"This is the ugliest crap I've ever worn," Queen said, her lips curling into a disgusted pout as she observed herself in the mirror. "Do I have to wear the shawl?"

She began to let the sheer material fall down her shoulders and I immediately raised them back up. "Yes, you need to keep it on. I've bended to the best of my ability, but you need to compromise Queen."

"Xyla, how can you say that when you're wearing a nice dress and I have a potato sack on?"

"You're being dramatic." I sighed, looking at myself in the body length mirror. The light pink material hugged my curves, and I was told the color made my eyes pop. "I'm the main guest. I need to look a little bit better than everyone. You know this."

"Girl..." she drawled, looking me up and down. "Don't tell me you dressed me down on purpose."

"I mean..."

"Wow, Xyla." She scoffed, tossing the shawl to the table.

"Come on, Queen. Church isn't even your thing," I fretted. "Just let me be the star of the place where I find comfort. It's only two hours." She titled her head, looking at me with a frown and I clasped my hands together, knowing she hated when I begged her for things. "Plea-"

"Alright," she said. "But you owe me."

"Thank youu."

She nodded with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, and I passed her the shawl she put down. "Seriously?" She asked.

"Yup." She slumped her shoulders, taking the delicate orange material from my hand and wrapping it around herself. I hid the cringe on my face as I looked at the hideous orange flowery sundress I had given her, and she rolled her eyes as she caught me. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah, right."

"Your highness?" Someone called through the door of my room, and I tapped the lip gloss on my lips.

"Come in!" I answered. Matilda, the old servant who was still dragging her bones across the palace walked in, making me shoot a glare her way. "You're late."

"I'm sorry." She bowed. "I had a fall and had to tend to a wound of mine-"

"Just do my hair," I grumbled, sitting down on the chair in front of the vanity beside Queen.

"Are you alright?" Queen asked her, a look of concern on her face.

"I'm fine." Matilda smiled. "Don't worry your pretty little head about old me." Queen smiled at her, her concern still visible, but she nodded and turned back to the mirror. "Also, I've been meaning to thank you for the chocolates the other day, Queen."

"Must you speak to my sister so casually?" I glowered at her disrespect. I knew my sister wasn't exactly going to be the Queen ever, but she still deserved respect from our subordinates. "You refer to me as your highness or princess and I urge you to do the same-"

"I asked her not to. It's purely out of my preference so leave her alone," Queen said to me before turning to her and smiling once again. "No need to thank me, Maddie. Happy belated."

"You're not going to let that nickname go, are you?"

"Nope."

"Okay, enough of this," I shouted over their maddening small talk. "We have to leave in an hour. Let's do my hair and go. Hurry up!" Matilda rushed to me, and I relaxed into the seat, running my hands through my hair. "Please put on gloves. You know how I feel about you people touching me with your dirty hands."

"Xyla!" Queen barked. "Cut it out." Excuse me? I turned to her, shocked by the way she chose to speak to me of all people and I scoffed. Who the hell did she think she was?

"How are you going to be rude to people all morning and then go to church?"

At the mention of church, I quenched my anger, my body vibrating with rage as I sent Matilda a strained smile. "My apologies."

꧁꧂

I grabbed my Bible and purse from my dresser and held them against me as I turned to my sister. "Ready to go? Everyone is downstairs."

Queen nodded, standing up and adjusting the dress. My eyes caught onto the flow of the dress on her body and I frowned. It looked a lot worse when she was sitting, but as I took notice, it didn't look that bad. The cross-sectioned neckline exposed her chest more than I thought and the dress clung onto her body like a second skin, twisting my stomach into knots.

She styled her hair into a ponytail, her unruly curls looking messy to me only minutes ago beginning to flatter her features. "Umm...Queen do you want to change? It looks really bad now that I look at it."

"We don't have time." She sighed, crossing her arms. "I'll just have to deal with it." The dress ended a bit above her knees and I cursed myself, regretting not choosing the ankle-level tunic I was going to give her.

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind waiting."

"It's fine. Let's go."

I gritted my teeth, firmly staying in my spot as she walked out of the door and I rubbed my temples. I was careful not to mess up my makeup in my little pity party and glanced at myself once more in the mirror. "I look better," I whispered. Feeling satisfied with my compliment, I took a deep breath and strode out of the room behind my sister.

We walked quietly down the hallway towards the stairs and I looked at her. "Do you have a bible?"

"Do I need one?"

"Duh. We're going to a church, Queen."

"Don't they have them there?" She asked.

"Sure, but everyone touches those." Her shoulders rose and dropped in a shrug and I shook my head. How I managed to have someone so disgusting and unhygienic in my family was astounding.

We walked down the steps together, and I smiled as I saw everyone in the foyer waiting for us. My eye drifted to Mia who was shaking her head in my direction and I sighed, looking away from her.

"Are we ready?" Julius asked.

"We're waiting for Genesis," Xavier replied. Of course. The woman couldn't be on time if all the angels in Heaven were to secretly push back time an entire hour. I didn't know if it was because she thought she was worth waiting for or if she truly needed all that time to get herself presentable.

Seeing as we'd probably have a long time to wait, I told Queen I'd be right back, and made my way over to an angry Mia. "Hey."

"What do you want?"

"Don't be mad, Mia," I said lowly.

"You know that I wanted to be the one to go with Syn," she hissed. "Why would you choose her?"

"You know I'd never do anything to jeopardize that for you. Choosing Queen was the necessary choice. Since when do I make decisions for no reason?"

"What was the reason?"

"I'll explain later," I said with a mischievous smile. "But do you truly think that Heaven will have any respect for my sister when they find out she's gone to Hell?" I looked around, making sure no one could hear us.

Mia smiled, but it quickly dropped into a frown. "But how does that help me?"

"It helps me stay happy," I said. "And in turn, you'll be happier as well." She sucked her teeth, looking away from me. "Come on. What are you worried about? Queen doesn't like him and Syn hardly looks at anyone twice."

"Oh, really?" Mia questioned. "Then what's that?" She titled her chin across the room to where Syn and Xavier were standing, and I glanced at them in confusion.

"What?"

"Look harder, Xyla." I looked again and noticed that Xavier was rambling while Syn leaned against the wall, his eyes focusing on something else. I followed his line of vision to my sister who was by the stairwell, too focused on her phone to notice anything.

"I wouldn't worry about that," I responded.

"Why?"

"My sister is engaged to be married."

"What?!"

"Mhmm. Some deal my parents made with a guy in Heaven," I said. "She knows how important it is and she's not the type to go against my father. So don't worry."

She nodded, finally giving in and smiling at me. "Okay, I trust you," she said.

"Good."

"I'm here, I'm here," Genesis said, rushing down the steps and fixing her earrings. "Syn, you have the address. Create a portal; I'm sure we're already late."

Syn leaning off the wall, walking towards an empty wall in the room and I watched curiously as he traced his fingers along the walls, starting from the floor. He made a tall rectangle, as he whispered words I couldn't make out, and I furrowed my brows. He better not be doing anything satanic.

He stood up straight, hitting the middle of the shape created, and took a step away, shoving his hands into his pockets and turning to us. Behind him, a black liquid began spilling out of the lines he traced, a dark cloud of smoke making a sizzling noise as it emerged from it.

I looked at the floor where the dark goo should've been spilling, yet found nothing. Like it was somehow disappearing into the floor. The liquid spread across the canvas he created until it filled the rectangle, similar to the one he came through when he arrived at the palace.

"Let's go," he muttered, taking a few steps towards it and disappearing from our vision. Xavier followed behind him along with everyone else and I glanced at Queen who was preparing to go next.

"You trust that?"

"Ehh, everyone goes in...I go in." She waved her hand in dismissal and walked towards it, her hips swaying as she stepped into the dark pit.

"Have you ever been in one of those?" I asked Mia, who hadn't left my side.

"No, I hear portals are an underworld thing," she said. "But we don't have a choice unless you'd like to drive there."

"It'd take us days." I frowned.

"It's safe," a voice said from behind me. I turned to see Felix walking towards us, Bible in hand and I smiled at him. "I've been in a couple. The only thing that it will do to you is give you a slight headache if you're sensitive."

"Oh, okay." I nodded.

"Shall we?" He tilted his head towards it.

I nodded, feeling comforted by the assurance from a person I trusted, and walked towards it, closing my eyes as I stepped into the void.