Chapter 6

Sky Gabriels had a look of determination coupled with amusement as her black boots made contact with the wet sand on the near side of the causeway, and Ru wasn’t sure what to make of it. Did she find it funny, somehow, that they were standing there waiting for her? Or was that a look of triumph?

“Well, looky who is here,” Sky said, her voice not quite as melodic as Lyric’s but similar. The closer she got, the more Ru could see the resemblance, though she appeared to be a bit older than her sister. “I wondered if you guys would show up. Last I heard, you had no knowledge of this place.” Her gaze flickered from her sister’s face to fall on Cutter’s.

“Sky,” he began, his voice calm and even, though Ru got the impression it was faux. “We just got back to New York this afternoon. I was going to let you know what we found, but we planned a mission for tonight. I thought it would be better to tell you all at once—after we closed the portal.”

“But how could you do that if Sera doesn’t know where they are?” she asked, crossing her arms as if she’d managed to catch him in a lie.

“She doesn’t,” Ru said, not believing it was her own voice she was hearing at first since she’d not planned to speak at all. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t find the one in Reaper’s Hollow. I can.” Then, as Sky’s eyes shifted to stare into her own, Ru added, “I will.”

Sky’s inspection intensified for a moment before a smile cracked one corner of her mouth. “You must be Ru,” she said. “It’s… interesting to finally meet you.” She reached out her hand, as if to shake, despite her less than complimentary remarks.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how to touch things yet in this state,” Ru lied. For some reason, the idea of reaching out and shaking hands with this woman who was threatening the safety of her mother was not appealing.

“That’s good to know,” Sky replied, refolding her arms. “All right, well, I’ve been asked to come and get Sera, so if you guys know where she’s at, that will save me a lot of time. Honestly, I’m more than a little pissed that neither of you bothered to tell me you’d found her, but we’ll take that up at a later date.” Again, she was addressing her sister and Cutter.

“We can’t tell you where she’s at,” Cutter began, his voice still sounding friendly and natural, like he was trying to smooth things over.

As he was speaking, Ru surveyed the other seven Keepers in front of her. Up until this point, she’d only met Keepers with blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. She’d just assumed that was always the case, but this group was more eclectic. One of them even had dark skin, though her hair was almost white. Three males, all strong and at least as tall as Cutter and Rider, the rest able-bodied females, stood silent sentinels beside Sky. Ru wondered what would happen if they had to face off against this band. Clearly, they were all highly trained and probably had more experience than her team. After all, they worked on the other side, directing Keepers on Earth. They must know what they were doing. But Ru had one thing on her side; she would protect her mother at all costs.

“I’m sorry, Cutter. What was that?” Sky asked, scoffing. She took a step closer so that she was only about six inches away from him. “I have orders. From Raphael. And you have orders from me.”

“No, Sky, we can’t do that,” Lyric said, stepping forward so that she was right next to her sister. “Sera wants to stay here, to pay her penance, the one that Raphael said she needed to, for Larkin. And we respect her wishes. We promised her she didn’t have to leave.”

Sky swiveled so that she was facing her sister, her nose just above the slightly shorter Lyric. “Sometimes. Plans. Change.”

“But why?” Ivy asked, not moving from her spot. “Why does Raphael want her?”

“I don’t know,” Sky admitted, shrugging. “I don’t generally question my superiors.” Her eyes cut through Lyric and Cutter before she returned to Ivy. “If an Arch tells me to do something, I’m gonna do it. So, where is she?”

“Do you think he means to harm her?” Ru asked. “Did he seem angry?”

Sky turned back so she was facing Ru now. “It doesn’t work that way, Rune. He doesn’t exactly pop in for coffee and chat. I got a message. ‘Go to Holy Island, bring back Seraphina.’ So here I am.”

“How did he know she was here?” Rider asked.

“Not from you,” Sky said, her eyes sizing him up as well. “I told him she was here.”

“But who told you?” Ru didn’t expect an answer, but exasperation was setting in.

“Look, Ru, it doesn’t matter,” Sky said, the intensity in her voice dropping a few levels. “We are here to take her back. No harm will befall her—I’m certain of that. If he wanted to hurt her, he’d come here and do it himself.”

“Then why?” Ru continued, still trying to make sense of it all. “Why does he care?”

“My best guess is to protect her. If we know where she’s at, then they do, too. I know you’ve been speaking with Nat.” Her stare seemed even more powerful somehow, and Ru flinched.

“I only spoke to him to tell him to stop as I was chasing him. And I certainly didn’t tell him where my mom was. He doesn’t know.”

Another grin spread across her face, this one full of pity. “We both know none of what you just said is true, sweetie.”

Ru was shocked. “Why would I tell him?”

“Okay, maybe that part. The rest, not so much. You weren’t alone on that beach. You know that.”

“What the hell…?” Rider’s eyes were boring into her now, almost as painfully as Sky’s, Ru could feel them. She didn’t turn to look at him.

“I don’t know what your informant told you, but he or she is wrong! I didn’t tell Thanatos anything, and I’m not going to tell you, either. My mom asked to be left alone. She deserves it after everything that’s been done to our family. You have my dad. Isn’t that enough?”

Halfway through Ru’s response, Sky opened her mouth to speak, but when Ru mentioned Larkin, a confused expression crossed Sky’s face and she closed her mouth. “Wait. What? We don’t… Larkin escaped. Days ago.”

Ru was formulating her next argument and almost didn’t catch what Sky said before she jumped off into another rant. It took her a moment to understand. “Larkin escaped?” she repeated. “When?”

Sky looked at Cutter, an amused expression on her face again. Ru swiveled her head to see a guilty expression on his face. “I just found out, Ru. This morning. Sky, tell her you just told me.”

Instead, Sky chuckled, and Ru didn’t know who she should punch, so she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. It took a long moment, and she felt the waves of pain welling up inside of herself again. Eventually, she got control of her emotions, pushing off the betrayed feelings long enough to turn back to Sky. “When you say escaped, do you mean to Earth, or is he just running around in Hell?”

Sky was no longer amused. “I honestly don’t know, Ru. I just know that there’s no sense in your mom continuing to do penance for him when he’s not even a prisoner anymore.”

“How did he get away?” Lyric asked. “I thought you guys were professionals.” Her top lip curled up in a snarl, and Ru considered reaching past Cutter, who was now on her list, and high-fiving the girl.

Once again, Sky was more than a little annoyed with her sister. “I don’t work in Hell, Lyric. You should know that.”

“Still, other realms, that’s your area of expertise, right? Who was on watch?”

“Lyric….”

“It was Whisper, wasn’t it? That girl really sucks at her job. Sure, she’s Uriah’s daughter and all, but come on.” She shook her head. “It’s such a shame he’ll never demote her….”

“Lyric!” Sky was clearly not amused, although Ru thought it was quite entertaining watching Lyric crawl around under Sky’s alabaster skin. “I don’t know if this is an attempt to stall or not, but we need to know where Sera is.”