"It's time you and I had a little talk. "
"About my social skills?" Tohr shook his head. "No offense, but I'd rather take advice from Rhage - and that's saying something. "
"Have you ever heard of the In Between. "
Tohr awkwardly pivoted around on his good foot. "I'm not interested in a class on fractions. Thanks. "
"It's a very real place. "
"So is Cleveland. Detroit. Beautiful downtown Burbank. " He'd been a Laugh-In fan in the sixties. So sue him. "But I don't need to know about them, either. "
"It's where Wellsie is. "
Tohr's heart stopped in his chest. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"She is not in the Fade. "
Okay. Right. He probably should follow that one up with, "What the fuck are you talking about?" Instead, all he could do was stare at the guy.
"She's not where you think she is," the angel murmured.
Through a dry mouth, he managed, "You're saying she's in hell? Because that's the only other option. "
"No, it isn't. "
Tohr took a deep breath. "My shellan was a female of worth, and she's in the Fade - there's no reason to think she'd be in Dhund. As for myself, I'm through with jumping down people's throats tonight. So I'm going to walk out that door over there" - he pointed in the direction of the anteroom just to be helpful - "and you're going to let me go. Because I'm not in the mood for this. "
Turning away, he started hobbling, using that single crutch No'One had brought in.
"You're pretty goddamn sure of something you don't know shit about. "
Tohr stopped. Closed his eyes again. Sent up a prayer for an emotion, any emotion, other than the urge to kill.
&nbs
p; No luck.
He glanced over his shoulder. "You're an angel, right. So you're supposed to be compassionate. I just accused a female who was raped until impregnated of being a whore. Do you honestly think I can handle being circle jerked about my shellan right now?"
"There are three places in the afterlife. The Fade, where loved ones are reunited. Dhund, where the unjust go. And the In Between - "
"Did you hear what I just said?"
" - which is where souls get stuck. It's not like the other two - "
"Do you care?"
" - because the In Between is different for everybody. Right now, your shellan and your young are stuck because of you. That's why I've come - I'm here to help you, help them get where they belong. "
Man, this was a fine time to have a fucked-up foot, Tohr thought, because he suddenly had no sense of balance whatsoever. Either that or the training center was spinning on the axis of the house.
"I don't understand," he whispered.
"You've got to move on, my man. Stop holding on to her so she can go - "
"There is no purgatory, if that's what you're suggesting - "
"Where the fuck do you think I came from?"