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capable of if she goes unchecked by your higher reason. Ultimately, her actions are your actions. You need to learn to mind her. I know it will be an adjustment.”
    “Adjustment” didn’t begin to cover it.
    Cam tightened his hold. “It’s how it should be, Ellie. Both of you together.”
    She pulled away. She didn’t need anyone to hold her up. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Everyone has a shadow,” Cam explained, as if she were the stupid one. As if she didn’t know that already. “Deep down,” he continued, “I’m exactly like your shadow is, but a guy version, which is probably worse.”
    Gran had done a better job explaining when Ellie was four.
    Laurence shook his head at Cam. “Please don’t help.”
    Ellie ignored them both, moving beyond Cam to the door. They didn’t understand. Well, maybe the freakish one with the crystal eyes did. “I said, no. Now let her go.”
    Laurence dropped his hand, and her shadow fled the room, a dart of smoke. Ellie, too, ran as far as she could. Soldiers barred her apartment door, so she huddled in the kitchen.
    She’d wanted to be severed from her shadow, not merged. Severed.
    Because the truth was that her shadow had grown way too strong for her to control. If they were joined, her shadow would take over. Recent events proved it.
    And then what would become of her?
     
    Cam was dumbfounded. He looked at the bedroom door, still ajar from Ellie’s flight, and then back to the angel. “Isn’t that what she came for? To live a normal life?”
    “Her normal is different from your normal. She knows the risks.” The angel stood and adjusted his cuffs. “It may take a little while for her to consider her options. I expected as much.”
    “And you can’t force her?” Not that Cam liked the idea. He just wanted to know how things stood.
    The angel smiled. “Oh, I can, but it is against the credo of The Order to hamper the free will of humankind.” His eyes lit. “Though on occasion some nudging is necessary.”
    “You don’t interfere?” Cam was relieved to hear it.
    “We rarely interfere,” the angel answered. “And almost never between humans. Otherwise, we might as well govern the world ourselves. Govern individual independence, too. But what is self-determination, if someone else manages it?”
    “Then what are you good for?” Cam asked to goad him.
    The angel didn’t look irritated. “Somehow we keep busy. And in these momentous days, even more so. Ellie’s case may be unique, but the need for our intervention is not. If it hadn’t been Adam Thorne requesting our aid, she would’ve had to wait.” His eyelids lowered, as if he were deep in thought. “And I don’t think she could’ve waited much longer. In fact, I think Ellie Russo is just in time. Both her selves know she is at the brink.”
    Cam was afraid of that. The shadow was unmanageable. And if that hungry-for-life part of Ellie could touch at will, if she were as strong as Ellie claimed last night, as unruly as her behavior demonstrated, then yes, this was a very big problem. “And if she refuses your help?”
    The angel met Cam at the door. “If she refuses, then nothing. I’ll leave her be. Eventually, though, and especially if the shadow proves dangerous, someone will have to take matters into their own hands.”
    Cam flashed cold.
    “Someone will have to take responsibility,” Laurence repeated, heavy with meaning.
    Someone, huh? Why didn’t he just say you? Because Cam knew he was the only human who understood Ellie. And he was the one who’d agreed just an hour ago to stand by her, no matter what.
    The angel was one tricky son of a bitch.
    “And you will stop her, since you know how.” The angel leaned in, his blue gaze boring into Cam’s. “And how will you stop her? How will you end the shadow’s threat and Ellie’s torment?”
    Cam looked away. This felt like one of Laurence’s aforementioned nudges.
    “Say it, please,” said the angel,