"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 Heaven."
My eyes widened. "So, all the Fallen are locked in Hell and all the angels are locked in Heaven?"
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 Heaven 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 Heaven 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 Hell. You can at least be in this neutral space." Luc indicated the open space between Hell and Purgatory. "We might need angelic help moving souls from Purgatory to Hell when they start coming again."
Michael nodded. "We'll help. But for now, we're going to go take Joel to Heaven. He deserves a proper funeral, and everyone needs to know what happened."
"Meet me in our chambers as soon as you can," I whispered.
Gabe winked and Michael smiled sadly. "You know we're at the end of the line, right?"
I started to nod, then stopped myself. “What if thereisa way, maybe not for us to reach her, but for us to justseeher?”
All three men looked at me in surprise, but Luc was the one to say, “How?”
Now, I was getting excited. I teleported to my room, crawled under my bed, and pulled out the little box. Digging through it, I found what I was looking for, then teleported back.
“What is that?” Michael asked, pointing to the necklace.
I held up the locket, dangling the golden chain from my finger. “It’s an artifact, but I’ve never been able to get it to work. You have to have some splash of humanity inside of you to use its ability. But something occurred to me. I’ve heard having a baby physically changes a woman, and even though technically I had to die to become me again, I think having a child might be the splash of humanity I need to make this thing work.”
“And what will it do?” Michael’s lips pulled into a frown.
I opened up the locket. All there was inside was a little mirror. “If it works, it can show me what I want to see. Only little glimpses. Maybe not enough for us to figure out where she is exactly, but it could be a way for us to know if she’s safe. If she’s okay.”
Luc moved closer to me, followed by my brothers. My husband’s voice was barely louder than a whisper. “Try it.”
I closed my eyes and asked to see my daughter. Ibeggedto see her. But nothing happened. A tear rolled down my cheek. This was it. The last possible chance I had to see my baby. If a mother’s love wasn’t enough for this artifact, then nothing was.
And then, as I was about to give up, it tingled in my hand.
My eyes sprung open, and sure enough, there was something in the glass. Darkness. Complete and utter darkness. We all leaned in closer, squinting our eyes, and stray light fell over the scene, like headlights. I saw my child. She had her arms wrapped around her legs, and her face looked so much like mine. Somehow I knew that she was cold and alone, but she was alive, and no one was hurting her. Her brows drew together in confusion, almost like she could sense me right back, and then the light faded away, followed by the image of her.
