I raised my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
Gabe patted the woman on the arm. "This is Charity."
Lucifer and I recognized the name. He nodded his head at her. "I thank you for the use of your powers when I couldn't get mine."
She waved her hand. "It wasn't exactly my choice, but you're welcome."
"Ariel squirmed away from Joel and Charity at the Academy and took herself somewhere on Earth," Gabe said.
Panic blossomed in my chest. "So, go get her!"
"We can't," Charity said. "That's what took us so long to come back. We can't get to Earth. Only here, Purgatory, and Elysium."
My eyes widened. "So, all the Fallen are locked in Abaddon and all the angels are locked in Elysium?"
Gabe nodded. "It seems that way. See if you can go to Purgatory?"
I turned to Asmodeus. "Try, please," I muttered.
He disappeared.
"I guess it worked," I said and stared at the spot he'd just stood. He reappeared seconds later. "Yep. Just not out of it. I was only able to move from there to here."
"Do you think this is Ariel's doing?" I asked.
Charity nodded. "I do. And the reason I think that is because we discovered we couldn't get to Earth once we left it before the coin was destroyed."
Gabe flipped the coin in his hand. It was bent and black. "That part worked, by the way."
I stared at the coin as it went through the air. "So you were on Earth at the academy and realized Ariel wasn't there. Then what?"
"We knew she wouldn't come back here. Joel went to Elysium to see if there were any angels that could help us look for her on Earth. There were a handful, the ones that were nervous about being here. Then he couldn't get back to me. I was casting a net, trying to feel for Ariel on Earth."
I nodded. "So, you went to Elysium to look for him?"
"Yeah, and then couldn't get back to Earth. He came here to tell you and..." More tears rolled down her cheeks.
"So, we can't get out of Abaddon. You can at least be in this neutral space." Luc indicated the open space between Abaddon and Purgatory. "We might need angel help moving souls from Purgatory to Abaddon when they start coming again. The river has stopped flowing.”
Michael nodded. "We'll help. But for now, we're going to go take Joel to Elysium. He deserves a proper funeral, and everyone needs to know what happened."
"Meet me in our chambers as soon as you can," I whispered. "I love you both."
Gabe blew me a kiss and Michael smiled sadly. "You know we're at the end of the line, right?"
I nodded. "I know. We're out of resources."
Our daughter was alone on Earth. If there were any angels or Fallen there, as soon as they tried to leave, they'd be locked out forever.
And there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it.
We’d lost it all.
Epilogue
Ariel
The cat tasted good, but eating it meant I was covered in blood. I'd been able to find food in trash cans for days and days. I wasn't sure how long I'd been hiding in this big city, but I didn't dare use my magic.
