by Kate Hall
“I need you to get me back into Heaven,” I say with a hushed tone. If we’re overheard, the other students will probably just think we’re weird, but I can’t risk anything, not when we’re so close to figuring all this out.
He grimaces and looks at the ceiling, thinking.
“I can get you promoted,” I say. It’s a risky move, but I think Lilith will accept it. She said I had to do anything it takes to rescue Desireé, and allying with Marcus must be included. How nice would it be for him to not just be a part of the lowly hoard of demonic soldiers?
He groans and slaps his hands down on the table.
“Fine. Fine. But you have to talk to Lilith first. If you die, I don’t want to be screwed over.”
Nadia rolls her eyes at him. She’s sitting next to me today. After last night, we’re uneasy friends, and Marcus had given her a disdainful look when we arrived in the cafeteria together. He can hate me all he wants. I just want to see Desireé again, and he’s the easiest path to achieving that. “Deal,” I say, holding my hand out. When he shakes it, he practically crushes my fingers, and I respond in kind with a terse smile.
“I hope you die,” he says pleasantly.
“Likewise,” I respond, mostly just to be as much of an asshole as him. I don’t totally hate him, but I won’t trust him for even a second.
I put my Hell phone in my backpack and call Lilith, the screen blocked from the rest of the student body seeing it.
“Avery. Have you finally come up with a plan?” she asks.
I frown. “Yes. But first, you need to promote Marcus. The plan sort of depends on him.”
Lilith sighs, then nods. “Alright. It’s done. Best of luck.” I’m about to end the call when she says, “And remember, if you fail, there will be a war that kills millions on both sides. Maybe even billions.”
Great. No pressure or anything.
I smile. “Thanks. I’ll make sure to remember that. I almost forgot.” Then, I hang up on her.
Chapter Twelve
It takes a week to prepare for the jump, mostly because I have to learn to transport myself from place to place so that I don’t have to depend on the demons to do it for me. If an angel were to do it, I’d be sensed immediately and captured.
Gabe, the oldest student I’m friends with, appears in my room every night and runs through the spells with me so I can learn to teleport through space and time. The longer we practice, the further he sends me. At first, it’s just from one end of my bedroom to the other.
The last practice jump I make before we set our plan in motion lands me in Scotland, in the bedroom of a castle. There’s a young woman inside, asleep in her bed. The room is lit by candles, and she’s wearing something that looks straight out of a movie. It’s the year 1561, and that girl is Mary, Queen of Scotts.
Holy shit.
I let out a giddy laugh, and Mary stirs. Before she can spot me, I whisper the spell and appear back in my bedroom.
“Well?” Gabe asks, leaning against the windowsill.
I grin. “That was awesome.”
He nods. “Well, I think you’re ready. Good luck. I hope I see you soon.”
I wrap my arms around myself and nod. “Thanks, Gabe.” Gabe had been the first friend I met when I arrived at Theaa Academy. If the plan succeeds, I’ll never get to see him again.
He wraps me in a reassuring hug, and I return it with a sigh.
“I hope it works,” I mumble into his shirt. He pulls away, the ghost of a smile on his lips.
“It will,” he says. He sounds so sure of it that I don’t question him.
It has to work. We have one shot at this. If I fail, then the fate of the universe is at stake.
As soon as Gabe disappears, I take one final look around my room, taking it all in. I hated this place growing up, and I hated living with my dad. Now that he’s trying, though, I’m sad to go.
I scrawl a note on a sheet of paper and place it on the the fridge under a magnet, along with a gift I got him during one of my lower-end practices earlier in the week. He should notice it as soon as he gets out of bed.
If I survive, I’ll come back home to visit. He’ll get better. If I don’t, though, I want him to be okay.
I whisper the words that will take me away from here and leave this rickety home, probably for the last time.
Dad,
I’m going to be okay.
I bought two lottery tickets before I left. This one is for you.
Love,
Avery
Chapter Thirteen
There’s a portal to Heaven on Mount Everest.
In one of my classes when I was in high school, long before my death, I watched a documentary about Mount Everest. Some of the people who’d climbed the foreboding mountain had described impossible things. People joining them for their climbs and then disappearing. Hallucinations of people trying to lead them off sharp drops.
Now, though, I know the truth.
They hadn’t been illusions.
They’d been demons, traveling through time to access this portal for the attacks I’d witnessed at Theaa Academy.
I’m tempted to wrap my arms around myself. After all, how could I possibly survive these impossible conditions in leggings and a sweater? The frigid air doesn’t bother me, though, and Marcus and Nadia don’t seem put-out, either.
“About time,” Marcus shouts over the howling of the wind. I roll my eyes and follow him, my sneakers plummeting into the snow. I consider whether it’s reasonable to lodge a complaint with the Creator over her placement of mystical portals or not. My body may not be affected, but my clothes aren’t doing too well.
There’s a lot of space around the portal that isn’t accessible by teleportation, which is how the demons found it in the first place. Desireé, the first to discover it, found it odd that nobody in all accounts of teleportation across Earth could enter this mile-wide dome. They always landed around it.
I know she’d spent a lot of time in Hell, but I don’t want to know how long that must have been to read thousands of books on such a specific subject.
We have to hike to the dome, which is around the area known as Hillary’s Step. It’s a steep climb for those attempting to reach the peak, and we had to travel a decade back to ensure we arrived when it’s still in-tact.
I keep my eyes ahead of us, ignoring the long-dead body in the snow as we approach the portal. If I look too close, think about it too hard, I might just be sick. Bodies are never recovered from Everest, and I can’t be picky about the location of our transportation. There’s nowhere else to enter Theaa Academy unseen.
As we approach, a flickering white in my peripheral vision catches my eye. A big gust of snow, perhaps? I glance over my shoulder. No. My wings. They’re barely visible, but they’re there. I let out a sigh of relief. It’s almost like I’ve been holding my breath since I arrived back on Earth, and now I can breathe again. Marcus and Nadia’s features are a little more drawn, a little sharper and less natural. When we exit Earth, we’ll all look different.
Marcus places his bare hand on the stone, something that would give a human frostbite pretty much instantly, but doesn’t affect him in the slightest. Within seconds, he disappears, although there’s a sort of crackling energy against that side of the boulder now. Nadia takes my hand. She doesn’t say it, but it’s clear from her shaking that she’s as scared as I am.
We walk through together, and I whisper one last “Goodbye” to Earth. Just in case I never make it back.
It’s just like walking through a regular doorway. Nothing seems to happen, but we walk through and come out on a ledge at the face of a steep mountain. I can’t see more than a dozen feet above or below us due to the thick cloud cover. I expect the ground to shake, but nothing happens. The wind from Everest is gone, leaving us in an eerie sort of silence.
“Why was there always an explosion before?” I ask. There’s nobody around to hear us, yet I whisper.
“That only happens when
we close the portal,” Marcus says. “But Lilith said we need to be stealthy. In and out. We’re going to keep the door open.”
I frown. “But won’t that mean anyone can go through?”
He waves me off but doesn’t respond.
Okay, then.
I take in a deep breath.
I’m finally back in Heaven.
If the Archangels find out, though, then I’m sure to die.
Chapter Fourteen
We have to scale the mountain to avoid being seen. Shockingly, I am not completely terrible at this, although it does take some getting used-to. Instead of pulling myself up with my arms, I learn fairly quickly that I have to push myself upward with my legs. The climb is tedious, but safer than flying in.
I tuck my wings against my back so they don’t knock me off balance. I can catch myself if I fall, but I don’t want that to be necessary, lest my wings become like a beacon to those on watch. On the bright side, Gabe had assured me that he would be one of the lookouts when we arrive, so we should be at least somewhat safe from prying eyes.
Finally, we get past the cloud cover, and Theaa Academy gleams a pearl white in the glowing night around us. Tears spring to my eyes immediately, and my heart aches. More than anywhere else in my life, this place felt like home. Now, though, I’m a fugitive. Hiding from those that I planned on spending an eternity with.
That’s impossible now.
As we hop the barrier, onto a bridge that connects the hospital wing from the rest of the academy, a hand claps on my shoulder I nearly scream, but Gabe spins me around and shushes me. My heart is thumping so hard that I half expect it to break my ribs.
“We have to go,” he says, grabbing my hand and dragging me through the halls. Nadia and Marcus follow us, and Gabe weaves us through the halls and into the belly of the school. I don’t recognize the route, but when we come out in the small prison carved deep in the mountain, I gasp.
She’s been here all along. It would have been so easy for her to go with me when Nicolai sent me back to Earth the first time, but it hadn’t happened. We’d all assumed that she’d been sent to the demon prison that the Archangels have on Earth, not kept in the same prison where I was held after my betrayal.
There are dozens of doors, almost exactly like the ones upstairs that lead to the student dorms. Huỳnh is down here waiting for us, and I run up and wrap my arms around her.
“There’s no time,” she whispers, and I pull away, wiping the tears off my cheeks. I nod.
“I can’t figure out how to get to her,” Gabe admits, hanging his head. “I know she’s here, but these doors work differently than the ones upstairs.”
I tilt my head, and my now white hair cascades down my shoulder. “How did you guys get me out?”
Huỳnh frowns. “We just said your name. But hers doesn’t work when we try it.”
I bite my lip. I have to think. Why would that work for me, but not Desireé?
When a door bangs upstairs, we all snap our heads up.
“We have to hurry,” Huỳnh says urgently. If we’re caught down here, we’ll all be killed. Especially with the two demons that are standing guard at the entryway, their dark wings, horns, and ink-dipped hands standing in start contrast to the rest of the academy.
I rush over to one of the unmarked doors.
This had better work.
“Avery,” I whisper. When she’d been in Hell, the name Desireé held onto had been mine, not hers. Maybe the doors don’t go by someone’s real name, but the name they respond to best.
With a click, the door opens. I’m about to go in, but something attacks me from behind.
“Die, bitch,” Marcus hisses.
What the fuck?
I thought he was here to help me? Isn’t that the order from Lilith?
Then I remember some of the things he’s said to me. That he wishes I’d die. That he wanted me to secure his promotion if I didn’t survive the mission.
The note on my locker. On my car. Those hadn’t been a student that was mad about Desireé’s death. They’d been Marcus.
And he’s trying to tear out my wings again. His claws dig down beneath my skin, his talons scraping against the bone. I scream as the pain burrows deep into me, somewhere I don’t think will ever go away.
I collapse to the ground. I can’t even think well enough to summon my sword, and he’s moving too fast. The attack has only been going on for a couple seconds.
Then, a form barrels out of the cell, a girl with leathery wings, spiral horns, and a pale face I know better than my own, dotted with freckles that look like dried blood with her pale demonic complexion.
She rips Marcus off of me, and I scuttle away, pulling myself up to a standing position just in time to see her slamming him to the ground.
“I’ve never liked you, Marcus,” she says nonchalantly. Then, almost like it’s happening in slow motion, she buries her own claws in his chest.
Deep.
Too deep.
My stomach wrenches.
She pulls out something I can hardly identify. It takes me a moment to realize what’s happening.
His heart. She tore out his heart. She’s done it so quickly that, for just an instant, Marcus stares at her with abject horror smattered across his face, which is covered in both red and gold blood.
Ruthless, he’d called her.
And now I know why. He hadn’t even had the chance to fight back. And now he’s dead. Sent to purgatory. His body fades into nothing, but his dripping heart remains in her grip.
Oh, god.
It shouldn’t be possible for an angel, but I turn and vomit on the floor.
She looks at me, and her eyebrows scrunch together in concern. As soon as she’s not looking at it, the heart fades to dust just like the rest of Marcus had. She rushes over to me and reaches forward, and I recoil. The hurt on her face makes me regret it instantly, but it’s not like I can take it back.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, but she turns away.
“Um, guys?” Nadia says, her voice a squeak.
That’s when the sound finally absorbs past everything else into my mind. Footsteps thundering down toward us.
The Archangels are coming.
Chapter Fifteen
“You have to go,” I hiss to my friends. Without protest or hesitation, Gabe and Huỳnh disappear in front of my eyes. Nadia whispers a spell and disappears as well, and a boom shakes the grounds. We hadn’t told Marcus, but Lilith had ordered Nadia to destroy the Everest gate as soon as we escaped. There can be no more demons entering Theaa Academy. Desireé and I officially have no way out, not a way that can’t be traced, anyway.
Desireé laces her fingers through mine, and I do my best to avoid flinching as I imagine the slick demon blood coating my palm. “You have to go,” I say. If she goes, she can teleport back to Hell before the Archangels catch her. That is, as long as I can distract them for long enough.
She shakes her head. “No. We’re doing this together.”
I set my jaw and stare into her eyes, waiting to see who wavers first.
Neither of us does.
Despite the gruesome display, our relationship is going to be fine. She may be a ruthless killer, but she’s mine.
The first to round the corner is Gabriel, who is very clearly pissed. I squeeze Desireé’s hand and let go, raising my hands in the air, a symbol of surrender. Maybe, just maybe, we can avoid being killed.
Azrael comes next, although she doesn’t seem nearly as shocked to see us as I’m expecting.
“Avery,” she says, not a question, but an acknowledgement. She’s been expecting me to show up.
“Azrael,” I say, nodding once. Then, I do the same for Gabriel. I want to hide my fear as much as possible. No matter what happens, I will not be weak as they decide what to do with me. For Desireé, I have to be strong.
Before I can do much else, Azrael whispers a spell, and a burning black metal wraps around my wrists, and I cry out. A matching gol
d chain appears on Desireé, but she doesn’t respond at all. Not even a tick in her jaw.
“You will be tried for your crimes,” Azrael says, her words stiff and emotionless. She’d been like a mother to me for so long that her disinterest is like a knife through my heart.
This time, we’re put in a cell together, Gabriel leading us in by the chains. We don’t resist, and he’s not rough with us. Then, Azrael locks us in and begins to whisper a serie of spells. I gasp as the air seems to be sucked out of the room. The more spells Azrael lays on it, the worse I feel. I fall to my knees, and Desireé leans over me and rests her bound hands on my back.
“It’s okay,” she lies, stroking my back as best as she can. We’re going to die. There’s no two ways about it. I don’t say that out loud, though. She knows it just as well as I do.
“I’m so sorry,” I say, still gasping for air that isn’t here. I don’t need to breathe, not even a little, but one breath of oxygen might quell the panic bubbling over.
She sits and pulls me into her lap, and I let her. As I lean my head against her chest, I can’t help but picture Marcus’s still-beating heart in her hand.
There’s no point in worrying about it. We’re going to be destroyed and sent to purgatory, anyway.
“What’s purgatory like?” I ask. I should’ve done some semblance of research on it when I had access to Theaa’s immense magical library, but I hadn’t cared to do so. It had seemed so unlikely that I would end up there.
Now, though, the not knowing is the worst part.
“Bad,” Desireé admits. “Lilith once told me it was just an endless nothing. A place where souls go and are lost an alone for eternity.”
I nod. That doesn’t sound too terrible, but then I start to really think about it. Wandering an endless, lonely void forever, nobody to speak to, nothing to do. From what I’ve seen, even Hellish demons get some sort of recreational time. Or, at least, time where they’re not being tortured or tormenting humans. To make her feel better, though, I say, “I think we can handle it.” Not together, though. This is our last chance to be together. Who knows how long we have until the Archangels return and send us to our doom?
