Earth - The Afterlife Series III by Mur Lafferty

Author:Mur Lafferty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: hell, afterlife, heaven
Published: 2020-05-04T16:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

Kate hovered in space near the Earth, making sure the hole she had plugged was well and truly filled. Her people were troubled, but she hoped she planted the seeds to make things better. She needed to do something about those haughty monks in the West, but she couldn't bring herself to go all Old Testament on them. She returned to her office where mere seconds had passed since her leaving to set things up on the earth. Ganymede wrung his hands as he waited for her.

“Did he get out of here safely?” she asked. Ganymede nodded, “They nearly caught him, but he escaped. He’s free.”

“Good. Hopefully he'll be able to help us out.”

“Can we trust him, Goddess?”

Kate walked to the window in the hallway. It was little more than an arrow-slit. “I can trust his heart. I can't trust him not to make bad decisions, but he doesn't mean us harm. I know that.” She rubbed her head where it throbbed and Izanami retold the story of how she trusted her husband as well. Kate shushed the goddess. “What's going on outside?”

“They’ve surrounded us with siege engines. We expect an attack at any time.”

As if answering him, the castle shuddered and cries came up from the ramparts. Kate focused her will and repaired the wall that had crumbled against the attack, only to have her attention diverted by yet another attack. “And the residents?”

“Sequestered in the room you provided.”

“Okay. Have the ranking angels meet me in my office.”

The boy ran off. Kate trudged down the hall to her office, fortifying the walls of the fort, building them higher. The demons attacked with flaming pitch, coating her walls with stinking foulness, but still the walls held. The angels were there when she opened the door: Gabriel, Michael, Ruth, and Esther. They sat at her table and looked expectantly at her. She sighed, gathering her strength. “Has something like this ever happened in heaven?”

Michael shook his head. “Not since my creation, Goddess.”

“Great …” mumbled Kate. “So, what are our options? They outnumber us, but it doesn't look like they can come in easily. And this isn't even like a real siege, is it?”

Ruth shifted uncomfortably. “No, there are no supply lines to cut off. Our sustenance comes from you, Goddess, not the roads they are blocking.”

Kate took the maps of heaven from the bookshelves and rolled them out onto the table. “But the new souls I just created can’t come in, can they?”

Gabriel looked stricken. “No.”

“Where are they going?”

“There is no way we can find out.”

“So much for omniscience,” Kate said. The angels stared at her. She frowned at them. “I thought that you were my advisors. Why can’t you give me any better info here?”

Esther spoke, her voice soft. “We are but extensions of you. When you are hesitant, we cannot act. When you are decisive, we are your fists.”

Kate’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding me. You mean I don't actually have any real angels with free will?”

Michael nodded.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.