“Come on, think of something!” Beezle said, flying out of my coat and smacking the back of my head. “Where are your Morningstar superpowers?”
“I don’t know,” I said, looking at the tattoo on my hand. “It’s like those abilities have gone quiet since Lucifer disappeared.”
“You do not think the Morningstar is dead, do you?” Nathaniel asked.
“No,” I said. “But it’s like he’s a blank, like he’s gone under… ground…”
I looked down at the floor, and back up at Beezle.
“This is another snowman plan, isn’t it?”
“Meeeat,” the nephilim said, its voice louder as it approached.
“More like an earthworm plan,” I said. “Nathaniel, come help me. Samiel, you stand by the door and keep the nephilim from getting in here.”
I kneeled on the floor a little distance away from the sleeping Agents, my palms flat on the stone. Nathaniel joined me, looking dubious.
“You want to blast a hole in the floor?” Beezle said. “That’s your plan? Haven’t we spent enough time in tunnels?”
“If we can dig a tunnel off Azazel’s property, then we can take a portal out of here,” I said. “And it’s a better option than trying to fight our way through the soldiers upstairs while protecting all the Agents.”
“We still have to transport them out of here,” Jude said.
“Yes, but we’ll have a good chance of keeping them safe underground. If we get them all down there, then we can move them in small groups, leapfrogging down the passage. And we easily pick off anyone who comes into the tunnel behind us.” I looked at Nathaniel. “Okay, let’s do it.”
I summoned all the strength and will that I had, and sent a blast of power through the floor and into the earth beneath. Nathaniel followed suit, and the floor buckled underneath us before the stones collapsed. I fell about ten feet into the hole, the breath leaving my body, brick dust raining down on my face. Nathaniel peered over the edge, bemused.
“I do not know how you do it,” he said. “How can one person be so clumsy?”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, getting to my feet. I was damned lucky that I was part angel or else I was sure I’d have a broken bone. I gave my belly a little pat and felt the reassuring answer of beating wings.
“MEEEAT!” the nephilim cried, and I smelled nightfire burning. A moment later I heard the sound of something heavy knocking up against a solid wall.
“You’d better start digging, rabbit,” Beezle said, flying down to my side. “Samiel’s put up a shield, but the nephilim is making so much noise that it’s sure to bring the rest of the house down on us.”
“We have to get to the woods that are across the road from the front of the mansion,” I said. “That’s definitely off his property. If we go behind the house, we’ll never get out. Gabriel told me that Azazel’s woods stretch on for miles in that direction.”
Beezle frowned at the packed earth, spinning around in all directions. He stopped moving after a moment and pointed.
“That way.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “Because we really can’t afford to mess this up.”
“Trust me,” Beezle said. “Do you think I would put future doughnut deliveries at risk?”
“True,” I said, and started blasting in front of me. “Go up and tell Jude and Nathaniel to start bringing the Agents down.”
Nathaniel floated down a few moments later with Chloe and two other agents held in a fireman’s carry. I had blasted about thirty feet of tunnel, and he brought them up and rested them just behind me.
Jude followed with two Agents, and I continued blasting as they went back and forth. I could feel tremors above me, and I suspected that some of Azazel’s soldiers had finally noticed the howling nephilim.
Beezle flew down with the update. “A company of soldiers came down to see what the nephilim was freaking out about. Fortunately for us, the nephilim was so crazed from being denied fresh meat that it turned on the soldiers. They’re duking it out as we speak.”
“Good,” I said, sweat pouring over my face as I blasted another ten feet of tunnel.
Samiel came up behind me. I’ll help you clear the tunnel. The other two will move the Agents.
I nodded. It was faster going with Samiel’s help. Nathaniel and Jude had the tedious job of running back and forth, collecting Agents, dropping them off near us, then running back for the others.
On one of these trips Nathaniel said, “I created an illusion in the room to look like the stone floor was still there. It won’t fool Azazel, and if anyone steps on it, they will still fall into the tunnel, but perhaps it will hold them off.”
“Maybe they won’t go all the way into the room. If they see the Agents are missing and we aren’t there, then hopefully they’ll just go back upstairs to raise the alarm. Good thinking,” I said.
Nathaniel smiled briefly and went back for more Agents.
I don’t know how long we were underground, dirt and insects falling in our faces, laboriously moving a few feet at a time, but finally Nathaniel said, “That’s enough.”
I looked back at him. He was crouched low in the tunnel like Samiel and Jude were. I had only blasted a path maybe six feet high and a few feet wide, and it was a tight squeeze for anyone not pocket-sized.
“We’ve passed beyond Azazel’s property line,” Nathaniel said.