Judgment (The Alternate Earth Series, Book 3)

by S. J. West

  “No,” I tell him, snuggling my head against him, “don’t move. I’m all right.”

  Mason rubs my back in a comforting up and down motion. “Then why are you crying, Jess?”

  I shake my head a little. “It’s not because I’m sad,” I reassure him. “I’m just enjoying the feeling of being loved, so just keep holding me.”

  “I can do that,” Mason tells me, sounding pleased by my request.

  I’m not sure how long we just stand there. I feel too comfortable to want to move a muscle. Finally, I feel Mason pick me up in his arms, like I’m as light as a feather. He lays me on the bed and takes my shoes off before covering me with a blanket. He leans over and gives me a soft kiss on the lips.

  “Why don’t you rest for a little while?” he suggests. “I’m going to go get your surprise ready.”

  “Don’t let me oversleep,” I say, even as my eyelids close of their own accord.

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  I’m not sure how long I sleep, but I do dream this time. I dream about a red dragon chasing me down a dark city street. At one point, the road comes to an abrupt end, like a cliff. I look over the edge and see an ocean of black water, crashing in waves against the rock face. Breathing hard, I spin around and find that the dragon is so close I can feel and smell its acrid breath wash across my face.

  As I stare into its soulless eyes, my hatred for the creature standing in front of me overcomes my fear.

  “You won’t beat us!” I yell defiantly. “I’m stronger than you think. I know who I am. Do you?”

  The dragon rears back and lets out a furious roar. It lunges towards me, its open mouth filled with fire. I purposely lean backwards off the cliff and fall, waking up with a jerk.

  “Oh! She is awake!”

  Startled, I instantly sit up and look around to find JoJo, Leah, and Nina in the bedroom with me.

  “Umm, why are you all in here?” I ask, confused by their presence and Mason’s absence. For some reason, I expected him to be waiting for me to awaken.

  “We are here to help you get ready!” JoJo says happily as she comes to sit on my side of the bed. Leah and Nina gather behind her.

  “Ready for what?” I ask. “Mason’s surprise for me?”

  “Oui, mon ami,” JoJo says with a nod of her head.

  “Do you know what the surprise is?”

  “Oui,” JoJo says, but leaves it at that.

  “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me what it is…”

  “I am allowed to tell you that Gabe and I will be joining you for supper,” JoJo says happily. “We are to have a double date. But beyond that, you will just have to wait and see.”

  I sigh, knowing it’s the most I will probably get out of JoJo.

  I look up at Nina and have to ask, “You and Rafe won’t be joining us for supper?”

  “I wish,” Nina says with a roll of her eyes, looking rather annoyed. “Rafe made me promise I would take him out so he can help heal people. I love him for the way he cares about others, but sometimes he scares me with his determination to help everyone all the time.”

  “So why do I need help getting ready?” I ask the trio. “Am I that bad at cleaning myself up?”

  Leah giggles. “No, Jess. Mason just didn’t want you to be alone, is all. He’s still working on your surprise. It’s taking him longer than he thought because he needs to get something from Xavier.”

  “What does he need to get from him?”

  Leah smiles. “You’ll just have to wait and see…”

  I sigh, knowing I won’t get any answers from my friends.

  “Well, I guess we’d better get started,” I tell them. “What do you need me to do first?”

  “Not to sound rude,” JoJo says, “but you need to shower yourself first. After that, we will handle the rest!”

  I didn’t take offense to JoJo’s suggestion. I was fully aware of my disheveled appearance.

  I take my time in the shower, feeling no need to rush through it. If this evening ends the way I hope it will, I definitely want Mason to find me thoroughly clean. Just the thought of making love with Mason instantly makes my heart begin to race, and my body feel a few degrees warmer. I turn up the cold water in the shower to help cool my skin off before hopping out.

  Even though I understand Mason and I have made love hundreds of times in the past, if not more, just thinking about his hands caressing my body and teasing certain parts expertly makes me feel flushed. The only problem with tonight is that everyone knows exactly what Mason and I are going to attempt. It is a little…no…a lot… embarrassing.

  The ladies do, indeed, help me get ready for my big night with Mason. Leah applies a little makeup to my face, but keeps it light and natural. I can only assume that it’s the way I normally wear it. Nina dries my hair with a towel and brushes it out straight for me, only using a flat iron to smooth out the ends.

  “I feel kind of silly sitting here and letting the three of you doll me up,” I confess.

  “Nonsense,” JoJo says with a wave of her hand in my direction. She continues to study three dresses I saw her lay out on the bed earlier. “Now, which one of these will be the easiest for Mason to remove…?”

  Involuntarily, I cough because I just choked on my own spit after hearing JoJo’s words.

  “Hey,” Nina tells me, “at least she’s not trying to decide which one he can rip off the fastest.”

  “Yeah,” Leah looks over at JoJo, “how come, JoJo? You’re normally all for the ripping off of dresses.”

  “Psshh,” JoJo says with another wave of her hand at us. “Mason will be a gentle lover tonight. I can tell by the way he looks at Jess.”

  “How is he looking at me?” I ask, embarrassed. “Like a wounded animal?”

  “Like he loves you more than anything else in this world,” JoJo says, as if correcting me. “And that is exactly the way he feels about you. If you had your memories, you would know that without question, mon cheri.”

  I sigh, wishing for the hundredth time that I could remember my life.

  “I’m going to get them back,” I say confidently. “I know I will.”

  It doesn’t take long to get ready after that. JoJo decides I should wear a sleeveless blue dress that is simple and elegant in design. She chooses to wear a white floral dress from the ones on the bed.

  I soon learn that I love being around JoJo. Her love for life is so infectious you don’t even realize when it is you started to smile while you’re with her. As she spins around, showing me how the skirt she designed flares out, I find myself giggling along with her.

  “I won’t be able to wear such pretty things for too much longer,” JoJo tells me, covering her belly protectively with both hands.

  “Are you pregnant?” I ask, understanding the universal signal of a new mother.

  “Oui,” JoJo says happily. “It’s so strange to break the news to you twice.”

  “Congratulations!” I tell her, giving her a hug. It just seems like the natural thing to do with JoJo.

  “Thank you, mon ami,” JoJo says, hugging me back.

  “Ok, well, I hate to brush hair and run,” Nina says to us, “but the longer I make my man wait, the grumpier he’s likely to get.”

  “Don’t let him do anything stupid, Nina,” Leah says. “Sometimes he seems to think about other people’s safety before his own.”

  “I’ve got his back,” Nina reassures Leah. “Don’t worry about him. I won’t let anything happen.” Nina looks at me. “Good luck tonight, Jess. Maybe tomorrow you’ll know who I am.”

  I nod. “I hope so.”

  Nina phases, and the rest of us decide to go downstairs.

  “You should eat with us, too,” I tell Leah.

  “Oh, that’s all right, Jess. I’ve got something else I need to go do anyway.”

  “Uh,” JoJo says in disgust as we descend the staircase to the first floor. “Why did they put you in charge of that devil woman?”

  �
��She’s not a devil woman, JoJo,” Leah says. “She just made a mistake, is all. She didn’t have to come back here and tell us what happened.”

  JoJo begins to string together a long line of French words that are completely lost on me. From her agitated state, I can only assume her words are not complimentary to whomever it is she’s talking about.

  “Who is she?” I ask. “And what kind of mistake did she make?”

  Leah looks at JoJo, as if to confirm that I should be told the truth. JoJo nods her head, giving Leah permission to answer my question.

  “It’s a Watcher from this world named Sophia,” Leah tells me. “She made a deal with Lucian that helped him get possession of the trumpets and Gabriel, who we had as our prisoner at the time.”

  “She betrayed us!” JoJo says hotly. “She is getting what she deserves!”

  “Why did she betray us?” I ask.

  “They were torturing her daughter,” Leah says, looking at JoJo like she should understand the impossible choice Sophia had to make. “I don’t think any of us can say what we would have done in a similar situation.”

  “She should have come to us first,” JoJo says emphatically. “We could have helped her get Logan back.”

  “She practically had to watch Logan be skinned alive, JoJo! What would you have done in that situation? I doubt she was thinking straight. I’m sure all she could think about was getting her daughter away from those animals.”

  “JoJo, what’s wrong?” Gabe says, walking out of the entryway from the library. “I could hear you swearing in French all the way in the other room.”

  “Sophia,” JoJo says, apparently knowing Gabe will understand her mood with that single word.

  “Ahh,” he says, fully understanding. “Well, why don’t we forget about her for now, so we can concentrate on Jess this evening?”

  JoJo takes a deep breath, as if it will help clear her thoughts. “Oui, you are right. Tonight is all about our Jess.”

  “I’ll see you guys later,” Leah says, before leaning up and giving me a kiss on a cheek. “Hopefully, tomorrow, you’ll remember that we’re sisters.”

  Leah walks away before I get a chance to ask her how we’re sisters.

  “Mason isn’t back just yet,” Gabe tells me, “but he said we should start supper without him, since he wasn’t sure how long he would be.”

  I feel a great sense of disappointment that I have to wait to see Mason again. I begin to wonder if this is the way I always feel when he isn’t close by.

  Gabe takes JoJo’s arm and heads back towards the library. I follow behind, feeling like a wobbly third wheel.

  We end up walking through the library to another room that is connected to it. This room has bare wood floors and a wall of windows facing out towards a large body of water.

  “Where exactly is this castle built?” I ask Gabe as he pulls out JoJo’s chair for her.

  “This island is part of the Thousand Islands in the Saint Lawrence River,” Gabe tells me.

  “I’m guessing geography was never my strong suit,” I tell Gabe as I take my own seat at the table. “Where is that exactly?”

  “It’s the river system that runs between upper New York State and Canada,” Gabe says as he sits beside JoJo.

  “Ahh, now that I understand. Thanks.”

  I look at the small round table adorned with a white tablecloth and a small bouquet of red and white silk flowers.

  There’s a momentary silence, as none of us seem to know what to talk about.

  “So,” I say, breaking the tension, “when do you think the baby is due?”

  “We’re not completely sure,” Gabe says, placing his arm across the top of JoJo’s chair as he turns into her. “I guess you should have some tests run as soon as you get home.”

  “Oui,” JoJo says happily. “I will need to know when our little bundle of joy will come into the world, so I can have his wardrobe ready.”

  “So you already know it will be a boy?” I ask.

  “I had a vision of him,” Gabe tells me with a proud smile. “He’ll be as handsome as his old man, too.”

  JoJo giggles. “Mon dieu! I will have to beat the girls off of him with my yard stick if he is as handsome as you.”

  Gabe chuckles. “Now someone should really take a video of that and post it on YouTube.”

  “Oh, you,” JoJo says, swatting playfully at Gabe.

  “What did I miss?” I hear Mason say as he comes into the room behind me.

  I turn in my seat as Mason walks up to my chair. He leans down to give me a small kiss. Involuntarily, I hear myself sigh; I’m slightly disappointed his kiss didn’t last a bit longer.

  Mason takes his seat beside me and reaches underneath the table to take my hand. He squeezes it slightly, as if silently telling me that he missed me as much as I missed him.

  “So why was JoJo hitting you, Gabe?”

  “I always miss the good stuff,” I hear Malcolm say as he walks into the room, rolling a silver cart with a soup tureen and four bowls on it.

  “Oh!” JoJo says, sniffing the air as the aroma of the soup fills the room. “Is that my favorite of your soups, Malcolm?”

  “Of course it is,” he replies, standing beside the table and taking the lid off the tureen, “but you’d better enjoy it while you can. I have a feeling food will be in short supply soon. I’m sure potatoes and kale will be hard to come by, much less sausage and heavy cream.”

  “Then I will savor every mouthful,” JoJo promises.

  “You cook?” I ask Malcolm, not hiding my surprise. “I didn’t peg you as the domestic type.”

  “Well, you know,” Malcolm says, scooping some of the soup into a bowl, “I figured if I ever decide to settle down, I might need to know how. The Brand on our world taught me everything he knows, so I would be prepared. I might as well practice, in case I ever meet my soulmate.”

  “I didn’t peg you as a hopeless romantic type either.”

  Malcolm hands the bowl of soup to JoJo.

  “Not hopeless,” Malcolm replies, “just hopeful.”

  As I look at Malcolm, I find myself hoping that he does meet his soulmate one day, and that they share a love that transcends anything he can imagine for himself.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  I soon learn that I’m a complete glutton at the supper table. While everyone else sips their soup, I down mine like a pig at a feeding trough. However, no one seems disturbed or offended by my eating habits, which tells me it’s just the way I normally eat.

  As Malcolm serves us the second course to our meal, a ground-beef casserole with rice and vegetables that tastes slightly Middle Eastern in origin, Gabe and JoJo tell me about their life, living between Paris and New York City. It sounds very jet-set and exciting, but not exactly conducive to a family life.

  “Do you think you’ll be settling in one place after the baby is born?” I have to ask.

  “Oui.” JoJo nods her head definitively, making her curls bounce against her shoulders. “We have decided to make New York our home during most of the year, and we’ll stay in Paris during the summer months. I see no reason to choose between two cities I love and gain so much inspiration from. Our son will have the advantages of both, and can decide where he wants to live when he gets old enough.”

  JoJo and Gabe fill me in on some details about their life and their plans. The love they have for one another is obvious, and being around them simply makes me happy. I now understand why Mason decided to invite them to have supper with us. I’ll admit I was slightly disappointed that we weren’t going to have a romantic dinner for two. But, now, I think I fully understand Mason’s intentions.

  His love for me is without limits, but so is the love my friends harbor for me. I need them just as much as I need him in my life. From what I was told, the bond between our Archangels is strong; at least strong enough to bring a group of strangers together from all around the world. It was powerful enough to pull my soul back into my body after Lucifer killed me,
and it transported us all here to alternate Earth. Which made me wonder…

  “Do you think we could gather everyone together?” I ask Mason. “All the vessels?”

  “I’m sure we could,” he says, uncertain why I’m bringing this up while we’re all still having supper.

  “Didn’t you tell me earlier that, when we’re all together, we can make an inner realm?” I ask.

  “Yes,” Mason answers, waiting for me to say more.

  “Well, what if we make one right now? Maybe it can help me connect with Michael.”

  “Damn,” Gabe says across the table, “why didn’t we think of that? I’ll go get the others, Mason, but you’ll need to send someone out to get Rafe. I don’t know where Nina took him.”

  JoJo and I wait in the library together while Gabe and Mason work on bringing all the other vessels to me. In my heart, I can feel Michael jumping for joy. I feel sure that he wants to connect with the other Archangels as much as I want to finally hear him speak.

  About five minutes later all of the vessels are present, except for Rafe.

  “Do you know where they went?” I ask Chandler.

  “Not a clue,” Chandler shrugs. “I’m not even sure they were going to one particular spot.”

  “Why don’t we just call Nina’s phone?” Leah asks.

  “Cellphones don’t work anymore,” Zack informs us. “My guess is that the meteor shower took down too many cell towers and satellites.”

  “Even if we can save this world,” Gabe says, “it’s going to take them a long time to get back on their feet.”

  “Anybody else just really want to go home?” Leah looks at us all a bit guiltily.

  One by one, we all raise our hands, letting her know that she’s not the only one who feels that way. I may not remember home, but I know it has to be better than where we are.

  “It’ll be over soon,” Zack tries to reassure the group. “It can’t last forever. Though, if I miss the birth of my first born, Faison might just make me wish I had stayed here.”

  We all laugh at his joke, making the tension in the room a little less palpable.

  When Mason walks into the room with Nina and Rafe beside him, I breathe out a sigh of relief.