The Ether

by Laurice Elehwany Molinari

  “Ada filled us in on the whole Abaddon thing,” Pax said.

  “It’s amazing that any of us survived after being so close to him like that,” Kane said.

  Vero swallowed hard. “Yeah, well, I need to go back there.”

  The group fell silent as the seriousness of his words sank in.

  “Are you insane?” Greer asked.

  “Some maltures have a hold over a kid at my school,” Vero said. “And if we don’t break it . . . Davina will die tonight.”

  “Davina?” Kane asked.

  “She’s a friend of mine,” Vero said, but the emotion in his voice betrayed him.

  “Sounds like she’s more than just a friend,” Kane said.

  Vero looked down, embarrassed.

  “I get it,” Kane said sadly. “I’ve been in love with a girl since kindergarten. She’s even come up with names for our kids. There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to complete my training so I won’t have to leave her.”

  Vero looked at him. It was nice to know someone understood how he felt.

  “But we don’t have our swords yet,” Ada said. “We have nothing to fight with.”

  “You’re wrong,” Vero said. “We have something stronger than swords.”

  “Me,” Greer said, stepping forward.

  “I was thinking more along the lines of faith,” Vero said. But he couldn’t help smiling.

  “Well, yeah, that too.” Greer flashed him a big smile.

  “But you guys need to understand what you’re getting yourselves into,” Vero said. “To find the maltures, we need to go to the entrance of the bottomless pit . . . ”

  “Where Abaddon reigns,” Ada said somberly.

  The fledglings exchanged glances, and Vero felt their concern. “That’s right,” Vero said.

  “That was bad down there,” Kane said, running his fingers nervously through his dark hair.

  “It’s where we need to go,” Vero said.

  Vero saw the fear in their eyes.

  “I know all of you vowed to help me; but I can’t lie to you, it’s a dangerous mission. If any of you want to bail, I’ll understand. No hard feelings.”

  The angels considered for a few moments.

  “Forget you,” Greer said. “You just want to hog all the glory.” She sounded different, and Vero realized she didn’t have that subtle sneer in her voice anymore. Vero studied her and finally figured out that her I-got-someplace-better-to-be stance and her this-had-better-be-good look were both gone. Yet she was still every bit the fierce warrior who’d bumped into him on his first day at C.A.N.D.L.E. She looked ready for battle. “I say bring it.”

  Ada had a determined look on her face, but she began twirling her curls. She nodded at Vero.

  “I’m also with you,” X said. He looked like he was already formulating tactics and evasive maneuvers in his mind. “After all, we are answering a prayer, so we should get extra strength to carry it out.”

  Kane walked up to Vero. “Aren’t you wondering how we found you here in the middle of nowhere?”

  “Well, yeah, now that you mention it . . . ”

  “We all got a hit from the prayer grid,” Kane said. “All of us got the exact same prayer. We were told to help you, so here we are. If you need to battle a couple of maltures, then I won’t let you down.” Kane stood up straight and strong.

  Vero looked over at Pax with his oversized glasses; the familiar worry shone in his eyes.

  “Do you believe you’re better than us?” Pax asked Vero.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Sometimes I can hear angels’ thoughts, and I’ve heard some things I wasn’t supposed to hear. For instance, Uriel said you’re special.”

  Vero collected his thoughts for a moment.

  “I’m Vero Leland. I get beat up by bullies on earth. I have trouble flying in the Ether. I can’t even carry out a simple little prayer like flagging down a cab on my own. I know I’m not better than anyone else.”

  Pax mulled Vero’s response. “That’s too bad. If we’re going over to malture territory, then I was really hoping you had something good up your sleeve.”

  “Sorry, I don’t.”

  “Are you in or not?” Greer asked impatiently.

  “A prayer is a prayer,” Pax said, “and I’m an angel of God. I’m in.” Pax knuckle-bumped Vero.

  Greer turned to Vero, “When you were giving your little speech about not being better than anyone else, you forgot to add that you have the worst taste in clothes. What the heck are you wearing?”

  Vero looked down at his outfit. He’d forgotten about the Elvis jumpsuit.

  “Yeah, the maltures might not take you very seriously in that getup,” X added.

  “Long story,” Vero said.

  He took off the jumpsuit, revealing a red T-shirt and jeans underneath. Vero dropped the jumpsuit to the icy floor. The temperature was comfortable inside the ice tunnel, so he was relieved he wouldn’t need it for extra warmth.

  “So where to now?” Kane asked, looking to Vero.

  Vero’s eyes took in their surroundings. There were two options — travel ahead in the tunnel or turn around and go in the opposite direction. Vero placed his hand over his heart, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. After a moment, his eyes opened.

  “My Vox Dei is telling me we should go straight ahead. Trust me. I know I can find it.”

  Moving unsteadily on the slippery ground, Ada tugged at X until they both fell flat on the ice.

  “I hope we’re gonna fly there,” Ada said as Vero helped her and then X stand up. “I was never great at ice skating.”

  The angels flew at breakneck speed underneath the ice as Vero guided them. They followed his Vox Dei like it was an internal radar system. When he was a little kid, Vero had watched a news story about a dog that got separated from his family while they were on vacation. The family searched for the dog for days until they’d finally had to go back home without him, heartbroken. Miraculously, three months later the dog showed up at their doorstep. He’d traveled over three hundred miles to find his way home. Vero had been amazed by the story, but now he understood.

  Vero led the others in a V shape. Just like geese, their bodies naturally formed the pattern. By having each fledgling fly slightly higher than the one in front, the formation caused a decrease in the wind resistance, which helped them conserve energy and keep track of one another.

  The snowy white ice above their heads began to grow darker. The bright light, which had shone through it, now dimmed while the temperature warmed even more. Vero noticed the walls and floors of ice were progressively transforming into walls and floors of stone.

  They flew faster, and gradually the tunnel walls widened. And as the walls grew farther apart, the tunnel’s height also grew taller and taller. Eventually, Vero saw twilight above them, and he knew they were no longer inside the tunnel. The sky was dark and filled with black clouds that obscured the tops of the stone walls.

  The next thing Vero became aware of was a strong smell of salt. Then humidity. Droplets of water hit his face. And there before them, the angels saw a vast ocean framed by massive rock cliffs.

  This ocean wasn’t the beautiful crystal blue of the Caribbean Sea. Rather, it was dark, completely black, and it matched the clouds overhead. The water appeared to be thick and move slowly, like bubbly mud. Was it an illusion? Vero wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t going to let this unsightly body of water slow their progress as the angels continued to fly well over the sea.

  “Don’t think I’ll be swimming down there,” Ada said.

  “It looks like sewage plant runoff gone way wrong,” Kane said.

  The black clouds cast shadows on the angels’ lily-white wings, making them appear gray and gloomy. Their V formation broke as each flew in closer to one another, afraid of the sinister water below.

  From behind them they heard an ear-splitting scream, which stopped them mid-flight. Vero saw Greer and Pax fall into the water. And his eye gl
impsed something long and scaly disappearing quickly into the water.

  “What was that?” X shouted.

  Whatever it was, it rose up out of the murky water again and slashed at them, throwing them into the sea along with Pax and Greer. Vero tried opening his eyes under the water to see what they were up against, but it was too dark to make out anything. He accidentally swallowed some water, noting that this was probably what motor oil tasted like. When he resurfaced, Vero saw the others bobbing up and down as they treaded water to stay afloat.

  A gurgled “Help!” caught Vero’s attention. He swam in the direction of the plea and saw Pax’s arms thrashing about as he desperately tried to keep his head above water. Dense waves of water rushed into Pax’s mouth, and then he went under.

  “Pax!” Vero shouted.

  Vero swam to Pax, grabbed him around the chest, and pulled his head up out of the water. Pax wasn’t responsive. Vero looked in all directions until he spotted a small cluster of rocks. He tried swimming toward the rocks while dragging Pax behind him. Pax sputtered and coughed, but at least he was alive!

  Pax began to slip out of Vero’s grip. Vero struggled to hold on to him, but Pax was like dead weight. He pulled Vero under.

  “Hold on!” Kane shouted, and he swam over and pulled Pax away from Vero.

  “Over there!” Vero told Kane.

  Kane hooked his arm over Pax’s chest and swam with him to the rocks while Vero followed. Kane pushed Pax up to safety. Greer, Ada, and X were already there. Pax was unconscious.

  “I don’t know how long that thing had Pax under the water,” Vero said, panting, “but I saw him take a mouthful of that noxious water.”

  “Let me try,” Greer said. She turned Pax onto his stomach and pushed on his back as hard as she could. Pax’s wings were gone. Everyone’s wings had disappeared when they hit the water.

  “Come on, Pax!” Greer cried, and she gave another mighty heave.

  “Please, Pax,” Ada said. Her long auburn curls appeared black from the seawater. She struggled to regain her breath as she watched Greer work on Pax.

  Finally, Pax coughed out great bursts of dark, slushy water. Greer helped him turn onto his side, away from the waves that crashed along their tiny outcrop of rocks. Vero sent up a silent prayer of thanks.

  “What was that thing?” X asked, wiping the water from his eyes.

  “Is it gone?” Pax whispered hoarsely.

  “I don’t know,” Vero said. “But we need to keep going. Can everyone fly?”

  “I don’t think my lungs can take it,” Pax said between coughs.

  “That thing might have gotten us just by pure luck,” Vero said.

  “Twice?” Kane asked.

  “I’ll try flying past, and then you can follow.”

  Vero concentrated and his wings appeared. He rose into the air and flew straight over the water. Five yards, twenty, fifty — the farther he went, the more sure he was of his escape.

  Vero looked back and flashed the others the thumbs-up sign. “Come on, we’re clear!” he called to them.

  “Vero!” X shouted.

  Vero turned in time to see an enormous sheet of scales rising from the sea — right before he was smacked back down into the water like a fly getting hit by a fly swatter. Momentarily stunned, he swam back to the rocks.

  “Got any other brilliant ideas?” Greer asked.

  “As a matter of fact, I do. I’ll just have to fly higher.”

  Vero stood on the rocks, opened his wings and shot high into the air. Vero was rising faster than he’d ever flown and gaining altitude quickly — until he was slapped back down into the water again.

  The others winced. Whatever they were dealing with, it was apparently massive. It smacked Vero like a volleyball getting stuffed at the net.

  “It won’t let him go higher,” X said.

  “Very observant,” Greer said.

  But Vero would not be deterred. He swam back to the rocks, got himself airborne for a third time, only to be smacked back into the water.

  Finally, Greer had enough. “Hey, moron! Do you know what Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is?”

  Vero didn’t answer her.

  “It’s doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That thing will not let us pass!”

  Greer was right. Vero needed to come up with a new tactic. He swam back to the rock cluster and Kane pulled him up. He sat down and gazed out over the black ocean. “If we only knew what that thing was, we could figure out how to get around it,” Vero said.

  Without warning, the water all around them began to bubble like a tarpit. As a few specks landed on his arm, Vero yelled, “It’s boiling!”

  “Oh, no . . . ” X stuttered.

  “What?”

  “Now I know what we’re up against.”

  Before X could say more, a gigantic creature resembling a dragon lifted its ugly head out of the water. Its eyes shone like a lighthouse beacon. The beast was covered in scales that were as thick as iron. Its mouth was lined with rows of sharp teeth. The teeth alone were easily two stories tall. Smoke billowed from its nostrils. As the rest of its body rose, the angels could see sharp fins running the length of its back. Now they knew what had been knocking them into the water — it was the creature’s tail.

  “And I thought the behemoth was big,” Pax said. “This thing is the size of a roller coaster!”

  “X, what is it?” Vero asked.

  “It’s the Leviathan from Job 41!” X said. “An invincible, fire-breathing sea monster. Nothing on earth is its equal.”

  Vero’s heart sank. He looked at X for anything more that might help them. Some glimmer of hope.

  “Job was pretty specific in his description. I won’t go into all of it; but basically, we have no chance here.”

  “Then what do we do?” Ada asked.

  “Turn back,” Kane answered.

  That was the last thing Vero wanted to do because the voice inside of him had only grown stronger. And it was urging him to continue in the direction they’d been headed.

  “We’re already in the middle of his ocean,” Vero said. “I don’t think he’d let us go back even if we wanted to.”

  Everyone was at a loss. The sky turned darker as a storm began to brew. Then Vero noticed that Greer had her eyes closed in concentration, praying for direction. Her fingers were stretched over her heart.

  “Wait . . . Greer might have something,” Vero said.

  Her eyes fluttered open as she came back to them. “Seriously? For real?” Greer said, questioning whatever directions she’d received.

  “What is it?” X asked. “What did you hear?”

  “Well, it’s not for the faint of heart,” she began. “But I know how to get around this overgrown crocodile.”

  27

  CATCHING A WAVE

  Fly into its mouth?” Pax exclaimed. “Are you crazy?”

  “It’s like Jonah and the big fish. He was able to live in the fish’s belly for three days and three nights until the whale finally spit Jonah onto dry land,” Greer said.

  “But a whale doesn’t have fangs that are two stories tall!” Ada said.

  “We’ll have to get the Leviathan to swallow us whole in one gulp,” Greer said.

  “Do you know what the real definition of insanity is?” Pax asked. “Your plan!”

  “Greer, we don’t have three days and three nights to spare,” Vero said.

  “We won’t need that long. Once we get in there, we’ll wait until its head is pointed beyond here, you know, to the land on the other side. And then we’ll use our wings to tickle its throat until it spits us out. We just need to hit his gag reflex.”

  There was a moment of silence as everyone considered Greer’s plan. It was far-fetched, but what other ideas did they have?

  Vero stretched out his arm, palm down, toward the others. “It’s so crazy, it just might work.”

  Greer placed her hand on top of his. “I’
m in.”

  X and Kane put their hands on top of the others. “Us too.”

  Pax reluctantly nodded his approval and placed his hand on the pile.

  Only Ada was left. She shrugged and said, “Okay, fine. But I just want to state for the record that I’m totally against this whole thing.”

  “Noted.” Vero smiled.

  “Okay, so we’ll need to hold on to each other. When a huge wave comes along, we’ll all jump on top of it and ride the wave straight into its mouth,” Greer said.

  “That’s a fine idea, except the water is boiling,” Pax said.

  Kane stuck his finger in the water to test it.

  “It’s not boiling anymore. I think the water must only heat up when the thing breathes fire.”

  “Oh, yes. Now it’s perfectly safe,” Pax said, pushing his glasses higher up on his nose with his index finger.

  The storm was now beginning to churn the water. The winds whipped the waves higher and higher, smashing them against the rocks. Vero knew the angels’ strength was waning.

  “I can’t hold on much longer!” X yelled, as if he’d read Vero’s mind.

  “Wait for it . . . wait,” Greer said. “Just a few seconds more until it opens its mouth . . . ”

  As the waves tormented the Leviathan, the creature grew angry. It raised its head. And when it opened its mouth to howl, Greer saw their opportunity.

  “Now!” she cried.

  Clinging to each other, the angels jumped off the rocks into the water below. Then a huge wave came up from behind them.

  “Hold tight!” Vero shouted.

  When the sea monster wailed at an ear-splitting level, the angels all body-surfed straight into the Leviathan’s mouth and landed safely on the other side of those two-story fangs. Its mouth closed, and the creature began to gag when it felt the intruders inside.

  “Oh no, it’s going to spit us out! But it’s too soon!” Greer yelled. “We’re in too deep! We’re too close to its throat! Quick, run back toward the front of its mouth!”

  The angels quickly ran forward, and the gagging motions stopped.