Angel of the lake

Chapter Fifty-One

Pushing through the purple barrier of the heavens was easier than she expected. Her memory from that night was blurry, hazy from pain. The hellfire had been licking at her back, driving her understanding of those moments into chaos.

The barrier gave her no resistance. She'd been expecting heat. A sizzle. Something to throw her backwards. But there was nothing. If she hadn't seen it flicker when she came through, she wouldn't have known she'd crossed it.

Which got her mind ticking.

Tick, tick, ticking.

She'd seen a similar barrier elsewhere.

It reminded her of the mystical barrier at her home, the castle in the Inferno Kingdom.

The entire castle and its accompanying maze was surrounded by a similar barrier. The barrier didn't keep people in and out. It didn't stop anyone from entering. Instead, it stopped travel by mystical means. An anti-portal jumping barrier.

What if the same applied here?

What if this barrier did the same thing?

If she could figure out how to deactivate it, she could bring in reinforcements.

Evie said she'd be heading the war. Meg was the first move on the chess board.

Beyond that, this whole thing was open to interpretation. Which meant her theory could be possible.

Something she'd be looking into, of course.

What if that barrier was an anti-portal jumping barrier?

She'd hit a strike of luck with her timing.

No one was around to see her arrival to the heavens. Her return.

The courtyard was empty. Not abandoned, just empty.

At this time of day, everyone would be in the breakfast hall where the fates would brainwash Valkyries with more of their mindless jib.

Megan couldn't go there. Not unless she wanted to die on the spot.

She had to play this smart.

Fortunately, she knew exactly where to go.

Her body knew precisely where to take her.

The room she'd inhabited a year ago hadn't changed much, though her belongings had been removed. It didn't appear as though anyone had moved in to replace her.

On the other end of the room, Beth- her old roommate- had her stuff spewed about. Clean, yet clearly frequently used.

Meg took a seat on her old bed, perching on the end. She wondered how she'd ever been able to sleep without a giant demon hogging the bed. It seemed like madness to her now.

She waited for a time, right up to the end of breakfast when the girls would be returning to their rooms.

She prayed she'd made the right call here.

When the door handle twitched, she held her breath.

Beth appeared in the doorway, looking exactly as Meg remembered her.

Moment of truth.

Her eyes were upon Meg in an instant. Not a second later, they doubled in size.

Probably not what she was expecting.

"Oh my Gods."

"Shut the door," Meg commanded, darting up from the bed. The fewer people that knew she was here the better. She could trust Beth with this, but that wasn't to say she could trust everyone.