Uriel: The Inheritance (Airel Saga Book Five)

Chapter VI

Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho—Present Day

WE WERE SEATED BACK in the library before my world really started to fall apart again. Why is my whole life under attack?

I felt She rustling in the back of my mind once more, felt like I was standing on the edge of something enormous in my life, like I was about to do or hear or learn something that would change everything yet again. It was both exhausting and exhilarating. "Hold on tight," She said, "and remember who you are."

"Amazing, isn't it?" Ellie asked me, referring to what we had just seen in the closet.

"'Amazing' doesn't quite cut it," I said, "when you have a whole city in your closet. So what are you telling me? That the little concrete room—what did you call it?"

"The Threshold."

"Yeah, that. You're telling me that when I open that door, I can walk straight through to a graveyard in Scotland?"

"Yeah. And lots of other places."

"What? How is that even possible?"

"See, there are these thin places in the world. This is one of the very first. It's how Kreios was able to find his Book. As the world under the sun has aged, there have been, through natural decay, lots of other thin places popping up. Did you ever read The Lord of the Rings?"

"Of course. I'm a fantasy nerd par excellence."

"Then you remember the Palantir. The seeing stones?"

"Oh, yeah. It's part of what corrupted the world of men and linked Eisengard to Mordor."

Ellie looked impressed with that, like it wasn't where she was trying to steer me, like it was an unanticipated wrinkle. "True. The way the Threshold works is similar, but different. Wherever there's another thin place, if you're concentrating hard enough on where you'd like to go or what you'd like to find, the Threshold takes you there. At least, as long as you're either an angel or a half-breed, like us."

"How does that work?"

"The thin places are where the natural realm has worn away over time, where the eternal, the everlasting, is beginning to break through. If you didn't know any better, you'd say those places are haunted, even demonic. And in some cases, depending on the circumstance, you might be right. But all it really means is that the world under the sun is wearing out. Quite literally."

"And because of this 'Threshold,' as you call it, we can what, go places instantly? Like teleportation?"

"Nope. It's not like that."

I felt something familiar begin to ruffle within me. I wasn't sure what it was. I hadn't felt it in a long time. It was a sweet pain, a longing. "Then what is it like?"

"Airel, the eternal—the spiritual—is what this world was created out of. The 'natural', as we know it, including time itself, is passing away. The everlasting is beginning to punch through, assert itself over what amounts to an unclean usurper, an illusion in the final analysis."

"The natural world—under the sun—you mean everything we can see is an illusion?"

"From El's—from an angelic perspective, yes. It's passing away, Airel. And when anyone crosses over the Threshold, they're crossing not just from place to place under the sun. They're crossing out of time as well."

I wrinkled my brows in consternation, widening my eyes. "Time travel?"

Ellie shook her head slowly. "It all depends. And one must be careful in there." She pointed down that long hallway, at the end of which loomed what I was thinking of more and more as a doomsday device of some kind. "It's best to close your eyes. It's not called the Threshold for nothing."

"So when I go—if I ever go—in there, exactly what is it I'll be on the threshold of?"

Before she could answer, I was overcome by that feeling again, that familiar sense that I couldn't quite place, and I nearly collapsed on the floor. I caught myself, tried to breathe, and rubbed my head with my fingers.

"You feel it too, don't you?" Ellie asked.

"What is it?"

"Kreios. He's coming." She looked very sad, especially in light of this new information.

I thought she should be ecstatic.

"Ellie," I said, trying to think how I wanted to phrase my question, "what is it you're not telling me?" As far as I was concerned, I was extremely excited to see Kreios, and I didn't get why she'd be sad, of all things.

She stood and walked to the mantel, the shelf above the fireplace. This was where the Books were kept—the Book of Kreios, my Book, other books and odds and ends I wasn't sure of. I hadn't thought much of it until that moment, but then it suddenly hit me—Where's mine? I didn't know. I could have sworn it was up there with the rest of them, but it's gone.

Ellie took down a familiar volume and handed it to me.

In confirmation of my internal question, the name resounded within my being, ringing like a house-sized bell. KREIOS. I opened the cover.

"Read," she said.

I looked up at her, questions in my eyes. Why? And where's mine? And where's your Book, Ellie?

"But before you start, you need to know something about me."

I groaned. "What is it now? How come you like to play these mind games? I hate this."

She snorted. "I'm not playing games, Airel. I'm trying to protect you. I wasn't lying when I said that before, on Wideawake Airfield. I am here to protect you. But as you read this," she gestured to the Book of Kreios, "you're going to find out why. And when you do, you're going to be angry enough about it to want to kill me."

I was shocked. All I could say was, "What?"

"Kreios will be here soon. Read up. I'm going to the kitchen for a nosh. Bring you a coffee?"

I flashed her an "are you freaking crazy" look and shook my head, wondering what on earth she was talking about, and also what exactly she told my mom in order to get her to allow me to come up here. "I will never want to kill you, Ellie, no matter what. You are my blood, my friend."

"Thanks, Airel, but never say never."

I reached out to She. Do I really know Ellie at all? I got this feeling that meant I already knew the answer. I hated that feeling. So much.

Ellie half turned to go, and then stopped. "You read your Bible, yeah?"

"Of course." That wasn't true—I was no scholar of biblical studies. I didn't want to look bad.

"You know who Judas Iscariot was, then."

My stomach felt like there was lodged within it a fist of ice. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Yeah, well. In life's play, that was my primary role. The traitor." She turned and walked away.

Stunned, I walked back to the library, curled up on the couch, and then opened the Book of Kreios.

The Book let me in this time, took me further than I'd been before, let me see pieces of the story it had withheld from me until now. I read about loss and hurt and traitorous pacts made with wicked men, about Uriel's activation, about her ability, about the legend of the Derakhshan. And still more.

About her son.