Free Inception (The Reaping Chronicles, 1) by Teal Haviland Page B

she was in ‘angel time’, so it didn’t really matter.
    When she was living as she was meant to, as an angel, time passed in a much different way than when she lived as a human. What she did in her job as The Angel of Karma would seem like minutes to mortals, but to her as an angel, it ticked quite a bit of time off the clock.
    Now, she could take care of her work without losing valuable time as a human. Then, she could step back to her Earthly life. She wouldn’t lose a second that she needed to use for figuring out what compels humans, finding out what Lucas had to do with her being here and how she was supposed to help him, and figuring out what the book was that the demon spoke of.
    The realization that she had not put near as much effort as she needed into discovering what the story was with that book hit her, and she decided it would have more importance from that point on. Amaziah didn’t seem to take it too seriously when they spoke of it initially, but something told her it was important.
    Very important.
    Once her lots’ karma was decided upon, and the appropriate orders were assigned to her troops or other ‘helpers’, she could relax. At least as much as she could while concerned about the battle between the Light and Darkness.
    All of the tactics she’d used in the past didn’t seem to have much effect anymore, and people were progressively lacking in morality. Humanity was losing its humanity. Gabrielle wasn’t going to allow Darkness to dominate Light, though. Not while she could still turn the tides and guide people’s hearts back toward Yahuwah.
    There were many who tried to get in her way—legions. But Yahuwah had bestowed her with many powers to fight them. In addition to the abilities all angels share—telepathy, moving between realms at will, interaction with humans either in angelic or human form, and of course flight—Gabrielle enjoyed a host of others. For obvious reasons, her most utilized ability while incarnated was pausing mortal time. But she also enjoyed having dominion over creatures humans consider to be fantastical—Shifters, the Gentry, and the Qalal. Gabrielle reserved using the last two for the most reprehensible humans; those who truly deserved the kind of suffering they could inflict.
    The thing she liked the least about her job was seeing people doubt Yahuwah because His justice seemed to be ill-timed or unfair. People tell each other so frequently that He does things in His own time and not theirs, or that He has a plan for all He does whether they understand it when it happens or not. The truth was, they were right. The problem was, so few truly have faith in the words they speak or hear. Gabrielle wanted desperately to remove their skepticism, to help people see there’s a reason to believe, to have hope.
    Amaziah and Sheridan were now discussing the final battle of the war. It was coming. No one was sure when. How well their side would do depended largely on Gabrielle. Sometimes she believed she could feel the heaviness of that burden so intensely that she thought it would push her down into the Underworld where Darkness would hold her forever.
    Gabrielle captured Sheridan’s attention and handed her the last of her instructions. Sheridan could now leave and give them to the appropriate troops. The task was out of Gabrielle’s hands and in the care of the thousands of angels assigned to assist her in her duties.
    “Gabrielle.” Amaziah broke through her thoughts after they left Sheridan and returned to Gabrielle’s Earthly home. “Are you okay? Is there something you want to talk with me about?”
    Gabrielle didn’t know where she could even start. She couldn’t tell him about her worries or the human feelings she felt about Lucas. He worried over her so much already, and she didn’t want to add to his concerns.
    “No, Amaziah. Thank you for asking, but I’m really fine. Just a little worn out from my first day of school .” Gabrielle gave the most