Grand Canyon. We can talk peace when You get rid of the demons. Well, I’ll be damned. I think I’ve just been humbled.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
I look over at Anna, who’s watching in awe as the few redeemed demons’ stains are lifted from their badges, and their souls rise.
Belial and Anna look at each other.
“You did good, baby girl,” he says. He grasps Anna tightly, and she all but disappears inside his large embrace. And then, like the others, his soul rises, leaving Big Rotty’s body lying there. He smiles down on us, shining in the newness of his cleansed soul, white wings flapping. With a final grin, he shoots up and away.
The angels ascend, leaving us, and I stare at Anna. Her eyes are aglow with joy. She’s alive. She made it. We both did. I pull her to me and hold her tight. She laughs in my arms.
And then something feels . . . strange. My entire torso is heavy and overly hot, then there’s a pull, like a vacuum is on my sternum. I watch in shock as dark red smoke leaves my body where my badge is, and wafts away.
What the . . . ?
I look at Anna as a fizzle of putrid yellow seeps from her badge, leaving it white as snow. She puts a hand over her chest, then looks at my badge and grins. I lift my eyes to the other Neph in the room, who are all staring around at each other’s white badges. What does it mean?
There are roughly fifty Neph left alive in the room. All of our allies are miraculously accounted for, though some are worse for wear, with bloodied limbs and torn clothing. The room is strewn with bodies and debris. It’s quiet, as if we’re all too afraid to ask . . . is it over, then? Truly?
The floor abruptly shudders and tilts, knocking Anna into me, and a creak of metal cries out. This building is about to come down.
“We have to get out of here!” I yell.
Everyone in the room struggles to stand and run at once. Ginger falls, pulling at Marna, who twists her leg. I grab them both under the arms and pull them to their feet. Then Kope and I grab Zania, who falls next. I grasp Anna’s hand and keep her by my side as we hurdle toppled chairs and clumsily wade over rubble. I press Anna through the door before me, exhaling a huge breath when we make it up those basement stairs and away from the building, into the dark night. We’re all out, staring back at the shaking building as we run, helping to hold one another up.
We made it. I can’t believe it bloody happened, but the demons are gone and we made it. I squeeze Anna’s hand and a laugh escapes me. Ginger flashes me an astonished smile and pulls Marna closer. Her other hand reaches for Blake’s arm and he kisses her shoulder. I marvel at the firm warmth of Anna’s hand in mine, and I keep staring down at her, black leather covered in dust. Her face is streaked with dried tears and dirt.
We don’t stop moving until we get to our hotel, which feels solid and sound. Together, we stand staring out the glass window at Las Vegas, linked hand in hand. All around us people are running, terrified, and though we are dazed and overwhelmed and mourning those we’ve lost, we are no longer afraid.
We are free.
CHAPTER FORTY
Good
“I believe now, there’s a reason why I’m here.
It’s to try to do good, it’s to try to do better.”
—“Free Now” by Sleeping with Sirens
Six years later . . .
I’m sure everyone’s curious about what it’s like to be married to me. It’s awesome, if I do say so myself. In many ways we’re just like other couples. She gently scolds me for leaving dirty dishes all over the house, and I have to sit through cheesy chick flicks. But it’s so much more than that.
Anna was there for me when I typed an anonymous letter to the FBI and Atlanta police department, detailing the work of Marissa, her location, and as many of her accomplices’ names as I could remember. It was a risk, even anonymously, because if Marissa caught wind of the letter she could have easily tried to find me, to kill me.
I spent seven months worrying, listening out, watching for her goons, and not letting Anna out of my sight. And