Page 6 of Grave Consequences
Lanky just stares at me blankly.
“Perfect, that’s exactly right, I’m so glad you got the rules of the game so fast,” I encourage sarcastically.
“Okay, first question, am I still in Hell?”
I study his face, but he’s got this stony thing nailed. I nod like answers are just pouring off of him.
“Okay, still in Hell, good to know. This next one is a little harder...am I in Nihil?
Nothing. Hmm.
“Am I somewhere else?”
Lanky sniffs, and my eyes widen. I spring up from my lunch tray bed and stare at him excitedly. “So Iamin Nihil?”
“I didn’t say that. I just had to sniff,” he defends, his Irish lilt making his words sound more appealing than they are.
“Did you really?” I challenge. “Okay, so I’m in Hell. I’m in Nihil, which means that Iama Nihil?” I recount to myself as if that’s going to help everything connect. “But how? Jerif said that it was impossible.”
“Who’s Jerif? Is that who helped you break into Tazreel’s house?” Lanky asks.
“Tazreel?” I ask. “Is that the name of Not-God with the blond wings and hair and a Gaston complex?”
Lanky stares at me, unmoving.
“Tazreel…” I repeat again, like saying the name will jog my memory. “Nope, no idea who that is. And no one helped me break in anywhere; I fell through the Ring portal and woke up in that creepy white room,” I supply. “Blame the Gate, not me.”
“Everyone knows Tazreel,” Lanky argues, like he’s not buying my defense at all. “He was part of the original wave of Abdicated. Everyone knows that.”
“Abdicated?”
Why did I know that word? I quickly recall the blond winged dude claiming he was one, but that isn’t it. I’m pretty sure one of the guys used the term before, I just can’t quite remember.
“Yes,” he says, looking at me like I’m an idiot. “Tazreel is one of the angels who left Heaven.”
Understanding dawns on me, and I look at Lanky excitedly as I piece it together. “Holy shit, the blond dude is a Fallen Angel?”
“Abdicated, not Fallen Angel. No onefellfrom anywhere. Fallen…” He snorts, like the thought is ludicrous.
I stare at Lanky as my mind wraps itself slowly around what this all means. I’m in Nihil, the Center Ring of Hell, where only the Abdicated and very powerful live. I have wings. I shiver. And I’ve been hidden from the demon world my whole life up until now…
“Shit, am I the Anti-Christ?” I ask, shocked. “I mean, I don’t feel like I want to burn the world to the ground, but what other explanation is there?”
Lanky busts up laughing. I turn a glare on him, not appreciating the levity he’s experiencing during my existential crisis.
“You are not the anti anything. All you are is in big trouble for messing with Tazreel. As soon as he finds a Savor who can come on such short notice, we’ll know who you are and just what to do with you.”
“A Savior?” I ask, confused, because that sounds like a good thing and not the ominous threat that Lanky meant it as.
“A Savor,” he repeats.
“Sailor?”
“Savor!” he mouths more slowly.
“Shaver?” I ask, feigning confusion.
“SAVOR!”
