I wake up the next morning stretched out on one of the wooden benched which line the walls in the light room. I'd pulled the wind breaker on last night when I got upstairs, but with my hair wet I hadn't been able to warm up until Raffe had grudgingly stretched out behind me. Though I suppose he'd left as soon as u fell asleep I still felt oddly bereft as I looked around the empty room which was illuminated in the pale morning sun which poured in through the large glass pane windows. I sat up and pulled on my shoes before walking to the stairs and clomping down them two at a time.
"You sound like a herd of elephants."
Raffe is sitting with his feet propped up on the table where Baliel met his end last night. Thinking of Baliel a question pops into my mind and I blurt it out without thinking.
"What happens to Angels and Deamons when they die?"
"A bit existential for an elephant, aren't you? Especially in the morning..."
"Raffe. I'm serious."
I realize that 'what happens after death' has to be the single most pondered question in human history. It figures that it would take me the better part of a month in the company of a celestial being before the query would occur to me.
He sits up, amused, and swings his legs down from the table.
"I don't know."
"Raffe you're from heaven, what do you mean you don't know? Do you know what happens to anything when it dies?"
"Nope."
"Well didn't you ever try to find out?"
His face turns serious for a moment and he looks at me sharply.
"Not until recently. Before then no one I really cared about died, they just fell."
I wonder fleetingly if the reason for his recent curiosity was my faux death a few weeks ago. I let it go for the moment, we have more pressing things to do than ponder the universe's greatest mystery. I nod in response and look out the window to see Paige sitting on the bridge swinging her legs in a mechanical but contented way. Being
here has been good for her. She seems like she's finally been feeding (though I hate to think on what) and it seems to have helped heal some of her awful wounds.
"Do you think trying to fix her is the right thing to do?" I say quietly to Raffe. He gets up from the table and comes to stand beside me, glancing out at my sister.
"I think the right thing to do right now is find out what your options are. And that requires this doctor."
I'd explained everything about Doc to him last night after we'd gone upstairs. I told him about the tapes, about watching Baliel psychologically win over my sister, about how I was afraid that even with what she did she still in someway felt more at home around the daemon than me. He'd been quiet but supportive, and I think after everything I told him he felt that Doc was both of our best chance at getting what we want.
"Are you sure you can find the school?" I ask nervously. We'd agreed that the best chance we had of finding Doc was the try to get back to the school where the Resistance had been holed up the last time I was with them. "None of the other angels have found it."
He quirks an eyebrow at me. "One, you gave me directions and I'm sure none of the other angels had those. Two, what in gods green earth makes you think I'm like other angels. I've been tracking things on earth for centuries Penryn, I can find your friends clubhouse just fine."
I make a face at him but his words remind me of another issue. The resistance aren't my 'friends' per Se. Actually the last time I was with them I had to be rescued from the back of a police truck where they'd temporarily confined me and my mother for our 'safety.' They'd needed to lock us up after Paige was discovered eating a body of some unfortunate soul who'd crossed her path at the height of her hunger and some of the men had wanted to put her down.
I shuddered at the memory. No, I would not be bringing Paige back there. Raffe and I agreed, we would go together and get the Doc and bring him back here. We'd have to get a car (if was too far for Raffe to fly us both back) but we'd do that and gather the supplies we needed for Raffe's wing operation and whatever he needed to do to fix Paige. I hated leaving her alone, but she would be safer here and is certainly capable of taking care of herself.
"Ok. I'm going to go talk to Paige. Are you good to leave when I get back?" I ask.
"Oh I don't know I was hoping to do my make-up and hair before we go. You know how important it is for me to make a good impression with your monkey friends."
"Raffe."
"Yes, yes, we'll leave as soon as you're ready."
Even Raffe's jokes aren't enough to alleviate the pit of anxiety I have growing in my stomach at the thought of talking to my sister. I give him a half-smile which I'm sure looks more like a grimace than anything else and walk out the house to where my sister is still sitting.
"Hey little one how you doing?" I ask softly.
She smiles up at me. The stitches are still there, but her cheeks have begun to scab over and develop into puckered scars. Still, it seems as if she's in less pain, thank god for small mercies.
"Paige, Raffe and I are going to be gone for a few days. We need to find someone who can help him and might be able to help me and you."
"Mama?" Paige asks inquisitively.
Up until she asked I hadn't even thought about trying to find my mother. After seeing her odd sacrificial locus on the boats leaving Alcatraz I had just figured she was ok and turned my thoughts back to finding Paige. My mother had been considered insane for most of my life, but in the World After she was one of the best suited survivors around. I thought about what Baliel had told us about the low daemons hunting down women in my family. I wonder if the accident that left Paige crippled had been their fault and not my mother's doing after all.
"Yes Paige, we'll look for mom and bring her back with us." If we could. Mom thought Raffe was the devil incarnate. Of course, she'd also thought that my homecoming date freshman year had the eyes of a hellhound. To be fair to my mother, at least now most people who saw Raffe with his wings out agreed with her assessment.
Paige smiled at my answer and nodded. "Ok Ryn Ryn."
"Paige, please don't leave except to eat unless there's danger ok? And if you do have to leave, we'll try to meet you by Fort Point ok? You know the one down town by the bridge?"
She nods again. It feels all wrong asking my baby sister to meet me miles from here, but I know she can walk and if the angels come I don't want her hanging around in the area waiting for me and Raffe.
"I love you Paige, you know that right."
"Paige loves Ryn Ryn too," She says. I hug her, managing not to shrink away this time, and stroke her hair.
"Ok baby girl. We'll be back as soon as we can."
With that I force myself to get up and walk back to the house. Raffe is standing outside, waiting for me already.
"Let's go," I say, not wanting to drag out the goodbye any longer than I have to. He comes to stand right in front of me and I put my arms around his neck. He scopes me up into his arms and we launch off into the sky.
