Chapter 19: Out of Sight
Miss Sophia has Luce pined against the wall with a knife to her throat. She is still speaking in tongues as she opens a hidden door. She forces Luce in and begins lighting candles. There is a chapel at one end of the room. Luce is shaking, furious at Miss Sophia, missing Penn, and fearful that no one else knows about this room. Luce asks Miss Sophia why she’s doing all of this, and she tells Luce it’s her own fault. She tells Luce to lie down on the altar, and since she’s holding a knife to her throat, Luce has no choice. She pushes so hard Luce feels a drop of blood slip down her neck. She ties Luce down, and Luce realizes Miss Sophia has been planning this since the beginning. Luce asks her why, and Miss Sophia tells her she wants Luce eliminated and Daniel “freed up”. Miss Sophia opens the Grigori book and begins flipping through the pages. She tells Luce: “I should like to have a word with whoever thought putting the fate of all our eternal souls in the hands of one lovesick pair of infants was so brilliant an idea.” Miss Sophia tells Luce that her death may be the push in the right direction that Daniel needs. Luce tells her that she will just come back, and Miss Sophia tells her that she won’t his time. She tells Luce she met her many times before, but there was something different this time. She tells Luce that her parents leaving her unbaptized means that her soul is up for grabs, and that she won’t be reincarnated-the loophole Miss Sophia was hoping for.
As Miss Sophia raises the knife, Luce begins thinking about everything the last few days had taught her: about herself, and Daniel and Gabbe and Arriane. As Miss Sophia pricks Luce’s skin, one of the windows breaks and Luce sees a blinding light; she thinks she’s died. But Miss Sophia backs away and Luce’s hands are untied. Daniel is there, but she can’t see him. What she can see is Miss Sophia trying to escape, and she tries to get up, but she sees a violet light moving towards Miss Sophia. Miss Sophia cowers, and the whole room shakes. Suddenly Daniel is standing next to Luce, and he smiles and takes a deep breath and he slowly unfurls his wings. He is glowing from the inside, and reaches for her. She puts her arms around him and touches his wings. Suddenly there’s a loud slam-Miss Sophia escaping. A light goes chasing after her after a nod from Daniel. Luce tells Daniel that Miss Sophia killed Penn, and she tells Daniel she thinks he is her guardian angel. Daniel tells her no, that he is “in between gigs right now”.
The light behind Daniel spits, and Gabbe and Arriane form out of it, wings unfurled. Gabbe’s wings look like the wings Angel’s have on cards, while Arriane’s are feathery with the shape of butterfly wings. Gabbe says they have to get Luce out of here, and get Miss Sophia. Gabbe thinks she wasn’t working alone, and she tells Luce that she was one of the twenty-four Elders—a secret sect that call themselves Zhsmaelim. They weren’t considered a threat in Heaven, but they will now. She says Miss Sophia may be seeing more of Cam and Molly than she’d hoped. Luce realizes this means that Molly is a fallen angel too, and Daniel tells her they all are-just on different sides. Roland is on the side with Cam and Molly as well. Luce asks about the battle outside, and Daniel tells her it was just one of many that the demons and Angels fight. It’s nearly impossible for one angel to destroy another, so they continue until they call it a night. Luce suddenly wants to go get Penn, to bury her, but Daniel insists they need to get her out of here. Luce tells him that Penn was her only mortal friend and she won’t abandon her. Daniel promises to take care of her (and bury her next to her father) after Luce is safe. Arriane tells her that since everyone knows about “the change in your mortality status” a lot of bad angels will be after her. Luce asks why it matters so much, if it’s because Daniel loves her, but they tell her they can only give her a little bit at a time, like waking a sleep walker. Too much could kill her, as it has before. Luce asks where Daniel will take her, and Daniel tells her he can’t because it will attract too much attention, but there is one mortal they can trust. Arriane leaves to get him. Luce doesn’t want to leave since she just got Daniel back, and he tells her they’ve got some time before they have to say goodbye.
Memorable Quotes“I should like to have a word with whoever thought putting the fate of all our eternal souls in the hands of one lovesick pair of infants was so brilliant an idea.”
“If you’re on the good side,’ Luce spat, ‘it doesn’t sound like a war worth fighting.”
“Her heart still beat for Daniel—and until that changed, something deep inside Luce believed that love, in its power to turn her into a better version of herself, to turn her and Daniel into something glorious and good—“
Question
Why do you think the fate of everyone’s souls lies with Luce and Daniel?
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