I hesitated, not totally convinced – but before I could say anything else, Alex looked down at me again. “Hey – what were you going to tell me before Sam and Trish ran off? You seemed so worried: I almost had a heart attack when we got back and you weren’t there.”

My angel. I swallowed hard. Ahead of us, Seb was standing against a tree, waiting for us to catch up. Seb, please, please have some answers for me, I thought. I really need you to.

“Nothing,” I said to Alex. “Sorry, I was just having a freak-out moment about the hunt. I mean, thinking about actually having to shoot something.” I forced a smile. “I wasn’t born to be a gun moll after all, I guess.”

He searched my eyes; I felt both guilt and relief when he believed me. “Yeah, I know how much you hate the thought of it,” he said, squeezing my hand. “Just promise me you’ll try to shoot if an angel’s ever actually coming at you, all right?”

“Promise,” I said. More than that, I was promising myself that if Seb didn’t have answers for me, I’d tell Alex about all of this immediately.

We caught up with Seb; he peeled himself off the tree and joined us again. When we reached the Metro station, I glanced at him as we headed down the concrete stairs. He was jogging slightly, with his curly head down, knapsack bouncing on one shoulder. He looked so normal – so totally human. I could see why the team still felt wary of me; to look at Seb, there was no hint he wasn’t completely human. And in his case, even his aura blended in with everyone else’s.

His aura. As we jostled our way to the ticket machines, it suddenly struck me exactly what it would mean if I could learn to disguise my own. I knew it wasn’t what Alex had had in mind when he’d asked Seb to teach me – it hadn’t even occurred to him; he just wanted me to be safe. But if I somehow managed to get my angel self under control – and if my aura looked human, so that I blended in with the rest of the AKs...I swallowed hard, feeling almost dizzy.

I could take part in the Council attack.

Chapter Thirteen

ALEX WASN’T SURE WHICH CAUSED a bigger ruckus back at the AK house – the news that the Council had arrived five weeks early and were at the Torre Mayor, or that there was another half-angel in the world, and hey, here he was in their house with them. He explained everything to the team as best he could; it felt like he’d set a bomb off. Soon after, Kara cornered him in the kitchen.