"Let them speak, White Witch. We need to hear them." I used magic to push my words into his heart, so that hopefully, deep inside where Cecilio fought, he'd relax.
It worked a bit. He stopped shaking, at least.
"The soul must not reach Gehenna," he whispered. "Help me." His voice was so faint I had to lean close to hear him, my ear next to his mouth. "Help me, and I will help you. My Queen..." He whispered once, then went limp.
Michael caught him before the tall wizard hit the ground, but Cecilio woke and righted himself, shaking off Michael and pushing Mary's hand off of his arm. "Why are you holding me, angel?" He looked around in confusion. We must've been a sight, gathered around him with concerned looks on our faces. He had no idea what happened.
I held my hand out. He looked suspicious of us all, and I needed him to know we hadn't done anything to hurt him. "You delivered a warning, a prophecy," I said. His eyes widened as I repeated his words back to him. "Some of it makes sense to me and some doesn't. Do you understand any of it?"
Cecilio blinked and looked down, twisting his neck as he thought about the words. He pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. "Purity is likely Elysium?" he asked. "Is there a dark or cursed soul in Elysium?" As it happened, there was.
"That's not possible," Mary said. "Darkness cannot abide in the light." She was right. Except I'd tried to make it do just that.
My heart froze as I realized what it meant. "Vincent," I whispered. "I sent a soul to Elysium for safekeeping until we could return to Abaddon to deal with him." What had I done? Had it been the wrong decision?
"He's probably broken free," Gabe said. "That would be our luck, anyway. And without the protective bubble you encased him in, he'd be expelled from Elysium."
"Where would he go?" Mary asked.
Of course. The prophecy made perfect sense now. As the soul of an angel, he should've gone straight to Elysium, but he was evil. Abaddon was the only place for him.
But Abaddon was compromised. I wasn't sure it would even hold the souls. It certainly couldn't hold the demons.
"The River of the Damned," Lucifer said. Damn, but I was sure he was right. Where else could the soul be?
Mary blinked several times. "That'sreal?" Wow, there was something she didn't know. That was a surprise. She seemed wise far above her station and had a vast amount of knowledge, most likely gleaned from all those books in her home.
I chuckled. "In a way. It's a part of the same plane the demons are trapped in. You can see it, but you can't touch it. Humans can neither see it nor touch it. A soul cannot remain there for long, especially in the space between Earth, Elysium, and Abaddon. A soul must go one way or another. Souls that are pure go straight to Elysium and do not remain in the River long, if at all, which is why it's largely considered the River of theDamnedand not just a river of souls."
Mary nodded. "Where does it stop? Hell?"
"After the soul is forced to relive the worst moments of their lives, all the times they made the worst choices, they go to Purgatory," Luc said. "Therefore, some souls, who maybe only made a few truly bad choices, move through quickly, and some take a very long time." He shook his head. He didn't understand it either. "But souls of Angels aren't meant to be in Purgatory or the River at all. It can disrupt the entire system. Mess with the magic of it all."
He looked at Mary. "It's a very delicate balance. Magic is picky."
She nodded as if she understood completely. "That it is." They exchanged a look, and I wondered if she was beginning to soften toward the King of Abaddon a bit. But then she sniffed and gave him a haughty look before turning her attention back to Cecilio.
"Are you well,Brujo Blanco?" Mary asked. "We can stay with you."
He shook his head. "I am fine. It's like it didn't happen. Go. Save the world."
"We are in your debt, even with the way things went wrong," Lucifer said. I knew it was difficult for him to admit that Cecilio had been helpful after nearly killing him.
We had no time to waste. If Vincent was in the River, we had to get to him before he got to Purgatory, and though it wasn't a literal river, it was a massive flow of souls. So many that it was difficult to pinpoint just one soul in the mix.
There was one question that had bothered me since we saw our sleeping quarters the night before. “Cecilio, there’s one question that I have to ask,” I said. “If it’s none of my business, tell me and I’ll never speak of it again.”
He furrowed his brow waiting for my question.
I pointed to his odd home. “Why the enormous, luxurious, somehow laws-of-gravity defying home?”
He smiled, but his eyes were full of sadness and regret. “I used to have a very large family.”
He didn’t expand. I wondered if he meant a wife and kids, or if he was talking about his angelic parentage. But, I’d asked enough invasive questions for one day. "Come. We have to get to the edge of the wards," I said. "Any chance you can lift them for a few minutes while we disappear?"
Cecilio shook his head. "It would take hours to stop them all and hours to put them back. Faster to walk."
"Okay, then. Luc and Mary in the middle." I led the way this time.
