Chapter 16

Madison

I tried to move and immediately regretted it. My back burned in agony. Wincing from the pain, I opened my eyes to the view of the familiar lavender sheets under my cheek. I was lying in Avar's bed in his bedroom, face down.

My belt was off. The tunic had been cut open on my back. Its frayed, bloodied edges draped on each side of me, staining Avar's beautiful sheets.

"You're awake?" His deep voice sounded above me.

"I think so."

I tried to turn my neck to look up at him, but he was way too tall for me to see him from this position without risking twisting my head off.

"Don't move." He sat on the bed next to me. "You're injured. I couldn't protect you."

The sadness in his tone gutted me. I found his tentacle on the bed next to me and squeezed it.

"Avar, baby, but you did protect me." I lifted a hand to my eyes to make sure I still had my body. It looked like I did. "I'm alive, am I not?"

"Barely." He sighed, opening a jar in his hands. "I cleaned your wounds and was hoping to put this on them before you woke up." He showed me the jar with pale gel inside it. "Now, it'll hurt."

"What is it?"

"A healing ointment. It'll numb the pain. But it'll hurt while I'm putting it on. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess, everything considered." The memories of my mad dash through the woods with the monster breathing down my neck made me nauseous.

Avar hesitated with the jar in his hands. "Would you prefer to wait?"

"No." I rolled my head, pressing my face into the pillow. "Go ahead. Put that thing on. It hurts a lot already, anyway."

Holding the jar in his hands, he leaned over me, then used the tip of his tentacle to gently apply the ointment on my mangled back. The delicate touch of his corollas hardly added any more pain to my wounds.

"How does it look?" I asked, almost grateful that I couldn't see my back.

"It'll heal," Avar replied evasively. "This ointment is very good. It'll hardly leave any scars at all. We were lucky it was his claws and not his teeth that drip deadly poison. A werewolf's bite is not survivable for a human."

"Was that monster a werewolf, then? How did he shift without the full moon?"

"I believe it was one of Ghata's monks, a brack . Ghata marks them with a specific tattoo on their neck and arm. This one had it. The bracks don't follow the werewolves' usual shifting pattern because they don't obey the moon, only Ghata. She takes over their souls and bodies, filling them with rage. Rage is what changes their appearance, and this one seemed to have so much of it, he's gone berserk."

A shudder ran through my body. The monster's howling still echoed in my ears. The vision of blood-drenched corpses flashed through my mind.

"He killed people, Avar. And he'll kill more if he isn't stopped."

"He will be stopped, sweetheart. I doubt he'll make it alive through the next full moon. He may be mad with rage and drunk on violence, but he isn't a match to a pack of werewolves in their beast form.

"Good. I don't ever want to see that horrible scowl ever again."

"You won't," Avar promised. "We're never going back to Nerifir."

"Sounds good to me." I nodded as he finished applying the ointment and closed the jar. From the tiny glimpse I took at that world, Nerifir seemed beautiful, but way too dangerous for my liking. Evading cruel high lords and running from terrifying monsters wasn't something I wished to do on an everyday basis. I far preferred my safe, even if a little boring, existence of a restaurant owner. "Why are we here, by the way? Shouldn't I be back home?"

Avar tensed.

"Technically, our deal is off since we didn't find the horologe. However—"

"Oh, but it isn't off. I believe I got what you wanted. What time is it now?" I sat up gingerly, favoring my back.

"Just a few hours later than when we left here." Avar looped his tentacles around me to catch me if I collapsed.

"Aha!" I lifted a finger in the air triumphantly. "We wouldn't have arrived in our time without the horologe, would we? "

"Not necessarily. There is always a chance of that happening—"

"Yes, like a one-in-a-gazillion chance, but I don't think that's what happened with us." I looked around. "Where is the cat?"

"The cat?" Avar blinked, glancing around too. "No idea. Maybe he went to the kitchen for some food?"

"More food? How much can that cat eat? He devoured a pile of roast beef just a short while ago." I made a move to get off the bed, but Avar stopped me.

"Stay here. I'll find the fucking cat."

The moment he opened the bedroom door, however, the cat strolled in, holding both his head and his tail up proudly. He jumped on the bed, licking his whiskers.

"I bet my favorite burner on my stove," I said, "that he found the kitchen and already stole something from it."

Avar glared at the creature as the cat lifted his hind leg and started cleaning the two furry balls under his tail without a lick of shame.

"This thing almost cost you your life," Avar grumped.

"But it will also bring me my life back. Look at his collar."

He leaned over the cat, gently moving the animal's hind paw aside to have an unobstructed view of his neck.

"I'll be damned," he gasped.

I beamed.

"Did I guess it right? Look at the tag. His name is Keeper, as in the Trusted Keeper of the Magical Horologe." I paused, doubt crawling into my mind unbidden. "Please tell me the collar is the horologe that you wanted more than anything."

He slid a finger over the gears on the cat's collar.

"It is most definitely the horologe, Maddy. Only it's not what I want more than anything anymore."

"Really?" I huffed a laugh with a shake of my head. " So, it's true for the sins, too, what they say about humans? One can never be satisfied with what they have."

For the Sin of Greed, that must be more true than for anyone else.

He rested his gaze on me. "Oh, I believe I've finally found someone who would satisfy me fully and completely." He brushed the side of my face with the tip of his fingers. "Stay with me, Maddy."

Time seemed to stop as I stared into his eyes. Oh, how tempting it was to just stay lost in them forever. My old life felt so distant already. It wouldn't be too hard to keep it that way.

Except that...

"I have people depending on me, Avar. Responsibilities..."

Reasons that seemed so solid just a short while ago no longer felt that way.

What had changed?

And suddenly, I knew the answer.

I fell in love.

There wasn't enough room in my chest for the feeling that overflowed me.

I loved him. Despite my best intentions, I fell for a mortal sin. Hard. And now, leaving him felt like wrenching my heart out of my chest while it was still beating. It hurt worse than any wound.

Yet I also knew that the thoughts of my mother living the rest of her life alone with no one to care for her when she no longer could take care of herself would haunt me for the eternity that lay ahead.

If I stayed, I would never be fully happy.

Normally, souls didn't remember the details of the life they left behind when coming to Purgatory. But I did. My life was unfinished, and I could never truly move on if I left it that way .

"Avar..." I shook my head, choking on the words I had to say. "I can't...I..."

He didn't need any words, reading me better than anyone ever had. His expression fell. Hope left him, dimming his glow. He reached to cup my face but stopped himself and patted my knee instead, then got off the bed, heading for the door.

"I'll bring you some clean clothes to change into and something to eat. Do you want tea as well?"

I swallowed a lump in my throat.

"Tea would be nice."

He took in my crestfallen expression.

"Please don't get upset, Maddy. I can't stand to see you sad. I won't ask you again to stay. I understand."

The moment Avar left, Keeper climbed into my lap. I scratched behind his ear and sniffed, tears burning my eyes.

Avar stopped looking strange to me a long time ago. I no longer thought of him as an ancient being from another world, or a mortal sin, or some incomprehensible entity. To me, he was just a man I fell in love with, someone I believed I could be happy with, a man I wanted with my whole heart and my very soul.

"Do you think he'll wait for me?" I asked the cat. Petting his soft fur helped keep the tears at bay. "What are a few decades for someone who's lived for millennia, right? But will it be selfish of me to ask him to wait?"

If a soul never died, nothing was forever, not even the most heartbreaking goodbye. Maybe Avar could visit me while we were apart? Seeing him at least occasionally would be better than not seeing him at all.

The mountain shook suddenly. Spooked, the cat leaped up to his paws.

"It's okay, Keeper." I stroked his head soothingly. "It just means we have a visitor— "

The mountain shook again and again. And again. It kept shaking, one tremor building upon another, growing into an earthquake that seemed endless.

The heavy dresser by the wall moved. Books and decorations slid from it and crashed to the floor. The room lurched sideways. I screamed, grabbing onto the bedpost. Keeper shot off the bed and out of the door.

It was not just one visitor. An entire army must be invading Avar's mountain, shattering the peace of this place like glass.

When the trembling subdued a little, I unclenched my fingers from around the bedpost and scrambled off the bed.

"Avar!" I swung the door open.

A giant flaming hole was burned in the glass that surrounded the mountain. Dozens of multi-colored souls climbed through it to get inside. Spreading along the path, they shuttered glass cabinets, broke the locks, and wrenched the lids and doors open.

"What are you doing?" I screamed.

A demure figure in a pristine white shroud ascended the path from the front entrance.

"Charity!"

"Madison?" She seemed surprised to see me, either not expecting to find me in the doorway to Avar's bedroom or not expecting to see me on the mountain at all.

"Did you know we were gone?" I guessed. It made perfect sense for her to break in while Avar and I were in Nerifir. I shook my head. "Why would you do something like this?"

She tilted her head with an accusing sigh. "Because you refused to do the right thing and help me, sweetie."

Glancing over her both shoulders, she gently but firmly shoved me back into Avar's bedroom, entered after me, then closed the door behind her.

"How can breaking into someone's house be the right thing?" I exclaimed, devastated by what was happening to Avar's priceless collection. "Look at the madness you've caused." I thrust a hand toward the closed door and the destruction that was happening behind it.

"None of the exhibits will be damaged or broken," Charity assured me hurriedly. "All will be returned to their rightful owners."

"Their rightful owners are dead, some for many centuries."

She was shorter than me, yet somehow still managed to stare me down. "Almost every item Avar has in his possession belongs to humanity, Madison. That's where we will take them all, back to the human world."

I paused, trying to consider all possible consequences her actions might have.

"It can go so wrong, Charity. Are you not afraid that the collection may fall into the wrong hands? Think about how much harm can be done with those weapon prototypes Avar has here. Or the chemical research he's acquired. Even if you don't start a war by dumping it all on humans now, trust me, there are a lot of unscrupulous assholes in my world who wouldn't hesitate to profit from hoarding the knowledge he has stored here and keeping the wealth it'll bring all to themselves. Oh, and don't even get me started on neglect. Do you know how sloppy humans can be at preserving their treasures? A huge chunk of Avar's collection still exists only because he rescued it before humans would've destroyed it."

Charity lifted her head in a dignifying gesture.

"As is their right," she said with aplomb.

"Do you mean you don't actually care if the treasures survive?"

"People created these exhibits, Madison. Without humans, this collection wouldn't exist in the first place. Whatever purpose they have created each item for, it is their right to either use it, lose it, or destroy it."

I stared at her, flabbergasted.

"But that's not the right thing to do, Charity. How can it be right?"

Charity embodied the virtue I deeply admired. It worried me that we didn't see eye to eye in this situation. All my life, I'd strived to be a good person. Did it mean I failed at that now?

She remained poised.

"People have the right to have what's theirs, and it's our duty to return it to them with the best intentions. After that, we can only hope that humanity has grown enough to understand right from wrong and to choose their path wisely."

I scoffed at that.

"I'm afraid you don't know my kind very well. Or that you only see one side of humanity when there are so many."

"And what side do you see?" She squinted at me, taking in my torn, blood-stained tunic I kept pressing to my chest. "How evil do you think people are if you believe that my brother has a higher moral ground? Avaricia is the epitome of immorality." She frowned at my sorry state. "Madison, what did he do to you?"

She stepped around me to take a look at my back. I swiveled in the same direction to hide it from her, but it was too late, she saw the wounds and gasped. "You're hurt!"

"It's nothing," I protested.

"You're bleeding." She seemed genuinely appalled. "You're coming with me, Madison. I can't possibly leave you here for another minute."

"Avar didn't do it."

I fully realized how bad it looked to an outsider like Charity finding me in Avar's bedroom badly injured and in dirty, torn clothes.

"It happened in Nerifir," I tried to explain. "Avar would never hurt me."

"But he sent you to Nerifir, didn't he? What for? To get something for him? He'd stop at nothing to get what he wants. He's using you, poor thing. How can you be so blind as not to see it?"

"He's doing no such thing. We made a deal. I volunteered to go to Nerifir."

"Why do you defend him?" She peered at me closely, then shook her head with disappointment and regret on her face. "Did his power and wealth corrupt you? Humans are highly susceptible to such things. But you can do better, Madison. Everyone can. Greed is powerful, but your free will can be stronger. You have to try to break free from him."

I huffed in frustration. "Charity, there is more to your brother than what you see. He's kind and caring. It's in his nature to take care of what he has, which includes his relationships with others. He keeps his distance from everyone because he gets attached too deeply and it hurts him to let go."

She looked at me with pity, shaking her head with a deep sigh.

"What a na?ve little soul you are. Do you not know what my brothers are, Madison? How they came into existence? People took their worst fears, the most vile parts of the human character, the darkest vices no one would admit to having and named them sins . Then, they called the worst of them the Seven Mortal Sins. That's what my brothers are, my little human soul. They are the worst of the worst. You cannot embrace them. You have to defy them to preserve the good inside you. You must leave Avar. Please, help me fight him for you."

There wouldn't be much of a fight. I was about to leave Avar already, and he was not going to hold me anymore. Because of the deal we had made, he could let me go now without a threat to his existence. But I wasn't leaving for the reasons Charity wanted me to. I didn't see Avar as evil. It hurt me that someone else did.

"You're judging him for what he is , instead of making an effort to understand what he does . There are good sides to Avar, just as there are better forms of greed. Frugality, prudence, conservation—all can be used for good."

She moved onto me, holding her finger up.

"Nothing about a sin can be good. Those who claim otherwise are tragically misguided or deeply corrupted. Which one are you, Madison? Do you want me to guide you out of your mistake? Do you wish to be saved? Or will you let greed claim you?"

I didn't feel "corrupted," and maybe that was the point? Fallen people didn't always realize how far they had fallen. But there was nothing in Charity's idea of virtue that inspired me to follow her, either.

I met her judgmental stare with a smile.

"I love being claimed by him."

Charity pursed her lips, looking profoundly disappointed.

"Do you know how much evil is being done every day because of greed, human?"

"Just as much, I bet, as is done because of the best intentions ," I retorted. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find my favorite sin." I brushed by her and pushed the door open.

All hell had broken loose in Avar's usually quiet, peaceful, carefully organized dwelling. Cabinets stood wide open, glass in many of them smashed. Discarded empty crates and trunks rolled down the mountainside. Souls of all shapes and colors stuffed the huge sacks they'd brought with them with priceless treasures that Avar had collected and preserved for centuries.

The Sin of Greed himself stomped down the path. A bright red glow pulsed through his chest with an intensity I'd never seen before. He was furious.

Lashing out with his tentacles, he grabbed every looting soul he passed.

"Get out of my place!" he thundered, ripping the half-filled bags out of their hands before tossing the souls out of the gaping hole in the glass.

He was terrifying in his rage.

"Just look at him." Charity sighed disapprovingly. "Is that who you choose to stand by?"

"Maddy." Avar spotted me by the door and rushed down the path, shoving the souls and broken display units out of his way. "Did anyone hurt you?" He crouched in front of me, his tentacles curling around me in a protective double hoop.

"I'm good," I assured him.

The red glow inside him fizzled out and died.

"If anyone hurt her, it was you ." Charity pointed an accusing finger at the wounds on my back.

Tightening his tentacles around me, Avar heaved a long, heavy breath, then rose to his feet, taking me along. He straightened to his full impressive height, placing me in the crook of his elbow.

"Leave, Charity," he growled. "And take all these misguided souls with you, unless you want me to toss all of you out through that hole."

Charity jerked her head high, pursed her lips, and marched by us as poised and proper as ever.

Avar glanced at the melting opening in the glass, then turned back to his sister.

"Charity," he called. "I believe you forgot to return something of mine."

She paused without turning around.

He stretched a tentacle in front of her. "My ward breaker? "

Without uttering a word, she searched in the folds of her shroud, then produced an elongated chrome cylinder with pewter designs etched into it.

Curling the end of his tentacle around the cylinder, Avar took it from her.

"Did E steal it for you?" he asked. "No one else has been here lately."

His sister didn't deign to answer. Holding her head high, she descended the path and departed. By then, most of the souls had already been gone. Some had been tossed out by Avar. Others had run out through the door or had climbed through the opening in the glass on their own. The few who remained scurried after Charity, leaving their bags behind.

I took a long look around the ransacked mountain.

"We have a mess to clean here now."

" I have a mess to clean. You ..." He kissed the tip of my nose while adjusting my torn tunic over my shoulder. "You, my wounded kickass warrior, will have to rest and heal."

I smiled, leaning against his shoulder.

"I'm so not kickass. Quite the opposite, really. I'd take peace and quiet over a wild adventure any day."

"But you did so well during your adventure in Nerifir."

"Did I?" A warm glow spread through me at the praise. Clearly, I was guilty of the sin of pride too.

Avar brushed my tangled hair out of my face.

"You outwitted the High Lord's scouts."

"That wasn't hard to do," I chuckled. "Let's face it, those two weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. There is a lot for them to work on in their next lives."

"You escaped the monster," he said, undeterred.

"I would not have done that without you. Escaping that thing was definitely teamwork."

"And you saved the cat."

" That I did," I agreed, laughing. "I am taking full credit for that one."

As if on cue, Keeper sauntered toward us from wherever he'd been hiding during the attack on the mountain. One thing that the cat was really good at was hiding at the first sign of trouble. That was probably why he still had some of his nine lives left.

The cat rubbed his back on Avar's ankle.

"Is he asking for food?" Avar wondered.

"Probably."

"But I just fed him in the kitchen." He waved a tentacle up the path. "I gave him the rest of the roast you made the other day. I hope you don't mind. He seems to like it."

"He sure does."

Avar stared at the cat, looking lost in thought for a moment.

"Maddy, I think I can adjust the horologe, at least once, to manipulate time in the human world too. Would you like that? Would you like to return to the time when I took you? That way, you wouldn't have lost a day of your life at all."

"Would I still remember you and everything we have been through together?" I asked.

Would I still love you? I thought.

"Your memories are yours," he assured me. "No one can take them away. But now, you can stay here for a few more days to heal properly before you leave." He peered at me closely, as if trying to gauge my reaction. "I'm not asking you to stay for good, Maddy. Just to rest. For a few more days.

Like many people, I disliked long goodbyes. But I hated even more having to say goodbye to him at all.

Just a few more days...

"I'd love that, Avar."