“Can you believe it?” my mother beams. “We’re going to be grandparents again!” She lunges for Candace and shakes her by the shoulders, and suddenly I’m fearing my poor mother, Lizbeth, will be the next to be dismissed in a ball of black smoke. “And we get a wedding out of it, too! It’s like we’ve hit the jackpot. The Landon luck has never been better. This is truly a banner year. It’s as if we’re unstoppable. Dare I ask if you’re the one who’s blessed us with the Midas touch?”
Candace gently removes my mother’s uncharitable grasp and flexes a dry smile. “First and foremost, Skyla is not nor will she ever be a Landon. Secondly, I have nothing to do with your newfound fortune, but I would advise you to refresh yourself with Midas’ tale. It was cautionary for a reason.” She looks to my father. “Our daughter has finally landed in the arms of the one she’s destined for.”
Marshall is quick to wrap an arm around me. “That she has. And once again, I will adore the child she is carrying as if it were my own.”
I can’t help but smile up at the sweet Sector. “I do love you, Marshall.”
“As I, you. And rest assured, when we set our wedding date, it will not fall on Friday the thirteenth.”
My father gives a warm chuckle. “We don’t believe in luck, now do we? Congratulations, you two.” He grins from me to Logan. “Fate permitting, I would be honored to show up at the wedding.”
“Oh my goodness!” I gasp as I look to my mother. “I beg of you to let him walk me down the aisle.”
Candace’s entire body flickers with light as if her luminescence were about to expire. “We shall see when the time arrives. I’m not making any promises to anyone. Look where we are today.”
Mom’s shoulders swim as if she were cozying. “Right here next to Paradise to see the king receive his crown. Aside from the fact he and Skyla are no longer together, I am ecstatic for Gage to receive the honor. I just know this will be a blessing to us all.”
Candace’s eyes ignite like flames. “In what way? You have no idea of what you speak. You have no clue as to what is happening here or on earth.” She groans as she looks to my father, “How in the world do you tolerate her?”
Marshall steps in and links his arm through my celestial mother’s. “I hear the gentry are placing wagers on whether or not we’ll see the serpent manifest before the ceremony is through.”
Candace chortles as they head toward the elite crowd of glowing beings, all of whom turn to welcome her with warm greetings.
I look to my mother. “She didn’t mean it.”
“She meant every word. That woman has never tolerated me.” She saystoleratein air quotes just as Demetri comes up.
Logan leans in. “Speaking of people we can’t tolerate.”
Demetri laughs in response. “I would think you would be thrilled with the outcome of things.” He nods my way. “I hear congratulations are in order.” He looks to my father. “Nathan, always a pleasure.”
My dad smacks his lips. “I don’t know that I ever felt the same.” He eyes Demetri’s arm as it slithers around my mother’s waist.
The room shakes, the sky above darkens to pitch, and the boys run over with Sage. Nathan and Barron look frightened, but Sage is giggling as if she knew what was to come.
“They’re ninnies, aren’t they, Mother?” Her eyes glisten with glee as she looks to me.
“They’re little boys. They’re not used to this.”
“I’m used to this, Mother. You should be proud of me.” There’s a mocking tone to her voice as she takes up my hand, but I relish the feel of her flesh even if she is devoid of it at the moment. I can still feel her. My love for her flows like an endless current from me to her. I will love Sage no matter what becomes of her. She is mine, and that she will forever be.
A trumpet sounds and lightning flashes up in the expanse above. The black sky sheds its stars, and the white jags of light, the spray of lavender stardust are far more breathtaking than any fireworks spectacular. The sound of dark, deep voices begin chanting in a choir, strange words I can’t decipher, giving the room a horror movie flare it was lacking.
“Come”—Sage takes up Logan’s hand as well—“we must gather around the throne. Father’s time has come. This will be resplendent, a tale to be told from one generation to the next.”
I glance to Logan, trying my hardest to refrain from sarcasm as her hand is welded to mine.
My mother takes the boys by the hand and follows along, and soon the room is swirling with a dense blue fog, making this entire scene feel like a very bad dream.
Demetri steps up onto the platform that houses that egregious golden throne. It looks like a medieval relic best-forgotten, something a psychotic dreamed up for himself, and as if on cue the heavily carved throne begins to transform. The gold gleams so bright it becomes like the sun. Spears rise from the back and from the feet until it’s pointed sharp in six places and I wonder about that number, man’s number.
A wall of flames erupts behind the throne and to the left and right the figure of a man, a shadow exaggerated in size, and as he approaches, he grows to the size of an ordinary man. But this is no ordinary man walking through the flames.
Chloe staggers her seemingly enormous girth onto the platform and Demetri holds out a hand to stop her, causing her to stumble and fall on her side.
“Gage!” she calls out and the gentry, the partially human guests gasp, but no one comes to her aid.
Demetri lifts a finger and Emma traipses his way. I crane my neck and spot Barron looking dapper in a black suit. He looks every bit as if he’s at his only son’s funeral, and he might as well be. The funeral of the soul is far worse than the simple act of burying a body. But with Gage, there will be no burial. We will be force-fed his madness now and forevermore, and only I can stop him.
