by Teri Barnett
“I’m not here to take you away, Connor Jessup. It’s your choice whether you come with me or not.”
Connor eyed the woman. “It is?” He cleared his throat. “I mean, you are an angel, aren’t you? Didn’t you come to take me to Hell?”
Bethany considered him for a moment. “Where is this ‘Hell’ of which you speak? I’m not familiar with this place. Is it another of the planes of existence?”
“Planes of what?”
Jimmy stepped forward. “Let me talk,” he whispered to Connor. Turning to Bethany, he asked, “What is your mission, Spirit Woman?”
Bethany chuckled. Spirit Woman. She liked the moniker and decided to play along. “This Spirit Woman’s mission is to request Connor Jessup’s assistance in the search for my daughter. I believe he has information that will help me.”
“Angels have daughters?” Connor asked, incredulous.
“I’m not an angel.” Bethany glanced over her shoulder. The sun was rising and soon she would disappear in the light. She needed to return to Zachariah’s before being trapped on Earth forever. “I don’t have much time. Will you come to the portal with me? We can discuss my daughter and Elizabeth there.”
She glimpsed the reluctance in Connor’s eyes.
“Please, I must find my daughter. It’s a matter of life and death.”
Connor turned to Jimmy and the two men exchanged a look. Connor turned back to her and blew out a breath. “Show us the way,” he said.
Bethany sighed with relief and passed through the natural entryway formed between the rocks and continued for several feet until she came face to face with a stone wall. She turned to the men. “This is it.”
“This is what?” Connor asked. “It looks like solid rock to me.”
Bethany sighed. “The portal. The place of entry between the planes.”
“Tell me, Angel, what’s this have to do with Elizabeth?”
“I don’t have time to explain everything right now.” She glanced up at the sun again. Looking down at her hand, she could see its definition was fading. “Please let it suffice for the moment to say she was a visitor to my world.” Bethany touched the wall behind her and a slight crack appeared. “Will you come?”
“Why do I have to come with you? Why can’t you talk to me right here?” Connor asked, his eyes narrowed.
Bethany took a deep breath. “Actually, I would prefer to talk to you here. The truth is, though, I’m out of time and can no longer stay on Earth. I have to return to my world. Now. Or be trapped here forever, as this shadow who stands before you.”
As she spoke, the wall of stone began to shift until there was an opening just wide enough to pass through.
“And you say it’s my choice, right?”
Bethany nodded.
Connor turned to Jimmy, gripping his upper arms. “Thank you for everything, Jimmy. You stood by me when no one else did and you helped get me back on my feet. I’ll miss you, my friend. I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again.”
“Eventually we all go to the same place, friend –the lodge of the Great Spirit. I’ll be in the home of the eagles, just look for me.” The two men embraced. “May you find peace and forgiveness, Connor Jessup.”
Connor entered the opening behind Bethany, turning to wave as the rock closed around him.
Chapter 11
“Are we going to Hell or not?”
“I told you, I don’t know about this Hell of yours.” Bethany replied. “Perhaps when you’re done on this plane you can travel there.”
Connor shook his head and glanced around him, awestruck at the millions of criss-crossing lines of light around him.
“What is this place?”
“The light beams show all the planes of existence,” she said. “You’ll have to ask Zachariah if you want more details.”
“Zachariah?”
“Please, Connor. Your questions will be addressed soon enough. In order to cross over to my plane, you have to close your eyes and concentrate. Allow yourself to relax and imagine a bridge stretching from here to that doorway over there.” She pointed to a wall about one hundred feet away. A bright blue haze shone from its center.
“Why can’t I just walk from here to there?” He indicated with his chin. This angel was becoming a real pain in the—
“Because of the planes of existence,” she huffed, interrupting his thought. “You cannot move through them. You have to close your eyes and imagine a bridge and allow your mind to cross it. Then when you open your eyes you will be on the other side.”
Connor looked ahead and saw a faint ripple of blue light in the blackness beyond the grid. “You mean there, where it looks like a waterfall?
“Yes, that’s it exactly. Just concentrate and follow the path.”
He pulled out another flask from his jacket pocket and took several sips.
Everything he’d experienced in the past twenty-four hours was crazier than anything he’d ever encountered in his entire life. Oddly though, he didn’t feel threatened by Bethany. In fact, he trusted her. Something he hadn’t felt since Elizabeth left.
Bethany frowned. “What does that drink do for you? Is your courage in that bottle, Connor Jessup?”
“You have terrible manners, for an angel.” He scowled.
“I do not have the luxury for pretty manners.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “My daughter’s life is at stake.”
Connor scrubbed his hands through his hair. “All right.” He closed his eyes and imagined a bridge. Tentatively he took a few steps and was amazed at the solidity of it. The bridge that his mind had conjured actually held his body weight. Connor flexed his knees, bouncing slightly. The bridge swayed and he teetered, thrown off balance.
“Angel!” Connor yelled as he started to fall.
“Focus, Connor, and right yourself.”
He took a deep breath and pictured a sturdy bridge with a handrail on either side. He reached out with his hands and steadied himself and concentrated as hard as he could until he reached the other side. The shimmering blue light looked like a waterfall from the other side of the grid, but up close it looked like a hazy translucent curtain. He wasn’t sure where this would lead but he’d made it this far…“What do I do next?” he asked,
“Walk through the blue light and down the passageway to a door. I’ll be waiting for you on the other side of the door.” Bethany passed through the entry and disappeared.
Connor glanced over his shoulder at the pulsating lines of light behind him. They criss-crossed around him, bright and glowing. He took a long sip of his flask and slipped it into his boot then slipped his hand inside his jacket, feeling the reassuring shape of two more flasks in his inside pockets.
He stepped through the light and braced himself against the walls of the passageway as he walked, the whiskey beginning to take effect. He finally found the door and reached for the handle, his hand shaking. He walked in and to his surprise, found himself in an immense room full of stacks and stacks of books, the rows stretching as far as he could see. “I’ll be damned,” he murmured.
“Perhaps, but that’s no concern of mine.”
Connor swung around, startled. “Who the hell are you?” He raised an eyebrow at the frail old man standing before him. “You must be Zachariah?”
The old man nodded.
“You don’t look like the devil to me.”
“Well, I’ve been called quite a few names in my lifetime, but ‘devil’ was never one of them,” Zachariah replied, with a quirk of his lips.
Connor noticed the man’s milky eyes. “You’re blind.”
“My eyes are blind. But I can see you very clearly, young Connor.”
He stared at the man for a moment, taking in the long silver mustache and purple robe. His eyes widened. “You must be Saint Peter.” He slapped his hand on his thigh and
grinned. “I’m not going to Hell after all. Damn. I thought I was in for an eternity of fire and brimstone.”
“Yes, well, you still might be, depending on how well you do here.”
Connor’s smile froze. “You mean I’m not in the clear yet?”
“Mmm, maybe, maybe not.” Zachariah shrugged, tapping his foot on the stone floor.
The sound echoed throughout the room, reaching Bethany’s ears. Her shadow absorbed the subtle vibration and gently floated along the silver tether until it rejoined her body. Bethany’s eyes fluttered opened and she sat up and stretched. She rose from the chair and, feeling dizzy, grabbed the table for support. After a few moments, her dizziness abated, she was able to stand on her own. Her stomach growled and she remembered she hadn’t eaten for two days.
“Zachariah? Where are you?” Bethany called down the aisle of records.
“Here,” he replied, his voice muffled by the books.
She followed the sound of Zachariah’s voice and heard another male voice rumble in reply to something the old man had said.
Connor is here!
It all came back to her — her memories of being a shadow and traveling to Devil’s Gate to ask Connor to come with her so she could locate Connor’s wife Elizabeth and find her daughter Sarah.
And what an experience that was. To be able to free-float, pass through solid objects, and invade the dreams of others. Never in her life had she been able to do that, not even while in the Knowing. It humbled her to realize how vast the soul’s abilities were.
“There you are.” She turned a corner and saw the two men. She bowed her head to Zachariah and then turned to Connor. “Welcome, Connor Jessup, my name is Bethany M’Doro.”
Connor gaped at her. “It’s the angel,” he whispered. “But, how? I mean, I can’t see through you anymore.”
Bethany smiled. “Of course, you can’t. I was in a shadow state when I visited you on the Earth plane. I’ve returned to flesh and blood now, the same as you. You are now on the plane of Keilah.”
Connor’s eyes shot back and forth between Zachariah and Bethany. He took a step backward and grabbed the door. It was no use. The handle had vanished.
Zachariah turned his head in Bethany’s direction. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d return in time,” he commented.
Bethany started to answer but was interrupted by Connor. “What do you mean?”
“Bethany had only two days to get whatever information from you she could. Judging from the fact you’re here, though, I’d say she wasn’t able to find out anything.”
“You’re right, Zachariah. Can we please go somewhere and talk? I’ve lost too much time as it is.”
Zachariah nodded. “Come along, son,” he bade. “Bethany can tell you her story while we have a bite to eat.”
Bethany and Zachariah started walking. She glanced over her shoulder. Connor was following a few steps behind, his hand resting on a metal object tucked into a holder on his belt.
“They damn well better have whiskey here, that’s all I have to say. To put me through this without a single shot surely would be hell.”
Chapter 12
“So, this is what it’s like to be dead,” Connor observed, settling into a heavy black chair near the fire. “If we’re not in heaven or hell, are we in Purgatory?”
“You’re not dead, nor is this place Purgatory. You’re in the portal between the planes.” Bethany explained. She had never met someone so caught up in the thought of being dead.
“But I am dying, though, aren’t I?” He studied the back of his hand as he scraped his fingernails over the thick woven fabric of the chair arm. “So, this must be some sort of way station until I do and then you’ll take me away?”
“We’re all dying, Mr. Jessup.” Zachariah sat down in the chair opposite Connor. “It’s only a matter of time for any of us. You saw the sparks flashing on the lines when you entered the portal?”
Connor nodded.
“If you looked closely, you would have noticed the sparks jumped from one line to the next. That’s death—a soul simply leaving one plane for another. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Connor looked at Bethany, confused. “What do you say about all of this, Angel? Is this a dream or am I really here?”
“I say yes, you’re really here and stop calling me Angel.” Bethany was growing impatient with all this talk of dying. “I’ve told you, my name is Bethany and we need to get down to business. I have to find Sarah.”
Before Connor could speak, Zachariah interrupted, “How about something to drink?”
Without waiting for a reply, he took the heavy glass decanter from where it was warming near the fire and poured a clear liquid into thin porcelain cups.
Zachariah offered one to Connor, who smiled his gratitude. Connor leaned over the cup and swished the drink around, taking a moment to smell it. Finally, he swallowed the contents in one gulp. He sputtered and began to choke.
“Personally, I prefer something a bit stronger than cherry water.” With that, he reached into his inside jacket pocket and extracted a silver flask. He poured the amber drink into the cup and gulped it down.
Bethany and Zachariah shared a knowing glance. The man was obviously dependent on this beverage. Perhaps she was right when she asked him if his courage were in the bottle. Bethany thought about the ceremony Connor and Jimmy had made and remembered trying to heal the man. But, in her shadow state, she had been unable to touch him. She studied Connor more closely, deciding the time wasn’t right to try again.
Connor broke into her thoughts. “That’s much better. You want a swig?” he offered the flask to Zachariah who waved it away with a scowl. Connor shrugged. “Fine by me. So, Angel, as long as we’re visiting and all, why don’t you tell me about Elizabeth? You have to know that carrot you dangled is why I followed you here. Did you visit her like you did me?” He glanced away and stared at the flames in the massive stone hearth. “Or do you know her because she’s dead?”
Bethany took a deep breath, trying to put her growing dislike for the man aside. He was weak, but he was also her only hope right now. “I’m what’s called a Knower. That is, I can take an object and tell you about its owner.”
Connor guffawed. “You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you?”
Anger shot through her, but she held her tongue. “Give me that metal object on your belt.”
“My gun? No way. It’s my only protection.” He crossed his arms over his chest with an air of finality, leaning back in the chair.
“Then give me something else. It makes no difference what it is.”
Connor stuffed his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a sheriff’s badge. He tossed it to her. “Here, take this. I don’t need it anymore.”
Bethany placed the silver star onto the palm of her hand. She closed her eyes and, when she opened them, he gasped. “My eyes change to blue when I’m in the Knowing.”
“That’s a powerful trick you can do there.”
“It’s not a trick.” She frowned. “Do you want to know what I see or not?”
He nodded and leaned forward.
“You made this yourself, out of a flattened Mexican peso. The coin was given to you by your father, a man who carried the news of religion across the prairie. You carved and carved on it with your knife until all the points were perfectly symmetrical. I see you squinting in the sunlight as you measure it. Then, you dug away at the coin until the word sheriff appeared.”
Connor’s eyes widened. Bethany continued, “You were a trusted man, you took care of Devil’s Gate and protected the people. At least, until Elizabeth Jessup left you. From then, you began to drink heavily and were eventually replaced by another man as sheriff of your town. I can see you, sitting in front of a fireplace, consuming one bottle of liquor after another.
“The townspeople couldn’t tr
ust you anymore, Connor. They were afraid you wouldn’t be there when they needed you.”
She looked into his eyes. They were shining with unshed tears. “You have to make peace with this. Only then can you be free.”
Connor wiped at his nose with the back of his jacket sleeve. “Yeah, well, I’ve heard that before. I don’t need to be preached to by anyone, not even an angel. I made my bed and I’ll lie in it, alone. That’s the way I want it. And,” he added, “leave my father out of this.”
“If that’s your wish.” Bethany shrugged and tossed the badge back to him. “I work with a group of Diggers who excavate the area around Paran, the town I come from. During one of the digs, we found a silver box. I held the box and read it the same as I read your badge just now, and discovered it was brought to Keilah by your wife.”
“How can you be sure it was my Elizabeth?”
Bethany’s face softened, as did her voice. “I saw the scene when she left you. She must have been thinking of you when she came here because the memory was stored in the container. I watched her pick up her bag and walk out the door. ‘Supper’s on the fire,’ I believe she said as she left.”
Connor jumped up. “How can you know that? I never told anyone.”
“You didn’t need to. The Knowing told me. Please, sit down and I’ll finish my explanation.” She waited until Connor had eased himself back into his chair, then continued. “The box contains the Book of Eitel, an outline of the history and incantations of the Eitellans. They’re an evil people, Connor. They steal children and extract their souls. The high priestess uses them to gain immortality.”
“I don’t see what this has to do with Elizabeth,” he murmured.
“I’m not sure of the link myself. I only know what I saw—that you’re her husband. I had hoped you would know what her connection to Eitel was. I saw a man named Michael Greene present her with the box containing the manuscript, but don’t know anything else.” She leaned forward. “Why was the book left on the Earth plane? How did she learn the writing? Did she talk to you about it?”