Kelley Armstrong - Haunted

"SAVANNAH!"

I jerked up my head to see the middle Fate standing at her wheel.

"Where's-?" I began, rushing forward.

She held up a hand and I stopped as abruptly as if I'd hit a wall. With a wave of that hand, a circle of light appeared before me. In it I saw Savannah, sitting up, rubbing the back of her head, Lucas and Paige crouched beside her. The Fate motioned again, and the scene disappeared.

"Sh-she's okay," I said.

"She's fine."

"And the Nix. Did it work? Did I catch-"

"You did. She's back where she belongs."

I stood there a moment, struggling to take it in. When I did, I remembered the price I'd paid for this victory.

"I'm an angel now, aren't I?" I whispered.

She nodded.

"And you can't undo that, can you?"

A slow, sad shake of her head.

I shook off the terror and grief settling into my gut, pulled myself up straight, and looked her in the eye. "I owed you a favor, but I went way beyond repaying that. I gave up everything I had in this world to repay it. You said I have to leave this dimension, that I can't stay with Kristof, but I don't understand-"

"You will," she said softly. "Everything will change for you now, Eve. An angel can't stay here. It's not an arbitrary rule. It's a necessity. You are an angel now, so you must live in their world."

"Then I will, too," said a voice behind me.

I turned to see Kristof there. I stepped toward him, but hit a barrier. I wheeled back on the Fate.

"So this is it? I can't even go near him? Goddamn it, I don't deserve this! Maybe I did some awful things in my life, but I do not deserve this."

"This is not a punishment, Eve."

"Well, it sure as hell feels like one."

Kristof cleared his throat. "You said she can't stay here. That's fine. I'll go with her."

The elderly Fate appeared. "You will, will you? You'd have no place there, Kristof, no more than she'd have here."

He crossed his arms. "She made her sacrifice, now I'm making mine."

"Very noble, but the answer is no. We need you here."

"For what? To play ghost lawyer? There are thousands of-"

"Don't question us, Kristof. We have our reasons, and our plans. And your place is here." She turned to me. "And your place is there, with the angels. But there is a way…" The old Fate's lips curved a fraction, in something almost like a smile. "There's always a way."

Kristof stepped forward. Before either of us could ask, she moved to the edge of the dais. Then, with a lift of her fingers, she levitated to the floor. One stride and she was beside me. I blinked. She was so tiny, not even reaching my shoulder. She laid a hand on my arm. Her bright eyes looked up into mine.

"You said this feels like a punishment. Do you really think we'd be so cruel, Eve? Yes, we wanted you to join our angels, but when you refused, we accepted that. What you did down there, the sacrifice you made… I won't say I underestimated you, because I've always known what you were capable of"-a sly smile-"with the right prompting. But this sacrifice none of us expected. When you made it, we decided we'd do all we could to make it easier on you."

"So I get to stay-"

"In the ghost world? No. That, I'm afraid, is impossible." She returned to the dais, but stayed in front of the wheel. "If there's one thing you clearly understand, Eve, it's the nature of a bargain. You give and you take, in even proportion. That's what we can offer."

The child Fate appeared. "Do you know the story of Persephone and Demeter?"

"A Greek myth to explain the seasons, I think," I said.

"That's right. Hades, Lord of the Underworld, wanted Persephone for his bride, so he stole her away. Her mother beseeched the gods for help, and they made a deal with Hades, that Persephone would spend summers on earth and winters in the underworld. How does that sound?" Her pretty face scrunched up. "Well, not exactly that, but something like it."

Before we could answer, her middle sister took over.

"You now have a job to do, Eve, and we expect you to do it. You also have another life to lead, and we want you to do that. Half the year you will be with the angels, and half you will live here, with Kristof, as a ghost."

I looked at Kristof. He smiled.

"We'll take it."

THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT GOD CREATED THE EARTH IN a week. I don't know much about religious history, but I do remember that one. As for whether it's true, I'll leave that to the scholars. All I know is that a lot can happen in a week. You can go from being a ghost pining for your daughter to a heavenly bounty-hunter on the trail of a demi-demon killer. And you can go from reluctant crusader to full-time angel, locking yourself into an eternal contract as a protector of justice. And other times, the transition isn't so obvious, but in its own way, just as life-altering.

It had been a week since I brought in the Nix. I was still in the ghost world-the Fates had given me one more month here, as I prepared for my passage to the angel world. I still didn't know what to expect. I'd already sat through two days of orientation crap, but most of it had consisted of a list of rules too long for anyone without a full-blooded angel's perfect memory… or, at least, that was the excuse I'd use when I started breaking them.

At the end of the week, the Fates gave Trsiel and me our first assignment. Nothing tough-just a routine rousting of some haunters, but with definite possibilities for fun. Before I embarked on that, though, there was something I had to do.

Kristof accompanied me as far as Lucas and Paige's backyard. I stood in that yard for a while, looking up at the house, remembering what it had smelled like, what it had felt like to be there, really there, committing it all to memory. Then, slowly, I released Kris's hand and headed for the back door.

When I stepped inside, Lucas and Paige were in the kitchen, Lucas's back against the counter, a dish towel over his shoulder, Paige leaning against him, holding his hands, face raised to his as they talked in murmurs.

"Hey, guys," I said softly. "Just came by to say thanks. I know you cant hear me, but I wanted to say it anyway. Thanks for everything. You're doing a great job with her. An amazing job."

Lucas chuckled at something Paige said, and brushed a curl off her cheek.

The back door banged open.

"Anybody home?" a voice shouted, loud enough to shake the rafters.

I turned to see a young man with light-brown hair, broad shoulders, and a broader grin. A familiar face, at least in this house.

"Adam!" Paige disengaged from Lucas and turned as Adam caught her up in a hug, being careful not to jar her injured shoulder. "This is a surprise. I didn't expect you until Monday."

"The real surprise is yet to come." Adam winked over her head at Lucas. "So are we ready for Monday's meeting? Jaime's coming, isn't she? Recovered from her ordeal?"

As they talked, I slipped to the doorway.

"Bye, guys," I whispered. "I wish you all the best. You deserve it."

I found Savannah in her room, dressed in jeans and a bra, talking on the phone as she surveyed a bed covered in shirts.

"… taking Paige away for the weekend," she said. "Romantic getaway, big surprise and all that." She paused, then snorted. "Yeah, I wish. I can't stay overnight by myself until I'm eighteen. Can you believe that? So they called in Adam."

She lifted two shirts and held them up, one after the other, peering at her reflection in the mirror, then tossing both on the floor with a lip-twist of disgust.

"Yeah, yeah, he's cute, but he's even older than Paige." Pause. "Twenty-six." She pulled a face. "That's sick! No way."

She grabbed a T-shirt from the bed, mumbled "Hold on," then pulled it over her head. It was at least two sizes too small. She looked in the mirror, checking it out from all angles, then gave a nod of satisfaction and reached for her hairbrush with one hand and the phone with the other.