“Wait ’til I give you the sign!” Vero shouted.
The others remained in position, with X serving as the anchor back in the chamber, then Greer, then Ada, and then Pax held Vero’s ankles as Vero extended his entire body over the ledge. Using his left hand to brace himself against the ceiling, Vero extended his right hand as far as possible so he could grab and hold on to Kane. It would be close, but he knew they could do it.
“Ready?” Vero called down to Kane. When Kane nodded, Vero shouted, “Now!”
Kane opened his wings and lifted off the rock. He hovered in the air for a moment and then flew over to Vero.
As Kane approached, Vero held out both hands to grab Kane, but at the last moment, Kane hesitated.
He shook his head. “It won’t work!” he said.
“Yes it will!” Vero yelled. “Come on, hurry! We’re losing strength!”
Kane continued to waver. And every second of waiting depleted Vero’s energy. He felt Pax’s grip weakening too.
“Come on, Pax! I’ve seen you move SUVs with your bare hands!” Vero shouted. “Hold tight!”
“But I was answering a prayer at the time!” Pax yelled back.
“Yeah? Then hear MY prayer and . . . DON’T LET GO!”
Pax tightened his grip on Vero.
“Kane, grab a hold of Vero’s hands now or rot on that rock forever!” Greer shouted from the mouth of the tunnel.
A huge bubble burst in the acid below, and the spray reached Vero’s face and singed off his right eyebrow. “NOW, Kane, or we’re leaving you!” Vero shouted.
Kane flew up to Vero and clasped hands with him. His weight pulled Vero farther out over the ledge as he quickly retracted his wings.
“Got him!” Vero yelled to the others. “Now pull!”
The chain of angels tugged hard, but Kane was still suspended over the edge. And Vero’s grip was loosening.
“Hurry!” Vero shouted.
X pulled Greer’s ankles tight as she backed out of the tunnel and reentered the chamber. When she was clear of the mousehole, she told X to come grab Ada’s other ankle. But as X let go of Greer, the whole line started sliding forward.
“Don’t let go!” Pax shrieked. “Please!”
“I can’t hold on any longer!” Ada yelled, feeling her fingers slipping away from Pax’s ankles.
Suddenly, Ada felt a mighty force around her left ankle. The strength of the grip told her that X was now pulling her back toward the chamber. His power was incredible. Ada breathed a sigh of relief. But then X lost his footing. He pushed back on his heels, but he couldn’t find any traction. They all started sliding back toward the acidic water.
“Your wings! Open your wings!” Ada shouted back to X. “They’ll anchor you!”
X willed his wings to protrude, and they shot open with the force of an umbrella battling a windstorm. His wings wedged against the chamber walls, arresting his slide toward the hole. He was finally able to pull Ada safely inside the chamber, then Pax, Vero, and finally Kane.
As everyone caught their breath, Kane looked at his rescuers and muttered faintly, “Thanks, guys.”
Thank you doesn’t even begin to cover it, Vero thought, as he touched his missing eyebrow.
19
THE NARROW PATH
How did you wind up on that rock?” Pax asked Kane.
“I’m not sure. I was standing out in that desert. It was burning hot, and the sand was whipping against my face, so I closed my eyes and tried to listen to the voice of truth like Raziel said. Next thing I know, I’m in here — in this room.”
“There were only two ways out . . . through those stalagmite things or through that hole. I figured only an idiot would try to go through those, I mean, did you see how sharp they are? So, I decided to see what was on the other side of that hole. I didn’t realize it was a trap ’til I was sliding downhill into that cavern. I spread my wings and caught my fall — thank you, God — and I managed to land on that rock. But then I was stuck there.”
Vero and the others stared at Kane as he finished his story. Greer appeared as annoyed as Vero felt.
“What?” Kane asked.
“We were the big enough idiots to crawl through those stalagmites to rescue you,” X said, still massaging his lower back.
“Oops. I’m sorry, guys,” Kane said guiltily. “Here, let me just pull my foot out of my mouth.”
“Good idea. That way, I can shove my fist in there instead,” Greer said.
Vero thought for a moment. How was it that he and the others had wound up in the cool room with the pool of refreshing water, but not Kane? Why had the voice led Kane to a trap and not the stream? Why was Kane led to danger?
“Do you want to know why you ended up alone on that rock with no way out?” Greer asked Kane. “It’s because you were being a total jerk. You were mad.”
“Yeah, but if he was listening to his inner voice, and Raziel said that voice is God, then why was God punishing Kane?” Vero asked.
“No. It wasn’t God’s voice. It wasn’t his Vox Dei. Didn’t you hear what Raziel told us?” Greer asked.
Vero flashed her a puzzled look. He tried to recall Raziel’s lesson, but he was on sensory overload.
“When you doubt or get angry with God, Lucifer seizes that opportunity. He sends his minions, and they slip in and cloud your thoughts, totally messing with you. That’s what happened to Kane.”
Vero silently pondered what Greer said. The thought of being under the devil’s influence, especially here in the Ether, was terrifying. He was determined it wouldn’t happen to him — no matter what.
Ada stood and looked up at the ceiling of the cave. “I’m feeling really claustrophobic and kind of cold,” she said. “I’d like to get out of here.”
“Me too,” Pax agreed.
Vero closed his eyes and focused his mind on doing the right thing. He tried to block out everything and concentrate. But thoughts raced in and out of his mind. Kane on the rock . . . Ada in the tunnel . . . Clover at dinner . . . Danny and Davina at the movies. No! I need to focus!
He thought about the track meet and how good it felt to pass Danny. Then he recalled how he felt unexplainably guilty. He thought of Blake and Duff and how they seemed glad that Vero had won the race. He thought about the raven with the long tail, about the constant battle between good and evil — whether it was physical, like with the maltures, or mental, like how he constantly battled his innate nature.
No, he had to accept the goodness. God’s goodness. He remembered the feeling of peace that overcame him on the night he made his snow angel, and he let that feeling fill him once again. Please God, know my heart.
Suddenly, Vero felt true goodness wash over him, and after a few moments, the path became clear to him. He opened his eyes.
“We need to keep moving forward through the stalactites,” Vero said.
“I don’t know how much more I can take in there,” Ada said.
The angels surveyed the area that lay ahead of them, and then the area that lay behind them. Their options were limited. Either way looked pretty much the same — the roof, walls, and ground were decorated with stalactites, stalagmites, and helictites.
“I say we listen to Vero and move on,” X said.
“You’re only saying that because you don’t want to walk hunched over,” Pax said.
X nodded and said, “Maybe. But the truth is, it doesn’t look much different either way.”
X looked to Kane for his opinion.
“Don’t look at me. You saw which way I picked,” Kane said. “This time I’m keeping my mouth shut.”
Pax turned to Greer, “I say we go back.”
“I say we go ahead,” Greer nodded to Vero. Then she turned to Pax and said, “But we could always split up if you feel strongly about it.” She looked at each angel in turn. “If I had to go on my own, I would. I could do this alone.”
Pax shook his head. “We stay together.”
The angels snaked their
way through a seemingly endless maze of stalactites and stalagmites. At times, the way was so narrow that Vero sucked in his breath and tried to make himself thinner. Vero sensed their reflexes dulling.
Suddenly Pax screamed out in pain. Vero carefully turned his head and saw the right side of Pax’s face covered in what looked like dozens of cactus needles, from his forehead to his chin.
“He brushed up against some helictites!” Ada called to the others.
Pax cried out, “Get them out! Please! They burn!” Tears ran down his face.
Vero looked around. The space was way too tight for anyone to be able to stand next to Pax and pull them out.
“Pax, I’m sorry,” Vero said. “But you’re gonna have to keep walking until we find a place big enough where we can help you pull them out.”
“Try not to think about them,” Kane said, as they slowly made their way through the deadly obstacle course.
“I can’t,” Pax whimpered. “It hurts too much.”
“We need to distract him,” Ada told the others.
“Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer . . . ” Greer began to sing. “Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of beer . . . ”
“That’ll really push him over the edge,” X said to Greer, cutting her off.
“I’m only trying to help.” Greer shrugged.
“Pax, what’s your favorite color?” Vero asked, hoping to distract him from the pain.
“Blue.”
“You like pizza?”
“Yeah.”
“Good at sports?”
“No.”
“Then I bet you get good grades?”
“I don’t go to school.”
“Really?” Vero said, surprised. “Why not?”
“I’m severely autistic on earth,” Pax said. “I don’t have any language. I wear a helmet all day to keep from hurting myself.”
Vero stopped walking and carefully turned around to look at Pax. Vero’s eyes were full of emotion as he said, “I’m sorry.”
“Maybe that’s why you’re the only one of us who can hear thoughts,” X said. “Maybe because you can’t speak on earth, you’ve learned to communicate in other ways. My life on earth is tough too, but being in a wheelchair has made me stronger — and not just my arms, but mentally too. I think it’s all part of our training.”
Vero thought about that as the group walked on in silence. Compared to X, Pax, and Greer, Vero’s life was pretty good. Was it sheer luck or was his family life preparing him for something? He didn’t know.
Mercifully, the cavern’s landscape began to change. Rocks and boulders gradually replaced the stalactites and stalagmites. Finally, the cavern widened, and the angels could stand and stretch.
“Hold still,” X said to Pax. X gripped one of the needles and gently pulled it out.
“Thank you,” Pax said softly. “It feels better already.”
One by one, X pulled out the rest of them and let them drop to the ground.
“You okay?” Vero asked. Pax’s face looked a bit swollen, but otherwise he seemed all right.
“Yeah,” Pax replied. “But I have a headache.”
“So do I,” Kane said.
“Well suck it up, boys,” Greer said. “We have a climb ahead of us.”
The fledglings looked and saw their next adventure involved scaling a steep mountain of rocks and large stones.
X sighed heavily. “Well, at least we can stand up straight.”
“I say we fly to the top,” Pax suggested.
“Me too,” Greer said. She began flapping her wings, but nothing happened. Then each of the other angels tried, but no one rose into the air.
“This makes no sense,” Kane said.
“We must be at high altitude,” Vero reasoned.
“How do you know?” Pax asked.
“My dad trained to be a pilot for the Navy. He used to explain to me that everything that uses air for flight propulsion — jets, helicopters, or even birds, has an altitude ceiling. Above that height, the air is just too thin for flight.”
“Altitude sickness would explain the headaches,” X said.
“And why I feel out of breath,” Kane added.
“Okay, science class is now over,” Greer said irritably. “Let’s scale this baby.”
As the angels climbed, X led the way, carefully placing each foot on the treacherous mountain of crumbled brown rock and shale. With each step, the unstable rubble would shift and sometimes roll downhill, causing other rocks and debris to slide.
Besides falling and cutting themselves on jagged rocks, Vero feared that upsetting the wrong rock could trigger an avalanche and bury them all.
“X, how much farther is it?” Pax asked, his face streaked with sweat.
“I can’t tell,” X answered. “I can’t see the top.”
As Ada grabbed onto a rock to pull herself up, the rock slipped out from under her and rolled straight toward Greer who was climbing behind her.
“Greer!” Ada yelled. “Look out!”
Greer looked up, saw the rock, and jerked her face out of its path just in time. The rock barely missed her head, but it smashed her left leg, shattering the bone.
Greer screamed in agony and grabbed her leg. Vero and the others watched helplessly as Greer lost her balance and plunged to the ground.
“Greer!” Ada shouted.
Greer didn’t answer. X quickly maneuvered his way through a cluster of boulders and reached her side. Greer was sitting on the craggy ground, leaning against a smooth rock.
“Look,” Greer said. She lifted her injured leg with her hands and let it drop back to the ground. It was completely useless.
“I guess walking is out,” X thought aloud.
The others climbed back down to Greer.
Ada’s normally olive skin was white as a sheet. “I’m so sorry . . . ”
“Does it hurt?” Pax asked, bending down close to her.
“At first, but now it’s just numb.”
“I’m really sorry,” Ada said again. “I didn’t mean to . . . ”
“Well you did,” Greer said.
“It was an accident,” Pax said. “It wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t come this way.”
Greer locked eyes with Vero, “Maybe it was the wrong way to come.”
“I’m sorry you got hurt,” Vero said. “But I really feel like we need to keep going.”
“How?” Pax asked. “Do you think Greer’s gonna be able to climb up there?”
“Yes,” Vero said. “We’ll help her.”
“No. I’m taking her back the way we came, whether any of you come with us or not,” Ada said.
“You think getting her through those stalactites will be any easier?” Vero asked.
“At least that way I know what we’re dealing with.”
Vero looked to the others for support, but he didn’t find any. Greer looked dazed and pale, Pax was shaking, Kane looked frustrated, and X . . . “Where’s X?”
“He was just here,” Kane said.
Vero looked around and found X crouched behind several large boulders with a rock in his hand.
“What are you doing?” Vero asked.
“Watch,” X said.
X chucked the rock as hard as he could, and it disappeared into the darkness.
Vero wasn’t impressed. “Are you losing it?”
“You didn’t hear it land, did you?”
X was right. Vero never heard the rock hit the ground. “I . . . I don’t know . . . ”
As X picked up another rock, Ada, Pax, and Kane helped a limping Greer hobble over to the boulder.
X gently threw the rock directly in front of them. It disappeared without a sound.
“It just vanished into thin air,” Kane said.
“I say we do the same,” X announced.
“Are you crazy?” Pax said.
“Are you willing to carry Greer back through the stalactite cave or up that hil
l of boulders?” X asked. Everyone was silent.
But something didn’t feel right to Vero. “I don’t know about this,” he said.
“I say we take a chance,” said X.
Vero once again looked to the others, and the fact that no one would look him in the eye gave Vero his answer. Kane stood and put one of Greer’s arms around his neck, while X did the same with her other arm. They hoisted her to her feet.
“I’m sorry,” Greer whispered.
Kane and X did a double take. “What?”
“As much as it kills me to say it,” Greer said, “I really do need you guys.”
Vero and Ada exchanged glances. Vero knew it was hard for Greer to admit that.
Pax smiled at Greer, and Ada gave her an awkward hug.
“Whatever,” Greer said, feeling awkward with all of that positive attention.
Vero watched as Kane and X assisted Greer. Without looking back, the three of them walked toward the spot where the rock had vanished, and then they simply disappeared into thin air. Ada glanced at Vero and shrugged. Then she took Pax’s hand in her own and followed the other three until they also vanished before Vero’s eyes.
Everything inside of Vero was telling him not to move forward. He wanted to scream, “Don’t go!” But then the fear of being left alone overshadowed his instincts, and so ignoring his own instincts, Vero ran after the others.
20
GOLEMS
Vero found himself being pulled at an alarming rate, by an overpowering force, as if he were a tiny scrap of metal being yanked forward by a gigantic magnet. The rapid motion turned his stomach, and faster and faster he went until . . . Bam! He found himself flat on his back in the middle of another cavern. Only this one was fairly large and filled with light from the torches that lined the walls. Above him was a high domed ceiling carved out of stone.
As soon as he was able to sit up and take in his surroundings, Vero saw the other angels sprawled around the room. Greer was sitting against the cavern wall with her busted leg out straight in front of her, biting her fingernails. Vero thought she looked smaller and worn out due to the pain. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. “I hate this. I hate not being able to walk on my own.”
The Ether Page 16