"We're not leaving you." Gabriel held his hand out but couldn't go through the barrier of the ward. "Ever."
I rolled my eyes but couldn't help but love each of them.
"You can do this," Michael said. "You're going to have to cut the flow of magic and step behind the ward at the same time. I'm going to try to move us away the instant you step through, hopefully, faster than the blast itself."
"If I let go of this coin and the magic it's hiding, it will explode."
"We know. That's why you have to move fast." Lucifer held out his hand. "Come on, babe. You can do this."
I'd never been less sure of anything in my entire life. There was so much power flowing through me into the coin that I felt faint. I wasn't sure I'd ever felt faint before! What a mess we were in. And I wasn't sure it would work at all. After all this, that damn coin might end up on the ground good as new.
"Okay." I sucked in a nervous breath. "There's not anything else we can do. But please. I can't choose. But two of you have to go. If this blast gets me and whoever pulls me out of the ward, someone has to be alive to care for Ariel." I gave them the severest looks I could over my shoulder. "I mean it, and you cannot ask me to choose."
"Luc, you're her biological father," Michael said. "Go."
Luc walked around so he could look me in the eye. "I'll be close," he whispered. "And if it was for anybody ever created other than Ariel, I'd never do this in a million years." He held his hand out again but couldn't reach through to touch me. "I love you, Lilith. I've loved you since we were newly created, and I'll love you until the stars explode in the night sky."
"Shit, Luc." Tears streamed down my face. "Way to break my heart."
He shrugged. "I need you to try really fucking hard not to die."
I burst out laughing and as he disappeared, to go behind the gates, me laughing was the last thing he saw.
Michael and Gabriel took his place.
"We both insisted on staying," Michael said. "But one of us has to go. You're right. Ariel will need us."
I nodded. "I know."
"So, we played rock, paper, scissors while Lucifer made a sappy ass of himself," Gabe continued.
I had to laugh again, but the strain of holding the coin was getting to me. It was growing heavier and heavier, yet I wasn't exactly holding it up. It had to have been the weight of the power flowing, even though it was becoming less power. "Hurry, my loves."
Gabe smiled. "You're the best thing I've ever had in my life," he said. "I'll see you soon, okay?"
I nodded and he disappeared.
Michael held his hands up. "Looks like it's you and me," he said. "You ready?"
"More than. It's weakening me."
"I can't push my hands through without weakening the ward," he said. "You have to jump out as fast as you can." He looked around. "I think you can spread your wings. There's room in there."
I nodded, understanding what he meant. "I'll launch myself into you, propelling us backward, and you can shoot us straight into Purgatory as it blasts."
"Yes." He smiled. "You can do this."
With my back to my third love, I let the magic drift to my fingertips and spread my wings wide. Crouching, I used my legs and wings to propel myself backward. I felt the ward glide down my body, and the second it hit my fingers, the magic coming from the angels and Fallen, through me, cut off. The coin no longer had anything keeping it from blasting all that magic and energy outward.
In that fraction of a second, as my body collided with Michael and the world began the fuzzy, blinky color-changing weirdness that happened for such a short time while we moved from one location to another, I saw someone appear in the ward.
And then we were gone. I didn't see who it was. We appeared in Purgatory with angels all around us as the biggest explosion I'd ever felt rocketed the area outside the gates of Purgatory and Abaddon.
It didn't take long to dissipate, and even though we were protected by the virtually impenetrable gates, enough of the magic broke through to knock all of us off of our feet.
I stood, dusting off my ass as I peered out to see what happened. The blast was much closer to the gates of Abaddon. Had they been damaged?
Gabriel threw his arms around me from behind. "Thank the Elysium," he whispered.
I turned and hugged him tightly. "I love you."
When no other blasts of energy came, I looked again through the gates. There was a body lying on the ground where the ward had been.
"I think it's safe," I said. Without waiting, I moved myself to Abaddon. As much as I wanted to see who had appeared just as the blast went off, I had to show Luc I was safe.
He stood at the gates, peering through. "Luc!" I called.
When he heard my voice, his shoulders slumped. "Are you hurt?"
I ran to him with open arms. "Not a scratch," I said. "Just tired and drained.
He turned to look out of the gates again. "Who is that?" he asked. "The magical energy hit him full blast. I watched."
We were just far enough away that we couldn't tell the features of the person on the ground. "I don't know. Let's go see."
I focused my energy on moving me outside of the gates and beside the body, but I didn't move. "What the fuck?" I said. "I can't get out."
Luc furrowed his brow. "Neither can I."
We exchanged an alarmed glance.
Murmurs from the Fallen behind us filled the air. They surged forward, questions peppering at us. Why couldn't they get out? Had the blast sealed us in?
