23
I wait outside the Black Wing Manor. My mind takes a snapshot of the moment. Lincoln and I stand with our heads touching as we listen to Cissy’s call. Mist surrounds us. Somewhere in that heavy fog there lay thousands of angels from the Brimstone Legion, all of them frozen into stone. Obsidian and Happy pause a few yards away. Their faces have turned from looks of mild of curiosity to downright alarm.
Those fateful words sound again. “Hello, Scala Mother.”
Back on the phone, Cissy raises her voice. “Did you hear what I said?” she asks. “The Enmity brothers used portals to escape. What does that mean?”
I choke out one word. “Trouble.”
Cissy gasps. “Are you okay?”
A hum sounds as a ghoul portal opens before me and Lincoln. A moment later, Trav steps out of the black door-shaped hole
