The Devil's Secret Read Online Free PDF Page B

bit. Thilial looked disappointed. God’s demeanor snapped back, and He once again became the cordial host. “Well, great!” He smacked Thorn on the back. “Like I said, Balthior, welcome. I’ve always felt a special bond with ones like you—with demons who want to be good. It took you some time, but you’ve become a truly independent thinker, and I’m glad I’ve been able to keep you from backsliding.”
    Thilial stepped forward. “What about Amy?”
    Anger flared on God’s face. He spoke through His teeth. “Thilial, we can discuss this later.”
    “But shouldn’t she be the priority here, not Thorn? If she dies—”
    “Relax,” God said, though His harsh tone did nothing to relax Thorn. “Let’s not discuss this in front of our new guest, please. If you could…”
    As they bickered, Thorn took a step backward. Then another. Most of the angels were focused on God’s spat with Thilial. Thorn glanced out the window toward the Sanctuary wall, which displayed coordinates for the Sanctuary now containing Brandon, Heather, and Virgil. Then he looked down at his feet to find Amy, and a small puddle of her blood. He took in the animals around them, the immaculate landscaping in God’s House, and, most majestic of all, the serene view of planet Earth—his true home, presiding over all.
    Thorn scooped Amy into his arms and leaped out the window.
    •
    “Thorn!” he heard Thilial yell behind him. He heard a great commotion of voices from the marble room, then the rushing wind drowned them out.
    Thorn was falling, and the sensation startled him, for he had only physically fallen once before: when he was cast out of Heaven at the beginning of time. Can I escape this place again? The world spun, and Thorn fought to orient himself. Air surged against him, his suit and tie flapping in the gusts. He struggled to keep his grip on Amy, whose wound leaked droplets of blood upward, some flying into empty air above them, some staining Thorn’s clothes.
    When he finally got his bearings, he took in a brief view of the vast celestial city rising up the hillsides into the mountains. Its belfries, steeples, and minarets appeared even more golden in the gleaming light of dusk.
    But the ground was approaching quickly. Thorn rotated his body so that Amy would absorb the least of the impact, and braced himself.
    He slammed hard into the golden ground. It jolted him, and caused biting pain for a few moments, but nothing in his body broke. This was Heaven, after all. Amy bounced off of him and fell nearby, moaning in pain of her own. “I’ve got you! I’ve got you.” She winced, inhaling through her teeth as Thorn scooped her up again.
    “After him, you fools! Go!” God’s voice bit crisply into Thorn’s ears even from a great distance, and the anger in it terrified him.
    Thorn looked up. A great host of angels was streaming from the window where Thorn had jumped. A few flew outward to blockade the nearby roads, but most gathered into a massive cone formation that reached downward toward Thorn and Amy. Once again, the entirety of Heaven sank into a deep red coloration. Alarms sounded.
    Thorn ran. The surface is death. I need to get underground. The streets looked vaguely familiar, but much had changed in his absence, so he couldn’t be certain where he was going.
    “Demon!” an angel on the street shouted, pointing at Thorn. “It’s a demon!” At the sight of Thorn, deceased humans and several other angels scampered indoors to hide. Thorn saw their eyes peering at him through shutters as he ran past.
    Thorn turned a corner, and the drop to Earth loomed a ways ahead. For a moment he considered running for it, but the distance was too great. The angels would catch up to him before he reached the drop, and besides, Amy wouldn’t survive the vacuum of space. Instead he raced toward an archway beneath an oriel in one of the more florid buildings, with stairs beneath it leading down into Heaven’s subsurface road