Hades

“That, I cannot tell you,” Gabriel replied.

“Or what, you’d have to kill me?” Molly rolled her eyes, looking droll.

“No,” Gabriel replied in an even voice. “But the truth might compromise your safety and ours.”

“Does he know the truth?” Molly jerked her thumb in Xavier’s direction. I got the feeling their relationship was on a downward spiral and wished I could be there to heal the rift.

“He is an exception,” Ivy said flatly.

“Really? Why can’t I be an exception too?”

“You wouldn’t believe the truth if we told you,” Gabriel said, trying to placate her. But Molly was defiant.

“Try me.”

“Put it this way, how do you feel about the supernatural?”

“I’m fine with it,” Molly replied coolly. “I used to watch Charmed and Buffy and all those shows.”

Gabriel winced slightly. “This isn’t quite the same thing.”

“Okay, well, listen to this. Last week my horoscope in Cosmo told me I was going to meet an enchanting stranger and this guy on the bus gave me his phone number. I’m a total believer now.”

“Yeah, you’ve really seen the light,” Xavier said under his breath.

“Did you know that Sagittarians have a problem with sarcasm?” Molly snapped.

“That would be very enlightening, except I’m a Leo.”

“Yeah, well, everyone knows they’re a pack of assholes!”

“My God, you’re like talking to a rock.”

“You’re a rock!”

Fed up with the argument, Xavier scowled and turned away from her, flopping down on the sofa at the far end of the room. Ivy was shaking her head slowly as though she couldn’t believe they were wasting time on such trivial matters. I didn’t know what to think — was Gabriel really entertaining the idea of letting Molly in on the secret? It seemed unlikely that my brother, who had been so resistant toward Xavier’s induction into our little family, would now randomly bring another human into the fold. He must really be feeling desperate.

Gabriel gave Xavier a warning look. Provoking Molly any further wasn’t going to help the situation. “Molly, let’s talk in the kitchen.”

She flashed Xavier a triumphant look as she marched past him, but was all politeness addressing Gabriel.

“As you wish,” she said demurely.

Then something happened that took the decision right out of Gabriel’s hands. The room began to tremble. The floor shuddered underfoot and the light fixtures began swinging violently. Even in my spirit form, I could feel a tremendous pressure growing in the room.

Ivy and Gabriel moved closer together, not alarmed but somewhat unsettled by whatever was taking place. Xavier sprang up from the sofa, his eyes sweeping across the room, looking for the source of danger. He was tensed to fight, all the muscles in his body at the ready and his feet braced to jump as soon as the signal was given. He looked up in surprise as the glass in the windowpanes rattled and slowly began to crack down the middle. Molly was standing right in the firing line, rooted to the spot. I watched Xavier’s head whip in her direction as he quickly calculated the risk in his head. His protective instinct kicked in and he grabbed Molly, pulling her to the ground. His body shielded hers at the same time as the windowpanes exploded, raining splinters across his back like a hailstorm. Molly screamed, but my siblings did not duck or attempt to shield themselves in any way. They stood still as stone as fragments of glass rained down around them, catching in their hair and clothes but causing no injury. They looked so unshakable that I imagined neither fire nor brimstone could have moved them. Whatever was coming, they were unafraid.

“Shield your eyes!” Gabriel commanded Molly and Xavier, who were still sprawled on the floor.

Thunder and lightning came first. Then a blistering white light followed, filling every crevice of the room so that all its occupants were enveloped by it. It looked as though the room had turned into a white-hot furnace, but in actual fact the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees. I felt the chill, even in my intangible form. Even though I was in no danger I looked around for a place to hide and settled for behind the sofa. A high-pitched buzzing filled the air, like static on a television, only louder and so intense you could feel it reverberating in your brain. When the angel finally appeared, he was standing in the center of the room, head bowed and wings fully expanded so they spanned from wall to wall. They seemed to fill the whole space, casting a shadow across every wall, ceiling, and floor. Light shimmered from beneath his luminous skin and dripped from his body, falling in liquid beads onto the ground where they dissolved. When he lifted his head, I saw that his face was as beautiful and cherubic as a child’s, and yet behind the exterior one could catch glimpses of something much more commanding and dangerous. In their rightful form, angels were at least several heads taller than even the tallest of humans and this angel’s vast and powerful form was evident even beneath the rippling metallic robe he wore. He looked so far from human; it was impossible not to be awestruck. You got the feeling that with the blink of an eye he could crumble the room and its contents to dust at his bare feet.

His boyish beauty contrasted strangely with his marblesculpted body. His eyes shone and his face was expressionless, as though he were daydreaming alone, rather than standing before a stunned audience. His head moved rigidly, unaccustomed to the atmosphere. His fearsome eyes scanned the room, finally fixing on something the others couldn’t see.

He was looking directly at me. I didn’t need to look twice to know who he was; I recognized him at once as the Archangel Michael.

15 Can You Keep a Secret?

IT took a while but the blinding light finally subsided along with the roaring in our ears.

“It’s safe now,” Gabriel announced. Xavier promptly jumped to his feet, but on seeing the archangel he staggered back until he was pressed against the wall. It was as though he needed it for support. But a moment later he drew himself up, stood tall, and confronted the figure before him without flinching or turning away.

Angelic beauty usually proved too much for humans to handle, but Xavier had some experience under his belt. I saw that he seemed to be holding his breath as though his lungs couldn’t, or wouldn’t, work properly. Something as automatic as breathing had been rendered superfluous in the face of such majesty. Molly had a slightly more dramatic reaction; her eyes widened until I thought they would pop right out of their sockets and her hands fell limp by her sides. Then she let out a strange, strangled gasp and collapsed to her knees, back arched and torso pulled toward Michael as if by some invisible chain. She stared for a moment longer, before her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped down in a dead faint. Michael tilted his head and observed her calmly.

“Humans,” he said eventually in a voice that called to mind a hundred church choirs singing in perfect unison. “They have a tendency to overreact.”

“Brother.” Gabriel stepped forward. Even in his perfect human form he seemed dwarfed by Michael’s splendor. “I am glad you have come.”

“It is a dire situation that has arisen here,” Michael replied. “One of our own has been captured. Such a transgression must be addressed.”

“We are exploring every possibility, but as you know, the gateways to Hell are heavily guarded,” Gabriel said. “Has the Covenant got any idea how to break through?”

“Even we are not privy to such information. Only the demons that slither beneath us could know the answer to that question.”

Upon hearing that Xavier’s anger seemed to override his awe and he stepped forward. “Gather an army,” he snapped. “You’re powerful enough to do it. Break in and get her out. How hard can it be?”

“What you propose is certainly within our power,” Michael answered.

“Then what are you waiting for?”

Michael’s eyes slid over to rest on Xavier’s face. It was frightening to watch, he seemed to be made up of