Hey everyone! Hope you're having a good Easter holidays! Here's the next chapter. Don't worry, it's longer than the last! To my absolutely FAB-U-LOUS reviewers: Sparrow's Lassie, xxkissesandcuddlesxx, twighlightangel61090, bookwormgrl101, love-30stm, xXRavenBlackXx, XxJinxieUnluckyxX, Blood And Fangs27, BlazingWolfFire, FallenForTheDraco, xoxlil-devilxox, small-cub, JadeeXbooks, Blossoming-Star-At-Heaven, laddie girl, deator11, Becccaxx, lil'miss'reader, bookworms-are-AWESOME, Obervant, Sihlouette, Jelly Babes 101: thank you for all your feedback! Loved it all! The next chapter will hopefully be up sooner than this one (I know I took a while with this one). Hope you enjoy it…Please Review!

CHAPTER 16

"Excuse Me?"

"I said: 'we are going to remove the problem.'" Carnelian answered; sounding almost pleased at having to repeat it.

"Yeah, I get that part," I said through a sigh of exasperation. I could feel the frustration and anger that had been locked within me bubbling to the surface, threatening to erupt. "What I don't get is why you view the problem as two people. There's only one person-slash-monster causing it and I think that you should just 'remove' her!"

Carnelian paid no attention to the rage I was exhibiting. He simply let out a cold smile, the kind of smile you see on serial killers in those cop shows. "Ah, so you don't like our definition of the problem. We," he pointed to the sky, "thought you wouldn't." Glee flowed freely through his words.

"Of course I don't!"

"Then perhaps we should re-evaluate."

"Well, yeah idiot!"

Malice flashed in Carnelian's eyes. Rixon tensed and shifted his body in front of me. I was regretting calling Carnelian an idiot, even though it was the most tame word I could use to describe what he was. But as fast as it had appeared, it disappeared and Carnelian's all too calm exterior returned.

"Yes, re-evaluate, re-define. If you think that's best Nora." Sarcasm was now hovering over his words. "But re-evaluating might mean including you as part of the problem. The problem to be removed." I gulped.

"Pfft. Carnelian stop trying to scare her," Rixon said before turning to me. "Nora, don't worry. Angels can't 'remove' humans. It's forbidden," he turned back to face Carnelian, "and I doubt little Carnelian would want to tarnish his perfect record."

"Not all of us want to kiss the ground Rixon."

"Well not all of-"

"Rixon don't," I pleaded. I looked to Carnelian, "Why are you going to take out Patch?"

Without breaking his death stare to Rixon he answered, "he causes trouble. We don't like trouble, simple as that."

"Excuse me but there has been absolutely no trouble on Patch's end for the last six months. Dabria is causing the problem. It's not his fault." I argued.

"Aw, when bad things happen to 'good' angels. Shame." Carnelian said. He couldn't have sounded more detached if he tried.

Rixon let out a huff of irritation, "look messenger boy, we're done talking." My hair whipped around as I spun to face Rixon, confused. He continued, "Nora and I are waiting here and you are going to do what you do best, deliver a message for us."

"No I'm-" Carnelian begun.

"Yeah, you are. Here's what you're going to tell them: Go after Dabria. Leave Patch alone. Nora & I will fix Patch up, the angels don't have to scramble about trying to find a cure. Because we all know that's the real reason Patch is wearing a bullseye. The big wings upstairs don't know how to reverse the spell, they only know how to do it."

"That is not-"

"Quiet Carnelian. You know it's the truth. And I know that you can give them the message," the angel stood there, speechless. "Well get going," Rixon added, making a shooing gesture.

With one more glare of hate, Carnelian was gone. He just seemed to evaporate, fade into the night air.

"Is he gone?" I whispered to Rixon, his disappearance was so sudden that I wasn't sure.

"Yeah," Rixon whispered back, mocking me. He started towards the car and I followed.

When we were both in and the doors were closed I turned to him, "are they going to kill Patch?"

Rixon paused before answering. "They wouldn't have bothered sending the idiot down if they'd already killed him. So chances are that he's still alive and that Carnelian will take the message back, even though he's a complete jackass."

"What will they say?"

"No idea…" He trailed off, thoughts full of possibilities filling his distant eyes.

"But there's a chance they'll say yes, right? That they'll just go after Dabria?" I asked, uncertainty filling my words.

"Yeah, there's always a chance," Rixon answered.

"Okay…a chance….I work with a chance," I let out a breath I hadn't known that I'd been holding. Rixon was still thinking beside me, concentration still masked his face. I interrupted his thoughts, "you were good back there, you know. I mean Patch wouldn't have a chance if it weren't for you."

"Nah, I wanted to piss off Carnelian." Rixon replied, brushing off the compliment.

"Sure," I said laughing at his words. As my quiet laugh finished a silence fell in the air between us. It was a comfortable quiet, a silence caused by the relief of our small victory. Disaster might be coming soon but for now Rixon had averted it, at least for the night.

"That's all?" Rixon's yelling woke me and I sprung up from my awkward car-sleeping position. My neck let out a loud crack and I let out a cry of pain before turning my sleep encrusted eyes to the field in which Rixon and Carnelian were now having a screaming match.

I rubbed my eyes and focused back on the field, now lit up by the dawn sun. Rixon was now storming back towards the car, Carnelian following a few footsteps behind, calling out things that I couldn't distinguish in my disorientated state. Rixon wrenched open the car door with such force that I thought it would permanently detach itself from the car. He threw himself in, slammed the door and wound down the window with lightning speed, yelling profanities at Carnelian before starting the engine.

Carnelian spotted me now awake. His lips curled into a smile that chilled me to the bone. 'If you need a new 'guardian' Nora, I'm always willing." His metallic voice flowed straight through my mind. I let out a shiver of pure repulsion as Rixon hit the gas.

The car was now hurling forward down the empty morning road. "What happened?" I Rixon asked cautiously, not wanting to distract him from the road. "What did they say?"

"72 hours," he grunted angrily.

"72 hours? 72 hours for what?" I asked softly, not wanting to fire him up anymore than he already was.

"72 hours to find Patch. 72 hours to find a cure. 72 hours to put them together." His words came out in broken fragments through his rage.

"So three days?"

"Yep. Three bloody days. That's all they gave us to find a cure that the whole of heaven can't. A cure, which for all we know, doesn't even exist."

I took in a breath and tried to focus on what Rixon had said. Only 3 days, I could almost feel the bubble of hope that had been in me deflating. It seemed impossible. No, nothing's impossible, I told myself. Not when it concerns Patch it isn't.

Rixon was still fuming. "It's better than nothing," I said, trying to muster up all the positive energy I could. It definitely wasn't contagious. "Where are we going?"

"Where do you think? We're going get Patch." Rixon said, swinging the car around a sharp corner, the tires screeching under the pressure.

"We don't even know where he is or who he is for that matter."

"I'll find him." Rixon said, swerving the car around a right turn.

"What are we gonna do when we find him? We don't have a cure, there's no guarantee that he's himself, he could be with Dabria!" I said trying to arouse some sort of logic in Rixon.

"I know. I'm counting on it."