Chapter 13
The arrow of silver that carried Phoebe’s prayers in this lifetime arrived in one of the angelic realms. Angel Cassiel, the son of Prince Galaden and Rachael, caught it, deciphered the message, spread his wings and flew to the temple portico where Prince Agrat and Phoebe's son, Daniel, was growing red fireballs in one hand and juggling them. "Quit playing, Dan. My father has stopped hiding out in the wastelands. He's in New York and he's kidnapped your mother. It's serious. He's told her of the vow he made to our grandfather, the old king."
Daniel extinguished the fireballs. His moss-green eyes widened with dismay. "He's told her he's going to kill her? He cared for her. You and Phoebe were the only ones that kept him going after your mother was murdered."
"He loved you too, Dan. Raised you as his own," Cassiel said. "But for my kind, a vow must be served or we turn to stone."
"The lesson is, don't agree to vicious vows in anger. Show me that." Daniel held out his hand.
"Unfortunately my kind must do the will of our creator." Cassiel handed the arrow to his cousin and best friend. He watched as his dark-haired cousin's fingers moved over the arrow shaft, his brow creased as he focused on interpreting the angelic message in the way Cassiel had taught him. Through their different inheritances the angel and the elemental demon had divergent skills, but Phoebe had brought them up so lovingly in her past life, they'd taught each other everything they knew.
"This looks bad," Daniel said, his moss-colored eyes glowing a vivid green with worry. He rubbed his hand over his thick, cropped mahogany hair.
"I knew this would come to a head the moment your mother bought the statue. She just couldn't leave it alone."
"She loved my father. She told me so many stories about him when I was young. She prayed every day that she could find some way to release him from his stone prison. She took me to visit him in the palace and I'd press my face against the statue and tell him how much I loved him," Daniel said, running his fingers along the shaft of the arrow in order to further read the message inscribed on it.
"Phoebe's dedicated. She insisted I love you, even after you'd set my wings on fire."
Daniel grinned and flicked a fireball at him and the angel froze it, his movement so fast it was impossible to see. "It's not my fault you're so feathery. I was improving your reflexes. You used to move so slowly."
"Not anymore." He sent an ice-colored ball at Daniel's head.
Daniel raised his hand without even glancing in Cassiel's direction and the sphere fizzled out. "Still too slow." He grinned. The smile dropped from his face as his fingers moved further up the silver arrow shaft. "Oh shit, Cassiel, there's another prayer here. My mother is praying for Rachael, too. It's bad."
"How bad?" King Sol had ordered his mother, Rachael's death just after he had been born, but the link from being held and loved by her still remained with him.
"I'm going to call upon the elements to open a portal so I can see what's going on." Daniel strode over to the temple's crystal pool and stared into the water. "Great ancestor, Warrior of Water, open the crystal portal so that I may see." The water shimmered. He waved his hand over the top and it stilled.
Cassiel joined him, glad that Daniel could access the crystal pool portal because scrying, seeing into another dimension, didn't come easily to him. Being of part human descent on his mother’s side meant he had to train long and hard to learn the skills that came to angels easily, but he had enormous curative powers from Rachael which Daniel didn't have. "What can you see?"
