I cracked open my eyes. At some point, I had passed out. Groaning, I pushed up onto my elbows and glanced around. I was in my bed. And by my bed, I mean, my bed in Celestia. My old bed in my old home in Michael’s house. Well, one of Michael’s houses. This wasn’t his only one, and he certainly didn’t live here. Only me and my babysitters.

Laura had always been my closest nanny. When I hadn’t been studying at the Academy, she had taken care of me every step of the way. She had raised me, far more than my father ever had. And now she was standing by the bed, staring down at me with a strange mixture of sadness and happiness screwing up her face. Laura had never joined any of the Orders, but she looked as though she would’ve belonged. She was muscular and strong, and she wore her blonde hair up in a tight ponytail, so that it never got into her face when she worked. She always wore a trim set of black shirt and black pants. No nonsense.

“Welcome home, Erela.” Her voice was soft, much softer than I’d ever heard it before. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

I shook my head, confusing rippling through me as memories began to rush through my mind. What exactly was going on? I was back in Celestia, so my father hadn’t merely sent me through the portal. He’d sent me home. No, this wasn’t my home. My home was down in Lower Realm with the fallen angels who had taken me under their wings, who had opened their hearts to me, who had shown me who I really was.

I didn’t belong here anymore.

And now my father’s words echoed in my ears. He’d only taken me to Celestia to keep me a secret. To hide my powers, which was why he’d sent me back here instead of back to earth. He was trying to hide me again, to keep his secret safe. Not to keep me safe. He was just trying to save his own damn neck. Tears burned my eyes as I gazed up at Laura. I didn’t want to take this out on her, but how much did she really know? Did she know that Michael’s daughter was part fire demon? And was she going to try to cover it up for him again?

“Where’s my father?” I asked, my voice scratchy and raw.

She shook her head. “He was only here long enough to explain that you had returned. I don’t know where he went after that, but it seemed he was in a hurry.”

I tried to stand, but I felt weak and wobbly, and my head began to spin. Laura put a soft hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down on the bed. “You’re going to be weak. You spent a long time in Lower Realm, and your body will have become accustomed to the weight of it. You’re going to need to rest until you adapt to being home.”

“This isn’t home,” I said, my voice insistent. “My home is down in Lower Realm.” She winced, tears springing into her eyes. “I’m sorry, Laura. I missed you. I did. And I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me. But I joined the Order of the Fallen there, and I found my true calling with those angels. I need to get back. As much as I appreciate that you want to care for me, the best thing you could do for me is to help me get back home.”

She shook her head and backed away. “Michael warned me that you might be in a strange state of mind, that you might talk gibberish about wanting to go back there. He said those angels had gotten into your head. They used their silver tongues to convince you that you wanted to be there.”

My heart sunk. This was impossible. She wasn’t going to help me. She had spent far too many years being convinced by the words of the Archangels. She’d never even been anywhere other than here, so why should she believe anything that came from me? She had no reason to doubt Michael. She had no reason to trust me.

“No matter,” she said as she stepped up to the door and began to close it. “It isn’t as though you could go back there, even if you tried. You may be an Archangel’s daughter, but you aren’t one yourself. You cannot transport yourself between realms, so you’ll be staying right where you are.”

And then she shut the door, slamming it on all my hopes of getting out of here, of getting back to the Order.

I sunk back into the pillows, anger and pain rolling over me in waves. She was right. I didn’t know how I was going to get out of here. There was no way in hell I could escape. I could get as far as the Halfway Zone, and then I could try to convince an Archdemon to get me out of there, but I could barely walk right now.

My mind spun, putting the pieces of many puzzles together.

Now I knew exactly why my father had been concerned that Asmodeus had seen me again, after I had been on earth for a while. Because while my powers had been muted while I was in Celestia, they had began to show during my time spent in Lower Realm. And, as it had become very clear to me, demons could sniff out other demons. That meant Asmodeus knew what I was, and my father was not happy about it. He had sent me back here to prevent anyone else from finding out…

A new horror began to wash over me. My father had killed that demon, the one in the alley. And he’d only killed him after the demon had gotten a look at me. Had he killed him to keep him from telling others about my powers? Lilith knew what I was. The Order of the Fallen all knew what I was. So did Lizzie and Isaac.

My heart thumped hard. My father hadn’t sent Lizzie and Isaac back here. What had he done with them?

Had he actually killed every single person in the world that I loved?

Sorrow washed over me, so deep that I couldn’t see anything but blackness.

* * *

It was hard not to give up. Everything had been ripped away from me, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was stuck in Celestia, stuck waiting for my father to finally return so he could tell me exactly what he had done to those I loved. Deep down inside, I knew what he’d done. He couldn’t afford to let them live. If they told one wrong person about Erela, the daughter of Michael and a fire demon, then his life was forfeit. Hell, mine was, too. Not that he cared about that.

Laura bustled into the room, singing a song underneath her breath. Her cheery mood grated on my nerves, and I wanted to smack the smile right off of her face. I knew she was only trying to help me, but she also wouldn’t leave my side for more than half an hour. And when she wasn’t bustling around me and bringing me food, she was standing outside the door to make sure I didn’t sneak away and try to get to the Lower Realm.

“Now, your situation is pretty unique,” she said in a chirpy tone. “But I have heard that Michael has convinced the Archangels to gather together for a meeting where they will discuss your induction into the Order of the Seraphim and giving you back your wings. They all know that you fell, but they’re willing to consider different options, knowing that you were under the influence of some kind of fallen angel spell.”

I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t under a spell. They don’t have the ability to do that, no matter what you think or what you’ve been told. They’re just normal angels, like you and me, only they don’t abide to ridiculous rules about what you can and can’t say or who you can love or any of that total shit.”

Her face blanched, and she took a step back. Her voice was a harsh whisper when she spoke. “I know you’re still recovering, and I know it’s going to take some time for you to get back to your old self, but you cannot speak that way. Not here. You better get yourself together, or the Archangels will send you straight back down there.”

Sighing, I closed my eyes and leaned back into the pillows. “No, I’m not that lucky. They won’t send me back there, no matter what I do.”

“I can’t believe you,” she said in a snap. “You have been given a second chance at life here, Erela, but you sound as though you’ve given up. It sounds as if you don’t even want to try.”

“I have given up, Laura,” I said, my words as heavy as my heart. “You may not understand it and you may not believe me, but my entire world has been ripped away from me. I have nothing left to fight for. I have nothing left to give. They’re probably dead, you know.”

“Who?”

Tears slipped down my cheek. “Everyone.”