“Wow,” was all I could say.
“After you,” Rafe said, making a slight bow.
I stepped gingerly over the invisible barrier between the seen and unseen. A massive door on the front porch opened and out walked a woman who could have been my mother’s twin. On closer inspection I saw she was much older, with gray streaks running through her wavy ebony hair, and her frame was more generous than my mother’s had been. My grandmother had meat on her bones.
“Rafael!” she called to angel-man beside me. “And oh, dear lord! Is this our Chalice?”
I felt my cheeks grow hot.
“Yes, Aurora. It sure is,” Rafe said, a genuine smile in his voice. He liked her, I could tell.
“She’s the mirror image of Felicia, rest her soul.” My grandmother pranced down the steps, her breath steaming in the icy air. She hugged a thick wool cardigan closed against her chest and the knitted muffler at her neck trailed behind her. As she came nearer I got a good look at her eyes. Turquoise and gold. Just like mine.
Smiling, she stopped about a foot from me and opened her arms. I knew she expected a hug, but I wasn’t a hugger. I made only one exception, but getting to hug Aydin wouldn’t happen for a while. For my grandmother I compromised, leaning forward to touch my cheek to hers. She smelled like vanilla and cinnamon.
Eyes twinkling, she seemed satisfied with that. “Chalice, I’m so happy you’ve come.”
I was about to say how glad I was to be here when an enormous figure appeared at my grandmother’s back.
“So this is the granddaughter I’ve heard so much about.” The man stood slightly taller than Rafe in his human form, and his hair was black as Aurora’s. He looked mature, but it was hard to tell his age since there wasn’t a speck of gray in his hair. Signs of years gone by and exposure to the elements creased his handsome face. This must be my grandfather.
“Zeke, say hello to Chalice,” my grandmother said.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he said to me, a grin tweaking the corners of his mouth. It made me feel like a little girl again. As happy as I was to finally meet my grandmother, my heart swelled at seeing my grandfather. I knew the sacrifice he’d made. He’d been an angel before deciding to become human just so he could marry the woman he loved and be a father to his child. His courage and commitment took my breath away.
“Honey, are you all right?” My grandmother placed a hand gently on my shoulder.
I blinked and sniffed, then rubbed my nose. “I’m fine. Just cold. Can I get a tissue, please?”
Eyes wide, she said, “Of course! Grab that angel of yours and let’s get you two inside to warm up.”
Rafe drew to my side and I jumped ahead before he could touch me. I wanted nothing to do with him right now.
“Welcome to Halo Home,” Zeke said.
I stood at the entrance and stared, wide-eyed, at the vast interior of the first floor. The foyer opened out into the living room, which opened to the dining room, which opened to the kitchen. One great room with a giant round fireplace in its center. This house was way too large for only two people.
Aurora nodded. “I know what you’re thinking. Yes, it’s too big for Zeke and me, which is why we have other Hatchet knights live here with us. This house has become something of a sanctuary over the years, mostly for new knights in training.”
I nodded, though I was puzzled by something Aydin once told me. “I thought it was too dangerous for the knights to live together. Made them vulnerable.”
Rafe studied my face. “Turns out it was more dangerous for them not to.”
My grandmother lifted both eyebrows in agreement. “It’s true that keeping the knights together can make them a target for black veil crackpots.” She shook her head. “Young knights come to us as orphans from time to time and we care for them until they’re ready to go out on their own. It’s a sad but necessary part of being a Hatchet knight. We’re prone to losing the people we’re close to.”
I’d been an orphan too, except I’d had no one to help me but a monastery of monks in Lebanon before I was kidnapped by the leader of the Vyantara.
She tipped her head to one side and said, “Follow me to the kitchen, Chalice. You can help me finish making cookies.” She frowned at the two men and made a shooing motion with her hands. “I’m sure these two can find something to do with themselves.”
Zeke rolled his eyes. “Sure, steal our grandchild so you can have her all to yourself. When is it my turn?”
“When I say so.” She marched toward the other end of the house and I followed.
“I’m sorry to tell you this,” I told Aurora as I watched her tug cookie sheets from a lower cupboard, “but I can’t cook.”
She winked at me. “There’s nothing to it, honey. Have you ever mixed a spell?”
I thought about the summoning ritual I’d performed to bring my fallen angel father across. “Sort of.”
She set the pans on the counter and placed a large mixing bowl filled with dough beside them. “A pinch of this, a dash of that, stir it all together and presto. You’re a cook.”
It couldn’t be that easy.
She handed me a spoon. “Scoop up a teaspoon of batter and plop it on the cookie sheet. Keep doing that until the bowl is empty.”
I stuck my finger in the batter for a taste. Peanut butter. Yummy.
Aurora smacked my hand. “None of that now. You’re as bad as your mother was.”
Wiping my hand on a towel, I asked, “What was she like?”
“Your mother? Headstrong, fearless, determined. A lot like you, I suspect.” She dumped two cups of flour into a large mixing bow. “Felicia was an amazing woman. I wish you’d had a chance to know her.”
“Me, too.” But all I had was one photo. Aydin had rescued it from a fire and saved it for me. It was a precious gift I’d cherish forever.
“You’re very lucky, you know,” Aurora said as she cracked an egg on the side of the bowl. “I don’t know of anyone who’s ever survived the gargoyle’s curse with their humanity intact.”
“I’m guessing you know the whole story about what happened to me?”
“In great detail.”
Of course she knew. She must have her finger on the pulse of the entire Hatchet order no matter how scattered they were. I guessed that Rafe kept her well informed about everything having to do with me. Everything he knew, anyway.
“I also know about the newly made gargoyle who used to be your friend.”
“Aydin is still my friend.” The flutter in my belly reminded me how my feelings ran deeper than mere friendship. “He may look different on the outside, but he’s the same man on the inside.”
My grandmother made a huffing noise. “Don’t be so sure.”
Her too? I plopped a glob of dough onto the pan. “You sound like Rafe.”
She looked at me and arched both her eyebrows. “Oh yes, you gave Raphael a nickname.” She chuckled. “Rafe. It suits him.”
I dug the spoon into the bowl. “I don’t get how he can be so judgy,” I said, then clamped my mouth shut before I could accuse her of being the same. We were just getting to know each other and I wanted her to like me. “I thought angels were supposed to be open-minded.”
“He worries about you, Chalice.”
I frowned, unused to anyone worrying about me unless