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TODAY WAS ONE OF THOSE RARE days where my brothers and I didn’t have anything to do, so today was also one of those rare days where I was able to do whatever I wanted without worrying about being back home at any specific time.
Usually, on days like this, I spent my days in the few forests that Hell had (not too much unlike the Middleworld forests, just much less flammable and not nearly as pretty) or on the surface where I roamed around Las Vegas all day, but I decided I wasn’t going to do any of that today.
Instead, I went by the Palace of Sins where I sat with Eddie in the room that the princes had given her, trying to give her a little bit of company for a few hours. I knew that she wanted to go to see King Victor today, but he was apparently busy (though I wasn’t sure what exactly he could have been busy with other than maybe the war, but that was essentially the only reason that Casimir existed for, so he should’ve had it all handled), so I knew she was also probably beginning to get a little bit homesick.
I never understood the “homesick” feeling.
I found that I never really longed to be “home” in the minion village more than I simply longed to be by my brothers’ sides. Even then, though, I was rarely away from Cal, Zavian, or Dante long enough for me to long for them. Part of me wondered if I was just incapable of feeling homesick and part of me wished I could. Then, I would be able to know what Eddie was feeling as I sat next to her on the bed, waiting for her to start a conversation with me.
“Something’s wrong,” Eddie said softly, “I don’t know what, but I know it’s something and I have a feeling that - for whatever reason - the boys are trying to keep it hidden from me.”
I looked over at her, “Why do you say that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? They’ve been avoiding me all day and now Roscoe’s avoiding me, too. Either they’re not telling me something or now they hate me for some reason.”
I quickly put my arm around her and shook my head.
“They don’t hate you,” I insisted, “I’m sure the princes are just busy and Roscoe’s probably just trying to give you space. You know he does that sometimes.”
“Yeah, but I still feel like something is going horribly wrong,” Eddie lamented, “Or at least, something is about to go horribly wrong.”
I thought for a moment, not responding to Eddie right away because I wasn’t sure how to respond. I’d noticed that something felt off, too, but something always felt off to me. I was never quite able to figure out why that was. I almost resolved to go and ask Lucifer about it later on, but I knew he would never talk to me about it.
“I’m sure it’s going to be fine,” I replied, “Like I said, Lucifer’s probably busy and the others are probably just worried about Griffin and Lucifer. That wouldn’t be too off-trend for them.”
I started to change the subject when I heard something in the distance. From the way that Eddie was looking at me, she didn’t hear anything, but I didn’t expect her to. I looked back at Eddie as I stood up.
“Stay here,” I told her, “I promise I’ll be back in a second.”
Eddie started to protest, but I didn’t stay to listen to her. I walked out of the room, closing the door behind me to see Roscoe walking up the stairs. He looked worried, but that was the least of my problems.
“Miss Phoenix-” Roscoe began.
I shook my head, “Sorry, Roscoe, no time to talk,” I interrupted as I hurried down the hall and down the stairs.
I walked to the living room, figuring that that was where I heard the commotion coming from to see all eight of the princes there (Griffin was apparently home now, though I didn’t think I was aware of him coming home).
Lucifer was kneeling by the coffee table, studying something as horror marred his expression. The other seven Palmers were standing around him. They all looked like they were either about to start crying or start spewing expletives at everyone and everything - I couldn’t decide which one for most of them... except for maybe Wyatt.
“What happened?” I asked them.
It took a long time for any of them to look my way, let alone answer me. It was Elton that spoke, looking at me with wide, desperate eyes.
“The Angel Hunters - something happened. We can’t figure out where they are and no one can reach them any other way.”