Michael and Gabriel appeared next to the body, and in seconds, both of them fell to their knees, the grief evident in their body postures. Michael gathered the body up and when the face turned and faced us, I was able to see who it was.
Joel. He'd returned from the academy to help.
And he'd never stood a chance. The magic had killed his soul, his aura, but it left his body intact.
Gabriel turned and faced the gates. When we didn't come out, he blinked from his location to just outside. "What's going on?" he called.
"We can't get out!" I pressed my face to the peephole. "None of us can."
He backed up and looked at the gates. "The physical gates aren't damaged, but I can't see the magic. Can you?"
Lucifer and I both backed up and peered at the magic that created the real gates of Abaddon. The physical gates were more for show, although they had to be tied to the magical one because when it had weakened, they had as well.
I couldn't see it.
"It looks as strong as I've ever seen it," Luc said.
Well, apparently, he could see it. "So why can't we get out?" I asked.
"I was able to come in before," Gabriel said. "Let me try now."
He narrowed his eyes, but nothing happened. "No, it's like before all this happened. Can't get in at all."
"What about our home?" I asked. "Maybe I can physically move from one side to the other." Part of our palace was inside the gates and part was outside. "Go check on Michael and Joel. I'll go see if I can get out that way."
I tried moving with magic, and it was easy. I appeared in Lucifer’s and my bedroom. The door to the other half of the house was in here.
It opened with ease, and I was able to walk through. Laughing, I ran through that bedroom, through the hall, down the stairs, and to the front door, which would put me outside the gates of Abaddon, though far away from where Michael and Gabriel waited for me.
The door wouldn't open. "No!" I yelled. "This can't be."
I ran from window to window, then tried the back door. None of them would open. No amount of magic I tried to use would let me blink out of the house, either.
We were stuck in Abaddon for no discernable reason.
I willed myself back to the gates and of course, that was no freaking problem. I appeared beside Lucifer.
Gabriel and Michael stood just outside the gate. Both had tears running down their cheeks. "He's gone," Michael said. "There's no doubt."
The female angel that had accompanied him to the Academy appeared before I could tell them we still couldn't leave Abaddon.
"No!" she screamed.
Gabriel and Michael ran to her and did their best to comfort her. I watched as they spoke, telling her what happened. My body pressed against the gates. I desperately wanted to be there, trying to do anything I could to help her. But that wasn't even an option.
Luc's hand on my shoulder helped calm me somewhat.
"What are we going to do?" I asked.
He looked as lost as I felt.
Turning to the Fallen, he addressed the crowd. "Go organize the demons. Prepare for the souls that will begin coming. I'd say the River is already flowing again. We sent all those souls to rebirth, but humans die constantly. They'll be coming along."
"How do we know they'll get in?" Asmodeus asked.
I shrugged. "We don't. But we should be prepared."
When we turned back to see Michael and Gabriel, they were walking toward us slowly with the angel between them.
"Lilith," Michael said. "It's bigger than just Abaddon."
I raised my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
Gabe patted the woman on the arm. "This is Charity."
Lucifer and I recognized the name. He nodded his head at her. "I thank you for the use of your powers when I couldn't get mine."
She waved her hand. "It wasn't exactly my choice, but you're welcome."
"Ariel squirmed away from Joel and Charity at the Academy and took herself somewhere on Earth," Gabe said.
Panic blossomed in my chest. "So, go get her!"
"We can't," Charity said. "That's what took us so long to come back. We can't get to Earth. Only here, Purgatory, and Elysium."
My eyes widened. "So, all the Fallen are locked in Abaddon and all the angels are locked in Elysium?"
Gabe nodded. "It seems that way. See if you can go to Purgatory?"
I turned to Asmodeus. "Try, please," I muttered.
He disappeared.
"I guess it worked," I said and stared at the spot he'd just stood. He reappeared seconds later. "Yep. Just not out of it. I was only able to move from there to here."
"Do you think this is Ariel's doing?" I asked.
Charity nodded. "I do. And the reason I think that is because we discovered we couldn't get to Earth once we left it before the coin was destroyed."
Gabe flipped the coin in his hand. It was bent and black. "That part worked, by the way."
I stared at the coin as it went through the air. "So you were on Earth at the academy and realized Ariel wasn't there. Then what?"
"We knew she wouldn't come back here. Joel went to Elysium to see if there were any angels that could help us look for her on Earth. There were a handful, the ones that were nervous about being here. Then he couldn't get back to me. I was casting a net, trying to feel for Ariel on Earth."
I nodded. "So, you went to Elysium to look for him?"
"Yeah, and then couldn't get back to Earth. He came here to tell you and..." More tears rolled down her cheeks.
"So, we can't get out of Abaddon. You can at least be in this neutral space." Luc indicated the open space between Abaddon and Purgatory. "We might need angel help moving souls from Purgatory to Abaddon when they start coming again. The river has stopped flowing.”
Michael nodded. "We'll help. But
