Page 89 of Death Deals

Excitement twinkled in his eyes.“Yes, we can communicate this way, now that you’ve Ascended. You are one of us.”

So freaky.

Having Eli, Michael, and the other angels in my head whenever they pleased? I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this Archangel perk, though.

“Michael is going to be thrilled. We must start training right away and—”

Eli continued to babble on about how everything had worked out and how proud he was of me, but my thoughts drifted off. As did my gaze, which stretched past Eli to see the vague outlines of four figures standing on the docks, looking my way.

As their details solidified, coming more into focus, I recognized them all. Wyatt and Lisa, Sean’s father and mother, Marla, Arianna’s aunt, and Simon, my mentor, all stood there.

My chest warmed at the sight of them. It felt like forever since I’d been in the afterlife with them, visiting Arrogant Bastard or shooting the shit with Marla—or as she’d say without the cursing, shooting the poo, or something ridiculous like that.

Guess my living friends hadn’t been the only ones who’d come to help. My dead ones had been here, too. In spirit. Literally.

I smiled their way.

Realizing I was no longer paying attention, Eli caught sight of what I was looking at. “You can see them now, too,” he said out loud. “They’ve been with you through the entire fight, giving you support from the other side of the veil.”

Of course they were. I didn’t doubt it for a second. “If I can see them, then—”

He nodded, already knowing my question before I said it. “You can now pass through the veil at will. And enter Heaven as well.”

Hot damn.

“Wait, does that mean…” My voice rose. “No more elevator?”

He grinned. “No more elevator.”

Good, because I was starting to fucking hate elevators.

As my gaze swept the rest of the group, I found Kay assessing Arianna’s limp arm and Cole standing in the far back with Sean by his side. They murmured to each other, and when Cole’s gaze found mine, a smirk teased his lips. In his look, I saw the same question that hovered in my own mind—how the hell had we gotten out of this one alive?

When Sean’s eyes followed his and saw me, he nudged Cole hard. Since he was still weakened from his possession, he stumbled forward and threw a death glare over his shoulder at him. Sean urged him to come over to me, but he only continued to shoot daggers his way.

Giving up, Sean huffed a sigh and stalked off toward Kay and Arianna.

If Cole was being reluctant to talk to me, then I’d go to him.

I walked over. “How are you feeling?” I asked.

He holstered his gun. “I’ll live,” he grumbled.

“Good, that was the point, after all.”

“One you should’ve never allowed.”

I ignored that.

“What about you?” he asked, looking out onto Sean, Arianna, and Kay to avoid turning his full attention on me. “An Archangel, huh?”

It still sounded a bit strange to say, but— “Yeah, I am.”

He let out a short laugh. “That’s… insane.”

“After everything that we just went through, it doesn’t seem too out there, does it?”

“I guess not,” he said. “The scary thing is this is just the beginning.”

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