FALLEN (Angels and Gargoyles Book 3) by Brenda L. Harper

do not have free will, why does he not take them out of the equation.”
    “Because you do have free will.”
    “Me?” Again she turned, her body twisting and spinning like a child’s toy on a string. “What do I have to do with this?”
    “You and the others like you, you have free will. God can call Luc and Lily and others like them back to Heaven, but you and yours will still be here. You will still be a threat to humanity.”
    It was like she had fallen into a river fed by glacial waters. Her skin was suddenly cold, her breath coming in quick gasps. “We don’t want to hurt anyone.”
    “Not now. But what about the future?”
    The images on the wall changed. This time it looked similar to the first images Lily had shown her. However, there was still a lack of modern conveniences, suggesting to Dylan that she was seeing a ruin that had been reutilized, that had been reoccupied. A child was playing in front of one of the buildings, pushing small vehicles around on the ground, when a shadow fell over it. A shadow with wings. The child cowered and tried to hide, but the angel swooped down and lifted him in her arms, flying away as the child’s mother came running out of the building screaming.
    “You don’t know that would happen,” Dylan insisted. “What reason would we have to kidnap human children?”
    “Most, like you, cannot have children of your own. After a few hundred years, this will become a reason for the hybrids to develop jealousy of the humans.”
    Another image burst across the wall. Angels, their wings outspread, attacking humans as they simply walk down the street. And humans, throwing rocks at angels flying over them. Hatred on both sides.
    “You cannot coexist,” the voice said.
    “We can find a way.”
    “Humans have been tortured for far too long by the angels,” the voice said as yet another image filled the wall. This time it was not of the future. It was of the past. Of now.
    Humans, cowering in dark corners. Children suffering, their bodies withering away from a lack of nutrition. Adult humans locked away in dark rooms, not unlike the one where Jimmy now waited for Wyatt to come and rescue him. Adults working in dark mines, living in deplorable conditions as angels watch over them. Humans hiding in ruins, conspiring with gargoyles to attack and stop the angels. Angels flying overhead, trying to get out humans hiding in the darkness.
    “There is too much distrust.”
    “What are you saying?”
    Another set of images, of people hiding. But this time, it wasn’t the humans. It was the hybrids, people like Dylan, hiding from human hunting parties. Gargoyles who tried to reason with the humans were attacked, killed for showing sympathy for the hybrids. Others joined the humans, joined in to hunt and kill anyone who looked like they might be a hybrid…just a hint of an inhuman gift led to death.
    “But we’re trying to save them.”
    “All they know is that it was the angels who changed the tide of the war. It was the angels who destroyed their cities, their homes, their families. They can’t tell the difference between you and the angels who hurt them. How do they know that you won’t turn on them just like Luc and Lily and the others did?”
    Dylan ran her fingers through her hair. “What do we do? We can’t just walk away.”
    “No,” the voice agreed. “This war must end.”
    Three images played on the wall. Each different, but each with the same result. The end of this war, the end of Luc and Lily’s rule, the end of fear and destruction. But each showed a different victor.
    “Isn’t it God’s role to choose who survives and who doesn’t?” Dylan asked the mysterious voice.
    “God has,” the voice said, so close to Dylan’s ear that she thought she could feel the heat of the speaker’s breath against her skin. “He has chosen to allow you to make the choice.”

Chapter 14
     
    Dylan gasped as she came awake.
    “Lay back,” Wyatt’s voice whispered beside