“Oh…I, um,” she started, but Eva had already grabbed the goblet. She downed the rest of the wine in one gulp. When she finished, she declared, “I’m going to get drunk again! More wine over here!” She waved a server over.
“Uh, Eva, do you think you should…” Lila reached for her friend’s arm, but Eva had procured a second goblet. She tilted her head back and gulped that one down as quickly as the first.
“Ah.” She wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “Better already. Come on, Lila! Get drunk with me!” Eva shook Lila’s arm. “You’re always so…” She waved a disapproving hand at Lila’s person. “You.” Setting her empty cup on the parapet, she swiped a fresh drink from a passing platter and offered it to Lila.
“If I get drunk, who’s going to keep you all out of trouble?” Lila protested, crossing her arms.
“You don’t need to keep us out of trouble! We’re not students, for aether’s sake! Come on! Now, we feast”—she pressed a hand to her heart—“for soon, our lovers may depart.” A dramatic hand wave punctuated this statement.
Lila peeked at Castor and Beni, but they were absorbed in their own conversation.
“Did something happen with Adrianna?” She frowned.
“Absolutely not! Ahaha!” Eva cried; she smiled, but the light in her eyes didn’t speak of happiness. “Nothing ever happens with Adrianna. Perhaps, it never will again!” She gripped Lila’s arm. “So…are you going to get drunk with me or not?”
“I’ll haveonemore drink,” Lila agreed.One,to satisfy Eva. She still needed to keep an eye on her. “On one condition!” she added, raising her voice to be heard over the violinists that had started playing across the bridge. Over the cheers of the crowd and the shouts for them to play one song or another.
“What’s that?!” Eva yelled over the hubbub.
“You visit Earth with me!” Lila said, certain Castor had no interest in sightseeing.
Eva fell into Lila, her eyes wide with approval, her cheeks flushed with wine.
“Of course, we should go!” Eva forced the cup of wine into Lila’s right hand, grabbed hold of her left, and tugged her away from Castor and Beni. “Let’s get out of here!” Eva declared, waving her free hand at their two companions. Beni gestured in acknowledgement. Then the crowd swallowedthem up.
Lila sippedher second cup of wine until she and Eva reached the smaller crowd of angels gathered near the Gates at the South Edge. By then, Eva was humming to herself—she always hummed when she drank. Random notes or snippets from a music performance she’d seen at the theatre.
“I can’t believe we’re going to a brand new place!” she squealed as they neared the front of the line, her sullen mood replaced with manic glee. “What do you think it will be like? Do you think it will be as grand as the Great Hall?” Eva swayed on her feet, her skirts swishing around her.
Lila allowed herself a tiny smile.
“I suppose we’ll find out when we get there,” she said. Before, she’d never wanted to tell anyone about her involvement with Luc’s project, but she kind of wanted to tell Eva now that they were going to see it in real, physical form. She almost couldn’t believe…
But why shouldn’t she believe Luc had done it? That even the Creator had been tempted into indulging his ideas? Luc could always imagine such beautiful things. She was the one who’d never had the luxury of imagining.
“We’re allowing a limited number of angels at a time,” the guard at the Gates informed them, “so as soon as you’re done exploring Earth, please come back and allow others a turn.”
Lila and Eva nodded. Holding hands, they stepped through the shimmering golden veil that had once led out to the Void. Now they stepped into a different kind of Void, one lit with thousands upon thousands of tiny lights. A Void that took Lila’s breath away.
The darkness growled; it groaned as streaks of light tore through it. Tiny sparks emerged like candles flickering in the distance—some pure white, some blue as sapphires. Around these lights, clouds billowed out like smoke: burgundy and orange, cream and magenta. Patterns arose: a crystal of purple and gray granite; a glittering mass of lapis lazuli; fountains of clouds; whirlpools of color; everything inlaid with sparks of light, as if the entirety of the darkness had been embedded with gems.
Lila’s eyes filled with tears.
Luc had done it. He’d spent his entire existence working toward this one outrageous idea, but he’d done it. He’d designed a world, and that world had been created. It existed. It wasreal.
It was magnificent.
Even this space alone, far from the surface of Earth, was beautiful beyond belief. Lila felt miniscule gazing at its shimmering vastness, like she could travel its distance forever and never circle back to Heaven no matter how far she went. Like she could be lost, her body part of a dark crevice or a colorful coil and nothing more. Never anything more.
Lila had once believed that Luc could design anything, and she’d been right.
Arrogant or not—foolish or not—she still thought him brilliant.
Brighter, even, than all those so-called stars.
“Wow,” Eva mumbled. “It’s so beautiful. Lila, don’t you think it’s beautiful?…Lila? Are you…crying?”
“No.” Lila cursed under her breath. She blinked away her tears, attempting to recompose herself. “Let’s keep going.”
