“I watched Oren his whole life, you know. A lot of prayers from his parents for him,” G said. “Sadly, there wasn’t much I could do. But I got to know him over the span of his life, and he’s wonderfully… odd.”
“Odd…” Luc repeated, his head swimming with what he was hearing.
“Isn’t he? He never really fit in among his fellow humans. Kind and sweet as he is, there is something a bit twisted about him. His dreams and imagination are so… dark.”
“So you…?”
“Not at first.” G shook his head. “But he died so suddenly, and when his soul started reaching up, I had this flash of him being down there in Hell. Him finding like-minded folk he couldfinally form closer friendships with. Him meeting you. You’ve been so lonely, Luc.”
“You playedmatchmaker?” Luc asked, the pieces finally falling into place.
He should have known a mistake like that would never happen on Peter’s watch. He should have known the sudden complete absence of G when Luc needed his help was weird. But Oren had been too good of a distraction for Luc to worry about it too much.
Oren clouded his judgment. He made him slip up and miss so many different signs he should have caught. Oren was stuck in Hell because Luc was lonely.
“He doesn’t deserve to be down there,” Luc said, guilt making him feel dizzy.
“He deserves to have a place where he can be himself. He’d be so bored here, Luc.” G shook his head. “His mind is a little too… weird for him to actually be happy here.”
“But he’s an innocent soul.”
“He died one… yes. But you don’t know where life would have taken him had he lived longer. Years of waiting for a cure for his illness. Years of hospitals and people abandoning ship because it’s too hard to handle. It would push the strongest of people over the edge. The brightest stars leave behind the darkest black holes when they implode.”
“He’s a good person!”
“He is,” G said. “And he’ll remain one now that his life is over. But he wouldn’t really fit in here, Luc. You know it. He took to Hell too well, don’t you think? He likes your demons. He likes your hellbeasts. He likes you.”
Luc clenched his jaw. Everything inside him was burning. He was getting permission. He was getting a blessing from the man himself to keep Oren. To have him stay with him and keep making his life perfect for the rest of eternity.
He was allowed.
And yet it didn’t feel right.
“If I ask him,” Luc said, “and he chooses Heaven…”
“He’s welcome here, of course.” G held his hands up. “For all intents and purposes, he does meet the criteria to be here.”
“I’ll ask then,” Luc said, nose in the air.
G seemed amused. “You do what you feel is best, but, Luc, he’s not gonna leave you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’m literally the all-knowing,” he said smugly, and Luc was too raw and too shaken to coddle him anymore.
“Your favorite skater literally retired without you knowing,” he snapped, and G’s expression darkened, his eyes blazing anger at Luc.
“That was low, and you know it!” G screeched so loudly the walls of his palace shook. The door to his office slammed open, Peter standing there glaring at Luc.
“I told you not to aggravate him,” Peter said as he swooshed in, taking the blanket and swaddling G in it like a baby.
“He deserved it,” Luc said.
“DID NOT!” G said from inside his cocoon, and Peter pointed a finger at the door, lips pinched tight in disappointment. “You really are the devil, you know!”
“Out,” Peter said.
Luc scurried from the room, reeling from what he had learned. He had so many huge decisions to make.
