I’d just laid down my pen when the chapel doors flew open with a crash so resounding it made everyone jump.
The loose-limbed figure of an adolescent boy with an effeminate face and a cowlick stood in the entrance. He wore a hooded black robe and three sets of black wings fanned out behind him. He bowed formally, never taking his eyes off Father Mel, and approached the altar with a gait so rehearsed he might have been on a catwalk. A gleaming scythe swung at his side. I knew at once what he was: a Grim Reaper, trained by the Angel of Death himself. Hysterical screams broke from Mrs. Alvarez as she scrambled for refuge behind the altar. Frantic prayers uttered in Spanish could be heard from her hiding place. Traditionally, reapers are only visible to those they seek, but in this case etiquette had been abandoned. Every movement seemed deliberate, designed to issue a clear message to us. This death was on our heads.
Instinctively, I pushed Xavier to the ground. At the same time my wings snapped open, shielding him; a reaper could never claim a soul while its guardian was watching over it. But I soon discovered it wasn’t Xavier the young reaper had in his sights.
His intense gaze was fixed on Father Mel, and his slender finger was pointing straight at him. The priest blinked in confusion before cowering backward until he was pressed up against the altar, his horn-rimmed glasses askew on his face.
“I meant only to help. I meant only to help,” he repeated.
“Your intention is irrelevant,” replied the reaper coldly.
Father Mel paused for a moment, then righted himself. “I was called by the Lord and I answered.”
“Do you know what she is?” the reaper asked. “She is not human.”
Father Mel did not seem surprised. He had known all along I was different, although he had never questioned me or treated me like an outsider.
“God works in mysterious ways,” he replied boldly.
The reaper inclined his head. “Indeed.”
I watched transfixed as he held one hand aloft and Father Mel instantly doubled over in pain, clutching his heart. He gasped for breath as he fell to the floor.
“Leave him alone!” Xavier screamed, trying to extricate himself from my grasp. I had him pinned, using strength I didn’t know I had. The reaper seemed to look at us for the first time and turned his languid sleepy eyes to Xavier. The smile on his rosebud lips was almost insolent.
“My business is not with you,” he answered. Then he closed the distance between himself and the priest lying prostrate on the marble floor. Xavier struggled, but my angelic power held him fast.
“Beth, let me go,” he pleaded. “Father Mel needs help!”
“We can’t help him now.”
“What’s wrong with you?” he implored, looking at me with a strange expression, like he didn’t recognize me.
“You can’t fight a reaper,” I whispered. “He’s acting under instruction. If you get in his way, he’ll take you too. Don’t make me your widow within minutes of becoming your wife.”
That seemed to get through to him. Xavier stopped struggling and fell silent, though his eyes were full of anguish as he stared helplessly at his childhood priest and mentor. Father Mel’s body twitched briefly and then was still. The reaper glided away only to reposition himself at the head of the body. I knew what he was waiting for. A smoky shadow emerged from Father Mel’s open mouth and hovered in the air—a filmy replica of the lifeless form on the floor.
“Follow me,” instructed the reaper tonelessly. He sounded almost bored. Father Mel’s soul looked lost for a moment, searching for direction, and then complied. Together reaper and mortal soul ascended toward the domed ceiling of the church.
“Where are you taking him?” I demanded, dreading the thought of Father Mel being cast into the pit for trying to help us.
“His motives were pure, so his place in Heaven remains intact,” the reaper replied without looking back or pausing in his flight. “But his days on this earth are over.”
2
Run, Baby, Run
ONLY when the reaper had disappeared did I feel comfortable enough to release Xavier. He rushed and fell to his knees beside Father Mel’s inert body. The priest’s eyes were still open, now dull and glassy.
A breathless Mrs. Alvarez emerged from behind the altar, shaking and looking at us with an expression of dread. She paused in the aisle, her quivering hands clutching at the jewel-encrusted crucifix around her neck.
“Santo cielo! God have mercy on us all,” she whimpered before stumbling blindly out of the chapel.
“Wait!” I called after her. “Mrs. Alvarez, please!” But she didn’t look back. She was too fixated on getting as far away as possible from what she’d just witnessed.
Once she was gone, Xavier looked at me, his face ragged with pain.
“Beth, what have we done?” he whispered. “We killed someone.”
“No, we didn’t.” I knelt down beside him and took his hands in mine. “Listen to me, Xavier, this isn’t our fault.”
“They took him as revenge,” Xavier murmured, averting his face so I wouldn’t see how upset he was. “For agreeing to this marriage. If he hadn’t tried to help us, he’d still be alive.”
“We didn’t know that.” I turned his chin, trying to make him look at me. “We’re not the killers here.”
I passed my hand over Father Mel’s eyelids, closing them forever. I could feel anger swelling in my chest at the injustice of it all, but I knew that wouldn’t help any of us. So instead, I sent up a silent prayer that Father Mel’s soul would find rest. Xavier was still staring, bereft at the body on the floor.
“It’s only his earthly life they’ve cut short,” I told him. “He’s at peace now—you know that, don’t you?”
Xavier nodded and tried to blink back the tears that were gathering on his long lashes. The sound of a car screaming to a halt outside drew our attention. It was immediately followed by the sound of doors slamming and feet pounding on the gravel path.
When Ivy and Gabriel stormed into Saint Mark’s, it took them a fraction of a second to appraise the scene and work out what had transpired. They flew down the aisle in a blur, and only came into focus when they were standing directly in front of us. Gabriel’s beautiful features were pained and he passed a hand through his sand-colored hair in frustration. Ivy’s loose golden mane was mussed and she wore an expression as black as thunder.
“What in God’s name have you done?” she said in a tone I’d never heard her use before. Her voice had dropped several octaves and seemed to come from deep in her chest. Gabriel only clenched and unclenched his jaw without speaking.
“We’re too late,” he said finally. His eyes traveled over our wedding rings and the body on the floor. He didn’t even flinch, evidently not surprised to see the first casualty of our ill-fated love.
“This is a travesty.” Ivy shook her head in dismay. “This rebellion shall not go unchallenged.” Her usually cool gray eyes had turned a strange amber hue and I thought I saw tiny flames in her irises.
“Not now.” Gabriel motioned toward the exit. “We must leave this place.”
They grabbed us both by the shoulders and half dragged us along with them down the aisle. We were too dazed to resist. The black Jeep was waiting outside the church. Ivy threw open the doors using more strength than was needed. For a moment it made the whole car lurch to the right. “Get in,” she commanded. “Now.”
“No,” I objected, pulling feebly away from them. “I’m sick of everybody telling us what to do!”
“Bethany, I wish you’d come to me first,” Gabriel said, his voice heavy with disappointment. “I could have helped you make the right decision.”
“This is the right decision, Gabe,” I said resolutely.
“You have betrayed the laws of Heaven and caused the untimely death of a man of the cloth,” my sister said through clenched teeth. “Have you no regrets?”
“We didn’t know that would happen!”
“Of course not,” Ivy said,
and suddenly I understood what it meant to have someone shoot daggers at you with their eyes. “Do you expect us to keep defending you no matter what you do?”
“No. I just wish you could see things from our perspective!”
“We only wanted to be together,” Xavier said. “That’s all.”
His explanation only seemed to fuel my sister’s discontent. “Get in the car!” she yelled. Her abruptness took us all by surprise. Then she turned her back on us and leaned against the passenger door, her shoulders tense with rage.
“We’ll come with you,” I said steadily, trying to restore a modicum of calm to the escalating situation. “Just tell us where we’re going.”
“You both have to leave Venus Cove. Right now. There’s no time to lose,” Gabriel said. “We’ll explain on the way.”
I realized suddenly that the veins in Gabriel’s neck were throbbing. Ivy was wringing her hands and darting little nervous glances down the street. Was I missing something? I understood why they were worked up about our impulsive decision to marry, but I could see there was more to it than that. If I didn’t know them better, I’d say they were scared.
“Gabe, what’s going on?” I touched his shoulder with growing alarm.
The look on his face was one I hadn’t seen before. It was a look of defeat. “It’s not safe for you here anymore.”
“What?” Xavier instinctively put an arm around my shoulders. “Why not?”
“I know we’ve made trouble,” I said. “And I’ll never forgive myself for what happened to Father Mel, but I don’t understand! This shouldn’t involve anyone but us. We just wanted to be married. Why is that so wrong?”
“In the eyes of Heaven it is,” Ivy said, her rainstorm eyes meeting mine calmly for the first time.
“That’s not fair,” I protested, and at the same time felt tears threatening to spill. I climbed into the backseat, devastated that our happiness had been shattered so soon.
From the front seat, Gabriel spun around. He fixed Xavier with a hard look. “Listen to me carefully.”
Xavier’s face paled and he swallowed hard.
“You don’t just have to leave,” Gabriel said. “You have to run.”
My brother drove out of town toward the hills at breakneck speed. Ivy bit down hard on her lower lip and clutched the dashboard. Despite their promise to explain, neither of them was saying a word. Xavier and I held on to each other and tried not to assume the worst. This wasn’t exactly the honeymoon I’d had in mind. I just hoped Xavier wasn’t having doubts.
I craned my neck and watched my beloved town shrinking through the rear window. The last thing I saw was the spires of the bell tower at Bryce Hamilton rising above the undulating hills before my brother made a sharp left onto a scrubby dirt road and Venus Cove disappeared from view. The only place I’d ever called home was gone! I wasn’t sure how long it would be before I’d see it again or if I ever would. The thought made my head spin.
It hit me suddenly why Gabe was in such a hurry to leave the road behind. He wanted us completely concealed from view. Even then he didn’t slow down. The ride was bumpy; pebbles flew under the tires and low branches kept thrashing at the sides of the Jeep. Even the trees seemed to be plotting against us. I watched the clouds turn elastic, twisting and forming into strange images. A mass of dense clouds stretched until it looked like a hand was reaching through it, the index finger extended and pointing straight down at us. A second later the finger retracted to become a swirling mass of cloud again. Imagined or not, I knew it was a symbol of judgment. That’s what my marriage to Xavier would indubitably be seen as: an act of rebellion, treason against the Kingdom, punishable by laws I wasn’t old enough to understand. Besides, my human traits were so dominant now, all of Heaven’s laws would have seemed foreign. Meeting Xavier had shifted my loyalties; I no longer felt any ties to my native home.
I knew we were moving into higher ground because the air coming in through my window felt lighter. I tried counting the number of horses grazing in the paddocks to keep my mind off what lay ahead. I hoped my siblings would direct their anger at me and not Xavier. I knew I should apologize and concede we’d made a mistake. But I wasn’t sorry for what we’d done. Not yet, anyway.
The day that had felt so perfect just hours before now lay in ruins. We were in the car so long I lost track of time. I wondered how many hours we’d been driving. Had we crossed state lines? I had a feeling we’d left Georgia behind. The terrain had definitely changed. The trees were thicker and taller. The air was as crisp as new-season apples. We were heading north; I could see the hazy blue contours of mountains in the distance, but I didn’t dare ask which they were. Xavier stared out the window without speaking. I knew he was still thinking of Father Mel, replaying the scene over and over in his head and trying to work out if there was something he could have done differently. I wished I could comfort him, but nothing I said would make a difference now or ease the pain and guilt crashing down on him.
Finally, we pulled up outside a log cabin so in tune with its surroundings I didn’t even notice it until we were right outside its green painted door.
“Where are we?” I asked, inhaling the pine-scented air.
“In the Smoky Mountains.” My brother’s voice was a low rumble. “North Carolina.”
I only had time to take in the name of the cabin, Willow Lodge, and the two rustic rocking chairs on the front porch before Gabriel hastily fished some keys from his pocket and ushered us inside. The floor was scrubbed pine and there was an open fireplace with a quarry stone hearth and mantle.
I knew I ought to be grateful to Gabriel for coming to our rescue, but by now I was tired and found myself becoming more and more irked by his attitude. This was so like the Gabriel of old, looking at us like criminals, scolding us like children. I might be one of its indentured servants but what right did Heaven have to dictate Xavier’s life? Xavier was human and in his world our actions were legitimate, even laudable. And his was the only world I cared about now. Maybe Xavier and I had been rash and impulsive, but that didn’t warrant the damning looks we were getting. What gave my siblings the right to judge us? We shouldn’t have to feel ashamed.
Inside the cabin, it was Gabriel’s turn to lose his composure. He took me unexpectedly by the shoulders and shook me roughly.
“When are you going to grow up?” he demanded. “When are you going to realize that you’re living a stolen life that doesn’t belong to you? You are not human, Bethany! Why can’t you get that through your head?”
“Take it easy, Gabriel.” Xavier stepped forward defensively. “She’s not your responsibility anymore.”
“Oh, really? And whose responsibility is she? Yours? How do you plan to protect her?”
“I’m no one’s responsibility,” I declared. The last thing I needed was a face-off between my brother and my husband of a few hours. “I made a decision and I’m willing to deal with the consequences. Xavier and I love each other and we’re not going to let anyone stop us from being together.”
It made me feel strong saying it out loud, but I heard Gabriel let out a stifled groan.
“You’re delusional.”
“I can’t live like you,” I answered. “I can’t bury my emotions and pretend they don’t exist.”
“You do not experience emotion, Bethany—you wallow in it, you are controlled by it, and everything you have done is based entirely on self-interest.”
“Just because you don’t understand love doesn’t make it wrong!”
“This isn’t about love anymore. It’s about obedience and responsibility. Two concepts you appear not to understand.”
“Will everyone please just settle down?” said Ivy. They seemed to be taking turns at venting their frustration. Now that Gabe was riled, Ivy seemed calmer, as if to counter his mood. “Arguing won’t get us anywhere. What’s done is done. We have to find a way to help Beth and Xavier now.”
Her unruffled demeanor made us stop and take stock. Ga
briel gave her a questioning frown and I saw a look pass between them, an unspoken secret. Then the moment passed. When Gabriel spoke again, it was in a much more measured tone.
“Ivy and I have to go, but we’ll be back soon. In the meantime, stay out of sight and, Beth, stay away from the windows. Your presence will easily be picked up by…” he trailed off.
“Who’s looking for me?” I demanded.
“Later.” The prickly way he said it told me how bad things were. But when his eyes met mine, I saw how real his concern was. I felt a sudden onslaught of guilt. I couldn’t blame Gabriel for being irritated. He was forever cleaning up my messes, consulting higher authorities and apologizing for someone else’s mistakes. Our decision to run off and get married had created a drama that nobody needed right now, just when things were getting back on an even keel.
“One last thing,” Gabriel added, his hand already on the door handle. “If it’s not beyond the realm of self-control, I suggest you refrain from … physical contact.”
He made it sound as if the request were the most natural thing in the world! As if he were asking us to remember to turn the lights out.
“What?” I asked, scowling. “Can we at least know why?”
Gabriel frowned, hesitant to share his rationale.
“They may look on you more kindly if the marriage is not consummated,” Ivy answered for him.
“It may make no difference,” Gabriel said. “But instinct tells me it would be wise for Bethany and Xavier to send out a message of…” He paused, searching for the right word. Again Ivy finished his thought.
“Repentance?” she offered, and Gabriel inclined his head, indicating she’d guessed right.
“That would be a lie!” I said without even thinking. “We’re not sorry.” The thought of Father Mel brought me up short. “But we never meant for anyone to get hurt.”
“Be smart,” Gabriel admonished. “This is a small sacrifice.” He clearly didn’t want to enter into a debate about it.