Forever Entranced ~Book Two Of The Soul Bound Series

Chapter Eight ~ Broken Wings

I spun around on her, unable to comprehend that my aunt, a woman who would never back down or bow to someone else had just told me to become a gazelle and lie down willingly only to be feasted upon by a lion. Though those weren't her exact words, that was what I got out of it and there was no way I was the gazelle. I was the lion.

She softly closed the white, small door to the bedroom I had woken up in. After shoving past her in the hallway, I had raged through groups of angels in the giant circular hall who dodged me in order to avoid my temper and flying fist of wrath. I faced my aunt now, I couldn't even look her in the eye I was so disappointed, "Where's the Crystal Key?" My voice was low, impatient, and filled with tension.

"Ava-" She started, her voice soft and quiet as she tried to gently approach me.

"No," I held a hand up, "I will get the scroll. I will protect us all and I will find Luis and my parents with or without your approval. You heard Judgement, control me or let me leave and you and I both know there is no controlling me. You may not believe me about Morana, but that doesn't mean she isn't out there now, ready to destroy all the people I love." I forced my eyes to meet hers, to hold her there, "Now where's the Crystal Key and my weapons?"

"I do believe you Ava," She heaved a sigh as she took a few tentative steps towards me, "And I will help you, but I cannot leave Heaven. I have a duty here and I cannot abandon it." Her eyes filled with compassion as she reached her hand out towards me, cupping the side of my face, "I love you."

I blinked, trying to dispel the flood of tears that were building up in my eyes, but one escaped, rolling down my cheek and I let out a sob, throwing my arms around her neck. This was my aunt, the woman who had raised me and cared for me, encouraged me ever since my parent's disappearance and she wasn't giving up on me. She believed in me. "I love you too," I sniffled as I buried my face into the crook of her neck and her warm, soft hair.

She pulled away from me, her hands holding tightly to my arms, "Look at me Ava." My watery train of vision fell on hers, "I'm going to help you, but you have to do everything I say. Do you understand?" I nodded, my heart lifting with hope, "Good, now follow me." She took my hand in hers and led me from the room once more, her eyes shifting across the circular court. She pulled me past several angels and quickly, looking behind her, slipped through another door, yanking me in with her. Her hand left mine as we ascended a narrow staircase of white stone and then another until we came through a second door. A golden ring of railing made way for the view of the floor below, the one we had just been on. Amber, with a swift stride, led me around the length of the railing and through a third door, up more stairs and to the third floor. The view down at the lowest floor was at least three-hundred feet down and it made me feel dizzy just looking at the distant wooden tables and chairs, "Are you coming?" Amber asked. I pulled away from the golden railing and followed her down a passageway.

We crossed over a stone bridge with arches and a curved ceiling above. Vines draped down from the roof, wrapping around the stones. From here I could see the pillars I had viewed from the windows and the river that ran straight off the edge. My eyes fastened themselves on the other side, both sides mirrored one another, both ending at an edge that led off into blue skies. I realized that Heaven was indeed in the sky, just not on clouds, but on a floating island and my stomach twisted. I followed my aunt into a separate tower from the main building where we descended a set of spiral stairs, down for what felt like forever until it suddenly ended. A cold draft brushed across the skin of my face as my eyes fled about.

White wash walls and iridescent lights filed down a long hall. On either side of the hall were rooms, enclosed by vibrantly, white, glowing bars that sparked like electricity and behind those bars, demons. Their black wings drooping behind them on the ground, their wrists and feet chained, their bodies weak and covered in a thick, dry, black crust resembling blood. Nausea twisted and turned in my gut and my heart pinched in pain for the poor creatures.