I kept going. My thighs burned and breath came out in bursts, but I made it to the tenth floor before I had to switch to a walk.
Pushing past the pain in my thighs and lower back, and the intense pain in my hand from the grass, I kept going. The blade grew hotter and hotter.
When I topped the very last stair, on the twelfth floor, I stared at a sign. "Penthouse," I read.
Surging forward, I was surprised to be stopped by a hand on my arm.
"My turn to go first," Michael said. He ran through the door with Gabe on his heels, then Luc. I moved slowly, suddenly nervous. As soon as I stepped over the threshold, the blade of grass burst into flames and burned itself out.
Childlike laughter filled my ears. "Thank you," a sweet, innocent voice whispered in my ear. I knew it was the magic from the blade, and as sure as I knew that, I realized it was literal innocence. The innocence of Abel. His childlike ability to believe the best of his brother, trapped in the weapon that had murdered him so many years before.
"Dang," I whispered. "That's heavy."
When the laughter faded and the power dissipated, my magic alerted me to the presence of my child. "She's here," I gasped, running down the hall. I didn't know what made me go in the direction I had, but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she wasn't in the enormous kitchen or living room I'd just left. She was in one of these bedrooms.
I flung doors open as I went, sparing a fast glance in the room to make sure she wasn't in it.
The last door called to me, so I abandoned the others. How many bedrooms did this dang place have, anyway?
Slamming myself against the door, I turned the handle and burst into the room in time to feel an enormous surge of magic and to see a golden object fall from about waist high onto the floor. A baby's gurgling cry split the air as I saw the ghost of a person standing in the middle of the room before the golden thing fell, but I had to focus on what I'd seen to be sure.
If I'd been seconds faster, I would've seen her. My Ariel. Raphael had to have been the one that disappeared. Running for the spot I'd seen... whatever it was I'd seen, I cried out in frustration when the room remained empty.
A bassinet in the corner of the otherwise empty room drew my attention. Stumbling forward, I fell to my knees and hung my arms and head over the side of it.
"I can smell her," I whispered. "She was here. They just left." My hope and determination crumbled, and pain washed over me.
Gathering the blankets out of the bassinet, I held them to my face and let the tears fall. "She's gone," I sobbed into the blankets, inhaling her sweet scent.
Arms gathered me up. I didn't know whose they were, but I felt the tingle that told me we were transporting.
When my tears exhausted themselves, I pulled the now-soaked blankets away from my face and looked around. We sat on the couch in our living room. I was wrapped up in Lucifer's arms with Gabriel on his left and Michael on his right. Every hand was on me as they did the only thing they could to comfort me. They held me.
Chapter Five
"We need to talk about this," Michael said. "This is a problem." He held up the golden object that I'd ignored in the room.
"What is it?" I asked. Lucifer had his arms wrapped tightly around me, so I didn't move. I wasn't wasting a moment of Lucifer being comforting. He did it so rarely.
"A hammer. If I'm right, it's unbelievably rare and can only be used once."
Gabriel's jaw dropped. "No way."
Michael nodded.
"Do you two care to explain?" Lucifer asked. "It just looks like a gold paperweight to me."
"And me," I murmured.
Michael held the object out. I peered at it to discover it looked like a simple hammer but made of gold. "It's another Relic, of sorts. Raphael was known for them. He had quite a collection in Elysium, those that weren't as dangerous or rare, and we all knew he'd taken care of hiding stuff like the Scythe. And we suspected he had a cache of rarer items. But this isn't just rare. It's evil." Raphael’s love of collecting Relics was well known.
Lucifer arched an eyebrow and took the hammer. "Why wouldn't I know about something evil?" he asked.
"Because we hid it from you," Gabe said. "I've never evenseenone of these."
"Out with it," I snapped. "What is it?"
"It's a means to create another realm," Gabe said. "But to get enough power for an object like this requires—"
