His face takes on a distant quality.
“What? What is it?” I say, leaning in.
“I didn’t make the leap back in time, but Braham did,” he says.
Braham quirks an eyebrow. “I’m not following you.”
Gabe takes a deep breath and lets out a long exhalation. “We both veil-walked, but I could only make it back to the lab in linear time. You, on the other hand, obviously went back in time.”
“Oh,” he says, crumpling his forehead. “I suppose that makes a certain amount of sense, considering I couldn’t find you—only past you.”
“Yeah, I was wondering what he was on about. I kept trying to tell him you were standing in front of him. My brain wasn’t quite up to speed, obviously,” Mike says.
“All right, so now that we’re all up to speed, how about we get this damn machine working? We’re already cutting things awfully close, and I’m not sure this old heart can take much more suspense,” Bea says, her eyes twinkling, “Nice to have you back though, Michael.”
“Thanks, Bea,” he says, grinning broadly. “Good to be back, I suppose.”
Scooting out of the chair, I point to my vacated seat. “I believe this spot belongs to you.”
Gabe turns to Braham. “While Mike’s working on the device, I think you should practice time-walking more—just in case.”
“Do you think that’s wise? I mean, we don’t know how this works. What if I exert myself too much? Or go back too far and can’t make it back?” Braham says, panic seeping into his tone.
“I have every faith in you,” Gabe says, his face softening.
“Same,” Morgan says.
“That makes three of us.”
Both Mike and Bea bob their heads up and down.
“You got this,” Mike says, giving him a thumbs up. “You got the two of us here in one piece.”
Braham puffs up his chest.
“I hope you’re all right, because I gotta say, it’s a bit unnerving,” he says.
“Practice will help make it easier. If nothing else, your energy is likely to be the engine we need to make Mike’s machine go. We’re going to need you primed, so to speak,” Gabe says.
“All right, I suppose,” Braham says.
“Besides, we’ll need to be prepared for the immaculate conception,” Gabe says. “Perhaps try going back a couple of weeks and getting hold of one of your samples?”
“Ugh,” Braham groans. “I’m still not so sure about—”
“Do you think there’s any other way?” I say, making a face. “I mean, if you wanna go pump that guy Joseph for…uh, you know… then mix it with Mary’s… You see where I’m heading here? It’s all kinda awkward.”
“True, but this isn’t any less awkward. I mean, if I impregnate her with our fertilized egg, there’s a good chance he’s going to be blond and blue-eyed. He’ll stand out in the Middle East,” Braham says.
“As he should,” Morgan says.
“Ugh,” he repeats. “This sucks.”
“Do you have a better option? Especially with the time constraints?” Gabe asks.
“Not overly. I don’t know what kind of equipment I’d be able to fashion back then.”
“Braham, suck it up, buttercup. You’re put between a rock and a hard place. We get it. But you wouldn’t be here if you couldn’t handle it,” Bea says. “Now, adjust your big boy pants and get a move on.”
Braham’s eyes widen, and he sucks in a quick breath.
“Yeah, all right,” he mutters.
“Remember, if you manipulate too much, you could risk altering things. So try to keep to yourself and your mission with this jump. While we might be outside of time, we’re still subject to it. If you do anything too drastic, it will trickle into everything else. Who knows how it will affect your ability to make it back,” Gabe says, an air of severity in his tone.
“Yeah, okay. This whole time travel stuff kinda boggles my mind a bit. I’ll just pop in and out as quickly as possible,” he says. “I know where I need to go.”
“And keep your senses tuned into the demons. If you sense that cold again, leave immediately,” Gabe says.
“Cold?” I say, flitting my eyes from Gabe to Braham.
“Yeah, I got really cold before the demons attacked; it was weird,” Braham says.
“Geez, this guy gets all the important gifts. What’s the deal?” I sputter, trying not to let jealousy get the better of me.
It’s ridiculous in a way. It’s not like I want to be the one risking my life and limb, but knowing if a demon is about to attack would be a damn handy skill, if you ask me.
“You have yours, too, my dear,” Bea says, smiling. “Just you wait and see.”
I raise a slow eyebrow and shrug.
Maybe I do. But I’ll be damned if I know what it is.
“All right. I guess I’ll be right back,” Braham says.
“Good luck, Braham. Make sure you’re able to transport the egg into a climate that will be warm. Grab whatever tools you think you might need,” Morgan says, seriousness seeping out of every cell in her body.
Braham’s chin tips downward. “Got it.”
Taking a deep breath, he closes his eyes.
I hold my breath, waiting to see if he’s going to make a move or simply blink out of existence.
After a moment, he opens one eye.
Crossing my arms, I can’t help but laugh. “Didn’t work, eh?”
“No. What in the Hades?” he mutters.
“Well, think. What was different this time?” I ask.
“I have no idea. I pictured the location, followed the same instinct to go, but didn’t,” he says, shrugging.
“Yeah, but there’s also a big difference with this time too,” I say, trying not to sound like I’m calling them all dense.
But they all blink back at me with blank stares.
Okay, so they’re all dense.
Unable to help myself, I roll my eyes and say, “You weren’t trying to head out with another angel.”
Braham’s forehead creases and after a moment, he says, “She’s right.”
I nod, smiling sweetly, the way I’ve seen Bea do from time to time. “I know I am.”
“But they’ve never made the leap with me,” Braham counters.
“Doesn’t matter.” Mike shrugs, barely looking up from tinkering with his machine. “Maybe they’re just your booster. Like, our contact flares you up, then your innate instinct does the rest.”
Braham takes another deep breath. “Okay, so which one of you wants to be my battery this time? Thea?” He sweeps his hand out toward me. “You haven’t had the chance to veil-walk yet—this is sorta the same.”
I raise my hands, shaking them in the air in front of me. “Oh, no. Since I haven’t done this yet, I don’t wanna get trapped somewhere in space and time without knowing how to get back.” I jab my pointer finger at Gabe. “Stick with what’s tried and true.”
Gabe shrugs. “She has a point.”
“I’ve had a lot of those lately,” I snicker. “Besides, Gabe knows how to find his way home.”
“Come on gentlemen. Time to put up or shut up. Tick-tock, remember?” Bea says, tapping at her wrist.
I stifle a laugh. I hope when I’m as old as Bea, I’m as ridiculously blunt.
Then again, I’m kinda there anyway.
Gabe walks over to Braham, and they interlock at the forearms. I guess it’s the masculine way of holding hands.
Neither of them says anything aloud, but Gabe tips his chin and they vanish.
“How long do you think it will take this time?” Morgan asks, flitting her eyes around the room.
Almost as if a strange deja vu has come over me, the light gets brighter and my stomach gets queazy.
“My guess is not long?” I say, grabbing hold of my stomach.
“Are you okay?” Morgan begins, walking over to me.
As she reaches my side, Gabe reappears. A few seconds later, Braham does as well, w
ith a small container in his hand that looks akin to a thermos.
“That was nice and quick,” Bea says, smiling with approval.
“Yeah, I think I’m getting the hang of it,” Braham says, tipping his chin toward Gabe. “Good to see you made it back, too.”
Gabe smiles. “There’s definitely a certain point where my powers kick me out of whatever trajectory you’re on. It’s strange, but certainly tells me where my limitations are. I suppose we each have our specialties.”
“Indeed,” Bea says.
I turn to her and raise a slow eyebrow. “Met many of us over the years?”
Bea slow-blinks in my direction. “More than I can count, Anthea.”
“Really?” I say, surprised.
“Of course. When you’re in a nursing home, it’s hard not to notice them all. Guardians and harbingers are up to their eyeballs in work,” she says.
“Harbingers?” I say, biting my lip.
“Yes, dear. They’re Death’s angels—they signal the end for a soul. But oddly enough, you don’t see those as often. They like to slip in when no one is looking.”
“Wow,” I mutter. “This whole world of angels is a bigger deal than I realized, which is strange considering what we’re doing. But how did we all go through life so oblivious?”
Bea shrugs. “Not all angels are called right away, as we well know. But some get their calling right away, I’d imagine. Especially the ones without corporeal form.”
“Now I know I’m diving off the deep end. All of this is a bit much to process for me,” I say, trying to take what she says with as much openness as possible.
“From what I can tell, every angel has a unique gift. Not only does it make each one special, but it keeps each from getting too powerful. There’s an order to things,” she says.
“Certain amount of sense there,” Mike says, looking up from his machine and grinning.
Bea winks back at Mike.
“Anyway,” I say, placing my hands on the table and peering at the time machine. “How’s this whole thing going? Are you making more sense of it than I was?”
“Well, it helps I know how it works, but it’s not as clear-cut as I was hoping it would be. Would you do me a favor, Thea?” he asks, grabbing hold of my left hand.
“Uh, sure?”
“Place your hand here. I want to see if maybe it needs a different energy transfer than my own,” he says, gently setting my hand over a component that looks like a modified solar panel.
He holds his breath and his eyes wander the length of the machine.
“Dammit,” he mutters. “Nothing from you, either. I’m sorry, everyone, but it’s not looking good for the machine. Braham, we might have to seriously consider you as a plan B. If I can’t get this thing working, I just don’t see how the rest of us can follow. At least, if Gabe’s any indication. The energy output isn’t there,” Mike says, frowning.
“I can't be the only one to go back,” Braham says. “We’re a team, remember? Besides, I have a wife. I have a baby on the way. Do you know how long Cassidy and I were trying start a family? No. We need to do this as a group or not at all.”
“Your family is exactly why you should be bucking up and gearing up to do this. You’re the only one of us who has shown potential with time-walking, and you have the most to lose”—I glance down at the dusty floor—“and the most to look forward to.”
“That's a stupid way of looking at it,” he growls. “For all you know, you could have the gift to time-walk too. You haven’t even tried. Or what about you, Bea?”
“Abraham, at the end of the day you're still an angel. Maybe you’re not fully awakened yet, but you've gotta know you’re not human, not fully. And you need to accept that fact. The life you have with Cassidy—it will all fall apart unless we do something. Unless you do something. You’re being called for a big mission. Your essence is here for the sole purpose of being called upon when needed, and here we are. So buck up,” Bea says. “It's time to stand up for something.”
“But if I do this, how do I know everything will work out? How do I know if I change things there’ll be something to come back to?” he asks, his eyes pleading with her.
Bea doesn’t even blink. “You don’t.”
“I guess that's a risk we all have to take,” I begin.
“Easy for you to say; you're not the one having to do it,” Braham fires back. “You’re in the middle of a time bubble, or whatever the Hades Morgan called it. But me—my life is out there.”
Braham’s arm jabs toward the sanctuary’s door.
“True, but for whatever reason we're here alongside of you. We’re trying to support this big, grandiose plan by doing whatever it takes. This is where it’s led us. If you fail, we all fail. Remember? Your wife and son included,” I say. “If it all goes dark, that’s curtain calls for them too.”
Braham lets out a deep sigh, taking a seat on a pew. He bends forward, placing his hands over the expanse of dark hair on the top of his head.
Morgan’s chest heaves with a heavy inhalation as she walks over to Braham.
“Braham, I need to show you something. I think it will be important to you,” she says. “May I?”
Braham shrugs, but looks up.
Grinning softly, Morgan pulls his hands into hers, then places her right palm alongside his temple. Braham’s eyes widen at first, until the center of his eyebrows upturn in confusion. Her head drops down slightly, and she closes her eyes.
Suddenly, Braham bolts upright, his eyes searching back and forth, as if seeing something only he can see.
When Morgan drops her hands, the aura around Braham pulsates with a bright, violet hue—expanding a good foot or two from his body. Blinking back my surprise, I rub at my eyes and look again. The purple is still there—but around the edges of his body is the most brilliant white I have ever seen. As Braham opens his eyes the purple hue resides in their centers like brilliant orbs. Then the color seeps in until they fade to his normal brown color.
Slumping down, Morgan shakes her head as if trying to loosen the final tendrils of a good sleep.
“Are you okay, Morgan?” Gabe says, rushing to her side.
“I—I think so,” she murmurs.
Braham stands up, his stature larger-than-life as he looks around the room with wide eyes.
“What about you, Braham? You okay?” I ask, tipping my chin in his direction.
Mike looks up from his machine, and his eyebrows fly into his hairline.
If it’s possible, Bea’s cheesy grin is bigger than normal.
“There he is,” she whispers.
As Braham stands up, he tips his head to me, but in the motion, purple and white tendrils burst from the center of his chest, directing their energy to each one of us in the room like a bolt of lightning arcing against the night sky.
My own personal veil lifts, and it's like the pretense of humanity is lifted and I can see and feel everything I was meant to do. Everything I was put on this earth to do—and I’m not the only one.
Recognition is etched across the features of everyone in the small sanctuary. But more than that, I feel and sense them as if they are all extensions of myself.
We’ve all been awakened.
18
Morgan
I knew it from the moment I closed my eyes and focused on the sensation of Braham’s hands in mine. Something more powerful than myself was moving me to do it. And I knew I had to answer the calling.
If nothing else, showing Braham the possible futures—the darkness that’s coming in direct opposition to the life he wants—I’d hoped it might snap him out of things.
Braham’s hands were warm and smooth, unlike the hands of a man who’s worked in labor or construction all his life. That was the last thought tumbling through my mind before the energy hit. The moment our skin touched, I got glimpses of Braham’s life—past, present, future—but everything was all muddled together in some strange stew of reality. Fragments of his life were
here in this time, while others are clearly tied to the past. And not just recent past—ancient past.
Exactly the ancient past we’re trying to reach.
In that moment, it became completely evident, at least to me, that this mission was always meant to be his and his alone. For whatever reason, the rest of us are simply here as his witnesses, his backup.
Instead of simply showing him what I wanted, the room bursts with an energy that shatters pretenses. Suddenly, everything becomes painfully clear.
Everyone in this room, myself included, has a critical part to play. But more than that, we have all been touched by God in one way or another.
“Wow. That was, well, illuminating,” Thea says, standing up.
“You can say that again,” Mike mutters, standing up.
His eyes are lit up with a golden energy, until it settles a bit and he blinks it away.
“Everyone feeling a bit more up to speed?” Bea asks, adjusting the strap on her bra.
One by one, each of us nods.
“Excellent. Then we’re right on track, I’d say,” she grins. “Time’s ticking down. We’ve got just under two hours to go. Michael, have you got that damn device working yet?”
Mike shakes his head. “Not yet, Bea. But by all accounts, it should be working. Even on a rudimentary level, like dialing in the date. I’m not sure what I’m missing.”
My eyes land on the device at the table and for the first time, I notice it has a bluish light surrounding it. Unable to help myself, I leave Braham’s side and make my way to the piece of machinery in Mike’s hands.
“May I?” I ask, pointing to it.
“Uh, by all means,” he says, stretching his arms out to give it to me.
As soon as I touch it, the entire screen lights up in an array of color that shoots out in both directions. Surprised, I look up at Mike and say, “Is that supposed to happen?”
His wide eyes blink back at me.
“Looks like we found the time machine’s battery,” Bea chuckles.
Pulling my hand back, I stare at the device, awestruck.
“You could say that again,” Mike mumbles. “I’ve been trying to get it to light up since I got back. I haven’t even come close to this. How did you know to do that?”
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