Free Shadow of the Sun by Laura Kreitzer

have access to both sides of the realm. Beware of encroaching danger, as the Illuminator will be surrounded, but she is not thy enemy.
    “ As the dark ones approach, the Illuminator should be set free, uninhibited by all Guardians. She will show us all who the enemies are and how to defeat them. Until the Shadows approach, protect her above all others, even from our kind.
    “ Blood does not hold the key to light and dark. Only our souls hold that power, as the Darkness Illuminator will prove.”
    I eyed Eleanor for a considerable amount of time. Many heavily weighted minutes passed. The silence in the room was full of meaning. Luke put a finger under my chin and pushed up to shut my jaw. His touch snapped me out of my haze as his eyes seized mine, the blue holding my gaze—searching.
    “ Shit.” That was the most appropriate reply I could think of.
    Luke nodded and squeezed my hand. Karen’s arm still clung to my waist, her grip firm. It took me a second to realize that she held me up. She guided me to the nearest chair. This time I welcomed any emotional climate change, yet she offered none. I sighed heavily as I regained my bearings. “How do you know this Illuminator is me?” I mumbled.
    “ Because you smashed through the Shadow’s barriers like you were putting your hand through thin air,” Leo said enthusiastically, his violet eyes lighting up. “And because, well, ‘Angel guards and Shadow barriers will not hold her back, as she will have access to both sides of the realm,’ ” he repeated. “Plus, you’re a female, as the prophecy specifies.”
    There are many females in the world, I wanted to say. But how many of them had angels in their living room?
    I sighed tiredly. “Oh.” The silence in the room was deafening. “So,” I said after several moments, my voice slicing through the quiet air. “How did you find me?”
    “ That’s easy.” Karen grinned happily. “When the angels were unearthed in Italy, a huge power surge shot out from Oretown. The electricity was out for hours. The FBI became aware of it but concluded it was just a power surge.
    “ However, the Elders knew better. We found you when Zelko Corp. called about the bodies. It wasn’t until I was in your presence that I knew it was you. You’re very powerful, which doesn’t make any sense because you’re a human. It was as if the angels called out to you. Your body responded by sending a beacon to all the angels to come find you for help.”
    Ignoring her human quip, I said, “Oh. That was me?” I remembered that night clearly. Hercules and I had been relaxing on the couch, watching TV, when suddenly everything became really noisy, as if someone had turned up the volume on a humming fridge. Then the power went off all down the west coast. Now I knew it was my fault. Wonderful.
    “ The problem was that the Shadow of the Sun also felt the growing power here,” Karen said. “That’s why I was delayed. A small group of angels were dispersed to protect you, and I was a part of that group. What I didn’t expect was for Jeff to show up in Oretown. He’s a Shadow. I would have cast him out then and there, but we had to keep our cover with all the humans around.”
    “ Wait—what? Jeff’s a Shadow?” I asked. Nothing was what it seemed to be anymore.
    Karen nodded. “A very well disguised one. His power is great.”
    I remembered back to the incident in the office, the dark one squeezing the life from me—warning me. “If they’re so awful, why didn’t you just kill him?” I asked.
    “ Because,” Carmela spoke up, her eyes anxious, “he is—was—a double agent.”
    “ I never trusted him,” Karen interjected.
    Carmela continued. “He spied on the Shadow of the Sun for us. That was why we left him alone: he gave us pertinent information.”
    “ I thought I saw fire blazing in his eyes,” I whispered to myself. Even now, Jeff Vittorio bothered me. My wrist was still sore from where he had gripped it. I would