Even if he hadn’t gotten the message, he still would have helped. He trusted Kushiel. The angel was beautiful, and Cass didn’t mean outwardly. (Well, not just outwardly. Who knew he’d have a thing for gray skin?) Kushiel shone inside, and Cass could see the goodness and the softness in him. He had the urge to wrap up Kushiel and protect him, which was sort of ridiculous. Cass was, after all, merely mortal, and Kushiel was an angel.
He’d also help him because there was something horribly wrong with what someone had done to that soul, and Kushiel was obviously trying to set things right, even if he didn’t know how.
Well, that made two of them, because Cass had no idea what to do either. Hopefully they could muddle through together.
“Who did you think I was talking to?” Cass finally asked.
Kushiel actually blushed, which was kind of adorable. “Ugh, well, you seem to have visions or be an oracle, so…” he started, then he rubbed the back of his neck in an uncomfortable gesture. “I guess I thought perhaps it was a hallucination? Or a form of vision for you?”
Kushiel looked at him and actually seemed to shrink back a bit, as if waiting for Cass to mock him or kick him out.
Cass laughed instead. “Oh, Aunt Ro would have gone bonkers if she heard that. I’m so glad I sent her upstairs with your lost soul,” he chuckled. “Most ghosts aren’t overly fond of angels or demons.”
“Your aunt is a ghost? And my lost soul is a ghost?” Kushiel asked, almost as if he was checking to be sure.
“Yes,” Cass explained patiently.
“But I can’t see them,” Kushiel stated.
“Nope. Angels and demons cannot see ghosts,” Cass answered. Poor Kushiel looked so utterly startled and unsure that Cass had the urge to pat his knee in reassurance.
“But of course we can,” he countered.
“Really? Can you? When have you seen one, then?” Cass asked. And then he waited, watching Kushiel puzzle it out.
Cass didn’t blame Kushiel. All angels and demons thought they could see ghosts, yet they never questioned why they never actually saw any ghosts. It was a weird paradox that Cass couldn’t quite figure out.
“Well, I don’t suppose… I’m not sure, actually,” Kushiel admitted, looking at Cass in shock. “None of us can see them?”
“Nope,” Cass answered again, letting it sink in.
“But… why not?” Kushiel asked.
“I have no idea, but that’s the way it’s always been. You all know there’s an afterlife ghost department, but you all forget about it all the time. It’s like a mental block for angels and demons. Honestly, it isn’t really my problem. I can see ghosts, and my job is to help them if I can. Of course I’ll help any afterlifer that needs assistance, but the ghosthood department is really my specialty.” Cass shrugged in response, while Kushiel just sat there looking rather stunned.
“We can’t see ghosts,” he muttered.
“Nope,” Cass confirmed yet again.
“So someone was really and truly trying to hide them from me. But why?” Kushiel asked, looking at Cass like he might have the answers.
“I don’t know. But together we’ll find out,” Cass promised.
Chapter 8
Kushiel
Kushiel was… Well, he didn’t know what he was. Confused? He felt a bit like a lost soul himself.
Angels and demons could not see the mortal souls who chose to be ghosts.
It didn’t make any sense.
Yet the more Kushiel thought about it, the more itdidmake sense. He had never seen a ghost in his time topside. Granted, most angels and demons didn’t spend a ton of time topside, but those who did never mentioned ghosts.
The leadership team controlled every aspect of, well, everything, although they had been getting better as of late. But there were constantly memos about souls and afterlife placements and reincarnation numbers. Yet Kushiel could not ever, not even once, remember anything about ghosts.
The leadership team loved numbers. Each ghost would have been assigned a ticket and probably a time limit on Earth, and yet none of that was the case as far as Kushiel knew. Yes, there were meetings every few decades between departments, and members of the ghosthood department were there, yet Kushiel couldn’t ever remember them adding anything. He didn’t evenremember them talking. No one asked them questions. They didn’t report numbers or data or anything else.
