taste of fear filled my mouth, but I didn’t cry out, scream, or beg for mercy. My mind and body were churning relentlessly, but I didn’t let the terror show on my face.
“This,” the executioner croaked in my ear, “is what happens to those who serve the wrong master. Heaven’s gone bankrupt, haven’t you heard?” He jumped off the platform.
Lucifer rose to his feet and the crowd fell instantly silent. He looked around for a moment, his eyes seeming to absorb everything, down to the last minute detail. He didn’t speak, just slowly raised his hand as a signal for the execution to begin.
It was the simplest, most casual gesture, but it resulted in the crowd letting out an uproarious cheer. His power over them was absolute. It was frightening to watch how they both feared and adored him. When he motioned for silence the result was instantaneous and every sound was extinguished as if someone had flicked a switch. A deep hush fell over the crowd as the executioner struck a long match, held it aloft for a moment, and then dropped it with a theatrical sweep of his arm onto the gasoline-doused construction. The flames roared up with lightning speed. From his seat, I saw a smile of satisfaction cross Lucifer’s face while Jake thrashed desperately against the demons restraining him. Asia was biting her lip, but only to keep her excitement in check.
The flames rose around me like a hundred hungry mouths, quickly devouring the sticks and straw at the base of the stake. I squeezed my eyes tight shut, waiting for the suffocating heat, the inevitable agony to start. I sent a quick prayer to My Father, not in the hope of being spared but seeking forgiveness for all my failings. Then I waited for the flames to do their work.
I felt nothing. Had the torture begun but I was in too much shock to notice? Several more moments passed without any change. I looked around to see coils of flame leaping in every direction … only they weren’t touching me. The flames rose and seemed to part around me so that two columns of fire burned on either side of my body. But I was not burning. Not even a strand of my hair was singed. All I felt was a warm prickling sensation as the fire snaked around me. My flesh should have been melting from my bones, but the fire refused to harm me. If it chanced to touch my skin it seemed to bounce off and veer in a new direction. It was as though I were wearing invisible armor. For one fleeting moment, I thought I heard a choir of angels singing. The sound was gone in an instant, but it was long enough for me to know I hadn’t been abandoned.
It took a while for the spectators to realize what was happening. Once they did the cheers changed to howls of disappointment. Some shook their fists to indicate how cheated they felt. In the VIP stand Jake had stopped struggling and stared at me in open wonder. Lucifer looked momentarily confounded and then rose slowly to his feet, eyes flashing. Speculative whispers broke out all around the amphitheater.
I couldn’t believe what was happening. Could this be the work of Heaven protecting me? Had someone enchanted the flames or was it my own powers keeping me safe? I had no idea, but I murmured hasty thanks to whatever higher power had chosen to spare my life. One look at Lucifer’s face told me how humiliated he felt before all those assembled. He’d intended my death to demonstrate his power and I had unwittingly shown him up. The flames seemed to be subsiding around me now.
“Cut her loose,” he commanded in a voice like steel.
The executioner obeyed, climbing the platform and wielding an axe to hack through the ropes, which were too hot to touch. Once free, I stepped out of the fire completely unmarked. As soon as I did, the flames rose up to devour the wooden frame, which was quickly charred to cinders.
“What the hell is going on?” Asia leapt forward, looking wilder than ever. She whipped around to face Jake. “She should be fried to a crisp! What did you do?”
“Nothing …” I thought I heard Jake’s voice tremble. “I … I don’t know what happened.”
“Liar!” Asia screamed.
“Silence.” Lucifer held up a ringed finger. “Arakiel had no hand in this. It seems the angel has been holding out on us. Her powers are greater than we know.”
“What now?” someone asked.
Lucifer’s listless blue gaze met mine and this time I didn’t flinch away.
“Arakiel,” he said tonelessly. “Kindly escort Miss Church to the chambers until we decide what to do with her.”
As it turned out the “chambers” were Hell’s version of a prison cellblock and they made Hotel Ambrosia look like paradise. The bodyguards hustled me out of the arena into a car and before I knew it I was being thrust into a space in the wall barely large enough to contain me. It was made of rough, cracked stone and rusted iron bars secured the entrance. When I sat down, my elbows scraped against the walls and my legs began to cramp after five minutes. There was total darkness in the chambers, but strange noises like the shuffling of feet and the clanging of metal pipes filtered through, along with mute cries of despair. The smell of damp was overwhelming.
Once the bodyguards left I heard Jake’s voice through the bars. Although I could barely see him I could hear the mixture of relief and confusion in his voice.
“How did you do it?” he asked in a hushed tone. I heard his rings clink as he wrapped a hand around the bars. “Tell me the truth.”
“I don’t think it was me.”
“Well, don’t admit that to anyone, got it?” Jake said sharply. “It’s the only bargaining chip we’ve got left.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet, but I’ll speak to my father — try and persuade him to let you go. Maybe things will be different now he’s seen how special you are.”
I didn’t respond — I was too drained from the day’s ordeal. “Leave it to me,” Jake said.
A few moments later I heard his retreating footsteps and I was left alone in the darkness.
24
Tennessee Blues
WITH Jake gone, there was only one way to take my mind off my physical discomfort. I shoved all troubling thoughts out of my head and focused on projection. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing my thoughts to shift away from this nightmarish place. The transition happened easily, like flipping a channel in my head. There was a rush of wind and then I had the feeling of my body dropping away like a stone as I rose in my spectral form. Before the darkness cleared, a voice reached me, distant at first but growing clearer. I could feel the familiar chug of an engine beneath me and smell leather mixed with sandalwood. I would have known that smell anywhere. It belonged to a certain 1956 Chevy Bel Air convertible. I felt the knot of tension in my chest instantly unravel and I breathed a deep sigh of relief. I was in Xavier’s car.
As my astral form took shape, I realized I was hovering in the backseat of the Chevy between Xavier and Molly. They seemed to be angled as far away from each other as was physically possible, both gazing sullenly out the windows at the passing landscape. Any rift mending that had occurred in the last few hours had evidently been only temporary. Ivy and Gabriel were sitting tight-lipped up front, clearly relieved to be at some distance from whatever dispute was in progress. As I watched the highway speeding by, I realized that we were in unfamiliar territory. My family must have already left Venus Cove far behind them. They sure weren’t wasting any time.
“We’re almost there,” Gabriel said sounding like a parent hoping to placate restless children. His voice, deep and resonant, reminded me of a low chord strummed on a guitar. Hearing his voice triggered a sharp pang of nostalgia for the way life used to be before Jake showed up and shattered everything. “We’re about to cross the Tennessee state line.”
“I don’t see why we couldn’t have gone by plane like all normal people,” Molly grumbled.
“We weren’t going to fly to cross one state,” Ivy replied calmly, though I could sense that her patience was wearing thin. Molly shifted and her elbow went right through my rib cage. The sensation was uncomfortable like a bar of heat spearing through my side. I guessed it was the life force of her human body colliding with my spectral form. I automatically wriggled away from her.
“Ugh, I knew I shouldn’t have eaten all those Junior Mints on the way over here,” Molly complained rubbing her stomach. I noticed she was wearing pink sweatpants and a matching cropped hoodie. Her auburn curls were
