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He felt his powers sharpen

"Don’t cry, Cherise I won’t let them hurt you"

Still raw from what he’d seen in that last battle, and with his very foundation shaken, Nick jerked at the last thing he expected to hear His father’s bitter tone pro protection to his mother

What the…?

He drifted back from them so that he could identify where they were

Ice-blue walls surrounded thees all around them In some ways, it reminded him of a warehouse But it wasn’t the sa like it And after a few seconds, he realized those weren’t reflections in the wall

They were deh

In the center of the e while his father walked an angry circle around her, daring the wall de demons salivated for the elder Malachai’s powers

And Nick knehat all of theh to be killed by theht have, he wouldn’t be able to last long against that nue, si to break it open and drain his father

Nick pulled away fro he’d seen, to the point that he couldn’t speak

"Did you find her?" Kody asked

Dazed, Nick nodded, then looked to Caleb "I’ idiot"

"We knew that," he said drily "We definitely didn’t have to throw you into a coet"

Nick shoved at him

"What did you see?" Kody asked as their ever-present voice of reason

Nick returned his attention to her "She’s in a place I can’t identify It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before It was just a rooe of her terrified face cut through hiht How selfish am I?"

"Preoccupation with your own survival isn’t selfish It’s hu Kody around She had an incredible knack for taking the sting out of his stupidity But tonight, he wasn’t going to allow her to make him feel better He didn’t deserve it "It was selfish, but the only real question is, hoe find her location and get her out?"

Caleb crossed his ar look on Kody "I have an idea What do you know about su an Aamon?"

Her expression said Caleb had lost his ot nothing"

Nick gave him a pained, droll stare "Way to participate, Malphas Thanks"

Kody held her hand up to interrupt theht be another way"

"Yeah?" Caleb asked

She smiled at both of them "We could suot" He pointed to Nick

"I know… And a Malachai can trace those of his kind Even into another dimension"

"Cosmic doorway," Caleb breathed, then turned his attention to Nick "I like it"

Nick had no idea what they were talking about, but froood Especially not for hi the question, Kody tapped her finger to her chin as she continued to ponder her suggestion "It’s risky"

Caleb shrugged nonchalantly "So’s living"

"Entities, please," Nick said, getting their attention "What are we talking about?"

Kody took a deep breath before she explained "Failsafe The younger Malachai can always go to the elder There is no place in existence that he can’t hide from his son"

Nick finally understood "So that I can kill hie"

Kody nodded "But it’s risky If you’re not ready to kill hi your father, he won’t hesitate Just like in the hospital"

She would bring that up Not one of his finershot Yet in his defense, he’d been unconscious and seriously hurt when his father had come into the room to kill him

Before Kyrian and Acheron had driven him out and saved Nick’s life, his father had promised to kill Nick the next time they met

Let’s hear it for paternal concern…

Even so, Nick wasn’t so sure about his father’s ability to carry out his threat Not so long as his mother ith hi

He cast the to touch me with my mother in the roohty Chihuahua awful fast … not that I blame him Cherise’s pretty intense when it comes to you"

She was indeed

"So what do we need to do?" Nick asked

Kody held her hand out for him to take it

Nick hesitated She had been sent here to kill hione through hishis dead body in her ar by her side in his vision, he knew it couldn’t be from her past

Nor did it make sense that it’d be from their future But even if it was, the future wasn’t set in stone A he did could change it However, if that vision was a glimpse at his future, in at least one alternate tiether

Which meant she wouldn’t necessarily kill hilanced to Caleb and re decisions that ut clench This was definitely one of those tiret this, Nick took her hand "When this is done, we need to talk"

"Nick, I can’t--"

"Shh," he said, cutting her off "Let’s get through this first" He looked at Caleb