Whoa. All of these books told the story of a different angel’s life? There were tens of thousands of them.
“Do I have one?” I blurted out.
I mean, I was an earthbound angel, but an angel nonetheless.
“Yes. But this is the one you want.” He shook it in front of my face and then looked at Skye. “And Cael will murder me if he knows I let her see it.”
Skye ran a finger across his chest. “I owe you big time. Coffee later?”
He physically melted under her touch, his gaze going soft as he nodded.
“I’ll leave it here.” He set the book down on a glass-top table that stood in the center of the room and then held up his palm. “Because I’m an archive angel, I can touch it without being sucked into the pages, but you’ll need to be careful,” he said to me. “Only touch the page you want to experience, otherwise please use the gloves.”
He snapped his fingers and a pair of leather gloves appeared next to the book.
Wait a second. I could touch a page inside that book andexperiencea memory? That was so cool. And a little creepy.
“I’ll be back in a few,” he told us and moved to exit the room.
I looked at Skye, confused, and then at his retreating back. “Wait, whose book is it?” I called to Darius before he left.
If it was Cael’s I wouldn’t feel right going into his memories like that, especially if he didn’t want me to. Sure, I was frustrated he wasn’t more forthright with information, but I didn’t want to go behind his back. Despite my internal grumblings over Gage and the wishy-washy way Cael broke the news of my mission to me, I still respected the guy.
Darius looked over his shoulder at me and frowned. “Apollyon. Your father’s.”
I staggered backward a step, a sharp bolt of shock running through me like I’d been struck by lightning. This book was about Apollyon and his life? Did I really want to see it? I mean, sure it could lead me to Tartarus since he was the one who’d hidden it, but what other horrors would I see? The man was evil.
I laughed nervously. “Maybe someone more experienced should be doing this.”
Darius shook his head. “Apollyon spelled his book before he left Avalon. You are of Apollyon’s DNA, therefore only you can look into his book. Otherwise it looks like blank pages.”
Yikes. No pressure.
Okay, breathe.
Darius left and Skye tapped the glass-top table. “Come on, we’re all sticking our necks out here for you.”
I guess I’d have to process this later, because I wanted to ask more about the different types of angels. An archive angel sounded cool, but we were apparently on the clock.
Focus, Tatum.
I stood in front of the table and slipped on one of the gloves, leaving a free hand bare and ready to touch one of the pages. Skye gave me an encouraging smile, and I reached for the book.
“I feel like I should mention that this might be dangerous,” Skye blurted, and I yanked my hand back and stared at her.
“What?” I growled.
Skye shrugged. “When I found out from Darius that Apollyon might have memories of Tartarus in the book, Aurum and I brought the idea of you searching it for clues to Cael.”
“Okay.” I urged her along with my gloved hand.
“Well…” Skye winced. “He poo-pooed the idea on account that you might be sucked into the memory and trapped there forever.”
“Goodbye.” I yanked off the glove and beelined it for the door.
“Wait!” Skye zoomed in front of me and held out her hands. Her normally jokey demeanor was gone and now she wore a mask of seriousness and pain that I couldn’t interpret. “Tatum, you have no idea what dying is like. For me, it was easy, I came right up here because I’m an angel, but on the way I passed… well there was a void, a blackness that felt evil, and it was pulling on me. Tatum, there are billions of trapped souls where they shouldn’t be. They arefoodfor Apollyon, and you can change that.”
I sighed. The guilt trip was working. I thought of the spirits I’d met in the Netherworld and their Swiss cheese souls, and my heart softened.
