I glance up to see my other demons hovering above us, their dark wings spread like shadows, incredibly out of place in the orange sherbet sky. Drifting up out of the clouds all around them, inexplicably, are bubbles. Huge bubbles, the size of beach balls, bob through the air. Their iridescent sheen is twice as reflective at their size, little rainbows dripping across their surfaces. I didn’t even know bubbles could get so big.
Akor runs a hand over his mohawk and flies backwards a bit when a bubble appears in the cloud just below him. It drifts slowly up, and he extends his finger, like he’s going to pop it.
“Don’t touch it, Akor,” Raz growls, his fingers tightening, digging into my ass in his frustration with the other member of his murder. “You don’t know what will happen!”
“That’s the point. I want to find out!” Akor lets out a wild little giggle. “Do you think they’ll explode?”
“Focus. Castle. Now.” Raz doesn’t seem to be able to spit out more than single word commands in his ire. Pretty sure he’s still pissed that Akor brought me.
Pretty sure I don’t care either. Well, not a ton anyway. Because we should be doing things together.
Kastros flies over and nudges Akor, and the pain demon begrudgingly leaves the bubble alone.
“Bet the angels get to touch them,” he pouts as the guys make some kind of flying formation with Van scouting ahead. We fly slowly towards the castle, moving from one billowing collection of clouds in the sky to the next, trying to maintain our cover.
This place is so pretty, so adorable, so edible. Gah… Heaven’s palace is different from the gardens. There, I’m fascinated. Here… I just want to cuddle it and squeeze it and hold it forever…which is probably God’s exact intention.
Who likes to hurt things that are adorable? I bet Heaven is deliberately designed to tickle that cute snuggle instinct inside of us, to tap us like maple trees and make us bleed sticky, sappy, syrupy feelings all over the place.
Damn.
That’s pretty manipulative.
Or that’s my impression now at least. If I’d dreamed about this place and not been attempting a break in, I might think differently.
As it stands, my eyes are on the main door of the castle, which appears to be a stereotypical arch in the keep. But instead of a wooden door, there’s nothing. Just an opening.
“I think he’s taking the open-door policy thing a little too literally,” I snark up to Raz.
He doesn’t follow, just crooks a brow, because for once, my thoughts didn’t all spill out my lips.
In any case, my nightmare demon holds a finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet. I obey and let my eyes scan the clouds below.
Angels walk and fly here and there. A lot of them head away from the castle. Towards what, I’m not sure, but I’m thrilled they’re not closer. Their feathered wings blend with the floor of clouds that seems to be the norm for the divine realm.
I see souls drifting back and forth as well, some lining up near one of the side entrances to the castle. How do I know they’re souls? Well, it’s a guess. But they aren’t solid like the angels. They look more like ghosts, if ghosts were a transparent gold.
“What do you think they’re doing?” I ask Raz, pointing down at them.
“Signing away their eternity,” Raz says with a snort. “They aren’t an issue. Look, Van’s waving us over.”
We dart out of our spot towards Van, who’s hovering behind one of the castle turrets. I’m tempted to lean out of Raz’s arms to see if it’s as soft as it appears. But I don’t. Just in case. What if the castle has like…car alarms?
Shut up.
It’s a magic castle in a divine realm. It could totally have alarms.
I shake off that thought when Van points at a window. There is no windowpane. Instead, tiny droplets of water are suspended there in the arch. They sparkle happily until Van’s hand slices through them and they’re sent flying in every direction.
Raz whispers in my ear, “You stay with me. No running off.”
I nod solemnly, knowing that one wrong move on my part, and Raz will snatch me and fly away, caring more about my safety than his own. But we really, really need this information. We have to find out what angel flock is after my guys.