by Elicia Hyder
“I have. How is she?”
“Not well. Not well at all. Would you like to see her?”
“Yes.”
When I turned to offer him my elbow, I saw that everyone had gathered in the hallway. Iliana, Fury, Anya, Kathy, James, John, and even Luca, who never seemed impressed by anything, were crowded behind me.
Kathy’s hands were clutched over her heart. “Is it really…” She gulped, apparently unable to make any guesses.
“You haven’t met?” I asked, a little surprised.
Everyone except Iliana and Luca shook their heads.
Even Fury.
The Father shuffled toward her first and reached for both of her hands. “Allison.”
In all the years I’d known her, I’d never seen Fury dumbstruck. Her eyes were wide as he clutched her hands. “H-Hello,” she managed.
“You’ve done well,” he said in a loud whisper, leaning closer to her.
She blinked and swallowed hard.
Before she could recover, he looked at Anya. He reached for her. “You made it home, my child. I’m sorry for your ordeal.”
Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.
“Sometime, I’d love to hear all about it,” he said.
Her head bobbed up and down, but it was more like a nervous twitch than a nod.
James and Kathy were next.
The Father stepped toward them. “James, Kathy. Hello.”
Kathy’s knees sunk a few inches. “Oh my.”
James shook his hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, sir.”
“The pleasure is mine,” he said, and I absolutely believed him.
He patted Luca on the shoulder. “I daresay you’ve grown six inches since the last time I was here. How’s baseball?”
I swear Luca blushed. “It’s good, but this is the offseason. It doesn’t start back until January.”
“Maybe I can come to a game,” he said quietly with an excited smile.
“I’d like that.”
John was next. He looked far more confused than everyone else. I wondered how much Jett had told him about the hierarchy in Eden.
“John McNamara,” the Father said.
John reached to shake his hand, but the Father stretched his skeletal arms around John’s neck instead. John stood frozen for a moment before slowly closing his arms around the old man’s back. “Uh, nice to meet you.”
“It’s so wonderful to meet you. Thank you,” I heard the Father whisper.
John flinched as he pulled away. Then he gave a small nod and glanced behind us toward Jett. The guardian was beaming.
When the Father released him, he turned toward Iliana, who was leaning against the doorway. “Illy,” he said, opening his arms.
She walked into them, and when she rested her chin on his shoulder, I watched her face fill with color. Perhaps her loss of strength had been so gradual over the past couple of days, I hadn’t even noticed how pale she was.
She gave a heavy sigh of relief. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
He patted her back. “It’s going to be okay.”
I hoped he was right.
As he hugged her, he peeked into the kitchen. “Quite a setup you have in there, John,” he said, pulling away from Iliana with a teasing grin.
John stammered again. “Um…uh…”
The Father grabbed John’s wrist and shook it. “I’m only joking. Apple-pie moonshine happens to be my favorite.” We all laughed, and he gave a John a wink before taking a closer look into the kitchen.
Torman had slinked out of immediate view from the door, probably in hopes of going unseen.
“I see you, Torman,” the Father said. “Don’t make my old knees chase you down.”
Torman stepped out from behind the pantry door.
“Come here.”
Torman slogged across the kitchen like the floor was made of molasses.
A hand touched my shoulder. “Gabriel.” I greeted him with a firm hug. “Thank you for coming.”
“Where else would we be when the weight of the world hangs right here?”
I groaned. “Do you have to put it like that?”
He lifted his shoulders.
“It’s good to see you.”
“You too.” His eyes flashed behind me. “This should be interesting.”
I turned back around as Torman stopped a few feet shy of arm’s reach of the Father. He didn’t utter a word, but the wilt of his shoulders betrayed his shame.
The Father closed the space between them, and after a long break of loaded silence, he hugged the demon. Torman stood rigid with his arms at his side, like a runaway kid who’d been forced back home.
“It’s been too long,” the Father said, taking a step back. “I’ve missed you.”
Torman didn’t speak, but his Adam’s apple bobbed with a strained swallow.
The Father gave Torman’s arms a final squeeze, then came back to me. “Shall we see Cassiel now?”
He hooked his arm through mine, and we started down the hall. “How much have you been told?” I asked.
“Ionis told Gabriel about the poison. He also said you’re attempting to brew crystal water.”
“That’s true. Do you think it will work?”
He lifted his free hand. “I honestly don’t know. I do know that it will be very difficult to create.”
“We’ve already tried. Iliana is tired and weak from keeping Cassiel alive. I was hoping you might be able to help them both while you’re here.”
“You know I’m without my powers in this form.”
“I do, but I also know people still get better around you. That’s why you’ve been traveling far and wide, seeing people with Blackmouth Fever.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“So will you help her?”
“Of course I will.”
We continued down the hallway, but he stopped suddenly before we reached the glass sliding doors. He put his hand on the window, and his tiny shoulders sank. “Oh, my beloved Cassiel.”
Taiya was with her. She had made balloons out of the latex gloves at the nurse’s station. She was swatting them all over the room and chasing after them around Cassiel’s bed.
Cassiel looked about the same. Still threatening to charge down death’s door.
The Father was visibly shaking. I curled my arm around his shoulders. He shuffled toward the door beside me, and we walked in arm in arm.
Dr. Swain, who’d gone to check on Cassiel when everyone else took off outside, was at the nurse’s station. She was bobbing and weaving around Taiya’s balloons as she worked on some paperwork.
Suddenly realizing we’d entered the infirmary, Taiya spun around and let all her balloon gloves fall to the floor. “Oh!” She pushed her hair out of her wide blue eyes. She knew exactly who was with us.
When the Father reached for her, she grabbed his hand and hugged him until he winced. “I’ve missed you too, sweet Taiya.”
She started babbling in Katavukai.
He put his hand on her face. “Thank you. You’re doing a fine job taking care of her. I’m so proud of you.”
She kissed his cheek.
He laughed cheerfully. “Thank you for that.”
“Taiya?” Kathy called from the door, beckoning her forward.
Taiya skipped across the room to join the others waiting behind us. The Father’s gaze followed her. “Such sweet innocence in that one,” he said to himself.
He turned to Cassiel’s bed and touched the peak of one of her toes under the blanket.
Part of me expected Cassiel’s eyes to open and for her to leap off the bed at his magical touch. That part of me was disappointed.
“This is not supposed to happen. Angels are not supposed to get sick and die.” He looked at me. “Of all the things he’s done, how could he do this to his own kind?”
I didn’t need to ask who he was talking about.
I shook my head sadly. “When I was in the military, I saw the worst o
f humankind. Bombs driven into school buildings. Women and children starved in prison cells. My buddies getting their legs blown off by roadside IEDs. I often asked myself the same question.”
“This is because of me,” he said solemnly. “So many atrocities are committed in my name, but this…” He tipped his head toward Cassiel. “This was done directly to cause me pain. A weapon that can kill all my creations alike.”
He walked around to the head of the bed and picked up Cassiel’s dead and gray hand laying on the mattress. Her dangerously low heart rate picked up a few beats.
Dr. Swain walked up beside me. “That’s ‘the Father’?”
She actually used air quotes, and I might have laughed had the whole scene not been so grave. “Yes. That’s Father John.”
“And he’s an angel too?”
“Oh no. He’s something else entirely.”
We watched him put her hand down carefully and move closer to her head. “Cassiel?” He leaned down and lowered his voice. He spoke softly in Katavukai, and I intentionally tuned out his words. They weren’t for me.
“I doubt she can hear whatever he’s saying,” Dr. Swain said.
I crossed my arms. “I’m sure she can. Her spirit and her ears are two very different things. We can all hear his voice.”
The doctor was watching Cassiel’s vital-signs monitor. “Whatever he’s doing, it’s helping her. Her stats have only been that high after the first time I saw Iliana treat her.”
“He has that effect on people.”
When the Father straightened, I saw tears on his face. He wiped them on the back of his hand. “Let’s go. Let’s make a cure.”
“The steam is rising,” John said, his hand wrapped around the tube. Gasps and whispers floated around the room. “It’s slow. I’m afraid the power isn’t enough.”
At the end of the kitchen island, the Father’s hands now covered Iliana’s on the pressure cooker. Her face was red and sweaty. She’d stripped down to a tank top and had pulled her hair back.
I looked at the clock. It had been half an hour since the Father had seen Cassiel. “Reuel, bring Taiya in here.”
“Is that a good idea?” Fury asked.
“We don’t have a choice. Cassiel is dead either way.” I looked at Reuel. “Hurry.”
He rushed out of the room.
Kathy dabbed Iliana’s forehead with a towel. “You’re doing great. Just a little longer.”
“Nana, could you get me some water?” Iliana asked.
Luca beat everyone to the cabinet. He pulled down a glass and filled it at the refrigerator for his sister. He carried it to Kathy.
“Thank you,” Iliana said.
Kathy held it to Iliana’s lips as she sipped.
A moment later, Reuel returned with Taiya. She was running behind him, and she skidded to a stop when she saw all of us gathered around the kitchen counter. Her head fell to the side. “We eat again?”
“No. We need your help. Come here, please,” I said.
The Father released Iliana’s hands, and she immediately slumped forward like all the strength had been sucked out of her. “Taiya, put your hands on Iliana’s,” he directed.
Obediently, Taiya placed her hands on top of Iliana’s. “Good. Stay just like that.” He covered Taiya’s hands with his own.
Energy surged back into Iliana so fast her head swirled around. “Whoa.”
Jett grabbed her waist to steady her. “You OK?”
She nodded and refocused on sending her energy into the pot.
We all waited nervously. James paced the room. I chewed my thumbnail until it bled. Ionis quietly hummed the old theme song from Jeopardy!
“Will you shut up?” Rogan snapped at him across the table.
Ionis held his hands up. “Excuse me.”
When he was silent, I could almost hear the seconds ticking by on the clock. It was more maddening than the angel ever could have been.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
John’s hand moved farther along the coil. “It’s moving.”
Judging from where his hand was, six inches above the top of the bucket, the steam wasn’t moving fast enough.
We needed more power.
We needed another Angel of Life.
Out in the hallway, the heavy door to the lobby opened and shut. Shannon’s voice echoed off the concrete. Rogan sank down in his chair and shielded his eyes with his hand.
Reese walked into the kitchen first. His head snapped back when he saw us. “What is this? A party?”
Shannon walked in right behind him. She was saying something over her shoulder.
Two more people followed her inside.
Sloan and Nathan.
“Oh my god,” I said.
“Yes?” the Father answered.
My mouth fell open. I rushed to them. “You’re here,” I said, grabbing Sloan by the arms and pulling her to me.
Kathy and James were right behind me. Kathy cried as she hugged Nathan.
Adrianne entered next. Her hair was long, straight and bleached blonde, and she seemed shorter than I remembered. I looked down and saw she was wearing sneakers instead of her usual high heels.
“Adrianne?”
“Hi, Warren.”
She held a young girl by the hand. A boy, almost as tall as his mother, trailed behind them, playing something on his phone.
All of them, I realized, were wearing high-Z cuffs.
And they each had the same black spot inside them that I’d seen in Azrael. They were rigged to die.
Sloan and Nathan too.
I searched Sloan’s chocolate eyes, my thoughts tumbling like boulders down a mountainside. “But…what? Why? I mean, how are you here?”
“Hey!” John called. “Never mind all that. We are running out of time over here!”
“John?” Nathan couldn’t have sounded more shocked if Santa Claus was in the kitchen.
John was right. Questions could wait. I grabbed Sloan’s hand. “We need you.”
She stumbled as I pulled her to the counter. “What on Earth is going on here?” She did a double take of the Father’s face. “You’re here too?”
“My dear, we will explain everything. But right now, I need you to place your hands under mine.”
Sloan was obviously confused, but people who know him rarely question the Father. She nodded. “Whatever you need.”
“On the count of three, I will remove my hands. I need you to place your hands on top of Taiya’s and give it all the power you can.”
“OK.”
The Father and Taiya shifted apart to make room for Sloan at the counter. She stepped between them and opened her hands.
“Ready?” the Father asked her.
“Ready.”
“One… Two… Three!” The Father let go.
Jett held Iliana to keep her from falling.
Sloan closed her hands around Taiya’s.
The Father covered Sloan’s with his. “Now! Everything you’ve got!”
From the other side of the island, I could see Sloan’s power surge through Taiya’s hands into Iliana’s. Fury put her arms around my waist, and I held her. Her other hand clasped Anya’s. Everyone in the room gathered near.
Watching.
Waiting.
Soon, Iliana’s light was so bright everyone was squinting against it.
John slipped on his sunglasses. He was still holding the coil. “It’s moving!” His hand inched farther along the tube until it reached the bucket. “James, get the water jugs out of the refrigerator.”
James and Luca brought over four gallon-sized milk jugs. He poured them into the bucket. “What’s that for?” Anya asked.
“The cold water will condense the steam back into liquid.” He poured in one of the jugs of water. “Which, hopefully, is liquor…or whatever the hell it is we’re making.”
“Crystal water,” several of us—including the Father—said at the same time.
“
Crystal what?” Shannon asked.
When all the jugs were empty, John placed a Mason jar with a plastic funnel on a stool. He slid it beneath the end of the copper tube jutting out from the bucket’s base.
He reached into the cold water to touch the coil again. “It’s working!”
We all held our breath…
Finally, the first drops drizzled into the jar.
Chapter Twenty-Four
A whiff of the jar made my eyes water. “I’d say it worked.” I handed the crystal water to the Father for inspection.
“Well done, everyone,” he said, nodding with approval.
Taiya cheered. Everyone else clapped. Well, most everyone. Torman was very ho-hum at the counter. “That’s less than two shot glasses full. Definitely not enough to protect all of us.”
The Father passed it back to me.
I screwed on a lid. “No, but it might be enough to save Cassiel.” Half the amount is what had saved Fury in Nulterra. “And now we know it can be done. Hope is half the battle of the war.”
Torman smirked. “Okay. I’ll remind you of that when you’re in front of a firing squad with Uzis filled with that stuff.”
Rogan grabbed him by the arm. “I think we promised you a more comfortable room. Anybody mind if I lock this asshole up in one of the staff bedrooms?”
“Be my guest,” I said
Rogan looked at Reuel. “Want to help me?”
With a grunt, Reuel followed Rogan and Torman out of the room.
Shannon started to go after them, but Reese held her back.
Iliana went to her mom and dad, tears sparkling in her tired dark eyes. “I’m so glad you’re back.”
The three of them embraced. Nathan kissed Iliana’s forehead. Sloan pulled back to look at her. She pushed Iliana’s hair behind her ears. “You found us today.”
“You felt it?”
“I did, just when I was about to give up hope.” Sloan hugged her again. “I’m so proud of you, Iliana.”
When she released her again, Sloan reached for my hand and squeezed it with a grateful smile.
I sighed with relief. The black spot inside Sloan was gone, erased by Iliana’s power. The spot inside Nathan, Adrianne, and the kids remained.
Iliana saw it at the same time I did. She reached for Nathan. I grabbed her wrist to stop her. “Try the crystal water.”
