Lilith closed her eyes and thought of Cam. He had been everything to her. Now everything was gone.
“You deserve an explanation,” the boy said as though he could read her mind.
“Yes,” Lilith found herself saying.
“You want to see him.”
“Desperately.”
“You want to convince him that he’s been a fool, made the universe’s greatest mistake, that he’ll never find love like yours again?” His hazel eyes glimmered. “I know where he is.”
She stood, aching. “Where?”
“I can take you to him, but I must warn you: The journey will be long and dangerous. And there is another thing. I will not be passing back this way.”
He waited a moment as his meaning sank in. She looked toward her tribe once more and imagined never again hearing the rustle of the grain harvest, the tinkle of well water, her sisters’ laughter. Was it worth it to see Cam again?
“When can we leave?” she asked.
“Shall I spell out my proposal?” the boy said.
Lilith was confused. “Your proposal?”
“I shall take you to see Cam.” The boy brushed his hands together. “If the two of you reconcile, then you shall stay together. But if your true love denies you…” At this, he took a menacing step forward. “You will stay with me.”
“With you?”
“My world could use a touch of beauty, a little inspiration—your voice, your poetry, your soul.” The boy twirled his finger through the chain around his neck. “I can show you places you have never seen before.”
Lilith wasn’t interested in seeing the world. She was interested in seeing Cam. She wanted to reconcile, to revive their love, and then, later, when it made sense again, marriage, a family—just as they’d planned.
She glanced at the boy before her. She didn’t even know his name. Something about him made her uneasy. And yet, if he could lead her to Cam…
She reached into the carob tree for her lyre and her book. Would this be the last time she would stow her music in her favorite tree, the last time she would look upon the glittering water at this bend of the Jordan? What about her family and her friends?
But if she stayed here, she would never know what might have been.
She closed her eyes and said, “I’m ready.”
The boy took her hand and said in a low voice, “You have yourself what will someday be known as a ‘deal.’?”
Four Days
The morning after he met Lilith and Bruce at the arcade, Cam sat next to Lucifer atop a splintery wooden scoreboard. They gazed down at the football field and, beyond it, the ever-burning hills.
The air was damp and cloaked with smoke. At seven a.m., the school was even quieter than the cemetery at Sword & Cross had been back before Cam had discovered that Lilith lived on in endless Hells, when all he had to worry about was playing games with Luce and Daniel. He wished he’d appreciated how charmingly simple his life had been back then.
Four days remained in his wager with the devil, and Cam had no idea how it would end. There had been moments—like when Lilith tried on her wedding dress—when Cam had known she could almost glimpse their shattered past. And while he hoped with all his heart that she was close to loving him, she had not yet said the words.
They hadn’t even kissed.
Lucifer reached into a paper bag and handed Cam a steaming Styrofoam cup. He was in the guise of Luc, but when he and Cam were alone, the devil let his true, terrifying growl come out. “If you lived another sixteen trillion years,” he said, “you’d never stop being na?ve.”
“I’d rather be na?ve than cynical,” Cam said, and sipped his coffee. “Besides, how do you account for what’s happened? She’s changed. Once you set a ball rolling, you can’t tell where it will go.”
“That’s the beauty of being number two.” Lucifer smiled, and Cam glimpsed the maggots running through the gaps in his teeth. “No one expects you to succeed. Behold!”
Beneath them the wooden scoreboard lit up, the words Home and Away glittering in the morning light. The devil released his tarnished wings and swooped down to the bleachers, beckoning for Cam to join him.
Putting down his coffee, Cam sighed, glanced around to be sure they were alone, then let out his wings. He’d wanted to release them every time he was with Lilith, but he couldn’t show her his true self, not yet. Maybe not ever.
Cam felt his wings extend behind him, then saw Lucifer’s eyes trolling over them.
“What’s going on there?” the devil asked with narrowed eyes.