I leaned away from her, my smile falling. I didn’t want Osca to see me use my powers, but apparently I had done just that.

  She mouthed to me, “It’ll be okay.” But I wasn’t so sure about that. I was showing all of my cards, and I only hoped it wasn’t to the enemy.

  Chapter 5

  * * *

  “We are here.” Osca stopped at a large rock wall and turned to me with a nod.

  It felt a lot less like a city entrance, and more like a dead end. “I don’t understand.” I glanced around for some sign of a door, but found none.

  Riyon walked up to the large wall and placed his hand on the stone. “Just watch,” he said excitedly. He plucked one of the feathers off of his red wings, and paused, turning to me with a smile. “Here. You do the honors.”

  “Riyon.” Osca warned, but Riyon ignored him.

  I looked at Penelope and she nodded for me to go ahead, so I accepted the feather from Riyon and walked up to the wall. “What do I do? Does it require blood like the portal before?”

  Riyon stood beside me and shook his head. “It’s very simple. This isn’t exactly a portal like we created on Earth. The feather is used more like a key in this instance. Blood is not necessary.” With his finger, he traced a large door from the ground on one side of us, up over our heads and to the other side, all the way back to the dirt. “Just like that.”

  I took a deep breath, stroking the soft feather in my fingers nervously. “Here goes, then.”

  I tried to ignore Osca’s scowl as he watched me, and I placed the tip of the feather quill against the stone in the same spot where Riyon had. Just as he did, I traced the door outline and a light seemed to follow the quill, cutting through the wall.

  Once I reached the end of my drawing, the space inside of my tracing had vanished, and a bright light shone through the new doorway. I had to blink past the brightness, and once my vision cleared, I gasped at the sight before me.

  It was an actual city. An angelic city. “No way,” I said aloud and Riyon laughed by my side.

  I turned to see him looking back at Penelope with a sort of sadness, and I wished I knew what it was that stood between them.

  I stepped through the opening, onto a beautifully carved stone walkway that led through another rock wall. It was different from the natural-looking rock that I had just stepped through, though. The wall wrapped around the city, and was clearly man-made… or angel-made, I guess.

  Beyond the barrier stood tall buildings with spiking pillars like castles. Every structure seemed to be an extension of whatever ground made up the realm itself. Like the buildings were carved from the “earth”.

  I stood with my jaw hanging low and couldn’t believe my eyes. I moved to take another step toward the tall wall when I was hit hard from the side, taken to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

  “Ow!” I shouted, pain shooting through my body. “Get off of me!”

  Whoever had knocked me down held me to the floor with too much force and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I pushed against my attacker, with my face against the stone path. “Penelope!” I shouted, and breath filled my lungs again as the weight was taken from me.

  I heard Penelope yell beside me as I tried to get up. The ferocity in her voice showed her warrior side. “What are you thinking, Amell?”

  “Atu oru nepilim,” a male voice rang out with anger.

  Penelope helped pull me back to my feet and I turned to where Osca and the unnamed Power held onto a very big angel. He didn’t wear a shirt, just like the other men, and his wings were much larger than the other’s as well… not to mention his muscles. His wings were also gold, making him extremely intimidating, and obviously someone of importance.

  “She is not a Nephilim, Amell. She is our guest,” Riyon assured the angel, Amell, as he stood in between us.

  Amell glared at me with light blue eyes. His blond wavy hair hung over his eyebrows and his jaw ticked in anger. “There is darkness in her. I can see it.”

  I stepped back at his words. “I’m not evil. You don’t even know me,” I snapped back.

  “I do not need to know you. I can see inside of your soul.” Amell talked almost like Osca. Very proper. Still, I could tell he was significantly younger.

  Penelope spoke up next. “But she does have a soul. That should tell you enough.”

  Amell thought on her words and then looked back at me. “Fine,” he said, and shook the Power angels off of him. “I will go tell my father of your arrival.”

  “Thank you,” Riyon replied, and shook Amell’s hand.

  Amell looked at me once more, his eyes still cautious… and lingering. Then he leapt into the sky with a thrust from his powerful wings.

  I released a nervous breath and fixed my dirty clothing. “What a welcome,” I said with sarcasm. “Everything I was taught about angels is so far off.”

  Penelope put an arm around my shoulders. “They’re not all like that, Erin. You have to remember, though. We’ve been at war for ages.”

  I nodded, but did I really understand? I hadn’t experienced war first-hand, though I felt like I had been thrown right into the middle of a very important one. “I’m so far out of my league here.”

  “Penemue,” Osca called.

  Penelope walked over to Osca and he spoke in hushed tones with her. I tried to hear their words, but only heard quick whispers.

  Penelope huffed out an angry breath and turned back to me again. “I have to go.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t worry, Erin. I’ll find you a while later, but I have my duties, and I have to give my report.” She moved closer to me and gave me another hug. “Stay by Riyon,” she whispered and I nodded against her hair.

  “You sure I can’t come with you?” I asked, feeling overwhelmed.

  “Apparently the Throne angel, Morian, is waiting to see you for your evaluation. Don’t be afraid. He is actually decent.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, what a relief. A decent, powerful, and terrifying angel wants to ‘evaluate’ me.” My sarcasm was out of control, and the air quotes over the word “evaluate” didn’t lessen the fact.

  She laughed and stretched out the red wings on her back. “I’ll see ya later,” she said, but paused as I raised a hand to stop her. “Wait! Should I start calling you Penemue now, or what?” I raised an eyebrow at her in jest.

  She smiled wide, and her cheeks reddened. “Oh, absolutely not. It’s not exactly a popular name in Albuquerque.”

  I giggled, even in the midst of everything. “Do you remember that girl Flower?” I asked with wide eyes. Penelope snorted out a laugh, and my grin deepened. A throat cleared behind me, and I was reminded that girl-time would have to wait. “We’ll talk later, Penelope. The name really does suit you.”

  She smiled softer, looking proud to fit the completely normal name, and launched herself over the wall like the angel before her.

  I turned to the three Powers. “Sorry for yet another question, but is flying the only way to get over that wall?” They each nodded, and I groaned. “That’s too bad. I guess I’ll just have to stay behind.” Please, please, please.

  “Sorry.” Riyon shrugged. “Come on.” He pulled his head back, and held his arms out for me to come to him.

  I reluctantly obeyed, wishing for the first time to have my own wings. “How does this work exactly?” I asked.

  “Easy.” He bent forward and swept me off the ground, cradling me like a baby.

  I gripped his shoulders, feeling very uncomfortable against his bare chest. It seemed to not bother him in the slightest, and I made a mental note to make sure I told Penelope how close I was to her “special” someone. At least, I assumed he was special to her in some way.

  “Ready?” He asked with a cocky grin.

  I shrugged and tried to hold on tight to him. A nod of approval wasn’t coming from me. “No, but that won’t be changing anytime soon, so go for it.”

  Osca was the first to leap into the air, and we followed close behind him. As soon as Riyon’s wings swung toward the ground, we were launched into the sky, and my stomach dropped to my knees. I tried not to scream in Riyon’s ear, and held my breath instead.

  It was only seconds before we were landing on the other side of the wall, and Riyon set me back on my feet. I wobbled on my shaky legs, but thankfully didn’t fall over. “Thanks, Riyon. Now I know with certainty that I absolutely hate flying.”

  He chuckled, and flexed his dark arms. “My pleasure.”

  I steadied myself and looked around at where we had landed. We were on a cobblestone street in the middle of the large city, and various angels were scattered about. I don’t know what I expected to see, but it didn’t surprise me that all of the men were shirtless, and all of the women wore not much more.

  It was just how I imagined gods and goddesses, with white drapes of cloth covering the vital body parts, and nothing else. Only, they all had wings. Most had red wings, but a few had the same white wings that Zander had the last time I saw him.

  A sharp pang of sadness tore into me at the thought of Zander. The last image of him, and the warmth from his lips stayed in my mind. I hoped to never forget the image… just in case. Don’t think like that. You will see him again…soon, I told myself.

  Standing taller, I forced myself to remember my main goal for coming to the Divine City. Then, I noticed the hairs on my neck stand, as if I were being watched, and I searched for the culprit. Of course, they were all watching me. As my eyes fell on each group of angels talking, or walking side by side, their eyes watched me right back.

  No smiles came from them, only judgement and confusion. Some whispered back and forth, and some just flew away, as if I was some sort of disease coming after them. I tried to keep my features neutral, still unsure of the correct customs, but it didn’t matter. They had their own ideas of why I was there, and so far none of them seemed to be positive.

  “Riyon…” I turned a side-eye to him. “Why are they all staring at me like that?”

  He followed my eyes, and spread his wings out wide, while flexing his muscles. “Haven’t you all seen a human woman before?” He shouted the words, and immediately all of the other angels looked away from me. It wasn’t at all surprising that they feared him. “Get back to training,” he added, and turned back to me. “Don’t worry about them. You’re the first human to come to the city.”

  My mouth dropped so far that I felt like a cartoon character, having to scoop my chin up off the ground. “That’s insane! How did you even know I could get through the portal, then?”

  His lips tightened, and he avoided my eyes.

  “We didn’t know for certain,” Osca answered for him, his arms folded across his chest. “It was the first test.”

  I scoffed. “What if I had failed? What could’ve happened to me?”

  Osca shrugged. “It was a risk. You could have simply been left in your yard, or obliterated during travel.”

  “Umm… What?”

  Riyon held a hand up, before I decided to go off on a dangerous being. “We weren’t going to let that happen. I’m sure you know Penelope would not have agreed if that were a possibility.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know anything anymore, Riyon.”

  I turned away from them all. Thankfully any other angels in the vicinity had up and left after the muscle-show from Riyon, so the city looked empty and almost peaceful. I looked at the tall buildings before me. There were multiple high-points at the tops of the towers, but it looked to really only be two big buildings that wrapped around the cobblestone streets. The sky above my head was also something to behold. There were wispy white shapes in the sky that I first thought to be clouds, but seemed to be made of something that almost sparkled like fine glitter.

  Also, there wasn’t a sun in sight, even though the city was lit up with white light as if there were one. It felt like what I had seen in movies when the character was taken to a dream world, and a soft white haze surrounded them. It gave me a slight urge to curl up in a blanket and just stare at the serenity of it all, but it was clear that relaxation wasn’t on my list of to-dos.

  “We need to move on, Miss Porter.” I didn’t have to look to know it was Osca talking. I wanted to yell at him to give me time, but the sooner I explored the city, the sooner I could find Zander.

  I nodded, but didn’t look directly at him as I followed his feet down through the center of the Divine City of angels.

  Chapter 6

  * * *

  I only caught quick glimpses of life- or afterlife, behind corners and disappearing into doorways. The angels knew I was there, but none seemed to be all that interested in greeting me. I felt like a kid dropped off at some fancy English boarding school somewhere remote and worth a billion dollars.

  The buildings were immaculately decorated from the floor to the overhanging roofs. So much so, that I felt it had to be magic. I had never seen such beautiful artwork in my life, and I couldn't imagine anything like it existing on Earth. Outside of the buildings, rings of gold and silver wrapped around tall poles that held lanterns on top of them.

  The whole city glistened like a brand new diamond ring in the sunlight. I had first thought that the streets were only cobblestone like an old Irish town, but after a closer look, I realized the stones were laid in a way that made the shapes of magical animals. We walked over the bodies of flying dragons, huge serpents, what looked to be a gryphon with an eagle head and wings, and the body of a lion. I also noticed a very familiar design of a majestic phoenix.

  Osca kept a fast pace ahead of Riyon and I. The other Power had disappeared before we even made our way onto the city streets, and I hoped I wouldn’t have to ever learn his name or interact with the steely character again.

  “Riyon, are all of these animal depictions based on real creatures?” I was afraid of what he’d say, but I expected the answer before he even spoke.

  “Yes, they are. Are you surprised?”

  I sighed. “I guess not. I mean, I did touch an actual phoenix, so a dragon makes sense… even though it’s terrifying to imagine such a big animal that can breathe fire.”

  Riyon chortled. “Dragons aren’t big. That phoenix in the forest is much more terrifying than any dragon.”

  “What about Game of Thrones? I know it’s just a show, but the dragons are massive.” My logic was completely sound.

  He laughed, and even smacked his leg. “I have actually heard of this show, even though I’ve never spent much time in your world. It’s an extremely important story from what I understand… but it is also completely false.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Okay then. What does a real dragon look like?”

  He stretched his hands out to about the length of my St. Bernard, Bruno. “They are this long usually, and their fire can be fierce, but easily avoided. The worst part is the sharp blades along their spine. They can cut through most things.”

  I closed my eyes and shook my head, completely exasperated. “I’ll never catch up to all of this newness.”

  “You will get it. It just takes time.”

  His words did little to reassure me, but I was glad for his support either way. I understood why Penelope wanted me to stay beside Riyon. He was a lot like her in many ways, and already felt like a good friend.

  I desperately needed some alone time with my best friend, to be open and honest with my many questions. I felt like a prisoner in heaven, which had to be a contradiction. Pen trusted Riyon, though. And that was enough for me.

  “Hey, Riyon.”

  He turned to me as we continued through the buildings. “Yes?”

  I hesitated, but I was desperate for any sort of information on Zander. “I heard that people have guardian angels. I must’ve had one then too, right?” Slick.

  He nodded. “Many people do have a Guardian, but not everyone. From what I’ve seen of your file, you did have one.”

  “My file? You guys keep files up here?”

  “Sort of,” he chuckled. “More like… honestly I don’t know how to explain it to you.” He thought for a moment and clicked his tongue. “Oh! You know the writing that Osca did when we left your home?”

  “Mhmm.”

  “Well, it’s like that. We each have our roles here in the city. There are some Powers who keep records of missions, by writing our symbols into a special kind of parchment which can only be read by a divine angel. These records have information on your life, because you are an interest to the Divine.”

  “I don’t even know how to respond to that, Riyon.” I needed an intensive training course on angels immediately. Man, how I missed high school. “Do you know why I’m such an interest to your leaders… or government, or whatever?”

  “The Talaivarkal are a very old and very powerful group of Throne angels. I guess they’d be our ‘government’.” He put air quotes around the word government and continued. “I… I’m not really allowed to say why you’re so interesting to the Talaivarkal. You already know that your parentage is different from the norm, but there is more to it than just that…”

  He trailed off and I held my hands up. “Yes? Can you explain?”

  He turned his head to the side. “You really don’t know, do you?”

  “I don’t know anything, Riyon!” I was getting frustrated, and my body was heating up in an all-too-familiar way.

  “We are here,” Osca announced in his boring way, and whatever Riyon was about to say disappeared inside of him.

  I sighed, trying to control my anger before I put on a light show for the angels. I looked up to see a set of doors that stood taller than my entire house, and felt like I was entering the wizard’s lair in Oz.

  “Where exactly is here? Hogwarts?”

  Both of the Powers looked at me with the exact same expression of confusion. I held back a snort, feeling proud that I knew something they didn’t, even if it was just useless earthling entertainment.