Celestials
Chapter 12

The soft floor squished beneath my bare feet and the serenity of the place encompassed me. It was quiet but with the beacon of light shining so bright, I was afraid it wouldn’t remain that way for long.

I had projected myself into the equivalent of the angels’ living room. Not the best way to hide from supernatural beings.

Wake up! I told myself. Wake up!

It had always worked before. Wake up! Why wasn’t I waking up? I walked forward, looking for a column or something to hide behind. Anything in the airy, open space would hide me for all of about two seconds.

Soft, melodious singing greeted my ears. I ducked behind a column, hoping to hide until I woke up. My temples started to throb. Fortunately, the beings who were walking by were farther off and focused on the beam of light and their song. Their singing became more intense and like last time, strange sinister notes entered into their song. My headache burst from my temples and raced across the back of my head into my neck. I crouched behind the column trying not to whimper.

The singing got louder and I could feel the beings moving closer to me. They were going to find my hiding spot, but I couldn’t move. The pain ricocheting through my head was paralyzing me.

“Stop!” a loud, feminine voice bellowed. The singing immediately ceased and it was like everyone was holding their breaths. “She is here.”

Fervently, I prayed they were talking about the Queen of Heaven or something like that. They couldn’t be talking about me.

Wake up, Rory! Wake up. Throbbing intense pain felt like it was exploding my head apart. I want to curl up and die. In the fetal position behind the column clutching my head, I was halfway there. If I stayed here, I was pretty sure dying was what would happen.

A distinct whispering reached its way to me. It sounded a lot like the beings were repeating “She’s here” to each other. But then again, the throbbing in my brain was making any coherent thought nearly impossible. Damn, I needed to wake up.

“Find her,” the voice boomed.

There was a scurrying of ants around my body. People moving, bodies shifting, beings flying even. Activity was all around me but I was only aware of it in a fuzzy way. With my eyes clenched tight - the light was too much for my headache – I was only aware of trying to keep my brain from exploding into a million pieces. I tried to breathe through the agony but it did nothing. Finally, a cool hand grabbed onto my arm.

“Micaela,” a lilting, high-pitched voice said, “she’s right here.”

I ventured a look through the slit of my eyes and wondered if I stumbled into a rainbow. It was like a leprechaun had found me. She was small, maybe four feet with bright red hair streaming down her back and pale skin. When she touched me again, I noticed how small her hands were.

“Come with me,” she told me, her Irish accent stronger. It was then I realized she wasn’t a leprechaun, but a child. “I’m Moira.”

I couldn’t move, let alone comprehend the child in front of me. She couldn’t have been more than five or six. With resignation, I closed my eyes and slumped back. If they wanted me to go anywhere they were going to have to take me. The pain in my head incapacitated me.

“Help me,” Moira said to the beings around her.

Slowly, cool hands slid under my body and lifted me into their arms. My arms were still clutched protectively around my head. If I let go, I was truly afraid my head would fall apart.

“So we meet again,” a masculine voice said to me. I knew that voice. “Nice pajamas.”

Venturing a peek between my arms, my eyes came in contact with mossy green one. Gabe. Could this day get any worse?

“I hate you,” I told him. Infuriatingly, this only made him chuckle. Men are stupid.

Why couldn’t I wake up? That’s what I needed to get out of here.

“And yet some of our dates had told me otherwise,” Gabe chuckled. If I had any strength left in my body I would have hit him. As it was, I was afraid if I moved too much my head would fall off. Wake up! I tried yelling it to myself but it only made my headache worse.

“Rory,” a rich, womanly voice commanded my attention.

I looked up to see the woman that I had seen the first time I had projected here. Her dark chocolate skin and wild, curling hair were just as I remembered them. She was beautiful, but the look in her eyes made my stomach sink. It was greedy, like she was Scrooge and I was a pile of gold. Her regal bearing and the silver circlet in her hair led me to believe this was Micaela.

“We finally meet.” Her eyes lit up like it was Christmas.

I lifted my hands to shield them from the bright beacon of light. It made the pain in my head throb twice as much. “Micaela?” I asked.

She smiled wider. “You know who I am?” Why the hell was she sounding so delighted by this? It’s not like I announced I was the president of her fan club.

“You’re the boss,” I told her. Desperately, I wanted to shrug nonchalantly but Gabe’s grip prevented much movement and I was afraid my head might roll off.

She laughed a deep, throaty laugh. “Something like that.” Then she smiled wider. “I’m so glad you’ve decided to finally join us.”

“I didn’t decide anything. This was an accident.” I didn’t want to tell her that as soon as I figured out how to wake myself up, I would be out of here. I could only hope that Jude would wake up soon and realize I was stuck here. He was good at waking me up. Maybe he’d make out with me again. That would be a fantastic way to get out of this hell hole. And then I caught myself laughing. It was actually the complete opposite of hell.

“What’s wrong with you?” Gabe’s voice came from above me. Why wouldn’t he just put me down? Hmm, right, I couldn’t really walk.

I shook my head and then realized quickly that was a terrible idea. The pain shot through my skull with excruciating urgency. The groan escaped my lips before I could think about it. I firmly clamped my hands back on my head.

“Ah, yes, it’s been so long since one of her kind was up here,” Micaela said, “I forgot about the side effects. Put her over there.” She waved her hand vaguely to the left. “It will help.”

I closed my eyes as Gabe walked with me. As cushiony as the floor was, it still jarred my head with each step. Finally, I felt myself being lowered and then heard the clang of metal. Slowly, my headache started dissipating.

With a sigh of relief, I opened my eyes and saw bars. There were silver bars sticking out of the soft, white ground and they surrounded me. The cage was just big enough for me to lie down in fully and tall enough for me to stand. That was it. Immediately, I jumped to my feet and pushed on the ceiling. It was made of some sort of glowing yellow substance. When I touched it, my hand stung like it had been stuck in an electrical socket.

“What the hell?” I railed at Micaela and Gabe.

There was an audible gasp from the other angels standing around staring at me. They looked shocked. Micaela looked furious. What was their deal?

“You don’t mention that place here,” Gabe instructed me.

I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. That’s what they were so shocked about? That I said hell? What was this – Mrs. Strickland’s second grade class? “Really?” I asked Micaela. And then I sneered. “That’s so cliché.”

Micaela’s eyes flashed with anger and I just smiled wider. Apparently, my acceptance of death was making me bold. What was the worst she would do? Kill me? It was already happening and I would only be too happy to have the process sped up.

Gabe stepped closer to my cage, his voice low. “Rory, I wouldn’t make her angry. She’s very powerful.”

“I’ll worry about that when I wake up,” I told him.

He sighed. “You can’t project back. These bars render any abilities useless. It’s why your headache is gone. Our energy has no effect on you in there. And you can’t project back.”

Now it was Micaela’s turn to grin. “You will stay here until you become one of us.”

“And by that you mean until I die?” I clarified.

“It’s already starting,” Micaela informed me, as if I hadn’t noticed the three huge marks on my abdomen. “We’ve seen the marks.”

I shrugged, trying to act way cooler than I felt. “So I die? So what?”

“If you die and your anima is here when it happens, you become one of us.”

Wasn’t expecting that one. Great. So if my body dies while I’m trapped in this stupid cage I can’t project out of, I become an angel. They will then start a huge war with the demons, destroying a lot of innocent humans in the process. Then the angels will win. Normally, at least in fairy tales and bibles, that’s the way it should be. But from what I’ve seen both angels and demons are out for themselves and don’t really care about the humans they are ruling over. I needed to get out of here ASAP.

“Of course, we could just let you out now if you would agree to join us,” Micaela suggested.

Defeated, I sat down crossing my arms over my chest. “I’m good, thanks,” I told her.

Micaela smiled, like I had issued her a challenge. “We will see if you continue to feel that way.” She turned and walked away. Most of the others gawked at me for a few moments and then followed her. The only beings left were Gabe and Moira.

“It’s gonna be hard ta play if she’s in there,” Moira said, tugging at Gabe’s white, billowy pants.

He put a hand on her head and smiled indulgently. “Sorry, sweetie, it’s the best we can do.” Then he looked over at me. “Moira knew you would be coming. She saw the two of you playing together and knew you were coming just for her.”

My eyes snapped up to him. As cute as the kid was and as much as I normally like children, I wasn’t in the mood to play babysitter. Besides, something he said bothered me. “What do you mean she saw me coming?”

“I can see things that are gonna happen,” Moira told me, her voice lilting proudly. “I saw us playing, so I knew ya were coming to be my friend.”

I didn’t think that was quite right, but if that’s what she wanted to believe who was I to crush a little kid, er…angel’s dreams. I wondered what else this girl could see. Maybe she could give me some insight. Best to play along with her wishes and see what I could find out.

I smiled at her. “Right.”

Moria smiled at sat cross-legged in front of me on the outside of the cage. In her hand, cards materialized. “Do ya wanna play Go Fish? I’m really good at it.”

“Sure.” I tried to add enthusiasm to my voice, but frankly I wasn’t up to the acting job. I was exhausted and needed to figure out how to get out of here.

“I’ll leave you to your game,” Gabe told us.

I didn’t bother looking up or saying anything. Really, I couldn’t care less what he was doing. I needed to find some angels willing to help me. Angels like my mom or Marco or Jerrick. Surely, they would be able to get up here. And I’m guessing my kidnapping would be big news. While we played the game, I tried a little fishing of my own. At least, as much fishing as you can do with a kid.

“How long have you been up here?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “I dunno. Do ya have any threes?”

I handed over my three. “Do you know all of the people up here?” Quickly, I looked at my cards noticing all the face cards had white wings. Seriously? “Uh, do you have any kings?”

She smiled at me. “Go Fish!” Then Moira sat back and looked at her cards. “I know everyone I think. Sometimes there are people that only visit when we have ta have boring talks. Oh and there’s always new people. Do ya have any sevens?”

“Go fish,” I told her. “Do you know who my mom is? She looks like me.”

Moira stared at me, sizing me up. “Umm…I think I know someone like ya. They don’t let me play with her a lot. Ask what I have!”

I smiled at her childish enthusiasm. “Do you have any twos?” Moira shook her head. “Do you think if you saw my mom you could tell her to come visit me? I miss her.”

“Go fish.” Moira nodded to the pile of cards in between us. “I can try. They say she is bad and that I shouldn’t like her. I think she’s nice. Do ya have any fives?”

“My mom?” I asked. How could they think she was bad? Why did they want Moira to stay away from her?

Moira nodded. “Ya. Fives?” she asked impatiently.

“Here.” I handed her my five. “Why do they think she’s bad?” I looked down at my hand. “Uh, do you have any tens?”

Moira pouted and handed me a card. “Any threes?” She waited while I searched my ever growing pile of cards. Then she looked away into the distance. “They said she did something bad while she was alive and she didn’t help when we were looking for ya. She said some bad words,” Moira confided.

I wanted to laugh. I didn’t think bad words were allowed in heaven, let alone said by my mother who I’m pretty sure never uttered one. What could she possibly have done while she was alive? And if it had been that bad, why had the council voted for her to be an angel rather than a demon? The child in me hoped that what Moira said was true and when they were looking for me, she wouldn’t help. My mom was on my side.

“Do ya have any threes?” Moira asked impatiently. “Ya’re not very good at this.”

I slid a three at her. “No. I’m not.”

Moira left after she beat me in three games of Go Fish. She didn’t have much information to give me, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that things weren’t right. Of course they weren’t right, I was locked in a cage in heaven and angels were just waiting for me to die. Plus, my mother was in trouble. Who knew heaven was so complicated. It wasn’t all puffy white clouds and feelings of love like everyone thought. Humans had no idea.

I fell asleep and woke awhile later to a soft voice. Is it weird that I fall asleep when I project…in reality, aren’t I already asleep? Ugh, I didn’t even want to ponder the mind bogglingness of it.

“Rory,” the familiar voice whispered.

I opened my eyes and saw a familiar face. “Mom?”

“Shhh, they can’t know I’m here. They’re keeping a guard on me so I won’t see you,” she told me, smiling softly.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes trying to believe it was really her. “Why don’t they want you to see me?”

She smiled again, this time it was a little tight. “Because they’re afraid I’ll help you escape.”

“Can you do that?”

Her eyes narrowed and she looked over her shoulder. “I can’t. I don’t know how to unlock this,” she nodded toward my cage. “And even if I did, I don’t know how to get you out of here.”

“Just wake me up, Mom. Get me out of here and wake me up,” I pleaded with her.

She smiled again, almost too brightly. It was like she was trying to cheer me up or something. “I’ll do my best.”

“Thanks.”

She got up and placed a hand against the bars nearest to me. I put my hand against hers, feeling her cool skin. “I only want what’s best for you.”

I nodded, tears swimming in my eyes. How many of these conversations had I missed out on over the years? “I know.”

“Trust that I will always do what is right for you. Just, listen to me, okay Aurora?” she pleaded softly with me.

I nodded. She was my mother of course I would always listen to her.

“I have to go before they find me. I love you.”

“I love you too,” I whispered, but I said it to her fleeing back.

I know I should have felt comforted by my mother’s visit but something wasn’t sitting right with me. I couldn’t figure out what it was. She was my mom and always wanted what was best for me. So why did her visit seem wrong?

I sighed. I was pent up in a tiny little cage in heaven. Now my mother’s visit to me seemed somehow sinister. I was going crazy. Where the hell was Jude when I needed him to tell me I wasn’t insane or to bring some rational twist to my insanity? Oh right, he was on earth. Probably trying to wake me up. Oh god, he was probably flipping out.

If they couldn’t wake me, Jude and all of my friends would be panicking. Did this mean they would find me? Would my mother somehow be able to get word to them? She wanted to save me. She had tried to force me to leave on all the other occasions I projected myself here. I needed to get her to help me. And Moira, if I could figure out a way for her to do it without getting caught. But she was only six.

While I formulated my plan, I did pushups. There wasn’t much else to do in a cage by myself. Plus, I figured, if my body could get hurt when something happened to it up here, maybe I could also improve it.

The pushups fueled my anger and rage at being locked in a cage. They gave me a way to expend all of my pent up frustration. My last days were supposed to be spent seeing the world and hopefully having some hot sex with a hot demon-Incomitatus-whatever-the-hell-he-was. They weren’t supposed to be me stuck in a cage waiting to die so my stupid anima could start a war.

I needed to get the hell out of Dodge. After what seemed like a million pushups, but was probably only about twenty I was spent. Pushups were never my forte. I thought about doing sit-ups, but the marks on my stomach gave me a pause. If I did sit-ups would I tear them?

Instead I used the bars to do leg lifts. My strategy was two-fold. I figured if I pushed my legs against the bars they would get stronger and if somehow, they happened to dislodge the stupid cage – better for me. After several minutes, and two sore legs later, I felt stronger.

That’s when it struck me.

My mother called me Aurora. She never called me Aurora. In fact, she hated the name. She only let my Dad name me Aurora on the condition that I was to go by Rory.

My mother was trying to warn me. But about what?

The next few days, or what I guessed were days, passed in a similar manner. Moira would come and play with me, my mother would sneak visits, and I would work out as best I could in my confined space. It was a surreal existence, as I suppose any human trapped in heaven would be. But it wasn’t just that. Moira was cryptic about what she knew about the other angels. Although, it could be she was just six and that’s how she saw things. However, my mother was the strangest. She kept calling me Aurora, which I took as a warning. The only thing I could see she was warning me about though, was Jude. Every time I projected here before she had always told me to trust him. It was very confusing.

From what I could calculate by the way the sky became dark and star studded for hours at a time, four days had passed. I guess angels liked their nights too. I was just hoping their sky moved within the same time clock as the human day.

My body was starting to tear itself apart a little faster. Marks stretch from below my navel all the way up to my rib cage. The oldest marks were now stretched across my abdomen. Strangely enough though, they stung a bit when I touched them, but didn’t hurt. However, nothing was real up here, so I was thinking it had more to do with my heavenly cage than the fact that I was actually okay.

It was actually Moira, earlier in the day who had alerted me to how bad they were. We were telling each other stories when she suddenly shifted and looked up at me.

“What’s that?” she asked pointing to something just above the neckline of my pajamas.

I tried to see what she was talking about, but it’s hard to stare at one’s own upper chest without a mirror. “What?” I asked her.

“It’s a red thing. Did you get a boo-boo?” she wanted to know, reminding me she was still a six-year-old.

I lifted the top of my pajama top and looked down my shirt. Sure enough, marks stretched all the way up to my collarbone now. “Shit.”

Moria stood up and covered her mouth. “You said a bad word.”

Okay. I get she’s an angel and permanently six – but seriously? Instead of flipping out on her, which I really wanted to do, I sighed. It wouldn’t help to freak the kid out. I wasn’t mad at her. I was mad at my body for betraying me when I really needed it to hold itself together.

“Sorry, Moira. I…I’m just scared because this mark,” I pointed to the one she had been looking at, “means that I’m getting sick.”

She sat back down cross-legged in front of my cage. “What’s the matter with ya?”

“Uh….”

“Cause it looks like big chicken pox. I had ’em. It was no fun.”

“Well, it’s kind of like chicken pox, except I get them so bad that I die,” I tried to explain. How do you explain death to someone already dead? And then go into the fact that for me dying is a really bad idea?

Her face lit up. “But then ya would get to stay here forever. That’s what Gabe says.”

I smiled at her, trying to be as gentle as possible. “But if that happens, it means that you guys will fight the demons and people will get hurt. I don’t want that.”

She shrugged. “Who will get hurt?”

“Everyone,” I mumbled. Louder I told her, “Angels, demons, and lots of humans.”

Moria’s eyes became huge. “Like my Mum and Da?”

“Are they still on earth?” I asked. I made it a point never to get too personal with Moira or anyone else around. I didn’t want to feel sympathy for anyone I was trying to escape from.

She nodded. “Sometimes I watch ’em from the Viewing Area.”

“The viewing area?” Did I even want to know?

Moira nodded again vigorously this time. “It’s like a bunch of TV’s but they’re like glass bubbles. Ya go to one of the bubbles and look at humans on earth.”

Hmm….creepy stalker angels or Santa Clause with his naughty and nice list. Or the Wicked Witch of the West and her crystal ball. Creeeeeeepppppy.

“Well, if your Mum and Da are still on earth, then they could get hurt Moira,” I told her. No use lying to the kid.

“What about Liam?” she asked.

“Who is Liam?”

“My big brother. He’s strong and old. He was nine. But when I looked last week and he was old…like he had a beard and was kissing a girl. Ew.”

I sighed. “If the angels and the demons fight, Moira, then Liam and anyone else on earth that you remember could get hurt.”

Her eyes became huge with fear. “But they can’t get hurt! They didn’t do anything bad!”

I grasped her small hand that was now holding onto one of the bars on my cage. “I know, sweetie, that’s why I’m trying to get out of here. If I’m not here, I’m hoping no one will fight.”

“Why?”

I racked my brain. How did I explain my predicament to a six year old? Where was Da when I needed him? He was always good at this kind of stuff. “Well, Moira, Micaela thinks that I have magical powers and if I stay here I will help her become Queen of the whole world. Appollyon, who is the demon boss, thinks the same thing, so he wants me to go with him. So they’re fighting over my magical powers. If I run away from them no one will get my magical powers and they won’t be able to fight.”

The only thing that would have made that story better would have been a unicorn. And maybe a wizard.

“So if ya run away with Marco and Jerrick no one will fight and my Mum and Da and Liam won’t get hurt?”

My ears perked up. “You know Marco and Jerrick?”

Moira nodded, her red hair swirling around her head. “Ya. They asked about ya before, but I said I dinna know ya.”

“Why?” I couldn’t keep the anguish from my voice.

“Because they only let me play with ya if I pretend I don’t know ya,” she told me. Her Irish accent was getting stronger the more upset she was getting.

“If you see them again, could you maybe give them a message? They are trying to help me get away so no one fights,” I told her. Could I depend on the word of a six-year-old? Then again, she seemed to be my only option.

“What should I say?” Good question. What kind of message could I get to them?

I racked my brain to come up with something that would be cryptic enough that no one else would understand, but would make sense to Marco and Jerrick. Then inspiration struck. “Tell them these exact words. Can you do that Moira?”

She nodded her head solemnly, like I had given her a serious mission. I had. This six-year-old might be the key to surviving and not starting a war.

“Okay. Tell them ‘The bars behind the light. Bring Lancelot. Trust the Leprechaun.’ Do you have that?”

She nodded again. “The bars…behind the light. Bring Lancelot. Trust the Leprechaun.” Then she looked up at me with wonder. “You know a leprechaun?”

I giggled. Little did Moira know, though hopefully Jerrick and Marco would figure out, she was my little leprechaun. I was hoping no one else would figure it out. But I figured with the clues I gave them and all five of them putting their heads together, they would be able to figure it out.

Moria looked at me one more time, repeating. “The bars behind the light. Bring Lancelot. Trust the Leprechaun. Got it.” She turned to leave.

“Moira?”

“Huh?” Her big blue eyes looked at me trustingly.

“Thank you. You’re being a very good friend.” Moira beamed at me and my heart felt a little lighter. Maybe not everyone in this place was out to get me.

“Ya’re a nice friend, Rory. Bye!” With that she waved and scampered away.

Now all I had to do was wait and hope that Marco and Jerrick found me. I didn’t see how else I was going to get out of here. I just hoped they got here in time. My body was deteriorating rapidly.

“You might as well give up now,” Gabe’s voice said over my head. “I can see the tearing happening.”

“Go away, Gabe.” Why couldn’t he just leave me to wallow in my own destruction?

He sighed and sat down across from me. “Rory, if you would just join us, all of your pain would go away.”

“It doesn’t hurt,” I told him, lifting my nose in the air.

He smiled condescendingly. “The moment you leave these bars it will. These things block most of that kind of stuff.”

Great. So it would hurt a lot when I left. I could deal with that. It was the plan all along. Figure something out, try not to die, don’t start a war. Not the best plan, but it was the only one I had.

“Maybe we should let you out,” he mused. “Once you felt the pain of the tearing, you would beg us to be an angel even if it was just to take the pain away. I hear it’s unbearable.”

I swallowed. Unbearable? Hmm…maybe these bars weren’t as bad as I thought. Argh! Stop thinking thoughts like that, Rory. He’s just trying to get you to come to his side. “I’m good,” I told him, trying to sound way cooler than I felt.

Gabe chuckled. He saw right through me. “Rory, we’re not as bad as you think. All of that stuff that I said, all of those feelings between us – they were real. We could have that for eternity. We would live as angels and things would be perfect.”

“Perfect?” I sputtered. “We would be at war and innocent humans would be caught in the middle. What the hell kind of perfect life is that?”

Gabe’s mossy eyes darkened. “I told you not to mention that place up here.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. This whole conversation was ridiculous. “What? Hell? You know what Gabe? If I had to pick a personal hell this would be it. Away from people I love, stuck in a cage like an animal, and not even allowed to enjoy the last days of my life on earth. This is fucking hell!” I screamed.

Gabe pushed himself right up to the bars, his face a mask of anger. “Listen girlie, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Those things you hang out with are an abomination. Jude is using you to screw with the rest of us and all they want you for is your power – the same as the rest of us. You think they care if you enjoy your pitiful human existence. At least we’re saving you from the pain of ripping apart. You should be grateful.”

“Grateful?” I shrieked. “I didn’t want any of this! I still don’t want any of it! God, I want nothing more than to go home and think that demons are a myth and angels are sweet, lovely creatures. Instead I’m in this hell hole knowing that angels and demons are just as bad as humans, if not worse. Jesus!”

If anything, that made Gabe’s face get redder and his voice was laced with rage. “Don’t you dare speak of that man. What has Jude told you?”

“What?” What the hell was he talking about? Jesus? Did he mean Jesus, as in Jesus Christ? I couldn’t help it, I giggled. “Jesus?” I asked, giggling. This whole thing was getting a bit ridiculous. “Is he real?”

Gabe’s mossy eyes flashed with anger. Oh man, I said something wrong. It only caused me to giggle more. “Of course he’s real. What kind of atheist moron are you?”

I shrugged. “What does Jude know about him?”

“Has he said anything about him?” Gabe asked suddenly suspicious.

I narrowed my eyes, which didn’t help the giggles either. What was wrong with me? “No. Should he have?”

Gabe growled at me. “He’s gone and Jude was the last person to see him.”

Jude told me he was on earth for a while. Was Jesus roaming around earth and no one knew? “How long ago was this?” Gabe mumbled something. “What was that? I didn’t quite catch that?”

“A little less than two thousand years ago.”

I couldn’t help it. I tried to contain it but the gut busting laughter burst out of me. “You lost Jesus, like the Son of God Jesus, for two thousand years?” I just about fell down with laughter.

“This is not funny,” Gabe told me sternly.

I shook my head, tears streaming down it. “It’s not,” I agreed. “There are so many people who pray to Jesus, who look to him to guide them. And you,” I pointed at Gabe, “can’t even find him. How does a being like that go missing?”

“Ask your boyfriend,” he muttered.

I giggled again. “What do you think…Jude offed Jesus or something?” Gabe just looked at me. Oh man, he did think that. “If someone offed Jesus, wouldn’t he be an angel or something. Wouldn’t you know? Wasn’t Jesus offed by the Romans anyway? The whole dying on the cross thing?”

I wasn’t really up on my religious history, but I’m pretty sure that’s how the story went.

“And then he rose from the dead on the third day,” Gabe told me. “What your kind calls Easter, I believe.”

“Ohhh, right.” I nodded. “So then you think he rose from the dead and was offed by Jude?”

“Can you please stop saying ‘offed’, it’s not even a word.” Then Gabe shook his head and shrugged. “Last we saw of Jesus he had a conversation with Jude and then disappeared.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. I’m pretty sure you would know if someone killed Jesus. Besides, doesn’t the big guy…or girl upstairs know what happened to him?”

Gabe looked at me blankly. “The big guy upstairs?”

I pointed up, even though I was already in heaven. Old habits die hard. “You know, God.”

Gabe sighed. “God is a bit different than humans think. It’s not some man on a big throne who sits around and makes decisions about human lives. How utterly boring.”

“Thanks,” I said sarcastically. Then I looked at him. “Then who or what is God.”

“It’s a collective of thoughts and energies. The Oracle plays a part in God. It’s complicated,” Gabe told me.

“How utterly uninformative,” I threw back at him. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Look, you’re not even supposed to know as much as I told you, at least not until you join us.”

“Which will be never, so I guess I’ll just never know all of your nifty little angel secrets,” I retorted.

Gabe held one hand on the bars of my cell and just looked at me longingly. There was no menace just tired, acceptance. “You’ll join us, Rory because you won’t have a choice. You’ll die here and then become one of us.”

Then he walked away.

It wasn’t what he said, so much as the way he said it. Like it was a fact that I would turn into one of them. It scared me. I couldn’t turn into one of them. I had to get out of here.

“Aurora?” my mother’s voice was soft and hesitant. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see her, but I needed time to process everything I just heard.

“Mom?” I asked looking around. I didn’t know what it was, but there were times I just wasn’t comfortable around her. It must be because she missed so much of my life. At least, that’s what I hoped it was. How could I not be comfortable around my own mother?

“There have been people asking about you, Aurora,” she told me, sidling up to my cage.

“What people?” Maybe I was getting a big head, but I assumed angels asked about me or at least were curious about me. I mean, I was supposed to help them rule the earth forever. I would be curious about me.

“Two angels. A tall Jamaican and a smaller Italian. Are they your friends?” She looked at me with wide, innocent eyes. For a moment, it reminded me of Moira.

“Sort of.” I didn’t know why I wasn’t telling her the whole truth. I told a little girl who was far from trustworthy, but I couldn’t tell my own mother? “What do you think they want?”

“They want to know where you are.”

“Did you tell them?” The hope in my voice was just a little too bright for me to restrain.

She shook her head. “I was afraid they would take you away.”

I slumped against the bars. I didn’t want to leave my mother, but she was the one who had originally kept telling me that I needed to get out of heaven. Now she was trying to keep me here? “I don’t understand you.”

“What do you mean?” She looked honestly confused.

“When I was up here before you always wanted me to leave – even when I wanted to stay. Now you want me to stay, when I know I should leave. You’re also telling me I can’t trust Jude when he was the only one you told me trust before. I just don’t get it,” I told her.

Her brow furrowed in confusion and then she started to get angry. She was trying not to show it, but I could tell my mom was starting to get pissed. The thing I couldn’t figure out was why.

“I have to go,” she spat at me.

Before she could move, the beacon of light started blinking and I swore I heard the sounds of trumpets. People started rushing over to the pole with the beacon of light on top.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

My mother looked at me like I was an idiot. Thanks mom, don’t know heaven protocol. “Messengers from the Oracle.”

With that, she left me and ran to the beacon with all the other angels. Moria skidded by and gave me a thumbs-up as she passed. I was guessing that meant she had delivered the message to Marco and Jerrick. Vainly, I searched the crowd for them.

I thought I caught a glimpse of Jerrick’s tall, dark form but I couldn’t be sure.

And then I thought of nothing at all.

Two beings appeared from the light of the beacon. Their bodies were in the indistinct shape of humans but they were made of a wispy blue light. Their wings were shapeless, just green waves of light fluttering around their shoulders. Only their eyes stood out. They were two dark blue orbs, where human eyes should be.

The messengers descended from the beacon and floated over to where Micaela stood. When they spoke their voices came out in a ball of white-yellow light that rose from their chest, up their throat and out of their mouths. When their voice stopped, the ball disappeared. Each time they spoke this happened, as if someone had given them these message balls to say to the crowd.

“Micaela, I am displeased,” the first voice ball spoke from the messenger closest to me. Clearly, this was not the being’s voice. It boomed with authority. Perhaps it was the actual Oracle’s voice. If so, she sounded like a wise old woman.

“You cannot force her hand. She is not choosing,” the second being’s voice ball said, with the same voice as the first.

The messengers floated toward me. Two sets of blue hollowed light stared at me. It was eerie and unnerving. Not to mention all of the angels were also watching me. One of the beings lifted a shapeless hand and the door to my cage flew open. I wanted to run out and enjoy the freedom, but I was afraid.

I wasn’t sure if that’s what the beings wanted and if going near them would be better than staying in the cage. Plus, I was afraid that the tearing apart of my body would start to hurt.

“You will come,” the voice ball told me. It left me little choice but to obey it.

Moira ran up to me before I could make my way out the door. “I don’t want you to leave,” she cried. “You’re my friend!”

I knelt down so I was level with her. “I know, sweetie, but I have to. The messengers told me I have to go with them and I have to listen.”

I hugged her small body tight to me. She had been the only bright spot in this miserable existence known as heaven. Her small arms tightened around me and I leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“If you ever need me, just talk to Jerrick and Marco. They’ll know how to find me.” At least, until I die.

Moira smiled up at me. “Okay.”

With that I stepped out of the cage and I stumbled. It felt like my entire torso was trying to rip itself down the middle. Gabe was right, the pain was unbearable. I wanted to die right then. My body didn’t seem to want to stay in one piece.

I tried to step toward the messengers, tried to do anything really. All I could see was the soft, white ground rushing up to meet my face. When my body made impact, a scream tore from my throat. It was like a hundred knives had just been shoved into my chest and stomach.

“Jude’s going to be upset,” a voice whispered near me in a thick Italian accent. Marco.

I opened my eyes to try and find him but all I could see were feet. However, there were two that stood out. Most of the other angels had bare feet or a ballet-like slippers on. The two pairs of feet closest to me wore dirty sneakers and the other were dark chocolate bare feet. Marco and Jerrick.

“Don’t tell him,” I whispered into the ground. God, it hurt to breathe, to talk. It was like the knives left my body and inserted themselves back in. “Don’t tell him how bad I am.”

As the messengers lifted me up, they’re glowing arms cool on my fevered skin, I made eye contact with Jerrick.

“We have to, love. He needs to know.”

I shook my head. “Tell what happened. Not about tearing…pain. Not yet. He worried,” I told him incompletely. My eyes were starting to close and my body was shutting down from the pain.

“This is no good,” Marco told Jerrick.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Very, very, no good.”

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