by Vivian Wood
“Wonderful. So why are we even talking, if none of this is up for discussion?”
“Because there is a choice to be made here.”
“And what’s that, pray tell?”
“We can choose to work together. Trust each other just a little, not make the foreseeable future miserable.”
Aurora watched him for several long seconds.
“So you think I should trust you, because you say you have an obligation to protect me.”
Ezra ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated.
“It would be safer for you and easier for me,” he said after a moment.
“You seem forthright, so I want to be honest with you. There’s nothing to benefit me in that scenario. Even if your orders are only to protect me, that could change. You could wake up tomorrow to a message that says I need to be killed. There’s no safety in that, to me. I’m better off hiding on my own than letting you ‘help’ me.”
“Well… what if I could offer you something more?” he asked, looking somber.
Aurora’s brows shot up. “Like what?”
“I think that’s up to you. I have a lot of connections, upstairs and downstairs.”
“I’m willing to bet you’re pretty unpopular in Hell right now,” Aurora said.
“Yeah, not so welcome in Heaven either, but I don’t let that stop me.”
“I’m not sure… I don’t know how that would help me out.”
“Well, what do you want?” he asked. “Everyone has a goal, something that they strive for. You seem like you’d want more out of life than just skulking in the shadows.”
Aurora frowned. “I don’t skulk.”
Ezra took a sip of his coffee and watched her. “Fine. You get my point, though. What’s your goal?”
Aurora dropped her gaze, picking up her croissant again. She tore off a couple small pieces, enjoying the buttery chocolate pastry as it practically melted on her tongue.
“This is really good,” she said.
“It’s from La Boulangerie,” he said. “And you didn’t answer my question.”
“It’s kind of… private. My goal, I mean.”
“Aurora, look at me.”
Aurora lifted her gaze to meet Ezra’s. He reached out and took her free hand, squeezing gently when she tried to pull away. Her heart thudded in her chest at the mere brush of his fingers against her own.
“I am not going to hurt you,” he said. “I swear it.”
“What if you have to? What if Le Medcin orders you to kill me?” she asked, her voice dropping to a whisper.
“I won’t do it. And whatever your goal is, I won’t judge you. I won’t laugh. Most importantly, I won’t tell anyone.”
She bit her lip. “You promise?”
“On my honor, and my life.”
A long pause stretched between them, both staring intently.
“Fine,” she said at last. Aurora blew out a breath, extracting her hand from Ezra’s.
“Fine?”
“I mean, I’ll tell you. No promises on anything more than that.”
“Okay. So tell me. What do you want?”
“I want…” she said, her voice going a little rough. “I want my mother and my brother freed.”
Ezra blinked at her. “Sorry, do you mean… bring them back from the dead?”
Aurora flushed. “No. I know that can’t be done. It’s just…”
She had to stop for a second, pressing a hand over her eyes.
“Hey, hey,” Ezra said. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not,” Aurora said. She was embarrassed at the sudden flood of emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. “It’s not okay. It’s really, really fucked up.”
“Alright. Just take a second.”
Aurora took a few deep breaths, then straightened.
“Vesper told me what a Destroyer is,” Aurora said.
Ezra’s brows drew down. “Okay…”
“So you know how the cycle works. A soul is born into the human world as a baby. The person lives their life. When they die, they mostly go up to Heaven, or down to Hell.”
“Right. A few exceptions, but those are rare.”
“Once they’re in Heaven or in Hell, they stay for a while. In Hell, they stay until Lucifer releases them, right? That’s why he needed Destroyers in Hell? To release them eventually, make space for new souls?”
Ezra nodded. “In Heaven, Destroyers do the same thing, only… they release souls that are ready.”
“Ready?”
“Ready to let go, rejoin the cosmos, I guess. Eventually a little piece of this, a little piece of that, things gather to create something new.”
Aurora’s lips twisted. “Right. But that’s after they spend their allotted time in Heaven and Hell. After the soul begins to wear thin, so to speak. They get worn and tired.”
“Exactly.”
“Someone… an angel or a demon, who knows… they figured out that there can only ever be so many Nulls in existence at once. Because it’s prophesied that a certain number will decide the fate of the divine war. Do you follow my logic?”
“Sort of… one dies, another is born at the same time. That kind of thing?” he asked.
“Yes. Cosmic balance, as it were.”
“And this has to do with your family?”
Aurora nodded. “Unfortunately, someone else quickly realized that there’s a loophole. There can only be a set number of Null souls on the mortal plane. Meaning, another Null isn’t born until the previous soul passes into Heaven or Hell.”
“I don’t see how that creates a loophole,” Ezra said, looking puzzled.
“Apparently there are ways to trap souls between death and Heaven or Hell. Technically, the soul is still here on Earth. The body’s buried, but the soul never rises or falls. It’s stuck in a makeshift purgatory.”
Ezra stared at her for a long time, soaking that in.
“How is that possible?” he asked.
“Bolt-holes like this one are one way. They operate by their own rules,” Aurora said. “Or you can take a page from the Faeries and create a new plane to suit your purposes…”
Ezra narrowed his eyes. “How do you know any of this is real?”
“I didn’t, for a long time. I spent half a year trying to contact my family, in Heaven and in Hell. No word. They were just… gone. So I started researching Nulls, which was… frustrating. There’s very little information.”
“I can imagine.”
“Yes, well. I figured out the loophole pretty quickly, but the other part… where would souls be stored? That was the tricky part.”
“So? How’d you figure that out?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.
“I learned Aramaic, for one.”
“Impressive.”
“It’s a terrible language. Anyway, I spent so much time traveling around, poking through old scrolls. Believe it or not, I found the first clue at one of the obscure library indices at Oxford.”
“In England?”
“Yeah. Back when Oxford was basically the only respected school, they acquired all kinds of interesting things. At the very bottom of a box of the dullest religious treatises imaginable, I found it.”
“Found what?” Ezra said. Clearly, he was beginning to lose his patience.
“A scroll that kept repeating this phrase. Lucernae Mari. Over and over. It talked about how souls could go to this place, stay there until it was time for them to be reborn. It’s a place that maintains the balance of things.”
“You’re talking about…” Ezra started, then trailed off.
“The Sea of Lights, yes.”
Ezra stood, turning to pace across the living room. Arms crossed, he looked troubled.
“Did you see it, when you lived in Heaven?” Aurora asked, her throat going tight.
Ezra turned to her, looking worried. “No. It’s not in Heaven, first of all.”
“Right, of course,” Aurora said, shaking her head. “But I thought you might know of it.�
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“Know of it, yes. Know where it is, or what’s inside? No.”
“Ah. Well… I think I know how to get there,” Aurora said.
Ezra shot her a look. “And your brother is there?”
“My mother. My brother is in a bolt-hole here on Earth. Some kind of opium den for demons, from what I gather.”
Ezra returned, looking down at Aurora with hooded eyes.
“And your goal, your plan in life, is to free their souls?” he asked.
“Yes. I’d like to avenge them, but… one step at a time.”
Ezra’s arched brows said that Aurora’s ambitions were unrealistic, but she just crossed her arms and stared right back at him.
“So… that’s what you’d need,” he said. “To agree to let me guard you, I mean.”
Aurora’s lips thinned. “If you want to think of it as a barter, then… sure. I want to free my mother and brother.”
“What if you try, but fail?” he asked.
Aurora shrugged. “I’ll keep trying, or die first. Dying’s more likely, being a Null and all.”
“It’s definitely not a good way to lay low.”
“Anything worth having requires sacrifice,” Aurora said, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes.
Ezra looked a little startled by that, which made Aurora’s lips twitch.
“What? I can be eloquent when I want to,” she said.
“I’m starting to understand that,” he said. “So… to be clear… if I agree to help you, you’ll stick close and let me protect you?”
“I won’t let you hold me back from anything. I’ll take the lead whenever I want. I will make decisions and rules, when and where I feel like they’re needed,” Aurora said, drumming her fingertips against the counter. “If you want to tag along and try to keep me from getting killed, I would accept that.”
Ezra looked away, out the window across the desert. There was a determined set to his expression, but Aurora couldn’t tell exactly what he was thinking.
“I need to think about it,” he said after a moment.
“You mean check in with your boss?” Aurora asked, picking up her mug of tea.
“No,” Ezra said sharply. “He would never agree to let you do something so dangerous. His interests lie in preserving your life.”
“Keeping the bloodline alive, more like,” Aurora said, sipping the tea. She winced; it had gone cold and bitter while they talked.
“His motivations are his own business,” Ezra said, but Aurora noticed he didn’t exactly disagree.
“So… you’ll think about it,” Aurora said.
“Yes. I need a day or so, just to work through all the angles,” he said. “I don’t go into anything half-cocked.”
“Fine. I could use a day of rest, anyway,” Aurora said. “I haven’t relaxed and read a book in… I don’t know, a year?”
“Fine,” he repeated, rising. “You can go read, I’ll clean up here.”
Aurora grabbed another chocolate croissant from the plate, then rose and headed into the living room. The temperature was just right, the sun crisp and bright. Just a hint of a breeze. She browsed the stacks of books all over the floor, then checked out the bookshelf.
She almost grabbed a copy of Dante’s Inferno, then paused. At the last moment, she grabbed a well-thumbed romance paperback instead. Setting onto a mound of soft pillows, she smirked.
Might as well read something a little trashy, if this was her downtime. She read a few pages, nibbling her croissant, getting crumbs everywhere.
After a few minutes, though, she closed the book and put it aside. She sprawled on the cushions, staring up at the intricate and colorful mosaic tiles on the ceiling.
Aurora turned the morning’s events over and over in her mind. She wasn’t sure how Ezra would respond, or how she felt about the prospect of Ezra sticking close while she pursued her goals.
Having an angel nearby might be helpful. For safety… plus, he was probably a font of knowledge.
But big, brooding Ezra? Those rippling muscles and piercing green eyes might be more of a distraction than a comfort, after a time.
There was also the possibility that he would refuse her request to help free her family, but still insist on shadowing her every step. That would be a hindrance of epic proportions.
It was all still up in the air, but Aurora knew one thing for certain.
One way or another, her life was about to get very interesting.
5
Ezra
Some hours later, as the sun reached its zenith in the sky, Ezra found Aurora in the kitchen.
“Hungry?” he asked.
She turned to him, wrinkling her nose. “Not really. I had an apple and some cheddar a few minutes ago. Besides, I mostly only eat super healthy organic stuff, so there’s not a lot in the fridge that I want. Nothing that doesn’t have a long cook time, anyway.”
“Organic,” Ezra said, crossing his arms. “I’ll send out for some healthier options.”
“Okay,” she said with a shrug. Something flitted over her delicate features, but Ezra couldn’t catch it fast enough to name it.
“Bored?” he guessed.
The corners of her pouty pink lips curled upward. “Yeah.”
“Do you want to go for a walk with me? The gardens outside are very beautiful.”
Her eyes lit up. “Oh, that sounds good. I’m not great at sitting still.”
“Let’s do it,” he said.
He led her through the top floor and down the hall stairs, past the empty servants’ quarters and laundry room. Their first step outside elicited a gasp from Aurora.
“Nice, right?” he asked, unable to resist a smile. Her big blue eyes were wide with awe as she moved away from the house.
The gardens rose before them, a dense and wildly colorful wall of vibrant life. Trees, tall grasses, spotted neon mushrooms. Frogs, butterflies, rabbits, deer… it was a scene straight out of a Faerie story, come to life in the desert oasis.
“You call this a garden?” she asked, a grin spreading across her face. “Isn’t a garden cultivated?”
He pointed to the neatly-manicured white sand paths led in different directions, cutting little swathes in the greenery.
“That doesn’t count,” she said, giving him a look.
“It’s more tame in some areas than others, I think,” he said.
“You think, or you know?” she asked.
“Who cares? Pick a direction,” he said. “Left, right, or straight ahead?”
“Mmmm…” she said, looking around. “Left.”
She headed onto the path that took a sharp left into a thick copse of trees. Ezra was content to follow her. He’d been here before, so he was fairly sure that there were no true dangers lurking in the gardens.
Not to mention that Aurora actually had a smile on her face for the first time since he’d laid eyes on her. It seemed like Aurora didn’t have a bad disposition, so much as she feared for her life and behaved as such. A relief, since Ezra and Aurora were going to see a lot of each other for some time to come.
Aurora practically skipped down the sandy path. They moved through the tall grass and into the trees. From the house, the trees had seemed like little more than a cluster of skinny maples. As soon as they moved into the woods, though, the trees began to stretch and grow until they towered overhead like a redwood forest.
Overhead, a bright flash caught their attention.
Ezra and Aurora both slowed to look up.
“What was that?” she asked. “Wow, why is it so dark overhead? It’s daytime back behind us…”
She glanced back, as if to ascertain that it was indeed light outside near the house.
“Faerie forest,” Ezra said with a shrug. “There’s no telling.
“Cool.”
“Look,” he said, pointing.
Crossing the sandy path ahead of them was an enormous tortoise, moving slow as molasses. Except instead of a hard brown or green shell, the tortois
e’s shell was made of clear, glinting stone. The entire tortoise was clear, throwing off rainbows of pink and purple and blue as it trudged across the path.
“Is that a turtle made of… crystal?” Aurora wondered aloud. “Oh, there’s a crystal squirrel!”
Ezra trailed her closely as she moved through the forest, pointing out small creatures as she spotted them. The butterflies were wrought from crystal, the caterpillars. Even a rainbow crystal skunk, which made Aurora grin.
“I’ve never thought a skunk was pretty before,” she said, making a face.
Her childlike delight in every new creature was entertaining, Ezra had to admit that much.
“Ohhhhh,” Aurora said, going still. When Ezra moved closer, she reached out and grabbed his wrist to keep him still.
“What?” he asked.
“Shhh, look!” she whispered, pointing. In the distance, Ezra spotted a doe and a fawn. They were so quiet and delicate that when they went still, perhaps sensing a human presence, it was near impossible to see them.
A twig snapped somewhere in the little forest. The doe and fawn turned tail and fled, graceful beyond words.
“Wow,” Aurora said. “This is so awesome. If I lived in this house, I’d spend all day here.”
“I see light up ahead,” Ezra said. “Looks like we’re about to leave the forest.”
“Awww,” Aurora said, pretending to pout. “Well, I guess I want to know what’s next. There’s more, isn’t there?”
“There is,” Ezra said, repressing a chuckle.
Only then did Aurora seem to realize that she still gripped his wrist. She released him with an apologetic wince.
“Sorry. I get excited.”
“No harm done,” he said.
She turned away and hurried down the path. As they went, the trees started to shrink, down and down, until Ezra and Aurora broke from the trees. Looking back, the crystal forest looked like nothing more than a few dozen trees, their leaves glinting with echoes of the rainbow creatures within.
“Magic is weird,” Aurora said, shaking her head.
Ahead of them stood a white stone wall perhaps a hundred feet tall and wide. There was a tall and narrow gated archway cut out, twice as tall as Ezra but barely wide enough for two people could walk through abreast. To the left of the wrought-iron gate, there was a shining silver plaque. Aurora moved ahead to read it, brushing her fingers over the engraved letters.