A Beautiful Dark

hadn’t done that!” Asher yelled.
    “I don’t believe in wishing!” Devin shouted gruffly, throwing all his weight against Asher’s chest.
    None of us had noticed that heavy clouds had rolled in, and the sky had grown black and grim. Lightning flashed, and the very atmosphere around us seemed to reverberate. “I’ve had enough of you,” Asher spat as Devin struggled against him. Freezing rain began to pelt against the cold concrete.
    “If you kill each other, you’ll deserve it!” My whole body sang with anger. My heart was pounding and my nerves were raging—I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks and up the back of my neck. As Asher and Devin struggled, I could feel something brewing inside of me . It felt like I should be able to control it, but instead it was controlling me. And before I had a chance to do a single thing, to figure out the slightest way to control whatever surged within me, there was a thunderous crack as the side of the water tower split open like the simplest seam and water burst onto the roof.
    The two rogue angels stopped in mid-fight and stared. I couldn’t tell what either of them was thinking, but I didn’t care. I was overcome with a sudden wave of exhaustion and fell like a rock to the flooding ground.

Chapter 24

    T he last light of day seeped in under the cracks of my eyelids. The rain had stopped, and the light was a normal, late-afternoon kind of color. My head pounded with an unforgiving rhythm.
    Slowly sounds and voices began to crystallize around me.
    I could make out Asher cursing. “Hold the water back!” he shouted as his strong arms scooped me up, and I was lifted off the ground, someplace—
    My eyes shot open. Off the ground?
    I looked up and found myself staring into Asher’s face. His massive black wings flapped once, twice, and my vision was a rush of inky feathers. As we soared above the school, my stomach dropped, and I threw my arms around his neck. I closed my eyes tight, burying my face against his chest. When my body had gotten used to the swooping, jerky motion of flying, I opened them again, tentatively.
    Asher glanced down at me, and I could see in his eyes a glimmer of worry. His grip tightened around me, and he leveled his gaze to see where he was going. The wind whipped past us, and the cold air felt crisp against my face. I strained my neck to catch a glimpse of Devin—who had stayed behind us on the roof—just in time to see a roiling wave of water flow back into the open seam in the water tower, and the seam seal itself back up like the petals of a flower closing in on itself.
    Then it was too dark to see anything.
    “That’s enough for today.” Asher’s voice sounded far above the wind rushing past us. “I’m taking you home.”
    “Stop protecting me,” I demanded weakly. “I’m fine.” But I didn’t have the strength left to argue.
    We flew in silence. Below us, the valleys and fields stretched and yawned as little lights sprinkled on in the houses below and cars snaked like toys along winding mountain roads. I tucked my head under Asher’s chin and felt him swallow. Being this close to him made me feel dizzy, like the closeness was a drug and I had to be careful or I might do something reckless. I’d never felt that way before.
    Through the fuzziness in my brain, I tried to process what had happened on the roof. I didn’t know who had been responsible for causing what, but for the first time, it really felt like what Asher said was true. Something was inside of me, waiting, just waiting, for the chance to get out. And when it did . . .
    We stood outside of my front door. The windows were dark, not a surprise since Aunt Jo had left that morning to take another group out. I was grateful she was away. How would I explain all this to her tonight?
    Asher had placed me down gently on the ground just moments before, and the memory of feathers against my skin made me flush. With the slightest of self-conscious looks, he folded them behind his back, and they vanished. The sky instantly looked lighter.
    “Are you okay?”
    I nodded tentatively
    “What happened up there—what stopped us—was that you?” A trace of a mischievous smile flashed across his face.
    I realized that I’d been taking it for granted that I’d see Asher and Devin every day—but I had no idea where the two of them were living. Maybe they lost their corporeal, human form at night. Maybe Devin crossed over into the Order’s realm, and Asher