Free Desired By The Archangel: Book Two (Angel Paranormal Romance) (Braving Darkness 8) by Scarlett Grove Page A

Machines that used the energy present in the air around them created any kind of food imaginable.
    The computers held indexes of data from before the beginning of earth, holding all the collective information of the entire human race in a small section of its immense hard drives. Long forgotten movies and books were available to enjoy in the many private chambers scattered throughout the mountain.
    After a community meal, the leaders gathered in a central chamber and privately discussed the next steps for the group. Michael held back, not informing the leaders of what he had told Magda. She listened to Rave, Cassie, Xavier, and Circe talking about the group with the witches and dragon shifters who made up the main council.
    Even with her involvement with Michael and the fact that they had brought everyone to the miraculous mountain, she still didn’t feel comfortable getting involved. She didn’t want to speak up in the middle of their meeting. Biding her time, she held back and waited.
    After the meeting, she tapped Cassie and Circe on the shoulders and asked them to come back to her rooms. The two other women followed her to the chambers she shared with Michael, but when she got there, he wasn’t inside.
    “What is it?” Circe asked. The older woman had always been something of a mentor to Magda. Cassie had saved her from the dome, and Magda idolized her. 
    “Well. As you guys know, my, um, boyfriend is a member of The Council of the Seventh House. He knows things about the history of humanity that no one else knows. He’s told me a lot of stuff. I wanted to share with the two of you because I can’t do this alone,” Magda said, feeling self-conscious. She hated leadership roles. All she had ever wanted to do since leaving the dome was play in The Program and create worlds of her own imaginings. She knew she’d never be as kick-ass as Cassie or as wise as Circe.
    “What is it?” Cassie asked. The curvy blonde girl’s eyes grew wide. Cassie was always looking for adventure. She could fight. She could do amazing things Magda could only dream of doing.
    Magda sighed, not knowing how to explain it. She bit her lip and crossed her arms. Finally she said, “You guys aren’t going to like this.”
    “Come on, spit it out,” Cassie said.
    “Give her a minute, Cassie. This is hard for her.” Circe sat patiently across from Magda on the long, cushy white couch against the wall, while Cassie paced the room, her hands on her waist, her guns still holstered at her hips.
    “The thing is,” Magda started. “Humans were created by the Anu. We are a slave race. And apparently, we like it.”
    “I heard something like this when I was with the dryad,” Circe said. Circe had communed with a dryad under an ancient redwood tree. The dryad had shown her and Xavier things about the meaning of life that Magda couldn’t even begin to understand. Circe had only shared it with Magda in passing back in New San Diego while Magda had been giving a report on her progress inside The Program.
    “I’ve heard hints of this since I left the dome. Some Pyramid Corps jackass said something about how his kind had been in charge of the world for centuries. I didn’t believe it. I figured it was propaganda.”
    “Well. It’s true. I didn’t want to believe it either. But I believe Michael. I don’t think he’s even supposed to be here. The Council of the Seventh House isn’t supposed to help us because we accept our servitude.”
    “I don’t accept any damn servitude,” Cassie said, gripping her guns.
    “It’s bigger than one person. It’s everyone. We have to evolve into the fourth dimension. That’s what Michael said. Then the Council will help us. It will prove we don’t want to be slaves anymore.”
    “How are we supposed to evolve?” asked Circe, still quietly sitting on the couch.
    “The meditation chamber in the mountain is like a giant Program terminal. We use chambers to enter the fourth dimension as a group.