Ari soared high above the ground, higher than he had ever gone before. Far to the east the first rays of the sun had just breeched the horizon, and he could see them crawl across the ground, giving light to Heaven. He was still reluctant to meet up with Michael. His High One would be so disappointed with him.
With all the beauty stretching out beneath him, he focused his mind on Danny. On his friend. The friend he had almost lost, but had somehow found again. He could not, would not, let Michael take him away again.
Next to him fluttered his wingelf friend, puzzled with his behaviour but still staying with him. She went through all the colours of the rainbow, and sent sparkles out over the fields below. Ari was glad to have her as a friend, as well. Glad to have someone who could effortlessly travel between places.
He closed his eyes and focused his mind inwards. On his inner self, his true self. Danny had carved out a part of it and claimed as his own, but that was fine. Ari wanted him there, inside his heart and right next to his soul. But no one else could know. Least of all Michael. So he imagined himself weaving a blanket of light, something to pack away his true feelings in. To keep them safe, to keep them his and his alone. It was deceit. It was a lowly thing to do. He was trying to trick the one person who had meant more to him than anyone else.
Michael.
His guardian, his High One. As close to a parent as an angel boy could ever have. In some twisted way he almost envied Danny his family. His blood kin. From what Danny had told him, they were all more or less terrifying and terrible, evil of the highest order. Or lowest, whichever way you wanted to see it. But they were Danny's. No matter how bad they were, they were still family. Something Ari would never have. Michael and all the angels were kin of another sort, bound to one another by the Light, sprung out of the Light. But they shared no blood.
The weave grew tighter, closer. He had to be careful to not hide his self so deep he could never find it again. It was a tightrope.
Danny had come to mean so much, in such a short time. It almost defied logic. Ari wished for a world where he could have both. His guardian and his friend. Something he knew could not be.
When he finally let himself sink back down to the ground, he felt that his weave of deception was complete. The memories of Danny and their time together were buried so deep inside that he could barely sense them. His feet touched grass, and he was the Ari he should be, the Ari Michael had made through months of work. The Ari he didn't really want to be anymore.
He said goodbye for now to the wingelf, then walked briskly towards the Citadel. Today he would sing with the choir, and Michael would see that nothing was amiss. And his heart felt just a tiny bit sad for lying.
* * * * * *
"That wasn't scary at all," Danny lied as he lay on his bed, watching the salamander roast a slice of bread. "Not one bit."
He tossed a tennis ball against the wall, then caught it when it bounced back. An hour had passed since his father left his bedroom, but he still hadn't stopped feeling anxious. Another shiver ran through him. On the surface, they'd had a perfectly calm conversation. He had regaled his dad with tales of spelunking, how he thought he had found the deepest part of Hell, and how he had tried but failed to make his salamander hunt and catch the condemned souls of small animals. Nothing but lies. All the while, there was an eerie gleam in those ancient eyes. Amusement? Anger? It was impossible to tell.
At dinner, sitting in his usual place at the far end of the banquet table, Danny barely touched his food. The usual tales of horror and blood didn't even disgust him, they were just sound. Word-noise with no meaning, no depth and no relevance to him. He did perk up towards the end of the meal, when their father chastised Damien for once again causing mayhem and slaughter in the human world.
"What we should do, is sit back." The monarch of Hell took a bite of an apple, and smiled. One of those smiles that made Danny want to run and hide. "Right now they're sending themselves here like never before. Of their own accord! Greed has so much work to do she's had to delegate. There's no need to stir things up."
"We could still have more," Damien snarled, pacing back and forth behind his seat. "Rouse the rabble, incite new wars, give them even more ways to vent their spite at one another."
"Big words, Dai," Arabelle hissed. "Do you know what half of them mean?"
"Of course we could do more," their father interjected, and Danny's siblings fell silent. "But what you fail to see, son, is how much sweeter it is, this way. Every soul that sends itself here, by its own precious free will, is a thorn in the heart of our friend upstairs."
"It's not the old ways."
"Ways diverge. See this as an era of mass administration, rather than bickering and bartering for individual souls."
"Where's the fun in that?"
"In the success." Danny's father gave another of his scary smiles. "In the numbers. In the ease with which we win."
"They might still surprise you in the end." Danny looked around to see who had spoken, before he realised that the words had come out of his own mouth. "I... I mean..."
"So the runt still draws breath. What the fuck do you think..."
"Let him finish." With a wave of his father's hand, Damien was silenced. All eyes turned to Danny, and he silently cursed his tongue for speaking his thoughts. "Care to elaborate, Danial?"
"There's still good in the world." What was the matter with him? Why couldn't he just shut up? "For every one who's mean an' hurtful, there's others who are willing to help and comfort."
"And you know this, how?"
Truth was, Danny didn't know. Aside from each Halloween since he was old enough to sneak out of the Place, he hadn't spent much time on Earth. He liked to watch human television, and read human books whenever he could sneak one all the way into his bedroom. But he didn't know much on a personal level. It was more of a feeling, a yearning for it to be true. Maybe all the mind-hopping had hurt his head. Maybe this wish for good things came from spending time with Ari. Or had he always wanted to be better than bad? It wasn't easy to know. And now they all glared at him, except for Adriana who looked mildly concerned. And his father, who seemed thoroughly amused.
"We're waiting for an answer."
* * * * * *
Ari was a happy boy. For the first time in who knew how long, he had sung with the choir, had praised the Light for a new dawn and a fresh day.
What was more, Michael had finally let him take a day off from work. His guardian had given him an odd look when they first met that morning, but he had still declared Ari's soul pure. And for that he had been given free reins.
He spent the first half of his day in a forest, enjoying the crisp air and the earthy smell of living things. Every now and then he would stop and lean his head against a tree, listening to its tales of a life lived in centuries, or even millennia. Of strong roots and sturdy soil, of sweet rain and nourishing sun. Of squirrels and mice, bats and birds, itchy biting bugs and of the soothing nearness of the other trees in the forest. It was an easy world to get lost in, but a twinkle caught Ari's eye while he could still see the outside.
"Hello again, little one," he greeted the wingelf in his usual way. The way he had before he forgot all about her. And about... the one he really shouldn't be thinking about up here. "How has your day been?"
Bright colours gave what he assumed was a positive answer. She stayed with him as he strolled along meandering paths or trudged through the undergrowth. Noon passed and afternoon grew into evening, and Ari's peace of mind remained. Every now and then he talked to the animals of the forest, petting them if they let him. His wingelf friend made sure to stay out of snapping distance from a fox and an owl, but she seemed happy enough to play with deer and wild horses. Even a shy little rabbit kit let her scratch its long, fluffy ears, all the while furiously wagging its tiny tuft of a tail.
When they reached the edge of the forest, the wingelf suddenly flared yellow. Ari froze. Was this a warning? While he waited to see what would happen, she flew up and booped his nose. Green and blue blinked rapidly as she took to the air, changing to red when Ari gave chase. They flew through the chill evening air, occasionally passing through puffy white clouds, and Ari couldn't stop laughing. Whenever he thought he had caught her, she disappeared with a pop and turned up someplace else. She even flew up into his robe and pinched his butt, which made him chase her with even more fervour.
In the end, just as the sun was beginning to set, they sank to the ground. Ari felt tired, but happy. Before he could stop himself, he called out loud.
"Hell, yeah!"
Silence fell all around, as if even the air took offense. Ari's mouth fell open; he couldn't believe what he had just said. Where had that come from? From Danny, of course, part of his mind said. A part he had suppressed, but not deep enough. He looked around, and among the mortal souls who worked there he saw wide eyes and whispering mouths. There were a few angels as well, one of whom took flight. Towards the Citadel. To fetch Michael, no doubt.
At first Ari panicked, his mind blank and his heart racing, but then he steeled himself. He threw off the mental blanket and let the memories of Danny wash over him. With his friend, he found courage, and he turned to the angels.
"You have no right to judge me!" he yelled. "No right at all!"
What he should have done was to wait there for Michael, for his guardian. Instead, he took to the air. He flew away from the Citadel, not knowing where to go, or what to do. All he knew was that he could no longer stay. He didn't want to stay. The wingelf remained by his side, straining to keep up. He paused for a second and shed his celestial form, becoming once more the winged boy who had once trick-or-treated with a devil. The boy whose heart wept over losing his home, but who also looked forward to whatever was to come. The wingelf clambered on to his robe and hung on while he sped off again.
"I need to see you, Danny," he whispered into the wind. "Please, be there."
* * * * * *
On the outskirts of the Petrified Forest stood a hollow tree. Inside it, Danny held his breath, trying not to tremble as he heard Arabelle slither by. He got to the forest just ahead of his siblings, but rather than go in deep he decided to chance the hollow tree. It was one advantage of being the runt of the family; he knew hidey-holes that they did not.
He could have done things differently. He could have stayed and taken his well-earned beating for speaking up against the rest of them. Instead he had picked up his near-full plate and thrown it at Damien, just barely missing his oldest brother. Then he had run. Another advantage of being the lowliest. His seat was nearest to the exit. He had been out of the Palace before the rest of them were done yelling obscenities after him.
Outside the tree, the sounds grew faint. It could be a ruse, he knew. Someone could lie in wait for him to poke his nose out, and he would be done for. Still, the loud growls coming from far away told him that the others were searching around the back door. Kerbie was not happy with all the excitement. Poor Lefty. Danny vowed to himself that if he ever saw his favourite dog head again he would bring it something extra putrid for a treat. Still, it gave him a chance to get to the main gates. The last thing they would expect.
Mainly, because it was too stupid to even consider.
Long ago, the Petrified Forest had covered untold acres just outside the Palace, but many years before Danny was born, his father had had much of it cut down, because he found the empty plain more aesthetically pleasing. Danny half agreed, since he had never been a fan of the forest, but right now he did not relish the thought of nowhere to hide. That was, if he could even get past the gates.
He squeezed out of the tree and tip-toed his way up to the gates. None of the family was there, thankfully, but two demons stood on guard. They were of the grunt variety, physically powerful but intellectually lacking. Mostly, they resembled the trolls of Earth folklore; cumbersome, ugly and seemingly bored. They kept glancing at the forest, trying to see what the commotion was all about. Mustering as much self-confidence as he possibly could, Danny walked up to them.
"Open the gates. We need to search outside."
"Huh?"
"Open. The gates." He stared at one guard, then the other, which made them cringe as he had hoped. Demons in general responded well to authority. "He could be hiding out there."
"But... but prince Damien said keep 'em locked."
"Prince Damien isn't here, is he?"
"Uhm, no?"
"Prince Danial is, and he says open the gates."
"But our orders..."
"Were old orders. This is a new order."
"I don' know..." The talkative of the two scratched his beard. "I needs to check with me superior."
"I am your superior, dolt." Danny felt his resolve slip. This was taking too long. Already, the noise from the forest was getting closer. "Among the three of us, I'm very superior."
"I guess..." The guard shook his head, and looked from Danny to the gates, then back again. "But if you's here, then why d'you need to be lookin' for ya out there?"
"Because I'm really tricky. I could have snuck out while your two were standing around, picking your noses."
"Never on duty!"
"Besides, I could be tricking you even as we speak. Better check outside to make sure."
"I guess so."
"Good. Prince Damien would not be happy if you let me escape on your watch."
That seemed to settle the matter. Both demons shrugged, and one of them fished a key out of a belt pocket. It seemed to take him forever to unlock the huge, rusty iron padlock and unchain the gates. Too long. Danny could see burning torches at the edge of the forest. They were coming for him. Just then, a clear voice called from the lakeshore.
"Here! He's here! I saw him!"
Adriana.
Was it just a lucky coincidence, or had she actually meant to save him? Danny couldn't know, but he hoped for the latter. He sent her a kind thought either way. Of all his siblings, she had always been his least non-favourite.
"You heard," he told the guards as soon as they had begun to swing the gates open. "I'm at the lake. Go help them search."
"But... but... but..."
"Hurry! And lock the door behind me, in case I sneak back this way. Better swallow the key, too, just to make sure."
Danny slipped out between the jet black wrought iron gates and took off running. Whether or not the demon guards obeyed his commands didn't matter. Time was not on his side. Before long the jig would be up, and he had better have found a place to hide by then. On a featureless open plain. To his left, in the distance, lay the part of the Petrified Forest that still remained outside the Palace grounds. But he would be coming in from the wrong side, and Krebie's wrong heads would spot him. To his right, all he could see was the horizon. He'd never get to it in time. If only his tiny wings had been enough to carry him, he could have hidden in the evergrey cloudscape.
Instead, all he could do was run.
* * * * * *
Bells were ringing in the distance. Not the ones who called to song, to contemplation or to prayer, but bells Ari had never heard before. These bells called to arms. Surely not for him? Disobedience and cursing were bad, but not bad enough to rouse the Seraphim. Right? Part of him wanted to turn around, to go back and see if he could help. Not that a lowly boy could do much if the warrior angels were called on to fight.
Then another thought froze him. It couldn't be Danny, could it? If his friend had somehow sneaked in to try and find him... A devil in Heaven. They would tear him to shreds. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, and despite the wingelf's glares of red, he flapped his dove-like white wings and flew towards the Citadel. Just to make sure.
* * * * * *
Danny had barely crossed the first mile when the gates exploded behind them. He didn't need to look. Damien's true form was something he had rarely seen, and never wished to see again. Already he could hear the flapping of leathery wings, and wordless howls of rage. He wanted to stand and fight, he really did, but it wouldn't do any good. If he got in one good blow, it wouldn't even bruise his brother. What Damien would do to him, though...
Could devils die? Danny didn't know, but he might soon find out. While he ran, he slid a hand into his pocket and gently picked up the salamander. It would surely perish from Damien's wrath, and Danny didn't want that.
"Find a fire," he whispered, then he grinned. "There's plenty of 'em down here, ain't it? Go somewhere, anywhere, save yourself."
But when he dropped it, it dug its claws into his hands and wouldn't let go. Instead it scrambled up his shirt until it could perch on his head.
"No, don't yank me away! I can't leave my body here for them to..."
This was different. Instead of pulling at his mind, the salamander seemed to pull at all of him. His whole body. Could that really be possible? Danny knew that one of the borders to and from Hell lay out here on the plain somewhere, but he had no idea how to use it by himself. The few times he had physically left Hell it had either been in the company of his father, or during Halloween when the borders were at their weakest. But it wasn't Halloween now, was it? He didn't really know. Could a whole year really have passed since he first met Ari?
Ari...
Whatever else happened, he wanted to keep his friend foremost in his thoughts. If nothing else then to say a distant goodbye. If only you could take me to him for real, my little friend, he thought to the salamander. If only you could...
He felt it.
The tug that would draw him out of his body to meet Ari on the grassy plain. But it was stronger, much stronger. He added all his will to it, all his desire to leave his home behind for good. Every wish he'd ever had to see Ari again. And it worked.
His brother's wings were so close he could almost feel the wind from them, the shrieks and yells of the others not far behind. Pain burned through Danny, and he screamed. Then he was gone.
It wasn't Hell around him now, but a hazy grey. He was really leaving, going someplace else. It was too good to be true. Just when he was about to fail. Either he must have stumbled upon the border by chance, or maybe the salamander had gone above and beyond the call of duty to help him. Or else, his own powers had begun to awaken. As a hellspawn, he should have demonic powers, right? He had never shown any before, but now, perhaps.
Or could it be a combination of all three? The border, the salamander, and himself. And maybe even Ari's desire to see him? That was a part he hadn't even considered before. Did angels have powers like that? The pain intensified, and he lost the ability to think clearly. Please be Ari, please let me see him. The angel boy was all he could see in his mind.
Then the pain ceased, and he stood next to an immense stone building, so tall it vanished behind the clouds. No, not next to. On. He was high up on the side of this skypiercer, on the roof of some small outbuilding. The salamander hopped off of him, looking a bit wobbly as it scurried over the edge and down the wall. Using all his climbing skills, Danny followed. There was a window on the wall, and he made his way down to the sill. The room inside was empty. All he could see was a spartan bed, little more than a mattress on the bare floor. He gasped. He knew where he was.
Bells rang, so near and so loud they nearly split his skull open. Angry voices called out in a foreign language.
