“Not as much as demons!” a few of the ghosts protested and many of them gave Corson the finger.
“Why don’t you go out there yourselves and ask the angels to help you,” Corson said. “It is daytime.”
“Oh, we couldn’t! What if they say no?”
“The World Walker will ask them for us! She is one of them after all!”
“That one, I think he’s fallen. He’d never help!”
“Ask the golden one then!”
The ghosts all shouted different things so fast that I couldn’t stop my head from bouncing as I tried to keep up with the conversations.
“Enough!” I shouted. Striding to the door, I pulled it open and stuck my head out. “Caim, Raphael, could you please come here?”
Releasing the door, I stepped away from it and looked over the ghosts in search of Daisy. The young woman had helped us when Azote and the lower-level demons were hunting us the last time we were here. From the back of the large group of specters, I spotted Daisy when she gave me a small wave.
I smiled and gestured for her to come forward. She floated toward me as the door opened and Raphael entered. The ghosts all drifted closer to him until Caim entered. Some of the ghosts zipped away from Caim to hover behind the counter. Others were still irresistibly drawn toward Raphael. Kobal shifted closer so that his chest brushed against my shoulder as he rested his hand in the small of my back. The ghosts couldn’t hurt us, but he always moved closer to me whenever Raphael and Caim were near.
“The golden one can help us!” the ghosts chattered enthusiastically as more of them closed in on Raphael.
Raphael didn’t pay them any attention as he focused on me. “What is it you require?”
“The ghosts believe you can help them get into Heaven,” I replied.
“I cannot,” Raphael stated.
“Of course you can!” the ghost who had tried to look down mine and Erin’s shirts the last time we were here insisted as he floated closer.Pervyghost, I’d called him. “You’re an angel! You can do whatever you want!”
“I cannot open a gateway from Earth to Heaven. You will remain here until your time has been served and you are deemed ready to pass on,” Raphael replied.
“See, demons aren’t the only assholes in existence,” Corson said and smirked at the ghosts when they all shot him furious looks. “You’ve heard it from the source, folks. You’re stuck here.”
“Corson,” I said, hating that he antagonized them even if they were only focused on themselves.
“What about you?” a ghost demanded of Caim. “Can you help us?”
“Moi?” Caim said as he rested his hand over his heart. “I’m flattered, but no, you’re on your own with this one.”
“But the gateway has been closed,” Daisy whispered. “We felt the closing, but experienced no difference in ourselves. The humans still see us.”
“There is no repairing the damage the humans created when they opened the gateway,” Kobal said. “It is only a matter of time before all humans learn everything that has happened, if they haven’t already.”
Some of the ghosts made sobbing noises. In the back, one of them threw himself down and started kicking and throwing his hands in the air like a toddler having a tantrum.
Daisy’s eyes went to the covered windows. “We’ve been hearing all sorts of things out there lately,” she murmured.
“And there will be more,” Kobal said.
“We’re stuck here, in this place?” Pompadour asked, and the sorrow in his voice tore at my heart. Some of the ghosts, like Daisy, were here because they’d been unwilling to leave their loved ones behind. Others had been too frightened to pass on. However, most of them were here as penance for things they did or didn’t do in life. Even knowing that many belonged here, I wanted to be able to do something for them.
“Yup,” Corson said.
“Getout!” Ethel shrieked.
“There’s the Ethel we all know and love!” Corson declared as he spun on his stool to face her.
“Get out! Get out!” Ethel shouted.
