Page 94 of Death Deals

“Yeah, they do.” As I continued to stare down at the scene, I found my thoughts drifting to Cole and what he was doing after leaving Michigan in such an abrupt way. Of course, I shouldn’t care, and I told myself that very thing multiple times, but as always, my curiosity was a nagging thorn in my side.

Soon, the ripples pushed out from my hand again and the picture morphed into another one I recognized. Plain brown walls and drapery and sparse furniture—now I was looking down at the same shady motel room Cole and I had stayed in during our hunt for the demon cure. And there was the half-demon himself, walking into the room on cue. He chucked his backpack onto the single bed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Pausing, he turned and walked over to the dresser, the same dresser we had—you know—on.

His gaze flicked to the mirror hanging on the wall above it, and he observed his reflection.

I leaned in closer to the water.

Then, rage contorted his face and he threw his fist into the glass, shattering it into a million pieces. The frame swung off its hook, and the rest of the mirror clattered to the floor. Breathing hard, he looked up, our eyes meeting briefly, and my stomach flipped. I knew he couldn’t see me really, but it still startled me.

He stayed like that for a while, glancing around the ceiling, until he calmed down and shook out his bleeding knuckles.

Suddenly aware of Eli beside me, I pulled out my hand and the image disappeared abruptly.

I glanced at Eli. He was quiet, his jaw set.

Oh boy. That had been a mistake.

I wiped my wet hand on my shirt. “Er—”

“Michael is waiting,” he said, cutting off my poor attempt of an excuse.

“Michael, right.” I cleared my throat. “Let’s go.”

This time walking toward the Ascension building awoke new emotions in me. Last time I’d entered this place, I’d gone into my Trials and faced challenges that pushed me to my limit, and—if I was being completely honest with myself—changed me. After being forced back to earth by Monnie, swept into the hot mess that was vampire politics, and then having taken down the Greed demon and his swarm of Halflings, I was going back into the Ascension building with a new wave of confidence in myself.

I’d been through a lot. I may have lost my memories, but I’d gained myself in a way.

When we stepped through the revolving door, I was stopped short by what stretched out before me.

My feet sunk into spongy moss. Lush foliage crawled along the walls and vines fell from the ceiling. Colorful flowers and plants broke up all the dense green, and the sweet scent of rainfall clung to the air. Sunlight streamed in from above, and when I peered up, I saw a treetop canopy and could hear the call of exotic birds.

The windows I remembered were mostly hidden behind the vegetation, but where was the white, sterile room from last time? The massive globe of earth was still at the center, but it was in the middle of a dense rainforest.

“Spectacular, isn’t it?” Eli said as I took it all in.

“Yeah,” I breathed, still in disbelief that all this had been here before; I just hadn’t been able to see it.

“It mimics the mythical Garden of Eden,” he said. “From the story of creation.”

I could have guessed that one.

As we walked deeper inside, I spotted Michael standing among the foliage, his cloudy eyes tracking our every step.

“Welcome back,” he greeted with a wide smile. “You gave us quite a scare, but I see you came out stronger for it.”

Really, Michael couldn’t “see” at all, since he was blind, but his vision went beyond his eyes. He was more in-tuned with his surroundings than I was, and I had my sight.

He gestured for us to join him in a stroll through the garden. “Tell me what happened. I’m all ears,” he said.

I did, starting with coming to in Fairport’s cemetery with Monnie’s week deadline hanging over me and ending at our final showdown with him and my ascension. I skipped the intimate bits about me and Andre—naturally—and stuck to my role in the vampires’ attempt at peace.

When I finished, Michael stopped, turned to face me, and grabbed me by the shoulders. “My dear, you’ve been through a great deal, haven’t you?”

Naw, you think?

“But there’s been a change in you. Even I can see it.” He pointed to one of his eyes and chuckled. “Something beyond the changes of the Ascension.”

His chin tilted toward Eli, who nodded in confirmation. Must have been talking via brainwaves again.

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