“You couldn’t read my thoughts?”
For a moment, he looked as surprised as me. “Your thoughts are much quieter now.”
Hmm. Maybe the day of sexy merging had supercharged me. “I was thinking I wanted to kick your ash for being such a perverted douche canoe,” I admitted. His smile dimmed slightly. “Sorry.”
He shook his head. “If disliking me gets you back home, then feel free to think all sorts of ill of me.”
Beside me, I heard Mikhail mumble, “Join the club.”
Imriel’s cheeks flushed. “As I was saying, you will need the key, along with a Celestial Message.”
“Do you actually have one?” Sunny asked. Out of nowhere, Precious popped up on her shoulder, swinging her legs down, a half-chewed marshmallow hanging out of her mouth.
Imriel shuddered. “No, not really. You can decide on a message while I place the key in your spiritual core, along with the song that will speed you to Sanctuary.”
“Cool,” I said, not worried about that part.
Imriel’s mouth puckered tighter than a mosquito’s butthole. “It is no small thing, Feather, to carry a Celestial key in addition to the song and your message. You must approach this task with the gravity it requires. With an understanding of the difficulty of the task, and the necessity of bearing in mind…” He kept lecturing, sounding more and more like Mr. Collins fromPride and Prejudiceby the second.
I boosted Precious on my hip, rocking her back and forth as he droned. “Yeah, thanks, Imri. I got it—it’s gonna be super hard. I’ll probably fail, and blah blah.” I gave him a thumbs up. “Great pep talk.”
Imriel backed up a step as Precious leaned closer to him, babbling softly in demonic, her tiny dark lashes fluttering so hard she was shaking bits of glitter from them to the cloud floor. “Im-e-ree, E-ne-mee,” she babbled, and then some more in demonic. I put a hand on her rounded tummy, not liking the intense look she had as she stared at the guy. I did kind of enjoy the nauseous, slightly terrified expression he got every time she cooed “enemy” at him, though.
He shifted his attention back to me. “Feather, if you tell me what message you would like to give, I’ll wrap it in the song, then place it in your mind. Along with the power to return and rejoin us. Once that happens, you’ll sing all the way across thevoid. There will be no room in your thoughts for anything but the song. And I fear that the void may take advantage of that. It will speak to you, try to lure you into the Abyss.”
A memory tickled my mind. “This void. It’s got a voice? It can talk?”
He frowned. I tried not to think too loudly about the voice that had filled my mind back in Sanctuary, when I had taken almost the entire realm’s worth of smut into my own soul.
“Um, like hypothetically. If this void could talk, would it sound like a chain-smoker grunting to tear them all to shreds or, uh, strike them all down? You know, if you had to guess?”
He sucked in a breath. “You’ve heard it before, haven’t you?” The Celestial guards were looking at me like they might pull out their balls of danger light, or whatever, and smite me.
“Dude, I was just curious. I mean, Ihaveheard a voice for a really long time.” His eyes narrowed, and I felt his mind brush mine. So I thought of the voice that had spoken to me for so long, the one Rumple had said wasn’t him. “The voice I’ve heard forever sounds like all the bells in the world ringing at once, but far away. And it only says one thing:Protect.”
His smile returned. “You heard a voice saying to protect?” I nodded, very carefully not thinking of the scary voice of doom from Sanctuary. “What did it sound like?”
I remembered the voice that told me what to do, every time I had to choose whether to keep going. Keep saving the children on Earth, or even the souls in Sanctuary. Opening my mind, I projected that memory so Imriel could hear.
I may have over-projected. For some reason, the Celestial guards around us all fell to their knees, bowing.
To me.
“That was the Singer of All Songs talking to you, Feather,” Imriel said quietly. “Thank you for allowing us all to hear Her voice.”
Silence beat down on me like bright sunlight. Flapping to my shoulder, Precious crooned happily into my ear. “Oh, I like this,” Sunny whispered, smirking at the guards who were still kneeling to me. “They know I’m your best birch, yeah?”
I cleared my throat and stepped forward, raising my arms. “Know this: Sunny, Light of Truth, is my ride or die birch, my companion in every realm. Anything she desires should be given unto her until my return. Chocolates, to begin with, and far better sheets than those she lies upon now. Also, in all haste, novels, filled with love interests bearing tentacles, and bosoms of a prodigious—” I broke off when Imriel pushed my arms down.
“Save that energy for the trip,” he muttered, turning me toward my mates, who were both staring at me like I’d embarrassed them. Whatever.
“At least my name’s not Anaconda Pants,” I hissed as Ry glared.
Sabriel approached before Ry could apologize. “Say your farewells, Feather. You must go alone, and soon. Your mates were able to staunch the flow of soulfire to a large extent, but there is still a wound. Oh, and leave your clothing here.” When I groused, she explained, “It would only be destroyed. In the void, you can only carry the gifts that the Maker of All has granted you. Your kindness, your generosity, your resourcefulness, your love.”
I blinked up at her. “I can only take my gifts from the Maker of All?” She nodded. “Sweet. Sunny, can you fly back to the healing room for me and get Mike?”
“Of course.” Sunny flew off.
