by Ayres, Jamie
When the bell rang a few hours later, I actually shouted, “Thank God!”
Earned me some quizzical stares, laughs, and a scolding look from my teacher, but I didn’t care. Never had a school day felt so long. The whole lunch experience from earlier in the day created a complete buzzkill between Conner and me on the drive to my house. Not that we ever had great chemistry, except we loved to hate each other. Add that to the fact neither one of us ate during lunch so we could fast, and you got two very grumpy teen boys trying to enter the spirit realm today. Not ideal conditions, which Conner seemed to realize as I pulled into my driveway.
“You gonna keep up the silent treatment all afternoon?”
I got out and slammed the door. “Please, you deserve way more than that. I’m letting you off easy in the interest of Olga.”
Conner shoved the hair out of his eyes as we stepped inside my house. “Guess I’m an idiot for complaining about you not talking to me, but I have this strange compulsion to explain myself to you. You realize Olga and I have loved each other since the first day of kindergarten, right? This isn’t really a new thing. You and her are the new thing.”
Now I slammed the door to my bedroom. “You’re really cracked if you think demon-possessed Olga picking you over me is how a good relationship works.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is now you know what it feels like being on the other side, and you’ve known Olga for less than a year. Imagine knowing her for practically your whole life, waking up from a coma finally ready to tell her you love her, only to lose her to the new kid in town because you’re being possessed by a demon and hurting her all the time. Hurt something fierce, man. So excuse me if I’m enjoying giving you a little taste of your own medicine.”
I pulled the string attached to the light/fan combo on my ceiling and plopped down on the carpet. “Whatever. I hope you realize I can take you with my eyes closed, and I will after this is all over.”
He waved his hand in front of his face as he sat across from me, like we’d said enough. “I just hope you can channel some of that cockiness today and be bold enough to get us into the spirit realm and demand an audience with a freakin’ angel.”
I gave him a little nod. “I can. But you’ll have to control your thoughts. If you listen only with your mind, then fear and disbelief will probably make their way into your subconscious. But if you listen with your feelings, then you can tap into your concern for Olga’s soul and soften the lines between the realms.”
He twisted the cap off a Mountain Dew he brought with him and took a swig. “Right. Exactly what I was thinking.”
Douche. “Let’s get this over with. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and just listen. Give full attention to your intentions with Olga, and don’t forget to pray this time like a good little boy.”
He smirked at my use of his joke, then closed his eyes, and I used the sudden quiet to forget about him and follow my own instructions. I listened to the sounds around me, to my slowing breaths, to my heartbeat, to the howl of the wind outside, to the cars going by on the nearby road, to the laughter of kids playing in the neighbor’s yard. I kept taking those long, slow breaths, just listening, as I focused on my intentions for Olga, to rescue her soul. I allowed the listening to expand beyond my mind, beyond my own breath, my intention. I focused intensely until I became oblivious to my physical surroundings, and then I muttered a prayer.
The moment I opened my eyes I felt it: a swirling air brushing my cheek. I stiffened. A coldness starting in my chest spread through my veins like a doctor injected it with a needle. As the feeling crystallized my insides, I swallowed my fear and reminded myself of positive thoughts. I will receive exactly what I need. Angels are nearby. I am safe here.
A feeling of vertigo washed over me as I hesitantly looked around. This meditative state wasn’t like the one Olga and I ventured into previous times, where we visited new places together. Instead, Conner and I stayed in my bedroom, except my room didn’t exist in the same manner in the spirit realm. Images were disproportionate, like reflections stretched in a carnival mirror. And rather than being lit by my lamp shining in the human plane, an omnipresent white glow illuminated the atmosphere, similar to the way beams of light streamed from a stadium in the distance.
Supernatural movement, a fleeting form I could see through, floated just outside my window. I squinted into the haze and made out a few dark shapes near the fish pond in my backyard, and I remembered in that moment I needed to pray. Across from me, Conner nodded, like he had the same exact thought.
By some divine intervention, I felt the words forming on my lips with no effort, despite my fear. A moment later, an angel popped in front of us. His arms and legs resembled polished gold, his face lightning. Radiating light bounced off his wings until he landed on the carpet, and the wings folded into themselves, the brightness disappearing with them so I could actually see his more human face. It took me a minute to realize the angel was actually Riel, and I almost had the inclination to throw myself at this feet, elated we were finally about to get some answers.
“Is this the right guy?” Conner whispered. “I was expecting to see a tiny cherub like we studied in art class.”
Riel narrowed his eyes at him. “Just for the record, I never really liked you.”
I sucked in a breath, pushing to my feet so I could speak with him, man to man, but he still towered over me. “So you do know us? Are you my… I mean… our… guardian angel?”
He squinted at me. “I’m much more powerful than your typical guardian. Usually, this sort of visit is out of my jurisdiction.”
“Right.” I raised my eyebrows. “Why did you come then?”
Riel smirked. “Olga may have slightly distracted me from my normal duties. It’s important for me to tell you how to get rid of that pesky little demon permanently.”
I nodded and shoved my hands in my jeans pockets, thinking of what to say next, but Conner beat me to the punch.
“So you know all about the three of us. Are you the one causing Nate’s mind reading, the visions, the memory flashbacks? Did you send those files they found in Sean’s cabin?”
Riel rubbed a hand over his face. “The bottom line is I’m bound by spiritual law, prohibiting me from giving many answers. Fabricated or not, you were never supposed to see those reports. I certainly didn’t send them.” Glancing at my alarm clock, he pursed his lips. “The thing you must understand is you’re living a life where past, present, and future are fused together in timeless unity. Nate hearing Olga’s thoughts is indeed a result of that fusion.”
I wanted to bang my head on the wall at his vague explanations. “Okay, so our visions feel more like memories because of this fusion then, from a time in the past we don’t remember?”
Riel took a deep breath. “It’s your consciousness and her consciousness coming together, recognizing your souls are linked together from a past experience. It’s like your human psyche is trying to work out the puzzle, piece by piece.”
I looked at him, trying to process his explanation. “So we’ll always have these visions? I’ll always be able to hear Olga’s thoughts?”
“No. The Man upstairs put an expiration date on your ability to read her thoughts. That little side effect will end a year from the day you met this past May, in this present time. As for the visions, I believe those will cease after the fusion of your past and present experiences are complete.”
The levelheaded side of me felt relieved. I knew Olga hated that I could read her mind, but I would miss her thoughts and our visions. “Great. So how many things did we do together?”
Looking me over, Riel laughed. “Well, she had a task of eighteen things, but you didn’t do all of them together.”
“And you said the Man upstairs gave me this ability? As in, God? Why?”
He crossed his huge biceps in front of his chest. “Even after all my years of working with our Creator, he is more of a mystery to me every single day. I do not
pretend to understand the mind of God, but I do know he always has your best interest at heart.”
Conner pushed to his feet. “How do I factor into all this?”
Riel narrowed his eyes at him. “You were out of my jurisdiction, so I wasn’t concerned about you. However, our girl Olga desperately wanted to find you in the Underworld and went on a rogue mission to find you at Juvie.”
Conner dropped his Mountain Dew in surprise, spilling the green pop all over my carpet. “So I was dead? We all were? But how? We don’t remember any of it. Our parents sure as hell don’t remember us dying.”
“Mr. Anderson, watch your language. And, please, stay seated.”
Riel pointed his finger at Conner, and he flew backward and landed on my futon. I did a double take when I noticed Riel now held the soda bottle in his hand, the wet mess on the carpet already gone.
I could tell Conner wanted to take a swing at Riel, but even he wasn’t dumb enough to get into a fist fight with an angel, so instead he asked another question. “How do you expect me to chill right now? You have answers. You can easily explain everything to us right here, right now, but instead you deny us the truth.”
Riel ran a hand through his surfer hair. “Wrong again. Not easy. Very complicated. Furthermore, I believe the pair of you summoned me here today for some help with a demon, not a round of twenty questions. Is the correct, Mr. Barca?”
“Huh?” Too overwhelmed to think, I’d completely forgotten my true purpose of entering the spirit realm. “I’m sorry. Yes, please tell us what we can do to help Olga.”
Riel threw the Mountain Dew back to Conner, then rubbed his hands together. “What Conner experienced with the possession, and what Olga now experiences, is also a result of the fusion binding you all together in this. The scum who sent those reports to the demon, Sam, was someone very upset about a… situation you three were involved in. Satan wanted revenge, and Sam has been an instrument of that retribution. Demons like Sam are tied to the spiritual realm, but they can break the barrier through possession. They usually don’t because they know they will be Judged the most severely when their time is up. But if they can possess the physical body for more than half a year, spiritual law dictates they can make the attachment permanent. There would be little hope of ever getting Conner back after that, which is why Olga invited Sam in. She had overheard a conversation between me and Dr. Judy a day earlier. Of course, we didn’t know she’d listened outside the door at the time.”
Tilting my head to the side, I decided the time for polite chitchat was over. “Why would God even allow demon possession to happen?”
“He allows it because man’s free will can invite evil in. He doesn’t like it, of course. Every person has a guardian angel to help prevent these things from happening, but sometimes they do.”
His lips parted, as if he wanted to say more but held back. Conner whipped his head between Riel and me. I trembled under the angel’s gaze until he finally spoke again. “You will need to get Olga to ask the demon to leave, and then you’ll need to give him a place to go.”
I rubbed my neck. “One, how do we do that? Two, where? I wouldn’t even offer up my worst enemy to be possessed by that thing.”
Riel laughed. “It wouldn’t exactly be angelic for me to suggest such an act, either. I meant you need to send him back to the Underworld. The angels will take him into custody from there. In order to do so, you’ll need to create an environment for Olga that will enable her to kick Sam out.” He nodded toward Conner. “You, whip out your phone and type up some notes for this. I don’t have time to be summoned twice.”
For once, Conner did as told.
“There’s a portal in every city leading to the Underworld. In Grand Haven, that portal is located in Duncan Woods.”
Every radar in my body went off. “The woods bordering Lake Forest Cemetery?” I had visited the graveyard a few times since moving here, imagining what my headstone would say if I would’ve died like I should’ve in my car accident.
Conner nodded. “Those are the ones. Nice little forest nestled right in the middle of our town. Olga and I used to go sledding there all the time when we were kids. Creepy as heck at night, though. One summer, Olga and I spent the whole day biking around town and somehow ended up in the woods at night. She swore up and down she saw some moving shadows near this big boulder about one hundred, maybe two hundred, yards from the border of the cemetery.”
“That would be the portal. The boulder marks it,” Riel explained. “In fact, if you touch it now, even in the dead of winter, the rock will feel hot.”
I dropped into my desk chair, hitting my scalp on the headrest. “Whoa. So how do we open the portal?”
Riel didn’t miss a beat. “Blood is the easiest way. I suggest you or Conner offering yourselves up as a sacrifice.”
“What?” I shrieked.
A quarter appeared in Riel’s hands. “We’ll solve this the old-fashioned way. Heads or tails?”
“Are you serious?” Conner asked, his voice breaking.
Riel laughed. “No, but you should’ve seen the look on your faces. Priceless.” He flicked the quarter in my direction, then launched right into a very complicated scenario. “Obviously, the boulder is too big for you to move. You’ll need to call on the angel Synoro, the gatekeeper, to open and close it for you.
“Go to the woods at midnight when there’s a full moon and make a square three feet by three feet, to symbolize the trinity. Pour olive oil along the perimeter of the square. Then set a blessed candle on each side of the square to represent the north, south, east, and west. Mix some sage, frankincense, and myrrh oils together and spray the air with it, the boulder, even yourselves. All of this will help protect you against evil spirits.”
My whole body stiffened as I listened to his instructions. “Where are we supposed to get all this stuff?”
Riel shrugged. “Any whole foods market will have the pure oils. Candles you can get anywhere. To bless them, just say a prayer over them. It’s two other items that might prove difficult to find.”
My nails bit into my hands, my fists clenched tight as I waited for him to continue.
“Both you and Conner will need to meditate and go to the spirit realms of the Underworld you were once a part of. That means Nate will be traveling to Spirit Guide Headquarters on the Limbo plane, and, Conner, you’ll visit Camp Fusion in Juvie, alone. The leaders there will only permit one of you to come and only for a few hours. Once there, you will have to follow your intuition to guide you to an item to bring back. Something that signifies your journey. I can’t tell you what that item is; only you will know when you find it. Once found, you’ll use it to mark your territory.”
I didn’t need the light that naturally radiated from Riel to see how confused Conner was, and for once, we were on the same page.
“Say what now?” he asked, halting the typing on his phone.
Riel turned toward Conner. “Here’s how it works: after you get everything and go to the spot in the woods, you find a way to draw Olga there. Rest assured Sam will see what you’re trying to do when she arrives. Evil spirits seldom give up without a fight. He will take action against the two of you, and he’ll call on other evil spirits to help him stop you. Ignore them. Only speak directly to Olga’s spirit. Talking to demons only gives them more power. Hopefully Olga will be strong enough to kick Sam out, but you can’t kill him, only make him go away. After she commands Sam to return to the Underworld, ask the angel to open the portal immediately and then to close it. If you don’t ask specifically for both, Synoro won’t do anything but stand there. Give me your phone.”
Conner shrugged and handed over his cell.
“I’m typing in the words you’ll need to say. They’re in Hebrew, so you’ll need to look up how to say them. I assume you two are familiar with Google?”
He stared us down, and at first I didn’t think he was serious. But I guess he wasn’t playing around because, after a minute, he handed the phone
back to Conner and continued.
“After Synoro closes the portal, blow out the candles and put them in a box, along with the items you found at Juvie and Limbo, and lock it. Dig a three foot hole where you set up the square and bury everything there. Make sure you spray the box with the sage, frankincense, and myrrh mixture. After you close the hole, pour more of the blessed olive oil on top of the soil. That’s how you mark your territory.”
I groaned. I was glad we didn’t have to urinate on the grass to mark our territory or anything, but this sounded like a lot of work for something I didn’t even begin to understand. “What does marking our territory do, though?”
Riel crossed his arms. “It’s a covenant with God. It will help keep the three of you safe from paranormal activity for the rest of your lives, unless someone removes the box. This is why you can’t tell another living soul about this. You can ask your friends to pray for you, and in fact, you should, because intercession is a very powerful thing. But nobody besides the pair of you is to know the specifics. Any questions?”
Conner and I looked at each other, then back to Riel. “But is three feet enough?” Conner asked, seeming to read my mind. “Seems easy enough for someone to discover the box at that depth.”
“I’ll come and put my own seal of protection over the spot after you finish. Unless someone knows about it who happens to become the demonic prince of Grand Haven, the box will be very difficult to discover.”
A chill rippled through my arms, raising goose bumps. “A demonic prince? What’s that?”