by West, S. J.
“What about you?” Gabe asks me.
I shrug. “I was born with one, being able to see auras. But, my crown didn’t give off a signal until I killed a changeling and the flying came from me trying to escape Lucifer on the alternate Earth.”
“So, basically it’ll either just happen on its own or I’ll need to have a life threatening traumatic experience,” Gabe says, smiling sardonically.
“Basically,” I agree with a smile. “It’ll happen at the right time. We just have to be patient.”
I hear Mason’s phone buzz. He pulls it out of his pocket and answers it. I watch as his face blanches when he hears what the person on the other end of the line says to him.
“And you’re sure they caught all of it?” He asks the person as he closes his eyes and places his free hand to his forehead, rubbing it like he suddenly developed an excruciating headache. “And where is it being shown?”
Mason looks to me and motions for me to turn the TV in my entertainment center on.
“Turn it to CNN,” Mason tells me.
I punch in the channel number on the remote and find myself looking at Gabe kneeling in the sand praying and then vanishing into thin air.
Crap.
“I thought the camera would have been destroyed in the blast,” I say.
“It probably was,” Gabe says, coming to stand beside me. “But it was a live feed. They caught everything up until the time the camera was destroyed.”
“Find a way to spin it and make them stop showing it on TV, Nick,” Mason says curtly before ending the call.
“The damage is already done, isn’t it?” I ask.
“Millions of people have already seen it,” Mason says frowning. “So, yes, the damage has been done. Unless we can spin it into some sort of prank, I’m afraid you’ll need to lie low for a while Gabe.”
“I agree,” Gabe says. “I’m not really sure what I would tell people anyway. I mean who in the bloody hell’s gonna believe the truth?”
“You can stay here for now,” I tell Gabe. “No one in this town will bother you.”
“Are you sure?” Gabe asks. “I wouldn’t want to put you out.”
“Yes, I’m sure. I’d rather have you stay somewhere I know is safe. After your power activates, we’ll be able to find your crown and hopefully you’ll have a vision that will tell us what your talisman is supposed to be.”
My phone begins to vibrate and I look to see who is calling. It’s Mama Lynn.
“Hey sweetie, Faison and me were wondering how we could get in touch with JoJo,” Mama Lynn says.
“She’s here at my house actually,” I say. “Why do you need to speak with her?”
“She’s designing your wedding dress, remember?”
Oh yeah. The wedding. I had conveniently forgotten about that small detail of my life.
“Well, you can come over now if you want,” I tell her.
“Ok, we’ll be right there.”
When Mama Lynn and Faison come over, they don’t seem the least bit surprised I have so many people in my house. The girls of the group, except for me, congregate together and begin to discuss the wedding preparations. I slink off into the kitchen and use the making of a fresh pot of coffee as my excuse to hide.
I feel a pair of warm hands slide against the sides of my waist and venture over my stomach until Mason’s arms are wrapped around me.
“Why are you hiding in here?” He whispers, kissing the tender spot behind my ear.
I sigh and melt against him. “I’m not hiding. I’m making coffee.”
“You’re hiding,” he murmurs nibbling my earlobe and making it very difficult for me to think. “Why does talk of the wedding make you so nervous?”
I put the coffee filter in my hand down on the counter and turn in Mason’s arms so I can make sure he sees my face.
“Don’t think for a second it’s because I don’t want to marry you,” I tell him. “I do. I’m just not into all that goes into planning a wedding. It’s not my thing.”
“Then lets elope,” he suggests, completely serious. “I don’t need a big wedding, Jess. All I want is to be married to the most gorgeous, brash, insatiable woman I’ve ever met.”
I’m tempted but then I see a vision of my father’s disappointed face float inside my head and I know full well Mason is only making his offer for my benefit. It’s not what he really wants to do.
“I can’t do that to my family,” I say, not telling him I’m doing it just as much for him as them. “My dad is set on giving me away at the wedding, and if I know Mama Lynn and Faison, they’ve already got everything planned out in their heads.” I take a deep breath. “No, we do the wedding. I’ll be all right. There will only be a few people there.”
Mason doesn’t look so sure about my resolve but doesn’t say anything.
“Jess!” Leah walks into the kitchen and Mason automatically pulls away from me, not wanting to taint Leah’s innocence with our public display of affection.
“Can Aiden take us to JoJo’s studio?” Leah asks me.
“I can do it,” Mason tells her, a confused look covers his face not understanding why Leah would request Aiden’s help instead of his.
“Uh, no you can’t,” Leah tells him with a shake of her head. “JoJo has Jess’ wedding dress made. You’re not supposed to see it until the wedding.”
“She does?” I ask. This is news to me.
Leah shrugs, “That’s what she said. Let’s go see it!”
Mason calls Aiden. Once Aiden arrives he phases all us girls to JoJo’s studio in Paris. It’s night time in the city of lights and from the vantage point of the studio you can see the Eiffel tower lit up in all its glory. The city sparkles with brilliant illumination making it shine almost as brightly as the diamond on my finger.
When we get to the studio, JoJo bounces over to the racks and racks of clothing lined up on one side of the room. There have to be almost thirty of the five foot long, five foot high racks jumbled together in a menagerie of fabric and steel. When JoJo emerges from the forest of clothing, she’s carrying what I can only term as the most frou frou dress I’ve ever laid my eyes upon. In fact, I’m not completely sure if JoJo is carrying the dress or if the dress is carrying her it’s so huge. Faison, Mama Lynn and Leah immediately begin to fawn over it with great enthusiasm.
“Oh my god,” Faison says. “That’s the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen!”
“JoJo it is beyond gorgeous,” Mama Lynn praises my petite French seamstress.
“Wow, you’ll look like a real princess in that,” Leah says to me, a dream like quality to her voice.
While the three of them go up to JoJo and the megalodon sized dress, I just stand back and stare in utter, heart dropping shock. I seriously reconsider Mason’s offer of elopement. I could make it up to my family one day, right? It’s not like they would kill me for dashing their hopes and dreams into a pile of dust, but, I know their disappointment in not being able to share in my nuptials would hurt me more than it would hurt them. It’s then and there I decide I will bite the bullet and not complain about anything they want me to do concerning the wedding. All I want is Mason and if I have to wear the Tulle Monster of Death dress in order to make that happen, I will.
JoJo looks over at me, her face beaming with pride. “Do you like it, mon cheri?”
My love for JoJo and her natural, infectious effervescence for life make it easy for me to smile back and lie through my teeth.
“Thank you, JoJo. It’s beautiful.”
I chance a glance at Aiden to see if his Watcher lie detector sounded an alarm but he doesn’t seem to notice. Or if he does, he doesn’t seem to care. He simply looks on at the proceedings with uninterested eyes. I get the feeling he doesn’t like being used as our phasing chauffeur and would much rather be somewhere else instead of here.
JoJo insists that I try the dress on to see if it fits properly. She joins me in the dressing room to help me into the gown and to see if any adjus
tments need to be made. I easily relent to her simple request because I know she must have spent a great deal of time and effort making the dress. If I were a poufy dress kind of girl, I can see how someone like that would think the gown was a fairytale of organza, tulle and silk.
The top of the dress is strapless with a sweetheart neckline. The lace appliqués and crystal bead work that cover the bodice is continued down the front of the skirt in a fanned out pattern. The train at the back is simply layer after layer after layer of ruffled white organza. The dress barely fits in the dressing room and I fear what will happen once it’s allowed to flow freely around me in an open space. Even though it is gargantuan in size, it oddly feels as light as a feather.
“Did you use your power to make it almost weightless?” I ask JoJo as she examines the fit of the bodice at the curve of my waist.
“Oui,” she says, pinching an inch of fabric at my waist that she will have to take in. “Have you lost weight, mon amie? I thought for sure I had your correct measurements.”
“It’s possible,” I admit. “I have been more physically active than usual lately.”
JoJo smiles knowingly and I know I don’t have to elaborate on what my new physical activity is with her.
“Well, come come, let us show your family how beautiful you look in my, dare I say it, brilliant creation!”
JoJo helps me maneuver the dress, which should really have its own zip code it’s so big, out of the dressing room. When I step back into the open expanse of the studio, the skirt is allowed to flow out to its gargantuan width and length. There is so much white surrounding me I feel like I’m standing in the middle of a giant white puffy cloud. Mama Lynn holds a hand to her lips and I can see tears form in her proud eyes; Faison smiles so wide with happiness it’s like the sun itself is beaming down on me; and Leah giggles in girly delight at seeing what I’m sure to her eyes is a real life princess stepping out of a fairytale. Even Aiden has an awestruck look on his face as I walk towards them. Though I’m not sure if it’s how I look in the dress that’s causing the expression on his face or the sheer enormity of the dress itself has him dumbstruck.
“You are simply gorgeous,” Mama Lynn says, wiping tears from her eyes with the tips of her fingers.
“Mason’s gonna love it,” Faison tells me. “I can’t wait to see his reaction on your wedding day.”
My simple hope is that Mason can find me underneath all the fabric.
After JoJo makes notes about what needs to be done to alter the dress, I ask Aiden to take us all back to my house. JoJo insists on staying at her studio to make the alterations and asks that I call on her when she’s needed.
When we get back to my house, Aiden excuses himself saying he needs to get back to work.
We find Mason, Gabe, Zack and Rafe in the kitchen setting out plates of food on the kitchen table. I see boxes of Chinese take out sitting on the counters. It’s only then that I realize I haven’t eaten anything all day.
“I thought you might be hungry when you got back,” Mason tells me, giving me a chaste kiss on the lips in front of our mixed company. “I don’t want you wasting away on me.”
“Apparently, I actually have lost some weight,” I tell him. “Must be all the extra physical activity I’ve been involved in lately.”
Mason tries to hide a smile but fails miserably. “I’ll try to make sure you eat more from now on because I don’t see your activity level decreasing any time soon.”
This time it’s me who tries to hide a pleased smile but I fail just as miserably at the attempt.
When I look at everyone sitting around the table, I realize I should have waited to have this conversation with Mason in private. They all seem to know exactly what we’re talking about.
“Let’s eat!” I say, hoping to distract them with the call for food.
Halfway through the meal, I notice Leah begin to yawn.
“Remy,” I say, “you should probably take Leah back to the villa. I think she’s ready to finish making her connection to Uriel.”
“Should I start the process now too?” Rafe asks.
“I think that’s a good idea,” I say. I look at Remy. “Can you stay one more day until Leah wakes up again? After that we can get someone else to watch over Rafe.”
“Yes, I had already planned to stay with her until the connection was complete,” Remy tells me.
“Good.” I turn to Mason who is sitting beside me at the table. “Can Aiden stay with Rafe while he’s sleeping?”
“Yes,” Mason tells me. “I’ll tell him to.”
As soon as lunch is over, Remy takes Rafe back to his clinic to get his crown and then phases both Leah and Rafe to the villa. Mama Lynn and Faison leave saying they need to plan more things for my wedding, and I don’t ask any questions. I figure they can make better decisions about it than I ever could anyway.
“Has Joshua found Zack’s crown yet?” I ask Mason.
“He would have called if he had,” Mason tells me. “I think we should go over to Mount Moriah to see if we can find his talisman.”
“Do you think we can do that?” I ask. “We almost always find the crown first.”
“I don’t think it’s necessary to go in order,” Mason says. “We should give it a try while we’re waiting for Joshua to find the crown.”
“Can I come along on this little field trip?” Gabe asks.
“I don’t see why not,” Mason says. “I’ve had the Watcher in charge of the Middle East cordon off the area where the talisman might be so we’ll have the place to ourselves for a while.”
“He cordoned off a mountain?” I ask.
“There’s a temple built on top of the area where Abraham went to sacrifice his son Isaac. It’s called the Temple Mount and the shrine that was built over the rock bed that was the location of the sacrifice is called the Dome of the Rock.”
“And what city are we going to exactly?” Zack asks.
“Jerusalem. Let me call Turel and to make sure things are ready for us.”
Mason makes his call which doesn’t take long.
“It’s night time there so it was fairly easy for him lock it down for our visit. Ready?” Mason directs his question more to Zack than Gabe and me.
“No time like the present,” Zack says.
We all hold hands and Mason phases us to the Dome of the Rock.
Chapter 4
Mason phases us inside the shrine and directly onto a bed of sand colored rock. The sacred rock takes up the majority of the interior area of the building and is surrounded by a protective fence like structure, presumably to keep tourist off of where we’re freely trespassing. The circular room we find ourselves in is surrounded by four large pillars and twelve white and grey marble columns. As I look up, I marvel at the beauty of the red and gold Arabesque mosaics and stained glass windows inside the domed ceiling which sits directly over where we stand.
Zack looks around. “Any suggestions on how I’m supposed to find the talisman?”
“I would say just walk around to see if you feel anything,” Mason tells him.
“Finding talismans always this hit or miss?” Gabe asks me as we stand back and watch Zack walk around aimlessly.
“No, Mason has been right about everyone’s talisman so far. He thinks Zack’s is the dagger his archangel took from Abraham after he told him he didn’t have to sacrifice his son to prove his faith to God. We’re just not sure where Zadkiel put the dagger after he took it. Hopefully, there will be a clue here.”
Zack walks across the rock and I can tell he doesn’t exactly know what the hell he’s looking for. I feel sorry for him. I wish I could help in some way but I’m just as clueless as he is.
Then it happens.
Zack suddenly falls to his knees and I see the surprised look on his face at the unexpected action. I instantly know it wasn’t something he did on his own. I watch as some unknown outside force makes him place both of his hands on the rock in front of him. The spots where his hands ar
e touching the rock transform and take on the qualities of quicksand, sucking Zack’s hands and arms down up to his elbows. I watch as he tries to pull his arms out but whatever magic drew his arms down into the rock in the first place isn’t letting him go.
“What the hell is happening?” He yells to us.
We all rush over to him thinking something nefarious is about to happen to Zack when, quite unexpectedly, he begins to laugh.
“Oh my god that tickles,” he says, trying not to giggle like a girl and maintain a modicum of manliness.
“Can you tell what’s happening?” I ask.
“It’s like,” Zack giggles but clears his throat to hide it. “It feels like someone or something is drawing on my arms with a feather. I know that doesn’t make a lick of sense but that’s what it feels like.”
I look up at Mason and he just shrugs.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he says to me.
After a couple of more minutes, Zack’s arms are released from the rock. The long sleeve shirt he was wearing is now cut at the elbows like someone took a razor blade and shortened them. But that’s not the only difference.
On both of Zack’s forearms are what look like grey tattoos of daggers.
Zack looks down at both of them. His face scrunches up in confusion.
“Tattoos?” He asks. “What am I supposed to do with tattoos?”
“Touch them,” I suggest.
Zack looks dubious about my idea but he runs his right hand from the point of the dagger on his left forearm down to the hilt.
“I don’t think…” Zack begins but doesn’t finish because when he lifts his hand from the tattoo thinking it a pointless act, his right hand is now holding a wafer thin, glowing opalescent dagger.
Zack holds the dagger up in front of his face. “Anybody know how that just happened or what the hell I’m supposed to do with it?”
“It’s a dagger,” I say, “throw it at something.”
Zack stands up and looks around. He aims at the wood fence surrounding the area and throws the dagger. The dagger sticks and stays for a few seconds then dissolves into sand.
“Holy cow!” Zack says. He looks down at both tattoos and glides his hands over them simultaneously coming away with a dagger in each hand. He smiles and throws both daggers at the fence at once. They strike with a thud and dissolve into sand a few seconds later just like the first one.