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Laura dropped her gaze, releasing a heavy sigh. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“We die if we stay…and we might die if we leave,” Nadine said. “So, we wait for the fog?”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said. “In the meantime, I’ll do some exploring and try to figure out the best way to go.”
“That won’t be suspicious?” Laura asked.
“I have a dagger on me, and they don’t seem to think it’s suspicious. We seem to have all the power over the Malevolent and Rebecca and the other servants. Even with the demons…to a certain extent. I say we use that to our advantage for as long as we can.”
“Forneus requests his angel.” Rebecca stood with the poise of a nun, her hands together in front of her stomach, still looking at me with that sheathed hostility.
“I know the way.” I shut the book I was reading and got out of bed. “Don’t need to show me every single time.” I went to the closet and yanked out my gown with the wings, treating it like a rag instead of an expensive piece of clothing that probably took hours to make by hand.
She watched me as if I hadn’t said a word.
I hated Amon for what he’d done to Beatrice, but I hated this bitch just as much.
The panels separating our rooms were open, Beatrice asleep on the bed, spending all of her time in and out of consciousness, either because she was tired or lost the will to go on. “Hold on.” I walked past Rebecca into the other room.
“I said your demon is waiting—”
“And he can wait another thirty seconds.” I ignored her and went to Claire, who was on the floor with her toys.
She looked past me to Rebecca, knowing exactly what her presence meant. “You’re leaving?”
I nodded. “I won’t be gone for long. But remember what I told you?” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “If they try to give you that pill?”
She nodded.
“Good.” I hugged her and gave her a kiss on the forehead before I went to Beatrice at her bedside. “I have a feeling I’ll be gone until morning…”
She opened her eyes and looked at me, just as lifeless now as she’d been days ago. The wound couldn’t hurt that much anymore, but she’d clearly lost the will to live.
“I’m going to leave my dagger under the mattress if you need it, alright?”
She only gave a slight nod.
I left the girls and joined Rebecca outside, the icy air hitting me with a sting. How long had I been here? Fall had turned into the onset of winter, and every breath was like an ice pack against the lungs.
We went up the hill like we usually did.
But we didn’t go to the black church.
“Where are we going?”
Rebecca kept up the lead and ignored what I said.
“Hey, I asked you a question.”
Silence.
Shit…I should have brought the knife. “Do you get paid to work here or…?”
“Get paid?” Finally got a reaction out of her. “No. I’m here because it’s an honor to serve the angels.”
“An honor? Really? Because it seems like you hate me just a tad…”
She finally halted in her tracks.
Some of the windows in the cabins glowed from light and fireplaces, and it was somehow more eerie picturing the Malevolent in their cabins, their skulls off, watching TV like regular people, like they weren’t freaks.
She pivoted and looked at me, her eyes failing to hide her disdain for me. “You’re an angel, and you take it for granted. You’re ethereal. You’re blessed. You’re beautiful. And you take it all for granted.”
“Look around you. Does this look like a vacation to you? My friend had a knife carved into her back. And I take this shit for granted?”
She stared, her eyes narrowed, her anger palpable.
I hadn’t seen it before, but now I saw it so clearly. “You want to be an angel…”
She turned around and continued forward.
“That’s why you’re doing this…because you think they might promote you to angel status? Is this a Victoria’s Secret?”
She kept walking.
“You don’t want this. Trust me. It sucks.”
She ignored me for the rest of the walk, stopping in front of a set of large cabins in the rear.
I recognized this area was different because the statues were different. Each one was large, bigger than the ones near my cabin, and they each depicted an individual demon. I stared at the one in front of the cabin, seeing a monster with gnarly teeth, several sets of arms and legs.
Just like in my last hallucination.
My heart dropped into my stomach, because I’d never seen this statue before, but I saw in my dreams…saw it right in front of me as clear as day.
“He’s waiting.” Rebecca stood at the door to the cabin.
I pulled my gaze away from the cabin and came close, anxiety flushing my skin, the terror gripping my every muscle. This was his private quarters, and there was only one reason he’d want me in a room with a bed.
