by Elicia Hyder
“The healing priest. That would be the Morning Star.” I remembered what I’d found down in the cave. I pulled out the doll. The man let out a painful wail. I looked at Ionis. “Guess I don’t need to ask if it belonged to her or not.”
“You found that down there?” Ionis asked.
“Yeah.” I stood. “Ask him what her name is.”
He did, and the man answered through his cries. “Hannah.”
“Tell him I’ll find out what happened to Hannah.”
Ionis told him, and the man looked up with tears streaming down his face and said in shaky English, “Thank you, sir.”
Leaning down, I put my hand on his shoulder. We locked eyes. Man to man. Father to father. Chances were high there was nothing I could do to save the man’s daughter, but I was sure as hell going to get retribution on his behalf.
I walked back to the hole. “Fury! Reuel! It’s safe to come up.” Then I returned to where our gear had been dropped during the holdup. “Ionis, stay here until the gate seals up behind us. Call Azrael and tell him we are gone. Then you’re free to leave.”
Ionis was still watching the man holding the doll. “Maybe I’ll hang around here a little while. In case you need something.”
“You’re not going soft on me, are you?” I asked, unzipping a pocket on Ionis’s backpack.
He put his hands on his hips. “Maybe I like the weather here. Did you ever think of that?”
“Whatever you say.” I pulled the hydration bladder out of his pack and unscrewed the lid. “But I’m sending Fury down with what’s left of your water.”
She walked across the grass with Reuel and took off her mask. “Everything OK up here?”
“No. The demons took that man’s daughter. That’s why they were shooting at us.”
“I’d shoot at us too. Why’d they take her?” she asked.
I poured Ionis’s water into Fury’s hydration tank. “My guess would be to replace the power they lost when they let the three human souls loose last year.”
Fury’s tank was full, with water left over. I handed it to her. “Finish drinking this. I don’t want to waste any.”
She took it and guzzled the rest of the water straight from the reservoir. When she finished, she tossed it to Ionis. “Are we ready?”
I stood and put on my rucksack. “Let’s do this.”
As I started back to the mirror, I heard static crackling in my ear. I froze. “Iliana?”
More static.
“Illy, can you hear me?”
“Appa!”
My face rose toward the sky. Then I smiled and whispered to whoever might be listening, “Thank you.”
Fury carried the blood-stone case down the stairs. If she’d had handcuffs, she’d have probably chained herself to it.
When we reached the bottom, she stayed on the stairs until Reuel and I were off. The second both her feet were on the osmium with us, the staircase behind us shifted. Immediately, the steps began to close back up to the surface.
We stood there and watched as each step snapping into place sent a gunshot-loud sound ricocheting around the chamber. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and even though I’d never had a problem with enclosed spaces, it was hard to not feel a little trapped.
When the whole thing closed, there was nothing but a solid translucent disc above us. The sunlight was barely visible through it.
“Anyone else feel a little like the tomb door just slammed shut?” Fury asked, over-enunciating through her gas mask.
“Think this is a tomb?” I turned back toward the hallway. “Just wait.”
We started toward the demons’ sanctuary. Behind me, the sound of Fury inhaling and exhaling through the gas mask was almost comforting as the osmium crystals crackled all around us.
“What’s that noise?” Fury asked.
I pointed to the walls. “That’s the osmium Moloch told us about. See how crystals are forming on the surface?”
“At least he didn’t lie to us about that,” she said. “Moloch was a brilliant deceiver though. We can’t forget that.”
She was right. Next to the Father and the Morning Star, Moloch had probably been the smartest being in existence. And, even if he had been trying to save his own skin, he in no way had our best interest at heart. I had to remember to judge everything he told us with those facts at the forefront of my mind.
I stepped into the cathedral.
“Holy shit,” Fury said, her muffled voice filled with awe. Behind the window of her gas mask, her mouth was gaping as she looked at the soaring ceiling and the elaborate throne.
Reuel’s face looked the same when he emerged from the tunnel.
“It’s like the catacombs of Paris,” Fury said.
“Yeah, on LSD.”
“Satan’s throne,” she mumbled almost to herself as she walked toward it. She read the words above it out loud in Katavukai. “That’s a direct shot at the Father himself, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Everyone knows there’s nothing the Father loves more than humans. It’s what started the first great angel war to begin with.”
She put her hands on her hips as she looked around. “This is twisted.”
“You can say that again.” I looked at Reuel. “Doesn’t it remind you of the Throne Room?”
He nodded, but his wide eyes were everywhere except on me.
I walked down the center aisle, and they followed me. “Fury, be careful. A lot of stuff down here is made of osmium. It really is designed to kill anyone who comes here, hence all the decorations.”
“Ai alis eriva patuk?” Reuel asked Fury.
She tapped the glass of her face mask. “Still secure. Don’t worry.”
I pointed to the pew on the right. “I found a doll belonging to the daughter of the guy who shot at us right there.”
“That’s sick,” Fury said. “Where’s the gate?”
I tilted my head toward the front of the room. “There are steps leading down just beyond the altar.”
The three of us walked around the osmium table and dropped our heavy bags on the floor. We peered down into the hole. Only the first few steps were visible. The rest were obscured by Nulterra’s magic before they disappeared completely.
Just to be safe, I stretched my arm in front of Fury. “That’s it?” she asked.
“Pretty sure. I didn’t go down it yet to see what’s on the other side though,” I replied.
“No time like the present.” Fury put the blood-stone case on the altar and opened it.
I pushed the lid closed. “I’ll go first. Then you. Then Reuel.”
“OK.”
When I looked at Reuel, he was reluctant.
Something occurred to me. There would be no way Reuel could help Fury into the cuffs. Once she started screaming, it would be over. I wasn’t so sure I’d be able to handle it myself, but I knew I’d have more success than he would. “On second thought, Reuel should go first. Then I’ll help Fury into the blood stone and send her through.”
The suggestion seemed to relieve him. His shoulders relaxed, and he walked over to Fury. He cradled her face in his giant hands, and in Katavukai, he begged her one last time not to go.
She gripped his wrists. “Thank you for loving me so much.” She put her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Let us know, if you can, what’s on the other side.”
He nodded, but tears sparkled in his eyes. When he stepped away from her, he offered me his hand, just like a human. I smiled and pumped his fist, then pulled him in to wrap my arm around his shoulders. “She’ll be fine,” I whispered—maybe even lied—in his ear.
He stepped back and picked up his rucksack. When he had it on, he turned toward the throne. I reached for Fury’s hand as he stepped down onto the first step.
“You OK?” I asked.
He held up a thumb as he took another step. He descended another and another until he completely vanished.
“Reuel?” she called out.
; Silence.
I pressed my finger to my ear. “Samael?”
More silence.
“Nothing. We’re completely dark down here.”
Fury was still staring at the hole. I squeezed her hand.
She didn’t squeeze back. The hissing breaths through her mask were much quicker now.
“What’s the matter?”
She was quiet for a beat, and her hand trembled in mine just enough for me to notice. “I’m afraid, Warren.”
“You don’t have to do this.” I turned her toward me.
She looked down at our hands. “Yes, I do.”
“Look at me.”
Her eyes finally met mine. She was terrified.
“Reuel and I will be fine down there. You can wait here. It’s OK.”
“We can’t hear through the gate. I won’t know if you need me to let you out.” She took a deep, shaky breath, then nodded her head. “I can do this.”
“Of course you can.” I bent to look her square in the eyes. “Fury, you can do anything.”
“Warren?”
My brow lifted.
“I’m sorry for hurting you. That was never my intention.”
“Don’t.” I shook my head. “Don’t turn this into a goodbye.”
“It’s not.” Her arms circled around my neck. “It’s just long overdue.”
I held her for a moment and closed my eyes, whispering a silent prayer I knew no one could hear.
She turned toward the altar and opened the case again. This time, as much I wanted to, I didn’t stop her. She pulled out a wrist cuff and pressed the latch on the side. It sprang open. “I’m going to open all three cuffs, so we can get them on as fast as possible.”
“I’d like to say that’s a good idea, but none of this is a good idea.”
She opened the other wrist cuff. “The sooner we get it done, the sooner it will be over.” Last, she clicked the button on the neck ring—the one I truly worried might kill her.
I picked up my heavy rucksack and slipped my arms through the straps. She did the same, pulling her ponytail out from under it when it sank onto her shoulders.
Then she held her injured wrist to her mouth and grasped the edge of the bandage with her teeth and fingers. It ripped open, and she winced as the air hit her raw skin.
I grimaced. “Is it bad?”
“No,” she lied.
On top of the altar, Fury arranged the two smaller cuffs and hovered her wrists above them. “Let’s try to get this done in as few movements as possible. I’ll lower my hands, and you close both cuffs around them. Then do my neck.”
I groaned and readied my hands.
“On the count of three,” she said, her breathing erratic through her gas mask. “One…two…three.”
She lowered her hands, and I snapped both cuffs closed around her wrists. Her screams echoed around the chamber as her knees gave way, and she slumped across the altar. I grabbed the collar and yanked her head up by her ponytail. I forced my hands to close the collar over the scar tissue around her throat.
She choked on a scream.
Then went limp.
And dead silent.
I grabbed her by her arm and rucksack and dragged her down the steps.
Chapter Twenty-Two
We were both naked when we came out on the other side. I’d had to grab her around the middle when her rucksack vaporized halfway down the stairs. In that way, the spirit line that brought us to Nulterra was much like the gateway into Eden.
I should have anticipated that.
Carefully, I lay Fury on the ground next to…Fury? I flinched. Wait…what?
There were two Furys.
Reaching over her, I realized the second was her reflection. “A mirror?” A flash of blue caught the light in front of me? Behind me? It was Reuel, covering Fury’s body with one of his giant shirts.
I quickly checked her vitals. Her heart rate was strong. Her breathing too. The gas mask was gone, but looking around, I saw no visible osmium. Heard no crackling either. The bedrock must have been far beneath the—shit—beneath the mirrored floor we stood on.
“What is this place, a funhouse?” I asked.
“Not my kind of fun.” Reuel dropped to his knees beside me.
I touched his face to be certain he was real.
He swatted my hand away.
“Sorry. This place is messing with my brain.”
“I think that’s the idea.” He looked down at Fury again. “She’s not waking up.”
“She will.” I hoped.
In nothing but my Eden-made black boots and scabbard, I walked back to where a few of my things were strewn down the lower half of the staircase. All that survived was the stuff made in Eden: some of my clothes and Cassiel’s bag.
I took off my boots and scabbard and got dressed quickly in the jeans and T-shirt. “I should’ve thought about losing everything through the gate. That was stupid of me.”
“You couldn’t know. None of us could.”
I looked up at the staircase. It was much bigger on this side, with at least ten stone steps after a high, glowing archway. At the top of the arch was a glowing purple stone. Sanctonite. It was identical to Chimera’s, except a hundred times the size.
The stone powered the gate. That much was evident.
Zipping my pants, I climbed the steps for a closer look. If I stretched, I could touch it, but I didn’t for concern of the consequences. I tried to rise into the air, but it seemed my wings were weighted down by some supernatural force. “We’re grounded.”
Reuel was checking Fury’s wrists and throats.
“How’s her neck looking?” I asked, walking back down and picking up my boots.
“The skin is red, and underneath the blood stone seems to be oozing blood and water.”
My head jerked up as I put my boots back on. “A lot of blood?”
“Not a lot. It’s more clear than red.”
I realized his English sounded different. “What language are you speaking?”
“Katavukai.”
“Damn. This place is a lot like Eden.” In Eden, there was no such thing as a language barrier.
“Will she be all right?” he asked.
“I think so. Her vital signs are strong, but we need to find water for her soon. And clothes.”
“And food.” He touched his stomach. “I’m starving.”
I took in our surroundings. A twisted funhouse indeed. This place was a thing of nightmares. Angled mirrors bounced my reflection in every direction. And it was dark. The only light was the purple glow from the spirit line. I spread my wings, letting their light illuminate the room.
Blinding light shined in every direction. I shielded my eyes and dimmed my wings. “Well, that won’t work.” I conjured a ball of fire into my hand instead.
Reuel clapped.
Making fire wasn’t something just any angel could do. I’d been working at it for years in Eden.
The fire helped, but it also cranked up the creepy factor times a thousand. Now I had a hundred floating heads around the room. Or maybe it was a hallway. I wasn’t sure which. There was nothing but mirrors any way I looked.
On the ground, Fury moaned in pain. I extinguished my flame and dropped back down by her side next to Reuel.
“Fury?” I asked gently.
Her entire body began to tremble. She was regaining consciousness, and she was in pain. Tears streamed back in her hair and her chin quivered.
I leaned toward her. “Fury, can you hear me?”
Her hand slowly rose, shaking violently. I took it and looked at her wrist. It wasn’t sizzling or smoking like it had the last time. Her breaths became jagged, and she rolled toward us, pulling her knees into her chest. “Oh god,” she groaned.
“Breath, Allison,” Reuel said, adjusting his shirt around her to keep her covered. “Try to breathe.”
I brushed her sweaty hair off her forehead. “The worst is over. You’re through the gate. We’re in Nulter
ra, and you’re alive.”
She sobbed, unable to catch her breath. “It…it hurts.”
Unsure of what else to do, I kissed her knuckles. I thought of Cassiel’s bag, but she’d been clear: “Don’t open the bag unless it’s a life-or-death situation.” This, thankfully, wasn’t life or death—I was mostly certain.
Death was kind of my specialty, and I didn’t sense that Fury was near it. But I wasn’t sure I could convince her of that as she writhed in pain. I stroked her hair again. “We need to get moving because we’re completely out of water. Remember what Dr. Rothwell said about dehydration. Want me to carry you?”
She shook her head.
“I will,” I said.
“N-no.” Her lower jaw was still quivering. She pulled on my hand to try to sit up and winced from the pain. I helped her up to sitting, and she crumpled forward against my chest, swearing into my shirt.
I rubbed her back. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s m-my st-stupid fault.”
I couldn’t argue.
“Wh-where are my c-clothes?”
“Burned up, I’m afraid. Reuel covered you with one of his shirts from Eden. Think you can stand?”
“W-will you help m-me?”
“Always.”
I curled my arm around her back and pulled her up as I stood. Her knees wobbled, and I held her until she was steady. The blue shirt she was now holding over her chest looked like a bedsheet over her. “Reuel, can you hand me that black shirt?” I nodded to where my other clothes were in a heap on the floor.
He picked it up and carried it over.
“This might fit a little better,” I said, offering it to her.
When she reached a shaky hand up to take it, blood and water oozed down her arm. We didn’t even have anything to clean around the cuffs with.
“Turn around,” she said.
“Can you manage?” I asked.
“You t-trying to see m-me naked?”
I smiled. “I already have.”
“T-turn around.”
I released her and made sure she was steady before turning around with Reuel. I even closed my eyes to prevent seeing one of her many reflections around the room. My sensitive ears heard Reuel’s shirt land on the floor, and I swallowed. Hard.