Read The Protect Her Box Set: Parts 7-9 for Free Online

decided to let it go. The sooner I had my hands on the relic, the sooner Riley and I could get out of here. I was discovering that I didn’t really care for the company of archangels. No matter what Benjamin said, I didn’t think there was any way that I could trust him the way that I used to; although I knew that I wanted to feel that way again. An archangel, especially the leader of all archangels, would be a powerful ally.
    I hated that was the course of my thoughts, but it was the influence of years alone on my own. I learned how to play the political games to my benefit and put a chokehold on emotions like trust, loyalty, and morality. Those were the kinds of things that got a person killed in the dark world where we lived.
    Riley had managed to slip through all of those boundaries though. I let my thoughts wander to him because he was the one who calmed me now, although he also incited instant anger. I thought that was perhaps the way love was. It had the power to sway emotions to any extreme. Right now, I was more than a little worried about him, but I had to get my hands on the relic. There was no way Benjamin would have let Riley witness our walk down memory lane. It was for the best. Riley was hardly Benjamin’s biggest fan either.
    I took a deep breath and turned back toward Benjamin. “So we’re here. Any suggestions on how we figure out where to go next?”
    “Every recent happy memory I have involves you,” Benjamin said quietly. “I wouldn’t know where to begin. I was hoping you’d be able to decipher some of them because you would have shared them with me.”
    “The world’s most confusing and convoluted treasure map,” I said with a sigh. “Let me think.” I looked at the mantle again and the pictures there. The birthday celebrations had always been fun, but they involved many people. The community on Calamata Island had been welcoming to me, and although it had been difficult to grow close to any of the residents, they always showed up to the parties.
    I shook my head to dismiss those memories. I looked around the room. What we were looking for wasn’t here. I left the room and wandered down the hallway. As I passed the kitchen, I paused to look into the small cheery room. When I came to Calamata Island, I hadn’t been able to cook a lick. Benjamin was a wonderful cook, and he taught me all kinds of recipes. We created exotic foods within the walls of the small kitchen and were transported all over the world through it. It made sense to me now. Benjamin had over a thousand years of practice.
    “I don’t think I’ll ever master your Napoleon recipe,” I said off-handedly.
    “It just means you weren’t meant to be a French pastry chef,” Benjamin said.
    I couldn’t help but chuckle. It was an exchange we had had many times about several recipes that eluded me over the years. Those were happy memories too, but there wasn’t anything there that caused me to believe those could be linked to the relic.
    Continuing down the hall, I stopped at the door to my room. I grasped the knob and swung it open. Then I stepped inside, and I felt a small jolt of energy burst through me. My magic was there, and that’s the signal I had been waiting for.
    “It has to do with something in here,” I said. Benjamin hovered behind me uncertainly. “You can come in.” He had always been overly formal about entering my room. He said it was my private space, and he would never come in unless invited. In three years, that had always been the case.
    Benjamin crossed the threshold as I stepped to the center of the room and did a small spin. The walls and every available flat surface were covered with gravestone rubbings from all of the local graveyards. It was a hobby that Benjamin had introduced me to, and one that had grown into a bit of an obsession. I pointed at several of them.
    “Why did you teach me about gravestone rubbing?”
    “One of the beautiful things about this place is the fact that so many