Chapter 15
Kaito held my hand as we stepped through a dark maw into a gaping void.
I knew our bodies would be left safely on the roof, high enough that nobody would bother us. Our physical proximity to the barrier also assisted the psychic travel that the vial of pure evil allowed us to do.
We approached a storm with molten red streaks. Lightning sparked within it and I swallowed past the lump in my throat.
I had wanted to face Cole, but I wasn’t sure if I was quite ready for this.
My wings flared at my back, feeling lighter than they ever had in my physical form.
The storm raged around us, moving in and engulfing us as I screamed.
Kaito held onto me, his ruby eyes blazing into the darkness with that bright rim of silver that marked him as mine. “Something’s happening,” he said just as we fell.
He held onto me and I spread my wings out of instinct.
Our fall slowed into a lofty descent.
We were… gliding.
Kaito held onto me until we reached a grassy patch of earth. A pleasant and familiar musk wafted over me, but I couldn’t quite place it.
“Where are we?” I asked, my voice ringing out strangely in this place. My fingers ventured over my chest and I startled when I looked down, finding a pearlescent necklace glowing between my fingers.
“Another realm,” he said, his gaze dropping. “Is that a soul artifact? Interesting.”
I really didn’t want to know what a soul artifact was, so I asked the more pressing question. “So we’re not in Cole’s mind?” Not that I was super disappointed by that fact or anything, but I still needed to know where our spirits had ended up on this little field trip.
A sweet floral scent tinged my nose, making me stiffen.
Ambrosia.
“I know where we are,” I breathed. The darkness around us swallowed my words, but I knew we weren’t alone.
Not here.
Not in the place where I’d spent an entire year after I’d died.
His mood soured at the tone in my voice. “We’re in Purgatory, aren’t we?”
I nodded, my skin prickling as an ethereal chill ran up my spine.
We definitely couldn’t stay long. Whatever had drawn me back to this place was dangerous and desperate.
Desperate to be free.
“This is an unexpected detour,” he admitted, his voice resonating in this place. It sounded deeper, like an echo of itself.
I looked at him, then did a double take. His horns had elongated and his eyes glowed with renewed intensity.
“Kaito?” I whispered.
“It’s all right, Lily.” He squeezed my hand. “Taking in pure evil has an effect on my true form. It also brings out my full abilities. I’m stronger now and I can travel the realms easily, even here, coming to Purgatory with you.”
As we walked, the nothingness changed, bit by bit.
Stars sprinkled through the nothingness until a path formed at our feet, showing us where my heart led us.
A dome rose up in the distance like a protective bubble. Almost like a snow globe, but without the snow or the cute snow village.
Nope, in Purgatory there wasn’t all that much to look at, which was probably why I’d created the meadow in the first place.
“My sanctuary,” I murmured, recognizing the little haven I’d created during my time between worlds—between lives.
“That's where you holed up while you found the strength to return to us, isn't it?”
I nodded in agreement.
“I knew it.” Kaito’s quiet murmur held awe. “I found this place just weeks after you disappeared and I… I felt you here. I kept coming, looking for answers, for you. It took a long time to even find the meadow, but anytime I looked inside, there was a fog. I couldn’t penetrate it.”
“You came to Purgatory looking for me?” Kaito had been so close and I’d never realized it.
“I traveled in my astral form like we’re doing now, Lily. I couldn’t come here as easily as you brought us now, but I still tried.”
“Why are we here?” I asked.
“You must have unfinished business here.”
Staring into his surreal eyes, I tried to think of what that business might be.
He stroked a thumb over my knuckles and smiled, his demonic features twisting into solace. “It’s all right. Let’s walk around. Maybe it’ll come to you.”
We ventured away from the meadow, from the place that smelled of sweet ambrosia, a flower that I knew would never grow on earth, much less in Hell.
We wandered through the darkness until we finally came upon large, iron cages. I paused, my eyes going wide. “Kaito?” I asked, hoping he’d have an explanation for this.
Something in one of the cages stirred, black feathers poking out from the bars.
“It’s one of Purgatory’s dungeons,” he said, keeping his voice low. “These are the Fallen.”
I stared at him as I processed his words.
The Fallen.
He means fallen angels.
“Why?” I asked, my voice catching, my gaze snapping back to the massive cages. “Why are they here?”
“Punishment for some sin or another.” A muscle in his jaw ticked. “The sentence depends on the crime, of course, but Calamity has been screwing things up for decades. Since time moves differently in all the realms, these poor souls could have been down here for…”
He didn’t finish.
I didn’t ask him to.
We ventured down a long row, then turned into another.
So many cages.
So much suffering.
The angels didn’t even respond to our presence. I peered through one of the bars, trying to see who might be inside, but the darkness within seemed like a void, leaving the inhabitant in a state deprived of senses.
Enough to make anyone go mad.
“Do you know why we’ve come here?” Kaito asked as I ventured to touch the bars, finding them freezing cold.
My heart ached, but I didn’t know why. Something I searched for was here.
Or… someone.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted, torn.
The ground trembled and I jerked my head toward the sound.
“Cole,” Kaito growled. “It seems our time is up.”
In a desperate move, I ripped my necklace from my chest and looped it over the cage’s lock. It hissed and sputtered in reply just as the ground fell out from underneath us, sending us spiraling back to our bodies.
Whatever I’d just done… I hoped it would work.