He disappeared, leaving us staring at each other in amazement.
"I have to die."
Chapter Seventeen
"Okay, all I have to do is release my magic," I said. "And Luc and I will return immediately to Hell."
"Now hang on," Michael said. "Do we have all our loose ends tied up?"
"Oh, wait." I'd forgotten to tell them about Mary. I explained what I'd worked out with the Voodoo Priestess. Luc had heard us discussing it and already knew. Michael and Gabriel were happy with the idea.
"So, make sure the authorities find our bodies. I'm sure it'll be an aneurysm or something that gets me when I release my magic."
They nodded. "We'll stay here until it's sorted, then return to Elysium," Michael said.
"You need to go to Luc's lawyer's office as Peter and leave your property to Mary as well," I said. "And whatever you guys did with the body, put it back in the house."
"What else?" Lucifer asked.
"This needs to be timed right, but once we're there, we will be overwhelmed with things to do," I said. "If there's any way we can find Ariel first, that would be ideal."
They agreed but stared at me at a loss. "What avenues haven't we explored, besides continuing to search the library?" Michael asked.
Silence. None of us knew what to do.
"What if we can sense her once we're in our ethereal bodies?" Luc asked. "Should we hurry and do it?"
None of us had the answer, but we had to do something. "I think we've got everything tied up here on Earth, at least until we find Ariel."
"Why didn't we think of this?" Lucifer asked. "I feel like such an idiot."
Michael put his hand over his face. "Me, too."
"I don't," Gabe said. "He's always died first. Why would we think otherwise? We focused on killing him, not you, Lil."
"Well, I feel like a fool," I said. "It makes perfect sense that I could go first."
I didn't fear dying. I'd done it many, many times. We needed to get home and set things right, anyway. I hated that I'd be parted from Gabe and Michael, but it was only temporary. I'd see them soon, the moment we set everything right in Hell.
"Okay, so I'll just release my power." I stood and looked at my husbands. "Wait, let me do it in the bed so my body doesn't hit the ground." So distasteful. I'd never had to plan how my human body would die before. It felt like suicide when it was more like a rebirth.
They stood to follow me upstairs when Joel reappeared in the kitchen. "It's too late," he cried. "Raphael has appeared at the gates of Hell."
"What?" We hadn't made it in time. "What did he do?"
"I don't know. He's there now. And Lilith." Joel put his hand on my arm. "He has a little girl with him."
I furrowed my brow. "He stole a little girl?"
Joel shook his head. "We have an angel watching the gates." Angels could go into Purgatory, and the gates were visible from there. "He said the little girl looks just like you."
My stomach dropped. How was that possible? "But she's only weeks old," I whispered. "Still an infant."
Lucifer put his arm around me. "Sometimes, when creating realms, time moves differently. It could be that the one he created aged her faster there than she would’ve here."
Tears rolled down my cheeks. "We have to get to her." Waiting was no longer an option.
I stepped away from everyone and lowered the protection that kept my magic from consuming my human body. As soon as I did, everything went dark. This part I was familiar with. It felt like I was being squeezed through a tight, dark tunnel. Almost like a birth would feel, I imagined.
