Fate's Demand (Twisted Fate, Book 3)

Chapter Twenty-Two

When I opened my eyes and looked around, I forgot to breathe.

From my dreams, I knew Heaven was going to be beautiful, with rooms made of diamonds, gardens that didn't end, and fields made of cloud. In reality, it was so much more. The silence felt like an embrace, never constricting, and the struggle to figure out your place in life was extinct. It was like, the moment you arrive, you knew who you were because the realization became as real as the fact that humans needed oxygen in order to survive.

My gaze lingered on everything that surrounded me. Sparsely furnished with just essentials, the room gleamed like a polished pearl. A dresser, a bed, and a desk. All white, rising a couple of inches off the glossy blue floor with unseen supports. I looked around the room once more, stopping when my gaze locked on Mike sitting at my side. Correction. At my bedside, watching me sleep.

I pulled myself up to rest on my elbows and looked around yet again, blinking as the light radiating from the walls threatened to blind me. Looking back to Mike, I asked, "Am I in...?"

He nodded. "Yes."

I slumped back down. This is Heaven.

Gabe brought me to the one place he must have thought would keep me safe without double-checking if it was okay, and then abandoned me to Mike's care. Not that I wasn't coming here anyway, but it was going to be by choice. It hurt in a way I didn't want to identify that he wasn't willing to stick around until I woke up. At least I could see them and wasn't restricted to a bright light covered by robes and a double shot of blue whenever they graced me with eye contact. That meant the way David had appeared in my dreams was the way he wanted to be portrayed—or not be seen, as it was.

With a sigh I turned my gaze back onto Mike, rolling the back of my head against the pillow. "So how come you guys don't pass out when your light shines?"

He smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners with amusement. "Our light comes from His Glory. It is endless. Yours comes from your soul, and although it is strong, it has limits."

"That sucks." Warmth spread into my cheeks and I glanced away.

A moment later, the heat of his attention was replaced with rejuvenated anger. I slammed my fist down against the bed at my sides and felt them sink into the soft covers. Looking down, though, I realized it was a mattress... made of clouds?

"Aly?" Mike cleared his throat. "Look, I know you're mad, but Gabe had to bring you. We were holding our own inside the arcade, but as soon as we dispatched one, another would show up. We couldn't leave Suzie and Gabe couldn't protect you while you were passed out, even after he took the concoction to restore himself to his full capabilities—"

"That vial?" Jerking my head up, my eyebrows knitted together.

"Yes." He nodded again. "Just don't be mad, okay? He was only doing what was right."

"Where is Gabe?" The vial had been meant to restore him, but I had done it before it worked. How was that possible? Did Gabe leave me to figure it out?

"I don't think you should start yell—"

"I'm not going to yell at him, but I will start yelling at you if you don't tell me where he is," I said, rising to rest on my elbows again.

"He's at the Academy, but you can't go there until we finish ironing out the kinks of you and Suzie being here."

Shifting, I pulled myself up so that I was sitting, the covers bunched at my waist. "Suzie's here?"

"Of course," he said, sounding defensive. "We couldn't leave her in the arcade overrun with Darkness."

"Darkness took over the arcade?"