Page 12 of An Unexpected Ascension
He tosses an amused look over his shoulder at me and winks...winks!
I can’t stop the laugh that barrels out of me. His audacity to be flirty and downright rude astonishes me. Despite my belly coiling tightly, my mind shuffles through all the ways I can tell him off without having to pay for it. So far, nothing solid sticks.
With each passing minute, my stroll turns into a frantic sprint desperate to flush these ramped thoughts crowding my mind. Except, all it does is make me feel like a hamster on a wheel. I shortly realize that as I run block after block, it’s all the same. I pass the same grey house, with the same single tree in the front yard, the same crack in the cement.
It’s almost dizzying.
I slow down, not out of exhaustion or overexertion, but because this run was entirely unhelpful at clearing my head. Trotting back down my street, I see a petite blonde in my peripheral.
“Yoohoo! Briar!” Sarah May stands on her porch, waving me over.
Sighing heavily, I push myself towards her house and wonder how long this will take. Scratch that, who cares? I literally have eternity.
“Hi, Sarah May.”
“Briar, I have some excellent news!” she gushes, trying to fight the smile breaking free on her face.
I stay silent, waiting for her to tell me, but then it becomes obvious she wants me to ask.
“What’s going on?”
“I’ve finished my penance! I’ll be moving into a new house. You know, those cute little homes right behind Saint’s Rowe. Oh, I can barely contain my excitement!” She squeals, playing with the diamond on her necklace.
“Congrats!”
She pulls me in for a hug and jostles me around a bit before holding me at arm's length.
“Pretty soon, my dear, we’ll be neighbors again. I can just feel it! We'll have to meet at the Market. Oh, and I can have you over. I’m sure you’d like to see where you’ll be moving to. Geraldine, you know the one that owns that jewelry stand, she once had me over for a day of chatting and?—”
And... she’s gone.
Sarah May is gone. Vanished. Disappeared before my very eyes.
I wonder if that’s how it works. One minute your home is here in the greylands, and the next, you’re standing in a new one.
I don’t get very long to ponder on that thought before the very same thing happens to me. One second, I’m standing on Sarah May’s porch, and the next, I’m watching the commotion of angels in the Market.
There’s a buzzing in the air, as if all the hushed voices have come together to create a loud static. Someone bumps into my shoulder as they pass by, almost knocking me over. The worry in her eyes as she shoots me an apologetic look stops me from scowling at her.
Another woman with grey hair grabs her by the hand and tugs her through the crowd.
Before I follow, a hand grips my shoulder.
Spinning, I find Will with a solemn look on his face.
“Hey, what’s going on?” I ask.
“Remember that demon I told you about earlier? The only one who’s allowed to walk through Heaven?”
“Yeah.”
He nods his head towards the cluster of bodies before us. Slowly, we begin to follow the crowd.
“Well.”
He doesn’t bother finishing his thought because as we approach what appears to be a marble dais in the center of the Market, I find what he has left unsaid.
That stranger from the gates.
