All Who Wander Are Lost (An Icarus Fell Novel) (13 page)

He knew better now.

He yanked the door
open and slouched through into the hall, headed for his locker and
the dry, if not clean, gym shorts in it. He had to get out of this
place, away from these people.

It was time to see
his father.

Bruce
Blake-All Who Wander Are Lost

Getting out of Hell
turned out to be easier than expected.

At Piper’s
suggestion, we took a left down the passageway—I did my best
to distract Beth from the arms holding the torches—and
followed it to the end where we found a heavy metal door with a
glowing exit sign above. The door opened easily and we stepped
through into the familiar patio furniture warehouse where I’d
seen Mikey.

Who knew?

We
passed the tallest tower of plastic chairs imaginable and arrived at
the open spot where I’d handed off the detective’s soul.
No one there. Not Mikey, not a generic, white-tressed angel dressed
like Mr. Roarke, the enigmatic host on
Fantasy
Island
.

“
Where
are they?” I glanced around the patio-furniture clearing.

“
Where’s
who?” Beth asked.

My heart ached at
the quiver of emotion in her voice. I couldn’t have been easy
for her to leave her sons behind, even in Hell. I had an idea what
she was going through—I'd experienced it.

“
The
esc...the courier,” I said. “This is as far as I take
you. An angel who looks kind of like Mr. Clean after he’s
joined a heavy metal band takes you the rest of the way.”

Her eyes darted
back and forth between piles of plastic-wrapped umbrellas and boxes
of dismantled tables as she probably wondered ‘what an odd
place to meet an angel and travel to Heaven’. Couldn’t
say I’d blame her for thinking it.

“
What
does it mean if they’re not here? Do I have to go back?”

“
No.”
Piper put a hand on Beth’s arm and she pulled away. “They
just didn’t know we were coming.”

I rubbed my chin:
hadn’t thought about that. Until now, angels seemed to appear
whenever I needed them. And sometimes when I didn’t. Once I’d
summoned Poe by yelling her name, but I didn’t need her this
time, nor did I want her involved. The only idea which occurred was
to hide Beth until I had to harvest someone else, then pawn her off
with the other soul; a two-for-one deal.

“
We
may have to wait a while,” I said keeping the pawning-off plan
to myself—not very flattering.

“
I’ll
take it from here,” Piper said. “I’ve got some
contacts. It shouldn’t take long.”

“
Okay.”
I pulled a folding chair with thick, all-weather cushions toward us
and offered it to Elizabeth. “May as well get comfortable.”

She took the
offered seat and I began looking for two more when Piper interrupted
my search.

“
I’ve
got this covered, Icarus.”

“
Ric.”

“
Why
don’t you go get some food and rest. I’ll find you when
she’s gone.”

“
No,
I--”

Her palm touched my
cheek and instead of seeing flesh and lust, visions of hamburger
platters and soft beds came to mind. My stomach gurgled and my
eyelids fluttered with fatigue.

“
It’s
okay, she’s in good hands.”

She removed her
hand and I opened my mouth to speak but the hunger pangs and
tiredness didn’t dissipate with her touch; apparently they
were real. I nodded and went to Beth who looked more relaxed than a
few minutes ago. I knelt beside her and took her hand in both of
mine.

“
I’m
going to take care of some other business.” Not exactly a lie.
“Piper will make sure you get where you’re supposed to
go.”

“
Are
you sure that’s okay?” Her eyes flickered to the angel
standing ten feet from us then back. Some of her former nervousness
returned.

“
It’s
fine. She’s been doing this a lot longer than I have.” I
laughed and looked down at my hands. “Shit, I can barely find
the moving sidewalk to purgatory, never mind the stairway to heaven.
Piper has a direct connection.”

Beth put her free
hand on top of mine and squeezed; I looked up to see tears gleaming
in her eyes.

“
Thank
you for this, Icarus. Thank you for everything.” She leaned
forward and kissed my cheek.

If she knew the
circumstances surrounding her trip to Hell, she might not be so
thankful.

I didn’t say
anything, only nodded in case my conscience went rogue and let the
cat out of the bag. When I stood and turned to leave, I laid my hand
on Piper’s shoulder, partially to show appreciation for her
help, partially out of a desire to feel the electricity touching her
sparked in me. It didn’t this time.

“
See
you soon,” she said with a bright smile. I felt like she meant
the smile and lack of shock therapy to tease me; it opened a hole in
my chest.

“
Yeah,”
I managed before redirecting my attention to the task of finding a
way out of the maze of outdoor furniture, fatigue, hunger and empty
longing in tow.

†‡†

I walked right by
my usual haunt: Denny’s. Poe had found me there too many
times, I didn’t want to chance it if she was looking for me. A
few blocks north and a couple west brought me to the door of a
charming little place called ‘Benny’s BBQ Pit’.
And when I say charming, I mean kind of dirty and peopled by
overweight men looking for plates heaped with meat slathered in
barbecue sauce.

A great place to
disappear.

Half-way through my
plate of Jack Daniels-infused pulled pork, baked beans and
coleslaw—the weight of it in my belly increasing my
fatigue—the little bell above the diner’s door chimed.
Normally, I don’t bother looking up at such things, but this
time I did. I’d like to say the sight of Poe standing in the
doorway surprised me, but I’d be lying. She has a knack for
finding me when I don’t want to be found.

The server stepped
up to seat Poe as my guardian angel saw me attempting anonymity
jammed against the wall in the back-corner booth. She pushed past
the young lady without a word of explanation or apology, a very
un-Poe-like action, and approached me with jaw set and golden eyes
blazing. Her blond hair was down and the way her eyebrows angled
toward her nose gave her an unfamiliar intensity. It actually made
her more attractive. I threw on a smile in the hope of disarming her
apparent irritation and wondered how much barbecue sauce I had
smeared on my face.

“
Hey,
Poe. What are you doing here?”

She stomped across
the restaurant, halting at my table, arms crossed and nostrils
flared.

“
Where
have you been?” she demanded without benefit of salutation.

I shrugged.
“Around.”

I swallowed the
beans in my mouth and looked down at the partially demolished pile
of meat left on my plate, picked at it with my fork. Poe sat down
across from me, angry heat radiating from her.

“
Around
where?”

“
Just
around.”

She remained silent
for a minute, waiting me out. I looked up again and saw the muscles
in her jaw bunched. In my experience, Poe’s emotions were
generally limited to happy/enthusiastic or nervous/scared. This
angry thing was new and it kind of scared me.

“
Do
I have to report every movement to you?” Hide fear with
attitude.

“
If
you’re going to Hell, yes.”

I put my fork down
and leaned forward, doing my best to keep my own temper under
control. I’d caused enough scenes in enough restaurants over
the years and I thought the pork plate here quite tasty, so I didn’t
want to ruin it for future visits.

“
I
told you I’d go with or without you. What did you expect?”

“
Michael
expects you to do as you’re told.”

“
Fuck
Michael.”

Poe’s eyes
widened and I felt the urge to look over my shoulder to ensure the
archangel wasn’t standing behind me. When I didn’t feel
an electrified, gorilla grip on my shoulder, I assumed I’d
gotten away with it. A minute passed in silence. Poe’s gaze
remained steady on mine—another curiosity, she usually found
it difficult to maintain eye contact. She drummed her fingers on the
table.

“
Would
you like a menu?”

The waitress stood
beside the table, pen and pad at the ready in case Poe wanted to
order. The guardian angel didn’t look at her.

“
No,
she’s fine,” I answered on her behalf. “In fact,
she’s just leaving.”

Noticing the
tension between us, the woman nodded, told us to yell if we needed
anything, then retreated. The fingers of Poe’s left hand
continued drumming: dut, dut dut, dut, pause, dut, dut, dut, dut.

“
I’m
not going anywhere.”

“
There’s
nothing you can do. We found Beth Elton and brought her back. She’s
on her way up right now.”

“
We?”

I cleared my
throat, suddenly wondering if I’d said too much. I was in no
danger from Poe—it's my guardian angel’s job to keep me
safe, not to hurt me—but might I be getting Piper in shit?

“
Yeah,
we.”

Apparently, she saw
no humor in my lack of forthrightness. Her eyes narrowed.

“
Who
took you to Hell?”