“It pushed my patience, but I did it,” Moon said flatly. “And you so owe me.”

“And?” I asked.

“Nothing that makes sense,” she reported with folded arms. “Yeah, we have a record that Mina died that day and went to Heaven.”

“What’s confusing about that?”

“She’s gone,” Moon said, still confused about it. “No record of her leaving, and nothing saying she even lived there. She doesn’t even have a house I could find.”

“What’s your opinion on that?” I asked.

“My opinion? She pulled one over on us somehow and escaped Heaven.”

“Real great security you have then.”

“We stop people from breaking into Heaven. Why would you escape from paradise?”

“The question of the hour…” I mumbled. “Thanks Moon, I-”

“You down owe me just one. That was a lot of books I had to go through,” she interrupted. “But I’m not done yet. I couldn’t find any more records in Heaven, but apparently she went one more place before somehow managing to go to The Living.

“Yeah?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Where?”

*   *   *   *   *

“Hey, marble slab,” I called, walking inside The Temple. “We need to talk.”

I was met by echoing silence.

“I know you’re there! I can feel you!” I snarled and took out my talons. “I’m just going to start breaking shit until you talk!”

Still nothing.

“Fine,” I said, turning and about to make my new favorite piece of vandalism.

“State your business,” it said coldly.

“You know my business. And I know you have answers.”

“What is your question?”

“My sister,” I growled. “Mina somehow escaped Heaven and ran here. Why? And what did you do to her?”

The voice was quiet again, but this time I could tell it was probably just debating with itself. The answer it gave wasn’t exactly outstanding either.

“You are not at liberty to know.”

“Hiding something?” I asked threateningly. “Some mistake maybe? Something you did? Something people might not like if they knew?”

“Do not think yourself so mighty as to threaten us,” it warned. “Do not think yourself so important as to be entitled to answers either.”

“I feel like I deserve to know what happened to my own sister,” I hissed. The Temple paused for a second, as if actually considering my argument.

“Should you know, you cannot be allowed to tell any living soul, nor show them yourself in any conscious way” it warned. “If you do…” the brand on my arm started to glow, and I got the message.

Well that turned my blood to ice. Not only did The Temple not want to tell me something about Mina, it also didn’t want me to tell anyone else. It gave me chills. What the hell did this rock do to my sister?

“Fine,” I said. “I just need to know.”

“Very well then. In your sister’s final moments, she prayed to us, and called our attention to her right as she died. Curiously, her soul went to Heaven, being half-carvation and half-human. Our attention already upon her, we decided to guide her soul to us to offer her a choice.”

“What kind of choice?”

*   *   *   *   *

After Mina’s Death

Mina felt herself get swept from where she was supposed to go, and she could feel it. Only a few moments ago, she was sure that she died. She felt the sharp pain that was the snap of her neck when her brother tried to catch her… She noticed the halo above her head and the snow-white wings on her back. She wished Gryft could see that she finally had wings like him now. Her brother! She had to get back to Gryft and tell him that she was okay! But now, her soul was getting pulled into a large building. It was marble and grand, with statues of diverse kinds of carvations inside lining the walls, and they seemed to change when she took her eyes off of them. The floor was cool under her bare feet, and Mina felt like she wasn’t alone.

“Hello?” she asked. “Is… someone there?”

“You impress us, young one,” The Temple said. “We are The Temple which you prayed to, day and night.”

“The Temple…” Mina whispered, marveled she was finally there. “Temple, why did you bring me here? And after I died too?”

“It was not our desire to intervene with your death. However, we have brought you here to offer a choice as to where to pass on to.”

“It was not your desire to intervene with my death?” she asked, almost in disbelief. “I thought you were supposed to be the protector of all carvations? Our elders taught us that.”

“We watch over all carvations and protect the race,” confirmed The Temple. “However, debate ruled that your death was beyond our obligation.”

“Beyond your obligation?” she asked, starting to turn sour. “What is-”

“SILENCE!” The Temple boomed. “You have not been called to question us. We have taken interest in you and called you to offer a choice. You may go to Heaven like the rest of your human bloodline, or you may become one with us like the rest of your carvation ancestry.”

Mina didn’t know where to look to see what The Temple’s consciousness was, but she stared at the statue in the back of The Temple in the eyes. It was the one statue that didn’t change around. She was worked up now.

“Why would I want to merge with The Temple who ruled me outside their jurisdiction? Take me back to The Living! Take me back to The Village! Give me a second life since you didn’t feel like saving my first one!”

“You reject our offer and pass to Heaven?”

“No! I reject dying! I had a life to live, and you’re going to give it back! Right now!”

The Temple started to rumble a bit, and Mina balled her fists. She had angered the Temple for sure now. She didn’t care though. She was speaking exactly what she thought, and no temple that left her to die is going to stop her.

“UNGRATEFUL CHILD!” The Temple said with the force of a thundercrack. “If you want it all, you shall have it, but be warned! When your time is up, there shall be no afterlife waiting for you! Your soul shall pass into eternal limbo without end in a place where nothing shall find you!”

“What?!” she asked, not believing what she was hearing.

“We wish you a happy second life, Mina. Live while you still can.”

In a flash of light, Mina was gone from The Temple. Now she was in a forest, still barefoot and in her angel robes. Only now, her halo had vanished, along with her wings. She still had her pointed ears and scorpion tail though. She still had her carvation blood, and she was going to use it. She was going to get back at that Temple for what it did. And Mina had to find her brother again somehow. That meant getting back to The Village. And that meant she had to find some carvations…

*   *   *   *   *

Present

My hand was over my mouth, definitely not sure at all how to process The Temple’s story. What it told me was too much to take.

“I- That was not ok,” I said. “You caused all this!”

“It was you who took her life.”

“And you couldn’t have sent her to Heaven,” I spat back. “No, The Temple can’t have its pride injured. Forbid one living creature disrespect it when you have a whole village of carvations who worship it.”

“We cannot deny our pride got the better of us, but she is your task to dispose of now.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said, walking out. “It doesn’t surprise me that this whole time I was just cleaning up your mess, actually.”

*   *   *   *   *

The sun was setting by the time I landed at New Village. I promised to get back to Adam to talk about what to do next. Sona and her people were scouring an entire US state looking for Mina. It was a longshot, but hey, you never know if someone would get lucky. 

“Gryft,” Adam said, walking out to greet me. “You’re late.”

“Don’t act like you haven’t been late to a doctor’s appointment before.”

“Fair,” he sighed. “I’m just spread thin trying to keep the Irregulars under control.”

“Irregulars?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, it’s just the name I gave the lab-made carvations,” he said with a cough. “Sherlock Holmes was one of my favorite reads.”

“Wasn’t he a boxer?”

“My BA in English is getting nowhere with you,” Adam groaned. “Anyway, we’ve got a situation down here.”

“What’s happening?” I frowned. “Did carvations finally discover capitalism and create money? Do they have an economy?!”

“Thankfully not. It’s still all refreshingly communal down here. No money, just food to go around to everyone.”

“So what’s the problem?” I asked.

“So you know when you wanted all of them to know that your sister was the one who created them?” he asked.

“Yeah sure, they deserved to know.”

“Well…”

“Uncle Gryft!” shouted the voices of a few children.

In only a few minutes, I had these “Irregular” children hanging from my arms, legs, wings, and tail. I don’t know what it was about kids and violating personal space, but lo and behold, it was thoroughly violated.

“I’m not an uncle,” I said, trying to shake them off.

“But you’re mama Mina’s brother!”

“Oh, that does not sound right talking about my sister,” I shuddered.

“I can’t stop them,” complained Adam. “I’ve been walking around hearing ‘Mama Mina’ this and ‘Mama Mina’ that, and I’m already sick of it.”

“Yeah, I don’t really want to hear it either,” I said, shaking the kids off of me. “But I came to ask you about something else.”

“Go on,” he nodded.

“When we find Mina, she’s probably going to fight us. I want to know if you want to be with us when that happens. We’ve got Sona and her people looking for her, but she told us her men have to do other things after they find her, so we’re a bit short on-”

“You can stop there,” he interrupted. “She made me a monster, and I’m still a bit bitter about it, but I’m working on letting that go. I think seeing her again might let me move on better.”

“You know I can get you in contact with a good therapist, right?” I asked with a grin, holding out my hand.

“Maybe give me her number when this is all over then,” he said, returning the smile and shaking my hand.