Daniel bowed down, and his past self bowed down beside him.
“I cannot abide this!” Lucifer bellowed. “They must never!
“It is done,” the Voice thundered, as if he had reached his capacity for mercy. “I will not tolerate those who would argue with me on this or any other matter. Begone, all of those who have chosen ill or not chosen at all. The Gates of Heaven are closed to you!”
Something flickered. The brightest light of all suddenly
Heaven grew dark and deadly cold.
The angels gasped and shivered, huddling closer together.
Then: silence.
No one moved and no one spoke.
What happened next was unimaginable, even to Daniel, who had already witnessed the whole thing once before.
The sky beneath them shuddered and the white lake brimmed over, sending a fiery surge of steamy white water flooding over everything. The Orchard of Knowledge and the Grove of Life fell into each other, and all of Heaven shook as they shuddered to their deaths.
A silver lightning bolt cracked forth from the Throne and struck the west end of the Meadow. The cloudsoil boiled into blackness, and a pit of the darkest despair opened up like a sinkhole right under Lucifer. With all his impotent rage, he and the angels closest to him—vanished.
As for the angels who had yet to choose, they, too, lost their purchase on Heaven’s plains and slid into the abyss. Gabbe was one of them; Arriane and Cam, too, as well as the others dearest to his heart—collateral damage from Daniel’s choice. Even his past self, eyes wide, was swept toward the black hole in Heaven and vanished within.
Once again, Daniel could do nothing to stop it from happening.
He knew that a nine-day fugue of tumbling ever downward stood between the fallen and the moment they would reach Earth. Nine days he couldn’t afford to spend not finding her. He plunged toward the abyss.
At the edge of nothingness, Daniel looked down and saw a spot of brightness, farther away than the farthest thing imaginable. It was not an angel, but a beast with vast black wings darker than the night. And it was flying toward him, moving
Daniel had just seen Lucifer at the Judgment up above. He’d fallen
His whole world stopped.
Daniel did not see where Lucifer went after that because he was diving across the sky toward Luce. The burning of her soul was so bright and so familiar. He shot forward, his wings clasped close to his body so that he fell faster than seemed possible, so fast that the world around him blurred. He reached out and—
She landed in his arms.
Immediately, his wings pulled forward, making a protective shield around her. She seemed startled at first, as if she’d just awakened from a terrible dream, and gazed deeply into his eyes, letting out all the air in her lungs. She touched his cheek, ran her fingers across the tingling ridges of his wings.
“At last.” He breathed into her, finding her lips.
“You found me,” she whispered.
“Always.”
Just below them, the mass of fallen angels lit up the sky like a thousand brilliant stars. They all seemed drawn together by the pull of some unseen force, clinging to one another during the long plunge from Heaven. It was tragic and awe-inspiring. For a moment, they all seemed to hum and burn with a beautiful perfection. As he and Luce watched, a bolt of black lightning darted across the sky and seemed to encircle the bright mass of the falling.
Then everything but Luce and Daniel grew absolutely dark. As if all of the angels, all at once, had tumbled through a pocket in the sky.
EPILOGUE
NO MORE BUT THIS
It was the last Announcer Luce wanted to step through for a very long time. When Daniel stretched open the shadow cast by the inexplicable brightening of the stars in that strange, neverwhere sky, Luce did not look back. She held fast to his hand, overcome with relief. She was with Daniel now. Wherever they went would be home.
“Wait,” he said before she plunged inside the shadow.
“What is it?”
His lips traced her collarbone. She arched her back and grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him closer. Their teeth clicked and his tongue found hers and as long as she could stay there like that, she didn’t need to breathe.
They left the distant past locked in the kiss—one so long awaited and so passionate it made everything else around Luce go fuzzy. It was a kiss most people dreamed of all their lives. Here was the soul Luce had been searching for ever since she left him in her parents’ backyard. And they were still together when Daniel swooped them out of the Announcer under the peaceful drifting of a silver cloud.
“More,” she said when at last he pulled away. They were so high up, Luce could see little of the ground below. A swath of moonlit ocean. Tiny white waves crashing against a darkened shore.
Daniel laughed and drew her close again. He couldn’t seem to stop smiling. His body felt so good against hers and his skin looked so spectacular under the light of the stars. The more they kissed, the more certain Luce was she’d never get enough. There was little difference—and yet all the difference in the world—between the Daniels she’d met when she visited her other lifetimes and the Daniel pressing his lips to hers now. Finally, Luce could return his kiss without doubting herself, or their love. She felt unbounded happiness. And to think, she had almost given this up.
Reality began to set in. She had failed in her quest to break her and Daniel’s curse. She had been tricked, deceived … by Satan.
Though she hated to stop kissing, Luce held Daniel’s warm face in her hands. She gazed into his violet eyes, trying to draw strength.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “For running off like I did.”
“Don’t be,” he said, slowly and with absolute sincerity. “You had to go. It was preordained; it had to happen.” He smiled again. “We did what we needed to do, Lucinda.”
A jet of warmth shot through her, making her dizzy. “I was starting to think I’d never see you again.”
“How many times have I told you that I will always find you?” Then Daniel turned her around so that her back was pressed against his chest. He kissed the nape of her neck and looped his arms around her torso—their flying position—and they were off.
Flying with Daniel was something Luce would never tire of. His white wings extended into the air, beating against the midnight sky as they moved with an unbelievable grace. Moisture from the clouds dotted her forehead and her nose while Daniel’s strong arms stayed wrapped around her, making her feel safer and more secure than she’d felt in a long time.
“Look,” Daniel said, extending his neck slightly. “The moon.”
The orb seemed close enough and large enough for Luce to touch.
They whipped through the air, barely making any noise at all. Luce took a deep breath and widened her eyes in surprise. She knew this air! It was the particular briny ocean breeze of coastal Georgia. She was … home. Tears stung her eyes as she thought about her mother and father and her dog, Andrew. How long had she been gone from them? What would it be like when she came back?
