“A surprise inspection? What do you mean?” Luke trembled a little.

“I mean exactly what I said.” Beel looked slightly annoyed; he was usually pretty plainly spoken, so being questioned on something that simple irritated him. But Melody understood that it wasn’t his words that were being questioned, and she gave each of them a sympathetic look, though she didn’t interrupt. “Lucifer shows up unannounced, and goes around checking each room to see if anyone is out past curfew.”

“Oh. In that case, all I have to do is hide, right? Maybe under the bed, or behind the curtains—”

“Oh no. You’ll have to do WAY better than that.” Beel was frowning, showing how serious the matter was. “Lucifer does more than check to see if everyone’s in their rooms. He also searches the inside of the room itself.” Beel sighed. “Asmodeus had a witch that he’d brought back home one night in his room. She transformed into a spider and hid, but Lucifer still found her.”

“Wha… ?! Why does he have to go to such lengths? We didn’t have anything like that at Purgatory Hall!”

“That’s because you don’t have Lucifer living with you at Purgatory Hall,” said Beel, as if evoking Lucifer’s name was an explanation in and of itself. “He originally started doing it because Mammon kept sneaking out after curfew and coming home late. And he’d hide stacks of unpaid bills in his room so no one could find them.”

“Ugh… Mammon, that IDIOT!” exclaimed Luke in frustration. Melody just shook her head; it sounded like Asmo contributed to the issue as well, yet only Mammon got insulted for it. It seemed pretty typical around here, but it surprised her that Luke fell into the same pattern.

“There will be time to blame Mammon later. Right now you need to hide. Get inside the closet.”

“What’s the point of me hiding in the closet?! I mean, you said he even found a witch that had transformed herself into a spider, right?!”

“Well, if you keep standing there doing nothing, he’ll find you for sure. I’ll think up some excuse to keep him from looking in there. Now hurry!” Without spending any more time arguing, Beel opened the closet and pushed Luke in, not exactly gently, but definitely not with full force. Luke made a disgruntled sound and the door closed.

“Step out into the hall, Beel; I think I can buy a little more time…” Melody said. She was trembling as she spoke, and she was hoping her idea didn’t backfire. Used to following instructions, both in sports and in war, Beel nodded and slipped outside the room. Melody, not yet in her pajamas, started to get into them, not worried about the angel in the closet, but hoping that Lucifer at least gave her time to finish getting changed.

“Move away from the door, Beel.” Lucifer’s voice could be heard from the other side.

“I’m changing right now; that’s why he’s out there,” called back Melody, her shirt half off, her heart beating fast. Demons must have some concept of modesty, since they weren’t all running around naked, but she didn’t know if modesty would trump the inspection.

“Very well. You have five minutes Melody. I’m timing you.” Lucifer’s voice from outside was crisp, calm, and completely firm.

“I’m sorry; I’m just not comfortable with him in here while I’m changing, otherwise I wouldn’t ask him to leave his own room,” Melody said from her side of the door, scrambling to get into her pjs before Lucifer walked in. She was sure she would die on the spot if he entered the room before she was done.

Exactly five minutes after he spoke, Lucifer walked in, Beel close behind. Melody had, fortunately, just managed to get into her night wear, but her heart was still going crazy. Fortunately, it wasn’t out of place for her to be flustered. Even if Luke hadn’t been there at all, the fear of having someone walk in while she was changing was enough to set her trembling.

“Beel, Melody. I see you’re both here,” said Lucifer, smirking slightly at Melody’s state. Then he frowned. “I’m going to have a look through your room to be certain everything’s in order here. But before I do, is there anything you’d like to tell me?”

“N-no, Lucifer sir,” Melody mumbled. “Just that I’m glad I didn’t run out of time…” Which was entirely true.

“I see.” Lucifer folded his arms across his chest. “Beel, open up the closet.” The fact that Lucifer was drawn to the closet first of all the places made Melody’s heart drop down to her stomach, but she made herself stay put.

“There’s nothing in there but Belphie’s clothes—” protested Beel. Lucifer was not impressed with this one bit.

“Didn’t you hear me? Open it.” It was the voice of authority, and Melody trembled under the weight of it. Apparently Beel felt it to, for he walked over and opened the closet. As he said, there was little in there besides a bunch of clothes. No sign of Luke could be seen at all. Had Melody bought him enough time to hide? Was this some kind of crazy angel magic?

“Well, it seems you really aren’t hiding a puppy in here. I guess it was only a rumor then. All right, that wraps up my inspection. Both of you make sure to go to bed early.” With that, Lucifer left the room, leaving Melody and Beel alone. Melody almost collapsed from relief.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Luke disappeared. Weird… I know I pushed him into the closet a minute ago. What’s going on?” A fuller investigation into the closet yielded no results. But they didn’t dare leave their room that night to look for him. Melody struggled to sleep that night, and even Beel didn’t fall asleep as fast as usual. He ended up working out more than usual, just to exhaust himself enough to pass out. Fortunately, his even breathing helped Melody fall asleep sometime after.

The next morning was a quiet one, and Beel and Melody slunk off to school as soon as they were finished breakfast, both hoping that no harm came to Luke while they were gone. Melody could barely concentrate on her classes or her tasks. It felt like rubbing salt in the wound when Simeon approached her and Beel during one of the breaks, telling them to keep looking after Luke and hoping he wasn’t any trouble.

“Luke can be a real handful. He’s still young and immature as angels go, and he knows little of the world. So he tends to judge everything in life from the perspective of someone in the Celestial Realm, using its logic. Though that’s also one of the positive things about Luke. He’s honest, genuine, and he adheres to a strict set of values that he doesn’t break.” Simeon kept talking, but Melody spaced out a bit, falling into her own thoughts. The way Simeon spoke about Luke made her wonder about the older angel. Did that mean he did not share the tendency to judge things by Celestial Realm logic? If so, what logic did he use? By the time she tuned back into what the angel was saying, Simeon was telling them good bye. Melody could only nod her head and wave.

“…We’d better track down Luke, ASAP,” Beelzebub said once Simeon was gone. Together they went back to the House of Lamentation, looking around for Luke. But he was simply nowhere to be found. They didn’t dare call out to him. While they were quietly discussing their plans for continuing the search, Satan came down the hall.

“So, you’re looking for something, are you? What are you two whispering about?” Satan didn’t seem suspicious or jealous, just curious. And perhaps a wee bit smug, though Melody wasn’t sure on that one.

“I don’t know what you mean. We’re not whispering.” Beel’s denial wasn’t helpful, but Melody couldn’t blame him; there wasn’t much else they could say.

“Oh yes you are. And you’d better give me the truth, or I might have to go tell Lucifer about this.” Satan was definitely looking smug now; there was no two ways about it. He seemed absolutely delighted in stumbling across something that appeared clandestine. Melody, however, couldn’t think of a good response, and shot Beel a look of panic. She hadn’t dealt much with Satan personally so far, and she couldn’t read his motivations. At least Beel would be familiar with his own brother… or whatever Satan was. Melody recalled that Luke had mentioned Satan was never an angel.

“We’re looking for a dog named Luke.” Beel’s response was almost so close to the truth it hurt. Melody nodded her head in agreement. Satan didn’t drop the smile on his face.

“So, you really are hiding a dog in your room then… I did think it was awfully strange that you didn’t finish your breakfast. I won’t say anything to Lucifer about this, but after you’ve had your fun with this dog of yours, you need to get rid of it.” With that advice, or warning, Satan walked off. Beel relaxed only a tiny bit.

“Looks like we managed to worm our way out of that somehow, huh… We’d better find Luke fast.” The two of them searched the downstairs again, double and triple checking some areas. By the time they ended up in the foyer again, they were at a loss.

“If we assume he left the House of Lamentation, then did he go back to Purgatory Hall, or could he have gone somewhere else? Still, we definitely hid him in the closet. I know we did. So even if he did go somewhere else, it’s weird that he disappeared while inside the closet. Could Luke actually be somewhere inside the House of Lamentation?” Then something caught Beel’s eye, and he gestured towards it. “Wait a second. Look at the dollhouse here.”

Melody looked at it. First was the shock that there was a dollhouse in a mansion with seven demons living in it. That seemed really house of place. But taking a closer look, she realized it was an exact replica of the mansion itself. Was it a model then, and not just a dollhouse? If so, why was it here, since someone who came to visit could see the real thing?

“…That’s strange. There’s an extra room here, one that doesn’t exist,” Beel pointed out. Melody peered at it. She was sure that Beel, after all this time, would know his own home, so she took his word for it. Still, it seemed he might be on to something, and when all reasonable possibilities had been exhausted, the two were desperate. So, they climbed back up the stairs together. Unfortunately, it appeared to be a false lead.

“…There’s nothing here. It’s just a wall. But the dollhouse… it definitely showed a small room here. But there’s no door. And if I remember correctly, the only thing that should be on the other side of this wall is Lucifer’s room. Could the dollhouse model be wrong…?” Beel seemed really disappointed that his idea hadn’t panned out. Melody tried to think of something she could say to comfort him. Things hadn’t been easy on Beel since the custard incident, something she still felt bad about.

“Well, in some movies and games, old houses like this have secret rooms. Usually there’s a hidden lever or loose panel,” Melody pointed out. She didn’t know how likely it was, but maybe by searching for it they’d find some kind of hint as to what happened to Luke. Beel proved to have very good eyes, because he found something before Melody did.

“…Take a look at this, Melody. Look at this spot on the wall. It looks like a decorative pattern, but I can make out words written there.” Melody peered closer, and while she could make out what looked like lettering, it wasn’t in a script she recognized. Still, there was a prickling along her spine as she stared at it. “It’s a message written in the language of angels. This is what it says: ‘When the morning star dwelt in the heavens, its light shone down upon this one, sparkling brilliantly, the eighth of the eight.’ It’s a riddle. And more importantly, I know the answer to it.”

Melody smiled. Beel looked pleased at knowing the answer to the riddle. Honestly, she was a bit surprised, and her surprise made her feel guilty. The Avatar of Gluttony hadn’t struck her as the kind of person to enjoy or guess riddles. Still, she listened with full attention as Beel explained the pretty sounding riddle to her.

“’The morning star’ is another name for Lucifer. So ‘when the morning star dwelt in the heavens’ means ‘when Lucifer was an angel.” So far so good; it made sense. “’Its light shone down upon this one, sparkling brilliantly, the eighth of eight.’ That part refers to someone Lucifer loved deeply: the eighth child of eight, our sister.” Although Beel had been sad talking about Lilith before, he was smiling now. Perhaps because the poem spoke so warmly of his sister. “Her name was Lilith.”