“On three,” Kiera said, positioning herself beside me. Behind the wall of boulders, I could hear Gabriel coming, picking the rocks up and tossing them away as easily as if they were cotton balls. “One, two, three.”

She shoved, and I pushed, and it took our combined hyped-up strength to move the damn thing, but we managed, getting it to shift just enough for me to pull my leg free. “Can you walk?”

“I damn well better be able to run,” I said. “Where’s the portal? Where’s the damn portal?”

“I don’t know,” she said, hooking an arm around my waist. “Clarence!” she called, uselessly. “Where’s our damned portal!”

“I don’t think it works that way,” I said, wincing as I tried to run. I might heal faster now, but not instantaneously, and I was pretty sure some bone was seriously crushed.

“Shit,” Kiera said, turning back to look behind us. “He’s coming through.”

Sure enough, I could see a bright light shining through a small hole in the wall of boulders. Then fingers in the hole, and then he was pushing the boulders aside, and the hole was growing bigger and bigger and—

“There!” Kiera said, and I turned and saw the portal opening up on the stone floor in front of us.

She had my hand, and she raced forward, pulling me along with her. I was slower, but still managing to eat up the distance. Even so, I wasn’t fast enough, and I could hear Gabriel behind me. Could feel the tug of his energy on my back. “Kiera,” I called. “Your hand.”

She slowed, her fingers outstretched, and I latched on. “Jump!” I said, and she did. We hung in space for a moment, trapped between the whirlpool-like suction of the portal and the magnetic pull of Gabriel’s fingers. And then I heard a schlurp, and we were in the portal, and the tug from the angel was gone, and we were sliding down, down, down into the sweet abyss.

Never have I enjoyed nothingness so much, and when we emerged with a thump onto Zane’s training mat, I just lay there, my arms akimbo, reveling in the fact that we got away.

“Qu’est que c’est?” Zane asked, hurrying to us. “What is it, mes fleurs?”

“Demon,” Kiera said, though she looked at me when she spoke, her expression queer. “Really powerful.”

“Did you get the relic?” Clarence asked.

“Got it,” I said. “And we’re fine, thanks for asking. Kiera saved us.”

“She died,” Kiera said. “All in a day’s work for Lily.”

“Let me see the relic,” Clarence said, completely uninterested in jokes.

“That’s what she died for,” Kiera said. “It was like a test. I don’t think he expected she’d pass it.”

“It’s just a jewel,” I said, pulling it out of my collar and holding it out for him to see. “Hard to believe it has such power.”

“And the third piece?” he asked. “Has your arm lit up now?”

I shook my head, then pulled up my sleeve. “Nothing.”

He grabbed my arm and peered close, then muttered the incantation over it again.

“Jeez, Clarence, get a grip. It’ll pop when it’s ready.” In truth, though, I was thrilled the damn thing hadn’t popped. I needed to get Clarence alone. Because I realized now that we were getting so close to the end that there was no time to waste. As much as the prospect terrified me, I needed to kill him and take his essence so that I could figure out how to find the Vessel of the Keeper. And I needed to do that before my arm popped again.

And, of course, there was that other issue about the third piece. The issue that focused on Deacon and the fact that I didn’t trust him and feared he was playing both sides against the middle, looking for the relic as well so that he could wield the Oris Clef.

Antsy, I shifted my weight. “So I keep it, right? I mean, we know it won’t pop if I’m not wearing it . . .”

“You keep it,” he said reluctantly. “Do not take it off your neck.” He pointed to each of us in turn. “Tomorrow. Training. Time is drawing short.”

“Sure. No problem.”

As Clarence slouched out of there, I glanced down and wiggled my toes, intending only to hide my victorious smile, but at the same time pleased to find that they were all functioning again. This superhealing thing really was cool.

“You are well?” Zane asked.

I nodded, then reached over and squeezed Kiera’s fingers. “You really earned your keep this time.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Just doing the job.” She climbed to her feet. “And now I’m ravenous. Zane, we’re gonna grab a bite. With us?”

His eyes cut to mine, and he shook his head. “No, thank you, chérie. I am content to stay here.”

“Tomorrow,” I said, my heart twisting a little. I stood, then brushed my fingertips along his jaw, catching the stubble of his chin, and offered him a small smile.

“Indeed, ma chérie.”

“So we can eat, right?” Kiera asked, as the elevator climbed. “I’m totally starving.”

“I need to check on Rose,” I said. More specifically, I needed to make sure that Lucas hadn’t decided to peek out at Rachel. “I’ll just grab something at the pub. You want to go there?”

She shook her head. “And have Rachel put me to work? Nope. I’ll find something.”

“So who is that guy?” Kiera asked as we headed toward the pub. “The one who keeps trying to kill us?”

I looked at her sideways. “I thought you said he was a demon.”

“Nope. Got a whiff of him this time. No demon there.”

“Really?” I hoped I looked astounded. “Well, he’s not human—that’s for sure.” She was eyeing me suspiciously, and I didn’t much like it. “He was pretty impressive. Maybe he’s so high up on the demon hierarchy that he doesn’t register for you.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, when you figure it out, tell me.”

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I will.”

Fortunately, she let the matter drop, though she was still looking disturbed when she pulled up in the alley.

Since I wasn’t keen on working either, I had her drop me at the back door. My vague plan was to signal to Rose, have her tell Rachel I was there, tired, and was heading home, then ease back into the alley and onto the bike.

It didn’t work that way. Primarily because I didn’t even get the back door open before I was jumped by a demon who’d been hiding out in the Dumpster. And not only did he smell disgusting, he looked it, too.

In other words, this wasn’t a human-looking demon. This was a beast of the straight-from-hell variety, and he was coming toward me full speed. Wings flapping, claws slashing.

And as if that weren’t the worst of it, five other demons raced into the alley only moments after Kiera’s car pulled out.

Wasn’t that just lovely?

I pulled out my knife and prepared to get into it again, though I have to admit I didn’t much like the odds.

As the winged demon swooped in for an attack, the other demons lurched toward me, blocking my exit.

I was trapped. And that, frankly, sucked.

Figuring I had no choice but to blow through, I climbed onto my bike, and only then realized that I’d managed to lose my key somewhere. I was debating whether it would be better to search for the key or run for it when I saw Deacon on the fire escape of the opposite building.

At first, a wall of anger rose within me as I remembered the thoughts I’d snatched from my demonic opponent. Had Deacon come to betray me? Had he set up this ambush so he could get the first two relics of the Oris Clef from me?

I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to hang around to find out.

About that, though, I appeared to have little choice.

And every second, the demons got closer. Soon, I was going to have to dismount and fight.

“Lily!” Deacon called.

Something small and silver rose up from the ground and floated toward him. He snatched it out of the air, then turned it around and winged it back at me. I caught it, then opened my hand.

My key.

I glanced up at Deacon, more than a little astounded by this levitation thing. “Go,” he said. “Just go.”

I didn’t hesitate. I fired the engine, kicked the bike into gear, and took off down the alley.

The demons rushed in, but so did Deacon, and he was enough of a badass that he cleared a path for me.

I gunned it forward and realized that Kiera was racing toward me in her car.

“Get out,” I yelled to her, waving my arms to signal her to reverse the hell out of there. “Just back off, now!”

She did, her eyes going wide with surprise. I raced past her, squeezing the bike in between the wall and her car, then careening around the corner and racing on toward freedom.

Rose, I figured, could stay with Rachel just a little while longer.