Page 42

Marnie’s hands hovered over my arm, a faint golden glow radiating from her fingertips as she worked to heal the angry Riftkeeper mark. The burn still throbbed, but the pain was at least dulling with each passing second.

“You shouldn’t have done this, Grace,” she said with a shake of her head. “I told you this wasn’t a good idea. Why don’t you ever listen?”

I stared at the mark as it began to fade under her touch, and my thoughts drifted back to the motel, Hunter’s hands on me, his lips against mine.

The kiss had been a mistake—one we both knew—but that didn’t stop me from missing the way he held me, as if I was the only thing grounding him amidst the chaos.

“Are you even listening to me right now?” Marnie’s voice snapped me back to the present.

“Yeah,” I lied, my voice quieter than usual. “Thank you... for doing this.”

She sighed, shaking her head but not saying anything more.

The golden glow dimmed as she finished, and the mark was now just a faint bruise on my skin that would eventually go away.

She sat back against the bed, studying me with those perceptive green eyes, and I crawled towards her, resting my head against her shoulder.

“Marnie?”

She hummed.

“Have you ever thought about... not doing this?”

“What do you mean?”

I tilted my head to look up at her. “I mean, if you were given the chance to be with someone, to live a normal life—even if it meant forgetting everything about Celestia, the Ascendants, the angels—would you take it?”

She hesitated for a second. “No,” she said with a frown, but it wasn’t the answer I had hoped for.

She straightened against the wall, and I sat up.

“I’ve always wanted to ascend. I don’t think anything has ever made me change my mind, not my parents, nor the Ascendants around me.

..” Her expression softened as she glanced at me.

“It’s what I was born to be. I want to help people.

I want to protect and heal our world, even if that means I won’t ever have a normal life.

This is my dream. It always has been, and I intend to follow it through. ”

Her words hit me harder than I expected. I’d never really let myself consider that possibility. Joe’s life wasn’t normal, even with me in it, and now I’d said something to him I could never take back.

“What about you, Grace? What would you do if you could choose anything?”

I blinked at her. What did I want? The truth was, I didn’t know. I’d spent so long just trying to survive, wanting to become stronger, that the dreams I once had were now a myth.

“When I was little, I used to want to be a doctor,” I said and smiled when I remembered how I’d dress up as a doctor and pretend to heal Joe. “I guess that is why I was supposed to join the Healers Sector. Joe knew I would like it. Heal people the way you do, just without the powers, I guess.”

Marnie smiled. “You’d be good at that.” She then nudged my shoulder. “But you’d also be good as a Warrior, Guardian and a Messenger.”

I let out a shaky breath. “You just always know what to say, don’t you?”

She laughed. “Only sometimes.” She reached into my drawer and picked out a packet of skittles. Handing me some of the green ones while she picked at the reds, she added, “Just don’t push Joe away. Father or not, he still loves you like one.”

I nodded, my heart squeezing with shame as I allowed her words to linger inside my mind.

“And be careful, okay?” she said. “Because whatever you’re also doing with Hunter to help him find his brother, it’s not just him who’s at risk.”

The skittles began to melt in my hand, and I couldn’t find the strength to even eat a simple sweet. She was right; whatever was happening between me and Hunter was a mess and not just from helping him. But for the first time, I wasn’t sure I could walk away from it.

Not after tonight.

The following day, my mind was still far from calm, and the morning sun did little to lift my spirits.

I was scared Joe had gone to see Nadael, that he’d told her everything from the Riftkeeper mark to what I yelled at him before he left.

Maybe that was why I hadn’t eaten any breakfast, left at the crack of dawn and was now making my way towards Nadael’s office.

I was trying to think of ways I could start the conversation with her.

Most were utterly terrible, ranging from ‘ I snuck out... by mistake’ to ‘ I was sleepwalking, and they say not to disturb you when that happens, so Hunter followed me to keep an eye on me, and we just so happened to encounter Riftkeeper’s!

’ That one was surprisingly the least bad of them all.

“Grace!” Eden’s voice called out from behind me, and I slowed down, turning reluctantly. Her expression wasn’t the usual smile and dimples as she approached, which already meant something was wrong. “I am so glad I found you. You weren’t in room 104?”

“I—” I hitched a thumb over my shoulder. “I was just heading towards Nadael’s office.”

She gave me a tight-lipped smile. “No need. She is currently overseeing the Messengers Sector in time for the competition. I wanted to let you know in person that you’ve been reassigned a new accommodation.”

I froze. “What? Why?”

“It was Joe’s request,” she replied matter-of-factly, as if she just hadn’t ruined my morning with that announcement. “You’ll be rooming with Marnie Lewis.”

My frustration wavered for a moment. As much as I loved Marnie, being moved without warning was infuriating. I knew the reason, but it only made me more inclined to be angry with Joe. “Do the boys know?”

“Yes, I believe Hunter is the one who also said it was for the best.”

Those words shot through my chest, shattering the last bit of resolve I had left in me.

I swallowed, trying to steady myself, but I couldn’t. My throat felt tight, and suddenly, all I wanted was to go back to last night in that motel. “And Joe?” I said, my voice breaking. “Where is he?”

“He’s with the Council.”

“Of course , he is.”

Eden observed me, then placed a hand on my shoulder that did nothing to soothe me.

“Are you okay?” A soft glow leaked from her hand, and I shoved her away, knowing she was trying to heal whatever emotional damage I had going on right now.

I didn’t want to be tricked into a false sense of security.

Despite it all, I wanted to feel every bit of emotion I had in me.

“Do you want to go and see him?” She asked after a moment, and I froze, so she prompted. “Joe, that is.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. Was this some sort of test? “I thought the Council chambers were off-limits to us?”

Her glossed lips curved into a faint smile before her gaze drifted toward a nearby painting of a Celestial battlefield. Without saying a word, she extended her hand toward it, her fingers brushing the edges of the frame as the painting shimmered and rippled like a river.

“Before I came to Celestia, Joe and I had grown up together.”

“Really?”

“We were raised in the same orphanage, and funny enough, we were both Ascendants. You can imagine we were close.”

“What happened?”

“He ascended. And then he had his duties to do, and I had mine.” She sighed, closing her eyes and putting on her cheerful smile. “Whatever he is trying to do, Grace, by having you here, it is only because he cares. You’ll see.”

I still felt unsure as I glanced at the painting. “Won’t you get in trouble for this?”

Eden released a breathless chuckle as she leaned forward. “Oh, I hope so. I would love a bit of thrill, wouldn’t you?”

I’d lived enough thrill so far to last me a lifetime, but Eden didn’t need to know that.

I smiled at her and murmured, “Thank you.” As I took a step toward the painting.

“Grace?”

I turned.

“Try not to get caught.”

I nodded, though my heart was already pounding like a war drum by the time I stepped into the painting. The world rippled around me, bending and reshaping until my boots landed silently on polished marble. I glanced around me, the air humming with energy so dense it pressed against my skin.

The Council headquarters looked otherworldly; a place designed to intimidate.

That much I knew. Massive pillars stretched toward the impossibly high ceiling; each one wrapped in glowing runes that pulsed faintly.

Enormous stained-glass windows lined the hall, their colors muted in the silvery light that bathed the place.

They looked like the ones inside Celestia, but these felt older, more sacred.

I soon heard voices and ducked behind a column.

The headquarters was never-ending yet wide, with nowhere to hide but the slender shadows cast by the pillars.

Ahead in the center of the room, I caught sight of the dais.

It was circular, carved with Enochian symbols.

Farther in, at the end of the hall, there were spiked thrones cloaked in radiance, and I assumed even from a distance that they belonged to the lead Council members.

I leaned against the pillar, forcing my breathing to slow. I had no idea where Joe was, but if anyone caught me here, it wouldn’t matter. I’d be in trouble; so, would Eden.

Keeping low, I slipped from one column to the next, scanning the room for any sign of movement. There were smaller doors lining the far walls, and my best guess was that they led to private chambers or worse cells where they kept prisoners before judgment.

A shudder wracked through me, and I thought about the demon that killed Lucas. My palms were slick with sweat, and I was so tempted, so, so tempted, to head in a different direction until I caught a glimpse of movement to the right, near one of the smaller doors.

Air snagged in my lungs, forcing me to be still.

It was Joe.

He was standing in the shadow of one of the doorways, his head tilted slightly as he listened to someone else speak. He looked tired, his shoulders slumped in a way I wasn’t used to seeing. I couldn’t help but blame myself for that.