“What the fuck?” Garrett asked.
I rose from the floor, having no idea when time had bounced back.
“If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, call Reyes. Tell him what I did. Tell him to help Osh, but do not, under any circumstances, tell him where I am.”
“What did you do?” he asked, staring at Osh in horror.
“No time. Give me fifteen minutes.”
Then I closed my eyes and left this plane entirely.
* * *
I spotted the god instantly and zeroed in, materializing behind him in a matter of seconds. He was made of light, too, only his was grayer than mine. Murkier. And he was walking in a sea of people with lights flashing and music blaring and teens laughing and screaming.
I stopped and looked around to get my bearings. To my left was a giant red roller coaster. To my right was the ocean. And underneath me were wood planks.
A boardwalk? We were on a boardwalk?
Yes. The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, to be exact, according to the sign by the roller coaster. I wondered why the god would be here of all places. Osh had said the North. New England? Since I had no idea where they’d moved her, I had no idea if he was closing in or not, but I was certain of one thing. He was enjoying the hunt.
Still a little astonished I could do it, I picked a spot in an out-of-the-way corner just beyond his line of sight and let my body take shape around me. Like a veil parting. Like a cloak settling around my shoulders and pooling at my feet. I materialized slowly, watching his every move and the moves of the people around me.
Homing in on the strange light, I followed it past the arcade to stop at a cotton candy stand. The human it had taken, the one it had hijacked, was a woman. According to Osh, she died the moment it entered her. Her arms were already discolored with yellow and purple bruises. She was painfully thin with long auburn hair that hung in messy strands down her back. Clearly it wasn’t worried about keeping up appearances since it could only last for so long in that body, anyway.
It sensed me and turned, and time slowed to a stop as the world spun around me. I shook my head, speechless, and almost fell to my knees. A cry of surprise leaped from my throat, and I covered my mouth with both hands. Huge green eyes gazed at me in curiosity. A once pretty mouth, now covered in sores on one side, opened slightly as her head tilted to the side.
I feared I would crumple to the ground. I feared my mortal heart would stop and forget to restart. I feared for the world around me, because once Reyes found out this god had ripped his sister’s soul out of her body so that he could inhabit it, the world would be a dangerous place to be.
“What are you?” Kim asked.
She had the same voice. The same gentle expressions. The same graceful mannerisms. But it wasn’t her. It was the god.
Kim was supposed to be in Mexico. How did she get here? How did the god get to her?
I fought my urge to have a complete meltdown and feigned ignorance.
“Kim?” I asked, stepping closer. “Is that you?”
When I rushed forward, it didn’t move. It didn’t step back and veer away from me. It simply tried to figure out what I was. Without my light, I had no idea what I would look like to a supernatural being, but it clearly wasn’t just like any other human.
“Kim,” I said, throwing my arms around her and hugging. I knew she was just the shell, just the vessel, and that her spirit had probably already crossed, but I couldn’t help it. I held her tight, wanting to apologize for not getting to know her better. I should’ve spent more time with her. We should’ve had coffee and lunch and gone to male revues together.
I pulled back, took her face into my hands, and kissed her mouth.
That’s when the tears broke through. They streamed down my face as I kissed her hard and followed with a dozen tiny pecks.
It watched me, growing more suspicious by the second, so I quickly stepped out of its reach.
Then realization dawned. “Where is your light, little girl?”
“Why her?” I said, my voice breaking. “Why his sister?”
“How else to cripple him? He is almost as indestructible as I.”
“Ah,” I said, wiping my eyes. “Of course. Human life means nothing to you.”
“As a gnat’s life means nothing to you.”
I nodded, beginning to understand him. It reached out and took a cotton candy from an elderly woman. When she began to protest, it turned to her.
“No,” I said, starting toward him.
He chuckled and let her go. “Where is he? Rey’azikeen? I was hoping to see him before this body becomes completely useless.”
“He’s out. Which one are you? Which brother of Uzan?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Brother? We are brothers, are we?”
I frowned at him, and how better to get the answers I needed than to ask? “I don’t understand.”
“What do you think Uzan is?”
“Your home dimension.”
He seemed to become more confused. “I was under the impression you had learned your celestial name, Elle-Ryn.”
“I have.”
He stuffed another mouthful of cotton candy into Kim’s mouth. The movement caused the sores to split. Blood slid down her chin, and I fought the quivering of my lower lip.
“Then why wouldn’t you know … oh, my. Jehovah. He is a sneaky one, is he not?”
“Again, you lost me.”
“Uzan, my dear, is a prison. One is not from there. One is sent there.”
“A—a prison?”
“Rey’azikeen, Eidolon, and I were prisoners. It was supposed to be inescapable. Eidolon and I spent centuries there, rotting away much like this body. Until…”
Kim’s eyes sparkled as he told the tale.
“Until?”
“Until Rey’azikeen was sent. Young. Rebellious. Absolutely brilliant.”
That was Reyes, all right.
“And this is where the irony of it all plays a part. For you, Elle-Ryn-Ahleethia, are the one who sent him there.”
“What?”
He was lying. How would that even be possible?
“You truly have no idea who he is. It is so lavish, so unprecedented, that you should fall in love with the very being you sent to rot in stink and decay. Into an agony that the seven original gods from your dimension, from Evuthwana, created.”
“I didn’t send him anywhere. I didn’t know him.”
“But you were, how do they say it? Tight? Yes, tight. You were tight with his brother. His real brother, for the day I am brothers with the likes of either of those two, I shall send myself back to Uzan.”
“His brother?”
“You know. The older brother left with the burden of taking care of the younger one. But youth these days. He was too rebellious. Too stubborn. Too irresponsible. And his older brother worried for the world he had created.”
“And what world would that be?”
“Why, you’re standing on it, my dear.”
27
Hearts are wild creatures.
That’s why our ribs are cages.
—AUTHOR UNKNOWN
The world that I was standing on started to spin. He was lying. He had to be.
“I would remember.”
“Ah, but Jehovah wanted you to reap his lost. You volunteered, yes, but not without some encouragement from the Man himself. And once you were in his realm under his laws, he must’ve plucked”—Kim acted like she plucked something out of the air—“the memory from your mind.”
“Why would he do that?”
“To control you, of course.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He took another mouthful of cotton candy. “Now that you know the memory is there, it will come back to you whenever you allow it to. But don’t feel too bad. His brother created an entire dimension just for him. A hell dimension, though how it could be worse than Uzan, I have no idea. He was going to lock Rey’azikeen in it and throw away the
key, as they say. But you talked him out of it. You begged Jehovah to just send his brother away until he came around. Until he understood Jehovah’s vision.” He gasped as a thought dawned. “Were you in love with him, even then?”
“The god glass was meant for Reyes?” Stunned would’ve been an understatement.
“Ingenious instrument. A vault. Absolutely inescapable. Then again, we are talking about the only god ever to escape Uzan. If it could be done…”
“This is unreal.”
“Oh, don’t wallow, my dear. It is most unbecoming. Besides, if it makes you feel better, I am the one who helped Lucifer trap him. It’s like we’re on the same team.”
“You trapped him?”
“You did it first.”
“Why would you do that?”
“He didn’t exactly invite us to go with him when he escaped Uzan. We followed him. So, he went to big brother and begged for the god glass to trap us. To put us away like we were any worse than he. Well, that is a strong possibility, but it’s all in one’s perspective.”
“He went after you?”
“He came after us both. Arrogant fellow, Rey’azikeen. So, we hid in the hell dimension of this realm and discovered that Lucifer was champing at the bit for … what do you call it? Payback? We devised a plan and used the god glass against him. Two and a quarter—Lucifer isn’t the best fighter—against one? I like it best when the odds are in my favor.”
“You ganged up on him.”
“Of course. I’m not stupid. So, we trapped Jehovah’s brother in the very dimension that was made for him. When we got back to hell with him, little Rey’azikeen wasn’t quite his usual self. See, even a few seconds in that hell dimension is like years on this plane. He was so disoriented that by the time he figured out what was happening, Lucifer already had him in the rune. He didn’t stand a chance, really.”
“Why are you, a god, in cahoots with a fallen angel?”
“Boredom, mostly. It’s been fun watching this little feud play out between Jehovah and one of his children. And don’t get me started on the one between Jehovah and the boy. By the way, wherever is your light?”
“I lent it to a friend.”
“Well, he won’t live long.”
“Longer than you.”
He laughed, Kim’s hair falling over her shoulders as her head fell back, and it hit me what he was doing. He was stalling.
I turned a full circle. Was his bestie from Uzan here?
“Why are you in cahoots with Jehovah?”
“I’m not,” I said, watching the skies for another presence. I walked away from him, searching. Scanning.
“He’s using you to do his dirty work. You’re the hired help. And then he erases your memory? I’d find a better lot of friends if I were you.”
Oh yeah. He was stalling. Only a god could kill another god, but maybe it was harder than it sounded. Maybe he needed backup. He’d already proved he fought dirty.
“When he remembers who you are,” he continued, and I wondered if he ever shut up, “he shall not be happy. Rey’azikeen. You did send him to prison, one that your ancestors created. Do you think he will still love you?”
I tried so hard to remember. If I’d known Reyes way back when, maybe I knew this winner. Maybe I knew his name. Club God was bound to have a very small membership. I had to know his name. Then it hit me. Not his name but a plan. I was so good at those.
“You said you escaped with Eidolon,” I said, keeping my gaze toward the heavens. “I thought you were Eidolon.”
“It breaks my heart that you don’t remember me. Not bad. Not like a complete break. More like a hairline fracture.”
“Sorry. I’m horrible with names.”
“I’ll give you a hint.” He took another bite. “It’s bigger than a bread box—”
I swirled around and smiled. “There.”
“Ah. Did it come to you?”
I opened my palm where I’d stashed the god glass. I was worried he’d see it in my jeans so I held on to it. For dear, sweet life.
He stilled instantly, his gaze laser locked onto the locket. The second I opened the glass cover, thunderstorms and lightning bolts shot out around us.
He reacted immediately. He started forward, but I slowed time. He met it and kept coming. I slowed it more, so much so that the people around us didn’t just stop moving, they started moving backwards, sluggish and surreal. I was rewinding time. But again, he met it and charged forward.
The pause was enough, though. Enough for me to press my lips to the top of the glass, the lightning bolts crackling around my face, and whisper, “This is for you, Kim.” I glanced at him from beneath my lashes, and just as he reached me, just as his finger brushed the pendant, I said, “Mae’eldeesahn.”
Rocket had given me the clue in that picture, the shake to rattle my memory. And the blood I got off Kim’s mouth was enough. The god glass just needed a single strand of DNA from the host to capture the being inside.
It worked.
He stumbled back, his face a picture of shock and utter disbelief that he’d been duped. He’d been trapped this time.
I’d seen the god glass work before. I waited for it. Mae’eldeesahn did not. He turned and took off running, but that seemed to make the lightning bolt that shot out after him happy. It curled around him like a lover and ripped him out of Kim’s broken body.
What came out was not what I’d expected. It was more light than anything. More smoke than substance. And it was beautiful. Utterly stunning and absolutely malevolent.
And then it was gone. Sucked into the hell dimension until I called it out. An undertaking that would never happen.
I snapped the locket closed just as I felt another presence. No way could I get away with that twice. I swung around to find Reyes materializing behind me in all his dark glory. Slowly. Lethally, because that boy was the poster child for failed anger management classes.
He glared at me from underneath his lashes, but his concern outshone his anger. He strode up to me, took my shoulders, looked me up and down to make sure I wasn’t injured.
I pocketed the pendant and took his face into my hands. “Reyes—”
“Are you hurt?”
“No, sweetheart, listen—”
“What just happened?” He glanced around, confused.
“Reyes, listen.”
“What was that?”
“Rey’aziel.”
He finally focused on my words.
“Reyes,” I said, and a sudden sadness gripped me so hard I could barely speak.
“What?” he asked, stilling in alarm. Bracing himself. “What?”
“It was one of the gods of Uzan.”
All expression slid away from his face.
“His name was Mae’eldeesahn.”
“Was he—? Did you kill him?”
“No. No, I trapped him. He’s gone.”
Relief softened his features, but only just. He was more confused than anything.
“But he—Reyes, he’d hijacked a human host.”
“That’s what they do.”
“No, it’s—honey, I’m so sorry.” A sob broke my voice. I knew what this was going to do to him. “He took Kim.”
A half smile curved his mouth for a microsecond as he studied me in disbelief.
I stepped to the side and showed him. Kim was lying facedown on the pavement, an arm thrown across her back, the angles all wrong. Her red hair fanned out over her head like a halo.
“I’m so sorry.”
He pulled out of my grasp and walked over to her. Kneeled down. Turned her over and wrapped her in his arms so that her face was almost touching his. He pushed her hair to the side and saw the sores. The sunken features. The yellowing of the skin and darkening of the bruises.
He exhaled sharply, fighting a sob. Then another. And another.
I sank to my knees, knowing there was nothing I could do.
His fingers balled into fists and then splayed against her as he
pulled her into a tight embrace. He held the back of her head. Buried his face in her hair. And exploded into a sea of flames.
I realized then that people had surrounded them. But they only saw a distraught man holding a woman.
Or so I thought.
When he burst into flames, it was both on the intangible plane and the tangible one. Kids screamed and adults covered them as they dragged them away. And everyone, every single person there, ran.
Rising to my feet, I realized I had to do something, but the fire was too hot. I couldn’t even get close. I could no longer see him. I covered my mouth as I watched my husband set fire to everything in a twenty-foot radius. Then thirty. Then forty. The roller coaster nearby. The arcade. The cotton candy stand. The ice cream parlor. One attraction after another became engulfed in flames as people screamed and ran and stumbled over one another.
Smoke billowed around me as families darted in all directions.
“I have no choice,” I heard a voice say from behind me.
I turned to see Michael, my favorite archangel, standing there.
Rage enveloped me. “This is not the time.”
He drew his sword.
This was not the time. The rage I felt at what he was threatening, at what Jehovah had done, erupted like volcano inside me. I ground my teeth together but showed him my palms as though in surrender.
Then I turned my left palm down. Artemis rose into it, materializing beside me. She lowered her head and bared her teeth and let loose a growl from deep within her chest.
Then I turned my right palm up. My old friend and guardian of a sort, Mr. Wong, materialized beside me. He put his hand in mine for a quick squeeze before drawing his own sword. His armor glistened, and power—as much power as I felt radiating out of Michael—pulsed out of him in glorious waves.
Michael grinned. “Do you think I’d come to a battle unprepared?”
Through the swell and ebb of smoke, a dozen angels appeared behind him.
I lifted a brow. “Do you think I would?”
Behind us, twelve hellhounds rose from the ground. They snarled and snapped, pawed at the earth, begged to be given free rein. The angels readied themselves.
“I need to have a word with your boss,” I said.