“Turn around. Come this way, Abbadorn. You are almost there. Come to me.” Abbadorn continued to walk to the right of where he had first made contact with the barrier. Someone was watching him, waiting for him, calling to him, and he was desperate to find him. The barrier ended, the light faded, and Abbadorn didn’t know which way to go. “Come and follow me, and I will give life.” The voice was so close, so near. Abbadorn reached out with his arms stretched as far as he could make them go; he reached with the very end of his fingers until he touched the hem of a garment. Leaning forward, he pulled closer and grabbed a fistful. Lightning cracked the area, and standing in a white-hot flash of bolted energy with his back pressed against the barrier, was Lucifer, King of the Underworld, ruler of all demons, the father of all lies, The Angel of Light.
“Behold me, Abbadorn. I am Lucifer, the Bright and Morning Star, Firstborn of all Creation.” Lucifer stood majestically dressed in priestly garments with an orbed, glowing necklace and a rope of pure gold around his waist. He was very tall with piercing black eyes, and his full head of hair was textbook, not one strand out of place. He was built like a Roman god, chiseled to perfection.
Abbadorn was delighted by what he saw. It reminded him of the times he would stand in the Lord’s presence, radiated by his brilliance and glory. Lucifer opened his arms wide, and Abbadorn moved in closer to be embraced. Lucifer began to restore him, and his wounds healed rapidly. His skin returned to a healthy, normal color. Abbadorn filled with power and started to glow just as Lucifer glowed. He felt a certain strength that he had never known before. He closed his eyes and smiled broadly.
Lucifer whispered into his ear, “I have you now. I won’t let you fall. You are safe. Take my hand, brother, and let me show you this world as it really is.”
Abbadorn took a step back and considered not going for a brief moment, but he dismissed that thought. He took Lucifer’s hand, the gale-force wind blew again and they both vanished in a black, swirly mist.
chAPTER forty-three
It took a couple hours to set up and move Dester and Rosezella from the palace back into Abraham’s Bosom. The logistics of moving two patients on life support through the lava slide was daunting, to say the least, more like nearly impossible, but the teams put great effort into the endeavor and were rewarded with the success of a flawless medical transfer. A team of doctors and nurses set up directly outside the back door of Teddy’s home; it had become a tent city. There were so many more black ops troops than one could ever imagine. There was a tangible tension in the air for everyone except Jasper. Jasper was not in a bad mood; he was flat-out angry.
Shortly before they departed the palace someone new arrived, Four-Star NATO Army General B. L. Biers; the American government insisted upon his oversight from the control room, not trusting the field promotion given to Commander Mop. The Americans argued that he would not be able to keep an objective point of view in the wake of his brother’s death. They even asked for his dismissal from the mission, but the British government would not allow such overreach from the arrogant Americans. So they settled for a middleman, someone from NATO.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a group of member countries bound together for military protection, giving them strength in numbers. An attack on one member country was deemed an attack on all member countries, and thus a peace by force of numbers had been held over Europe since the end of World War II. Commander Mop had just advised the group that despite the information Jayla gave them, the government’s orders were unchanged; destroy those ships. Dester and Rosezella were declared dead long ago, and now they would become collateral damage. The government’s position in this case had a Spock-like logic, “The needs of the many, ‘humanity,’ outweigh the needs of the few, ‘Dester and Rosezella,’ or the one, ‘Jasper.’ This isn’t fair…who said it had to be me to sacrifice my parents twice for the sake of humanity. NO! We can have it both ways; why can’t the government see that? I need to get Abbadorn to pilot my parents to Iconium. But how to get to Abbadorn is the question…Jasper stayed lost in thought until the teams were moving out. Teddy and Stacy had wandered over to him, and Teddy presented Jasper with a sash that he had made by hand. He attached the Trumpet of Gabriel to it and placed it over Jasper’s shoulders. He even went so far as to tell him it looked good on him. Teddy was willing to attempt anything in order to bring some level of comfort and relief to his great grandson. As the troops departed, Jayla came to speak to Jasper.
“Honestly, Jasper…are you going to stand idly by as they destroy the only vehicles that can deliver your parents to the healing they require?” Jayla looked puzzled. “Jasper, I insist you take action.”
“What can I do?”
“Funny you should ask that. I have a plan to bring Abbadorn back to us, and once he returns he will put a stop to the poor strategies your governments are now following. This is his domain, the highest posting of all gate duties, his assignment; he was promoted to this position because of the importance of not only watching and guarding Hell’s gates but also protecting those ships. He is heaven’s very best guard. Yes, I will agree there is a lot to sort out here, but Abbadorn can force them to listen.”
“Fine then…when do we leave?”
“Jasper, this is a one-horse show. Well, your horse and you, that is.”
“You are not going without me!” Stacy said in a nearly demanding tone.
Jayla spoke directly to Stacy. “There is no time for drama, princess. Jasper and Thunder have to go it alone because there is a very good chance this is going to be a one-way mission…it is very dangerous where he needs to go, and you will be nothing more than a distraction when he is going to need all his energy to focus on the task at hand, getting Abbadorn and coming back alive.”
“Stacy, this can’t be open for negotiation. I won’t lose you and my parents.” He took Stacy’s hands and pulled her in close. She didn’t fight him, but she wanted to. “Okay…Jayla, give me some details. What is the plan?”
“Take the lava slide to away point 13. Once there, you will be far beneath the country of China. There is a vast ruby tunnel there, and you will need to go through it. It will seem like you are going down a long slope, but do not let this concern you. It will not be dark; the tunnel is lit by thousands of neon crystals pulsating with earth energies. There will be some minor shoots at various placements throughout the tunnel; stay out of them or you’re dead. You will follow this tunnel until the end, and it will come out at the edge of a vast underground wilderness filled with wonders no human has seen before. Cross the plains, and when you come to the only river, jump in. Let the current take you to the wall of the bottomless pit. The wall is also made of crystal, growing and moving, made of silver hematite. There is a crack big enough for you to get through, but you must move quickly because as you touch the surface of the crystal, it will begin to hum and change shape. It will move, and you want it behind you when it does. You will not be able to exit the way you came in. On the other side of the wall where the current seems to disappear is the Throne Room of the king of their realm; do not let Lucifer see you. Go through this room and turn right directly outside. Follow the path to the holding cells. Abbadorn will be in one of them. Free him and ride up to the front gates of Hell. Abbadorn will do the rest.”
“Piece of cake, or clear as mud, whatever, I'll get 'er done,” Jasper said with as flippant a response as he could muster.
“Are you kidding me? This is a suicide mission!” Stacy pushed away from Jasper. “You can’t go. This plan goes well beyond stupid. I can’t believe you’re okay with this. You can’t go!”
“I will go, and I must.”
Jayla took a step next to Jasper, placing her hand on his shoulder. “Getting out will not be an issue as long as Abbadorn lives, and frankly, every second we waste here debating the merits of my plan takes seconds off his proverbial lifespan. The life expectancy of an angel in the court of Lucifer is measured by hours, not days. You need to hurry, Jasper. Say
your goodbyes to Stacy and go before anyone else has a chance to stop you.” Jayla noticed Aunt Debbie-Lynne had suddenly taken an interest in the conversation the four of them were having, which was enhanced by Stacy’s emotional outburst, and she was headed toward them. Jayla took Teddy by the arm and went to greet her, giving Jasper the time he needed to say goodbye and leave with Thunder in secret.
“Do you trust Jayla? Jasper, what is your intuition telling you?”
Jasper removed his cell phone from his pocket and handed it to Stacy, “To give you my phone because I’m going to get wet.” He threw her a sassy smile. “I know in my gut that I need Abbadorn, and he needs me. I have to go; however, I think the old saying applies: if you lie down with dogs, you’re gonna get fleas. No, I don’t trust her.”
“Well, you have the advantage of knowing she is not yet aware of your ‘MALOOF’ or trumpet weapon; so if she is sending you into a trap, won’t she be surprised when you return with Abbadorn…” Stacy stepped in closer in order to whisper. “You think she is less than reformed…still in league somehow with Gezon or maybe even out on her own. She is infested with fleas, all right... I’ll get Tate to help me keep an eye on her. Oh, and for the record, I prefer the idiom, ‘A leopard doesn’t change its spots.’”
Jasper whispered back in her ear, “Purple flamingos fly at midnight.”
“Creepy cow, go home,” replied Stacy with a frown across her face.
Jasper reached up and took hold of Stacy below her arms. He spun her around in the air and landed her back to the ground with her back facing the house. He pulled her in and kissed her. He held the kiss for the longest time, trying to burn into his memory the touch, the heat, the very taste of her lips. He needed it to last; it was one of his favorite happy places. “I love you, Stacy Applekart. Don’t wait up for me.” Jasper bounded atop Thunder and was over the hill in seconds, gone again. He didn’t look back over his shoulder this time; he could not bear to see the worry in her face again.
“Come back for me, Jasper,” Stacy whispered as she wiped away a single tear that rushed down her glowing red cheeks.
Jasper and Thunder exited the lava slide at away point 13. In the process of levitation to the ground, a couple of strange birds buzzed by them in a twitterpated rush. The birds looked like glass figurines on display at the Hallmark store. It was warm, and a light breeze seemed to persist from what Jasper imagined was the south. The trees were shaped like the palms in Florida but made from greenish crystal. Jasper was truly amazed. Thunder was only interested in the soft purple grass. Jasper decided to push into the breeze. He had a hunch that it might be funneling up from the ruby tunnel.
“Thunder, of all the things I have learned this week, I think I finally see and understand time as adults do; time is so very exhausting. Where does all the time go? Becoming a grown-up is going to really suck because there never seems to be enough time. I don’t want to ‘Adult-up’. They say not to blink because you could miss it, but just when you slow down long enough to smell the roses, you reach for a paper clip out of the desk tray in English class only to find that someone had found enough time to connect them all together in a chain. Who does that? Woo, that makes me so mad. Then, after you get over being angry…you ask yourself, ‘Why don’t I have the time to hook paper clips together?’ Are you with me on this, Thunder? Hello, Thunder, I’m talking to you…” Jasper was overly tired. His rambling on wasn’t something that was new. He did it all the time on the farm in Allegan. Thunder just ignored him. He was content to continue at his slow pace of eating and walking into the wind. Jasper was used to it. In fact, without missing a beat, Jasper took a long breath and carried on. “A once-fictional but famous captain of the starship Enterprise once said, ‘Time is a companion that you take along the way,’ I’m not sure if I believe that, but then who has the right to argue with Captain Jean-Luc Picard?”
Never in Jasper’s imagination could he have ever dreamed up what he was now seeing: a spiraling red ruby as large and wide as a house. There was a white shimmer covering parts of the ruby. Jasper positioned Thunder to come right up beside the ruby so he could touch the surface with his hand. He swiped it with his left index finger and brought it to his nose. “No smell. I wonder what it tastes like.” Jasper put his finger in his mouth at the same time Thunder decided to take a lick. “Thunder, it’s salt.” Jasper looked down at Thunder, who was now sending off waves of joy that brought a deep smile to Jasper’s face. “Okay, I see you have figured that out. Pace yourself…” Thunder attempted to bite off a piece of ruby. It made a loud scraping noise like nails on a chalkboard. “Enough already, stop, stop, stop…come on, let’s get going. Looks like my hunch paid off. This is the start of the ruby tunnel. We need to go around the bend, and besides, if you chip your tooth there is no vet anywhere close to put you back together. I’m no dentist, either. I could never be a dentist...but only because I could never say ‘oral hygiene’ with a straight face. Oh, and then there is Stacy’s aunt who, every time she gets nervous in public, picks her nose. It really is the funniest thing ever…she picks her nose, and as soon as she does her upper dentures, her false teeth, plunge right out of her mouth.” Jasper was laughing. “Most of the time she catches them in her hand, but every once in a while those little buggers get away.”
They entered the ruby tunnel and went downhill for about two miles. It was a solid floor-to-ceiling ruby tunnel with the gems growing out of the side of the walls, and each one had a glow. Proceeding with caution seemed to be the safest bet. Finally they emerged on the other side to a vast, hilly wilderness. The sky was shades of pink, and the grass was still purple.
“Okay, boy, now all we have to do is cross over this land and jump into a river. This part should be easy enough.”
Suddenly Thunder lifted his tail and pooped. It was a smelly, steamy ordeal, and Jasper smacked Thunder’s hindquarters. “Better out than in.”
Thunder continued eating and slowly moved across the plains. “What do you call that maneuver, Thunder? The chow and plow, or better yet, the munch and dump. More idioms…” Jasper bent over at the waist and buried his head in Thunder’s mane for a second and screamed. He had suddenly remembered his comments during the idiom conversation. He straightened back up and took a deep breath. “How embarrassing…I can’t believe I had the perfect idiom of ‘tie the knot’ and instead I used ‘why pay for the cow when the milk is free.’ I don’t even like cows. I should have said ‘hot to trot’ or at the very worst, ‘wine and dine.’ All I could come up with was cow. Stacy is all I can think about when I’m near her…well, and sex, but sex with Stacy. It’s probably a good thing she isn’t here. I never would have seen that big red ruby.”
The ground shook as a rolling noise approached from their right. Jasper and Thunder, both momentarily alarmed, stopped in their tracks. A mere moment later they could see what was causing the disturbance; it was a herd of orange-and black-colored deer, and each one was the size of a moose. “Who would have ever thought there could be animal or even plant life below the surface of the earth? Come on, Thunder, let’s move out of their way.” They trotted quickly up a hill to their right and climbed up a little island of sorts to safely watch the deer race by around them. “I will name them fire deer.” The deer were both wondrous and majestic with tails black like smoke and striking dark red eyes that blended nicely to their orange coat of fur. Each had a clear quartz crystal chest revealing their beating heart.
“Thunder, I think we should change directions. We should go in the direction they came from. I bet they were drinking water and somehow we spooked them.” After the herd passed, they jumped off the island and crossed over to another hilly area and trotted down the other side. It was about another mile or so when they came to the riverbank. The shoreline was ridged. The river was moving in a very lazy fashion. It went between monstrous stone walls that went up and clear out of sight.
“The other side of this wall must be the bottom of the pit,” Jasper surmised aloud. The da
rk yellow waters of the river were populated with a few green, glowing fish. It was too dark to see just how far it went down. Without knowing how long they would need to tread water, Jasper decided on a better form for Thunder. He moved Thunder right up to the very edge. “Time to jump in, Thunder, let’s go…”
It was a leap downward toward the water, and when the first portion of Thunder’s leg touched the water, Jasper shouted, “Maloof!” Thunder was a giant sea turtle, and Jasper was riding on his back.
Thunder began to sip the water as he swam. Slowly he began to glow like the fish. “Thunder…perhaps you should stop drinking unless you are intending to go for the whole night-light look.”
Finally they came upon the crack in the crystal wall. The water flowed right through it, and so did Jasper and Thunder. When they were about twenty feet in, Jasper could see only as far as Thunder’s glow, which was about a seven-foot radius around him. He could tell that the water was getting very shallow and that they needed to get out fast. He could hear humming, just as Jayla had said he would be able to, but that also meant the walls would start to move and change shape. The passageway was already narrowing in a hurry.
“Maloof!” Jasper called out, and Thunder was once again in his dog form. They ran up the ever-shrinking riverbank. Jasper noticed the glow from Thunder’s body began to fade the very instant they left the water. He didn’t know how much longer it would last, but he did know they needed to move and not stay in one place. They had to make it out past this wall before they found themselves trapped inside.
Jasper: Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight (Jasper - Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight Book 1) Page 23