by G. P. Ching
“I think it makes you look irrepressible and chic. This haircut isn’t for the cowardly.” Grace smiled. The back and sides of Malini’s shiny black hair were clipped short and ended in a sharp line at the base of her skull, but the top was longer with spiky bangs that played across her forehead. A perfect pixie cut.
“My parents will hate it,” Malini murmured, running her hand through her super-short tresses. She lifted the hair at the roots, as if she could make it longer by force of will and a few good tugs. Although she wasn’t the type to get too caught up in her own looks and made it a habit not to judge others on theirs, a confusing concoction of emotions flooded her when she thought about the loss of her hair. The feelings weren’t about vanity; they were about anger. Fury. Rage. Lucifer and his Watchers had made her cut her hair. With evil intent, they’d forced this on her, to humiliate her.
Malini rotated in her chair in front of the mirror, trying to get a good look at the back of her head. The cut was sophisticated, strong. But did she feel that way or was this style simply a disguise? She watched Grace in the mirror.
Always a mother first, Grace dusted pieces of hair from the sheet she’d wrapped around Malini’s neck, then removed it altogether. The older woman’s red curls bounced on her shoulders as she folded the drape and began to clean up the bathroom. The sweeping sound lulled Malini into a peaceful contemplation.
When the room was spic and span, Grace finally met Malini’s eyes in the mirror. She paused. “Hair grows back. What you took from Lucifer is permanent. You and Dane killed hundreds of Watchers in Nod. Your hair will grow, but he can’t force more angels to fall.”
Malini nodded, but tears pricked the corner of her eyes.
“You’re young for this, too young to experience this kind of loss and abuse. Seventeen is brutally young. Grown men come back from less with PTSD.”
Blinking rapidly, Malini shifted her gaze to her lap.
“Even a Healer has feelings. It’s okay to let them out. No good ever came from keeping them bottled up.”
Tears spilled over her lower lids, and Grace pulled her into a tight embrace. Through a torrent of long, gasping sobs, the older woman held her and rubbed large, slow circles over her back. Face buried in Grace’s floral cotton shirt, Malini let it all go. The fear. The humiliation. The agony. The hopelessness. Nod had almost destroyed her.
“Lucifer is strong and evil through and through. He can knock you down, but he only wins if you can’t get back up again.”
Malini stopped crying. Grace was right. Not only was she alive, but she’d dealt the devil a serious blow. She couldn’t stop now. She vowed to forget why she’d cut her hair and instead focus on the result. She was stronger. And in some ways, she was wiser.
A knock drew their attention to the door. “Come in,” Malini said.
Lillian entered with Gideon close behind her. Had someone died? Her expression was morose, pale, and Gideon huddled into her side as if they’d been comforting each other. His face was streaked with tears.
Malini popped out of her chair. “What’s happened?”
“It’s Abigail…” Lillian’s voice broke. “She’s gone.”
Gideon chose that moment to extend his hand. In it was a note with large scrawled writing. “I found this in our room.”
For a moment, Malini’s mind couldn’t process Lillian’s words. Gone? Where would she go?
“And this.” Gideon held out one of Warwick’s blue stones.
Malini took the note from his hand and read it twice, positioning the paper so Grace could do the same over her shoulder.
“She left Eden? To help me? I don’t understand.” Malini’s voice rose in pitch with the panic that seized her heart.
“Archibald said she asked for the boat and definitely left Eden,” Lillian said. “I wanted to talk to you first before I sent out a search party.”
Turning toward Grace, Malini paced a few steps, gripping the note as she read it again and again. “This doesn’t make sense. Why would she leave Eden?”
“She wouldn’t have gone unless she thought you were in danger,” Gideon said.
“But all of the Soulkeepers were already with me. She knew I was taken care of.”
Lillian closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Where is the sister stone?”
“Lucifer took it from me when he stripped me in Nod—Oh no!” Malini crossed her arms and squeezed, fighting the black hole of dread that had formed at the center of her chest.
Gideon glanced at Lillian. “We think Lucifer used your stone to contact Abigail and make her believe you were in trouble. It’s the only explanation. Maybe she thought all of you were in trouble. Only an urgent plea would have caused her to leave Eden.” He slapped the doorframe. “She never even told me goodbye.”
“Of course she didn’t, Gideon,” Lillian retorted. “She knew you’d never let her out of Eden, even to save us. You would have held her down, if that’s what it took, and you’d be justified. Abigail knew better.”
Malini shoved between them and out into the hallway. “It doesn’t matter why she left,” she snapped. “We have to find her. I’ll go myself, with Jacob. Nobody knows her better than we do.”
Gideon grabbed her elbow. “I’ll go too.”
“No, Gideon. You need to stay here. Lucifer will try to use you. I can’t have you vulnerable.”
He backed away, crossing his muscled arms over his chest as if she’d bruised his ego. Malini didn’t have time to comfort him. She moved toward the door, praying they’d find Abigail before it was too late.
Chapter 4
Lost
Traveling by shadow in a human body was a tenuous venture. Abigail was sure Cord would never have risked it with another human being, not one he wanted to keep alive anyway. Her fragile flesh was stretched and flattened. By the time Cord stopped and released her, the pain was almost unbearable, and she was sure important body parts were bruised or broken. She folded in half from the discomfort, catching herself on her knees.
Breathe. Just breathe. Eyes closed, she tried to pull herself together. She had to keep her wits about her if she was going to get herself out of this mess. The air filled her lungs and, as it did, awareness of her surroundings came piece by piece.
She opened her eyes. Beneath her feet was not brimstone but a newly finished hardwood floor, and the smell in her nostrils was not sulfur but the latex odor of fresh paint. Slowly, she straightened her spine. In front of her, a wall of windows gave a spectacular view of a city next to a large body of water. She was in a high-rise, but where? Architecturally diverse buildings rose beyond the glass, familiar buildings. She wasn’t in Hell; she was in Chicago. The body of water at the edge of the city was Lake Michigan.
Turning, she had a moment to take in the meticulously designed room before she noticed him. All blond curls and gleaming white teeth, the Lord of Illusions draped one arm over the back of the leather sofa he was sitting on, the other rested casually in his lap.
“Welcome, Abigail, so glad you could join us.” Lucifer’s quiet voice and hint of a smile seemed innocuous enough, but Abigail knew better. A quiet Lucifer was a deadly Lucifer.
“You. You lured me here.” She bit her lip to the point of pain.
“Yes. An easy enough illusion.”
“Where is Malini?”
“Burnt to a crisp at the center of Nod.” He poked his tongue into his cheek. “There’s nothing my Watchers like more than a fire pit, especially one fueled by Healer flesh.”
Abigail clutched her stomach. “You’re lying.” Jacob said Malini made it safely to Arizona after her mission to Nod. But what if, this time, Lucifer was telling the truth? What if the phone call to Jacob, just like the projection through the stone, was all an elaborate illusion to lure all of them to their deaths? Lucifer was capable of as much. He was capable of anything.
“Am I?” Lucifer asked by way of response.
“What do you want from me?” No sense playing his game. If sh
e asked him more questions, she couldn’t trust his answers.
He crossed the room in a heartbeat, his face reddening with anger. “What do I want? What do I want, Abigail?” The stench of rotting flesh rolled off his breath and filled her nostrils. “I want the Watchers I lost back. I want you back. But since I can’t have either of those things, I’m going to take what you won’t give. I’m going to steal your soul.”
She tried to step away from his tirade, but he wouldn’t allow it. He grabbed her elbow and held her firmly.
“You can’t have my soul. My soul is God’s now.” Instinctively, she touched the cross around her neck with her free hand. It was a wedding gift from Malini and Jacob, one she never took off. For her, it was a symbol of her redemption, a promise she had given her life to receive.
Lucifer laughed wickedly, brushing an errant blond curl from his aqua blue eyes. “Your soul is only God’s when you die. I have it until then.” He followed up the threat with a toothy grin that made the muscles in his perfect Greco-Roman profile tighten.
“What do you mean? Are you taking me to Hell?”
“Hell? Why would I take you to Hell? No one lives there anymore.”
Abigail jerked and shook her head. “You and the Watchers have to go back. You can’t stay here,” she sputtered.
“Things have changed, Abigail. The Great Oppressor and I have a new agreement, one that allows my Watchers and me to stay here as long as I desire. And now, I have you to keep me company.”
“I’m a prisoner here, in this penthouse?”
“The punishment should fit the crime.” He yanked her closer, until she turned her face away to avoid touching his chest. “Prisoner is too good a title for you. What I have in mind is something altogether more appropriate.”
With one hand, he drew a circle over her head, then another and another. Then he backed away. Abigail lurched with his movement. He’d taken something from her, but she wasn’t sure what. For a moment, the flesh over her heart burned as if someone had ripped a Band-Aid off. Her skin had wanted to go with it, tipping her on her toes. She couldn’t stop her momentum. Tripping forward, she tried to catch herself on Lucifer’s chest. But she didn’t stop; her body passed through his unhindered. She rushed forward, catching herself on the wall of windows behind him.
“What have you done to me?” she yelled. Her voice came out reedy and hollow.
Lucifer placed his hands in his pockets and stepped toward her. “Your new existence, Abigail, is for my pleasure. I am the only one who can see you or hear you. You will live out your days in this penthouse. I will feed you when it suits me and starve you when it doesn’t. I will keep you alive for my own entertainment.”
An icy paralysis crept from Abigail’s toes to her ears, and then gave way to heart-racing panic. She turned from the windows. “You can’t do this. Don’t do this!”
He tilted his head. “I can and I have.” He paced away from her, toward Cord who waited, watching, near the door.
“The Soulkeepers will come for me,” she yelled desperately.
Lucifer stopped. “The Soulkeepers think I’m boo-hooing in Hell over the Watchers they killed in Nod. They don’t even know I’m topside, and I intend to keep it that way.” From his pocket, he pulled an iridescent string, holding it taut between his fingers.
Abigail squinted. “What is that?”
“Thanks to this, Malini won’t be tracing you back here. Thanks to this, you are mine for good this time.”
Her life’s thread! He’d stolen it from Fate’s weaving. Abigail lost all sense of reason and lunged for him. Attacking Lucifer was suicide, but then death might be better than being his personal ghost for the rest of her natural life. She passed right through him again.
He cleared his throat, straightened his tie, and turned to Cord like he hadn’t even noticed. “You’re looking a little peaked. Let’s go get you someone to eat,” he said to the Watcher.
Cord straightened. “As you wish, My Lord.” His eyes drifted across the room, skipping right over her. “A stunning piece of sorcery. I can’t make her out at all.”
Lucifer patted Cord on the shoulder. “A stroke of genius on my part, solitary confinement with the added loss of her body. I’ll enjoy watching her slowly go mad in this place.”
Cord held the door open for Lucifer. “Brilliant. You are, as ever, the master of misery.”
As Lucifer led the way into the corridor, he didn’t so much as glance in her direction. The door whined as it closed, clicking shut behind them. Inside Abigail’s mind, the sound echoed louder than in real life: her coffin lid slamming into place.
* * * * *
“Where should we start?” Jacob asked.
Malini turned a circle in the alley behind Laudner’s Flowers and Gifts, trying to think like Lucifer. Where would he ask her to go?
“He’d want to get her alone,” Malini thought out loud. “My first instinct is her old home, but she couldn’t travel by staff or reveal herself to anyone in the community, and it’s too far to walk.”
“Maybe Sunrise Park? You can walk there from here.”
Malini nodded. “As good a place to start as any.”
She took his hand and led the way out of the alley and toward Main Street. They’d just reached the crosswalk when a familiar voice called to them from the direction of Westcott’s grocery.
“Jacob? Malini, is that you?” Stephanie Westcott jogged across the street, her dark brown ponytail bouncing behind her. “What did you do to your hair?”
She didn’t say it in a hurtful way, but Malini crossed her arms over her chest nonetheless. “Got it cut. Trying something new.”
“It’s super cute!” Stephanie gave each of them a short hug, then wound a finger around one long, brown tress. “Maybe I should do that. Did you donate it to Locks of Love?”
“Something like that. It’s good to see you, Stephanie. I don’t want to be rude but we’ve got to get going.” Malini took a step into the street, tugging Jacob behind her.
“Oh. Are you going to meet Dr. Silva, er, I mean, Newman?” Stephanie asked.
Malini halted. “Have you seen her?”
“Yeah, she borrowed my scooter. Well, technically, she kind of stole it. I came out of the flower shop and saw her driving away. I figured she must need it for something important, so I’ve been hanging out at the store waiting. Was hoping she’d have it back by now.”
“Did you notice which direction she was headed?” Jacob asked.
“Ah, sure. That way.” Stephanie pointed over her shoulder and behind her.
Malini looked at Jacob. “The garden?”
He nodded.
“Thanks, Stephanie. If we see her, we’ll have her return your scooter to Westcott’s. I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation for why she took it without asking.”
“I didn’t even know she was in town. My mom will want to say hello. Is she staying with your family, Jacob?”
“No!” Jacob said, then softened at Stephanie’s widened eyes. “Sorry, she wanted us to keep her visit a secret. She’s only in town for a few hours, passing through on her way to the university. You know how it can be.”
Malini squeezed his hand encouragingly. “Right. She’ll be buried in pies and visitors and never make it to her meeting. I bet that’s why she borrowed your scooter without asking.”
Stephanie pursed her lips. The explanation didn’t completely make sense, but she nodded politely anyway. “So that’s why your uncle didn’t mention she was here. Rude that she didn’t make time to visit, but I’ll keep my mouth shut. Tell her I said hello.” She turned on her heel and headed back toward her family’s grocery store.
“She seems upset,” Jacob said.
Malini tugged his arm and began walking briskly toward Jacob’s truck parked in front of the flower shop. “After all she went through last summer, can you blame her for expecting Abigail to say hello when she’s in town? She was compelled to plunge a knife into Abigail’s chest. She helped b
attle our way out of Fermilab. She’s seen Watchers. And why wouldn’t Abigail use her own car if she was passing through town? Stephanie knew we were lying.”
“So she’s upset,” Jacob said smugly. “Should we be more supportive? I mean, she must be having a hard time with what happened considering she hasn’t gone back to college this semester.” Jacob climbed behind the wheel and pulled the keys from the visor.
Malini slid in beside him. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Fran Westcott wouldn’t let her go back.” She sighed. “We should reach out more, to Katrina too.”
As Jacob pressed the accelerator to the floor, he thought about that. “Maybe, when we’re not trying to find our dearest friend or save the world.”
Malini’s response crept quietly into the cab. “Agreed.” She ran her fingers over the glass of the window, watching the trees wiz by in a blur.
When they approached the house that used to be Abigail’s, Jacob spotted the scooter first. “There it is!” He parked behind it and jumped out of the cab. Malini followed, searching the woods behind the bike for any sign of her. She hiked into the maple grove, eyes sweeping the fallen leaves of the forest floor while Jacob did the same thing in the opposite direction.
A few yards into the tree line, Jacob called to her. “Hey, look at this.” He bent down to retrieve an object from the leaves near his feet.
Malini rushed to his side to see what it was. “A knife. This is from Eden. Abigail wouldn’t have dropped this if she could help it.”
“Look there.” Jacob pointed to a place where the leaves had been disrupted to reveal the mud below. “There was a struggle here.”
“A Watcher took her,” Malini said, sniffing the air.
He bobbed his head. “Sulfur. I smell it too.”
Malini paced in front of the spot, rubbing her chin. Abruptly, she dropped to the forest floor and crisscrossed her legs.
“What are you doing?” Jacob squatted in front of her. “Are you okay?”
“I need to go to the In Between. I’ll follow her thread to see where they’ve taken her. Then you and I are going to get her back.”