Gates of Paradise (a Blue Bloods Novel)

“Passages weird,” he whispered.

“Well, at least we know we’re in the right place,” she said. “What do we do now?”

“It gets worse the closer I get to the passages,” he said. “We need to keep going.”

They walked toward the center of the courtyard. In the faint light of her phone, Bliss could see Malcolm’s face turning green. “Looks like we’re on the right track,” she said. “I’m sorry you have to go through this.” Malcom’s stomach was sensitive to the slightest evil. In the past, his sickness warned the pack of an imminent attack by Hellhounds.

He waved her off. “It’s what I signed up for. I’m fine.”

He didn’t look fine, though. She hoped they found something quickly. At least they had time to explore—it had only taken them minutes to get to the center, where Malcolm quietly turned and threw up. “This is it,” he said. “It’s right here.”

“What’s here?”

“An open passage, which is why I feel so terrible.”

“Lawson’s the only one who can open a portal,” said Bliss. But as they walked closer, she saw that Malcom was right. The air before them shimmered, and finally a light began to shine, brighter and brighter, until a tunnel stood before them.

“I’m going in,” Bliss said.

“Not by yourself you’re not,” Malcolm said.

“I have to. You have to let them know we’re here.”

“Stop arguing. We’re right here,” came the voice of Ahramin. Edon and Rafe were right behind her. “Hurry. I think the hotel’s getting suspicious about us.”

“All right—Mac and I will go first, then the rest of you will follow.”

Together they walked into the light. Bliss felt the now-familiar disorientation of being in the passages, having no idea where she was. But unlike in times past, they didn’t stop; instead, the swirling sensation slowed down, and she found that they could move around in the light.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” Malcolm said. “I think we’re near the place where something bad happened. Let’s just keep going and see what happens.”

But before they could take another step, there was a rumbling sound, and Bliss felt the ground beneath them disappear.

She was falling, falling, into the abyss, into the void, into the nothingness of time and space.

It felt as if she were falling forever. She couldn’t tell if it had been minutes or hours before she finally passed out. She came to and realized she was being held. She could feel strong arms around her, and she opened her eyes. She could see the light of the passages above her, faintly, but all was dark. “What—? Where am I? Who—?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” a voice said.

Lawson.

“How did you get here?” she asked, even though she had already guessed.

“From the other direction. I was able to open a portal. This is it. This is the break in the passages, the rift in the timeline. See how the tunnel stops right there?” he asked.

“Mac, are you okay?” Bliss said.

“Here,” Malcolm said, taking off his glasses and wiping them with the bottom of his shirt.

“Where’s everyone else?” Bliss asked.

“I think they’re still in the passages; I can hear them,” Lawson said. “They’ll be all right; they went the other way. We’ll catch up with them later.”

“How did you find us?”

“I was just ahead of you in the passages, from the other direction, and I saw both of you fall, and I jumped.”

“Where are we?”

“The abyss. Limbo. We need to get back up there,” he said, pointing to the light far above them.

“How do we do that?”

“Together”—Lawson held each of their hands—“we’ll jump.”

They were back in the tunnel. Back where they had started. Bliss could see the rift now. There were two passages meeting in the middle; two mirrored tunnels meeting in a point. The fissure was broken. They had attempted to cross it, and that was why they had been thrown into Limbo.

“What is it?”

“Time stopped here,” Lawson said. “The fissure means it was manipulated by someone. It stopped and then the passages forked in two directions, whereas time should only go in one way.”

Bliss stared at the rift, and she remembered something she had learned during the Committee meetings, when she had first been inducted into the secret world of the Blue Bloods.

Only one vampire in the history of the world has had the ability to stop time.

“Now is the hard part,” Lawson said. “You need to concentrate. Try to put yourself in Allegra’s mind, or in—” He couldn’t say it; Bliss could hear it in his voice: In your father’s. “Either one of your parents might be able to show us what happened, if they were here. Focus, and I’ll go into the glom and try to see what you see.”

Bliss closed her eyes. Show me, she thought. One of you, please, show me. Now.

Then she saw.

A woman running through the passages. She was frightened, and Bliss felt her fear. It was vibrating all around her.

Bliss stared at her.