Chapter Eight
Melinda Thymes
Melanie clutched a hand to her chest, eyes flicking down as if expecting it to fade again. She and Sebastian had started showing signs of fading right after Grim. Proof that reality was closing in on the Reapers.
The door to the family room burst open with a loud thwack against the wall as Sebastian and August stormed in. Melanie stood quickly and rushed toward them.
My vision blurred, as it often did when a prophecy took hold.
A golden garden spiraled into view, ribboning together like silk threads weaving a tapestry. My heart tightened, yet my eyes softened at the sight.
Home.
It had been a long time since I’d seen Heaven. But why was I seeing it now?
Then I spotted the golden well at the garden’s center, and understanding struck. Whatever I was witnessing was the past. The scrying glass hadn’t looked like a well in centuries. It had long since taken the form of a mirror, now hidden away in a sacred shrine.
My eyes widened as Lucifer appeared.
Oh, how beautiful he had been back then.
Gold suited him in ways that felt unfair. His robe fluttered around his long legs as he approached the well on light steps. Like the other angels, his skin glowed with celestial gilding. But something about him always stood apart, even when we all appeared the same.
An energy clung to him, pulsing with something ancient and unknowable.
I frowned as he paused and leaned over the well, gazing down into the golden waters within.
We watched the humans through the well. Back then, Adam and Eve were the first.
Just as quickly as the memory came, it turned static to my senses. I broke out of the vision and nearly stumbled as the room around me came back into focus.
Melanie stood in front of me on unsteady legs. My dress swooshed around my ankles as I hurried after her, ready to catch the mother if she collapsed.
I tried to give Melanie my full attention, but my head spun with thoughts of Lucifer. What had I been meant to see in the vision?
“Kitty?” Melanie’s voice was tight and high-pitched. When no one else entered behind August and Sebastian, her shoulders deflated. August gave a silent shake of his head, and Melanie crumbled to the floor, utterly spent.
“Why would the Devil hurt her when he’s so close to getting what he wants?” she whispered. “Grim is gone. It seems pointless for him to do this.”
“Her essence is intact. The Devil hasn’t done anything yet,” August said.
“But what happens when Kitty’s mortal?” Melanie screeched, panic swelling in her voice.
I knelt beside her and touched her shoulder. “Kitty was mortal when he took her, and she’s still alive.”
“That’s worse,” Sebastian cut in, rubbing his chin before locking eyes with me. “We don’t know what he’s planning. And we can’t enter Hell.”
His tone shifted—quieter but edged with urgency.
“I know you’ve helped us so much already,” he added, “but do you have any suggestions?”
“He’s let me enter before, but I doubt he’d allow it now—not with Kitty involved.” I withdrew my hand from Melanie. “I don’t think she’s in danger.”
Their reactions were immediate. Eyes wide, expressions bordering on disbelief.
August was the first to recover, scoffing. “You can’t be serious. Dad said he tried to kill her.”
“That was then, this is now,” I replied.
Regardless of what the Devil thought he felt, some part of him wanted her alive. More than once, he’d intervened when her life was on the line. He didn’t like others touching what he considered his. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hurt her himself.
My stomach twisted with unease.
“Nothing has changed,” Sebastian muttered, voice low.
“I’m not saying you should stop trying to save her,” I said. “She needs you. All of you need each other to face what’s coming. But—”
But what?
Kitty hated the Devil, and she had every reason to. Just like the rest of the family. . Still, I kept waiting for something. Kept pushing and hoping for more.
But why?
If the Devil genuinely wanted redemption—or change—he would have reached for it long ago. I needed to stop clinging to that hope. I believed so strongly that Kitty could break him—or break through to him. But the months had worn me thin. Grim was gone. The human world was dying.
And I didn’t know how much more of their pain I could stand to see.
If someone could break through to the man my brother used to be, it would take years. Years Kitty didn’t have. She might only have days. With the imbalance between worlds at its peak, the gate could open at any moment.
“Never mind,” I blurted, my voice tighter than I intended. “We need to free her. Soon.”
Sebastian lifted his arm and held it to the light. His fingers had begun to go translucent. “Yeah,” he mumbled. “We need Kitty. I don’t know who will be left to fight.”
My vision swam. I swayed before steadying myself—my heart hammering.
Sebastian’s voice cracked. “I can’t let Isabella see this again. She already won’t let me touch her when I’m mortal. She’s terrified her darkness will kill me.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. “But I want to touch her. I always want to.”
I had tried. Hades, I’d tried so hard to help the Reapers. Guided them every step I could. Even so, I failed them. Fading into nothing wasn’t the fate I fell from Heaven for. I’d lost my light so they could keep theirs. That was supposed to be my destiny.
But seeing the tears in Sebastian’s eyes—his fear, his love—it lit a new fire in me.
It wasn’t over yet.
There was still time to save the world.
And maybe—just maybe—save them, too.