Page 18 of Trick Of Light

“I just have a singular idea in my head when you say heaven,” Simon told him. “It’s hard to think differently.”

“Which is fine,” Raphael assured him. “But you were originally worried about saying the word hell here, which is not a problem. I’ll tell you when to worry.”

Simon smiled at him, and after we all drank some water from the metal bottles we’d brought—Raphael had explained that plastic would crumple on our way through the planes of Ibos—we began the walk.

It was easygoing, especially since we were all in hiking boots that Raphael had insisted on, and when it was time to eat, I was surprised that there were people along the road with carts where all manner of fruits and vegetables and bread and cheese could be purchased, along with water, mead, or cold or hot tea to wash it down. I saw gold coins changing hands and wasn’t at all surprised that Raphael was prepared with coins for all of us. He was always prepared.

“Is there no meat in heaven?” Julian asked when we were moving again.

Raphael shook his head. “No. Animals are safe from slaughter in all the heavens.”

I had seen deer in the fields we passed, watched birds fly overhead, and several people had dogs with them as they walked on the road. I even saw a little girl walking with her cat perched across her shoulders.

Every now and then, Raphael would have us move over so wagons and coaches could pass, things right out of movies I’d seen. It was wild, and I thanked Raphael for making this possible.

“I had no idea you’d be interested in seeing other realms,” he told me, smiling as he ran his hand through my hair, tucking a long piece behind my ear. “I’ll show you more if you like once we get back home.”

“I would love that,” I told him, moving in close, bumping him with my shoulder. “Wait, how is homosexuality seen here?”

“Love is love in all the realms,” he assured me. “Who one loves is not judged in heaven or hell.”

“That’s interesting,” Leith commented. “In either place, no one cares?”

“Only on the earthly realm do others take note of who one lies down with,” Raphael said with a shrug. “And even if anyone cared in heaven, Deidre told you that Anahel gave refuge to the angel Sariel and his male mate and received the sigil of the path of the moon.”

“Which is what?” Ryan asked. “I wanted to know but didn’t want to interrupt her.”

“Sariel taught the human race about astronomy—that was his gift. When he was to be killed for taking a human lover, Anahel gave him sanctuary here, and Sariel gave Anahel his sigil.”

“Why would he give away his sigil?”

“He can’t keep a sigil that Michael gave him when he was a watcher angel, as he was stripped of his grace.”

I nodded even as something slithered into my brain. Kyries were demonic bounty hunters. Why on earth would the man I loved know so much about angels? It didn’t really make sense.

The air was cool and I smelled salt on the breeze. When we rounded a bend, I saw it then, the ocean glistening in the distance. Talking, laughing, listening, I couldn’t remember a better time spent with my fellow warders in ages. Raphael greeting people we passed and them wishing us all a good day just added to the overall feeling of calm.

When dusk fell and the road turned into a bridge that crossed a river, we stood and looked down at it for a bit while Raphael explained that the river began in the first heaven and flowed into the sea, here in the third. The vast ocean then went on forever, to all the others, infinitely. I found that very comforting for some reason. An ocean in heaven.

Nothing was as I expected. I’d imagined a fortress or a castle, but the town, when we came to it, looked like it belonged in the Middle Ages, or like something one would find in an English countryside.

Maybe.

I truly had no idea. I’d never been out of the US, not yet, but that was what it felt like. The road through town wasn’t crudely paved like the one we’d walked in on, but instead cobblestoned. There were sturdy stone steps like the ones up to the homes I’d seen in the French Quarter in New Orleans, spaced at intervals that could be taken up from the street to the wooden walkways in front of all the stores. I liked the railings that ensured you couldn’t be pushed off back down into the street. It seemed smart, especially with how overcrowded it was.

There were lanterns everywhere, it was very well lit, and there were people of every race. I thought San Francisco was diverse, but not compared to the third heaven.

As I was following the others across the street, my focus divided between Raphael’s ass and what was happening all around me, I missed an approaching coach. I was clipped by one of the horses and went down hard, the wind knocked out of me more than anything else.

“Ignorant dreg,” the coachman yelled, grabbing the whip beside him and climbing down, growling curses under his breath the whole way before he reached me just as I sat up. He would have hit me, but Raphael was there, helping me to my feet.

“It was an accident, friend,” he said as the others crowded around me. “This is our first time here, and we didn’t realize how fast the coaches were moving through.”

Why was he explaining? And why was this even happening? I had an idea of heaven, of people all living in peace and harmony, and this certainly wasn’t it. But then, from his explanation earlier, I realized this was my fault. This heaven was neutral and not the same one—or the idea of one—I’d been taught about in Sunday school. I needed to get that out of my head.

“Accident you say?” The man eyed Raphael. “Kyrie trash, stay clear of my horses. I don’t want them drained of blood, half-breed.”

Leith and Ryan moved to help Raphael, but he shook his head, letting them know he had the situation well in hand. I knew some of that was him not wanting to bring undue attention to the humans in the midst of the inhabitants of the third heaven. After all, we weren’t supposed to be there.