Enrapture | The Angels Series Book 2 | Slow Updates

Chapter Eleven

The room became painfully silent following Gabriel and Amoura’s departure. Her back was to him and he observed the way she adjusted her satchel and looked through that old book again. She turned to face him and gave him a small smile before continuing to flip through it’s brittle pages.

A few times her eyes glazed over with that mysterious white film – her veil of wisdom – and she seemed frustrated each time she came out of it. He remained silent, allowing her to concentrate. In the meantime, he didn’t mind taking in the sight of her.

Her beauty humbled him, and he felt lucky to stand in her presence. His chest throbbed and that damned pulling sensation tugged at his very heart. He smiled at the way she furrowed her brows in concentration while reading a page of her book. He wanted to ask her what she was reading but also didn’t want to disturb her train of thought.

“Got it!” she suddenly said, snapping the book shut and smiling up at him.

“Great,” he replied, realizing he had no idea what she was talking about, “so…what is it?”

“Oh, right,” she chuckled, brushing a strand of her auburn hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear, “sorry. I was trying to remember whether or not my mother had told me where to find Hathor, but I came up empty. Then I tried to see if I could call a vision of her forth and see into the present, but something blocked me. It was similar to the blocks I’ve encountered in the past placed by Heaven, though I’m not exactly sure why it’s there. In any case, I figured my mother’s temple in Egypt would be as good a place as any to start. There might be clues there that can lead us to Hathor’s temple and hopefully to Hathor herself.”

“So, Hathor’s location has been blocked by Heaven? But, as an immortal being wouldn’t she be someone they sought out to destroy?” Michael asked.

“Exactly my thought,” replied Athena, “but I don’t really have enough strength to break past another one of their blocks. I need to conserve my power for our journey. We’ll just have to find her the old-fashioned way.”

“And what way is that?” Michael asked, stealing a glance at her luscious curves when she tossed her book back into the leather tote.

“Well, there’s a portal nearby that leads to the Underworld, and I’m afraid from there we’ll have to be on foot for a while. I know the way to Egypt through Hell, but it will be a long journey. So we’ll need to travel to the nearest portal to Egypt. It might take us two days.”

“Two days? As in here on Earth or down in Hell?” He hoped it would be the former and not the latter, for he knew that Amoura’s pregnancy would be well advanced if it took that long in terms of Hell’s time. He closed his eyes when his worst fears came true.

“I’m afraid two days in Hell,” Athena answered, “we may be able to cut it in half if we travel straight through the night and only stop once for rest. I can use some of my power when we get a little closer to help us along, but we would have to work double time to get there.”

“If you need to rest, I’ll carry you. We can’t afford to stop when time moves so quickly in Hell. A two-day’s journey means Amoura will be more than six months along. Uriel will be privy to her pregnancy by then. We can’t risk it. At most, we have a day.”

Athena nodded and led him out of the temple. It was already dark out and the stars began to light the night sky. He followed her down a dirt path that led them to a wooded area. They came across a statue of herself and she knelt before it, whispering words in that same unknown language. She took his hand in hers and pulled him through the base of the statue.

The portal felt a little different than the ones he was used to. He could tell it wasn’t created by Heaven and figured the immortal beings must have placed it there. On the other side of the portal they found themselves beside an eerie, dark river. Its waters looked black and at times Michael swore he saw faces beneath the surface.