Iniquity (The Premonition, #5)(103)

“Do you have the boatswain?” Tau asks in a voice one would use when speaking to a frightened child.

“Yes,” I answer blankly.

“Can you do something for us?” he asks. The feathers of his red wings are stirred by the wind

“Who’s us?”

“All the divine angels fighting on this battlefield right now.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Will you close the gateway to Sheol? The Fallen are retreating into it. We’d like to cut off their escape.” I look away from him. He’s right, the path to Sheol is still open and monsters are fleeing into it. Tugging the boatswain from beneath my armor, I put it to my lips, piping out the key that will lock it down. Tau moves a short distance away to get a better view. The fabric of our world knits together, closing off the way in to Sheol.

I stare at Tau. His hands are braced behind his back as he watches the carnage from this clearing on a hill. He looks like a general surveying his troops. For him, this might be what it’s all about, what it has always been about—finding ways to draw Fallen out of Sheol—setting dangerous traps by using enticing bait to lure them. Maybe all this ever was about is the war of Heaven and Sheol.

Or maybe it isn’t. “I found Xavier.”

Tau stops breathing for a moment, but he doesn’t turn to look at me. “Is he dead?”

“No. He ascended. You will see him again when you return.”

“What happened?”

I can’t even begin to explain it to him. I don’t think I’ll be able to ever speak of it. “He’ll tell you.”

“And Reed?” Tau asks. His name, said aloud, is a knife wound in my heart.

“He ascended, too.”

“Then your contract with Heaven and Sheol is fulfilled?” When Tau sees the look of confusion on my face, he adds, “Xavier told me the deal you made.”

“Byzantyne ceases to be…Emil has been annihilated—body and soul.”

“You are extraordinary, Evie,” Tau says, his eyes shining with pride.

“No. I’m just done,” I reply in a thready voice, “with all of it.”

“There is no done. Not while we’re at war with Sheol.”

I don’t argue with him. There’s no point. He has his views on my life and I have mine. Only time will tell who is right. Instead, I move away from him toward the line of angels who are protecting us from the fray. Tau calls after me, “You haven’t asked me about your friends.” I halt and am unable to move forward even though I need to leave. I won’t survive it if one of them was killed. I glance over my shoulder at him, my eyebrow rising.

“They ascended.”

My knees become weak. My first reaction is relief, but I need to clarify, “All of them?”

“All of them.”

“Buns and Brownie?”

“Yes. The Reapers were taken by Heaven right after you left for Sheol, and from what I understand, they were not happy about it.”

“Zephyr?”

“The Power stayed for some of the battle, but he was pulled home when he was injured—” Tau holds up his hands when he sees my eyebrows take the shape of concern, “—nothing that cannot be mended. He went with Preben, who is also your friend, yes?”

I nod. “And Russell?” I whisper his name.

“He wanted to stay—he wanted to wait for you. He said he knew you’d be back and he was going to wait by where the door had been until you got back, but Anya was injured and when she ascended, he went with her.”

“Did he say anything else?” I ask.

“There wasn’t time.”

“Of course,” I murmur absently. I look away from him. There’s an argument brewing just down the hill between divine angels and my faeries who have collected there. They’re demanding the return of their queen.

“You have a job to do,” Tau says. “It’s why you didn’t ascend.”

“A job?” I don’t really care what they want me to do.

“You saved the faeries. You can save more.”

“How can I do that?”

“You can do that by helping Brennus.”

“I’m not following you.”

“He has a mission. He has created thousands of Gancanagh throughout the years. He now has a chance to save them—to give them a second chance. He’ll need your help to do it.”

“Why do you think I can help?”

“You could be a team. You and he could use the boatswain to find faerie souls in Sheol, rescue them, and reunite them with their Gancanagh counterparts on Earth.”

“What if they’re evil?” I ask.

“You would watch them, if they continue to disappoint once they return from Sheol, you would send their souls back.”

“Revoke their green cards?”

“You could start with Molly,” Tau says offhandedly.

An excruciating ache squeezes my heart at the thought of my childhood friend. “You know what Brennus says about Heaven?” I ask.

“No, what does he say?”

“He says Heaven knows all your secrets. They know exactly the right buttons to push to get us to do what they want.”

“I’ve been told that he possesses an uncanny sense of intuition. So you’ll do it—for Molly?”