Page 22 of Lost Feather
“Sorry, I was just testing a theory.” I grinned, and she rolled her eyes, handing me the food she was carrying.
“You are so weird. Hold this.”
“Sure.” I looked around. I couldn’t be certain, but I was pretty sure we were nowhere near my room. “What are we doing here?”
Sunny winked one dark eye, before pressing her hand against a wall. “We’re going shopping.”
CHAPTER9
Feather
“Shopping? Oh, how fun,” I moaned. I had always hated shopping. In more than one recent lifetime, I’d been the designated “take it back” child, whose role was to return things my parents couldn’t afford. Clothes shopping was done in the school lost and found bin, or garage sales, or didn’t happen at all. I’d mostly worn hand-me-downs or clothing others had thrown out. “What are you getting? Is this a store?”
“It’s a storage closet. You’re the one getting stuff.” Sunny moved her hand in a semicircle over a spot that seemed a bit darker than the rest of the surface. I didn’t see a door, but one opened in the middle of the wall. “Come on, I’ll carry everything.” She waved her hand over another dark patch of wall and soft, diffuse light filled the space.
This “closet” was larger than any bedroom I’d ever had on Earth—larger even than some of the houses I’d lived in. Against all the walls were strangely shaped objects covered with sheets. Some were the size of cars, but flat. I lifted an eyebrow, and Sunny smiled.
“Beds, mostly. Some interesting chairs in the back. But we’re here for sheets and extra togas for you. We can get furniture once you’re… a little further along.”
She was right. Putting nice things in my room when I’d just get them covered with muck was silly.
She walked back to some silver and white metal shelving and began pulling folded sheets down. “Are those the same kind as on my bed now?” I asked. I really hoped I hadn’t ruined the good sheets, and was now only getting the crappy ones.
“Yeah,” she said. Her nose crinkled. “Want to feel the sheets the High Angeli used?”
Used?I nodded, popping a cheese cube in my mouth as she tiptoed a few rows back.
“Here, come feel.” I set the plates down and followed her. The shelving was tall, and I had the sudden thought that this would make a great hiding place if Gavriel ever decided it was unmaking time. Sunny held a folded sheet out to me, and I took it, gasping at the soft, almost liquid feel.
“On Earth, people would kill to have sheets like this,” I murmured, rubbing my hand over the top. It was softer than a baby bird, softer than chocolate mousse, softer than… I snatched my hand back when I saw my smut was coming off on it. “Crapola, I’m ruining it!”
Sunny laughed as I grabbed it and ran a few rows away, glancing around for a place to hide it. If I left it with the other sheets, someone would figure out what I’d done. Maybe they’d think it was a drop cloth over here…
I’d just shoved it under what looked like a miniature harp when Sunny grabbed my arm. “Don’t freak out, Feather. Those sheets aren’t being used. Nothing in here is.”
“Why not?” I stared around me, realizing I was standing in a section reserved for musical instruments. There were trumpets, horns, harps of every size and shape, and one solitary instrument that seemed to be calling me. “A kazoo?” I had almost grabbed the small, solid gold thing when I remembered, and tucked my hands behind my back. “This place is amazing,” I murmured. “But why isn’t this stuff being used?” A thought popped into my head. “I haven’t heard any music since I got here. It seems odd not to have music in a place filled with angels.”
“Again, we don’t call ourselves that.” Sunny’s voice was filled with sadness as she peered around. “I’m not old enough to have played these, but some of my Protector friends say everyone used to have musical instruments. There was singing all the time. But then the imbalance got worse, and most of the High Angeli walked into the gate.” She lifted the stack of sheets in her arms. “Go ahead and touch them. No one will care about you messing those up. They don’t use them anymore.”
“But… the harps.” I plucked one string with a finger, shivering at the pure tone that emerged. “Why would they stop making music?”
“The Guides decided we needed to focus on more important things. Useful lessons, on how to keep the balance and fight the evil threats.” She sighed, staring at the harp. “I wish I knew how to play one of these, though.”
I couldn’t help her with that, but I pointed to the kazoo. “I will one hundred percent teach you how to play that one,” I promised, “if you tell me more about the gate and the High Angeli.”
“Really? You can play one of these?” When I nodded, she plucked it off the shelf and stuck it into a pocket. “I’ll just borrow it for a day or so.”
“Good plan. Think they’d notice if I stuck a baby-sized harp down my toga?”
She had just opened her mouth to answer when a new voice interrupted. “What are youdoingin here? This area is off limits!” I ducked down and peeked through a break in the row of harps to see Righteous at the door, wings extended slightly and knees bent as if he’d just landed. His toga gleamed pure white, and he had on the most outrageous shoes: gladiator sandals that laced all the way up his lickable calves. Had he changed after dinner?
“Protector Righteous?” Sunny jumped like she’d been caught shoplifting. Which, in a way, she had. “What a surprise! A pleasant one, I’m sure. Totally fine for you to be here.”
I wanted to tell her to calm down or she was going to get searched for contraband, and who knew what happened to kazoo thieves here? I followed her out of the narrow aisle, wishing I had on less smut, and more lipstick. Slightly breathless Righteous was even hotter than usual.
“Feather needed sheets.” Sunny zipped her lips as Righteous joined us in the storage room, which suddenly felt much smaller.
He prowled toward us, assessing. “And you had permission to enter here?”
