99 Crimes, Countless Blessings — and None of Them Were Mine Chapter 09
As the guards dragged Ruby away, Mom kept screaming her name.
Only after the court doors closed did Mom seem to remember I was there.
She stumbled around.
“Nora, save Ruby.”
I looked at her and suddenly smiled.
“The first time you ever begged me for anything, it was still for her.”
At five, I confessed for Ruby. At twelve, I gave up school. Later, I went to prison for Julian.
Even in the Underworld, Mom still hadn’t said a single word for me.
The color left her face.
The Judge did not look at her again.
He raised one hand and recalled the last of my stolen blessings.
Ninety-nine threads of golden light flew through the court and wrapped around my soul.
The cracks in my body began to close.
My left ear heard the movement of air. The old wounds on my palms vanished. The soul-binding
seal turned to ash.
For the first time, I felt light.
The Arbiter opened the Rebirth Ledger.
“Nora Sinclair performed ninety-nine acts of kindness and bore ninety-nine sins transferred onto
her soul.”
“Her name is cleared. Her blessings have been restored. She may enter the highest path of rebirth.”
Golden gates opened beyond the court.
Mom and Dad looked up at once, hope appearing in their eyes.
Dad hurried forward.
“Nora, you have so many blessings. Give some to the family.”
“If Sinclair Group collapses, what happens to tens of thousands of employees?”
Adrian pleaded through his chains.
“The company carries your family name. It’s part of where you came from.”
A familiar ache twisted through my stomach.
They could dress up any selfish desire as a duty and place it on my shoulders.
The Judge was about to speak when crying rose beneath the court.
The shattered black tablet released hundreds of damaged souls.
They had all once received help from the Sinclair Foundation, only to be trapped inside the memorial chapel after death.
Maya was among them.
She wore the same school uniform as the day she died. There was no blood on her forehead. Her
smile was quiet.
“Nora.”
The sound of my name sent heat burning behind my eyes.
I ran down the steps and reached for her.
This time, my arms did not pass through.
She fell into my embrace, her cold hands holding me back.
My entire body shook. Bloody tears soaked her shoulder.
“Maya, I’m sorry.”
“You died because you stood up for me.”
She gently shook her head.
“No.”
“I never regretted believing you. Not even at the end.”
The damaged souls had no complete records and no blessings of their own.
Unless someone restored the broken ties of cause and consequence in their lives, they would wander forever.
The Arbiter warned me, “Saving them will consume all ninety-nine blessings you just recovered.”
Mom and Dad shouted at the same time.
“No!”
Mom rushed toward me.
“You suffered your whole life to earn those!”
I looked at her and almost laughed.
When I was alive, they stole from me as though they were entitled to everything I had.
Now that I might use them for someone else, she finally understood they belonged to me.
I placed my hand on the Rebirth Ledger.
Ninety-nine strands of light scattered and entered the damaged souls.
The golden gates began to close.
Dad screamed, frantic.
“Are you insane?”
“Without those blessings, how will you ever be reborn into a good life?”
I held Maya’s hand.
“I never helped people to buy myself a better next life.”
“I knew what it was like to be left out in the cold. I couldn’t bear to leave anyone else there.”
The final thread of light left me, and my soul became transparent again.
But one by one, the damaged souls began to glow.
The Judge looked at me, his eyes red.
The Rebirth Ledger shook violently in the Arbiter’s hands.
The tally of good deeds that had vanished appeared again.
It was not ninety-nine.
It was immeasurable.
The golden gates that had almost closed burst wide open.
There was no road of rebirth beyond them.
Only a golden fate seal unlike anything the court had ever seen before.
My name was written across its face.
