Chapter Five

We started in Araboth, the Seventh Heaven. Again. So, I suppose we restarted.

The shapeshifters in our group, those with sensitive noses like myself, wore gas masks to protect us from the harsh odor of bleach. Even with the mask on, my nose twitched and tingled, but it was tolerable. We headed out to the desert, and I didnt need Jesus to lead me. He did walk beside me though, leaving a second set of footprints in the sand. He did not carry me.

Sorry, I couldnt resist. And if you dont know what Im talking about, youre very lucky.

What Im trying to say is that the scent of bleach—or rather the light tingles I got from it—led me right to the spot where the Ark had been left. The culprit had covered their entire trail with bleach, sprinkling it like breadcrumbs along their path, just as we had suspected. There wasnt much to see at the drop location, just a lot of sand. Everywhere. What a waste of a god territory. The Ark had long since been moved to a new location, hopefully safer than its last.

“Well, shish kebabs,” I muttered.

We headed back into the Shining City, through those illustrious pearly gates and across the gold streets, back to the tracing temple. Once there, we stopped before the steps and stared at the main doors. Angels trickled out casually, then noticed us, and hastily bowed to their King before giving us a wide berth. It was probably more the masks than us. I stepped back further and removed my mask.

“Have you checked your wards?” Az asked his brother.

“I dont have to. I would have known the instant someone messed with them,” Jesus said.

“Maybe you should check,” Blue drawled.

“Just in case,” Thor added.

Frowning, Jesus closed his eyes. A few seconds passed. His frown cleared, and he opened his eyes. “They are whole.”

“So it has to be an Angel,” Azrael said.

“Or a Demon,” Finn said, his light Irish accent making the words sound almost playful.

Jesus and Azrael exchanged heavy looks.

“I cant imagine any Demon wanting to undermine your authority,” Azrael finally said to his brother. “Were better off with you in charge.”

“Every soul follows its own path, Brother,” Jesus said. “Sometimes its harder to discern the path another follows.”

“Did John Lennon just become Deepak Chopra?” Morpheus whispered to me.

I snorted a laugh and looked over my shoulder at the Dream God. “I love that you know who those men are.”

“And I love that you know them well enough to get my joke.” Morph winked an eye of blue mist at me.

Staring into Morphs dreamy eyes, I was reminded of all the territories Id visited, some unknown to me until I ended up in them.

I had to dig deeper.

“Torrent,” I called.

“We going in?” Torr wove through our god crowd and stepped up beside me, his lime-green eyes bright with eagerness.

“Yup,” I said. “Maybe I can find something in there.”

“Like what?” Jesus asked.

“I dont know, but its worth a look.” I put on my mask and headed up the steps. “Well be right back.”

The other gods could have joined us, but it would have put an unnecessary strain on Torrent. My Dragon-Sidhe senses allowed me to follow scent trails through the Aether, but I couldnt walk that plane of existence without Torrent making a tunnel of Internet through it. Otherwise, I just whizzed through it like any other traveler, and that wouldnt give me time to follow a trail. But together, Torrent and I were the perfect Aether-inspecting team.

Torrent took my hand as we entered the temple. It was a huge space for a tracing chamber. Usually, they were closet-sized rooms, but this one was, well, temple-sized. Marble walls soared up to a domed and gilded ceiling supported by pillars. It was a lot of white and gold. Sort of cliché, if you ask me. As we headed for a wall, the reason for the size of the tracing temple became obvious. Angels popped in all around us, each one appearing in a different area of the temple. Tracing into the exact same space as another god at the exact same time had never been done as far as I knew. Usually, the Aether let you out where there was room. But if there wasnt room because a huge amount of gods came tracing into a small confined space at the same time, there could be disastrous consequences. The size of the temple ensured that didnt happen.

The arriving Angels gave us odd looks, but only for a moment. That was as long as it took Torrent to take us into the Inter Realm. We didnt actually move. A tunnel of Internet just formed around us, turning the world brighter and sharper. Beside us, a second tunnel also appeared. Or a stream rather. The appearance of that second vein of Internet, one that extended out into Araboth, told me that Torr had been there recently. There was no way he would open paths of Internet for Jerry.

I pulled off my gas mask and asked, “Jesus asked you to install Internet?”

“Oh, yeah. Just a few weeks ago,” Torrent said. “The Angels are thrilled.”

“Maybe not all of them are thrilled.”

“Huh.” Torrent cocked his head, a swath of platinum hair falling across his pale face. He pushed it away absently. “I cant imagine why someone wouldnt want Internet access. But then, Angels can be very traditional gods, and I am, well, not.”

“Very untraditional,” I said. “Just the way I like you.”

“Thanks, V.” Torr grinned. “You ready?”

“Yup.”

Unseen by those in the God Realm, Torrent and I stepped forward, toward a glossy, marble wall. We didnt touch the wall, as we would to trace, but walked right through it, our Internet tunnel preceding us. Why didnt we just use one of the tunnels of Internet already in place? Because this tunnel wasnt full of zipping, glowing lines of information, and it would be easier for Torrent to move us about in it.

Normally, it was best to not see the Aether. Its a realm of pure magic, where witches send their spells to manifest and gods pay a toll of memories to pass through. And until those spells manifested, or those memories were absorbed by the Aether as a form of fuel, they hung out there. Just floated about like boba in a cup of tea, waiting to be sucked through a massive straw. Images of money, love, and healing competed with mini movie screens playing snippets of god and fey lives. I tried my best to ignore them. Stare too long at that magical circus, and you might go mad.

Instead, I inspected Araboths ward. And Torrent helped. We peered at the fog of magic guarding the Seventh Heaven, moving slowly along it. I looked upon it as a witch, a faerie, and a goddess, but Torrent saw it as a magical source code. And he could unmake that code if he wanted to. In the world of Gods, his was a fearsome power, but wed done our best to keep it under wraps. If it got out, the other gods might come gunning for Torrent, just to ensure he never unmake their wards. Or them.

“Anything?” I asked him.

“No, it looks fine to me.”

“Its huge.”

“I hear that a lot.” He giggled.

“Artemis is such a bad influence on you.” I snickered.

“Seriously though. The ward extends over all the Heavens.”

“What?” I paused to look at him. “But each of the Heavens is ruled by an Angel. Azrael wards Shehaquim himself.”

“Yes, but he was a special case.” Torr gave me a grim look. “He got Shehaquim because of his father, and Luke would never have allowed Jerry to have access to his sons territory and Hell, via that territory.”

“So, all the other Heavens were warded by Jerry?”

“Yup. You cant keep out the supreme God.”

“I mean, theres that. But if the ward falls, then all the Heavens are open to attack.”

“Thats a good point. Maybe you should mention it to the J-man.”

“I will.” I paused. “Hold on. You said that Az was a special case. Is he not warding Shehaquim anymore?”

“One moment.” Torrent peered downward, then said, “I dont see any break in the ward. I think Jesus has warded it all.”

“Az must have handed over the reins when his father gave control of all the heavens to Jesus.”

“I think so.” He waited a second, then asked, “So do we keep looking?”

“Oh, yeah. Because if it isnt an Angel behind this, the culprit could have slipped through the ward at any of the territories and then gained access to Araboth.”

“Shit,” Torrent muttered and looked down again.

I followed his gaze down the length of ward which seemed infinite. “Can you inspect it all like you just did?”

“You mean, just look along it?” Torr asked.

I grinned hopefully.

“No. I can see it, but I dont know exactly what Im looking for, so I cant focus on searching for that.”

I nodded, expecting that answer. Then I did something I dont often do. I used a real curse word. “Shit.”