A Book of Dust and Breath

Chapter Fifty

For his thirteenth birthday, Max received a cupcake, a new school uniform, and a book about two brothers who solved mysteries. That was fine. He didn't expect any more than that. It was pretty much the same as any other day, up until the point Lily came to the boys' dormitory.

He lay alone, stretched on the bed with his new book. All of the other boys had stayed downstairs to hear a story. It would have been a movie, but there was no power that day. Her footsteps were quick taps against the wooden floor.

Like him, she ran everywhere.

He smiled at her, standing there in the doorway. "Hey Lily. You're not supposed to be in here, you know. The sisters won't be happy if they find you."

"Happy birthday, Max."

He delighted at the sound of her soft, strong voice. "Thanks. Hearing you speak is a fun gift. I always knew you could do it."

She smiled back at him and lit the room brighter than electricity ever could. "I wanElwyn to give you something else."

"OK. But it's your birthday, too, and I don't have anything for you."

"Yes you do." She came closer, never taking her eyes from his. She had the most beautiful blue eyes. He couldn't have looked away if the building had burst into flame at that moment. His heart pounded in his chest. His palms turned cold and sweaty and he prayed she wouldn't try to take his hand.

She didn't. Rather, she held onto his shoulders. Just an inch or so taller than him, she leaned down and pressed her lips to his.

All hesitation dissolved. This was familiar. He remembered it. They were older though, grown, in another home, in another life, she had been his wife and her kisses had set him on fire then, too. His hands found her waist and pulled her closer.

She stopped too soon. "I remember you," she whispered. "Like a dream too vivid to have really been a dream."

He nodded and tried not to pout when she stepped out of his arms and walked toward the window. The leaves on the trees were just beginning to bud, tinting the whole world red.

Footsteps raced down the hallway and one of the nuns burst into the room. "Max, have you seen... Lily!"

Both children stood staring at the woman in her long black robes.

Sister Yadira. The only one who kept her face covered. She of the extraordinary dark eyes lined with kohl.

"You're not like the others, are you?" Max asked.

To his surprise, she made no reprimand, only narrowed her eyes at him the tiniest bit.

"I remember you," he said.

Lily came closer. "Me too."

Yadira nodded. "Then it will come as no great surprise to know that your father is here. He'd like to speak with you."

The children exchanged a panicked look. "Our father? We're brother and sister?"

"Is that what you remember?" she asked.

Max felt the blush in his cheeks burn even brighter and knew he must be the color of freshly cooked beets. "No." He didn't look at Lily. He couldn't if his life depended on it.

"Come," Yadira said.

They trailed behind the woman. Her long robes made a gentle swishing noise around her legs. Far in the distance the boys cheered. Something fantastic must have happened in the story. Yadira led them down a flight of stairs into one of the classrooms where a man, taller than most and powerfully built waited for them. He wore a black suit and shiny black shoes that looked like they'd never been walked in before that very moment. His eyes crinkled a little at the edges when he saw them, but his lips stayed in a stern, straight line.

A fair skinned guy in rumpled jeans and an ancient, slightly-frayed AC/DC t-shirt sat on one of the desks grinning at them.

Their teacher closed the door and stood with her back against it. "They've only just begun to remember," she said.

Max looked at Lily. Her eyes were focused on the man in black, a little frown line exactly in the center of her brows.

"Tell me what you remember," the man said.

"I remember," Max began, but he couldn't say more. He remembered Lily, kissing him. Naked. In the shower, with her hands on his body. Maybe he was going to die in a burst of flames.

Lily spoke up. "I remember Sister Yadira cutting Max down from ropes where he was tied up and hurt. I remember her helping me when I was very frightened and in terrible pain." Her eyes darted to Max for a moment and then down to the toes of her new birthday shoes. "I remember a lot about Max."

The man nodded, seeming unperturbed. "Not Yadira, but her sister, yes.

"No mention of me, then? Oi! Max, you're a mess." The other man said through his laughter. "You shag one girl and your best mate is brushed away just like that?"

"We didn't--" Max began to protest, but his words stuck in his throat again. They did. He remembered it. Clearly. He remembered something else too, though. This man had been there in his moment of greatest terror. He had been frightened to the core of his soul, practically unable to function, which almost never happened to him, and Daniel had fought for him, for his family. "Daniel," he said.

The man barked a laugh of pure joy. "Ha! I do rank. Good to know."

"Are you our father?" Max asked the one in the suit.

He nodded. "I am your father, Azrael, but Lily is not your sister. Not in the way you mean."

Every child in the home spoke of a parent who would come for them someday. Max had never really expected such a thing to happen. "Are you going to take us away from here?"

"It's too soon," he said, and Max felt hope wither in his chest. "But I'm afraid that's the way it must be. We cannot wait any longer."

Max glanced at Lily. She was taking all of this in with her usual wide-eyed silence.

"Wait for what?"

"We're at war, mate. Have you seriously forgotten everything but the shagging?" Daniel asked, laughing.

The man in the suit ignored him. "This house is holy ground, protected. Beyond these walls the earth is shattered. Eight billion people are at war and the demons celebrate in the streets."

"What can I do about that?" Max asked.

Daniel hopped down and slung an arm around his shoulder. "You're the best reaper in the world, mate. We need you to send the dead on to their rest so we can send the crawlers back to Hell."

"The crawlers took my baby," Lily whispered.

The man in the suit nodded. "But you got him back. Which is why I suspect you may be exactly who we need right now."

As if to punctuate his statement, explosions shook the walls of the house.