Chapter 5
Five
Cleo
Acurrent of chills spreads across my body.
The air is different right now—it’s thicker, less predictable.
I glance to my right at Matt, Kai’s mentor, to see if he can sense the change or if it’s just me.
His brown eyes remain fixed on the Archangels, his brown hair perfectly styled, and tan arms resting at his sides.
Unlike me, goosebumps aren’t covering his arms.
Heavens, what on earth is going on with me?
I school my features, folding my arms and standing straight, awaiting the Archangels to speak.
Luke gazes over at us and says, “You may be seated.”
Finally. If I kept my knees locked any longer, I would’ve collapsed. I sit down on the intricate hand-carved bench perpendicular to the thrones and scan the Archangels. Nial’s eyes linger on me—he is one of the few beings who knows how to get under my skin, and tonight, he’s doing it well.
In the corner of my eye, I spot Kai glancing at me, too.
Pull it together, I whisper, attempting to enter his mind for the first time. I know he mind spoke with Iris’s partner multiple times, so I figure it’s worth a shot to see if we can communicate similarly. Stop staring.
A moment of silence passes between us, leading me to believe my attempt to enter his mind was feeble.
And if I don’t want to stop? his voice interrupts.
So, it worked. Interesting. To be fair, I haven’t attempted to mind speak with another angel before this, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
I turn my attention to the Archangels. They’re currently sorting through their documents, following basic judgment protocol by making sure they follow the proceedings in the divine order. Now isn’t the time for jokes.
Who says I’m joking?
My stomach drops, but I continue watching the Archangels as if unaffected.
You’re always playing, Kai.
Nial clears his throat, pinning me once again with his amber eyes, attempting soulsight. After his failed attempt, he rolls his eyes. “We keep our judgments simple—”
“And efficient,” Luke adds. “Only the purest souls are offered the chance to be Guardians—”
“Therefore, we exert a tremendous amount of trust in our Guardians and those who watch them. During your judgment, your word is as valuable to us as all the riches in the realm,” Annalise chimes in. “We trust you will share your experience in its raw, purest form—”
“By being entirely truthful,” Luke states, plainly. “You may share whatever details you find necessary; whether your guardianship takes five minutes or five hours to share, it matters not. What matters is—”
“The story you tell and its main character,” Jessenia joins. “We may have all the time in the realm, but—”
“Our time is precious, so waste it not,” Nial finishes. “Kai Greene, tell us about your sister and her journey to peace.”
Kai scans the Archangels and chuckles. “That’s it? You don’t rewind the tapes and watch the journey yourselves? You just… trust Guardians to be truthful because of their nature? You don’t even use soulsight for this?”
All four Archangels nod in harmony. I’ll never get tired of watching the way they finish each other’s thoughts. I’ve attended hundreds of judgments for my Guardians, and although the order in which they speak changes, they never fail to work in perfect synchronization.
“If that’s the case, you’re in for a wild ride. I’ve got a good one for you.” Kai winks at Jessenia nonchalantly, and for the first time in my afterlife, I catch her cheeks reddening. Is she blushing?
Looks like it. Kai’s voice enters my mind unexpectedly. I didn’t realize he could still hear my inner dialogue… Sit back and relax. I’ve got this.
Often, when an angel recounts their guardianship to the Archangels, they stutter, barely capable of forming coherent sentences. Odd, too, because most of the time, they haven’t even broken any major rules during their guardianship.
Kai, however, maintains the calmness of a candle’s flame despite breaking our most divine law.
He recalls his journey with his sister, starting with the very moment he died.
Kai took several days to wake up in Eloras after his passing.
As unusual as it may sound, it usually takes time for the dead to awake in the afterlife.
An angel greeted him as he came to his senses.
Then, he skipped ahead to the moment he decided to guard Iris.
He mentions how hard he worked to help her find peace after his early departure.
She means a lot to him. Enough that he was willing to risk his entire salvation.
I can understand why. My family and I were extremely close in my mortal life.
I’m not sure if I would’ve done anything differently in his shoes.
Perhaps that may be part of the reason why I didn’t intervene the way I’ve been trained to.
Several minutes later, he reaches the part of the story I enter in, though he doesn’t realize that. My head grows heavy as I brace myself for impact.
He could ruin me entirely. I’m certain he will.
“…That’s when I realized Jasper could see me,” he deadpans as all the Archangels express looks of shock.
Heavens, no. He just told them Jasper could see him.
“He could what?” Nial asks in a sharp tone, boring his gaze into Kai’s. The other Archangels look equally disgruntled.
“Yeah, he could see me. Plot twist, am I right?” He shoots them a playful gaze. I wonder if he knows who he’s playing with and what they’re truly capable of.
I gulp, swallowing as my throat tightens.
“Oh, c’mon, don’t look at me like that. Don’t worry, I solemnly swear it was for a good reason.
” He tilts his head at them, recognizing they aren’t reacting.
I’m willing to bet they’re all having a combined mental council as we speak.
“You know, I was going to save that reason till the end of the story, but seeing as you’re all so invested now, I’ll spoil it.
He and Iris share a very rare and sacred bond, if you’re catching my drift. ”
Jessenia begins clapping her hands as Luke reaches over to stop her, shaking his head. She shrugs. “Well, I quite like this part of the story.”
“Me too,” Kai sighs.
“Cleo, did you know about this?” Nial tears his gaze away from Kai to me, motioning for me to stand.
Pull yourself together, Kai’s voice taunts me. For once, he’s right. I need to calm the hell down.
“Yes.” I nod, rising, then pushing my shoulders back and firming my stance. Matt’s jaw drops beside me.
“How long have you known?” Annalise questions me, eyeing me up and down.
“I had suspicions early on, Your Grace, but—”
“She put the pieces together long before I did and didn’t tell me nor anyone else. Pretty rude if you ask me, but I get it. Once she realized they were brought together by fate—”
“Forgive me, but I believe the question was for Cleo,” Luke states. I gulp again and nod slowly.
“It’s true. I determined the reason why they could see each other prior,” I affirm, attempting to appear disinterested.
“It all makes sense now…” Nial scratches the scruff on his chin and then gazes at Kai. “When we were recently notified of your question about how living beings can see Guardians at times, we were confused by your need to understand this theory. In reality, you asked because the boy could see you.”
Kai nods slowly, crossing his arms. “Yep. I submitted my question in the drop box earnestly, hoping one of you’d be able to shed some light.” He wiggles his brows, and Annalise surprisingly suppresses a small laugh, covering her mouth.
Heavens, how old are these Archangels? Why are they so enamored by him? For once, I agree with Nial’s discernment.
The Archangels all gaze at one another for a moment.
“Cleo, why didn’t you tell anyone?” Matt whispers as he nudges me, boring his gaze into mine.
“I didn’t believe his ability to communicate with Jasper hindered his mission,” I share nonchalantly, just loud enough so the Archangels could hear me. “I think their shared connection ultimately sped up Iris’s recovery.”
Matt nods in understanding, letting out a sigh. Finally, Luke breaks the silence. “Considering you didn’t necessarily break any Guardian rules by developing this relationship with your living being’s soulmate, you’ve been cleared. You may proceed with your story. You’ve caught our attention.”
Kai nods at them in thanks and continues, oozing with confidence, when I finally connect the dots and understand his plan. No way.
By taking a risk and confessing a risky truth like that, he gained their trust and respect.
I’ve seen enough of these trials to know this one is almost over.
They likely won’t have any other questions, and then they will award him his wings and send him on his merry way to the realm above.
In the meantime, I’ll get to continue working as a Watcher, maintaining an entirely calm existence.
This might actually work. He isn’t as thoughtless as I suspected.
Just as I begin to embrace the calm, an intrusive thought creeps up in the back of my mind: He could still do it—share our little secret and ruin everything. Accepting the amount of power he has over the trajectory of my afterlife makes me dizzy.
“…and they lived happily ever after. The end.” Kai flashes a crooked smile at them, and again, Jessenia claps. Being younger than the other Archangels, she holds a certain youthfulness about her that they don’t have. Odd, considering she’s still hundreds of years older than me.
None of that matters at the moment, though, because he got through his story and didn’t expose us.
I’m free from this nightmare at last. We both are. Relaxing my shoulders, I stifle a shy smile of relief.
Suddenly, the grand doors burst open, revealing someone I would’ve never expected to see.
“Stephen, what an unexpected delight,” Annalise calls out to him.
Stephen has a frantic look in his eyes as the angels guarding the door hold him back.
The look in his eyes is one I haven’t ever seen.
“Guards, you may release him. Is everything quite alright? The realm isn’t falling through the sky in rapid succession as we speak, is it? ”
Luke and Nial chuckle, and then Stephen looks directly at me gravely. My face pales. Something is wrong. Something is very, very wrong.
“I do apologize for my interruption, but I’m here to deliver information of the utmost importance,” he says, out of breath, locking eyes with me. “I know about a Guardian breaking the most divine law.”
Some of the Archangels gasp as they rise from their thrones. The sudden commotion is so loud that I can barely register anything happening around me.
Kai remains cool, unfazed by the outburst. I, on the other hand, have stopped breathing.
“That is a grave accusation to make. Which Guardian was it? Where are they now?” Luke presses for more information.
Stephen moves his gaze from me to our main subject.
Luke’s eyes widen in realization as Annalise begins shaking her head in denial.
Nial presses his lips into a firm line, his jaw clenching.
Jessenia sits down, looking paler than she did only mere seconds ago. I can’t breathe.
“The culprit is standing in this room,” Stephen drawls, approaching Kai to stand eye-to-eye with him. He looks above Kai’s shoulders to meet my gaze again before hissing, “But you already knew that. Didn’t you, Cleo?”