The Afterlife of the Party, page 9
If Not-Aria was intimidated by a room of powers staring at her, she didn’t let it show. She simply ran around on bare feet, leaving a soft shine of glimmer wherever her feathers touched. It was only when someone even further up arrived that she shrank back and plopped herself onto my lap.
“Well, she likes him,” said Meg.
“Have you met this child before?” asked Ruby. “Why is she here?”
“I don’t know,” I said, avoiding the first part of that question. “She said she jumped.”
“I jump!” she said, bouncing in my lap.
The specialist who’d arrived decided he’d take Not-Aria to the offices and call Heaven so they could retrieve their fallen angel. Which was all fine and good, except Not-Aria had other ideas and refused to budge from my lap.
Eventually our house had even more people in it, including, finally, a pair of white-winged angels from above. Not-Aria finally agreed to go with the angels, who looked flustered but not actually surprised that a baby angel had ended up in Hell, apparently of her own accord.
I waved goodbye, and when my house had cleared out, my parents both turned to stare directly at me.
“I didn’t do that,” I said.
“Okay, it’s been a long couple of days,” said Mom when Dad looked like he was going to continue asking. “Bedtime.”
It was only a message from Uriel reminding me of our upcoming session for our stupid group project that brought my earlier mood back. I supposed holidays couldn’t last forever. I grumbled and threw a mini temper tantrum before deciding that I should probably just surrender and pull out the book. It was on my desk somewhere. I vaguely remembered throwing it down in disgust when I had emptied my bag the other night.
I shuffled things around, threw some loose papers onto my bed, before finding the stupid book that I hadn’t read yet but probably should. Or I could fake it. I put the book into my bag, ready for our meeting. I went to toss another piece of paper onto my bed, but a few words caught my eye.
Sean—
Depends on what you mean by weirdness.
Wait. No. I grabbed the letter and read it. It didn’t take me long because this was the short, sane letter that I was supposed to have sent to Sean. It was supposed to have gone up in flames when I performed the ritual before Yule. I remember it went up in flames. Why did I have it?
I searched my desk. The other pages I had already tossed onto my bed were doodles and notes from class. I flipped through those. And then I went back to my desk and searched through it again, panic growing larger and more overwhelming by the minute. I checked under my desk and behind my bed. I shook out books. No matter where I looked, the only letter that was there was the short one I had written to Sean.
The one I had meant to send.
Noticeably missing was the one where I rambled on and on. The one where I vented every insecurity and feeling in full pathetic detail.
Oh, brimstone!
That letter was so embarrassing. I wouldn’t have told ANYONE any of that. Not even with the threat of death or even worse, an eternity in the Pit.
And yet.
That letter. That epic diary of personal feelings vomit was not here. I had performed the ritual. A letter had gone up in electric green flames and been sent out across the ether to reach my intended target, and the letter I thought I had sent was sitting right here. Oh, unholy night, strike me down in celestial light.
I had sent Sean the wrong letter.
FOURTEEN
Somehow, sleep happened.
It wasn’t restful.
In between bouts of vivid dreams of humiliation, I dozed in some sort of fog, but by the time my alarm told me to get my butt out of bed, I felt like I had never fallen asleep in the first place. Worse yet, I still had my meeting for my stupid group project today.
I wondered if I could tell Mom I was sick. Nah, she’d just insist we go to a healer. Maybe I could sweet-talk her. Strike that right note where I was too pathetic to go to school but not so sick that I required a healer. I could do it. I had before.
But then what would I do all day? Wallow? Or worse yet, what if Sean responded? He hadn’t yet, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t, and if I was here all day, I’d know when it came in. I’d have to read it. And if I didn’t, I’d still know it was there. No, this wouldn’t do.
I dragged myself out of bed and managed to pull myself together before Dad started yelling that I’d be late. My reflection was less than fantastic, and I thought the blue flames might be fading a bit. Maybe I should start planning for the next look?
See, that was something worth focusing on. What was the point in stressing? Even if Sean got the letter, what did it matter? It wasn’t like I had to see Sean face-to-face. We would probably never see each other in person again, a thought that normally depressed me but had a definite upside now.
Okay, so I did something stupid and slept like crap. That seemed like punishment enough. I had a group meeting that would probably undo me, but I had new clothes, and it had been a good holiday, and I wouldn’t have to face Sean.
Really, I was being ridiculous. I had lost sleep over what? Sending a longer letter than I would have liked? Big deal. Maybe he’d even be interested in my ramblings. And even if he thought I was a nutcase, he’d probably politely ignore it or chalk it up to cultural differences.
I needed to be much more worried about my stupid group project. Theoretically we residents of Hell weren’t supposed to be tortured ourselves, but group projects certainly felt like a ring of the Pit.
I only fell asleep during history, but in my defense, it was after lunch, and they decided to show a movie. Obviously I fell asleep. That wasn’t even my fault, and I wasn’t the only one.
As a bonus I had managed to wake up before Uriel, so when Professor Sauriel turned his attention back to the class, Uriel was the one who got the massive textbook of A Timeline of Creation dropped onto his study table. He woke with an unflattering snort and almost managed to fall backward, just catching himself as his wings smacked the kids on either side of him. Azael and I exchanged a grin in response.
Were we friends? Who knew? But we had spent lunch together again, so it definitely felt like I had an ally here. Mom would be proud.
By the time I landed at my doorstep that afternoon, I was feeling pretty good about the day, the lack of sleep and the reason for it notwithstanding. And maybe it was because of that lack of sleep, but the group meeting of the morning, which indeed had been terrible, was just a hazy memory.
I was so thoroughly distracted by school stuff and the hope/fear that I’d have another message from Sean that it took a second for me to register the sound of voices. Well, one voice anyway.
“It’s all set,” Mom said. “It took forever and more yelling than I’d like, but the soul is where it belongs.”
Wait… I had never questioned Mom after her late work night because the problem they’d called her about clearly couldn’t have been real. The thought that a soul would end up in the wrong hereafter was too ridiculous to take seriously, but was Mom saying that was what had happened?
Stealth mode activated.
I closed the door as quietly as I could and placed my bag onto the floor with the care of an experimental magician.
“We still don’t know,” Mom continued. “I assigned Ruby to message Anubis’s people, but who knows how long it will take to get a response; you know how secretive they are…. Yeah, I’m sure. We checked. You don’t even want to know how many times.” Mom laughed. “I know. I didn’t believe it either, but that soul belonged to Heaven.”
There was a long stretch of quiet as I crept slightly forward. Mom sighed, and her voice grew more serious. “Yeah. That little surprise visitor didn’t help. I’ve thought about that too…. No—absolutely not.”
The chair squeaked as Mom stood up, and her feathers fluttered as she rustled her wings in agitation. “There’s no reason to think they’re related, and I refuse to jump to conclusions…. No, not to that, either.”
Mom paced the room. “I’m not assigning a connection just because it would be convenient. Leave it to Intelligence, but right now it’s just one of those random things…. Yes, just like the last random thing… Yes, and the other one. All of them are random! I’ll talk to you later…. Yes. Later. Bye.”
Mom sighed, and since the conversation was now officially over, I needed to make a proper entrance or Mom would suspect me of eavesdropping. Which, I mean, fair, but still. I grabbed my bag and quickly slid back to the door and opened it before slamming it behind me.
“Mal?” called Mom.
“Yup,” I said. “What are you doing home?” I dropped my bag for the second time.
“Ugh,” Mom said. “I had to go in extremely early, so I’m actually going to head to bed for a nap, if you’re okay by yourself.”
“Of course,” I scoffed. I thought we had established that I did not need a babysitter, but Mom and Dad seemed to forget that far too often for my liking.
“Hey, Mom,” I called.
“Yes?”
“The baby got home all right, right?” I asked.
“Yes, she did.”
“And, um…” C’mon, Mal, be subtle. Just had to ask without making her think I had been listening. “I mean, they were obviously wrong, right, about the other thing?”
“The other thing?”
“You know, before Yule?”
Nailed it.
Mom hesitated, and I had a feeling she wasn’t going to tell me the truth.
“C’mon, Mom,” I said. “You already told me what they said. You can’t leave me hanging like that.”
Mom sighed. “Everyone makes mistakes, even the Jackal,” she said lightly, which was all well and good, except that was a thing that didn’t happen. Like, ever. “It happens.”
We’d just had an entire unit on why that thing did not happen. The Jackal never made mistakes, which was why he had the job in the first place. So how did the soul end up in the wrong place? And what did whoever Mom had been talking to think it was connected to?
“Now, I’m sorry, sweetie, but I really need a nap. Dad’s going to pick up food for dinner.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Stop worrying about it,” Mom said, and kissed my head. What was left of the glamoured blue flames flared gently before Mom chuckled and messed up my hair.
“Hey,” I protested. It was the one downfall of this look; everyone was constantly messing with my hair.
“Sorry,” Mom said, not sounding sorry at all. “Get your work done.”
“I will,” I said.
Mom went up the stairs, and I grabbed a snack from the kitchen before sprawling in the living room. I waved the mirror awake and requested a reality show that wouldn’t distract me from my work.
I wrote part of an essay that was mostly going to need to be rewritten, before giving up entirely. My brain was too scattered to focus.
WHAT WAS HAPPENING?
FIFTEEN
I slammed my locker shut with an enormous yawn and an almost pep in my step. We were meeting at Faust’s today. Apple cider donuts. Yum.
I thought about inviting Azael along, then thought about how I would feel if one of my squad showed up with one of their new friends to our almost daily check-ins. Yeah, no.
I arrived first, since my school was closest to Faust’s.
“Hey, Cecily,” I said when I reached the counter.
Cecily was a bast and had worked at Faust’s for as long as I could remember. I still wasn’t sure if she liked me or not. Her tail always seemed to flick in what I thought was irritation, but she was nice, so I guessed it was okay.
“Hey,” she said. “What can I get you?”
“Cider and two donuts, pretty please?” I asked, putting as much charm in as I could, and giving my most amazing smile.
She paused and her ears swiveled. “You look tired.”
I deflated. “Yeah, thanks.”
Her whiskers twitched as she suppressed a smile. Oh well, at least she thought I was amusing.
I looked behind me to see if any of my friends had arrived—they hadn’t—and to scope out a potential spot. There was a couch in the corner with a table in front, and it looked like people were leaving. I could always stand really close and make them uncomfortable until they left faster. That usually worked.
When I turned back to the counter, Cecily was back, a mug of cider on the counter and a plate with not only my two donuts but a third for good measure.
“Aww,” I said. “You do like me!”
“Maybe I just feel bad for you,” she said, raising one furry eyebrow.
“I’ll take it,” I said, smiling cheekily. I passed over the coins I owed and an extra for a tip.
Eiael, the angel of luck, must have been on my side, because by the time I got to the couch, the group that had been sitting there were leaving, folding up newspapers and placing mirrors back into briefcases. As soon as I had enough space, I slipped through the gap and laid claim to the entire couch in the most obnoxious way possible.
Thankfully, Lilith strolled through the door before adults could make me move. She searched the room, and I raised my hand and waved to get her attention. She saw me, lit up as always, because I am amazing, and nodded so I knew she’d seen me. I relaxed my couch-guarding position as Lilith took her place in line, and before she had ordered, Aleister had bounced into the café, followed shortly after by Crowley, who entered with a much more casual saunter.
“Scoot,” Lilith said, sitting down on the couch and pushing me over with her hip.
I had been distracted by a group of teens who looked like they were going to try to challenge me for the couch, but my attention immediately snapped to the feeling of her hip against mine as she sat down, and the sudden scent of something sweet and light. It was probably from her hair. I leaned in a bit to check, before she looked at me with a What are you thinking, you pathetic boy? look, and I immediately turned my head away, only realizing how obvious that was after I did it.
I shoved a donut into my mouth, but when I glanced subtly back, Lilith looked way too amused. She dropped a straw into her soda with a flourish of victory. Ever since we had gotten back from Salem, Lilith seemed to relish it anytime I acted like a lovesick puppy. I mean, she had always liked torturing me. That was just natural. But ever since Salem, she seemed to be keeping track.
“An interesting turn of events,” Crowley announced dramatically, before sitting on the edge of the table. Faust would yell at him, but I hadn’t seen Faust yet, so maybe Crowley was in luck. From the awesome smells coming from the kitchen, I was betting Faust was back there. Staying solid enough to cook was something Faust had to work at.
“What? Your butt on that table where my food is supposed to be?” I asked. “Not enough carbonation in your soda?”
“Simon and Scarlett breakup?” asked Aleister as he sat next to Lilith and shoved both of us over, resulting in multiple grumbles from me and Lilith both.
“Will you give that up?” Crowley admonished. “Even when it happens, which it will, because he’s an idiot, she’s not going to be interested in you.”
“It could happen,” Aleister said. “You don’t know.”
“I know you’re ridiculous,” Crowley said.
“What happened, Crowley?” Lilith asked, rustling her wings to fit more comfortably. Her feathers brushed mine, and I felt my cheeks heat in a matching flare to the blue flames that were still doing their best on my wings.
“With very little notice, our teachers completely upended the syllabi for each class, and now we’re studying the effects of different dimensions on our magic.” Crowley frowned. “Probably would have been helpful to know before Samhain, but I may have a leg up. I mean, I already figured out how to do it on Earth. Eventually.”
“Why is that big news?” Aleister asked. “My curriculum changes all the time.”
“Different dimensions,” I said. A Cheshire cat grin spread across my face. “Does that mean the mixer is happening?”
We all turned to Lilith.
“I’m not sure,” Lilith drawled, but the glint of mischief was obvious.
“Awesome,” Aleister said. “Where are they going to do it?”
“I didn’t say anything,” Lilith said.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said, and waved my hand vaguely over her. “You’re absolved. I grant you full plausible deniability.”
“Yeah,” Crowley said. “Spill.”
“Okay,” Lilith said, and leaned forward as much as she could with Crowley taking up the table. “It looks like it’s happening. They’re just in the middle of a pissing contest on lots of stupid stuff, but yeah, it’s going to happen. I will say, though, I heard some grumbling that they want it to just be the elders, meaning we would stay here.”
The groaning and protests from us were enough to draw the attention of some people sitting near us, but before we were able to fully work ourselves up to the injustice of it all, Lilith interrupted.
“BUT…,” she said, then waited until we stopped grumbling. “That idea was dismissed. Wanna know why?”
“Why?” I asked.
“So, I mean we all remember our little adventure,” Lilith said.
“Some of us,” Aleister whined. He still hadn’t forgiven us for going without him, though we had all pointed out that he could have followed us into the unknown.
“If someone had been loyal to their squad…,” Crowley said in a singsong voice.
“Hey!” Aleister protested, clearly about to work himself into another fit.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said. “We’ve been through that. Aleister is devoted, blah, blah, blah.”
“Guys,” Lilith said. “You know I do have homework to do. Anyway, the fact that Heaven treated us like the bad guys went to show that there is too much propaganda between our dimensions, and apparently other stuff has happened in other ones too. They figure the only way to really solve the problem is to make sure the younger generations get off to a good start before we all get set in our ways. Old dogs and new tricks, you know? And if anything, Mal’s little visitor over Yule is only going to make it more urgent.”
