“Please?” I asked. “I really want to know.”
Hanna sighed and stopped what she was doing. When she looked at me her wide brown eyes were full of sadness.
“I made a deal with Jake too once,” she said. “And he betrayed me. Demons will say anything to get what they want.”
“So you think he’s lying to me? That he’ll hurt Xavier anyway?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Hanna said. “What you’re about to do will haunt you forever … but you will never forgive yourself if you don’t. You need to know you did everything you could to keep Xavier safe.”
“Thank you, Hanna,” I said.
Hanna nodded and helped me into the virginal white gown and satin shoes. Then she wove tiny pearls into my hair. Jake had done this deliberately, it was his own twisted form of irony. In his head he’d probably built this up to be some kind of romantic reunion instead of the business arrangement it really was. The dress was as tight as a corset around my waist and fell in undulating waves down to the ground. It had a décolletage that showed off my alabaster white skin. Well, I thought bitterly to myself, it was the right dress for the occasion … just in the wrong place, with the wrong person.
While Hanna was fastening a pearl necklace around my throat, Tucker came up to the suite and his face fell when he saw what I was wearing.
“So it is true,” he said softly. “You sure y’know what you’re doin’?”
“I don’t have a choice, Tuck,” I replied.
“Y’know, Beth.” He sat hesitantly on the edge of my bed. “I know things seem pretty bad at the moment … but I’ve never admired you more than I do right now.”
“How do you figure?” I asked. “Not much to admire if you ask me.”
“No,” Tuck said, shaking his head. “You might not see it now, but you’re real strong. When Jake first brought you in, nobody thought you’d last a day. But you’re tougher than you look. Despite everythin’ you’ve seen, despite everythin’ they’ve done to you — you still got faith.”
“But I’m letting Jake win,” I said. “I’m giving him what he wants.”
“Naw,” Tuck said in his husky voice. “Givin’ him what he wants would be refusin’ … puttin’ yourself first. You’re givin’ up somethin’ real special and Jake knows you’re doing it outta love. You hate him more than anythin’ and yet you’re gonna give yourself to him to protect the person you love. That’s gotta be eatin’ him up.”
“Thanks, Tuck.” I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face into his neck, which smelled of warm hay. “I never thought of it that way.”
As I stared at my reflection in the mirror, I thought maybe Tucker was right after all. Maybe I needed to stop thinking of this as an act of sordid unfaithfulness, but rather as the ultimate act of love.
32
The Sword of Michael
I had a few minutes to myself before it was time to go. Hanna and Tuck left me alone, figuring I needed some time to gather my thoughts. I couldn’t help myself and started projecting almost before they’d closed the door behind them. I wanted to see Xavier one last time; I wanted his face to be the last thing I saw before I gave away a precious part of myself. I knew if I could hold on to the memory of him in my head, I’d be able to get through this.
My family had already arrived in Alabama. It would’ve only been about a two-hour drive, but I was still surprised to find they’d gotten there so quickly. As far as I could tell, Broken Hill was a sleepy little town much like Venus Cove. The train station was no longer in use. The wooden benches lining the brick walls were littered with rubbish and the old-fashioned ticket booth was unattended. Weeds sprouted from between the tracks and crows pecked uselessly at the dry ground. I imagined it would have once been a charming little place, brimming with life. It was clear that since the train crash that had claimed so many lives the residents had steered clear of it and now it was nothing but a derelict shadow of its former self. The Chevy pulled up beside the rusted tracks and my family stepped out. Ivy sniffed the air and I wondered if she could smell sulfur given off by the portal that had to be close by.
“This place gives me the creeps,” Molly said, still lingering in the car.
“Stay where you are,” Gabriel told her and for once she didn’t argue.
“So what now?” Xavier asked. “Any idea what we’re looking for?”
“It could look like anything,” Gabriel said, bending down and holding his right palm above the earth. “But I think it’s embedded here in the tracks.”
“How do you know that?”
“The earth is always hotter above a portal into Hell.”
“That figures,” Xavier sighed. “All we gotta work out now is how to open it.”
“That’s the problem,” Ivy said. “Our combined power isn’t enough. We need back up.”
“Damn it.” Xavier kicked the ground with the toe of his boot, sending pebbles flying. “What was the point of coming here?”
“Michael wouldn’t have sent us on a wild goose chase,” Ivy murmured. “There must be something he wants us to do.”
“Or maybe he’s just a douche.”
“Indeed,” said a disembodied voice behind them.
They all spun around in time to see the archangel materialize before them, his towering form shadowing the tracks. He looked exactly the same as the first time we’d seen him, fair-haired and glowing, his powerful limbs much larger than the size of an average human. His wings were retracted.
“Not again,” I heard Molly groan from the car and she put her head between her knees.
Gabriel and Michael acknowledged each other as equal warriors by bowing their heads in recognition. “We have followed your instructions, brother,” Gabriel said. “What is it you would have us do now?”
“I have come to offer you my help,” Michael replied. “I bring with me the most powerful weapon throughout Heaven and Hell. It can open a portal as easily as popping a cork.”
“Thanks for sharing that vital piece of information earlier,” Xavier muttered ill-humoredly.
“It was for me to decide when the time was right,” Michael said, fixing his eyes on Xavier. “The Covenant met to discuss this unforeseen predicament. Lucifer knows the power of the angel he holds hostage and he plans to use her to achieve his own ends.”
Michael’s words struck a chord with me. For him to know that, it meant that all this time I hadn’t been alone. Heaven had been watching all along. Did I dare to hope that all was not lost?
“How does he plan to do that? Bethany’s no puppet,” Ivy protested.
“That we cannot know,” said Michael. “But divine essence in the hands of any demon is dangerous. Lucifer’s aim is to bring about Armageddon — the final battle — and he hopes to use the angel to his advantage. The forces of Heaven must retaliate.”
“How exactly does Beth fit in?” Xavier asked.
“She’s a catalyst, if you like,” Michael explained. “The demons want to trigger a full-scale war, but we will not descend to their level. We will show them the might of Heaven without the need for bloodshed.”
“You were always going to help us, weren’t you?” Xavier said suddenly. “Why couldn’t you have done that right from the start?”
Michael inclined his head slightly. “When a child breaks a toy and his parents immediately buy him a new one, what lesson is learned?”
“Beth is not a toy,” Xavier began hotly, but Gabriel put a restraining hand on his shoulder.
“Do not interrupt an angel of the Lord.”
“Heaven can always intervene,” Michael continued. “But He chooses the appropriate time. We are merely His messengers. If Our Father righted every wrong in the world, nobody would learn from their mistakes. We reward faith and loyalty and you have demonstrated both. Besides, your journey is not over. Heaven has plans for you.”