

‘Didn’t you get the memo?’ I whisper back loudly, not caring who’s listening. ‘It said not to believe anything you say any more.’

Ebony frowns, her eyes flitting between us.
Argh, man
, she has enough to worry about tonight! I plaster a smile to my face. ‘It’s nothing, Ebony. Just a running joke we like to play.’

‘Really? Well it’s not very funny, Jordan.’

‘I know,’ I answer, keeping my eyes on Thane. ‘But that’s not my fault.’

Jez opens the trapdoor in the floor where the chest was and climbs feet first into the dark interior, leaving only her head and elbows out. ‘I’ll check it out,’ she murmurs, disappearing.

Ebony moves towards Thane and he closes his arms around her, tenderly stroking her hair. It’s such a natural act; it’s incredible how familiar they are. When did this intimacy develop? They had, like, five minutes alone together.

What is he doing?

Love is pouring out of him like flooding summer rains. I guessed he had feelings for Ebony the time we talked in his car and he sounded obsessed with finding her. But when did he fall in love with her?

A light rap at the door has Thane moving quickly to open it. Gabriel runs in with Michael right behind him, both breathless and bloodied. ‘At least twelve Prodigies have broken through our defences,’ Gabriel says, while Thane moves to check on Michael, the bloodier of the two.

Gabriel glances at Ebony and nods. ‘I’m sorry, my lady, we have not been able to hold them back. Our reinforcements are yet to arrive, and the Prodigies will not stop until
they find you.’ Turning back to Thane, he says, ‘Brother, they’re relentless. They’re tearing the monastery apart. We thought the Aracals were all slain, then Shae messaged from the watchtower moments before another shipment started to descend. There were so many we lost count.’

Finished with Michael, Thane checks his brother’s injuries. ‘And our good Brothers, how are they holding up?’

‘We have lost three.’

Thane winces, closing his eyes tight. ‘And casualties?’

‘Many.’ Gabriel takes a breath. ‘Thane, if they make it to the stairs …’

But that’s just what they do only moments after Gabriel’s warning. We hear them crashing through the staircase, ripping it apart, yelling out in a creepy, guttural language none of us understands. We hear the clash of steel, the sizzle of energy colliding and, most terrifying, aftershocks that make the walls shake, the room fill with dust, the floor rumble beneath our feet.

I cover my ears, slide to the floor, where I sit on my ankles. I’m shaking but I can’t help it. I am more terrified than I’ve ever been before in my life. Ebony runs over and throws her arms around me.

‘Shhh,’ she soothes, cradling my head against her shoulder. ‘It will be all right. You’ll see.’

Michael’s head tilts slightly as he receives a message. Everyone waits anxiously to hear the update. ‘Our reinforcements are not here yet.’

He looks at Thane fleetingly, then lowers his eyes to Ebony. ‘I’m sorry, my lady, we need to move you again.’ He holds out his hand. ‘You must come with us.’

When she’s up, Thane pulls her into his chest and Michael holds his hand out for me. ‘We will not let anything happen to you, Jordan. Tonight we are all your guardians.’

The moment he wraps his hand around mine it glows and heat enters my body, filling me with a sense of strength and courage and amazing calm. It’s the most incredible, strongest sense of myself that I have ever felt. It’s awesome.

He then turns to Thane. ‘Jez has just let me know the tunnel is clear and she is now bringing the Porsche to the south tunnel exit, where Brother Bernard will wait to open the wall. It’s all organised, but we’ll have to hurry. The ritual to protect Ebony was of vital importance, but now it is more vital that we get her somewhere safe. One of us must remain here to cover our tracks.’

‘I’ll stay,’ Gabriel volunteers. ‘Isaac and Shae will need me here.’

Thane grips his arm. ‘We rendezvous at my house. Good luck.’

‘Go!’ Gabriel urges.

As I jump down on to a cold hard floor, the trapdoor closes over our heads and plunges the four of us into darkness.

Jezelle drives about a kilometre before slamming into a tree. The front-passenger corner takes the full brunt, crumbling in a screaming match between metal and wood. Dazed, it takes me a few goes to punch out the airbags and remember we were heading to Thane’s house when a bolt of lightning struck the roof, its dazzling blue light blinding Jez.

That’s when she lost control.

The car is empty. I must be the last to get out. I try to move but find my legs pinned. I smell fumes and a knot of panic tightens in my gut.

I see Thane in the forest, caught in the car’s one remaining headlight. He has Ebony in his arms, lowering her gently and checking she’s all right.

‘He’s conscious,’ Jez calls, climbing in to help with the airbags.

‘Hurry, Thane,’ Michael urges.

Thane moves fast. In a flash the three of them reach over the top of the crumpled front and peel bits of Porsche off my thighs, metal grinding and scrunching. I’m free at last, and Jez reaches down through the smashed windscreen and yanks me out in one go, practically dislocating my shoulder in the process.

‘Go easy. I’m not made of rubber!’

Someone kicks out the headlight just as she dumps me unceremoniously beside Ebony.

Thane and Michael share whispered words. My head’s not all right yet, but I hear Michael’s voice, tighter and faster than usual. ‘There’s activity at your house too.’