9

Grace stared at him. 'You've got to show it to me!' she said. 'What kind of ridiculous book is this, anyway?'

'Hey! It wasn't ridiculous,' said Lucien, standing up and drawing his chair in. 'Follow me! To the library!'

'You have a library?' said Grace, intrigued.

'Oh, do you like books? Or are you just surprised that I read, haha?' said Lucien as he led the way out and through a long hallway.

'I'm not surprised; I saw all the books in your room,' said Grace. 'And yes, I love to read – and I admire people who do.'

'So, you admire me now?' said the demon mischievously.

Grace rolled her eyes. 'Oh, please! Just show me the way to the library and the book which gave you this silly idea in the first place!'

'We're here,' said Lucien, opening a tall, dark wooden door. 'Ladies first!'

Grace entered the room, and for a few moments, she almost forgot everything else. Long, wide wooden shelves hid the walls completely, and were filled with books from top to bottom. A large table stood in the centre, with a huge book on it along with a sheaf of papers. Gentle, tinted sunlight streamed into the room through tall and narrow glass windows that had been painted with colourful flowers in different hues.

'It's so... beautiful,' said Grace in awe, scanning the books around her, some piled on the floor, some reaching the ceiling. Hundreds of titles she could spend years reading. Countless worlds she could lose herself in – just like she used to back at her aunt's house when everything got too much; couldn't she do the same here? Was Hell that bad now that she had discovered this priceless room?

'Hey!' said Lucien, snapping his fingers and bringing her focus back. 'You went in a trance there! I didn't know you liked books that much – I would have brought you here earlier if I had!'

'What kinds of books are these?' said Grace dreamily.

'All kinds! I collect them whenever I get the chance; anything and everything I can get my hands on,' said Lucien proudly.

'Is that Charles Dickens over there?' said Grace suddenly, walking over to one of the shelves. 'Yes, it is! "A Christmas Carol!" What's it doing here?!'

'I have a lot of books from Earth,' grinned Lucien. 'They're my favourites! That's another reason why I love Earth, actually... and the more I read through those pages, the closer I get to vicariously living somewhere in that world I've never known firsthand, and I love it!'

'Books can really do that,' said Grace with a smile. 'And I see now, no wonder you like Earth! Are you sure, though – I see you have Oliver Twist as well; our world is full of harsh realities like that.'

'I'm sure!' said the demon happily. 'Despite all the hardships and problems, I find it so beautiful! Earth is the place where these two books can coexist as equally true realities; where melancholy and joy can mix; where Romeo and Juliet can die a tragic death and yet be one of the most iconic and beautiful and celebrated couples of all time!

Grace smiled brightly, and her face lit up with something striking that made Lucien forget to grin and just stare at her, wondering how she had suddenly became twice as beautiful – perhaps because this was the first time she had become genuinely happy.

'But, Lucien?' she said, looking at him, but he didn't say anything; he hadn't seemed to have heard her. 'Lucien?'

'Yeah?' said the demon. 'What is it?'

'How did you get all these books from Earth when you can't go there yourself? And how do you know what the classics are?'

'Ah! Good question!' said Lucien, beaming. 'You'd be surprised how many people die while reading a book; that's one source. Then, once, a really surly old librarian landed here in Hell, and I hated his guts, but there was one thing I found out immediately: he really knew everything there was to be known on books! So I got a long list of recommendations from him and asked Kuro to bring them back somehow when he went on his little scavenger trips to Earth. And that's how my collection grew, piece by piece.'

'It's a beautiful collection,' said Grace, walking past the table, before she caught sight of the fat book on it and remembered what she had come here for. 'By the way...'

'It's right here,' said Lucien, who had followed her gaze and guessed what she was about to say. 'The book which started it all; but this one isn't from Earth, it's been written here in Hell.'

'This book?' said Grace, trying to read its title, but the text was in some strange symbols she was unable to read.

'Demon languages can be a little hard,' said Lucien apologetically. 'Sorry you can't read it firsthand, but I can translate it roughly for you.'

'Oh,' said Grace. 'Please.'

'It says it's the complete guide to transits between the shadowed realms,' said Lucien, cracking the book open and flipping the pages impatiently until he reached the one he had been looking for. 'And would you believe it, he's covered everything in such detail, but there's only one chapter on Earth!'

'Well, Earth isn't exactly a "shadowed" realm, so it makes sense,' said Grace. 'And I don't dare ask what realms it did cover in detail...'

'Good point,' nodded Lucien. 'And yes, trust me, you don't want to know. I couldn't sleep for two nights after my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to go into those details right at my bedtime!'

Grace laughed in spite of herself.

'Hey, it's not funny!' protested Lucien.

'Whatever,' she grinned. 'So, what does the book say about Earth?'

'It wastes half the chapter explaining the construct of Earth and the Genesis and all that,' said Lucien. 'And then it comes to the bit I was interested in: the actual "transit" part.'

'Well?'

'It says there are three modes of transit to Earth if you are from a doomed realm – like Hell.'

'Doomed realm sounds depressing when you put it like that...' said Grace.

'His words, not mine; but he's right, so it's only the truth,' shrugged Lucien. 'Anyway, the first of the three ways is for animals only: cats, bats, mice – not rats – and for an assortment of scorpions and ants and other weird critters... they say particular breeds of horses may work too, but such cases are rare...'

'Well, we're not animals, so...'

'Of course! The second way is if a black magician summons you; but you've got to do a whole bunch of weird, disturbing, hair-raising things to attract that energy, and even then, you're never actually free on Earth – unless the said magician makes a mistake; in which case you can devour his black soul and do as you please, ughh! As much I love Earth, I'd much rather go and serve the Assistant than go through all that stuff!'

'That certainly sounds unsettling... and kind of icky! Definitely don't ever try that, please!'

'Of course not! And now for the third one: to summon a God-fearing person – there's a whole procedure written down here – and make them wish for you to leave with them. Apparently, the heavens would shake or something at the mere presence of someone like that in a place like this, and the usual restraints of Hell wouldn't work on them. So their wish to leave would come true immediately, but before they figure that out, you've got to make them wish for you to come along, too; it suggests a couple of weird scary ways to "make" them do that, but I think that's awfully rude when you can just ask politely!'

'Certainly,' said Grace, paling slightly. 'I must say, the author of this book sounds kind of evil to me!'

'Oh, I agree wholeheartedly,' said Lucien. 'But as you know, knowledge can be gotten from anyone, anywhere! So I decided to try this last thing out; unfortunately, it didn't go as smoothly as I thought it would...'

'Maybe you picked the wrong person,' said Grace sadly. 'You needed someone God-fearing, someone really good, and I do mess things up all the time...'

'Oh, that's all rot!' said the demon, waving his hand. 'I was quite confused about what the book meant by "God-fearing", so I grabbed a scripture from a priest who had just died and landed here – guess he never bothered following it – and I tried to read through it to figure out what to look for. There were way too many stories and morals and lessons and things in it, but at the end of it all, it seemed like having basic compassion and love and forgiveness – and a belief in God – were the most important things. Huh, even I already knew that! Guess humans are a little dumb... Anyway, I sent Kuro to look for someone who matched this description, and you know how he is – I had to feed him countless treats before I could convince him to help me.'

Grace smiled at the thought of an impatient Lucien trying to get the grumpy cat to do anything whatsoever. 'Then?'

'Then, when he finally agreed, he looked around and observed the people he passed by on Earth; but would you believe it, he said there was no one he could be absolutely sure of! I told him he was just being picky, but then he told me the details; if a man was kind to one person, he was disloyal to his wife; if a woman was sweet and loving with her children, she fought with her poor neighbours daily; even the children would end up having some fault or other; some would bully others and some would be ungrateful... and then, one day, he spotted you. And he came back and told me right away that he'd found the perfect match. Since this was the first time he'd ever said that – and he never praises anyone unless they really have something, I was certain we had hit gold, and I told him to fetch you right away.'

Grace went slightly red. 'I'm not that good... maybe Kuro made a mistake this time. I'm sorry that your plan didn't work because of me. I really do wish with all my heart that I could have taken you back with me to Earth – I do!'

As she spoke those words, a sudden movement began and startled the two of them. They looked down, and the floor seemed to be shaking slightly. To their left and right, some of the books were rattling and falling from their shelves. Presently, a gentle whirring sound drew their attention to an incoming vortex of light that had appeared out of nowhere and was speeding towards them as if to envelope them into what looked like an endless portal to somewhere.

'It worked!' exclaimed Lucien in delighted surprise. 'That's how it was described in the book! You did it, Grace!'

Grace looked at him happily, her eyes shining, and held his hand firmly as the vortex approached and barely touched them when...

'CESTA!' a booming voice resounded somewhere beyond the light, and it burst into a fiery explosion in a matter of seconds, before disappearing completely, as suddenly as it had come.

The only thing left behind was the owner of the voice: a slim young man who had the most solemn face Grace had ever seen. His expression was severe, and even more so as he turned disapprovingly towards them; but despite that, his face was beautiful and angelic. His eyes gleamed gently like shimmering blue sapphires, and his hair was silvery-white.  His skin was fair and smooth, and his features were fine and delicate, like they had been etched there carefully to perfection. But the most striking thing about him was definitely... the pair of shimmering, snow-white wings on his back – along with a luminous aura around him that he constantly emitted.

Could he be an angel?