When my feet touched the floor of the Hall of Angelic Records, my soul and body became one again. The book snapped shut and I stumbled backward in shock. Apollyon had basically broken Tartarus to make the Netherworld. He’d taken a beautiful, peaceful resting place and destroyed it to create a demon-filled hell. Those souls didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. They should be brought home.
For the first time since I’d become a Lumen and received my mission, my body buzzed with righteous fury. Now that I knew the full extent of Apollyon’s evil deeds, I wanted so badly to restore Tartarus and return those souls home that I could barely see straight.
“Got its location?” Skye asked beside me, and I nearly jumped, totally forgetting about her.
I nodded and turned to her, eager to get home.
Skye’s eyes widened and she looked at the book and then at me.
I frowned.
“Remember the thing?” she said, eyes widening again.
“What?” I asked in confusion.
“The book. Harley.” Skye pointed to the table where I’d dropped it and then looked over my shoulder through the glass door at Aurum, who was still outside guarding the entrance.
“Oh.Right.” Nervousness rushed through me. I’d totally forgotten Skye’s idea to steal Apollyon’s life book and take it to Harley. Maybe my mom was making headway with her and we wouldn’t even need it? But if she wasn’t, this might be the only way to get through to her.
I grabbed the book and tucked it under my arm, concealing it under my jacket. Pulling the glove off, I shoved it in my pocket.
“Aurum will want to hear that you’ve found Tartarus,” Skye said. “Just act cool and tell him about it, then make a portal home.”
I have to talk to Aurum about Tartarus with Apollyon’s stolen life book in my armpit?
I released a shaky breath and nodded.
We stepped outside and Aurum looked over his shoulder at me. “Did you find it?”
“Found it,” I said. “He put a spell over the realm that keeps it hidden. It looks like a black net. I think I could portal there again depending on if the net will allow me through.”
Aurum pawed the ground. “Good work. We’ll try to get there in our next training session.”
“K, bye,” I rushed out, and immediately turned to make a portal and get the heck out of there. Behind me, Aurum cleared his throat.
“Return the book as soon as you are done with it,” he said, and I froze.
Glancing over my shoulder at him, I winced and then nodded before I opened the portal into the sanctuary and ran through, closing it behind me so I didn’t have to look at him. I didn’t know if Skye followed me through until I heard her speak.
“Nothing gets past him,” she said, and I turned to face her.
“Are we in trouble?” I asked, pulling the book out from under my arm and holding it in front of me, making sure only to touch the leather cover and not the pages. Maybe I should put it back now and—
Skye laughed, tossing her brunette hair over her shoulder. “Aurum is like the fun uncle who lets the kids stay up until midnight and feeds them tons of candy. You can’t get in trouble with him. It’s Cael who is the rule follower and the one we need to be weary of. He’s the one who doles out the punishments.”
Okay, that made me feel a bit better, but I wasn’t stoked to hear that Cael might find out about it and punish me. Would he strip me of my wings like he did Gage? The very thought made me both angry and sad and I frowned.
“You wanna come with me to take this to Harley and try to convince her to play nicey-nice?”
Skye waved me off. “Nah, she’s kinda mean, and I’ve got a date with Darius.”
Of course she did. I was about to turn and go when I thought of something. “Hey, Skye?”
“Hmm?” She looked expectantly at me.
“When I finish my mission, will you still come around all the time?” I hated to admit it, but the often ill-timed pop-ins had grown on me, and even though she was annoyingly blunt at times, I loved Skye.
Her face shuttered and she swallowed hard. “Once my mission to assist you is complete, Cael will assign me a new mission, and I probably won’t see you guys anymore.”
