Taken

Chapter 15

Heaven?  So am I dead? Can you even feel pain when you're dead?

            My eyebrows furrow in confusion as more questions swim through my mind. One question in particular catches my interest and my hands instantly shoot up to my head and I feel around, wondering if I have any animal ears since Leo and Vul do. I only feel hair, thank God, but that still doesn't derive me from the fact that I'm in Heaven. Or the fact that Heaven even exits.

            I look around the room again and take in the wooden walls and floor along with the floating spheres of light and the window pane made of twisted branches.

            This is what Heaven looks like?

            "You're kidding," I mutter aloud and am surprised by my calm tone. Vul watches me for a moment, his gaze narrowed and calculating. His amber eyes surround his slitted black pupils. "So am I dead?"

            "Unfortunately, no." Vul admits with a grumble and I frown.

            "Okay, so what kind of heaven is this then? Is this like one of those little towns in the middle of nowhere? I know there is a town called Hell so maybe there is one called Heaven too. If that's the case, then why does this room look so—"

            "Will you stop talking?" Vul asks as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

            "I'm only asking—"

            Once again I am interrupted, but this time it's by Leo who comes into the room with a bowl in one hand and a cup in the other. "Here," he says and hands me the cup. I take it gratefully and down the water, glad to rid my mouth of that bitter taste. "And here's the actual soup," he adds while casting a sideways glance at Vul who just gives him a sly smile in response.

            I glance down at the soup and bring the bowl to my nose and sniff it. Chicken broth, or at least that is what I think it is. When I glance up at Leo, he is holding a spoon out to me. I give him a small smile, take the spoon, and then dip it into the soup. When I put the spoon in my mouth, I am relieved to find that it is, in fact, chicken broth.

            "Vul says we are in Heaven," I say to Leo as I dip the spoon back into the broth. "but he also says that I'm not dead. So what kind of Heaven is this?"

            I know that Vul won't give me a proper response, so I figure that Leo is my best bet.

            Leo frowns and looks at Vul who is leaning against the wall, brooding. "In your language, this place would be called Heaven, but in our language, it's Caelum. It isn't a place for humans," I glanced up at the furry ears on his head. I guess I could believe that. "It's for the Arco."

            I raise an eyebrow. "The who-co?"

            Vul snorts at my response but I ignore him.

            Leo runs a hand through his golden tresses as he takes a look around the room, as if something here will help him explain all of this to me. He glances back at me and blows out a puff of air and then leans forward. "Okay, think of it this way. You humans have the police, right?"

            I nod.

            "Well the police watch over everyone and protect them, correct?"

            I nod again.

            "Okay, well think of us as a type of police, except we don't protect people, we protect animals," Leo explains. "We each have a specific animal to protect. For example, I watch over the lions out in the human world, hence the reason why I look so much like one. And Vul over there," he gestures to the prick who contaminated my chicken broth. "watches over foxes."

            I glance between the two, taking in the animal ears, the auburn hair, the golden tresses, and the slitted pupils. In a way, it makes sense, but the fact that this could even be real has me pinching my arm to make sure that I'm not dreaming.

            Ouch.

            Nope, not a dream.

            "So . . . why am I here?" I ask as I try to wrap my mind around what Leo just told me.

            He scratched the back of his neck. "That is a little harder to explain," he said after a moment.

            "I don't see why we have to explain anything to her because we are sending her back as soon as the Vestibulum opens." Vul says.

            Vestibulum?

            Leo glares over at Vul. "We can't do that Vul, and you know it. Besides, where would she even go? Her mother shot her for Deus's sake!"

            Deus?

            I watch as Leo opens his mouth to say more, but stops abruptly when another voice calls out.

            "Vul, Leo, I'm home!" His tone is higher in pitch, as if he were a child.

            "Mauris," Vul mutters as he turns to the dresser beside him and rifles through the top drawer. Leo grabs a quilt off of the floor and drapes it over my shoulders so it covers my bandaged wound. When I glance back at Vul, I see him toss something to Leo who then places the mystery item on top of my head.

            I reach up and feel the object, my fingers brushing against something furry and I let out a squeak in surprise. Did they put ears on my head?

            Leo bats my hand away. "Relax, it's just a headband with fake ears attached," he hisses as he moves my hair around to cover my actual ears. "Just play along."

            "Play along to what—"

            "There you are!" the young voice shouts as a boy bursts into the room. "I was looking for you every—hey who's that?"

            My eyes widen at the sight of the boy in front of me. Unlike Leo and Vul, he has his ears where mine are, but they have tufts of brown fur. The boy seems to be ten or eleven years old with brown hair and eyes, but his hands have fur on the backs of them, along with his bare feet. Not only that, but I could see a tail swishing from side to side behind him.

            "Sim," Leo says to the boy. "This is Aria. She's going to be staying with us for a while."