“I’m here with you. I’ll be here until the very end.”
Her limp hand cupped his cheek, thumbing away a tear.
“My greatest friend—you showed melife.” Wheezing, “Thank you. . . for that.”
Through the agony, he huffed a small laugh. “We did have some fun times, didn’t we?”
Her chest strained as she let out a struggled laugh.
“Remember our chocolate tour—around the realm? Luckland. . .”
He burst out laughing, “You mean when we sat on that bench gorging ourselves and youhappenedto forget you dropped a piece of chocolate on the bench where I sat? I walked around all day looking like I shit my pants!”
They both heaved in deep, broken laughter.
Even at death’s door, Maura didn’t seize to surprise him. She was the strongest, most resilient being he had ever met. No level of evil had ever broken her, not even the smallest crack. Her soul was impenetrable. And here she was looking in the face of deathlaughing.
Light sparkled in Maura’s eyes in that brief moment of wheezy coughs. A faint smile still lingered as she looked at him, grasping his hand with a gentle, loving squeeze. The kind of gesture to say,it’s all going to be all right.
Suddenly, a sharp hack turned into a staggering inhale, chest spasming. With one last breath, it seemed like time stopped, the light in the room dimming and the very air around them gaining a chill.
A final exhale, and the life behind Maura’s eyes snuffed out.
“No.” David’s whisper was a broken kiss goodbye, lost to the silence.
A deep ominous horn suddenly sounded in the distance,shaking the walls of the castle. Muffled shouts began, slowly getting closer.
They were coming.Hewas coming.
All eyes snapped to the door. They needed to leave and needed to leave now.
Pudge was uncontrollably sobbing, clinging to Maura’s side. His little cheeks flushed red with despair.
David held out his hand to the Cherubs.
“We need to go. Now!” His voice strained.
Huck flew over to Pudge, urging him to get moving but Pudge was hysterically shaking his head, refusing to leave Maura, as if pleading:We can’t leave her here!
David’s body shuttered, looking toward the door. “We have no choice, Pudge. It’s time,” he choked.
The yells outside were significantly closer.
Fighting Pudge’s grip, Huck grabbed a hold of one wing and pulled him back,. With a hard yank, Pudge was forced to release his hold on Maura. A small tuff of white feathers flittered to the ground.
Dragging Pudge back in a bear hug, Huck extended his other hand to David and they rifted away.
Huck,Pudge, and David emerged on a small, rocky hilltop in Loveland. It was covered in tall rhododendron flowers of a deep red hue.
The two Cherubs exchanged a sharp glance at each other. This clearly wasn’t where they’d meant to rift to.Wrong. It was all wrong.
Sunlight was overshadowed by clouded dimness. Something was off.
David took a flower between his fingers, and his worn face went somber.Danger,the flowers wordlesslydeclared.
The ground beneath his feet trembled before beginning to violently quake.
“What can you see?” His shouts echoed to Huck and Pudge.
