Angels of Darkness

open.”
    Only one question remained. Karina took a deep breath and closed the distance between her and Lucas. She lifted her face and looked into his green eyes and kissed him.
    For a moment he stood still and then he kissed her back, his mouth eager and hungry for her. When they broke apart, Henry was staring at them.
    â€œI am confused,” Henry said.
    â€œWell, I can’t let you go back on your own,” Karina said. “All beat up and sad. Arthur might kill you somehow, or Daniel will bring the house down, or Henry, you might poison everyone with your cooking.”
    Emily opened her eyes. “Mommy!”
    â€œHi, baby.”
    â€œWhere are we?”
    â€œIn Detroit. We had to make a stop here for a little while, but Lucas and Henry are taking us home with them now.”
    There had to be words to describe the look on Lucas’s face, but she didn’t know them. He probably didn’t know them, either. He looked like he wasn’t sure if he were surprised, relieved, happy, or mad.
    â€œI believe there is a fast-food place three blocks north,” Henry said. “We could go there, use their phone, and drink coffee while we wait to get picked up. I could use some coffee.”
    â€œCan you make it?” Lucas asked.
    â€œIf I faint, just leave me in the street.”
    Lucas slid his shoulder under Henry’s arm.
    â€œThank you.”
    They started down the street.
    â€œYou don’t own me anymore,” Karina said quietly.
    â€œFine,” Lucas said.
    â€œAnd I will have my own room.”
    â€œFine.”
    â€œAnd if you need to feed, you will ask me. Nicely.”
    He stopped and glared at her.
    â€œNicely,” she told him.
    â€œFine.”
    â€œBut all kidding aside, you will still cook, right?” Henry asked. “You said—”
    â€œYes, I will definitely cook.”
    â€œOh, good,” Henry said. “I was afraid you would quit and we would have to eat Lucas’s cooking.”
    â€œMy cooking is fine,” Lucas said.
    Ahead, the familiar yellow-on-red sign rose on the corner.
    â€œAre we going there, Mommy?” Emily pointed at the sign.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œDo we have money to get ice cream?”
    â€œI have twenty dollars,” Henry said. “It’s a little bloody, but they will take it.”
    â€œThey’ll take it,” Lucas said grimly.
    Karina pictured Lucas, a little bloody and a little pissed off, breaking the McDonald’s counter in half. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.
    â€œDon’t worry, baby. We’ll get you all the ice cream you want.” Karina glanced back at the husk of the skyscraper. For a second she thought she saw her own self waving good-bye. Her new self smiled back. People who knew the old Karina would judge her, if they knew, but that didn’t matter. She made her own choices now.
    She put her hand on Lucas’s arm. He bent it at his elbow, letting her fingers rest on his muscled forearm, and they walked side by side into the night.

Nocturne
    Sharon Shinn

CHAPTER 1
    B ecause I was the newest cook at the school, they had given me the least desirable shift, the one from midnight until dawn. It was my job to wash any of the pots that had been left to soak after dinner, to sweep up the kitchen, to mix the ingredients for bread and let the dough go through its first rising. Rhesa, the young woman who had held this position before me, had gladly given up these tasks; she now came in with three other women to make the evening meal for the hundred and fifty souls who lived at the school. I could tell she both pitied me for being stuck with the night duties and felt a certain smug satisfaction at finally having someone below her in the staff hierarchy. She was the kind of person who—if she lasted long enough to be named head cook—would treat everyone below her with snobbery and contempt.
    But the truth was, I liked the night hours. I liked the solitude, the quiet, and the autonomy. And I relished the chance to explore.
    The Gabriel School was an odd place, no question about it. It was one of a dozen such institutions established sixty or seventy years ago by the former Archangel and his wife as places for abandoned street children to get an education. While a few of these schools could be found in major cities like Semorrah and Luminaux, ours was located on the very edge of the desert that snugged up against the Caitana Mountains.