“What do you mean, the sword is gone?”
I spun, pinning Dacian with a glare. My fury at losing Levi had settled into cold, hard determination. Already, I was planning to get Levi back using the glowing sword my brother Gabriel had turned against me. Clearly, a weapon forged in Heaven that could do me harm.
A powerful weapon. One that could be used to force our way into another realm.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Dacian returned my glare, unconcerned with being on the receiving end of my burning gaze. “I threw it to Levi as the portal closed.”
“So he has it?”
“I saw him catch it,” Dacian confirmed.
Well, that was good. Levi had a weapon and a way to get back through the portal— assuming the sword worked for him. He was a human, after all. At the very least, he could use it to protect himself from Zuska, the soul stealer who’d dragged him through the portal into another dimension.
“Wait!” It suddenly hit me. “How did you have the sword? Last I saw, Gabriel had it.”
We’d been in the caverns beneath Shadow Falls. The giant orb Gabriel had hidden there was powerful enough to wipe the humans from the planet. When we’d combined our powers to stop the orb, the whole thing had exploded, and we’d somehow been transported to the cemetery, to the portal. Gabriel had not.
“I called for it.” Dacian shrugged as if I’d know what that meant.
“I don’t have time for this bullshit, Dacian.” My patience was thin, my thoughts consumed by Levi. I prayed he’d survived the journey through the portal. Goodness only knows what awaited him on the other side.
Dacian blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, fine. The sword is called the Sword of Angels. It’s Heaven’s ultimate weapon.”
“And my brothers have it,” I muttered. It figured. Two idiots wielding a powerful weapon and all too happy to use it against their sister.
“They had it,” Dacian corrected me. “Now Levi has it.”
“But he’s human. Will it work for him?”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly isn’t good enough, Dacian!” My yell made him jump, and he frowned at me. “Tell me everything you know about the Sword of Angels—or whatever you called it—everything!”
“I only know what it told me,” he began. “The first time I saw it was when the ghosts used it against you. Apparently, Gabriel was the one who gave them the sword. He wanted to banish you from Earth and send you back to Hell.”
I wasn’t surprised. I’d guessed one of my brothers was behind the zombie ghost attack.
“Only he never thought the sword would end up in my possession. Once it was…it was like a connection. I knew where it came from. I understood its powers. It was like a psychic link.”
“Is it because you’re a Seraph Angel?” I asked. “A protector?”
“I think so. When I saw Levi being pulled through the portal, I thought, ‘If only the sword were here’…and then it appeared in my hand. It was reflex to throw it to Levi.”
“I’m glad you did. Thank you.”
I turned away, pacing in front of the headstones. We no longer had the Sword of Angels at our disposal. I couldn’t open the portal with my magic; I’d tried and failed. We needed brute force. And I could think of only one place where such power existed.
“We need to go to Heaven,” I decided. “My brothers are responsible for this, and if we combine our powers, we should be able to get the portal open. Long enough for me to retrieve Levi, at any rate.”
“You think they will help you?” The surprise in Dacian’s voice was unmistakable.
“If they want the Sword of Angels back, they will.”
* * *
It had been a few millennia since I last stood in front of the Pearly Gates, and to say I was shocked was an understatement.
“What’s going on?” For as far as the eye could see, there were souls, all milling around waiting for the gates to open. “The gates are locked? Why?”
“They have been closed for some time.” Dacian’s voice was grim as he studied the bedraggled souls huddled on the steps.
“But all these souls…displaced.” I couldn’t hide my shock. Why would my father not allow them into Heaven? If they had sins to atone for, they would have been redirected to Hell, so they were in the right place, Heaven-bound.
“Heaven isn’t what you remember, Lucy. What Gabriel said about Heaven dying? It’s true. There’s a sickness pervading our realm, and I suspect the gates are locked because Heaven no longer has the capacity to house new souls.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
Dacian shrugged. “It’s not your concern. Hell is your jurisdiction, not Heaven.”
I felt the sting of irritation dance over my skin. Grabbing his arm, I forced him to look at me. “This was my home. My father is here, my brothers…my family. Of course it’s my concern. You should have told me.”
“Perhaps. It was not my call to make. I’m just a Seraph Angel. I don’t make the decisions.”
“Fine. Let’s talk to the person who does. Can you get us past the gates?” While we’d been talking, I’d touched the gates, tried to open them, but they wouldn’t budge for me.
“I can. Take my hand.”
He held his palm out to me, and I slipped my hand into his. A memory from eons ago flashed into my mind of the first time Dacian held my hand and the silly little skip of delight I’d felt. How things had changed.
In more ways than one, it seemed. Inside the gates, I glanced around, and my breath caught in my throat. Heaven looked…dirty. The once white buildings were now a dull grey. Some of them were crumbling, and debris littered the streets. Broken-down vehicles had been left, abandoned, on the roads.
“Remind you of anything?” Dacian spoke softly behind me.
I nodded. “Yes. This is just like before Hell was created before the evil souls were banished.”
“Exactly.”
“You think that’s what’s causing this? Has evil retaken hold of Heaven?”
I was puzzled how that could be. Initially, when God created Heaven and Earth, he hadn’t accounted for the fallout of the free will he’d gifted to humans. When their mortal time was up on Earth, and their souls arrived in Heaven, the evil ones had tainted Heaven. As a consequence, God had created Hell and given me responsibility for it, an honor I gladly accepted.
“It could be that, or…” Dacian trailed off, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
“What?” I knew he was avoiding telling me, which meant it was bad.
“Maybe Heaven is like this because God is sick.”
I absorbed his words. God was immortal; we all were. But we had weaknesses. There had to be a balance, and as much as it pained me to admit it, maybe Dacian was right. That would explain why my brothers were getting away with such outrageous behavior. There was only one way to know for sure.
Find Dad and see for myself exactly what was going on.
