When she'd finally regained complete consciousness and became aware of her surroundings, Bethany noticed that she wasn't at school anymore. She was in a house, one that wasn't familiar but had a strange feeling about it. It was. . . unsettling. She attempted to rid herself of the feeling by ignoring it, instead looking around the room.
The first thing she noticed was that Shane was kneeling by the couch she was apparently laying on, and immediately he leaned over her and gave her a searching gaze, as if looking in her eyes for something. "Beth," he said slowly, "is everything okay?"
She wasn't really sure what to say to that. Everything had been so--so strange. The vision she had still haunted her every time she closed her eyes, and she could see the images beneath her eyelids. A ghost of that agonizing pain still gripped her shoulder blades, and Beth found herself involuntarily moving her hand to that spot underneath her shirt.
What she felt there, however, chilled her to the bone and rooted her to the spot. She was as still as a statue.
Two scars, slightly raised from the skin, angling upward to meet in an upside-down V.
Exactly where the pain had come from in her vision.
Grey dots danced in front of Beth's eyes as she struggled to remain conscious, suddenly more aware of everything that was in the room. She also noticed who else was there: Ever, who was watching the twins intently and clearly concernedly, and Jace, who was on the other side of the room, watching them apprehensively.
Beth could hear the whisper plain in her mind. I'm sorry, the boy had said. I hope you can forgive me.
And as she thought about it, recognition was clear in her thoughts about where else she'd heard it, and she'd heard it conferring and whispering with Ever so many times before.
The person who had ripped the girl's wings out in her vision--her wings, possibly--was Jace Montgomery.

Bethany didn't know what to think. Her breath came faster, her heart racing again. Was that why he was always so distant from them, when Ever seemed so close? why he would never meet her eyes, or even hardly speak to the twins? the reason that she felt the need to shove a knife down his throat at that moment?
Questions swarmed around her mind, along with accusations. But the first thing she did was throw a glacial glare in Jace's direction, hoping that it would affect him in some way. Then she looked back at her brother, who was watching her anxiously.


"Shane," began Bethany quietly, "take off your jacket and turn around."
Shane's eyebrows furrowed together and he gave her a strange look, but obeyed and did as she'd told him. He removed his dark hoodie and spinning around slowly. He heard her deep breath as he closed his eyes, awaiting whatever she was going to do.
He felt her cool fingers reach under her shirt and pull it up, heard her sharp intake of breath as she saw or noticed something there. Her fingers made an upside-down V shape between his shoulder blades, and he shivered at his sister's cool and gentle touch.
Suddenly she shoved his shirt back down, and he spun back again to face her. Shane had half expected to see tears in her eyes, but there weren't--just a newfound solid determination. He searched her face for any sign of something to gain from it, to figure out what exactly it was that she'd seen. But before he could utter a word, Beth had turned around and lifted up the back of her shirt and jacket.
And there they were. Two white scars that connected at a point in between her shoulder blades, slightly risen and slightly paler than the rest of her smooth skin, in exactly the place where she'd traced on his back. Shane's eyes widened and his jaw threatened to drop, but instead he clenched his teeth together.
When Bethany was facing him again, her face was expressionless, her tone bleak when she spoke. "You have them too, Shane," she whispered. "And--and I think I had a vision about this."
For one of the first times, Shane Simmons was at a loss for words. But suddenly there were random pictures rushing through his mind, and small meaningless phrases to go along with them. And he realized that whatever she'd seen before had been one of the nightmares that he had to keep reliving, night after night after night. He wrapped his sister in his arms and just held her, the world spinning around them. He had the feeling that pretty soon, everything in their life was about to change, for better or for worse he had no idea.

Balthazar was watching from the shadow's outside Gabriel's human dwelling. He'd been inside Xezbeth's mind, witnessed that horrific scene from her point of view and almost felt her pain.
Maybe he wouldn't have to wait that long for their memories to reawaken, after all.
But he'd promised to protect her, promised to keep her safe from anything happening--and to make sure Shax was close by her at all times. He would be without Zar's help; they were inseparable. Nothing could keep those twins apart from each other.
And so he watched as she noticed the scars, and felt her awe, slight fear, and determination to figure out what in the name of sanity was going on.
Zar smiled to himself, running his hands through his dark hair. Xezbeth was always one to make a rock solid decision and then stick to it without a second thought. He missed being around her, being a part of her plans and involved in almost everything she did. They worked as a team, and Shax came along for the ride almost every time as well. They had even begun to have something when her punishment had been put into place.
But he had been watching her grow up, the strong little girl who wasn't so little anymore. She had always shown a rebellious streak, a defiance that showed she only wanted to do what she wanted to do, and wouldn't let anyone else get in her way. If they did attempt to get in her way, Beth would get angry--and no one liked to see her when she was angry. Her anger was power, and she begun to use it whenever she could.
Balthazar had been there for all of the good times and all of the bad, like when their mother had been diagnosed with cancer and had died within a month of her diagnosis. He may not have been involved, but he had always been there doing his job and protecting her, even if it was slowly breaking his heart in the process.