Essence of the Angels (The Starlight Chronicles #2)

Chapter Sixteen

Lucy's POV

It didn't take long for the city angels to realize their plan had failed. Andrew fell to the ground, wheezing, but his appearance was already shifting back to normal as the Starlight magic flooded through him. Jason must have already been to Adlockeve—he must have figured it out while we were gone and known there wouldn't be time to tell us first.

"Jason . . ." I trailed off. "You saved him."

Jason gave me a duh look, slugging the sword over his shoulder to rest it there. "I never would have let him die."

"I don't understand . . ." I trailed off, looking at the sword. How had he known?

"Later," he said shortly as movement drew our attention back to reality. The city angels were coming back down to us now. My eyes widened.

"Get close!" I demanded to everyone, and concentrated. As they huddled towards me, I threw up my shield again, the magic flowing smoothly from my fingertips, and concentrated on making it strengthen around us. My parents were up there with Titania, with only crossbows to defend themselves—and something told me it wouldn't be enough. I had to get back and get us out of here somehow.

"Why did you bring my parents with you? Why not Irma or Walter?" I hissed to Jason, as I moved us through the throng of city angels and up the slope. Kyra and Andrew were shooting feathers in every direction, like knives. "We've got five humans and two angels—and there's no way we're getting out of here on foot!"

Even if we managed to outrun them, my magic wouldn't last that long. I'd collapse before we ever made it out of these caves.

"I'll explain everything soon—just trust me, okay?" he asked. Maybe it was stupid or reckless, but I did. Despite everything, I just did.

"Do you still have your dagger?" Jason asked, and I nodded, grabbing it from my pocket. "Give it to Neo." I did as he instructed.

"Now, when we get to your parents, Andrew and Kyra are going to fly them out. I need you to keep us shielded until they come back. Can you do that?"

I could already feel my strength weakening. "Yeah . . . but I won't last long after that," I said.

"You have to try," he said firmly and all I could do was nod. This was our only option. I just had to make do with it.

We reached my parents, and Titania was just getting to her feet. Something was off with her—she seemed unstable. I still didn't understand how the sword had affected her so much.

Andrew and Kyra swiftly grabbed my parents, pulling them out of the fight, took off into the air with them— leaving Jason and Neo to fight Titania and her city angels. I did my best to keep us shielded, but they were strong, and I was growing weaker by the second. I could already feel splinters forming in the Starlight shield.

I prayed that Andrew and Kyra would be back quickly.

Neo handled the angels while Jason faced Titania directly. I didn't really understand her capabilities, but as I watched, she seemed to be able to manipulate everything around her. She tripped Jason with a wave of her hand, and I had to move to keep him from landing outside the shield. But he was resilient—constantly distracting her before she could make a move on me and bring us all down.

Titania growled at him. "You're the immortal one, aren't you?" she hissed. "That's a worse imbalance than those three angels."

Jason just smirked at her, which seemed to annoy her even more.