But seconds later, he’d been back to his bizarre yet normal self.

Rubbing my right hand, I resisted the urge to kick a nearby trash can as Dez and I came to an intersection. At this point, it felt like we’d walked every block in the city. I also fought the urge to check my phone, which I had been doing every ten minutes it felt like.

I’d tried getting ahold of Cayman that afternoon, calling the number he’d texted from, more than once, but there’d been no answer. Based on how everyone first reacted to the news about Zayne, I figured that was not something I needed to text. But he hadn’t called back. He hadn’t even returned my text.

Of course, my mind immediately had gone to the worst-case scenario. Zayne had somehow found Cayman, did something fallen-angel terrible, and I was going to be sad, because I liked the dumb demon. Layla was going to be really sad, and then Roth was going to want to kill—

Dez’s phone rang suddenly. “It’s Gideon,” he told me as he answered. “Talk to me.”

Please. Please let there be some lead. Anything at this point, even if it was just some kind of rumor. There had been no sign of Zayne—not from us or any of the Wardens who were also combing the city for any sign of him—and not only that, I hadn’t felt a single demon the whole time I’d been out here, not even a Fiend. There’d been less in the city since the arrival of Gabriel, but I at least always felt one.

“What? Yeah. That could be something,” Dez was saying, turning around while I forced myself to remain silent. “We aren’t too far actually. We’ll check it out.”

“What?” I demanded the moment he lowered his phone. “Has Gideon learned something?”

“I don’t want us to get our hopes up, but he did hear a strange call go in to the police,” he said.

“My hopes aren’t up,” I lied. They totally were. “What kind of call?”

“A man just called in, saying he saw a man getting beat up by an angel.”

I blinked once and then twice. “That...that could definitely be Zayne.” I paused. “With hopefully a really good reason to be beating someone up.”

“Or it could be someone drunk or high,” Dez replied. “Gideon said he’d be surprised if the cops even do a drive-by of the park to check out the call.”

“Where is the park? You said it’s close?”

Dez turned to his left. “Just about two blocks down—”