Chapter 7 Allies

He nodded slowly toward her, blame rising like bile. “You let this happen,” he rasped, voice thick with emotion, eyes locking on hers—cold, accusing. “Let him in. Let him take everything. Watched me break for years and did nothing.”

She shook her head frantically, bound hands reaching out. “Thaddy, please—I didn’t know he’d—” Her face crumpled, tears streaming, body shaking.

“Blame yourself,” he spat, standing unsteadily, his legs like jelly. But then his eyes found Lily—untied now, rushing to him with a small, desperate cry, her arms wrapping around his waist. Innocent. Pure. He knelt, pulling her close, feeling her tiny heartbeat against his chest. He’d taken a corrupt life to save hers. Pride flickered through the guilt, warm and defiant. He’d done right.

He turned back to Mara, strength hardening in his gaze. “You don’t deserve to be a mother. You’re free now. Go.”

She reached for him again, face desperate, voice pleading. “Wait, Thaddy, we can fix this, please!”

He yanked Lily away gently, his hand lingering on her shoulder, a silent promise. “No.”

Into the van. Mara’s cries faded as he drove off, raw, wrenching sobs echoing in the night. Lily sat silent in the passenger seat, clutching his arm, her small fingers tight with fear and confusion. Thaddeus glanced at her, throat tight, forcing a weak smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

He wished, in that quiet drive, that he could keep her. Raise her as his own, even if not by blood. A little family in hiding, her laughter filling the silence of his broken life. But he knew better. He couldn’t live with her like this, with the Ledger pulling strings, with Echo hunting. He should stay faraway.

That night, under cover of darkness, he registered Lily at a discreet orphanage, top-rated, anonymous donation ensuring her care. The administrator’s office was sterile, fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. Lily clung to his leg, face buried in his side, small body trembling. “Don’t go, Daddy,” she whispered, voice cracking, big eyes welling up.

Thaddeus knelt, hugging her tight, inhaling her shampoo scent one last time. His chest ached like it was cracking open. “You’ll be safe here, sweetheart. I promise. Daddy loves you, always.” Tears slipped down his cheeks as he pulled back, her little hands grabbing his shirt. He pried them gently, heart shattering with each finger released. “Be strong, okay?”

She nodded, lower lip quivering, silent tears streaming.

He walked out, legs heavy, glancing back once at her small figure in the doorway, waving weakly. The door closed with a soft click, and he crumpled against the van, sobs wracking his body in the empty parking lot.

“Two billion in trust,” he muttered to himself, wiping his face roughly. “You’ll never want for anything.” But the words felt hollow.

Thaddeus drove west in silence, the highway empty under a bruised sky. The orphanage faded in the rearview mirror, but Lily’s small wave stayed burned behind his eyes. 

“I have to keep going,” he said to himself. “There will be more like Lily, and there will be more like Greg…”

Then the sky tore open in a downpour. 

A column of black smoke erupted on the road ahead, thick and coiling, shaped like a man in a hooded cloak. 

Echo.

Echo stood there, sword in hand, taller than before, body swollen with stolen voices. Behind him, ghosts drifted in a silent line—Evelyn’s throat gaping, the three angels’ wings broken, Delores’s chest a red ruin, Gregory’s face purpled and slack. Their mouths moved without sound, mouths open in endless accusation.

Thaddeus slammed the brakes. The van skidded, tires howling. He stared, heart hammering so hard it hurt. “Fuck!”

Echo grew bigger with every heartbeat, feeding on the chorus, on every death Thaddeus had allowed or caused. The ghosts multiplied—faint new faces joining the line, eyes fixed on him.

He knew why.

The voice of vengeance had made Echo stronger.

“You let me die. I'm coming for you!” They all chorused at once. As though it was all that Echo needed, he stepped forward, sword in his hand. 

“Oh my God!” Thaddeus’s foot hovered over the accelerator. One final ride. Crush him if it would work. End it here.

He closed his eyes. “Here I come, finally.”

Then a golden fire fell.

A blazing streak slammed into the asphalt on his right—rock shattered, heat washing over the van. Thaddeus flinched, terror rooting him in place. Another streak hit to his left—more stone exploding, more fire. He opened his eyes, riveted, every muscle locked.

Two figures knelt in the craters. They were naked, golden-skinned, wings half-furled. One radiated steady light, the other flickered with restless shadow. They looked up at the same moment.

“My lord,” the brighter one said, voice calm and deep.

“My lord,” the darker one echoed, rougher, almost grudging.

Thaddeus stared, breath shallow. Fear still gripped him, but something else stirred—recognition. Seraphiel’s words from the warehouse flashed back: Every save binds a fallen to you. An army of the disgraced.

He remembered.

“I am Malachi. Bound by your mercy to the boy on the scooter.”

“Uriel Vex. Dragged here because you can’t stop playing the hero, my lord.”

Thaddeus’s voice cracked. “You’re… here because of me?”

Malachi nodded. “Every innocent you pull from death adds one more to your side. We are sworn, whether we wish it or not.”

Uriel snorted. “Speak for yourself. I was enjoying exile.”

Thaddeus lifted his head.

Echo stopped yards away. The ghosts behind him stopped too. Their eyes locked on Thaddeus—accusing, hungry. 

Thaddeus’s hand tightened on the wheel. Fear still burned in his chest, but it was dissolving, replaced by something colder. Steadier.

He wasn’t alone anymore.

Echo stopped. Golden eyes met golden eyes across the road.

The stare-down held silent, electric, endless.

The ghosts waited.

The fallen waited.

Thaddeus waited.

“So, Echo, what's up?” Thaddeus said with a smirk.