“Isn’t it obvious?” a male voice rings out, pulling my attention to the door. Walking in is another face I haven’t seen in centuries. White hair floats around the sculpted face of a God, with sharp cheekbones and deep swirling black eyes. His skin is different from what I remember, though. Instead of the dark ebony I’ve seen, today he’s a light purple, and he’s wearing gold bands wrapped around his biceps and waist.He completely fits the Disney version of a genie, how ironic.As my eyes travel down, I can’t help but comment.
“Well, I’m glad you got all the kids you wanted from him,” I snort, pointedly glancing down past his torso.
“Oh my—Knots!”
Smack. A sharp sting resonates at the back of my head. Turning to Angelette, I can't help but act innocent. “What? I’m just saying, since he’s dickless, at least you got what you needed from him.” I point down to where Jinn’s legs would be, but since he’s truly in his Genie form, his legs are now a swirling tornado of purple clouds. I don’t know if he’s hiding a dick in there or not, and to be honest, I don’t want to know, but I love poking fun at the man.
“Very funny, Kanotiel. Or should I say Knots now?” Jinn raises an eyebrow at me before gliding over to us on his cloud of purple smoke. “But like I was saying, it should be obvious since she knocked you to your ass, that she’s one of theirbesttrainers here,” he says with pride, and why wouldn’t he? My sister is a badass, even though that was a cheap shot.
“Makes sense.” I smile at my sister.
“And I thought angels were supposed to be nice,” Jinn comments.
I pick up my sword, and as I put her away, I point to myself. “No longer a heavenly angel,” I say snidely, just in case the asshole forgot that my sister is in the same boat, because of him.
She left heaven because of her love for him. We used to be Guardian Angels together, but she decided to fall to Earth for Jinn, and that’s why she has no problems being down here in Hell. Where I, on the other hand, was fucking knocked out of heaven, so whatever that made me, sure as hell didn’t make me aheavenly angelanymore. Not a fallen nor heavenly but a cast-out one.
I feel petite hands on my arm, pulling me out of my thoughts, and find those beautiful brown eyes peering up at me.
“I was hoping you would be proud of me,” she says timidly, so unlike what I just witnessed a moment ago.
Sighing, I wrap my arms around her and pull her into a bear hug, tucking her underneath my chin. “I am proud of you. It turns out you were right, you didn’t need me to protect you after all.” My tone is a little defeated, and I feel her try to open her mouth to dismiss my words, but I keep talking. “But I feel better knowing you just wanted me around at those times.” I feel wetness on my neck and pull back to see her smiling.
“I love you,” she whispers.
“I love you too. Now, why don’t you show me the rest of your school?” I propose.
She grabs my hand, and we turn towards the door, and as we pass Jinn, I stick out my tongue. I get a smug look as his jaw hits the floor, and I flat out laugh out loud when I hear Fur Boots yell out, “You mean this is literally called Special Training Fraud Unit? STFU? Shut The Fuck Up? Oh, this is fuckinggold.” I hear him laugh, and I have to agree, whoever named this place has my type of sense of humor.
As we turn a corner, my smile falls off my face.Since when did I find myself agreeing so easily with the furball?
Aww shit. I can’t actually start to like the flea bag.
CHAPTER 34
The Threads of Time
Rez
As I fall, I feel myself become weightless, and I instantly feel sick as my stomach rolls as if I’m on a rollercoaster after eating bad gumbo. A light appears, and as I focus on it when it comes into my view, I realize it looks somewhat familiar. Not something I’ve seen recently, but something I’ve vaguely seen before, or possibly someone told me about it when I was little. Or maybe in a movie as a kid.
As I take in the floating mass my body is rushing to, I realize it’s not something someone has told me about, but an everyday item I’ve seen countless times, except this is golden and emitting light. Golden threads crisscross in intricate designs, varying in size, shape, and different widths. Is it a dreamcatcher? A cross stitch? A spider web?
The answer whispers against my mind, ‘The Threads.’
“The Threads!” I shriek, and my voice echoes and bounces around me as I drop rapidly and find I’m about two floors away from them now, and the Threads are taking up my entire field of vision.
I’m spinning out of control towardstheThreads. The ones that keep people alive. What. The. Fuck.
“Mushca! Stop playing!” a voice scolds as my body jerks to a halt, splayed out like a rigid starfish, my nose up against a very delicate, almost pure white thread.
I can’t move anything as I hear movement to my right and a sugary sweet voice calls out, “What did you do this time?”
The room slowly begins to lighten around me, and I can finally see the full web of Threads beneath me and the ten-foot drop to the ground where a woman in a deep red robe floats below. Her hair is a kaleidoscope of colors, and her skin almost sparkles like diamonds underneath her robe. The room is bare except for the Threads; even the floor is simply dirt and loose rock from what I can tell, and there’s only one door—no furnishing or decorations on the walls here.
My sling starts to slip, and I go stiff trying to keep it in place as she looks up and sees me.
“Oh!” She covers her mouth in shock. “Mushca!” she turns and yells at something I can’t see. “I told you to bring her here, not bring her through your horror tunnel.” Turning back to me, she flicks her wrist, and suddenly I’m floating away from the Threads and over to her and this mysterious Mushca.
