Page 144 of The Star's Sword

The sky was cloudless blue as far as we could see. Even though we were high, all we could see was clouds beneath us. We couldn’t even see the world below. Even looking up, the sky seemed oddly artificial. Like we were on the ground looking up instead of in the sky so high there should have been very little.

There were floating islands everywhere, with the most luxurious buildings I’d ever seen on them, surrounded by lush forests, crashing waterfalls of crystal-clear water, and celestials walking on the walkways, carrying things and talking, white wings outstretched.

Everything glittered, from the white marble stone comprising the buildings, to the lush green leaves, to the sparkling grass, to flowers I’d never seen in all shades of the rainbow.

“Holy shit, it really is paradise,” Griffin said, Os silent with awe next to him.

“Maybe they brought the eighth-realmers up here to serve them,” Os said. “Maybe that’s why it was empty.”

“It’s so peaceful,” Mor said. “Like I was always taught.” She shook her head. “After finding out what ninth realm celestials were like when I left the sky kingdoms, I always pictured it in chaos.”

“Ugly,” Simon said, flapping his giant wings. “Feels too artificial. Feels fake.” He pointed downwards. “Plus, shouldn’t they be like, screaming right now at us? We’re invading, and that’s not supposed to happen.”

But the people just kept moving, as we all flew closer to one of the islands. The largest one in the middle had a giant castle made of crystal and sparkling white stone in the center, surrounded by lavish grounds where hundreds of celestials were walking calmly.

I had to figure out what was happening. Where was Samael?

“It’s an illusion,” Simon said. “It has to be. There’s no way they would be prosperous. They’re more vampiric than vampires. They suck the life out of everything around them. I promise, Cleo. Something isn’t how it seems.”

I was at the front of our group, so I touched down first, in case it was a trap. The second my foot touched down on a soft spot of grass, everything around us glitched and flashed, and then went dark.

Winds whipped around us, cold and unwelcoming, as I fought to even see around us in the dark, foggy air.

“Up!” Simon yelled. “It’s a trap! Fly up! This was just to stop us!”

Instantly, I agreed with him and shot upwards. It didn’t look like anything would be up there, but this couldn’t be the ninth realm.

Even if it was probably what most celestials accepted.

As we flew, I was surprised to see clouds covering us once again. One more layer.

This time, when we emerged from the cloud layer, we truly felt as high as we were.

There was little up here but sky, and it was oddly dark all around us, so we couldn’t even make out clouds.

Several bright lights caught my eyes and made me instantly squint as they moved closer, so bright I felt they could burn my retinas.

They looked like figures obscured by burning light, like stars in human form. A huge, moving flash, like Sam’s father.

I moved my eyes around, searching for Samael. I couldn’t see him yet, but it was hard to see anything in the darkness with the star-like ninth realm celestials shining so bright they could blind.

They looked like they were made of pure light. But how did you kill someone made of light?

I kept my hand on my sword’s hilt, wondering if an evernight sword would work on them.

The lights moved around, not harming us but not paying particular attention. Instead, I noticed they were circling around something in their midst.

There was a figure, hard to see, at the center of where many of them were moving in a circle. The figure was dark, and little lines of light were moving out of it and toward the stars circling around it, as if they were sucking something out.

I narrowed my eyes. “Samael?”

The figure’s head raised, and even with the darkness obscuring him, I’d know my mate anywhere.

“Get away from him!” I yelled, drawing my sword and holding it out as I flew toward them, flapping my wings.

The most nightmarish, high-pitched laughter ever echoed around me, hurting my ears, as I lunged toward one of the ninth realm celestials feeding on Samael.

But my sword didn’t hit the creature, and I just went flying straight through as the light split in half, avoiding me completely.

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