“You’re not giving me much hope here.”
Judah smiled kindly at her. “But there are a few among them who could be brought to reason. It would be enough to protect you. One in particular, Jeduthun, I know personally. He’s a sensible Elder. He may help the others see the light.” He chuckled as if the last word was a joke. “Light. Very funny if I do say so myself.”
“Why is that funny?” Nathaniel asked.
“You’ll see when you arrive in Empyrean.” Judah promised, rising. “Go there. They will not kill you outright. Show them that you are more than just a lovely young lady.” He took her hand in earnest. “Show them you are more than a mere girl to fear, for that is what they will do: fear you. People fear what they do not understand. And fear drives many awful things.”
“What do I show them, then?” she asked.
He smiled, leaning over and kissing the back of her palm. “Show them your strength. Show them your humanity. Show them you are not some boogeyman in the dark. Anyone who sits with you for more than a few minutes sees your good heart. Make them see.” He released her hand. “I wish you luck, Daniella del Lucio, Judge of Light.”
“Judge of Light?”
“The meaning of your first and last name.” he told her with a smile. “Farewell.” He turned to Ethan before pulling back the curtain. “It will take some time for your, uh, cab to arrive. Apparently you were not the only Guardian to have troubles this evening.”
“Who else?” Ethan asked, his voice pained with worry. “Kleos?”
“He is fine. I already heard from him. Mastema did not go, of course. He wouldn’t have been trusted by the Council, even though his skill is unmatched. One Guardian did not return, though all charges have been accounted for. I’m sorry for your loss.” And with that, the big man departed, letting some music filter through the curtain before disappearing.
Ethan’s scowl deepened. His mouth turn down; a flash of anguish. One Guardian did not return. Someone died. Someone Ethan knew.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He got up from the table, knocking over his empty glass and clattering it to the floor. He left the two of them at the table, cursing under his breath.
Apparently not.
Chapter Eight
“Should we go find him?” Nathaniel asked after Ethan didn’t return. “And do what?”
“I don’t know…something…?”
Dani pushed the curtain aside. The song that thrummed through
was a strange mix of club music and what sounded like medieval classical. The club had dozens of patrons dancing in the strobes and neon lights. More than one looked questionably human, while others seemed no different than anyone she knew—with the exception of partying in a club that didn’t exist.
“He’s the only person we know here.” She conceded. “I’ll look for him. Stay here.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
She gave him a look. “Do you really want to go wandering around this place?”
He shook his head.
“You stay here in case he comes back. I don’t want both of us getting lost in,” she sidled out warily into the bar, “that. If I’m not back in five minutes…!”
“Do what?”
Good question.
She could feel the music in her bones as she made her way into the crowd. The enthralled throng of party-goers coursed together, moving and swaying to the beat. As she passed, one woman turned in the arms of another, her eyes like burning coals. A gout of fire burst from her mouth into the air, startling Dani. She stumbled into someone behind her.
“Sorry!”
She turned and screamed. A creature with black skin and red eyes, covered by a hooded cape, screeched savagely at her. Dani jumped, stumbling into more strangers who heckled her. The unearthly bar guest hissed and turned in a huff, it’s back moving as if beneath the cowl it had more than arms. Maybe wings? It disappeared into the crowd.
The DJ in the booth switched songs, changing to something mellower. People fanned off the floor, allowing her through. Shaken, she made her way to the bar.
Unfortunately, Ethan wasn’t there. Neither was Judah. The golem behind the bar with a block-like head shaped cartoonishly like a buzz-cut asked, “Do you want a drink?”
“Uh, I’m okay.”
The golem replied. “I have wines, beers, liquors, distilled spirits, unnatural spirits, evil spirits—”
“What?”
It blinked, and then repeated robotically, “Do you want a drink?”
“I said I’m okay.”
“Yes, you did.” It replied. “Do you want a drink?”
Dani just stared. “No, I do not want a drink.”
It finally nodded and walked away. She heard a soft laughing, or something that sounded like laughing, and turned to the person at the bar next to her. The man sitting in the stool to her right looked almost normal.
You know, except for the dog head.
The creature was like a man in a business suit from the neck down, except he had a mixture of hairy paw-hands. But from the neck up, he was a black Labrador with glasses.
“You got to talk straight to ‘em.” It, or rather he, said. It had a male voice but in this place? Anything was possible. “They’re kind of stupid when they’re first made. That one’s new. You said ‘I’m okay’ and not just ‘no.’ It got confused.”
“Oh…well, thanks.”
“Sure, sure. Come here often?” His jowls pulled back into an unmistakable dog grin.
Dani grimaced. “Uh, no. First time.”
“Can I get you something, sweetness? It’s on my dime. A girl cute as you should have a drink in her hand.”
Dear God, he’s hitting on me! “No thanks.”
“I’m a lawyer.” He said out of the blue. “Yep. Started my own firm.”
“Cool story, Fido.” What the hell? A dog lawyer? Interested as she was by that, she didn’t feel like getting hit on by Rover. “I don’t really want to talk. I’m just looking for a friend.”
The dog frowned, or in a way dogs did. “You don’t have to mean. I was just offering you a drink. Prude.”
“Hey!”
“Whatever.” The dogman returned to his drink, lowering his head and lapping it directly out of the glass on the bar.
Dani shook her head. Hit on by half-dog freaks in a bar, and then getting told off when she turned him down. Was this her life now?
She slid off the stool and ran into Ethan. He looked annoyed. “Where’d you go? I went back to look for you.”
“I was looking for you!” She snapped. “You left us at that booth alone!”
“I did since, you know, you were safe. Forgive me.” His tone wasn’t apologetic. He glanced past her at the dogperson. “Of all the cynocephali you talk to in this place, you talk to the one that’s a sleazy lawyer?”
“Hey!” the dog behind her barked. Literally.
“Quit hitting on anything that walks on two legs, or four for that matter, Dogmund.” He shook his head. “Forget him. Our cab is here.”
“Cab? You’re serious?”
He pulled her away from the bar.
As they wove through the crowd, Dani grumbled. “I didn’t need you to stick up for me with that…that dog-thing.”
Ethan smirked. “You think you could take on a cynocephali? Be my guest. Even the tame ones like that are animals.”
“Yeah they are.” She grumbled.
“Don’t take what they say personally, though. They’re all dogs. Take it as a compliment and try to be nice.”
Take it as a compliment? Seriously? Dani shrugged his arm off and turned back. “Mr. Dogmund?”
His ears perked up and grinned, “Yeah sweetness?”
She smiled, and not nicely. “Believe me: if you ever, ever, call me sweetness again I will neuter you.”
Apparently, she looked like she meant it. The canine lawyer made a highpitched whine like man’s best friend when he got caught peeing on the carpet. Dani ha
d a glare in her eyes like rolled up newspaper.
Dani turned back to Ethan. “Nice enough?”
“Subtle.”
“Thank you. Now where’s this cab?”
______________________
Sure enough, outside idling on the curb was a bright yellow cab. It glowed under the dim street lights. Emblazoned in neat black lettering across the side was PSYCHOPOMP CABS and leaning against the hood was the driver. Right off the bat Dani could tell he wasn’t a cabbie, which meant that wasn’t actually a cab.
The kid, who looked all of twelve, leaning against the cab fit right into the weirdness of her night. The first thing she noticed was the widebrimmed, floppy hat. In and of itself, that wasn’t very odd. Except that two small feathery wings sprouted from the top, which flapped when he saw them come out. He wore no shirt, his bare upper body wiry and muscular, and wore a robe-like shawl over his shoulders. His pants and boots were a medievalchic similar to Ethan’s. In one hand he carried some kind of long stick with a pair slithering snakes wrapped around it. His almost elf-like smile was mildly mischievous.
“I heard you needed a’fetching.” He shrugged off the hood. “Good to see you made it safely, Ethan. I heard through the Dionysus vine that you ran into a couple of wraiths.”
“It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.” Ethan bit his lower lip nervously. “You heard?”
The cabdriver’s own grimace matched his. “I did. It wasn’t my ferry, but I heard.”
“Do you know who?”
“Titus.”
Ethan’s shoulders sagged. “Damnation.”
“Aye, ‘snails to it all,” the driver agreed, “but every charge is safe. That’s a small blessing.” The driver tipped his chin at Nathaniel. “Is he your new charge?”
“Nathaniel, meet Hermes.”
They shook hands. “Like the Greek god?”
He chuckled. “Exactly like.”
Nathaniel’s eyebrows perked. Ethan nodded. “Hermes is a god. Lower case ‘g.’ He works for us.”
“With you.” Hermes shot back playfully, and then explained, “I’m a psychopomp.”
“A what?”
“A ferryman.” Ethan told him. “He and his kind, they’re a group of gods and spirits called psychopomps. They ferry people across magical borders. He’s the one that gets us where we need to go.”
“No worries. I’m a lot kinder than some of the other gods. I at least earn the title of a lower case g; unlike some. Let me tell you: Zeus isn’t a god. He’s a douche.”
Ethan gestured to Dani. “This is Dani.”
Hermes eyes flicked to her, noticing her for the first time. She’d gotten used to being overlooked, but it didn’t make it any less annoying. Instead of explaining, she just held up her left arm and pulled back her sleeve to show him the halo mark. His eyes widened.
“Yeah, I know.” Ethan told him. “This is going to be complicated.”
“Complicated?” Hermes gaped. “You need a stronger word for it.”
“We need to take her with us.” Ethan told him. “She has a halo. I’ve already had Judah look at it. It’s real.”
“But—!” Hermes was at a loss for words. He pulled Ethan closer. “Ethan, she’s female.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And all the other charges have been collected. They’re already on their way to Empyrean. Your charge makes one forty-four. You know what that means.”
“It means we have one hundred and fortyfive.” Ethan said calmly. “It doesn’t change the fact that Dani is a Numen. The wraiths attacked her the same way they attacked Nathaniel and I. She can see through the veil.”
“Could she be something else?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Gifted, jinn,” he licked his lips, “demon?”
“I’m not a demon, a-hole.” Dani folded her arms.
He glanced back at Ethan. “Prove it.”
“You mean other than just coming out from the Hellfire Club?” he turned to Dani. “Look at the cab. What do you see?”
Dani sighed exasperatedly, but did as he asked. Other than the ethereal golden glow, it looked like any other taxi. But just like the club forming from a construction site, Dani watched the yellow car change, too. The tires and hubcaps melted, transforming into spoked carriage wheels. The front seat moved forward, changing into a bench attached to the front of a large, Victorian coach. The back seat formed into a carriage compartment. A frame expanded from the front and four golden horses made of brilliant sunlight materialized from thin air, filling the frame. The taxi was no longer a taxi. It was a flaming, chariot-like carriage.
“A golden carriage ride?” She asked.
Hermes gaped. “God’s nails!”
It was another one of those weird swears. Ethan smacked his arm. “If the Elders hear you talk like that—never mind. Satisfied?”
He nodded.
“Good. Then let’s get the hell out of here.” Ethan opened the door to the carriage. “Everyone in.”
Nathaniel and Dani climbed up. Inside, two benches faced one another for them to sit. Hermes, still staring at Dani, closed the door behind them and then, with a flap of his tiny wings, floated to the bench up front.
Hermes called through a window up front. “Everyone ready?”
“Ready.” Dani called back.
“No worries, I’ve flown this thing hundreds of times since I stole it from another god! I’m an excellent driver!” He called out to the horses. “Gitty’up!”
The horses spouted fire from their noses and neighed. Their hoofs clapped on the asphalt, leaving melted imprints, and hurtled forward. Dani and Nathaniel tossed back against the seat like in a 747 going from zero to a hundred. Ethan was ready. He hung onto his seat across from them to keep upright. Outside, the world blurred and the carriage took off from the ground, curling up skyward.
Dani screamed. Nathaniel screamed louder. The carriage climbed straight into the sky, keeping Dani and Nathaniel pinned to the back. The horses, as if still running across ground, spouted embers and smoke from their hooves as they galloped. Somehow, Ethan barely felt it, calmly drumming his fingers on the windowsill. Outside, fiery cast-off obscured the view as the ground slowly shrank away.
Over the sound of deafening wind whipping past, he yelled, “Try not to vomit! Hermes hates cleaning it off the seats!”
And then, for the first time Dani knew him, he laughed.
It was disturbing.
______________________
They kept climbing. She didn’t know how long it took. Los Angeles faded into the night below. She never felt a pressure change, nor felt lightheaded as they soared into thinner air, but she swore she saw the lights of a commercial airliner as they passed. Then they hit the clouds.
White filled the void around them. The carriage shuddered. Ethan rolled his head back, silently whispering to himself.
“What are you doing?” Dani asked.
He held up a hand, still murmuring. A little louder, he counted, “Five… four… three… two… one…”
Suddenly, Dani didn’t feel like she was climbing. Instead, it was as if they leveled out. The clouds around them lightened from the dark bluegreys of night to the white of day. The air lightened. She swore it even smelled different; pleasant and soothing.
And then there was light.
It filtered through the clouds, illuminating the cab. Around them, the clouds took on a crystal-like shimmer. Dew collected on the windowsills of the coach. Dani touched the droplets. It was cool. She rolled the liquid between her fingers.
When she glanced at Ethan, he watched her. She couldn’t read his expression, but it was as if he wanted to see what would happen when they crossed into these clouds. Before either of them could speak, though, the skies cleared. From her window, she saw exactly why Judah made the light joke at the Hellfire Club.
“Welcome to Empyrean, the realm of light.”
Hermes’ flying carriage broke from a bowl-funnel of clouds th
at surrounded a massive, monolithic mountain. Overhead, the sapphire blue sky was perfection. The sun bathed the surface of the large peak. The sheer cliffs and rocky outcroppings all shot heavenward in a long race into the sky. She couldn’t see the base in the gloom below where the funnel met. Pouring down the rock face, a raging waterfall churned from inside the crags, spilling from a river-gate built into a stony outcropping.
As the cliffs rose from the clouds, about halfway up vegetation began; the reverse of anything natural. Larger and larger trees grew out of the mountain the higher it went. At the peak, the mountain came to an end. As if a massive hand scooped out the top, a gigantic crater capped the enormous crag. An enormous green forest with trees taller than the Redwoods of California filled the inside of the crater from which the waterfall flowed.
When Dani squinted, she could see the unmistakable outlines of buildings; not skyscrapers like L.A., but definitely buildings. Large, gleaming towers and pure, snow-white stone structures like marble or ivory dotted between the trees. And when she looked closer, there also appeared to be buildings built into the trees themselves; parapets of stone and wood, windows jutting from tree-trunks, terraces on spread branches, walkways and skylines interwoven between one of more of the colossal oaks. There were roads, open squares, fields and gardens. It was a city, but it was a city unlike any she’d ever seen.
A single building dwarfed Empyrean at the center. At first she thought ‘castle,’ but palace seemed to be more appropriate. It took up a fourth of the town and the only part of the city not dominated by trees. Long, wide steps ascended to the entrance of the grand castle. The palace’s walls stretched along a cliffside overlooking a forest valley and river, with battlements and more war-like fortifications. The final building, a large tower rising far above the rest, dominated the whole landscape; taller than any building inside the crater.
The carriage angled down like a roller coaster out of sky towards the mountainside. Large, shining gates jutted from the side of the cliffs below the city, interlaced into the battlements along rocky splits. They were almost a milky white, as if marble mixed with steel. Silvery steel molded around light pink stone.
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