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No! Lucifer cried Heaven is not the only party wronged!

"Quiet!" The Throne's voice grew louder as he spoke He sounded tired, and pained, and less certain than Daniel had ever i without the weight of sacrarow and choose for herself, to reenact this , to put the final test to this love that you claihts of Heaven and family; her choice then will be your redemption or the final seal on your punishment That is all that can be done

Daniel bowed down, and his past self bowed down beside him

I cannot abide this! Lucifer bellowed They must never! Never--

It is done, the Voice thundered, as if he had reached his capacity for ue with one, all of those who have chosen ill or not chosen at all The Gates of Heaven are closed to you!

Soht of all suddenly went out Heaven grew dark and deadly cold

The angels gasped and shivered, huddling closer together

Then: silence

No one moved and no one spoke

What happened next was uniinable, even to Daniel, who had already witnessed the whole thing once before

The sky beneath the a fiery surge of stea The Orchard of Knowledge and the Grove of Life fell into each other, and all of Heaven shook as they shuddered to their deaths

A silver lightning bolt cracked forth from the Throne and struck the west end of the Meadow The cloudsoil boiled into blackness, and a pit of the darkest despair opened up like a sinkhole right under Lucifer With all his iels closest to hiels who had yet to choose, they, too, lost their purchase on Heaven's plains and slid into the abyss Gabbe was one of them; Arriane and Cam, too, as well as the others dearest to his heart--collateral dae from Daniel's choice Even his past self, eyes wide, ept toward the black hole in Heaven and vanished within

Once again, Daniel could do nothing to stop it froue of tu ever doard stood between the fallen and the moment they would reach Earth Nine days he couldn't afford to spend not finding her He plunged toward the abyss

At the edge of nothingness, Daniel looked down and saw a spot of brightness, farther away than the farthest thing iel, but a beast with vast black wings darker than the night And it was flying toward hi upward How?

Daniel had just seen Lucifer at the Judgment up above He'd fallen first and should be far below Still, it could be no one else Daniel's vision focused sharply and his wings burned fro so

"Lucinda!" he shouted, but the beast had already dropped her

His whole world stopped

Daniel did not see where Lucifer went after that because he was ping across the sky toward Luce The burning of her soul was so bright and so fas clasped close to his body so that he fell faster than seemed possible, so fast that the world around him blurred He reached out and--

She landed in his ar a protective shield around her She seemed startled at first, as if she'd just awakened fro out all the air in her lungs She touched his cheek, ran her fingers across the tingling ridges of his wings

At last He breathed into her, finding her lips

You found me, she whispered

Always

Just below theels lit up the sky like a thousand brilliant stars They all see to one another during the long plunge fro For a moment, they all seemed to hum and burn with a beautiful perfection As he and Luce watched, a bolt of black lightning darted across the sky and see

Then everything but Luce and Daniel grew absolutely dark As if all of the angels, all at once, had tuue

NO MORE BUT THIS

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA NOVEMBER 27, 2009

It was the last Announcer Luce wanted to step through for a very long time When Daniel stretched open the shadow cast by the inexplicable brightening of the stars in that strange, neverwhere sky, Luce did not look back She held fast to his hand, overcome with relief She ith Daniel now Wherever they ould be hoed inside the shadow

What is it?

His lips traced her collarbone She arched her back and grabbed the back of his neck and pulled hiue found hers and as long as she could stay there like that, she didn't need to breathe

They left the distant past locked in the kiss--one so long awaited and so passionate it o fuzzy It was a kiss most people dreamed of all their lives Here was the soul Luce had been searching for ever since she left hiether when Daniel swooped the of a silver cloud