Chapter 5

Madison

A var worked in the cluttered cave where he'd first made the bathroom for me last night. The bathroom had already been moved to my bedroom, but the clutter of relics and artifacts remained in the cave, filling it wall to wall and floor to ceiling.

He slid an appreciative glance down my new dress.

"One thing Sup is really good at is beatifying even what was perfect to begin with," he muttered into his beard of tentacles before meeting my eyes. "Did you finish your breakfast? Can this meddlesome soul finally leave?"

E propped her hands on her ample hips. "I'm leaving, but I'm taking Madison for a walk around town with—"

"Absolutely not," he cut her off.

"But what is she supposed to do here all day?" E pouted on my behalf. "Sit under the glass like a live artifact and collect dust?"

"She can help me clean this place. "

"You need help?" I asked.

He nodded. "It'd be nice to have it all organized, displayed, and added to my collection eventually."

"Maybe if you didn't drag in everything you see, you wouldn't have the problem with having to organize so much stuff," I pointed out.

Avar's expression darkened; his tentacles twitched. The red glow of anger pulsed deep inside the purple. He clearly wasn't used to being criticized so frankly. I had the right to feel bitter. But unlike E, I wasn't just an immortal soul. I had a body to lose.

I braced for the worst, expecting him to lash out. Maybe I'd pushed too far, but I had to know how far I could go with him, especially since I might have to spend a long time with him one-on-one in the future.

He took a deep breath, visibly collecting himself. The red glow dissolved into the purple.

"I don't drag in just anything," he retorted somberly. "I collect exclusively rare and special pieces."

If he expected me to be flattered by being "collected" too, I felt nothing of the sort.

"Let's make a deal," I offered. "You'll let me go for a walk with E—" His hands surged in protest, his beard tentacles flared, but I lifted a finger, demanding he let me finish. "You'll allow me to learn more about Purgatory, since it is to become my home now against my will. And in return, I'll help you clean up around here, since it looks like no other soul wants to work with you."

His brow jerked at the last barb in my words. "Maybe it's me who doesn't want them around?" he barked.

I shrugged. "Well, I'm already around. And I don't have anything else to do for the next few decades, it seems."

He hesitated .

"I can take you on a walk myself."

That wasn't what I wanted, though. I believed E would be more forthcoming with information I needed to escape Purgatory. If Avar caught a whiff of my plans, he'd probably seal me into that glass box after all, both body and soul.

"I don't need a bodyguard, Avar," I said softly but firmly. "Or a babysitter. I just want to have a nice relaxing walk. If I can't go out on my own, then what's the difference between your home and a prison for me?"

He fisted his hands, lashing with his tentacles so hard, they knocked off a crate with scrolls and threw a rolled rug across the cave.

I stood my ground, and E took pity on him.

"I'll keep an eye on her," she said in a soothing voice. "I promise to have her back by lunchtime, with not a scratch on her precious body."

Avar settled his heavy stare on her.

"If anything happens to Madison while she's with you, I'll personally see to it that you finally leave Purgatory for good," he delivered in a low, threatening voice. "And this time, you won't leave for Earth. Nor will you go to any of the paradises up there. You'll go down , E." He stabbed a finger downwards energetically, as if trying to poke a hole all the way to hell. "And you will stay down there for eternity."

The poor golden spirit gulped, her eyes opening wider. I made a note not to run away while in E's company. Whether or not Avar indeed could influence her future, I wasn't going to be the cause of her damnation.

"I'll be back," I promised, grabbing E's hand. "No need to threaten the only soul who's visited your place in who-knows-how long."

"IS HE ALWAYS LIKE THAT ?" I asked E as we walked down a path in the foothills dotted with bushes of blooming lilacs.

"You mean the insufferable grump?" E clarified. "Possibly. I don't know Avar that well. I've only been to his place a few times with other souls and the sins when he allowed us to look at something interesting he'd found for his collection. But he couldn't be all bad. Sins aren't strangers to virtues, they're all siblings born to the same mother. Good is in Avar's essence somewhere. It just may be buried a little too deep for us to see."

We rounded the mountain, taking the path that ran between birch trees and flower-sprinkled clearings.

"No wonder he has no one," I concluded bitterly.

"Well, he has you for the next little while."

E's definition of "little while" differed from mine. She referred to the next few decades while I had every intention of getting out of here at the first opportunity.

"Then of course, there are his brothers, his sisters, and Pandora," she said.

"Who?"

"Pandora, the mother of sins and virtues."

"Pandora is their mother? I didn't know that."

E tossed back her ponytail with a shrug. "Who else would unleash all the good and evil into the world, then watch it burn with delight?"

"She doesn't sound like a good person," I muttered, climbing over a fallen tree trunk in our path.

"To be fair, Pandora is neither evil nor good, just bored. She stirs trouble to entertain herself. She's the one who brought TV to Purgatory, by the way. "

I tripped over a knoll of grass.

"The magical viewing box that Avar said his mother gifted them is just a TV?"

"It may be magical, but it works very much like a regular TV set, if you ask me." E navigated down the narrow path with ease. "It shows movies and TV shows, as well as many live streams from street cameras around the world. Sins rarely leave Purgatory. Avar sometimes does. So do Gul and Sup to get things they want from our world. But all the others mostly stay here. So they're quite enjoying watching the TV now."

"If the sins stay here, how has there never been a shortage of wrath, or laziness, or envy in our world?"

"Do you think the sin brothers are responsible for people being mad or lazy?"

"Who else? How can there be so much anger on Earth, for example, if the Sin of Wrath spends all his time here, smelling lilacs in Purgatory?"

"There are no lilacs in Ira's lair," she corrected, raising a finger. "And he doesn't need to be in our world for people to feel angry. Humans are very capable of generating all the wrath they wish on their own. They just prefer to blame it on something else."

E moved in light, bouncy steps, almost gliding over the rocky ground, easily scaling any obstacles. I suspected she could've been walking at least twice as fast, but she seemed to slow down deliberately to give me a chance to keep up.

"Anyway, most of the sins stayed here until Pandora got them that viewing box. After they learned more about the modern world by watching Pandora's box, some of them got curious about it. Invi, for example, talked Avar into taking him along the last time. That's when they met you."

"Lucky me," I scoffed.

She looked at me carefully. "It's not so bad here. Purgatory is a cute little town. Souls keep coming and going all the time, of course. But some stay for years or even decades. There are a few who have been stuck here for at least a century now."

"How big is this place?" I asked.

"Size is relative, isn't it?" she dismissed with a wave of a hand. "It's not like Purgatory has ever been measured."

"Why not?"

"No need. What does it matter? Either way, it has enough space to house every soul it takes."

As the trees receded with the forest staying behind us, the path widened into a rock paved road. It ran in the middle of a valley between hills studded with colorful buildings of every architectural style imaginable. Their appearance ranged from miniature palaces and high towers to log cabins or clay huts.

Souls moved between them. Some glowed with gold, like E, but most were different colors. Some even shimmered with iridescence, emitting every color of the spectrum.

The souls varied in size too. I gasped, pressing a hand to my chest as I spotted a tiny shape, not bigger than a toddler, slowly rocking on a swing in front of a house painted in purple and white.

"It's just a baby..." My voice hitched as my heart tightened painfully.

"Not necessarily." E petted my hand soothingly. "Looks don't matter here, remember? A soul is ageless and can take any form it wants. Some find comfort in the form of a child and may choose it after some especially traumatic experience back in our world or if they need to contemplate the choices they've made in their past lives. Their smaller form is the sign for the rest of us to be gentle with them while they recover and return to their former selves."

As we passed by a quaint little cottage with a wrap-around porch set with wicker tables and chairs, someone waved at us from a table in the corner.

"Hi there, come have tea with me?"

The lavender glowing figure was one of the few who looked elderly, having taken the appearance of an older woman with light purple hair brushed up into a bun. She was also one of a handful who had clothes on, wearing a white, long-sleeved dress that was tied with a rope around her waist, bringing a monk's tunic to mind.

"Should we join her?" I asked, unsure what the rules here were.

E nodded.

"It'd be rude not to." She led me over to the patio. "This is Madison," she introduced me to the woman. "She just got here."

"I've heard." The woman gestured at the two empty chairs at her table. "Welcome to Purgatory, Madison. I'm Charity, a sister of the abomination who abducted you so heartlessly. I strongly disapprove of Avar's behavior, of course. Sadly, he is my brother, and I can't help but feel responsible for his actions. Please tell me how I can make this experience more bearable for you."

I relaxed in the comfy wicker chair across the small round table from Charity, who I gathered must be one of the virtues, who E told me were the sins' sisters. Charity's kind smile and warm lavender eyes put me at ease.

"I'm very glad to meet you," I said sincerely. "It has been a little...overwhelming, coming here."

The other souls at the tables on the porch stared at me. My solid body, with not a hint of any glow, stood out in this crowd like a twig in a bouquet of tropical flowers. But no one bothered me with questions. Charity and E ignored the onlookers, so I did too. After a short while, they all went on about their business, chatting, drinking tea, and fluttering about while letting me be.

Charity stirred sugar into her tea with a slim silver spoon. "You coming here wasn't planned on your part."

"Not at all. I left a life back home, people I care about and who depend on me..." I paused for a moment, wondering if I could be completely open with her. She smiled encouragingly, so I proceeded, "As lovely as it is here," I glanced around, "I can't stay. Do you know how to leave Purgatory?"

She'd said she felt responsible for Avar's actions that she deemed wrong. If so, she could help me by simply pointing me in the right direction.

"Oh, that's easy. There are many ways into Purgatory but only one way out. It's the Gates, of course." Charity waved the teaspoon up the rock-paved road.

Hope leaped high inside me.

"The Gates?"

"They are straight down this road," Charity said. "Finding them is simple. However, passing through them can be difficult. Souls can leave only according to the decisions of the Higher Judgement."

"Well..." I folded my hands in my lap. "I shouldn't be here in the first place. I don't belong here."

"That's true." Charity nodded. "You haven't finished what you were meant to do in your most current life. Some things are still tethering you to your old world, be it places, actions, or people. Souls with unfinished business don't rest. Many refuse to travel to Purgatory at all, unable to let go of their past. If you stay here, you may never find rest. Unless..." She paused, feeling the silence with a hidden meaning.

"Unless I leave?" I finished for her, anxiously.

"Or find a new purpose."

"What kind of purpose?"

Charity put down the spoon and turned to E, who sat next to me. "Dearest, would you be so sweet as to get Madison some tea, please? You and I don't need to eat, but our new friend may be hungry."

After the scrumptious breakfast that morning, I wasn't hungry at all, but I didn't protest, wondering what Charity had in mind.

E got to her feet eagerly. She seemed too restless to stay in one place for too long. "I'll be right back."

"Take your time," Charity called after her. "There is no need to hurry."

The moment E went inside the cottage, Charity leaned toward me across the table.

"What happened to you was outrageous, Madison." She lowered her voice for only me to hear. "You have every right to leave Purgatory. But before you go, I'll give you a chance to do something wonderful."

I stilled, listening to her every word.

"What do you mean?"

"Avar is my brother. And I love him, despite all his shortcomings. But he's done a lot of wrong in his life. He's been taking things that don't belong to him."

"Don't I know that?" I exhaled a humorless laugh.

"Now, you can help me do the right thing, sweetie."

"Me? How? I'm just a human. A mortal one, at the moment. I have no power. And frankly, I'm still feeling a little dazed and confused in this world of yours."

"But you're also the only, um...well, the only animated exhibit in Alvar's collection."

"Do you mean I'm the only one alive on his mountain?"

Charity paused in thought for a moment.

"Not really," she said. "There are quite a few things in there that come to life every now and then. Though you're probably the most sentient one, I think," she said with hesitation that sent tiny needles of unease prickling down my back. What weird things did Avar keep on his mountain?

"He rigorously guards his collection," Charity kept talking. "He hardly ever leaves it. Until now, no one has been allowed to spend more than a night or two on his mountain. But now that he has you, we get a perfect opportunity."

"For what?" I didn't quite follow her train of thought.

"To take everything he has stolen and to return it to their rightful owners."

"Without him knowing?" I winced. "Do you want me to help you rob your brother?"

She huffed impatiently. "It's for the greater good, my dear. I've seen your past life—"

"You have? How?"

"Everything you do is recorded for the future decisions of the Higher Judgement. You are a good, generous person. You help others without expecting rewards. You love to give. You know that returning to people what's rightfully theirs is the right thing to do. It's not a robbery when one is taking what has been stolen."

"I-I'm not sure, if you put it that way..." My head was spinning. Maybe it was the fresh air and the change of scenery, or maybe it was the twirling of Charity's words with their meaning curling in my mind into a twister.

"Madison," Charity leaned closer, covering my hand with hers. "Do you have any idea what invaluable treasures Avar's collection holds? I'm not talking about gold and diamonds, though I'm sure he has plenty of those too. He has never published medical studies for medicine and devices that would improve the lives of many people, including children. He has poems and novels that the world has never seen. There are historical accounts and original writings of souls who will never again return to your world, having long departed either to hell or paradise—because both of those places house plenty of geniuses." She squeezed my hand emphatically. "Do you understand? All these treasures were created by humans for the benefit of humanity. My brother has no right to keep them all to himself."

"And you want me to—"

E strolled from the open front door of the cottage, carrying a porcelain teapot in one hand and a small silver tray with dishes in the other.

Charity promptly leaned back in her chair.

"Think about it." She smiled kindly. "You don't need to give me an answer right away."

E placed the tray in the middle of the table. "Sorry for the delay. I ran into a few familiar souls and had to catch up."

"No need to apologize, sweetie." Charity took a sip of her tea with a smile that told me she knew exactly how easily distractible E could be. "We have plenty of time."

"Not really." E sat in her chair while I thanked her and made myself a cup of tea. "We can't drink tea here forever. If I don't bring Madison back by lunchtime, Avar will rip my head off—figuratively and likely literally too." She rubbed her neck with a grimace.

I set my teacup down after just one sip.

"Can we still make a quick trip to the Gates, please? I really want to see them."

E frowned. "Trust me, there isn't much to see. I've been turned away from them enough times to tell you with confidence it's a boring sight."

I didn't want to go there for sightseeing. If the Gates were the one and only way out of Purgatory, then I needed to explore that possibility the sooner the better .

"It's not far, is it?" I asked sweetly. "Can't we take a quick look, then make it back in time for lunch?"

E shifted in her chair uneasily.

"Maybe if we left right now..." she agreed reluctantly. "And if we hurry—"

"Let's go then." I got up and gave the virtue a smile. "It was very nice to meet you, Charity."

"It was indeed, Madison." She lifted the teacup to her mouth. "We'll talk again."