“Wow,” Uriel murmured, speaking for both of them. “Whatever I expected, it wasn’t this.”
Michael nodded. Hell was an entirely different beast than he had anticipated.
For starters, it was much brighter than assumptions and the dreary entrance hallway would lead one to believe. Instead of a doom and gloom realm of mist and shadows, they’d paused on a cliffside at least two hundred feet up, with a clear view across sprawling fields of crops dotted with small clusters of buildings.
A pale winter sun beamed down over the land, giving everything a cool glow, and Michael could tell the brisk wind that tugged at them at this elevation would be a gentle breeze closer to the ground. It was a peaceful setting, and even the massive palace in the distance was more colorful and livelier than he had expected.
A sprawling estate of cream-colored stone was enclosed by a low wall of dark shale, and the spires and rooftops were crowned with umber shingles. Burgundy wood framed the windows and doors, and even from this distance Michael’s sharp eyesight could pick out several balconies, what looked like anobservatory, and a wide courtyard garden. It was downright pastoral, and he felt a bit hypocritical for his initial surprise. This was exactly the kind of setting Luce thrived in, this relaxed and homey elegance.
Yet some part of him had pushed aside the things heknewto make room for biased expectation. It made sense on some level that his banishment would change Lucifer, but he should’ve known better than to think it would be extreme. A new layer of shame settled onto the familiar pile.
“Yes, it’s lovely,” Zaj interrupted his musing, flapping around to hover in front of him. “But we have places to be and an arm to repair, so maybe save the sightseeing for your next visit? We have a wonderful tour on Thursdays.”
“You... do?”
“I don’t have time to educate you on how sorely lacking Heaven must be compared to Hell. Just follow me, and try not to slip under the guardrail, alright? One injured angel is bad enough; we don’t need it happening on our turf the second time.”
Michael glanced to the side and noticed the roughly carved stone steps winding along the face of the cliff, with only a thin metal railing between them and a drop hundreds of feet. Uriel followed his gaze and groaned.
“What a time not to have the wings…”
Michael nodded. They had expected to be in the mortal realm much longer than they had been. The glamour that kept their wings tucked away wouldn’t wear off for at least another few hours.
“Less yapping, more stepping.” Zaj clapped his bony hands impatiently. “We have to get a move on if you want to beat the rush.”
“The rush?” Uriel felt more exhausted than he had in centuries, and they hadn’t even begun the descent yet. It didn’thelp that every word out of Zaj’s mouth was more confusing than the last.
“Oh, you’ll see.”
As they wound carefully down the steep incline from the cliff’s peak to its base, a large brick building emerged from the gentle mist and tall pines. It was easily three stories, nestled into the side of a hill, with large windows that allowed them to glimpse a long line of people stretching from the top floor to the first-floor entrance. The line snaked out even beyond the doorway along a cobblestone path to a massive pair of wrought-iron gates that gleamed imposingly in the pale light.
Uriel was so busy looking at the crowd, he skipped a stair and stumbled the last few steps to the ground. Michael gripped his good arm firmly, pulling the other man upright and giving him a moment to catch his breath.
“Thanks,” he said, giving Michael a grateful smile.
Zaj groaned. “This is exactly what I wanted to avoid, the new souls take forever to process. And today looks like a longer line than normal. We’ll have to pull rank to skip ahead.”
They closed the gap from the cliffside path to pass between the massive gates and crossed the lawn to the building’s front door, bypassing the line completely. They received several disgruntled looks for their behavior, and Michael kept his gaze averted.
The freshly deceased tended to be a bit…well,unkempt,to put it politely. But Uriel stared openly through eyes half-lidded from pain as he stumbled along, allowing Michael to essentially drag him forward.
“They look mad, Zaj,” he murmured distractedly.
“Because we are!” One of the spirits in line snapped back, a furious look in his dark eyes. “Been waiting hours, and you’re just skipping right ahead!”
“Official court business,” Zaj sniffed haughtily, fishing a pendant out of his suit jacket and dangling it in front of him like a barrier. A symbol of angel wings in black overlaid with golden stars was embossed on the front of the medallion. As it spun, the back was revealed to bear a second set of wings, this time rendered in gold, pierced with a dark sword. “Important emissaries from Upstairs.”
“Is this going to add to our wait?” Another spirit piped up, peering curiously at the angels. Michael winced at the knife protruding from her sternum. Hopefully someone would help her alter her essence soon.
“Not in the slightest! In fact, I’ll make sure to have a word at Processing and get this line moving double time.”
“Yeah, sure,” the first speaker snorted, but the others in line looked grateful.
“How longdoesthis normally take?” Uriel asked curiously.
“Oh, several hours at least. Usually five, give or take.” Zaj led them up a winding staircase, impatiently bumping spirits to the side so they could pass. “It can take all day if we’re particularly busy. We need to check the inbound ledger, then document their date and cause of death as well as what they’ve done to earn a ticket down here. Finally, after we file that away, they proceed to the aptitude test.”
“Aptitude test?” Michael raised a brow in confusion.
