Divine Dora

by Claire Chilton

  I hope we can get back there. What kind of door is in a sewer?

  She shrugged. This was how the rest of the group had got into Heaven, so as long as the door worked both ways, she’d be home in no time.

  Frowning, she tried to work out why that thought didn’t make her feel happy. She wanted to go home. That was all that mattered, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was wrong. Her stomach was twisted into knots, and the unfamiliar feeling of guilt weighed on her.

  I have nothing to feel guilty about.

  She tried to shake the feeling, but it wasn’t going anywhere. She experienced a nagging sense of shame over abandoning the other angels in Camp Angel. She felt bad for the angels who were being brainwashed, the people in the villages who were banned from embracing their angelic nature, over Lillian…

  It’s not my fault. I didn’t make Heaven suck. It was this way when I got here!

  She chewed her bottom lip in a moment of indecision. She knew what she should do. She knew what her conscience was telling her to do, but she didn’t want to do it.

  I’m going home. I can’t stop an army of psycho angels anyway. I can’t help them. I can barely help myself.

  There was that unfamiliar guilt again, the feeling that she was lying to herself and making excuses to avoid what needed to be done.

  She expelled a sigh.

  Why do I always have to do everything? Can’t I just go home this time?

  She realized—as she tried to rationalize her own selfish need to go home—that the reason she had to fight this battle was the same reason that she’d had to fight every battle so far. There was no higher power coming to save them. There was no one else coming to help these beings. If she wanted to see a superhero save the day, she had to become one.

  It would be easy to ignore the suffering of others if she convinced herself that someone would help them. It was easy to pass on the responsibility by claiming it had nothing to do with her. But that guilt, that rotten feeling in her stomach was because she knew she was lying to herself. She couldn’t go home yet. She had to help them, not because any of this was her fault, but because there was no one else to help them, because if she didn’t help them, no one would.

  “Shit,” she muttered as she peered ahead.

  The rest of the group were happily chatting instead of bickering for once as they hurried toward a large golden door ahead of them.

  She dreaded telling them that they had to stay here, but she’d made up her mind. She was staying. She had to.

  Just get it over with.

  “Um, guys, hold on. Stop a minute.” She winced. This was going to suck.

  The group paused, and everyone turned to face her.

  “What’s wrong?” Kieron asked, a frown forming on his face when he looked at her.

  “We can’t go home yet,” Dora said.

  “Why not?” Pooey asked.

  “We need to help the angels.”

  “Say what now?” Lucian raised an eyebrow.

  Dora tried to explain how she felt, but it was easier to think it than to say it to three incredulous faces. To be fair to Lettuce, he didn’t look as if he cared either way. “Heaven’s all fucked up. There are innocent beings here that need our help.”

  “Fuck ‘em. Let their god help them.” Pooey shrugged.

  “If there is one,” Kieron muttered.

  “That’s just it though. There isn’t anyone here helping them. If we don’t help them, who will?” Dora began to feel increasingly stupid as she said the words, but she also knew that she was right.

  “So you want us to what, take on the armies of Heaven to save a couple of angels from ending up like Lettuce?” Lucian asked.

  “Yes!” Dora nodded.

  “With what?” Lucian asked.

  “What do you mean?” She frowned.

  “What exactly are you going to do to save the angels from these unstoppable assholes, who have the power of the universe at their fingertips? Which almighty force are you going to use to stop them, your sarcasm?”

  “To be fair,” Pooey said to Lucian. “I think your sarcasm is more toxic than hers.”

  “Not the fucking point. She couldn’t even save herself!” Lucian pointed to Dora. “Like fuck I’m staying here for something so stupid. Why should we? It’s not our problem.”

  “It is our problem!” Dora cried. “We’re here. We’ve witnessed it happening. That makes it our problem.”

  Kieron inclined his head, deep in thought for a moment before he nodded. “Okay, I’m in.”

  “What?” Lucian cried. “If I walk past a homeless guy, is his welfare my fucking problem too?”

  “It depends on if you’re self-absorbed or not,” Pooey said. Then he glanced up at Lettuce. “Okay, I’m in too as long as Lettuce gets his mind back from all this.”

  “You’re all fucking nuts. You realize that you’re demons and not fucking superheroes, right? You can’t do anything anyway. The only thing you’re going to accomplish is being blown into streaks of soot by angel fire. That’s what’s going to happen. Your masterful heroic plans will end with you all becoming shit-stains across the asphalt. Good luck with that.” Lucian turned on his heel and began walking toward the door.

  “Er, wait a minute,” Pooey said, gesturing for him to come back.

  “What, so you can convince me. No thanks.” Lucian rolled his eyes.

  “No, that’s not why,” Pooey said, urgently pointing at the door.

  Dora peered around Lucian at the golden door ahead. At first, she frowned, trying to see whatever it was that Pooey was pointing toward. Then she widened her eyes when the golden door rippled. “What the fuck is that?”

  Lucian turned and studied the door. His shoulders tensed. “It looks like you get your wish after all.” He began to back up.

  “What is it?” Kieron asked.

  “I could be wrong, but it looks like a trap to me,” Lucian said, backing up.

  Dora widened her eyes when the door rippled again, and then a figure stepped out of it as if he materialized out of thin air. With the gold paint camouflaging him, it took her a moment to recognize the angel. She hitched her breath when she did as Sergeant Fluffers opened his eyes.

  He flashed a wicked grin in her direction as he raised his sword.

  “It’s a trap. Run!” she cried before she spun around to flee down the tunnel. But her voice cracked in horror as she saw members of the Angel Guard hurrying down the tunnel behind them.

  She swallowed a bubble of panic, trying to think of a way out of this, but the sewer was small and cramped. They were completely surrounded by the enemy.

  Tensing her shoulders, she tried to summon her tiny weapons. When that didn’t work, she pulled her dagger from her boot instead, glancing at Kieron as he flashed red eyes at her and his little horns poked up out of his head.

  “You really shouldn’t have gone AWOL, recruit,” Fluffers said as he took a step toward them.

  “I tend to disagree,” Dora muttered as she eyed the Guard who were edging toward her with their swords drawn.

  “Joining with demons is a death sentence.” The sergeant’s voice was a deadly echo down the tunnel.

  She glanced back at him, frowning when she saw Lucian out of the corner of her eye. He appeared to be praying. He was looking down at his hands and whispering into them.

  I suppose now is as good a time as any.

  “Can you even die here?” Pooey asked. “I mean, like, aren’t you already dead?”

  Fluffers narrowed his eyes at Pooey. Then he glanced back at Dora. “Animating your teddy bear is also a sin.”

  “The fuck did he just call me?” Pooey cried.

  “Seriously, it’s a sin to bring your teddy bear to life?” Kieron raised an eyebrow.

  Pooey narrowed his eyes at Kieron. “Can we please address the fact that I’m not a fucking teddy bear?”

  Dora frowned at Lucian as a glow of light shone in his hands. “What are you doing?”

 
The fallen angel finally looked up, and she gasped. His eyes glowed gold as he raised his arms and a blast of light exploded from his body, surrounding them.

  Fluffers and the Angel Guard were knocked back by the blast as it blew a hole in the roof above them, shooting a golden beam of light up into the sky and creating a large hole for them to escape through above.

  “I’m letting you guys talk shit while I summon a tunnel of holy fire to create an escape route,” Lucian muttered.

  Around them, white flames kept the Angel Guard at bay, who were cowering back to save themselves from being burned. But inside, the air was glittery gold, a hazy sanctuary.

  “What is it?” Dora asked, running her hand through the haze.

  “YOU!” Fluffers bellowed from the other side of the flames.

  Dora glanced at him to find him staring at Lucian.

  “Yeah, I’m back.” Lucian slowly turned his hand before flipping off the sergeant. Then he glanced at Dora and Kieron. “What are you waiting for, fly!”

  Dora and Kieron both summoned their wings, nodding. She felt Kieron grip her hand before they launched up through the burning crater and flew out of the sewer and into the sky.

  She peered back over her shoulder to see Pooey following them on Lettuce’s giant back. For the first time ever, she began to worry about Lucian.

  “What about Lucian? We can’t leave him there,” she cried over the wind as she and Kieron fled.

  Kieron frowned as he peered back. “I think he’ll be okay.”

  The golden tunnel of light exploded into a white flash that shook the foundations of the city, and a lone figure shot up through the earth.

  She breathed a sigh when she recognized the fallen angel. He’d made it out, and he was heading straight for them.

  “What are you fucking doing? Move it. They’re coming!” Lucian cried.

  Fourteen

  Holy Hideout

  Dora gasped as a loud alarm blared across the city. “What the hell is that?” She shouted over the din at Lucian.

  “They’re calling in backup. Fucking move it!” He turned in the air and launched forward, using his powerful wings to fly away.

  Pooey went next on the back of his giant angel, and Dora and Kieron took up the rear.

  Glancing back, she hitched her breath as an army of angels launched out of the windows of a nearby building. There were so many, they filled the sky.

  Ignoring her racing pulse, she put as much power into her wings as she could, trying to emulate the same actions of Lucian, who was expertly darting through the clouds ahead.

  She peered at Kieron. His powerful wings were beating in the air too, but he was slowing every so often to match her pace.

  He doesn’t want me to get left behind. I’m slowing him down.

  Feeling guilty for being the weak one, she tried to make her new wings flap faster, but that didn’t seem to help. There was an art to it, she discovered. You needed to catch the wind, like a sail and glide through the air. Flapping around a lot wasn’t going to help.

  Once she got into the rhythm, it seemed easier to keep up with the group.

  I’ve got it. This is going to work.

  She flashed a smile at Kieron, but it slid off when she saw the worried expression on his face.

  Peering back again, she almost swallowed her tongue. The army was so close. At the speed they were flying, they’d catch her in no time.

  Gulping and trying to force herself not to panic, she determinedly stared ahead. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw a blast of white fire heading straight for her. She just about managed to narrow her eyes at Lucian, who was shooting holy fire in her direction, before Kieron’s strong arm wrapped around her waist and hauled her against him and out of the way.

  The blast of holy energy shot past her in a streak of white fire, blazing through the clouds and exploding into the army on her trail.

  “Come on, we need to hurry.” Kieron’s breath warmed her cheek as he pulled her forward, gliding past Lucian.

  “What are you doing?” Dora cried at Lucian, who was hovering in the air and shooting blasts of white fire from his hands at the oncoming army. She meant, why had he shot at her, but he clearly misunderstood.

  “I’m saving your ass. Get the fuck out of the city, now!” He flashed a warning look at her before his brown eyes focused on the enemy as he summoned a ball of purple light in his hands. “Let’s see how you like the darkness, bitches!”

  Kieron released her, and they flew side-by-side toward the outskirts of the city.

  “Won’t he get caught?” Dora asked. Lucian was a bit of an asshole, but he seemed to keep saving them. It seemed wrong to leave him there, fighting an entire army on his own.

  “Do we care?” Pooey asked as they glided past him.

  “Yes,” Kieron and Dora said in unison before pausing to shoot a questioning look at each other.

  “Oh great, when did asshat join the inner sanctum?” Pooey pouted at them.

  “He’s helping us. That makes him one of us,” Dora said, and she meant it for about three seconds.

  “Aww, I get to join the fuckwit party. I’m so honored.” Lucian’s voice echoed behind her, and she spun around to find him smirking at her. Behind him, the sky was darkened by purple smoke, and the armies chasing them had gone.

  Her instinct to tell him to fuck off was overpowered by her shock over the amount of power he had. He’d knocked an entire army out of the sky by the looks of it. She opened her mouth to ask him how, but he interrupted her.

  “Come on. They’ll regroup and be back in no time. Escape now. Insult later.” He glided past, beating his wings as he flew through the white clouds ahead.

  “What the hell?” Dora turned to Kieron.

  He shrugged. “At least he’s on our side.”

  Dora winced as the muscles in her back ached. It seemed as if they’d been flying forever over the City of Angel's and across miles of farmlands after that. She gritted her teeth, trying to ignore her aching wings, but she knew she was going to have to stop soon.

  She glanced back over her shoulder at the empty blue skies behind her. There was no one following them. It seemed that Lucian’s purple explosion had put them out of action for now.

  “Where are we going?” She called out to Lucian since he was leading them again.

  “Home,” he shouted back at her.

  She frowned. They were following him to his home, but they didn’t really know that much about him. What kind of place did a being like him call home?

  He’s a warlock, fallen angel who shoots purple light from his hands that can blow up an army, and who happens to have a pet unicorn back on earth. Oh, and he’s Kieron’s father…

  She tried to rationalize that none of them were particularly normal. She was a human girl, who wanted to be a witch, but had been turned into a demon, and now she appeared to have become an angel. Kieron was half angel and half demon, and…

  She glanced at Pooey, who currently resembled an evil Care Bear.

  Well, at least he’s still just a demon.

  Her eyes wandered to Lettuce. She wasn’t really sure what he was classed as.

  It was fair to say that they were all a little strange, and they were all more than one thing in some way or another, but something about Lucian nagged at her. There was some bullshit about him that she just couldn’t ignore.

  Why’s he running when he has so much power?

  “Oh you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me?” Pooey’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and she glanced ahead.

  They were heading toward an old mansion house. It might have been a palace once, one with sculpted marble pillars surrounding it and manicured gardens surrounding it. It wasn’t one any more. Dark ivy crawled up the walls, which were smudged with dirty gray streaks. Cracked pillars littered the overgrown lawn beside the remains of smashed windows and tangles of weeds.

  The roof appeared to have been blown away in places, leaving scorched tiles and gapi
ng holes behind.

  Dora eyed the ruins with a look of concern. “This is home?”

  “One of them,” Lucian said. “It might need some cleaning up, but we’ll be safe here.”

  “It might need some demolition,” Pooey muttered.

  “If you want to stay out here and die, that’s totally your choice.” Lucian offered Pooey a smile before he swooped down to his shoddy palace.

  Dora sighed. Her wings weren’t going to keep flapping for much longer. She was exhausted. “It’ll do while we figure things out,” she said to Pooey.

  “Yeah, assuming it’s not haunted by dead assholes.” The little bear wrinkled his nose.

  Kieron widened his eyes in horror. “Why would you put that image in my head?”

  “There is something seriously wrong with you. You know that, right?” Pooey shook his head and then pointed to the palace below. “Take us down to that dump site.” He told Lettuce.

  “I’m not sure I want to go down there now.” Kieron turned to Dora. “It sounds worse than the sewers.”

  She smiled at the innocent look in his big blue eyes. It didn’t matter if they were in Heaven or Hell, Kieron never changed. He was always the most honest, brave and silliest part of her world. “Come on. I’m sure it’ll be fine.” She took his hand as they swooped down toward the old mansion house.

  The dilapidated gates were broken off the hinges and spattered with dirt and grime, but upon closer inspection, Dora found they were made of pearl. She frowned.

  These are the pearly gates.

  They stumbled up the long driveway, which was a muddy bog, full of potholes and weeds.

  As they approached the large house, she stared up at the ramshackle building. It had been white once, but now it was faded yellow with dark stains down the stone and old vines crawling up it. Spooky didn’t even cover it.

  She jumped when the second story window burst open, and crows flew out of it. A pair of yellowing net curtains blew in the breeze for a moment before Lucian appeared in the window.

  “Get out of my house, you fucking vermin!” he shouted at the birds. Then he peered down at her and Kieron. “Come in. It’s perfectly hospitable. You can see your inheritance,” he added while looking at Kieron.