All Who Wander Are Lost (An Icarus Fell Novel) Read Online Free

am’ gesture. I parted my lips but my lungs
refused to aid my vocal chords in forming words. My mouth snapped
shut, teeth clicking, and I sniffed a deliberate breath through my
nostrils, forcing my lungs to do the work they’re employed to
do. The fresh pumpkin pie smell of the archangel tested my resolve,
but my vocal chords gave in to my wishes on the second attempt.
    “ Did
you send me to kill Detective Williams?”
    He regarded me with
flickering golden eyes. The pause wasn’t to give him time to
formulate the proper response—I didn’t believe for a
second Mikey or any other angel was ever at a loss for words—he
wanted a different effect. I shivered a little, giving it to him.
    “ It
matters not how a man’s body dies when it is the soul’s
time to go on.”
    “ That
doesn’t answer my question.”
    “ Does
it not?”
    I bit down hard
enough that the cords in my neck stood out. The prickle on my skin
vanished taking with it the thrill in my stomach and the shortened,
excited breath the archangel’s presence brought. Their
disappearance left anger and guilt alone to brood over my actions,
my decisions. And Mike’s.
    “ This
isn’t what I signed up for,” I seethed between clenched
teeth. “I’m not your goddamned tool.”
    “ No,
Icarus Fell, you are my God-saved tool.”
    His comment spun my
brain in a tight little circle. It took a moment to regain my
equilibrium as a wave of nausea swept through my midsection.
    “ I’m
supposed to save people, not kill them,” I said, much of the
gusto gone from my voice. “Too many people died because of
me.”
    “ You
did save him.” Mikey tipped his head indicating the spot where
the detective and his escort were a minute before. “What is
the problem?”
    “ The
problem is: if I didn’t kill him, I wouldn’t have needed
to harvest him.”
    The archangel
appeared to take one step but suddenly stood directly in front of
me, his chest brushing mine. The fierce heat radiating from him
brought sweat to my brow instantly. I looked up into his face; I’d
estimated Mikey at six and a half feet tall but, as he stood before
me, he seemed considerably taller. His heat leaked into my chest,
seeped through my clothes and flesh, warmed my internal organs, and
threatened to boil my blood.
    Did he mean for it
to calm me or discourage me? It accomplished both. And more.
    “ God’s
universe is a place of give and take, but it is He alone who gives
and takes. You, like all others, are part of the mechanism He uses
to do so.”
    “ I’m
no killer,” I snapped and, before putting thought to my
action, shoved against Mike’s chest with both hands.
    Really bad idea. I
may as well have pushed the Empire State building. Michael remained
stationary as the shove jammed my wrists back painfully, then sent
me to the floor directly on my tail bone, rocketing a flare of pain
up my spine. When I looked up a second later, the archangel already
loomed over me.
    “ Every
effect has a cause.” He knelt in front of me and the fire in
his eyes felt like lasers burning into mine. “Every action a
result. Do you think nothing you do has consequences? Do you think
you live this second life—this gift I gave you—without
connection to any other living being?”
    I
stared at him, breathless. My head might have moved in a gesture
signifying I didn’t think that was the case, but I was trying
so hard to keep from shaking, I couldn’t be sure. I searched
desperately for a sarcastic response but came up lacking. Between
the jarring impact of falling on my ass and the archangel’s
proximity, my senses were rattled almost to the point of
uselessness. He could have told me Martians had invaded New Orleans
or that the Titanic was
a rowboat and I’d have agreed with him.
    “ Get
up,” he said as he stood.
    I scrambled to my
feet wanting nothing more at that moment than to make him happy with
me. He grabbed my arm, his fingers hot as embers, but they didn’t
burn. Instead, electricity