Heaven Painted as a Christmas Gift

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  “Laverne,” Patty said into the air.

  Belle and Nancy and Jewel crawled out of Patty and stood next to her in the noise of the casino as Laverne and Poker Boy and Stan appeared, followed an instant later by Tommy.

  Jewel hugged Tommy. Before the change of plans, he and K.J. were to have been on the teams destroying the black magic, something that had scared Jewel more than she wanted to admit.

  Patty pointed to the man sitting at the machine. “Look at his aura and his life connection.”

  The minute she pointed it out, the black, crawling slime around the life connection became clear.

  “Damn,” Laverne said. “Just damn.”

  Jewel had no doubt that if Lady Luck herself was swearing, things had just gone from bad to worse.

  Section Five

  THE LAST CHRISTMAS STAND

  THIRTY-FOUR

  BELLE STARED AT the black magic slime crawling over the poor man’s aura connection to the larger world. More than likely he was a good man who had lived a decent life, since his aura was mostly gold and red and brown. Very little black in the essence of his aura.

  But the black magic almost covered his connection to the larger world.

  Laverne took the entire group out of time, shutting down all the movement of everyone around them and all the sound as well. To Belle, that intense silence was very unnerving.

  “Hold this bubble,” Laverne said to Stan. “We need someone who has seen this before.”

  Then she was gone.

  Nancy started toward the man with the black magic on his aura and Belle followed, wanting to stop her, but not saying anything.

  “Don’t touch that,” Stan said as all of them stopped within a few steps of the man.

  “It’s not moving,” Nancy said. “Which means it has a life of sort and is connected in real time.”

  “Something alive can be killed,” Belle said.

  “Black magic is very much a living thing,” Patty said. “It lives by consuming hosts which is why in darker times those suspected of black magic were killed.”

  Belle glanced back at Patty and could see the hurt in her dark brown eyes from that statement. Patty had been around many centuries, Belle knew, from being inside her head. More than likely she had seen such awful things happen up close.

  “So besides killing the host, what kills black magic?” Poker Boy asked, standing next to Patty and letting her lean on him.

  “I honestly don’t know,” Patty said.

  Belle did not want to think about killing all the people infected. That would be millions. She pushed that thought away.

  “Well,” Nancy said, “if there is something that kills it, we can send it back right here into the larger consciousness layer through this man.”

  Belle nodded. “Standard system cleaning. Find an infection and turn the infection back on the rest of the infection to clear it out.”

  A moment later Laverne returned inside the time bubble with a man with a long gray beard, long gray hair, a long deep blue robe that went all the way to the ground, and a colored pointed hat with bright stars on it. He looked like the worst example of a cliché magician Belle had ever seen.

  If she hadn’t been standing in a time bubble with ghosts, superheroes, and gods, she might have laughed.

  Beside her Nancy smiled and shook her head.

  The old man said, “Tsk, tsk.” Then he stepped toward the black tar frozen around the aura of the poor man at the slot machine and cut off a piece with his knife.

  He held the black piece up to look at it. It just looked like a black piece of hard tar to Belle, and she shuddered at the fact that he was holding it.

  “I will return,” he said to Laverne, who bowed slightly as the man vanished.

  Poker Boy asked the question Belle was thinking. “Who was that?”

  “One of the ancient ones,” Laverne said, shaking her head. “We do not say his name.”

  Poker Boy nodded and a moment later the ancient one appeared, stuck the piece of black magic back where he had cut it out, and wiped off his hands on his robe.

  “Nasty troll magic,” he said, sounding clearly disgusted.

  His voice sounded deep and raspy and almost echoed in the silence of the time bubble.

  “They should be stopped,” he said.

  “This is hundreds of years old,” Laverne said, “and those that planted it inside the heads of the unsuspecting have been destroyed.”

  “Good,” he said, nodding. “So what is it that you need from me if you knew the source?”

  “This has infected millions of innocents around the world,” Laverne said. “If allowed to progress, this world will cease to exist.”

  “Well, that can’t be allowed to happen,” the old man said. “Kill all the infected ones.”

  Laverne nodded. “We have considered that. But we hope for another solution.”

  Belle was flat shocked that Laverne had considered mass murder, even to save billions of other lives.

  “How can this sort of troll black magic be stopped and destroyed?” Laverne asked.

  “Darkness is always destroyed by light,” the old man said. “This troll dark magic here will easily fall to a spell of intense brightness.”

  He looked back up the aura string covered in the black substance. “The light would need to come from inside the human’s connection to the great consciousness. I have no idea how you would do that. Better off to kill the humans infected and be done with it.”

  With that he vanished, leaving the silence even more intense inside the time bubble.

  Belle couldn’t stand it after a moment and turned to Laverne. “So where do we get a very bright, and very infectious white light?”

  THIRTY-FIVE

  JEWEL JUST FELT stunned at the old man in the funny robe and hat. He had looked like someone’s grandfather dressing up in a magician’s robe and pointed hat for a costume party. She couldn’t believe the guy actually dressed like that normally.

  And Jewel had felt sick to her stomach when the man had simply said it would be better to kill millions to solve this problem. And Jewel could tell that Laverne had to consider that option.

  When Belle asked her where they could get a bright and infectious white light, Laverne had nodded, then said, “Remain here. I will return.”

  “Could she really think of killing millions to save the planet?” Tommy asked.

  Poker Boy and Patty and Stan all nodded.

  “Ever heard of Atlantis?” Poker Boy asked.

  “Let’s not talk about that,” Stan said. “And never ask her about that. We need to stay focused on solving this in a better way than what happened with Atlantis.”

  Jewel and everyone nodded.

  Jewel had a hunch she knew what Belle and Nancy were thinking, but she wanted to be sure.

  She turned to Belle and Nancy. “So you are thinking we get the light and climb into this guy and kill black goo all the way into the world’s subconscious cloud?”

  “It would be easier if we could just send the light in like a virus,” Belle said.

  Nancy nodded. “And let it expand through the network on its own, but I have a hunch it won’t be that easy.”

  Laverne again appeared, this time with two very tiny, pointed-eared women who looked like elves and from what Jewel could tell, actually were elves. Only both were very old, dressed as older women in Vegas would dress, with long dark slacks, sweaters, hats to keep the sun from their faces and hide their ears some, and large black purses.

  One carried a coin bucket full of nickels.

  Laverne pointed at the black magic surrounding the man’s aura connection.

  Both older women stepped back and put a hand over their mouths.

  “Troll black magic,” Laverne said. “Planted a hundred years ago by the Awgwas to wipe the memory of Christmas from all humans.”

  “They were evil,” one short woman said.

  “Very,” the other said. “We owe the Huntsmen a debt of g
ratitude for wiping them out.”

  “I agree,” the other said, nodding.

  Jewel just kept staring at the two. Between the guy in the hat and these two, this morning was about as strange as any dream she had ever had. Maybe worse.

  “So I assume you would like to try to destroy this with elfin light?” one of the tiny women asked.

  Laverne nodded.

  The woman nodded and pointed at an area above the poor man’s head and a white light shot from her finger.

  The black vanished from around the core of connection leaving the man’s normal golden aura connection for a few feet.

  The older woman nodded. “It seems our light will do it just fine. But it will need to be from the inside of the infected person’s aura to be effective.”

  “Can your light, in any fashion, be carried by these four?” Laverne asked.

  She pointed to Jewel and Belle and Nancy and Tommy.

  “Ghost Agents?” one woman asked.

  Laverne nodded.

  “It can be,” both women said at the same time.

  “Can your light be made to be infectious?” Belle asked, bowing slightly first before asking her question.

  Jewel was impressed Belle had the courage to even talk to real elves.

  “In what way, dear?” one tiny woman asked.

  “There are millions that have been infected with this dark magic,” Belle said. “We would like to try to put as much white light into the consciousness layer overhead to flood down into every person on the planet and completely wipe out any chance of the black magic surviving.”

  “Like fighting a computer virus with a cleaning program,” one elf said to the other, who nodded.

  Jewel was stunned that these two older women, or elves, knew what a computer virus even was.

  The two women looked at each other for a moment. “Laverne, please come with us before the great council. We may have a solution.”

  With that, once again the four ghosts plus Patty, Stan, and Poker Boy remained in the intense silence of the time bubble.

  Finally Tommy turned to Poker Boy. “Are all your missions this weird?”

  Poker Boy laughed. “Not all of them.”

  That meant some of them were, and Jewel wasn’t sure if she was happy or not to hear that.

  THIRTY-SIX

  BELLE COULDN’T BELIEVE she had actually had the courage to talk with two elves, but at this point, nothing much was going to surprise her anymore. She and Nancy had only been dead a very short time and everything she had come to believe about the world was tipped on its head, including the entire idea of dying.

  How, as ghosts, she and Nancy found themselves fighting to now save millions of lives was beyond her. It would take months before any of this really sank in.

  If it ever did.

  Suddenly Laverne was back with the two older women. They each handed Patty two golf-ball-sized spheres.

  “White light,” Laverne said. “Use one to clear the path up through this man’s aura and into the consciousness layer. Keep the other for protection.”

  Patty nodded.

  Laverne turned to Jewel and Belle and Nancy. “You three will be with Patty, as you did before. The Great Elvin Council has agreed that all elves, as is needed, will send white light up through their aura connections into the great consciousness layer.”

  “This is what it will look like,” one of the older elves said.

  Belle watched as suddenly a stream of white light shot up through her aura connection and through the roof.

  “Elves have most green aura connections twisted around with lines of gold,” one of the elves said.

  Belle could see what they both were saying and that would be easy to spot now that she knew what she was looking for.

  “Thank you,” Nancy said.

  Belle liked this idea a lot. The cure would be coming in from a thousand sources around the world into the network.

  Laverne went on. “It is your job to direct the white light sent up to you and ask for more if you need it. Patty, just speak aloud and I will hear you and send more into the area you are in.”

  Then, before Belle or Nancy could say anything, Laverne turned to Poker Boy and Tommy. “You two will monitor their progress from above the consciousness layer, making sure they do not get lost. Or that they do not miss an infected strand. Tommy, you will be able to hear Jewel’s thoughts while this mission lasts. Understood? And connect with Poker Boy so he can hear your instructions as well.”

  They both nodded.

  “I’ll show you how to connect,” Jewel said to Tommy and he nodded.

  “How will we be able to direct the white light into different channels?” Nancy asked the moment before Belle could ask the same exact question.

  “White light is a fluid,” Laverne said. “Simply damn it with mind shields to the direction you would like it to go. Each of you imagine a clear shield in front of you directing white light at the man who is infected.”

  Belle did as Laverne said.

  Both elf-women pointed at the three of them and white light emitted from their fingers.

  Belle made her shield strong in her mind and the white light bounced off like hitting a mirror and hit the man at the slot machine.

  Any sign of black magic goo vanished from around the poor man completely.

  “Well done,” Laverne said, nodding.

  Laverne turned to the two elves and bowed “Thank you for your help. We will be ready in a moment.”

  “This is to save our world and our Nick,” one of the short women said. “It is our pleasure to be asked to help this great team save the world once again.”

  With that, they vanished.

  “So this is how you do it,” Belle asked, smiling at Patty and Poker Boy.

  “Actually,” Poker Boy said, “I usually ask more stupid questions.”

  Both Patty and Stan nodded.

  Poker Boy just shook his head. “You didn’t have to agree.”

  Patty kissed him on the cheek. “Yes we did,” she said.

  Even Laverne smiled.

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  JEWEL QUICKLY SHOWED Tommy how to connect with Poker Boy so they could talk. Then she kissed Tommy and went back over to Patty.

  “Ready?”

  Patty nodded and without hesitation Jewel stepped inside her and created a safe area and connected to Patty’s mind.

  “Ready for the other two.”

  Patty repeated that and Belle and Nancy joined her.

  “You hold us together and direct Patty,” Belle said. “Nancy and I will create the shields.”

  “Good idea,” Jewel said. Then she had Patty tell Poker Boy and Tommy to jump ahead and get above the consciousness level.

  Patty did.

  Then she told Laverne and Stan to lower the time bubble.

  Jewel could hear through Patty the sounds of the casino smash in around them.

  “How do I get inside his aura?” Patty asked, stepping toward the man playing the slots. Jewel could see the black magic goo slowly moving down the man’s aura connection.

  “Step into him now,” Laverne said. “Just as the others stepped into you.”

  Jewel could read Patty’s thoughts about having yet another new power. It seemed she had had the same powers for a lot of centuries until this mission suddenly changed everything.

  “Keep me calm, Jewel,” Patty said.

  “Got you,” Jewel said. And gave Patty calming feelings and the memory of how it felt to slip inside a live person.

  Patty opened one of the spheres and white light flooded out as she stepped inside the guy sitting at the slots.

  Jewel and Patty and Belle and Nancy could all read his thoughts instantly. He was feeling great and having a good day. He was from Michigan, his wife loved to play slots, and he was starting to like them as well, as long as they didn’t spend much money each trip.

  “He’s in a good mood from the white light hitting him,” Belle said.

  “
More than likely,” Nancy said.

  “Jewel,” Nancy said, “We’re going to need to keep all of us blocked from the memories and thoughts of all the people in these aura streams.”

  “Understand,” Jewel said. “I’ll use my screen for that.”

  “Form it into a pointed cylinder around all four of us,” Belle said.

  “Like a bullet?” Jewel asked, laughing.

  “Exactly,” Belle said, also laughing.

  As they started up the aura connection from the man into the clouds, Jewel formed the shield and the man’s thoughts went away.

  After only another moment, they were in the consciousness cloud. The white light they had directed ahead from the sphere Patty held had wiped out the black magic infection for as far as they could see from inside the aura tunnel.

  Around them it felt as if they were in a tube just larger than they were. The tube twisted and turned and joined others and touched others and went off into the distance.

  Patty remembered the map of the consciousness and Nancy pointed to a hub area. “We can flood this area with white light from there.”

  Almost instantly they were at the hub.

  Now instead of a tube, they seemed to be in a large golden, shimmering bubble with thousands and thousands of holes in the walls.

  The white light Patty still held cleared out a bunch of the black magic threads, leaving the massive chamber white and shimmering gold.

  “We’re going to have to be careful to not get ahead of ourselves,” Jewel said to both Patty and Belle and Nancy.

  “I agree,” Belle said. “Seems we can travel at the speed of thought in here. I don’t want to jump into a nest of that black stuff if we don’t have to.”

  Jewel checked in with Tommy. “Can you see us and hear me?”

  “Loud and clear,” Tommy said.

  “Have the white light sent up from the Las Vegas area and we’ll see how this is going to work,” Jewel said.

  “Be ready,” Jewel said to Belle and Nancy.

  “I take the north side of this,” Belle said.