Angelus

by Sabrina Benulis

  The Cherubim looked down at the silvery water. On its smooth surface, a ghostly image of Sophia appeared.

  She wore, of all things, a Westwood Academy uniform and appeared to be walking down a long shadowed hallway toward a door. Darker shadows in the background followed her. Two of them had the shape of crows. Another was frighteningly larger and seemed more mirage than creature.

  It looked exactly like a Kirin with leathery wings, but then it vanished and Kim couldn’t help wondering if his eyes played tricks on him.

  Sophia was in Luz. She’d infiltrated the Academy again. But why?

  “The Archon cannot open the Book,” the Cherubim continued, “because She understands more than anyone else that the Book is a person. The being you call ‘Sophia’ has a soul and a past. This is something everyone else has chosen to ignore to their peril. If things had been different, then perhaps the Book would have found within herself the final notes of the Angelus. But as facts stand now, she is Bound by the laws as we all are. If the Archon does not open the Book, those final notes will remain lost forever.”

  “Yet you also hinted there is a way to obtain those final stanzas without opening the Book,” Kim pressed. “How?”

  The Cherubim stared at him with her sightless eyes. “By creating new ones.”

  That hardly seemed possible. And it was a far cry from what Kim wanted to hear. “I need to speak to Raziel,” he said after a long pause. He breathed hard, trying to contain his impatience.

  The Cherubim showed no emotion whatsoever. “As you wish,” she whispered.

  She stepped backward and vanished as if into a thick darkness. Troy and the pool vanished with her instantly. Kim was suddenly alone in absolute nothingness. Yet before he could shout or scream, footsteps sounded behind him.

  He whirled around—only to find himself face-to-face with the angel Raziel, exactly as he’d wished and hoped.

  Eighteen

  Kim had nothing to say at first.

  The Supernal Raziel was everything Kim had ever imagined him to be and more. Raziel’s large eyes resembled bluish opals and his four great wings shimmered blood red. Two more wings on his ears sparkled with white jewels dotting their arches, and yet more jewels swept up his brow and vanished into his thick hair. He wore a midnight-blue coat that reminded Kim of a starry night sky. He was as majestic and breathtaking as his siblings, yet there was one marked difference: Raziel’s eyes exuded kindness and gentleness. There was none of Israfel’s haughtiness or Lucifel’s chilling apathy.

  What do you want of me? Raziel’s kind face seemed to say. His eyes still held the same commanding force characteristic of the other Supernals, but they were tempered by an aura of compassion.

  Kim opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

  Was this really a ghost standing in front of him? If this was all an illusion, it was the most convincing one that Kim had ever encountered.

  He noticed the hourglass pendant at his chest felt warm again. He held it and looked at the grains. An intense fire swept through him. They were now almost halfway gone. That quickly, his life was escaping him and would soon be Python’s. But it was for Angela, so it was worth all he had to give in the end.

  “I—I need to ask you something,” Kim stammered.

  What an understatement. Every creature in the universe wanted to ask Raziel something by now. So many mysteries clung to his legacy that the list might go on forever.

  Kim continued, blushing at his own appalling awkwardness. “I need to know how we can obtain the power inside the Book of Raziel without destroying it with the Glaive.”

  Raziel sighed heavily. Without speaking, he turned and seemed to look up into the darkness. A spot of blinding bright light appeared. Kim shouted and shielded his eyes as the light raced toward them, swallowing them in a brilliant wash of color and sound.

  He staggered, feeling like he’d been thrust across a threshold of some kind, and then he suddenly stood on a brilliant crystal staircase. All around him, feathers and blood fell through the air. Angels screamed and fought one another brutally, and in the background immense feathered serpents snatched the casualties amid a shining city within the stars.

  This was the Celestial Revolution.

  Kim glanced up to see Raziel ascending a transparent staircase.

  He followed breathlessly.

  The screams and the blood seemed to have no end as Kim climbed up and up. Finally, he paused steps away from Raziel and directly beneath a menacing portal pulsing with darkness. With another flash of light they were both inside, surrounded by a deep blackness lit here and there by glowing hieroglyphs. A being of striking beauty stood in front of Raziel, looming over the Supernal angel. The being was neither male nor female, but its face struck Kim immediately. He almost forgot to breathe.

  Its features were identical to Angela’s.

  It stared down at Raziel, fanning immense wings in varying shades of crimson, gray, and bronze. Ink-black hair fell across half of its face like an ebony curtain.

  “. . . you can put an end to all of this . . .”

  Raziel was pleading with the being.

  “. . . do what you know is right. Now that I’ve brought Sophia back, there is a second chance for all of us . . . I know what kind of pain you must be in. But nothing has to last forever . . .”

  The being’s eyes widened at this news. It gritted its perfect teeth and clenched a fist.

  Raziel paused, his face shining with hope.

  The creature that could have been Angela’s twin looked at Raziel tenderly. It stroked his cheek and trailed its hand down to his heart.

  Alarm bells seemed to sound in Kim’s brain. He reached out a hand to Raziel, screaming in warning, but he knew no one could hear him, and that it was all too late, and he was about to see how Raziel had really died. A second later, a painful and blinding light overtook them. Kim staggered as Raziel’s ghost rushed through him, his red wings nearly shredded to rags and streaming blood everywhere.

  Kim followed him, running madly, consumed by the same fear.

  Before he could stop himself, he was tumbling with Raziel, out of the portal, past the crystal stairs, down, and down into death’s embrace.

  He nearly fell backward as the vision sucked away and regressed to the white light that vanished, leaving Kim and Raziel alone again.

  Kim gasped for breath. He couldn’t believe he was still alive. He also couldn’t quite believe what he’d just witnessed. Raziel had been murdered by a creature whose face resembled Angela’s? That made no sense at all, until his mind started working, focusing especially on the mysterious identity of Angela’s soul, and just why she of all people had been chosen by Raziel to become the Archon. Was there a connection of some kind between her and that mysterious being?

  Raziel nodded, as if answering Kim’s mental question.

  Now the angel pointed down at the invisible ground. Kim obediently looked, and he realized they stood in nothingness. Yet far, far below them he could see a body, lying prone and still. The more he looked, the more he felt like he was flying toward whatever he and Raziel were examining. Kim could discern white limbs and a strange silvery dress. Whatever they were approaching, it looked a lot like a human woman, but she had even more wings, and her great gray eyes stared vacantly into the Abyss.

  She was dead. Her stomach looked like it had been torn open.

  Kim clutched a hand over his mouth, trying not to retch. He glanced at Raziel, the distance between them tightened, and a terrible image of the woman dying amid the endless stars burned into his brain. Silvery light that looked like water poured out of her. It scattered everywhere, flowing to the farthest reaches of the universe. As it did so, Kim could hear music.

  The image of the dying woman was now replaced with Sophia, her back to Kim as she stood before Lucifel in the darkness of Hell, all her beauty dimmed by the shadows surrounding Lucifel and her onyx throne. Lucifel’s great wings fanned above them menacingly.

  Sophia was singi
ng that same song he’d heard in Python’s mansion: the Angelus.

  Kim listened, waiting and waiting for the final stanzas of the song.

  They never came. Sophia’s voice faltered as if she’d forgotten something. She clutched at her throat, and as Lucifel sat above her, the Devil’s pale mouth tightened into a firm line of irritation.

  At last, every image disappeared once more and Kim and Raziel stood face-to-face.

  But how was this an answer to Kim’s question? All they had established was Angela’s eerie resemblance to Raziel’s murderer, the existence of the Angelus, and the corpse of a strange being hidden somewhere in the Abyss.

  “Is that all you can offer me?” Kim said, allowing a hint of despair to creep into his voice.

  Raziel shook his head. He held up his hand as if telling Kim to wait. The Supernal took a graceful step backward and an image of Lucifel appeared to his left, and an image of an oddly bronze-haired Israfel appeared to his right. Without warning, the images of all three Supernals layered on top of one another.

  Wait! The creature who had murdered Raziel—was that who Kim was now seeing as the images of the Supernals blended together?

  He leaned forward, as if that could help him examine them better. His heart pounded like mad, because Kim knew he was on the verge of something immense. Now he saw that the winged deity’s eyes were unlike the Supernals’ and shone a brilliant green. Then one of the eyes glowed like a star. Kim remained riveted on it, unable to look away as it seemed to grow larger, and larger, swallowing his entire world and piercing into the farthest reaches of his mind.

  It hovered for a moment before him, then everything disappeared and Raziel stood with Angela’s image by his side.

  Her left eye shone a brilliant green.

  With a final deep sigh, Raziel took a step backward and vanished.

  Instantly, Angela’s hair lost its red color, and her blue eye went hazel. She now looked like her deceased brother Brendan Mathers. All that remained of her that could capture Kim’s imagination and reveal her as anything more than ordinary was that brilliant green eye.

  Frustration choked away Kim’s breath and words. He felt so close to the answers to everything, yet he couldn’t make absolute sense of what he’d just seen. He turned in the circle of darkness surrounding him. “And that’s all, is it?” he shouted. “Now you’re leaving us to discover everything on our own? You’ve shared this much with us—why not more? I don’t understand you. You’re protecting the spirit of a human girl because only she can open the Book. But she refuses. Did you know that? You must. So why are you staying silent? Why? Answer me, damn it!”

  Raziel reappeared to Kim’s left.

  He jumped slightly backward, startled by their sudden closeness. Raziel’s majesty up close was enough to stifle Kim’s breaths.

  You’re correct, Raziel said sadly in a voice that shivered through Kim’s brain all the way down into his bones. You don’t understand me. No one ever truly did. Perhaps Israfel was the single exception to that before the end of our glorious days together, but those times are lost in mists and ether, and there is no use summoning them anymore. If it were simply a matter of telling you what you need to know, I would have done so. Yet I can’t, because what you see of me now is nothing but a memory brought to life. When I was truly alive, pleading with the Father and revealing the extent of what I’d learned ultimately led to my death. Now, Sophia is all that remains of my legacy.

  It is she who holds your answer. Ask her about what you’ve seen today. You’re very close to the truth. Indeed, it’s right in front of you.

  “But why can’t you tell me now?” Kim demanded.

  Raziel glanced at the hourglass pendant resting near Kim’s chest. His expression became concerned. There are other ears listening, other eyes watching. Be on your guard, or you will lose your chance.

  With a flash of light, the angel disappeared, and the catacombs and their endless skulls and bones returned.

  Kim slumped to the ground, gasping for breath as his knees knocked painfully into the hard rock. The Cherubim remained before him, seated like a sphinx. She regarded him coolly but said nothing.

  “Well?” Troy snapped at him. She dashed in front of Kim and grabbed him hard by the shoulders, her nails piercing through his coat. She shook him like a leaf clutched in her fist. “What happened? Did you see Raziel? What did he say?”

  Kim wasn’t sure where to begin. Perhaps if he explained the visions to Troy, she could make better sense of them.

  Yet he didn’t dare open his mouth. He knew perfectly well what Raziel had been hinting at when it came to eavesdroppers, and the idea that Python had also seen everything sealed his lips shut. A dark sense of danger stole over him.

  Kim’s gaze darted wildly around, searching for shadows. What if that treacherous serpent had followed them into Luz? The more Kim thought about it, there was no way Lilith would stand sharing the now vacant Throne of Hell with her son. It would be in Python’s best interests to crawl out of his den and find a new home. Most of the portals that connected the Realms were irreparably destroyed, so the Mirror Pools were one of the only escapes.

  Just like the one that had been hidden beneath Python’s mansion.

  Had Python followed them, waiting for Troy and Kim to use the pool to return to Luz and then entering himself shortly afterward?

  If events continued on their current course, Earth and Hell would vanish, followed shortly by Heaven if the Realms collided and disintegrated. But by now Python surely knew his best chances of survival lay wherever Sophia happened to be.

  And if Angela and Sophia were now in Luz . . .

  Kim’s mind flashed to the Cherubim speaking about how she’d foreseen her death. The universe was on the verge of collapse and the angel hadn’t died yet. So when was that going to happen? Now the suffocating sense of danger in the air choked him. He grabbed Troy by the wrists and flung her off him so hard, his cousin actually looked surprised.

  “What is wrong with you?” she said impatiently. “Speak!”

  “No. There’s no time to speak anymore. We have to get out of here. Sophia and Angela are in immense danger, Troy.” Kim searched frantically for an exit.

  The Cherubim watched him. Her sightless eyes blinked slowly. She seemed to be waiting for whatever came next and that terrified him even more.

  “Of course they’re in danger,” Troy growled. “That’s why we came here. To help Angela—”

  Kim lost his calm completely. He stormed over to Troy and grabbed her so impulsively, she must not have thought of shoving him off this time. “Python followed us through the Mirror Pool,” he hissed at her.

  Troy’s face blanked. Her ears flipped back in irritation. “How do you know that?”

  “Because he’s here right now,” Kim seethed at her. “Or at the very least he’s watching from a safe distance, so be quiet.”

  Kim looked down at his pendant, clutched it, and nearly screamed. The entire time, he’d feared it was just one more way for Python to keep track of him. Kim wanted to toss it into the wall, but he needed it to see how much of his life was left at any given moment. That way, at least he would know when to hide from Angela so she wouldn’t see the terrible fate that awaited him.

  “How could he possibly have arrived here with us?” Troy snarled, ignoring Kim’s request for silence. “He would have awakened after emerging from the Mirror Pool beside us. We would have seen him, you fool.”

  “No,” Kim said, and he shook his head, pacing. Panic began to drown out his thoughts, but he tried to whisper again. “Not necessarily. Not if he arrived first. It’s possible, isn’t it? Python is a demon and his nature is more compatible with the pools. He can probably transport faster than us.” Kim turned to the Cherubim, aware that he probably looked as angry as he sounded. “Did anyone else arrive here before us?”

  The Cherubim stared at him vacantly. “Of course, half-Jinn. There are many, many others who have arrived in this ancient plac
e.” She looked up and around at the bluish spheres ducking in and out of thousands of bones.

  “You know what I’m talking about,” Kim said, trying not to scream at her.

  The Cherubim seemed to think. “As I said, this place is outside of time. As I also said, my fate is unavoidable.”

  That was all he needed to hear.

  “We have to get out of this place,” Kim muttered heatedly.

  “But did we find out what we came for?” Troy shot back.

  Kim shook his head. “We’re not going to get any more information than what I saw just now. We can talk about it later. At the moment, we have to get out of these catacombs. I suppose we’ll head for Luz’s surface.”

  Troy didn’t seem ready to waste any more time. She turned with barely hidden disgust and after reaching the far wall began to scale the rocks so quickly she could have been sprinting. Kim ran after her to keep up, but something made him turn at the last second.

  The Cherubim made no move to leave. Was she prepared to defend herself? There was little doubt she could with such intimidating size and teeth. Yet Kim couldn’t shake his sense of danger. Maybe the shivers and foreboding he’d felt while still in Hell had more to do with whatever came next than the mysterious angel Troy had led them to visit.

  Maybe entering Luz was going to be the real mistake. Kim thought again of Sophia walking some long hallway in the Westwood Academy uniform. She’d infiltrated the school once more. That meant Angela would probably be with her.

  After what Raziel had shown him, Kim knew he had to speak with Angela, see her, clasp her tight. He was terrified for her.

  “Farewell, my final visitors,” the angel said.

  A strange mist began to fill the catacombs. The bluish spheres streaked through the air as if in a panic.