by Jasmine Walt
“Aww, look, Nia. The bromance is back on,” said Loren. “Now that everyone has made up, let’s stop wasting time and get out of here. The rest of my family’s up there on the surface. And I will not have some prejudiced angels hurt them because they’re specists.”
Loren turned to the solid door. She stared at it, perplexed. She reached out her hand, and just like that, the door to the cage opened.
Wow. Maybe my bestie was more powerful than I thought. But no. Of course it wasn’t that simple.
13
Eden glided into the room, her feet bare like the rest of her. Behind her, Michael stood at her right hand and Gabriel at her left. Both males looked impassive as they came into the room. Neither made eye contact with the room’s inhabitants.
Eden looked around the room, her head slanting to the left and then to the right as she regarded each one of us in turn. Finally, she found Loren. Loren stood beside me. Tres had an arm outstretched, as though ready to block Eden’s assault or Loren’s charge. I’m not quite sure which he anticipated.
“I’m told that what you did could be interpreted as brave,” Eden began, her address aimed solely at Loren. “Breaking into a forbidden realm, stealing a deity’s prized possession, incurring the wrath of his warrior daughters, and then trying to repeat the same tactics in my realm.”
Loren raised her chin. Tres moved closer to her side. That gesture, I knew, was a protective one. I moved closer to her with Zane at my back. But still, standing in the presence of God and her angels felt like I was in nursery school being scolded by the headmistress after I did something naughty.
“That does not compute to bravery to me,” Eden was saying. “It is the very definition of insanity.”
Tres bobbed his head in agreement. Then went still as a cockroach spotted on a wall when Loren and I glared at him.
“You do crazy things for your family,” Loren said.
Eden’s golden eyes flashed at her. Her head pitched to the side in curiosity. “But you don’t share any light or blood with these Ishim.”
“Friends are the family you choose,” said Loren. “It’s the choice that makes the bond stronger with each passing day.”
Eden considered that. Her eyes went unfocused and her lips pursed together.
“Besides,” continued Loren, “I thought all god’s creatures were connected. At least that’s what the New Age hipsters are preaching these days.”
Eden chuckled. “I like her. Are there more of them like her on the surface?”
“God, no,” coughed Tres.
“Why don’t you go up and see for yourself,” I suggested.
Eden wrinkled her nose. “Humans make such a fuss when I go up. And they always seem to misinterpret what I say. What is this nonsense I hear about a woman, a serpent, and an apple?”
We all looked around at each other. But no one offered up an explanation for the myth of Original Sin. Out of the four of us, I was likely the most religious. Not because I practiced any faith. I just knew the most about the systems of human beliefs, having recorded their inner workings. But truthfully, none of the spiritual practices had ever made any sense to me.
I suppose this was why. I’d been born into and grew up in the presence of deities. They weren’t supernatural to me. They were natural, normal. Now that I remembered them. Maybe if humans were given the chance to interact with the Elohim more, they would calm their destructive behaviors a bit.
“Humans have always sought your guidance, Eden,” I said. “For as long as I’ve been recording their stories, they’ve related what they believe you want them to do. They’ve come close to getting it right, but they keep missing the mark. I think if you just spent more time with them, or if you wrote your instructions yourself and I took them above ground then—”
“No,” said Eden. “It is already decided. The time of humans has come to an end. They’ve become too dangerous, their rebellion too great. I hate to lose any of my creatures, but if they continue to exist, it could mean the end to us all.”
“You’re a cold-hearted bitch.”
The collective gasp was so forceful it sucked the air out of the room. Everyone turned and gaped at Loren.
“It’s true,” said Loren. “You wanna see insane, look no further than her daughters. And I see why they’re that way now that I’ve met their mother. She neglects them as she does humanity and all life on the surface. Yet she expects them to know what to do without any instruction. And when they call out to you, you ignore them.”
Eden’s lips parted. That was the only tell she even paid attention to Loren. Other than her slightly parted lips, nothing else on her person moved.
“You’re a horrible mother,” said Loren. “To the Valkyrie and to the human race.”
“She has a point,” Tres said. “Humans have no knowledge of the real god. No wonder all of creation acts out. It’s your fault, all of your fault, not theirs.”
“Humans didn’t grow inside of you.” Zane joined the chorus. “So you wouldn’t know love. You don’t know what it is to have life inside, only on the outside.”
“Close your mouths, both of you,” snarled Michael. We all jerked at his words. His face transformed from its apathetic countenance into something dark and, dare I say, devilish. The words he aimed at his sons carried a vicious threat.
“You have no right to ask anything of us,” said Zane. “You’ve been just as absent to us as she’s been to all her children. That’s what’s wrong. The problem is you all. I had a mother. We all did. We grew in her womb. Once we were outside, our mothers taught us, guided us in love. We weren’t born fully formed like Elohim. We were born connected to our mothers and that’s how we learned love.”
Zane looked to me. My heart quickened for this man. My pulse caught in my throat when his fingers found mine. When our fingers entwined, my temperature rose.
“Nova’s right,” he continued. “Humans don’t know you. Not really. They tell stories. But Mother is the name of god for every child. Family, and that bond, is what is worshipped and fought over and died for. But you wouldn’t understand that. You sent us up to the surface to do your bidding. You left us with no instruction. And then you condemn us when we don’t do your bidding.”
Eden’s golden eyes sparkled, but her blank expression was unreadable. Her attention flicked to her side, to Michael. I’m not sure if it was a signal for permission or a sign of resignation.
Michael raised his hand, as though urging Zane to back down. Zane didn’t take a step back. His body jerked up into the air. Pain shot through me as Zane’s limbs stretched and he was yanked away from me.
From his suspended place hanging in the air, Zane’s skin turned sallow. Wrinkles creased the soft skin under his hazel eyes and spread downward. Like a disease, the depressions rippled down his neck to his chest, out to his forearms until it extended to gnarl and bend his fingertips.
For thousands of years, Zane had appeared the picture of health. Now he was an old, decrepit man who could barely lift his head. My heart dropped like lead and I couldn’t move. Not to him, not away from him to hurl myself at his maker, the one who was the cause of all this pain.
Luckily, his brother was on it. With a warrior’s cry, Tres charged Michael. His big body barreled forward until it reached the being of light.
Michael didn’t even flinch. He barely raised his other hand. With the slight motion, Tres’s body jerked upward in the same fashion as Zane’s.
Instead of aging Tres, Michael attacked his heart. He went for his strength. Tres’s bulging biceps deflated like balloons losing air. His broad chest went concave and he sank into himself.
“Flesh is weak,” said Michael. “If you want to be strong, you’ll stand in the light.”
I tried to find my voice, but my throat was dry. I could barely get a breath in, much less push any out to make sound. I was absolutely paralyzed. Was one of them holding me?
I looked to my father. His gaze was on the floor. But slowly, as though he
felt the heat of scrutiny, his eyes raised to me. Only briefly. And then I saw it. His left eye twitched, just slightly, but it moved.
I’d never been one to ask a man to do my dirty work for me. But I knew in the bottom of my soul that this was a battle I couldn’t win on my own. If I twitched a muscle, I’d end up like Zane and Tres. I wanted them restored, and it looked like only my father could do that for me.
Unfortunately, even though his eye twitched, Gabriel’s gaze quickly fell away from mine. His eyes glazed over in that impassive mask, just as they had done when he’d watched my mother’s flesh and bones go up in flames.
He would not help me. It was up to me. But, of course, there was Loren.
Loren pulled out her sword from her bag, and I loved her for it. I also hated her for it. She moved when my body refused. She raced into battle when I sought a negotiation. She threw caution to the wind where I tried to make calculations. And she proved my prudence right.
She didn’t even have a chance to brandish the blade before she joined the men. With a flick of his head, Michael tossed her body up to join Zane and Tres. Instead of aging her or weakening her, he brought plague and pestilence upon her.
Loren’s beautiful face dotted with pockmarks. Blood tinted her clear blue eyes. The red liquid pooled in the corners and she blinked tears of blood. That final sight pushed me to action.
I fell to my knees. My head bowed in supplication. My shoulders drooped in defeat.
“Please,” I whispered.
“Please,” I begged.
“Please,” I cried.
Back on the surface, I had a cave of the most precious things in the world to me. I’d guarded it fiercely for years. I’d give it all up now. Now, when the three people I held most dear in my life were in dire straits.
I raised my head to Eden. She was my only hope. I knelt before her, weaponless, defenseless, completely at her mercy.
“Please.”
Eden had been looking away, beyond the window, at the lush life outside the golden threads of the cage. When I spoke, her pointy ears perked up. Her bright eyes slowly found mine, still not looking at Michael’s dirty work.
“Do you think I enjoy this?” she asked.
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t see past the pain in my chest that connected me to Zane. I couldn’t think past the contortions of Tres’s face. I couldn’t get past Loren’s roiling anger.
“Life is precious,” said Eden. “No one knows that better than I. No one has ever been by themselves, truly alone. Only me.”
“They are precious to me.”
“You think me unfeeling? You think me uncaring? I will sacrifice the many to save the few. Otherwise, we may all perish.”
“What do you want?” I said.
She didn’t answer. She’d already asked the question. She was here for an answer.
“I’ll do it,” I said. “I’ll work for you. I’ll help you choose humans to live. But they are my first choice. You have to let them live. I’ll only do it if you let them live. Otherwise, there’s no purpose for me.” My voice broke on the plea.
“We’re not so different, you and I,” she said.
There wasn’t any animosity as she considered me. There was a heaviness, and it made me sick because I didn’t want to sympathize with her. I was nothing like her.
“I am not the villain,” she said. “I am the savior.”
There was a loud thunk as the three bodies fell to the floor. Michael left without a backwards glance. Gabriel looked straight ahead, steadily avoiding my gaze before he followed Eden out. As they left through the opaque door, it never darkened. They left our cage wide open. It didn’t matter, now that our spirits were broken.
14
I turned away from the open door and back to my friends. My hands found Zane and I wrapped my arms around him. Pushing his unruly locks out of my way, I got a clear view of his face.
His flesh was as smooth as the day he was reborn. Not a wrinkle or blemish marred his perfect face, neck, or torso. His eyes remained closed as he heaved in a deep breath that I felt in my chest.
“I’m sorry,” I said to Zane.
“What sin have you committed lately?” He winced through a grin.
“I keep putting you in harm’s way.”
“Well, yeah. This relationship does often lend itself to a bit of bondage and sadism.”
I wanted to punch him, but that would prove his point that I was always hurting him. I could still feel the agony from his father’s cruelty leaving his body. Instead, I cradled his head at my bosom.
“You are forgiven,” he said as he nuzzled into my breasts.
I held him tighter. We’d been in hairy situations before, but there had never been one I didn’t believe we’d live through. I’d had my doubts when he’d been suspended in pain.
Michael had proven his point. Flesh was weak and easily manipulated. Zane was the light in my heart. He was a part of me. That bond no one could ever break.
“They go through me before they get to you,” Zane said. “I will always be at your back. Even when you’re pissed at me and push me away. Even when I’m livid with you and turn you away. It’s always been that way between us. Between us all.”
Zane looked over my shoulder. I followed the trajectory of his gaze. Tres’s face came into view.
Zane and Tres didn’t exchange words. Just one of those silent nods of understanding between men. The nod told Zane and me that Tres stood as solidly behind that statement as we both did. Even if the two men were fighting and arguing and at each other’s throats, they’d always had and always would have each other’s backs. Tres’s eyes let me know I was included in that pact.
Tres’s cheeks were full once more, as were the strength of his biceps and the expanse of his chest. His arms and chest were filled with a certain blonde witch. Tres cradled Loren like the precious thing she was.
I felt a pang of jealousy. Not of Loren for being in Tres’s arms. I was jealous that Tres, not I, comforted my bestie.
Jealousy fled when a wretched sound came from Loren’s throat. Her shoulders shook up and down as she sobbed.
I let go of Zane and reached for my best friend. Tres didn’t immediately let her go. Begrudgingly, he relinquished his hold on her. But she didn’t let him go.
“Loren?” I ran my hand tenderly through her mussed strands. Had Michael not set her to rights? Was the disease still wracking her body? Had that ass-light left scars?
Slowly, Loren lifted her head. There were spots on her face. Red spots from where her face had met the buttons on Tres’s shirt. Her eyes were still red. Her cheeks were puffy.
She looked miserable. Michael would pay. I didn’t know how yet, but I’d figure something out. No one messes with my best friend and gets away with it.
“I can’t let them die, Nia,” Loren said.
She gulped down a lungful of air. She shifted from Tres’s hold and came into mine. Even when she was on her deathbed she hadn’t cried.
“They’re my family,” she continued. “I have to protect them.”
Loren meant the witches and knights of Camelot. They were her blood relations. I knew she had my back, just as Zane and Tres did. We were the family she had chosen. But the connection with the people of Camelot was instant and even deeper with her.
I was connected to them as well. Igraine had been the closest thing I’d had to a mother this past millennium. I’d grown closer to Morgan and Gwin now that they were older. Even Arthur had grown on me now that we weren’t at each other’s throats. And those were just a few of the connections I’d made in my time on Earth.
There were humans, past and present, whose acquaintance I didn’t want to lose before their time was rightly up. There were even animals that held tender spaces in my heart. And don’t get me started on the structures and artifacts and land on the surface. And all those museums. What about the things not yet unearthed?
No.
This apocalypse could not happen. It would not
happen. Not while I still drew breath.
There was a way out. There had to be. There always was.
Loren sniffled. Her eyes were so forlorn, it broke my heart all over again. I grasped both of her shoulders and gave her a shake.
“You silly twit,” I said. “You really thought I was giving up.”
“Well, yeah,” she said. “Not that I blame you. Watching the three people I love most in the world being torn apart, that would have felled me, too.”
“I already fell and died once today. They just showed me the worst they can do. And we’re all still standing.”
But we weren’t standing. We were all slumped on the floor.
“Okay, we’re all sitting. They may have wiped the dinosaurs off the face of the Earth, run the fae to another realm, but they just messed with the wrong life forms. No one messes with my bestie.” I gave Loren’s arm a squeeze. “Or my man.” I turned to Zane. Then I faced Tres. “Or my… brother?”
“No.” Tres grimaced. “No.” He spat the word emphatically.
“Okay, not brother,” I conceded, raising my hands in defeat. “We can figure that out later. But they just messed with the wrong family.”
“Hell, yeah,” said Loren.
“I have been a voice for the silenced and forgotten for as long as I’ve been on the surface. I’m not gonna turn my back now. I can’t. I couldn’t live with myself.”
Tres shook his head. He might not have been immediately on board with my rallying speech. But when he lifted it, his brown eyes might as well have been steel. There was the Broody Billionaire that made CEOs cry.
Tres looked beyond me, and his gaze locked with Loren’s. She took a deep breath and held his gaze. Her shoulders steeled. Her back arched and her boobs lifted, a clear sign she was battle-ready.
Zane wrapped his arm around me, pulling me back into his embrace. I took his comfort, his strength, his support. We were down but we were not out.
“We’re not giving up,” I said. “We’re getting out of here.”
“But… how?” said Loren.