by S. J. West
“What are you doing?” I ask, as I watch him.
Malcolm smiles as he puts the paint brush down. He presses his hand on the flat lid of the toy box, leaving behind his large handprint. He walks over to the sink and washes the rest of the paint off his skin.
“Hold out your right hand,” Malcolm says, picking up the paintbrush again and stroking a layer of the white paint on it. Once he’s finished he instructs, “Now press it down next to mine.”
I do as he says, then wash the paint off my hand too. While I’m drying my hands, I turn to find Malcolm painting Vala’s right paw. He helps her lift it and press it down on the lid a hand’s width apart from mine.
“I think I’ll need your help with Luna,” Malcolm says to me as he cleans off Vala’s paw with a wet rag.
I pick Luna up and hold out her paw to Malcolm. After he coats her paw with paint, I press it down beside Vala’s print. Malcolm then wipes her paw off too before I set her back down on the floor.
I look at the lid to see our hand and paw prints all together.
“Lucas can add his hand print in the middle when he returns,” Malcolm says, coming to stand behind me as he wraps his arms around my shoulders. I rest my hands on his arms and stare at the permanent reminder of our family Malcolm made for our son.
“It was a really sweet idea,” I say, unable to prevent myself from crying at the site of Lucas’ missing handprint.
Malcolm turns me around so I can lay my head on his chest. When I don’t stop crying, I hear Vala suggests, “Perhaps you should take her to bed so she can get some rest, Malcolm. I can take care of Luna tonight.”
“Thank you, Vala. I think that’s a good idea,” Malcolm replies, lifting me off my feet and cradling me in his arms.
He phases us to our room and lies me down on top of our bed. I watch him as he tugs my shoes off then takes his own off before lying down beside me. He pulls me into his arms and doesn’t say a word, just holds me and lets me cry.
I’m not sure when I finally fell asleep. All I know is that I did so with a heart filled with worry.
Sometime during the night, I wake up. I flip over onto my side and find Malcolm peacefully sleeping. I lay there for a while to see if I can fall back to sleep, but such an escape alludes me for a good hour. Finally, I decide to get up.
I phase down to the workshop and stare at the toy box sitting on the workbench. I search for a small set of paintbrushes because I know exactly what needs to be painted on the front of it. After I locate the brushes I need and the paint, I set to work. Time must pass rather quickly because before I know it sunlight is streaming in through the one window in the room.
“What are you doing, my love?” I hear Malcolm ask.
I look up from my work, past the box, and to the other side of the table where he’s standing.
“I couldn’t go back to sleep so I came down here.”
Malcolm walks around the table to me and looks at what I painted on the front of the box.
A small smile stretches his lips as he turns his gaze from the painting to me.
“Do you like it?” I ask him.
“I love it,” he tells me, leaning down to kiss me lightly on the lips. “Every family should have a coat of arms.”
I look back at what I painted and find myself smiling too.
The Devereaux family coat of arms is composed of a shield with a flaming sword directly in the center. The hilt of the sword is flanked by a wolf’s head representing Luna and a dog’s head resembling Vala. A silver crown floats above the shield and a set of angel wings stretch out on either side of it. A banner with the name Devereaux sits underneath.
“He’ll love it,” Malcolm tells me.
“I hope so,” I reply, gathering up my paintbrushes and taking them over to the sink to wash them. “What time is the wedding?”
“They were going to have it this evening but Brutus got Bianca to move it up to ten this morning.”
“Thank goodness,” I say in relief. “I think I would have gone completely mad waiting until tonight.”
“I would have dragged the two of them to the altar myself this morning if I had to.”
“Lucifer is supposed to be here for breakfast,” I inform Malcolm because I don’t recall telling him that earlier. “I guess he didn’t have any luck finding out where Millie and Lucas are either, or he would have come here yesterday.”
“I didn’t realize he was helping with the search,” Malcolm says in surprise.
I set the wet paintbrushes in a cup on the windowsill and turn to face Malcolm while I dry my hands with a towel.
“Yes, he said he would ask some people he knew,” I tell him. “Why do you sound so surprised that he would try to help us?”
“Lucifer normally doesn’t do anything unless it serves a purpose for him in some way.”
“He cares for me, Malcolm. He knows how worried I am about them.”
Malcolm doesn’t reply right away. I think he’s having a hard time trying to separate the Lucifer he’s known all these years from the one who is trying to be a father to me now. If only I could get Lucifer to take the curse off Malcolm, maybe then my husband could find it in his heart to believe my father can actually change.
“Come on,” Malcolm says. “We should probably start breakfast so it’s ready when he gets here. It’s 7:30 now. We only have half an hour before he arrives.”
I set the towel I’m holding down by the sink and take the hand Malcolm holds out to me.
As we phase to the kitchen, I send up a silent prayer to God to help open Malcolm’s heart to Lucifer. If he can find a way to forgive his arch nemesis, it will prove that miracles really can happen.
Chapter 10
When we reach the kitchen, Giles is already frying up some bacon in a skillet on the stove. The smell acts as a gentle reminder that I need to eat. I haven’t really eaten much since Millie and Lucas’ abduction, but today we would be getting them back, one way or another. I would need all my strength in case Baal and Mammon decided not to play nice. Whether they wanted to or not, they would return my family to me or lose their lives. I was tired of playing nice and letting other people use my loved ones as pawns against me. Even Lucifer was using the whereabouts of my papa as leverage. Honestly, I feel confident the world would be much better off without Levi breathing in it. If anyone deserved to be sent to the Void, it was him. Considering the deteriorated condition his body was in the last time Malcolm and I saw Levi, death might even be welcomed by that particular Prince of Hell.
While Giles finishes cooking the bacon, Malcolm scrambles a pile of eggs. I slice up some French bread, butter one side and toast the pieces in the broiler oven. By the time we are setting the table, Daniel and his family walk into the kitchen with Lucifer.
“Look who we found lurking by the front door,” Daniel says with a smile as he winks at me.
“I wasn’t sure where you had breakfast,” Lucifer explains, looking somewhat embarrassed by his ignorance on where it was we actually ate our morning meal.
The uncertainty on Lucifer's face makes me smile because I'm not sure if he realizes how 'human' it makes him look.
I walk over to him and give him a hug.
“I’m just glad you actually came,” I tell him as I pull away.
“I tried to find out where Millie and Lucas are being held,” Lucifer tells me. “I was hoping that if I could return them, you would reconsider taking the seals from Baal and Mammon today.”
“Thank you for trying to find them for me,” I reply, not bothering to say it wouldn't have mattered if he had been successful in his search. I fully plan to take the other princes' seals today, and not even the return of Millie and Lucas could have stopped me from doing that.
“I've told those still loyal to me to send word immediately if they hear anything important,” Lucifer says. “Maybe we can still find them before your meeting.”
“I hope you're hungry,” I say, attempting to change the subject. I don't want t
o argue with Lucifer about my mission. It's obvious he won't be coming around anytime soon to help me complete it. All I can hope for is that when it comes time to take his seal, he'll give it to me willingly.
“I can't say that I'm all that hungry,” Lucifer admits. “I mostly came to see you and let you know about my attempts to find them. I couldn’t even find Baal or Mammon, which is strange.”
“Why is that strange?”
“I can usually feel them,” Lucifer tells me. “The seals connect us. I always know where they are at any given time. Now, I can’t seem to feel them anymore.”
“Do you know why?”
“It’s possible Helena is blocking them from me.”
“Has she become that powerful?”
“It’s the only reasonable explanation I can think of,” Lucifer says, looking troubled by this new development.
Silence becomes the predominant feature in the room after Lucifer’s revelation.
“Well,” Linn says to break the tension, “I don’t know about anyone else, but I'm starving. What's for breakfast?”
As we all take a seat around the table, I can't help but notice the effort both Malcolm and Lucifer are making to be cordial to one another. I know they're simply doing it for my benefit, but that's all right. It's better than having them at each other's throats. If their love for me is strong enough to forge such an uneasy alliance, then perhaps they can both use it to find a reason to respect one another. I'm not delusional enough to expect us all to be one little happy family, but I am given hope that we can all be together in one room without the threat of something terrible happening.
Halfway through the meal, Jered phases into the kitchen with an unexpected visitor.
Christopher, one of the guards who always escorted me to my lessons with Empress Catherine, is standing by his side. The last time I saw him he was standing guard outside Levi’s bedchambers. All the men stand from their chairs at the table. Jered holds up his hands in a gesture that’s meant to hold the guys back.
“He comes in peace,” Jered tells them. “So don’t attack him.”
Christopher walks over to Lucifer and kneels down on one knee in front of him.
“I have news to report,” Christopher says to Lucifer with his head bowed and a fisted hand over his chest.
“Rise and report,” Lucifer says, taking on the persona of a commander.
Christopher stands to his feet.
“You asked us to let you know about anything we might hear concerning the whereabouts of the maid and the boy,” Christopher says.
This instantly captures my attention, and I stand from the table too.
“What have you learned?” Lucifer asks.
“I overheard Baal bragging to Levi that he had the boy stashed somewhere no one would ever think to look. And even if someone did look, they would never be able to find him.”
“Where is Lucas?” I practically beg, unable to keep silent.
Christopher looks at me. “Baal said he hid him on one of the islands in the Archipelago Sea.”
“Did he say which one?” Malcolm asks, appearing excited by this new bit of information but also frustrated.
If I remembered my geography correctly, the cluster of islands Christopher mentioned were located off the coast of Finland and contained over 17,000 islands that would be large enough for someone to inhabit. If you also counted the smaller isles and rock formations, the number reached up to 50,000.
Christopher shakes his head. “No, unfortunately not.”
“How can we trust that you’re telling us the truth?” I ask, not bothering to hide my suspicion of duplicity. “You could just be sending us on a wild goose chase to waste our time.”
“I am telling you the truth, Empress Annalisse,” Christopher says in a way that makes me want to believe him. “I would never lie to you.”
“Why?” I ask in disbelief. “You’re one of Levi’s guards. How can we believe anything you tell us?”
“Because Christopher follows me,” Lucifer answers for him. “He always has.”
It takes me a moment, but as I study Lucifer’s expression, I begin to understand the implications of what he just said.
“Always?” I ask, hoping to be given a clearer answer without me having to explain exactly what it is I want to know.
“Christopher has been my eyes and ears in Cirrus for a very long time,” Lucifer tells me. “He kept me informed about your lessons with the Empress and your day to day life as you were growing up. He’s been a friend to you even though you’ve probably considered him your enemy.”
I thought back to all the times Christopher and Clark escorted me to my lessons with Auggie’s mother. He was always cordial but never overly so. When he brought me the box with Vala’s severed head in it, Levi’s ‘gift’ to me, I remember wondering why Christopher looked concerned about my reaction to what was inside the box. At the time, I couldn’t understand why he seemed to care about the effect it would have on me. Now, I understood completely.
“Did my papa know Christopher was watching over me for you?” I ask.
“Of course he did,” Lucifer says.
“Not long after I started serving as one of Empress Catherine’s guards,” Christopher tells me, “Andre came to me and asked me what my intentions were. I told him I was only there to look after you, and he knew I was telling him the truth. I think he was grateful for the added protection I provided you.”
I was continually learning the depths to which Lucifer’s feelings for me ran. In his own way, he kept watch over me the best he could without directly interfering with my life. Even though I was clueless he even existed until recently, he did what he could to make sure I was safeguarded.
“Then Levi would know that Christopher is loyal to you,” I reason. “Maybe they’re just trying to waste our time by making us look in the one place Lucas isn’t.”
“It’s possible they could be trying to mislead us,” Lucifer agrees. “But what if the information is good? Do any of you have a better suggestion on where to find Lucas?”
I had to admit that we didn’t.
“If Baal was telling the truth,” I say, “how are we ever going to find Lucas there?”
“Travis might be able to help us,” Malcolm says with newfound hope. “If he can hack into the surveillance system of Stratus, we can scan the area for Lucas.”
“How long do you think it will take Travis to hack into their system?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” Malcolm confesses. “Let’s go see him and find out.”
“While the two of you talk to Travis,” Jered says, “I think the rest of us should start a ground search for Lucas. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“Can I be of any help?” Giles asks. “I know I can’t phase like the rest of you, but some of the islands have to be large enough for me to be of some use in helping with the search.”
“Of course you can help,” Jered says, walking over to Giles. “We’ll start with the largest islands first. They’ll be hard for Travis to search visually since their populations are denser.”
“Christopher and I can help as well,” Lucifer offers.
“Daniel,” Malcolm says, “stay here and act as our coordinator. Any new information should be reported to Daniel in case any of us learn something important that the others need to know. Try to report back to him every half an hour.”
Malcolm takes one of my hands with his and phases us directly to Travis’ workshop.
We find our boy genius sitting at his computer interface watching what looks like a new propaganda video starring our own rebel with a cause Gladson Gray.
“Travis,” Malcolm says, causing our young friend to jump in his seat.
“Geesh,” Travis says, pausing the video as he turns in his chair to look at us, “give a guy some warning next time, will ya? Clear your throat or rattle something. I’m too young to have a heart attack.”
“We need your help,” I tell Travis. “We need you to find Lucas.”
“Lucas?” Travis says in alarm, standing from his seat. “Is he lost or did someone take little man?”
I knew Travis and Lucas had developed a friendship of sorts after Travis helped transplant Vala’s brain into a new body. From what Jered told me, Lucas was learning a lot about engineering from Travis. It was obvious from the look on Travis’ face that he was extremely concerned over Lucas’ welfare.
“He was kidnapped yesterday, but we have a lead on where he might be,” Malcolm says. “Can you hack into the Stratus surveillance system, and do a visual scan of the islands in the Archipelago Sea?”
Travis whistles and runs one hand through his thick blond hair. The action causes the front of his hair to stand straight up. If the situation weren’t so dire, I probably would have laughed at the sight he makes.
“Geesh, talk about looking for a needle in a haystack,” he says looking troubled by the task. “I can hack into their security system, but it’ll take a while.”
“How long will it take you?” I ask, not wanting to waste time now that we have a lead.
“A couple of hours at least,” Travis says. “Maybe more depending on the firewalls I might have to work around in their system.”
I look up at Malcolm. “That’s too long.”
Malcolm sighs. “Do you have a better suggestion?”
“Yes,” I say. “We make Lorcan let Travis have control of Stratus’ surveillance systems.”
Malcolm raises an eyebrow at me. “I like the way you think, and you have my blessing to do whatever it is you need to make him cooperate.”
I phase Malcolm and Travis to Stratus. Since I’ve only been to Stratus once, I can only phase into the Hall of Mirrors where Lorcan and I fought. Not long after we appear, four Stratus guards teleport in and surround us.
“Empress Annalisse,” one of the guards says in confusion when he sees me. “You are not on the schedule for a visit today.”
“No,” I agree, crossing my arms in front of me, “I’m not. I need to speak with Emperor Lorcan at once.”
“The emperor is having brunch at the moment,” the guard replies. “If you could wait here, I will announce your arrival to him.”
