Slaying Year Two (Grim Reaper Academy 2)

He thought for a long moment, staring me down. I stood my ground. Honestly, I hoped my condition would get me out of this. When he finally said “okay, fine, you have a deal,” I blinked a couple of times, threw my hands in the air, and stomped out of the cave, my fake pigtails swinging behind me.

Life as Mila Morningstar sucked balls.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

There were eleven entrances to Heaven and eleven entrances to Hell in the world, and two of each were in North America. The four cabals were taking the field trip to Heaven separately, on different days, so as to not overwhelm our hosts. As usual, the VDC was first, and Heaven sent a private airplane for us. The entrance we were going to use was on Mount Shasta in California. Normally, the plane could have dropped us right at the gates of Heaven, but for our first experience, Professor Maat wanted us to take the stairs.

“There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold, and she’s buying a stairway to Heaven…” Pazuzu sang in my ear.

“Shh… knock it off!” The other VDC guys had noticed, and they were starting to sing, too.

We were off the plane, on a snowy plateau, up in the clouds. We walked for a while, and I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to ward off the sharp bite of the freezing wind. Why hadn’t Mrs. Maat told us it was going to be fucking cold up here?! Oh, right. Because she’d forgotten she had a human in the VDC. The only girl, and the only human. Or maybe, because she knew I was Morningstar’s daughter now, she thought some of his powers had rubbed off on me? As if that made any sense… She started leading us upslope, and my stupid ankle boots proved useless on the ice and rock.

“Stairway to Heaven my ass,” I cursed under my breath and grabbed onto Pazuzu’s arm. He was nice and warm, and also steady.

“Are you okay?”

“Do I look okay?!” I yelled at him, frustrated. Everyone seemed to be fine. I was the only one struggling. GC was right behind me, making sure he was ready to catch me in case I slipped. Thank God I have two boyfriends… In situations like this, one wouldn’t have been enough. I chuckled to myself. If all goes well today, maybe I can thank God in the literal sense. Though I doubted it. If God and Satan had one thing in common, it was that neither of them received any visits.

“Look!” Pazuzu pointed ahead.

“I don’t want to look.” I kept my head low. It had started snowing, and the sharp wind was hitting me right in the head, making my sinuses ache in protest.

“Mistress, I can help,” Corri flapped her wings incessantly, flying from left to right and right to left. “Just say the word.”

I didn’t want to use her anymore. Since Halloween, I had barely asked her for a thing. She’d told me she’d gone to Japan to get my costume, which meant she was willing to go to great lengths to fulfill my wishes. That made me feel uncomfortable.

I tripped on something and almost lost my balance. Pazuzu pulled me up, and I saw what it was. A step made of a material so white and pure that it was out of this world. I thought ivory at first, but that couldn’t be it. It wasn’t just white. As I climbed the next step, then the next, I saw something sparkling inside it. Like gem dust had been mixed into the base material before it was poured into the matrix to build the stairway to Heaven. We’d found it.

The wind stopped, and so did the snow. Suddenly, it wasn’t freezing cold anymore, and I dared to look up. The stairway was huge. So large that ten people could climb it at the same time, and so long that it disappeared into the clouds. I knew that at the end of it we’d find the mighty gates of Heaven, and Saint Peter would usher us in, not before giving us a lengthy speech about safety and how we were supposed to stick close to Nefertari Maat, our teacher, and not wander around like lunatics.

This is amazing!

We climbed for what seemed like forever. I was panting, my poor leg muscles were starting to get crampy, and it was almost impossible for me to keep up with everyone. Paz and GC stayed behind with me, but the rest of the VDC was way ahead of us. Sariel was flying, and so was Raziel, the angel. I hated them. At least Mrs. Maat hadn’t shifted into her sphinx form, in which she had wings, too. She was loyal to the rest of us, non-winged creatures.

When we finally reached the tall, white gates, I was a sad, sweaty mess. I wanted to take off my uniform blazer, but that would have looked silly and unprofessional. I met Corri’s almond gaze, swallowed heavily, and nodded.

“Okay, you may do your thing. Like… I need a fan or something.”

She beamed at me, swirled in the air twice, snapped her fingers, then held her palm up and blew some sort of gold dust toward me. I closed my eyes and let it envelop me. Not only did it dry the thin sheen of sweat on my skin, but it also calmed my wild heartbeat and soothed my muscles. Magic. Oh, how I loved magic! Too bad I couldn’t do it myself.

As Mrs. Maat had warned us, Saint Peter kept us at the gates for half an hour. He was an old man who looked like he could use a promotion, but I stood still and tried not to make fun of him. It was hard when GC and a bunch of guys were mimicking him, and Paz was snickering beside me. I elbowed him.

“Stop it. You’re being disrespectful.”

“Please! Saint Peter is a relic. He should have retired a long time ago. It’s not like there are many jobs in Heaven. He should step aside and let someone young earn a living.” He leaned in to whisper in my ear conspiratorially. “I heard Heaven has the highest unemployment rate. You’ll never see something like this in Hell. Even Earth has it better.”

I looked at him as if he were speaking in languages. Which I was sure he could, since he was a demon. Finally, Saint Peter deemed us worthy of walking through his beloved gates, and we followed Mrs. Maat inside to visit the First Sphere of Heaven, which was the realm of the angels and the souls who’d abandoned their vows in their previous lives. The angels were there to guide them, so when they reincarnated, they wouldn’t make the same mistakes again. Breaking a vow wasn’t bad enough to send a soul to Hell.

The First Sphere was under the rule of the Moon, the cosmic body that, with its waning and waxing, represented inconstancy. It was bathed in an eerie, silvery glow. The streets were narrow and dusty, the houses were simple and close together, and all the trees, flowers, and bushes were silvery and ghostly. I immediately thought of the First Sphere as this small, quaint town that never saw the dazzling light of the sun and could never tell the difference between day and night, because they dwelled in the haze before daybreak forever.

The Second Sphere was the next, under the rule of Mercury, and the home of the archangels and the ambitious souls whose own ego had landed them here. Still, having a huge ego wasn’t enough of an offence to get one into Hell. This was where Sariel’s parents li

ved, in an imposing mansion up on a lonely hill, and where I had been invited to dinner later. I would finish my field trip with the VDC first, have lunch with everyone at a nice hotel restaurant in the Fifth Sphere, see the rest of the Spheres, then Sariel would take me, GC, and Paz to his folks’ place. They had already talked to Professor Maat, and they’d taken it upon themselves to get us back to the Academy safely.

On the one hand, I hated myself for not refusing the invitation firmly. I had a long day ahead, and the last thing I needed was to play the grateful guest at the end of it. On the other hand, though, I was crazy curious to meet his parents and see what all the fuss was about. Why was Sariel so terrified of them? I’d heard his sister would be there, too, and Francis had been invited as a family friend. Great! I was going to be trapped at a fancy dinner with the Mighty Jerk Cabal, and no, it didn’t count that two of the guys were my lovers. I knew they would be total jackasses. Heaven, with its stupid rules, was the reason why the ancient gods and goddesses had been branded as false, so GC was not a fan, by default. He and Sariel were buddies just because Sariel seemed to hate Heaven, which was very unusual for an archangel. And, of course, Pazuzu was a demon, Hell and Heaven had been at odds since the beginning of time, so he was going to be a jerk at dinner out of principle. Although, he himself had admitted this whole kerfuffle was mostly for show.

The Third Sphere was ruled by Venus, and it was bathed in the soft, orangey glow of the lovers’ planet. The principalities dwelled here – angels with wings of gold and eyes of emerald, wearing crowns upon their heads, and scepters in their hands. The souls who’d loved without restrain in their previous lives were sent here. Love was not a sin in and of itself, but when it was only focused on other human beings and not on God, well… Heaven saw it as only worthy of the Third Sphere. Which wasn’t that bad, but there was a freakishly long way to go if you wanted to reach the Ninth Sphere, which was basically dedicated to the souls that were the embodiment of perfection. I wondered how populated it was…