Wait a second. I spun, doing a full 360.
Was IinAvalon? Like, inside the city?
The times I’d visited for training with Aurum we’d always been on the outskirts of civilization, kept separate from any sort of dwelling or citizens of Avalon. But now we appeared to be on a little side street in a quaint village. I could see the golden castle in the distance, the same one that I’d seen behind Cael during my Ascension Ceremony.
My mouth popped open as I looked at my friend.
“Skye,” I whispered, stepping up to stand closer to her. She grinned and pointed to a sign near the building entrance that I hadn’t noticed.
Hall of Angelic Records, it read.
I kept my voice low. “Did you sneak me into Avalon? This feels against the rules.”
Skye looked left and right as if scouting for someone. At the end of the alley across the street I saw the swoosh of a lion’s tail.
Aurum?
“So, here’s the thing.” Skye’s voice was barely audible. “Cael and Aurum have some disagreements on how best to support you on your path.”
I gulped. Sounded about right. Cael barely told me anything and Aurum was like a naughty teacher who let you skip class.
“Skye, why are we here?” I pointed to the red brick building and then down the alleyway. “Is that Aurum? Is he keeping guard? I don’t want to get in trouble and then not be able to come here when I die,” I whisper-screamed.
Skye chuckled. “Doesn’t work like that. Relax, okay? Inside of this building is a friend of mine, Darius—super hot by the way, but he’s mine so don’t get any ideas—”
“I thought you were hot on World War I dude.”
She examined her nails. “I’m not looking to settle down just yet. It’s early in my afterlife and I’m a free agent. Do you have any idea how many attractive Watchers and archangels are flying around this place?”
I rolled my eyes.Only Skye.“Okay, whatever. Got it, you called dibs on Darius. Can we please focus now?”
She cleared her throat and nodded. “Right. So Darius knows of a book that might have information about Tartarus and where you can find the hidden realm.”
I went stock-still. My mom had given Aurelia and me a lot of vital information since she’d been back about how Apollyon was diverting souls from Tartarus to the Netherworld, but she had admitted she had no ideawhereTartarus was. She’d told us that Apollyon had basically created a permanent portal inside of a blank onyx cube which snatched the souls that would normally be intended for Tartarus and yanked them into the Netherworld. That was great information, but I couldn’t do anything about it unless I had a place to release all of these souls to once I rescued them. There was no question about it, I had to find Tartarus.
“Skye, you should have led with that,” I told her, and she shrugged, yanking my arm with her now solid form, tugging me up the steps to the front door.
As she pushed her way inside, I peered over my shoulder once more and caught half of Aurum’s face looking back over his shoulder at me. He winked, and then I went inside.
“Holy book lover’s paradise,” I said out loud. The four-story building was a giant room with no stairs or levels. It just went forty feet up with floor-to-ceiling leatherbound tomes. I didn’t even see a ladder.
Skye nodded. “But heads up, you won’t find any romance novels in here. I already looked,” she said with a pout. “These are life books.”
I frowned. “Life books?”
Something moved up above and my eyes darted to a tall, dark, and handsome angel with silver wings as he coasted down to meet us with a black leather book in his hand.
Skye gave a little sigh and physically swooned. I chuckled to myself.
Darius.
“You must be Tatum.” He grinned, showcasing a mouth full of straight pearly whites.
Okay, he was hot, but Gage was hotter.
“Darius?” I asked, and he inclined his head.
“Life books.” He tapped the leatherbound book in his hand. “Are a compilation of memories and events from a person’s life, or in this records hall, an angel’s life.”
