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By the time we reached the Fourth Sphere, which had been my assignment at the beginning of the semester, I was dead tired and super hungry. I was the only one who seemed to be suffering, and that was frustrating. I tried to hide it, but GC and Paz had seen me hangry countless times, and they knew the signs. We had a reservation at Hotel Fortitude. The building was like nothing I’d seen before. It was built like a stair pyramid, with angel wings protruding from its sides. There were rooms both inside the pyramid and inside the wings, and Professor Maat told us the ones located in the wings were crazy expensive. At the top of the wings, there were two restaurants, and we were going to have lunch in the left wing one. As we walked through the sliding doors – because, yes, everything was modern – I couldn’t even comprehend how the thing was built. Physics said it was impossible – at least, the Physics I’d learned in high school.
I had so many questions.
“Stop stressing and just enjoy it,” Sariel whispered in my ear.
Where had he come from?! I looked around me, but Pazuzu and GC had walked away, fascinated by the strange architecture, eager to explore. They’d left me alone, and I hadn’t even noticed. I’d been staring at the ceiling and wondering how they’d managed to install the incredible chandelier that was hanging from the very top of the pyramid, going down down down, and looking as if it was made up of smaller chandeliers, one for each level.
“This is breathtaking,” I said.
Sariel beamed at me, and that took me aback. Was this the first time I saw him smile? I was pretty sure. I mean, he’d smiled and laughed before, but always at my expense. This was definitely different. It was as if he was happy that I liked Heaven. His home.
“Come on. You must be starving.”
“How did you know?”
“Humans are hungry all the time.”
I sighed. “That we are…”
The view from the restaurant was unbelievable. We all sat around a table on the terrace, looking over the Fourth Sphere of Heaven. In the far distance, if your eyesight was sharp, you could see the Fifth Sphere. The ones who gave their lives for God dwelled here, along with the angels called virtues. These were the heavenly beings through which miracles took place. Crying statues and the like.
After lunch, we had a quick tour of the Fourth and Fifth Spheres, then moved on to the Sixth. The field trip was going faster now, and Professor Maat urged us to move move move. It wasn’t because we were all tired. In truth, I was the only one who was tired. It was because these were the most exclusivist regions of Heaven, and very few people were allowed to see them. The students of Grim Reaper Academy were an exception because we’d become Grim Reapers one day, and that meant we’d be called to reap everywhere around the world, Heaven and Hell included. Angels died, too. It didn’t happen often, but just in case, we all had to be ready.
“I don’t get it,” I said to Sariel, who was now walking by my side. Pazuzu and GC were ahead, arguing over some stupid thing. As they did. Francis was a few steps behind me. Since the five of us were going to have dinner together later, there was no point in being at odds anymore. “Why would Violent Reapers ever be called to reap in Heaven? If you ask me, only the NDC and the MDC should have taken a field trip to Heaven.”
“You’re working on a wrong assumption,” he said mysteriously.
“And what is that?”
“That angels are perfect. We aren’t. The threat of falling from grace looms over us since the day we are born. The rigors of being who we are weigh heavy on our shoulders, and every once in a while, some of us are crushed under them.”
“And what happens then?”
He shrugged, but a shadow had fallen over his beautiful silver eyes. Francis took over.
“I heard Paz say Heaven has the highest unemployment rate. It’s true. It also has the highest rates for depression, anxiety, and attempted suicide.”
“Say what now?!” I’d been a little too loud. GC shot me a questioning look. I smiled and waved at him.
“That’s where we, the VDC, come in,” Francis continued. “We don’t reap a lot in Heaven, but we do talk a lot of angels out of taking their own lives.”
“This is crazy! I don’t believe it.” We’d reached the Sixth Sphere, the home of the just. “If there’s any place in this world where everyone, and I mean everyone, should be happy, it’s here.”
Sariel shook his head. “How is that possible when there are so many restrictions? When everything outside of those restrictions is a sin?”
“You wanna see happy, my dear?” Pazuzu fell in step with me and took my hand possessively. “Wait until next semester, when we visit Hell. Now, that’s where the party’s at!”
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Look around you. Do these people look happy to you?”
The Seventh Sphere was the next, the home of the contemplatives and the thrones. We moved quickly to the Eight Sphere, which I knew was the home of the saints and the cherubim, but the streets were empty, everyone was inside, and I barely managed to see a face or two. It was as if these souls didn’t even want to interact with each other, let alone with strangers. The Ninth Sphere was next and last, and as I’d thought, it was mostly empty. We didn’t stay here long, and I was glad, actually, because the sky was too bright. I had to shield my eyes and ask Corri to get me a pair of sunglasses. No wonder Sariel’s mother, who was a seraph, had preferred to move to the Second Sphere with his father, who was an archangel. Her Sphere was boring as fuck, which was, apparently, another definition for pure perfection.
“Not many souls dwell here,” Sariel explained.
GC snickered. “I bet the perfect ones get here, see what’s what, get reincarnated quickly, then make sure to commit a sin or two, so they wouldn’t end up in this boring place again.”
The archangel rolled his eyes. “That’s not what happens. It’s empty because not many souls get here in the first place. Anyway, it sucks because that means le
