My head turns to her, eyes narrowed in confusion, but she’s already making her way off the streetcar. I scramble to my feet, scampering after her like she’s my lifeline. She hasn’t stopped, walking ahead with her head held high, sending a message to anyone who passes that she’s not to be toyed with. Strength radiates from her. Who is this woman?
When I finally catch up to her, we walk in silence for two blocks, in some bizarre standoff. I’m not sure if it’s self-preservation or simply stubbornness; either way, I won’t budge first.
“Your control is a testament to your creator, angel,” the crone says, and I stop in my tracks.
“H-how do you know so much about me?”
She turns to face me, and I notice that the deep wrinkles lining her eyes and forehead are more pronounced today than they were the other night. It’s as though she’s aged ten years in a matter of days.
“You’re not the only one with secrets, girl,” she drawls. “God bestows gifts on many. Even us mere mortals. Only we pay a price for his gifts,” she harrumphs. “Seems you don’t.”
“I’ve paid the ultimate price,” I seethe. “I’m doomed to roam this earth, keeping the lot of you safe. All the while, you, a heretic, get to enjoy your life. You read cards,” I spit. “That’s not the work of my God.”
She tsks. “Who said I read cards?”
“You,” I shoot back, becoming frustrated with the detour this conversation has taken. I came for answers about my future, not to talk about what this woman is or isn’t.
She shakes her head back and forth. “I wasn’t going to be the one to read your cards. I was working in the square with a friend,” she explains, sounding defensive. “I don’t read cards and I don’t accept money for my visions.”
My brow raises. “Your visions?”
She nods. “God has given me the gift of sight. I’m a seer.”
I huff out a humorless laugh. “God doesn’t allow that sort of thing to roam the earth unchecked.”
“Yet here you are. A fallen, roaming the earth, seeking me out.” She turns on her heels and moves forward in the direction we had been moving.
“I’m only here to figure out how to get back.”
“For a celestial being, you are very naïve, child.” She doesn’t even deign to look at me.
“Stop calling me a child,” I bark. “I’m probably older than you are.”
She laughs. “True. Yet I age and you don’t.”
I glance around to ensure we’re alone so nobody can overhear the conversation we’re having. That’s when I realize we’re heading in the opposite direction from the cemetery. “Why are we going this way?”
“The dead don’t appreciate angels. It’s hard to cleanse their souls and send them to the afterlife on a normal night. It’d be damn near impossible to do it with you loitering around,” she states, sounding agitated. “Now let’s get to why you’ve sought me out.” She pauses once more, facing me.
I take a step toward her, closing the distance to ensure that anyone lurking about can’t overhear us. “What you said about my light being shrouded in darkness?—”
She shakes her pointer finger back and forth. “That’s not what I said. I said I couldn’t see your light, and that something evil possesses your soul.”
I gulp at the reminder of that less-than-pleasant description. “What does it mean?”
She smacks her lips together. “I think you know very well what it means.”
“That because I fell, I’m evil?” I ask, not sure at all.
She frowns. “You can delude yourself as much as you want, but you and I both know that’s not the reason evil surrounds you. It’s why you fell, Victoria.”
My spine straightens and I glare down at the woman. “It’s obvious you know a great deal about me, but that’s not why I came to find you.”
“And now we get to the point,” she says. “Go on.”
“How do I get back?” I grate through my teeth, trying and failing to be patient with the woman. I feel like she’s toying with me. Her arms cross over her chest in what looks like defiance. I take a deep breath and force myself to ask again. Calmly this time. “How do I get back to Heaven?”
She uncrosses her arms and leans in even closer. “You don’t.”
