The Angel's Fall (The Fay Morgan Chronicles Book 6) by Katherine Sparrow Page B

thinner. She swayed back and forth, and then collapsed to the ground not far from where Lucifer lay.
    Dust began to swirl all around us in a slow circle.
     

 
     
     
     
     
    13
    Dust to Dust
    Merlin gathered Lucifer in his arms as the dust grew all around us.
    “Have you come to a decision yet, son?” Lucifer asked. “It is difficult, I know. You know, I kept the door to Hell closed to keep you out, to stave off this moment, this passing of my torch.” His words came out slow and cracked.
    Merlin looked past his father at the dust that circled us. “I don’t know yet, Father. There's no good choice. One choice leads to eternal misery, trapped here like you were, and the other? Hell on Earth. I—”
    “Do what you will,” Lucifer said. “Today, on my last day, son, it has been good getting to know you. You are a bright light in the darkness. Choose freely.” Lucifer coughed and his skin turned paper-thin. The blue veins that danced beneath it stood out in sharp contrast. The old man coughed harder and dust, like the dust that swirled around us, fell from his mouth.
    I knelt and gathered the fallen Lila in my arms. I stood and held her propped against me, feeling the reassurance of her pulse and shallow breath. This was a passing weakness due to her link with Maria being severed. Nothing else was wrong with her, I thought. I hoped.
    Merlin stared at the circling dust and then looked to his father. “You have done a job that no one should have had to do, and yet you were steadfast. Loyal. Rest now, Father. Well done.” He carefully put his arms around the old man and hugged him.
    Lucifer coughed harder and more dust fell from his mouth.
    Merlin stood and held him tightly to his chest, just as I held Lila. We stepped close to each other so that we wouldn’t lose each other within the growing dust storm.
    The walls around us began to dissolve. So did the old man. I blinked and stared, not believing at first what I saw. But his feet fell apart into dust, and then the nothingness crept up his calves and thighs.
    Everything was shifting and changing, but into what, I did not know.
    In any case, we could leave, and it was high time to. I shifted Lila to my right side so I could reach into my pocket for the smooth topaz Lila’s father had given me. I found it, and held it tightly in my hand.
    The dust around us billowed, eating deeper into the dissolving palace walls. I glanced at Merlin, and saw that while he still held his arms around the shape of his father, there was nothing left of Lucifer.
    I held the topaz stone in my palm and readied to activate it.
    Merlin glanced at me and frowned when he saw the gem. He stood beside me in two swift steps and grabbed the stone. He held it up to his eyes.
    “I see,” he murmured. “A way around the door. A clever way out.” He paused, blinked, and his mouth dropped open into an ‘o’. “Around the door. Two sides of a door,” he said and his brow knit together. Then he made his hand into a fist, and when he opened it, blue dust fell to the ground. “We won't be needing that.” He still wore a surprised look on his face. “It seems I have found a third way. And I have made a decision. Of sorts.”
    The dusty wind groaned and pushed at us from all sides.
    “Wizard, tell me you have another way out of here,” I yelled into the storm as my arms clenched Lila tighter. Beneath her closed lids her eyes moved raggedly back and forth.
    “A way out?” Merlin turned and studied the dust. The walls of the palace's room fell away, and beyond it, so too did the running forms of the palace guards who dissolved as they tried to flee. As I squinted and peered into the dust, I saw the King and Queen, their arms raised against the maelstrom. They threw spells and curses at the dust. It swirled faster around them and when it moved on, it left nothing behind.
    Lila stirred in my arms.
    “Help me,” she whispered.
    “You're okay, you're okay now,” I told her.
    “Help.”
    Her