The Ascended (The Saving Angels 3)

"Helicopters," I provided, giving him some help.

"Ah yes, he uses helicopters to enter into his secure location. A word of caution however, once we are on the mountain, Victor will be aware of our presence. He will use whatever means necessary to deceive or destroy us. It is essential that you understand that Victor now possesses greater strength and ability than any of you have ever seen. He is no longer a mere pawn for the Dark One, but an ally, and is treated as such. His powers will equal mine in many aspects.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, all joking gone from her voice.

"He will have many different resources available to inhibit the success of our mission."

"Like Daemons?" Sam asked.

"Daemons like you have never seen," Haniel answered without elaborating.

"Will they be worse than what we've dealt with before?" Sam asked, gnawing on her lower lip.

"Dude seriously?" Shawn said, clearly aggravated that Haniel had Sam worried.

"It's okay," Sam said pulling out of Shawn's arms. "I don't need it to be sugarcoated. What kind of Daemons?" She continued, turning toward Haniel for clarification.

"Daemons come in many different forms. To describe them all goes beyond my abilities."

"What else will we be facing?" I asked, noting an undercurrent in Haniel's vague explanation.

"It is impossible to know precisely what means Victor will use. For now, you should prepare yourselves for attacks in many different forms."

"Shawn and I purchased netting for us to surround our campsite with, per Haniel's instructions, to help give us some kind of barricade against any attack. The netting won't keep them out, but at least it will serve as a warning," Robert said, making it clear none of this was new information to him or Shawn.

"What about when we're hiking?" Jenna asked in a shaky voice, clearly not a fan of anything that could creep up on us either.

"Don't worry honey. We'll be on high alert as we hike up the mountain," her Link Keith said looking fierce.

An uneasy feeling suddenly curled its way through me. This would be another sad example of the fact that I was the odd man out. Of course, how could I complain about the absence of my Link in a situation that just the other day I was prepared to do alone?

"Ugh, I hope we don't run into spiders when we're hiking," Jenna mumbled.

"What spiders?" I practically screeched. Daemons I could handle, but if a spider fell out of some tree and landed in my hair, I would lose it completely.

"I got your back Sis, don't worry," Shawn teased. He had experienced my bug phobia firsthand when we were picking out furniture together at a garage sale and a big fat hairy spider crawled across the arm of an old recliner we had been contemplating. Needless to say, my screeches could be heard in the next county. After that, I flat out refused to even consider the recliner, convinced that a nest of them was hiding beneath the cushions.

"Thanks," I said, grateful I could always count on my brother.

"So apparently, we have multiple obstacles to face," Shawn said, doing a spectacular impression of Haniel.

His words broke the tension that had enveloped us all since learning that Victor would have multiple Daemons and who knows what else at his disposal.

Shawn's little joke started everyone talking at once. We all seemed to be in fairly good moods considering the uncertainty of the situation. When Jacob's small band arrived, we were all laughing and joking. Haniel of course, took his customary meditative position in the corner of the room. Once again, I was passed around in warm embraces. After the hugs had been issued, I found myself surrounded by my fellow Guides as we chattered about mundane things, steering clear from any subject that was off-limits. I could sense their keen interest in me and knew they had discussed my hybrid powers, but was relieved that none of them asked about them. After a half-an-hour of chitchat, we got ready to head out.

The guys got to work loading up the back of the Explorer with all the gear. They laid the second and third row seats down to maximize space. It was decided that Shawn and Robert would drive the Explorer and the rest of us would ride in the passenger van that John had rented from the airport.

Lynn gave Robert a searing kiss before she climbed into the last row beside Sam and me. The other Guides and Protectors piled into the second and third rows while John and Jacob sat in the driver and passenger seats.

It was a long scenic drive to the Cascade Mountain Range, where Mt. Shasta was located. After several hours, our tired crew finally pulled onto the narrow dirt road that Haniel had marked for us on the map. The trees encroached on the vehicles from all sides with many of the branches trailing along the exterior of the cars. After a quarter of a mile, the narrow lane ended, disappearing into the vast denseness of the mountain terrain. "Amelia's Paul," as we called him, since Jaime's Protector was named Paul also, slid the door open. We all took turns filing out of the large vehicle and standing in the narrow gap of empty space between the van and the forest that threatened to swallow us whole.

"Well this ought to be fun," Lynn muttered to Sam and I as we studied the woods beyond us.

Sam and I both shot her grimacing looks, causing her to burst out laughing which got a questioning look from Robert as he opened up the hatch of the Explorer.

"I wonder where Haniel is," I said to my friends.

"I see you made it here after all," Haniel said, stepping out from the forest in front of us. "I believe the journey should have taken less time to travel," he continued pointedly, looking at the new hiking boots that incased my feet.