The second was Sandra again, this time not so bubbly.
“It’s me again, just closed down and left with Phillipe. Someone threw a brick through my windshield and slashed my two back tires. I’m waiting here for AAA, but don’t worry, Phillipe is staying with me until they come.”
The third call was from the restaurant phone, and was a stretch of a few minutes of silence. Julia’s finger hovered over the button to erase the message, but the chills she got convinced her to save it to memory instead.
The fourth call was from Sandra again, this time from the restaurant, placed an hour ago.
“Hi, Julia, I just got in and opened up for lunch. Seems we had an electrical problem here last night and lost power to the walk-in. We lost all the food we had prepped last night. Freezer is still working. I’m calling the electrician. Please call me back.”
Julia erased the call, frowning. She didn’t want to take the time to call, so she quickly sent a text: “Sandra, glad you are okay. Will be in later to look at the cooler. Going for a drive. Let me know what the electrician says.”
She dropped her phone in her purse when Alex came back in.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes, but there’s something strange going on at the restaurant.” She explained the calls to Alex. “I’ll go in and check on it later. Right now, we have a picnic to attend.”
Alex brushed Julia’s cheek with his hand and kissed her softly. He stepped back and held her gaze for a few moments.
“What’s wrong?” Julia asked.
“Nothing, I just love looking at you.” He paused. “Are you sure you don’t want to check on the restaurant first?”
Julia narrowed her eyes at Alex. He almost sounded hopeful. She asked, “Would you rather go check the restaurant first?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I want to go wherever you want to go.”
She studied him for a moment, and then smiled. “Let’s go, then. The pond meant so much to me growing up. I really want to share it with you.”
Alex stepped aside with a grand flourish of his arm. “After you, m’lady.”
Julia grinned and hustled past him. She cast a look back over her shoulder toward her bedroom ceiling. Her stomach rolled as she thought about telling Alex about the Archangels.
Please let him believe me, she thought.
She had moved fewer than fifty miles away from her childhood home in the suburbs south of Baltimore, but it might as well have been on the other side of the country. Julia had avoided making this trek for the last several years. Even though she felt the conversation with Alex needed to be at the pond—so she could show him, not just tell him what was going on—she was dreading the drive through her old neighborhood.
Alex chatted with her and kept the conversation light, as though he sensed her anxiety. It was another of the things she loved about him—his ability to comfort her with his presence without prying. He held her hand, and every few minutes he lifted it to his lips and planted a soft kiss on her fingers. Julia was thankful that he didn’t ask her why she wanted to drive all the way out to the area where she had spent such an awful part of her youth, and she didn’t offer him the information.
When the car rolled into the Lake Shore area, past the houses that all seemed to be cast from the same mold, with neatly manicured lawns and SUVs and minivans in the driveways, she slowed down, knowing they were getting close. Alex squeezed her hand lightly, a deep sadness on his face. She thought it was empathy.
“It can’t be easy for you to drive past that place.” He nodded toward the house her parents had lived in.
“How did you know…?”
“I told you. I want to know everything about you.” Alex squeezed her hand. “I drove out here once, a few months ago, so I would be able to see the house you told me about.”
“You are amazing.” Julia sighed. “It’s funny, you know. You might think it would be hard, but it really isn’t. I mean—look how far I’ve come. And I learned so much while I was there. About myself. About strength…”
Her words tapered off as she spotted the opening to the trail into the woods.
“We’re here.”
She guided the car to the shoulder, pulling safely off the road, and parked. Her stomach lurched. She wondered if she should tell Alex that it did unsettle her to visit this place. She opted not to, and steeled herself against the memories.
Alex let go of her hand and unbuckled his seat belt, staring in through the trees. “I don’t see a pond. Maybe it got filled in.”
Julia laughed. “No, it’s in there. Just through the trees and up the path a bit. Trust me.” She flashed him a smile she knew he found hard to resist.
“All right, lead the way.”
The two of them trekked across the road and stepped out of the daylight into a darkness so sudden it took a few minutes for their eyes to adjust. The woods had grown over since she had been here in her youth, the leaves cutting out most of the daylight. The sunlight filtered through in a few spots, and the reality of the place today was a stark contrast to the vision she had had of it during her time with Michael.
The smell of moss and damp, rotting leaves was far more pungent than she remembered, and the path was so overgrown it was hard to make it out. If she hadn’t been there so many times, she might have thought she was in the wrong place.
As if reading her mind, Alex said, “Are you sure this is the right place? This doesn’t look anything like the utopian place you’ve talked about.”
“I’m sure. You know, the solitude was the beauty of it for me. I always felt safe here, my thoughts uninterrupted. It really didn’t matter to me that it was a bit spooky. Though, honestly, I don’t remember it ever feeling this scary.” As the old familiar feeling of vulnerability crept in, she shivered and starting walking up the path toward the pond.
“What are you hoping to find here?” Alex walked very closely behind Julia, dodging the branches that slashed at him after she went past them. He missed one, and it whipped him across the cheekbone under his right eye. A large red stripe formed on his skin and he hissed an oath under his breath.
Julia spun around and cursed herself for being so careless with the branches. “Oh shit! I’m so sorry, Alex!” She placed one hand on each side of his face and kissed the angry red welt tenderly.
He laughed and returned her kiss. She gently broke away from him and forged ahead, following the sparse trail until she spied the path of stepping stones that led to the small pond. He sighed, then followed.
“This place is creepy, you know. I bet nobody has been here since you were all those years ago. Seems like the kind of place a person could easily bury a body,” Alex said, coming up behind her and resting a hand on her shoulder.
Julia shook her head. “You definitely watch too many crime shows, Alex. Look how peaceful it is.”
Alex stayed on the shore, watching her. She stepped carefully from one slippery stone to the next until she climbed onto the big boulder. She sat cross-legged on the top of it, her smile lighting up her face, and took a deep, calming breath. She raised a hand to beckon him to join her, then let it drop to her side. Her skin prickled.
“Something feels off,” Julia said suddenly, turning her head to look at Alex. He was looking over his shoulder back toward the woods, as though he had heard something.
“Yes, I think we should go,” he said. He turned back and looked at Julia, his forehead creased with concern.
She stood up reluctantly. She suddenly felt excessively large for the boulder and almost lost her balance. She put her arms out to the sides, stabilizing herself. She looked at the stagnant water for the first time and curled her lip in disgust.
“It’s all sludgy,” she muttered, surprised she hadn’t noticed before.
She picked her way back to the muddy shore and peered through the trees in the direction that Alex had the very direction Michael had taken her the night before. The stench of rotting undergrowth hung heavily in the air.
“You’ll get lost if you go that way,” Alex said, stepping in front of her and barring her path. “Besides, it really doesn’t feel right here. You’re the one who always goes on about listening to your instincts. Mine are all but screaming at me to get out of here.” His eyes were pleading as much as his tone.
Julia reached for Alex’s hand and gripped it, all his emotions flooding into her as she did. She felt his anxiety, which bordered on panic. She felt something else in him and thought it might be fear. Whatever it was, it came through strongly enough to compel her to leave, too.
“Let’s go,” she said. Her heart was racing, adrenaline surging through her almost as though someone—or something—was chasing her. She felt the unshakable prickle of a thousand eyes roaming her skin, and the fine hairs on the back of her neck were standing at attention. She caught Alex’s eye, and it was obvious he was just as eager to leave as she.
Hand-in-hand, they raced through the dense woods. Twice she actually thought there was someone running right beside her, catching only a glimpse of them out of the corner of her eye. As soon as she turned her head directly at the image, though, it was gone.
Must be shadows playing tricks on me, she thought, though she couldn’t remember being this frightened of a shadow. Alex cried out, and his all-out sprint turned into a hopping run. By the look of the limp he must have twisted his ankle. He still kept up, though.
When they finally plunged through the trees onto the shoulder of the road, the bright sunlight took them both by surprise and they stopped, doubled over, hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath. They didn’t stay that way long. They were both eager to get back in the car and get away.
They darted back across the highway, Alex limping while Julia trotted. Julia stopped abruptly at the driver’s side door.
“Why don’t I drive?” Alex offered, stepping in front of her. “You’re shaking.”
“That was really scary, Alex, and you’re shaking, too.”
“I’m good to drive, though,” he said, hand on the door handle as though it was decided.
A wolf howl sounded, high and lonely. Every inch of Julia’s skin prickled. She conceded the driver’s seat.
“Let’s just go,” she said, giving his hand one last squeeze.
“Yes, let’s just get out of here.” He lifted the passenger handle, and just as it clicked open, a bullet entered the right side of his head, passing straight through in a torrent of blood and brains. It flew past Julia’s left ear, less than an inch away.
Blood spattered all over her face, into her open mouth. The sound of running footsteps approaching quickly through the trees behind where Alex had been standing seemed to combine with the sound of her pounding heart, but her shock rooted her firmly in place. Alex’s body slid down the side of her BMW and onto the ground, a large red smear mapping its path.
Paralyzed, she saw the grinning madman step out of the woods, and at the same time, she saw Alex’s essence rise from his former shell. She felt a menacing rage emitting from him, and watched, transfixed, as Alex’s spirit swirled toward the assailant. What should have been beams of pure white radiance were instead black pellets of wrath, swarming like killer bees and squealing like a bomb dropping from the sky, the sound blistering her eardrums.
Whatever Julia was seeing, the murderer was oblivious to it. He stalked toward her, completely focused on his prey, a menacing sneer fixed across his face. As he moved to circle around the front of the car, Julia’s wide eyes were glued to his approach. She tried to move, but couldn’t. Something was holding her in place, though she couldn’t see or feel anything.
In the split second before he took his next step, Julia recognized him. Somewhere beneath the silent scream that filled her mind along with the image of Alex’s head exploding, there rose a tiny question.
The waiter?
The murderer took one step into the road toward her. A mass of enraged, churning orbs swept around his legs, toppling him into the highway and directly in front of an approaching SUV. He torpedoed through the air, his broken form wrapping around a large spruce tree in the grove on the other side of the highway. The branches snapped under the impact, and the mangled body dropped to the ground heavily. The SUV skidded to a halt a few feet up the road, the black stripes of peeling tires snaking down the asphalt.
The mass of orbs paused and seemed to sigh, and then vanished before her eyes as if they were never there at all.
Julia took a very deep breath and found she could finally move. Her head swiveled toward Alex, where he should have been standing on the other side of the car. When she exhaled, it came out in the form of a deafening scream.
Gabriel watched in silence as Alex fulfilled his chosen destiny—to guide Julia away from her death at the cost of his own life. Gabriel’s entire being sagged, the tremendous gravity of the event weighing him down. He met Michael’s gaze and held it for a long time. The questions running through his mind were disconcerting.
“What was it, Michael? What was in the forest, chasing them out? I could not see it, but its intentions were clear.” Gabriel tried to recall the last time he had encountered something he did not recognize as one of Michael’s creations. “I thought the danger was the sniper.”
“As did I.” Michael clenched his fists.
“Are the two connected?” This was the closest to panic Gabriel had ever felt, and the constant ruffling and resettling of his wings attested to that fact. “What was that thing?”
“That is what we need to find out. Gather the Archangels. We must act quickly.” Michael’s entire being was aflame with intensity. The High Protector was alarmed.
“I will, Michael.”
“Whatever it is, we are unable to see it.” Michael paused, his brow furrowed. “Where did it come from, and what is its purpose?”
“There is one more thing,” Gabriel said somberly.
“What’s that, Brother?”
“How do we defeat it?”
XIII
A faded maroon minivan pulled over seconds after the waiter’s mangled body hit the ground. The driver stepped out, instructing his young wife and child to stay in the vehicle. He dialed the emergency services number as he crossed the road toward Julia, who was sitting on the ground, cradling Alex’s lifeless body. She rocked back and forth, weeping and stroking what was left of his hair, holding what was left of his head to her chest.
As the man approached, she quieted. When she looked up, she could clearly see Michael’s silhouette beyond the man, framed by the sun, the light erupting around him. His wings were extended, and if he were solid he would have blocked her view of the other side of the street. She choked back her tears and looked from Michael to the man and back. The man stopped and checked over his shoulder to see what she was looking at, but all he saw was his own vehicle, his wide-eyed five-year-old pressing his face against the window, mouth hanging open. His dog was barking wildly, but was facing the other way, looking into the woods.
-That boy shouldn’t be seeing this,- Julia heard herself think distantly.
-He can’t see through me.- Michael’s voice echoed in her mind as though she was listening through a long tunnel.
-Why, Michael? Did you know this was going to happen? How am I supposed to carry on? Alex was my strength.-
-Not your strength, girl. Your support. He fulfilled his destiny. Now you must be strong and fulfill yours.-
-Destiny? What? I don’t want to. I want to go with Alex!-Even in her mind her voice crackled with raw emotion. When she looked up, she was shocked to see that she was standing at the top of the rainbow bridge. “What? How?”
“We are ‘traveling.’ Our spirits can come here and communicate and only a millisecond will pass on the earthly plane. Had I continued to talk to you there, inside your mind, you would have appeared lobotomized, and this is too important to rush.”
“Put me back! I have to be with Alex!” Julia spun around, looking for an escape.
“He is gon
e. You are physically sitting with the shell of the human body. His spirit is gone.” Michael narrowed his eyes. “You must be strong, girl. We need you to be strong.”
“Tell me then, Michael. What is so damned important that I need to lose everyone that I have ever loved, and still stay strong?”
“Sometimes events are carved out in ways even we don’t understand,” Michael said, straightening. There was a sadness to his voice Julia hadn’t heard before. “Ways we don’t foresee.”
“I don’t care! Send me to Alex. I can be with his spirit. Let me go with him!” Julia’s entire body trembled and she was barely able to stand.
Michael traced a finger on her forehead in the pattern of a rune. A wave of peace washed over her. Warmth and love flowed in and around her, all but obliterating the heartache that had been consuming her only seconds before. She slumped over, exhausted.
“Thank you.”
Michael only nodded.
Julia tried to read his eyes, but saw so many different things in them she couldn’t focus on only one. She took a deep breath, releasing it slowly, centering herself. “Michael?”
“Yes?”
“Alex. Will I see him now? Here?” Julia gestured to the heavy wooden doors.
“No, girl. Alex is gone. Alex’s spirit is gone.”
“What do you mean?” Julia’s anger ramped up again. “How can that be? His spirit—it should be here. He can’t be gone!”
Michael curled the tips of his wings, flexing them. It gave Julia the impression that he was bracing himself.
“What is it, Michael? Just tell me please.”
“Alex gave his life for you. We thought it would only be his physical form he would sacrifice. But when he did that, the danger had not passed. He gave his spirit—became the embodiment of wrath. His spirit is gone. His wrath has now expired.”
The shock of Michael’s words rocked Julia to her core. She shook her head. “No, there must be a way to bring him back! Please bring him back; I know you can do it!”
Divinity Page 9