This vision faded with a blur and a new one erupted into Jasper's theater of the mind. Jasper looked upon the timeless expanse of interstellar space before him. He recognized the rings of Saturn and saw a glorious angel standing firm with her sword pointed in the direction of the demon in front of her. “It's Bell,” Jasper said to himself.
Her breathing was labored and her voice wavered, yet in her eyes remained the determination to stand. “You will not find the key, Gezon!” she said with a panic in her voice to her approaching foe. “I will never let you possess the ship!”
Calmly the foe replied, “I only want the throne.” Gezon was seething with cold self-possession and a thinly-buried level of fury. “Bell, the ship is the only way to get there. I will give the key back when I am finished, I promise. It is not too late to join us, Bell. The second rebellion is quietly underway. We will not make the same mistake Lucifer once did. Understand this: Lucifer’s angelic rebellion would have had a much different outcome had he known of the existence of the Trinity Throne. I need that key to power the ship to Iconium and retrieve that throne.” Gezon changed the tone of his voice; Jasper likened it to that of soft, melted wax. “The key, Bell, where is it? I must free them.”
“Your ambitions will lead to your undoing, Gezon. You have broken our truce, and I will stand in your way until I cannot stand.” Bell threw a desperate glance over her shoulder to see if help was coming. “Your friends will be frozen for a long time to come. There will be no one to drive the ship, no army to storm planet Iconium and steal the throne…leave now! Give up this quest before I have no choice but to destroy you.”
Gezon moved within striking distance and drew his sword over his head. “No, Bell, you are no match for me and I will strike you down. Last chance, I will not ask again. Tell me what I need to know. Where is the key?”
Bell braced for impact. “You twisted monster, NEVER!”
Their swords collided. An eruption of lightning sparked from the blades as blow after blow was leveled and met again, and again.
The vision changed. Jasper saw himself riding on Thunder through the morning fog and texting on his cell phone to Gena. Then he saw swords colliding, the earth, clouds, a bright sparkle of light, more clouds, then something...perhaps a falling star, headed toward the earth. Falling and changing directions over the United States of America...the State of Michigan, crashing into the countryside of the little town of Allegan.
Jasper shouted out, "You're the spears of light I found at the river’s edge.” The blue beam of light retracted quickly back into Bell as did her outstretched hands. Jasper fell to his feet with a loud thud.
Bell, exhausted, leaned back against the wall to keep herself from falling over. “I knew your parents Dester and Rosezella.”
“What did you say?” Jasper drilled Bell with a cold stare. The statement caught Jasper off guard.
“Do not be afraid of me…I knew if I came here I would be safe.” Bell tilted her head up toward the far wall of the stall. “I can hear Gabriel's song...It has been playing from this spot from the day you arrived.” She slid down the wall and landed, sitting with her legs straight out in front of her. Her glow gone, she reached out with her hand to Jasper. “I cannot remain in this form much longer; take my hand.”
“Stay away from us! There is no song playing in this stall, and I don't believe in angels. God!!! God is just some spoiled rotten brat melting us ants in the sun with his magnifying glass for the fun of it. He let my house burn down, killing my parents, never sending rain to put out that fire. GOD! I don't care to believe in him.” Jasper's disdain dripped off of every spoken word. “What was that crap you just put in my head?”
Bell, out of breath, spoke with a soft voice. “Okay, Jasper, you are angry. I get that. It is your right to be. A few hours are what you will need to process and understand what I have shown you, but I will not be here to answer your questions. I cannot remain. You do not need to believe in the creator, but he believes in you. A wise man named Aristotle once said that a friend is a single soul dwelling in two bodies…this is what you and Thunder need to become now.” Bell's arm dropped to her side. Her human figure began to blur. Desperately she said with all her remaining strength, “I am about to fade back into the life-force energy of creation that I was made from, but I will not return to source energy, for my mission is incomplete. Jasper, I wish to give you and Thunder the last of my angelic powers. This will enable you to shape-shift at the unlimited speed of your imagination. You can do this, you play pretend all the time…your trigger word will be MALOOF! You are correct, the three spheres of light you found at the river were me in my most basic of source energy forms. They represent The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, the creators of the universe. I will not be absorbed back into creation's power…I intend to send myself into you…and Thunder. One sphere for Thunder and two for you, Jasper…I am your guardian, Jasper; I have watched over you your whole life. I am your friend. I have to help you. I am sorry it has to be this way, but I can no longer protect you by any other means...hold still, Jasper, this will not hurt too much...” Bell's body collapsed and began to compress back into the glowing, yellowish-green spheres Jasper found at the river.
“No! You can't do this…” Jasper wanted to run but didn’t know where to run to. “I don't want your kind of help!” Jasper shouted down at Bell. But she was gone; all that remained were floating, connected spheres. They rose in the air to chest level, six feet in front of Jasper. Glowing brighter by the second, they turned white-hot then sizzling blue. One separated from the other two. Jasper could hear them humming with power. Thunder gave a nervous snort and reared up on his hind legs. The spheres shot across the stall like missiles. Jasper was hit square in his chest and blown off his feet into the air and out the stall door. Thunder was struck in his head and bolted over Jasper's body, running out of the barn and into the open field. For the third time in one day, Jasper lay unconscious like a possum playing dead.
CHAPTER TWO
Jasper heard a voice. He opened his eyes. Night had come and the moon was overhead. The cool spring air chilled him. Straw was stuck to his face. He pushed himself, sluggishly, up onto his elbows. How long have I been out this time? Jasper heard the voice again and recognized it as Stacy's.
“Creepy cow, go home,” Stacy said as she pointed her flashlight into the barn door.
“Purple flamingos fly at midnight.” Jasper moaned out the expected code word response, a passcode only known to him and Stacy. To this day they still held onto those early childhood games of role-playing detectives, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. “Stacy, I'm here.” Jasper stood up and brushed all the straw off from his sweatpants. He untied his hoodie from his waist and slipped it back on over his head.
Stacy entered with Thunder stepping in behind her. She shined her flashlight all over Jasper like a doctor examining a patient.
“Cool it with the light, it hurts my eyes.” Jasper raised his hands to block his eyes; they sparkled momentarily with a yellowish-green tint but quickly faded away.
“Jasper, what is going on? Are you okay? You never sent me a text. What happened this time? I've been calling and calling, you never came back to the school and why are all the lights off? Why is Thunder outside? Where is Aunt Debbie-Lynne? Ah, and just look at you...Jasper, you’re bleeding from the lip.” Stacy grabbed a tissue out of her pocket and dabbed at his lip. “Put some pressure on that; it will stop soon. This wasn't Lester and Ned again, was it?”
“Stacy, you said all the lights were off, and you have been calling and calling. Did you go up to the house first?”
“No, I came straight here when I saw Thunder in my headlights. I parked my car and called out your name. You didn't answer, so I went over to Thunder and pulled him over to the barn. My first thought was to get him into his stall. Jasper, what is really going on here...what are you not telling me?”
Jasper walked over to the barn light and threw the switch. It was dead, no power. “I'm not s
ure what is going on at the moment but we will have a lot to talk about later. Right now let's go around to the back of the house and switch on the main power breaker. Then we’d better check the house for Aunt Debbie-Lynne.”
“Thunder...come here; get in your stall where it is safe.” Stacy shined some light on Thunder and then back into the stall as Jasper led Thunder directly over the spot where the two of them had last seen the angel named Bell. “Jasper, what are you looking for?”
How can I explain this in a way that won't freak her out? After all, she's the churchgoer. Shouldn't she have gotten the visit from the angel? Bell said she was safe in this stall, why? Jeepers creepers, what is going on? “Nothing, Stacy, I'm just wondering if it would be better if you gave me the flashlight and waited here with Thunder until I get the lights on. I wouldn't want you to trip and ruin the dancing portion of our upcoming prom night.” Jasper gave a shy little grin.
“Nice try there, macho man, but I'm going with you, and I'm holding the flashlight.” Stacy walked out of the barn with Jasper running up to her side.
“All right, let's just be cautious. I'm not sure we’re one hundred percent safe at the moment.” Jasper and Stacy were slow-footed as they moved in the dark around to the back of the house. They stopped at every unusual sound. She said she knew my parents. How is that even possible? Jasper's mind was racing, but he needed to maintain control of his emotions. Stacy couldn't be allowed to know he was scared. He needed her to know that he was capable of keeping her safe. So bravery was the mask he chose to wear in this moment. To think, this morning I was worried over the trifles of the prom ritual. Now my lip is bleeding and darn it I'm still in my sweatpants.
Arriving at the breaker box, Jasper first noticed the hatch to the basement was thrown up and left open. “Whoever did this must have turned the power off then entered the house through the basement…look here, the phone line has been cut.” Jasper pushed the main circuit lever up to the “on” position and the power came on. “Stacy, you’d better call 9-1-1.” Jasper bounded down the cellar stairs into the dark finished basement. There were many small rooms in this basement. He grasped and pulled down on the light fixture rope, and instantly the room was washed in a glow of soft white light, chasing away all the shadows. He looked around, but no one was there. He moved on to the next room turning on every light switch he passed.
“Jasper, wait for me!” Stacy cried out. She followed him into the house.
Screaming out, Jasper raced up the basement stairs, nearly knocking the basement door from its hinges, and pounced into the hallway connecting the kitchen to the dining room. “Aunt Debbie-Lynne, Aunt Debbie-Lynne, where are you?”
Stacy reached the hallway and dialed 9-1-1. The operator came on, saying, “9-1-1 do you have an emergency?”
Stacy responded to the emergency dispatcher, “Yes, I want to report a break-in at my boyfriend's home.”
“What is your first and last name, dear, and are you currently in the home where the break-in occurred?”
Stacy continued her conversation as Jasper flew down the staircase from the second floor. The house had been ransacked. Everything had been smashed and broken open. Jasper stood in the living room in disbelief. Who did this? They couldn't have done a better job had they set off a bomb. Aunt Debbie-Lynne, where are you…oh no…The elephant collection was destroyed. Now I'm really mad. Someone is going to pay for that. Aunt Debbie-Lynne's precious collection of antique gray elephants-all of them in displays with their trunks lifted high in the air, as it was Aunt Debbie-Lynne's belief that anything less was an unhappy elephant. Some of her collection was store-bought, but most of it was special handcrafted works of art of 100 or more years old. She even had a few Civil War era pieces, and her most prominent elephant had come from ancient Greece. The period date was known only to her.
Jasper saw only one elephant that remained completely intact. He bent over and scooped it off the floor. He put it ever so carefully into his hoodie pocket as if it were made of glass. It was special, a stuffed animal elephant she gave him to hold onto when he stayed overnight in the hospital after surgery from breaking his arm. Jasper was riding his scooter down a steep hill at breakneck speed to rescue Kevin Hoffman who had just wiped out at the bottom, but upon arriving at the same spot, Jasper also wiped out on the loose gravel in the road and took a flying leap over the top of his scooter. Jasper thought he could rocket down the hill and save the day, but the results were the same; only Jasper had broken his arm and needed immediate surgery to reset the bones. Aunt Debbie-Lynne gave him that elephant so that he wouldn't be afraid. It was more than a stuffed animal. It was an infused object that symbolized the love they had for each other as family.
Stacy ended her phone call. “The Allegan County sheriff is on his way. The dispatcher said he was a few minutes out. Did you find her?”
Jasper crossed over the living room into the dining room where Stacy was now standing. “I've checked every room. She's not here.” Jasper let out a big sigh as he put his hands to his hips.
Stacy suddenly turned on her heels; she spoke with fear suffocating each word. “Jasper...you ran up into the house from the basement…you never checked the kitchen...”
Bubbles of sweat crossed Jasper’s forehead. Mindless and numb, Jasper stepped over from the dining room into the hallway. He reached the basement staircase and closed the door. He stood facing an unblocked view of the kitchen.
“No!” Jasper shouted in an urgent plea. “No! Aunt Debbie-Lynne, no!” Jasper ran to the fallen and motionless form of Aunt Debbie-Lynne on the floor of the kitchen. She lay face down in a small pool of her own blood. “Stacy, 9-1-1, call them back, send an ambulance...she is still breathing, she is bleeding from her head. I need a cloth...throw me that dish towel.”
Stacy rushed to grab the towel off the sink rack. She hurled it to Jasper, and at the same time she spotted the flashing lights of two sheriffs’ cruisers pulling up the drive. Relief crossed over her. The cavalry had arrived. She hurried outside to guide them into the house.
A short time later the Allegan County emergency responders stabilized Aunt Debbie-Lynne for transport to the hospital. Flashing red and blue lights bathed the house in a strange silence. The sheriff assigned a few men to dust for prints at the entry point of the intruders. Jasper watched as Stacy completed her statement to the authorities. Another person in uniform arrived on scene and began putting up that famous yellow crime scene police tape over the doorway.
Stacy walked over to the ambulance just as they were lifting the wheeled gurney into the back. Jasper jumped inside. “I'll follow you to the emergency room in my car,” she said in her most tender of voices. “I've called my parents; they're going to meet us there.” Stacy reached to hug Jasper, and he met her halfway. “It's going to be okay, boy. She is going to be okay. We will all be okay.” She gave him a quick kiss and patted him on the back.
The doors to the ambulance closed, and the driver pulled slowly down the driveway to the road. Stacy climbed into her car and followed.
If you only knew what I have yet to tell you, Stacy. Jasper leaned over his aunt. Who would do this to you? Whoever did this didn't know that you are the light in my world when it grows dark. You are the only family I've ever known. Don't leave me. A tear formed in the corner of Jasper's eye and rolled down his cheek. Jasper reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out the stuffed elephant. He placed it in her hand and held his down upon hers.
The emergency medical technician riding in the back with Jasper looked up and said, “She has a bad head injury but I think she'll be okay kid. Just look at as if she is playing a game of possum.” Jasper shook his head and smiled. Possum!
CHAPTER THREE
“Gena, can you meet me at Jasper's house?” Stacy was standing just outside the emergency room entrance. Her skittish energy caused her to run her fingers through her hair over and over again. “Jasper just received word from the sheriff that they are finished at his home, and he is free to retu
rn. I need your help cleaning the house, especially removing the blood off the kitchen floor; I don't think that it would be healthy for Jasper's state of mind to see that again.”
Jasper: Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight (Jasper - Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight Book 1) Page 3