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resounded through the room as the angels outside tried to beat down the door. Karthis examined a store of golden keys hanging on the near wall. “Do you know the fastest way to Earth?”
    “I’m not going to Earth.”
    “What?”
    “I’ve found proof that God wants to forgive demonkind. If I can take the evidence to a Judge, I can undermine His control over me. Over all of us. I can show everyone how He wants us to think we’re evil just so we’ll return to His service. But the evidence I need is in a Sanctuary.”
    Karthis shook his head. “Have it your way.”
    Recalling the coordinates he’d seen on God’s great Sanctuary wall, Thorn searched for the appropriate key. Having already found his, Karthis set to work opening one of the doors.
    Another thump . This time a bitter crack accompanied it. The entrance door would not last much longer.
    Thorn snatched his key from the wall, then moved to the door opposite Karthis. Without setting Amy down, he inserted the key, turned it in the keyhole, and felt the satisfying click of the lock. He flung the door open to reveal a dark hallway lined with dozens of other transit doors.
    The Corridors.
    They would lead him to the Sanctuary. Thorn breathed a sigh of relief and stepped through the door… but was stopped short. He tried again, with the same result. He could not get through. Is some invisible barrier blocking my entry? When he stepped forward, it felt like the door was still closed, but Thorn could see clearly through to the other side.
    “You didn’t think you could take her with you, did you?”
    Thorn turned to find Karthis standing before his own open doorway, black and white Corridors of his own choosing stretching off beyond it. “What do you mean?”
    “Humans can’t leave Heaven,” Karthis said. “At least not through a door. It’s against the rules. I was wondering why you brought her along.”
    No. We’re so close.
    “The door won’t let her through,” Karthis continued. “But she’ll be fine here. It’s Heaven. God actually likes humans.”
    “She’s not from Heaven. God stole her from Earth to use as leverage over me. Come on. There must be a way to bring her through.”
    Karthis just stared helplessly.
    Thump. A small golden chunk of the entrance door fractured, fell, then clinked against the floor.
    Thorn couldn’t help but feel that God was watching him smugly from up in His House. Thorn would have to choose between saving Amy and freeing himself after all.
    Karthis turned to leave, then hesitated, an arm on each side of the doorframe. Amy grew heavy in Thorn’s arms.
    Thump. Clink.
    Karthis sighed, then turned and approached Thorn. He slid his arms beneath Amy.
    “What are you doing?” Thorn asked.
    “Maybe I can fly past them when they break through the door. Get her somewhere safe.”
    “They could kill you. They could kill both of you.”
    “Thorn, if you have the evidence you say you have, your cause is more important than any of our lives. God thinks anyone who stands against Him is a selfish, purposeless brute, so let me take this stand. Let me prove Him wrong. You have more important things to worry about than me or this girl.” Thorn was too stunned to resist when the angel took Amy from him. “Just remember that we’re here. We’re incarcerated, but there are hundreds of thousands of us, and we’ll support any rebellion against God.”
    Karthis kept talking, but Thorn heard none of it. He was entranced by the commotion at the door, by the blood on Amy’s shirt, by the fading light in her eyes. He knew he couldn’t abandon her. Never in a thousand years would he abandon her.
    But he felt his feet carry him backward through the door, into the Corridors.
    “Go! Run!”
    He was faintly aware of Karthis shouting at him. Then he heard a deep ripping sound as the golden entrance gate shattered and its shards clanked against the walls. From the Corridors, Thorn looked back through the transit doorway and saw Karthis