Wicked Souls by Misty Evans Page A

off
the card table. “Great. Now that that’s over, cake, anyone?”
     
     

Chapter Twelve:
    Let Them Eat Cake
     
    I found the red chip under a pew in the
second row and brushed shards of glass off of it before holding it
up to examine it. It really was similar to a Vegas-style poker chip
and had a simple six printed in the center. Nothing but a piece of
cheap plastic, but it meant the world to me.
    Behind me, Emilia and Liddy talk softly and
Keisha poured punch. Gabriel, still unable to return to Heaven,
attempted to speak to Keisha, blushed crimson red, and ran out the
back door of the consistory, which led to the cemetery behind the
church. Cephiel had disappeared again, probably afraid of what I
was going to do to him if I ever caught him again.
    Lucifer came up beside me and examined the
chip. “All that work, that entire struggle, for a mere piece of
plastic?”
    He would never understand how important it
had been to me, but I had to admit, he had a point. “How am I going
to explain Father Leonard’s disappearance?” I motioned at the
destruction in the nave. “The broken windows and everything?”
    “If anyone asks, you can either tell them
the truth, which they will not believe, or you can tell them you
have no idea.”
    The nave seemed unnaturally empty. The whole
church, too. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how much I cared
for Father Leonard. He’d taught me much and given me hours and
hours of his time; it didn’t seem logical that our fantastic
friendship had all been part of his alter ego’s plan.
    The roadblocks in my brain were definitely
gone, though, and the space in my chest was full again. Almost too
full. My heart, my soul and my magic were all vying for space. Seemed like a good problem to have.
    For once, Lucifer kept his magic to himself. I sensed he wanted to test me again, to tempt me and see what would
happen, but thought better of it. Which my magic didn’t like, and
so it continued to pout. Ignoring it, I decided there was only one
thing left to do. Eat cake.
    I grabbed two pieces from the table and
walked outside, thinking the cemetery wasn’t a half bad idea. I
could collect my thoughts there. Gabriel hadn’t made it that far
and was sitting on the back steps, shoulders sagging, elbows on his
knees and head bowed. Even though the sun was going down, the
temperature was rising. Green buds sprouted from the ancient oaks
and maple trees lining the cemetery’s borders. Yellow forsythia
bushes bloomed along the sidewalk and birds chirped their end of
the day conversations with each other.
    I handed Gabriel one of the plates. “There
are no pity parties around here. When things get tough, we eat. Ice
cream or dark chocolate are top choices, but we’ll do cake in an
emergency, and I hear this cake has the best kind of dark chocolate
known to man in it.”
    He looked up at me, then dropped his gaze to
the cake. Seeing the dark fudge center covered with mocha frosting
seemed to distract him from his doom and gloom thoughts. He took
the plate, lifted the fork and ate a bite “Being nice to me will
not make me like you,” he said around a mouthful.
    I positioned myself on the step next to him
and used my own fork to carve out a bite of cake. “I’m being nice
to you because the two of us are going to be seeing a lot of each
other.”
    He shoveled another bite into his mouth. “Why do you say that?”
    I took my time, sliding the cake off the
fork and into my mouth. The delicious combination of mocha frosting
and chocolate fudge unfurled on my tongue. Chewing slowly, I
allowed myself to forget about my problems for a few seconds and
enjoy it. “Keisha likes you, and since I assume you’re homeless, I
thought maybe you could use a place to stay. There’s an extra room
at the ice cream shop in the back. We store a few odds and ends in
there, but there’s room for a bed. Once you’re settled, we’ll work
on lifting God’s punishment off your wings.”
    Gabriel finished