Suzi woke feeling like someone was bashing gongs inside her skull. Every heartbeat made the clang reverberate through her ears, and her mouth felt stuffed with cotton—thick and scratchy, like she’d guzzled an entire saltshaker in her sleep. Even the morning light seemed hostile, a riot squad against her hippy-protest eyes. She slammed her lids shut and snagged a pair of sunglasses from her side table, then yanked the covers over her head. It helped, but just barely.

“Those are my glasses, fille,” Darcy’s voice cut through the blankets, unwelcome and way too loud.

“I don’t care,” Suzi muttered, refusing to move.

Darcy’s sigh was audible. “I cleaned the vomit from the floor and off the side of your bed, but you might want to change clothes and your comforter.”

Suzi’s stomach tightened. “What vomit?” she managed, peeking from under the covers.

“Yours,” Darcy said bluntly. “You were trashed. How much did you drink?”

Suzi sat up slowly, testing her stomach’s stability. “Maybe it was food poisoning,” she muttered, head throbbing.

“Could be. But the party went on for hours. No one else got sick.”

Suzi squinted at Darcy, piecing things together through the haze. “Wait—you left me here and went back down? I thought you hated big social events.”

“You were stable, and I stayed close enough to check on you,” Darcy answered with a shrug. “Besides, Gracie needed company.”

That triggered a small smirk from Suzi. She wanted to rib Darcy about it, but her head hurt too damn much. “Any word on Ellie?”

Darcy shook her head. “She never came back. Your military friends had to keep Ricky from running after her all night. The doc wants us in as soon as you’re up to it—to figure out a plan to find her.”

Suzi considered that a moment. “I can use the pellet.”

Darcy raised an eyebrow. “Miraleth’s Pellet? Doesn’t it just whack stuff you throw it at? Thought it was kinda…low-tier as artifacts go.”

“It does more,” Suzi said. She pinched the bridge of her nose, then let her hand drop to summon the artifact. “Miraleth’s Pellet,” she mumbled. A tiny golden orb materialized in her left palm.

Silence. When Suzi glanced up, Darcy was standing stock-still, staring at the sphere.

“Darcy?” Suzi asked, uncertain if she’d triggered some bizarre freeze effect.

Darcy swallowed. “What the fuck is that, and how did you do that?”

Suzi frowned. “How did I do what? And It’s the pellet.”

“The pellet, I saw, was a rock, huge as a fist. Not a gold golf ball. And you just—summoned it out of thin air.”

Suzi shrugged, wincing at the pull in her temples. “I unabsorbed it, that’s all. When you master the pellet, it condenses into this smaller form.”

Darcy’s eyes narrowed. “You… unabsorbed it? Is that an ability it grants you?”

“Not exactly,” Suzi hedged. “Can’t all celestials do that?”

“Never seen it,” Darcy murmured, gaze flicking to Suzi. “Are you telling me you can just…absorb artifacts, then recall them?”

Suzi’s insides twisted. Shit. She’d never realized that wasn’t normal. “I’ve done it with a few items. But I’m still new at this. Apparently I can only handle so much before it starts hurting me.”

Darcy’s brow furrowed. “Who told you that?”

Suzi’s throat tightened. She thought about Judas, the persona inside her mind who’d explained the rules. But Darcy didn’t know Suzi had multiple personalities, let alone that only one was a celestial. She went for a half-truth. “Kariel,” she lied, hoping her voice sounded casual. “That was my original angel guide.”

Darcy’s lips pursed. “And they made it sound normal?”

Suzi tried to look nonchalant. “It’s just some weird ability. Stronger artifacts can’t be absorbed until I’m stronger, that’s all.”

Darcy’s attention refocused on the orb. “Can you do it again?”

Suzi obliged, absorbing and re-manifesting the pebble. Then she did the same with the Ring of Eae, letting it flicker into existence.

“Sacré Dieu, where did you get that?” Darcy hissed, staring at the ring.

“John—the guy with the war medals who left me everything. It was in his stash.” Suzi rubbed her aching head. “I haven’t figured out how to use it yet.”

Darcy’s eyes flicked from the ring to Suzi. “What else do you have in there?” Darcy asked, poking Suzi’s side.

“Nothing.” Suzi forced a shrug. “Those two are all I have.”

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“Only artifacts, right? You can’t do that with random stuff?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never tried with anything else...”

“We can only absorb named artifacts,” Judas told her to alter self.

“but… I’m pretty sure it’s named artifacts only.”

Darcy glanced around, then snatched the bondage hood from under the bed with a wicked grin. “How about the Mask of Urzobach?” She added a bit of eeriness to her voice.

Suzi’s stomach lurched at the idea of bonding with that demon-laced item. “Fuck, no.”

“An artifact only gets a name once it’s used and gains a legacy,” Miraleth’s voice echoed, disembodied yet crisp.

Darcy shot to her feet, eyes wide. “Qu’est-ce que c’est que cette merde?”

Suzi let out a short laugh. “That’s Miraleth. Didn’t you meet him during the pellet’s trial?”

“No. I never tried that thing. Throwing a damn boulder around sounded boring.”

Suzi’s gaze drifted back to the orb. “Miraleth, can you locate Ellie?” she asked.

The orb crackled with static energy. “Of course, Demon Reaper. I will commence the search algorithm now.” The golden sphere began morphing, re-expanding into its heavier, etched form of a lead ball.

Darcy’s eyes shone with fascination. “C’est incroyable.” She reached out, running her fingertips over the twisting grooves.

Suzi jerked her hand away. “Hey, be careful. Don’t stare too deeply, okay? It can be…dangerous. I mean, I’m sure you could handle it, but let’s not risk it.”

Darcy’s fingers lingered on the etched maze. “It is mesmerizing.”

“Exactly. Don’t get mesmerized,” Suzi warned, covering the orb with a blouse. “Give me a few minutes to shower, get rid of this cotton mouth, then we’ll go.”

Darcy nodded in silence, still sneaking the occasional glance at the hidden orb.

Several minutes later, Suzi emerged from the bathroom, hair damp, wearing nothing but a towel and a fog of steam. She found Darcy sprawled on the bed, phone in hand, lips puckered in a ridiculous duck-face pose.

Suzi frowned. “Duck lips? Seriously?”

Darcy grinned sheepishly. “Gracie wanted a photo,” she said, tone defensive.

Rolling her eyes, Suzi rifled through her closet for clothes. “If you break her heart, I swear…”

“Relax, ma chérie,” Darcy purred, tapping on her phone. “I’ll protect her heart—and her body, mind, soul. I’d die before letting harm come to her.”

A snort of disbelief escaped Suzi. “Damn, you’ve got it bad.” She tugged her favorite Harry Potter hoodie over her head and laced up her beat-up pink Converse. “All right, let’s go.”

Darcy bounced up, offering a hand. Suzi grabbed it, and in a blink, they were outside Darcy’s dorm room. The sudden shift made Suzi’s knees wobble, but she steadied quickly.

“I’ll be right there,” Darcy told her, stepping through the door.

Suzi found Bear and Dr. Everett up in Everett’s loft office, both with books in hand. She cleared her throat. “Morning, guys.”

Dr. Everett straightened, eyes warm. “How’re you feeling?”

Suzi shot him a thumbs-up. “Much better now.”

Bear carefully slid a ribbon into his book, closed it, and stood. “Darcy told us you were sick. Too much to drink last night?”

Suzi shrugged, her hoodie swishing around her hips. “I’m pretty sure it was food poisoning. But I’m fine now. Darcy said you wanted to talk about Ellie. I’ve got the orb working on finding her.”

Bear frowned. “What orb?”

“Miraleth’s Pellet,” Suzi explained.

Dr. Everett’s eyebrows went high. “It can track people?”

“Yeah. Darcy was surprised too, but apparently she never fully mastered it. Figured you guys might’ve.” Suzi fiddled with a loose string on her hoodie. “Miraleth told me—”

“Wait.” Both men spoke in near unison.

“You actually talk to Miraleth?” Dr. Everett asked, voice tight with interest.

Suzi nodded. “He’s…in the orb. We can chat, sort of.”

Bear and Everett exchanged a heavy look. “Where is it now?” Bear finally said.

Before Suzi could answer, Darcy walked in, wearing a fresh outfit and smelling faintly of men’s cologne. She grinned like a cat with a secret. “I have a lunch date if you don’t mind.”

Suzi watched Dr. Everett and Bear with a sense of excitement thrumming under her skin, balanced by a pang of worry that she might be about to disappoint them somehow. Darcy stood at her side, practically bouncing on her toes with pent-up energy.

“Suzi just told us she’s got an angelic search engine,” Everett announced, glancing at Bear.

Darcy nudged Suzi’s elbow, eyes gleaming. “Show them the other thing.”

Suzi felt her chest tighten. The ring. She’d felt self-conscious enough revealing she could summon Miraleth’s Pellet from inside her own body. But Darcy just stood there, expectant, so Suzi extended her hand again, heart pounding. “All right…” She inhaled a calming breath and called up the Ring of Eae. The faint tingle in her palm preceded the smooth, golden circle flickering into existence.

Bear’s gaze flicked from her hand to her eyes. He recognized how bizarre it was—she could see it in the widening of his pupils. “The one to house an ability yet to be seen,” he murmured, voice thick with meaning.

Everett made a small noise of dismissal. “That’s giving her a lot of credit, Bear. I’ve known too many celestials for me to jump to prophecies. Let me see that.”

Suzi dropped the ring into his waiting palm. The hush in the room seemed to intensify.

Everett turned it over in his hand several times. “The Ring of Eae,” he said, voice reverent. “This was lost for ages. How’d you get it?”

Swallowing a flare of nerves, Suzi cleared her throat. “A friend—someone who passed—left it to me.”

Darcy added quickly, “His letter said the Harvester gave it to him.”

Suzi watched the ripple of shock pass between Bear and Everett, then back to her.

Everett’s voice tightened. “Is that true?”

She nodded. “It’s what he said in his letter. He worked for the Harvester in Colorado decades ago.”

“Where in Colorado?” Everett pressed.

“I’m not sure,” Suzi confessed. “I have the deed to his property back at my apartment, though.”

Bear’s eyebrows climbed. “The same man who left you millions of dollars?”

A flush of heat burned Suzi’s cheeks. “Uh, yeah, though he actually wanted me to split it among his kids. Wait—how’d you know about that?”

Bear shrugged almost sheepishly. “I overheard you in the crawlspace above your boss’s office. Sorry.”

Everett’s gaze pinned him, then shifted back to Suzi. “Right. Bear, find me any data you can on new religions, cults, or sects that started in Colorado in the last seventy years. Let’s see if we can spot the Harvester’s fingerprints.” His tone was clipped as he casually passed the ring back.

Suzi reached out to take it. The second her fingers brushed both the ring and Dr. Everett’s hand, her vision lurched. She was seized by a jarring flash—a memory, or maybe a prophecy:

She saw Everett on his knees, tears streaming down his face, while she stood over him, one hand resting on his bowed head. She felt a tumult of grief, devotion, and something else she couldn’t name. But it felt real, like an event that had already been carved in stone…just not in this timeline.

She blinked hard and snatched her hand back, exhaling sharply. Her mind spun from the intensity of what she’d just seen.

“Darcy, after your date,” Everett was saying, “you and Suzi should head out to Colorado to look around that property.” He paused, turning concern toward Suzi. “You okay?”

Her mouth felt dry, and she forced herself to pull it together. “I—yes. Fine.” She shoved the ring into her jeans pocket, pushing that vision away as best she could. “What do you need me to do?”

“Dip into that inheritance,” Everett said, letting out a resigned breath. “Whatever Bezos knows, it won’t be cheap.”