Page 123 of The Sinner and the Priest: Part Two

More loud shouts join her—my family. Sweet relief runs through me. They’re nearby and the ones I heard arguing earlier.

What is that above me? It’s not a canopy, but it must be at least twelve feet long and drops down around me like a tent. Only a glimmer of light over the grass is at either side. I gingerly raise my fingers to touch the fuzzy surface above me, but my fingertips disappear into thick, lush fluff.

The whole expanse shudders with thunderous, high-pitched “Chirp!”

“Noctis?” I gasp.

The fluffy expanse lifts from my face, and I can breathe again.

Daylight bursts in with disorienting color. The air and fluff move at a dizzying speed. I have but a moment to glimpse green grass and blue sky through squinting eyes, but then the space around my face is occupied by an upside down, giant white fluffball with big dark, liquid eyes. Black curled feelers drop to the ground with a thud.

A maw opens within the white to reveal sharp piranha teeth and a pointed tongue. “Chirrrp.”

The sound vibrates through the ground and blows meat-scented breath in my face.

“Right, enough!” Asmodeus’s directive comes from somewhere nearby. “You can see she’s fine. All healed and ready for action. Off you go.”

Noctis’s head disappears. More sunlight flashes in, and in the blinding aftermath I have the impression of giant wings beating hard, children squealing and then giggling, and Jinx yapping. Then my sisters surround me. Thea has her staff. Leila has her pistol. But they’re not who I need to see. I twist around, craning my neck as I search while attempting to scramble to my feet.

Asmodeus steps into view, offering me a hand. His expression is perplexing.

Is he afraid?

Oh no. No no no. Cisco can’t be dead. Emotion wells within me, too strong to contain. I fist his jacket, but before I get the words out, his big hands cover mine.

“He’s okay,” he murmurs.

“He’s—I—” A choked sob bursts out. “Is Cisco really?”

“See for yourself.” He gently plucks my clawed fingers from his jacket and gestures at the abbey porch.

All I see is a giant, fifteen-foot-wide moth. Noctis’s wings are tucked behind him, reflecting pearlescent colors in the sunlight. The long, fluffy tail splits into multiple streams. Some lash with agitation. Some wag as though happy.

“Noctis, move!” Asmodeus bellows as Thea wraps a soft blanket around my arms and body.

I look down.

“Shit,” I mutter. “Am I naked?”

Leila—one hand still pointing her pistol at Asmodeus—uses the other to help Thea with the blanket.

Jinx is growling now, circling Noctis with the predatory confidence of a mountain lion stalking a mouse. The enormous psychopomp side-eyes Jinx, then cranes his head back toward us. Those big liquid eyes widen, and I swear it smiles before it swings its head back in the direction of the abbey and takes a single giant step to the left. There, Noctis sits back on four hind legs and tucks his wings.

The abbey front porch steps are revealed.

But the people sitting there confuse me. The orphans are higher up on the steps—a few Magpies trying to usher them inside. The Rev, Dom, Wes, Zeke, Raven, and Tawny are lower. Some stand on the grass, others sit on the lower steps. They’re all looking up at a bald stranger sitting on the top step, also wrapped in a gray woolen blanket.

His familiar brown eyes catch mine.

“I healed him first,” Thea starts explaining, but I’m already running, desperately clutching my blanket to stop it from falling.

Cisco’s alive.

It takes an eternity to cross a few yards, but all at once I’m there, flinging my arms around him and falling onto his lap. I don’t care that my blanket slips. I don’t give a fuck if I’m naked, hairless, or scarred and monstrous.

If it’s really him, I know he’ll love me anyway.

I have to be sure, so I cup his face between my hands and search his eyes—beautiful, big brown eyes.