He slowed and approached the Meadow of the Throne. It was just as he remembered it: the flat plain of brilliant white cloudsoil leading up toward the center of everything. The Throne itself, dazzlingly bright, radiating the warmth of pure goodness, so luminous that, even for an angel, it was impossible to look directly at it. One could not even get close to seeing the Creator, who sat upon the Throne clothed in brightness, so the customary synecdoche--calling the whole entity the Throne--was apt.
Daniel's gaze drifted to the arc of rippled silver ledges circling the Throne. Each one was marked with the rank of a different Archangel. This used to be their headquarters, a place to worship, to attend, to call on and deliver messages for the Throne.
There was the lustrous altar that had been his seat, near the top right corner of the Throne. It had been there for as long as the Throne had been in existence.
But there were only seven altars now. Once there had been eight.
Wait--
Daniel winced. He knew he'd come through the Gates of Heaven, but he hadn't thought about precisely when. It mattered. The Throne had only been imbalanced like that for a very short period: the sliver of time right after Lucifer stated his plans to defect but before the rest of them had been called upon to choose sides.
He arrived in that blink of a moment after Lucifer's betrayal but before the Fall.
The great rift was coming during which some would side with Heaven and some would side with Hell, when Lucifer would turn into Satan before their eyes, and the Great Arm of the Throne would sweep legions of them off the surface of Heaven and send them plummeting.
He drew nearer to the Meadow. The harmonious note grew louder, as did the choral buzz of angels. The Meadow was glowing with the gathering of all the brightest souls. His past self would be down there; all of them were. It was so bright Daniel couldn't see clearly, but his memory told him that Lucifer had been permitted to hold court from his repositioned silver altar at the far end of the Meadow, in direct opposition to--though not nearly as high as--the Throne. The other angels were assembled before the Throne, in the middle of the Meadow.
This was the roll call, the last moment of unity before Heaven lost half its souls. At the time Daniel had wondered why the Throne ever permitted the roll call to occur. Did he who had dominion over everything think Lucifer's appeal to the angels would end in sheer humiliation? How could the Throne have been so wrong?
Gabbe still spoke of the roll call with startling clarity. Daniel could remember little of it--other than the soft brush of a single wing reaching out to him in solidarity. The brush that told him: You are not alone.
Could he dare to look upon that wing now?
Perhaps there was a way to go about the roll call differently, so that the curse that befell them afterward did not strike so hard. With a shiver that reached his very core, Daniel realized that he could turn this trap into an opportunity.
Of course! Someone had reworked the curse so that there was a way out for Lucinda. The whole time he'd been racing after her, Daniel had assumed it must have been Lucinda herself. That somewhere in her heedless flight backward through time, she'd opened up a loophole. But maybe ... maybe it had been Daniel all along. He was here now. He could do it. In some sense, he must already have done it. Yes, he'd been chasing its implications through the millennia he'd traveled to get here. What he did here, now, at the very beginning, would ripple forward into every one of her lives. Finally, things were beginning to make sense.
He would be the one to soften the curse, to allow Lucinda to live and travel into her past--it had to have begun here. And it had to have begun with Daniel.
He descended to the plain of cloudsoil, edging along the glowing border. There were hundreds of angels there, thousands, filling it up with lustrous anxiety. The light was astonishing as he slipped in among the crowd. No one perceived his Anachronism; the tension and fear among the angels were too bright.
The time has come, Lucifer, his Voice called from the Throne. This voice had given Daniel immortality, and all that came with it. This is truly what you desire?
Not just for us, but for our fellow angels, Lucifer was saying. Free will is deserved by everyone, not just the mortal men and women whom we watch from above. Lucifer appealed now to the angels, burning brighter than the morning star. The line has been drawn in the cloudsoil of the Meadow. Now you are all free to choose.
The first heavenly scribe stood at the base of the Throne in shimmery incandescence and began to call out the names. It started with the lowest-ranking angel, the seven thousand eight hundred and twelfth son of Heaven:
Geliel, the scribe called, last of the twenty-eight angels who govern the mansions of the moon.
That was how it began.
The scribe kept a running tally in the opalescent sky as Chabril, the angel of the second hour of the night, chose Lucifer, and Tiel, the angel of the north wind, chose Heaven, along with Padiel, one of the guardians of childbeds, and Gadal, an angel involved with magical rites for the ill. Some of the angels made lengthy appeals, some of them scarcely said a word; Daniel kept little track of the tally. He was on a quest to find himself, and besides, he already knew how this ended.
He waded through the field of angels, grateful for the time it took to call out all the choices. He had to recognize his own self before he rose up out of the masses and said the na?ve words he'd been paying for ever since.
There was commotion in the Meadow--whispering and flashing lights, a grumble of low thunder. Daniel hadn't heard the name called, had not seen the angel float up to declare his choice. He shoved through the souls in front of him to get a better view.
Roland. He bowed before the Throne. With respect, I am not ready to choose. He looked at the Throne but gestured at Lucifer. You are losing a son today, and all of us are losing a brother. Many more, it seems, will follow. Please, do not enter lightly into this dark decision. Do not force our family to splinter apart.
Daniel teared up at the sight of Roland's soul--the angel of poetry and music, Daniel's brother and his friend--pleading in the white sky.
You are wrong, Roland, the Throne boomed. And in defying me, you have made your choice. Welcome him to your side, Lucifer.
No! Arriane shrieked, and flew up out of the center of brightness to hover beside Roland. Please, only give him time to understand what his decision means! The decision has been made was all the Throne said in reply. I can tell what is in his soul, despite his words--he has already chosen.
A soul brushed up against Daniel's. Hot and stunning, instantly recognizable.