End of Days (Penryn & the End of Days, #3)

by Susan Ee

“She knows them, man,” says Dum. “It’s cool. They’ll come after us at the Bay Bridge.” He nods, then frowns as the implications hit him. “Wait a minute . . .” “Are you sure that people will listen?” I ask. “Oh, they’ll listen,” says Dee. “If there’s one thing that us humans are good at, it’s gossip. Word spreads—and everybody’s heard of you.” “They’ve heard of your mom and sister too,” says Dum. “But that’s another story.” “They’ll come,” says Dee. “You’re the only leader we’ve got.”

“The angels called it the beast,” says Doc. “But I like your sixers name better.” “The seventh head was human, and it was dead,” I say. “Was the sixer alive?” asks Doc. “Did any of the angels around it look sick?”

“The sixers infected the angel doctors. They got sick, then about a day or two later, they were exposed to the sixers again, and that massively accelerated the disease. They bled out in the most horrible way. It looked excruciatingly painful too. It was everything they were trying to do with a human disease, only it killed angels and locusts instead. The human lab workers were fine, and so were the sixers. They were just carriers of the disease.” “Do you have one in a cage somewhere?”

“I had no idea that someone could be such a thorn in your foot during a death march and still be irresistibly attractive in some magical, undeniable way.”

“You don’t care about the angelic rules anymore?” “My Watchers have helped me realize that angelic rules are for angels. Without our wings, we can never be fully accepted back into the fold. There will always be talk of taking a newly Fallen’s wings and transplanting them onto us. Angels are perfect. Even with transplanted wings, we’ll never again be perfect. You accept me just the way I am, regardless of whether or not I even have wings. Even when I had my demon wings, you’ve never looked at me with pity. You’ve never wavered in your loyalty. That’s who you are—my brave, loyal, lovable Daughter of Man.”

We hold each other close. He feels so good. So warm. So solid. I want this moment to last forever. “Aw, true love.” Howler lands on the boat, rocking it. “It makes me want to puke. Doesn’t it make you want to gag too, Hawk?” “I never thought it was a good idea in the first place,” says Hawk as he lands beside Howler. “Eternal damnation is what I get for listening to you lot.”