by Jerel Law
Suddenly, a blur of light came from over the top of the building, right above the fallen ones. Jonah’s eyes popped open, and the fallen ones turned and looked up, only to find the charging bullet of light coming directly for them. Before they could think of shielding themselves, the blur crashed into them both, blasting them into the alleyway wall, sending shards of bricks and a cloud of dust flying through the air.
The fallen angels fell to the ground, covered in rubble. Something, or someone, grabbed their arms, and Jonah and Eliza began to rise quickly into the sky. As they zoomed up next to the wall of the building and over the edge, Jonah saw Robert take off after them.
Jonah was on one side of whatever was carrying them, and Eliza on the other, hurtling through the air at an unbelievable rate of speed. They caromed around like a pinball, turning, ducking, diving around buildings, swerving narrowly to avoid streetlights. Jonah’s head was bouncing back and forth as he flew along on his back, something wrapped around his arm tightly. But not painfully, Jonah realized. Finally, he was able to turn his head enough to see someone between the two of them wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, with two wings coming out of his back.
“Hi, Jonah!” The smiling face of Henry turned toward him briefly. “Having a good flight so far?”
All Jonah was able to say was, “Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! ” Henry just laughed good-naturedly and readjusted his grip on Jonah’s arm.
“Hold on, now, we’ve almost lost them,” he said, gunning forward even faster as he circled building after building. Eliza was screaming at the top of her lungs. But after Jonah stopped panicking so much, he noticed that he didn’t feel like he was being dragged. His body was not hanging down so much as it was floating along, with the angel. His feet and legs felt light. It was almost like with Henry holding on to him, he was able to fly too.
With no sign of the fallen angels, Henry began to descend. They floated toward the ground, in between a few large skyscrapers, landing in the median of a quiet street. Taxicabs were cruising past them, but there was no sign of the black creatures. They sensed something behind them, though, something large, and quickly Jonah and Eliza spun around. A giant bull with massive horns glared at them, looking like it was ready to charge.
“Ahhh!” Eliza yelled, and started to throw her hands up and form another shield as Jonah reached behind him for another arrow.
“Guys!” Henry said, trying not to break down in laughter. “It’s a statue. You know, the Wall Street bull?”
They lowered their arms slowly, realizing that it was indeed a bronze statue of a bull. It looked menacing, but it wasn’t going to charge after them anytime soon.
Jonah snorted as the tension drained from his limbs and laughter replaced it. Soon, he and Henry were laughing so hard that Jonah had to sit down on the sidewalk. When they finally stopped gasping for air, they found Eliza staring at them furiously.
“You about got us killed!” she said, pointing at Henry, whose smile faded just a little. “All of that flying around, every which way, zooming around buildings, up and down. Are you crazy?”
Jonah stepped forward. “He saved our lives, Eliza! What did you think was going to happen back there? Did you think those arrows were going to miss us again?”
“Hmph,” mumbled Eliza, kicking the sidewalk at her feet.
Henry extended his hand, smiling warmly at her. “Hi, Eliza. I’m Henry. In all of the hubbub, we didn’t get properly introduced back at your house. Glad you can finally see me, after all these years.”
Reluctantly, she reached out and shook the angel’s hand. “So how did you know where we were?”
“Henry is our family’s guardian angel,” Jonah answered, putting up his hand for Henry to high-five. “He can find us anytime he wants to.”
“Guardian angel for our family, huh?” Eliza said. “Well, you haven’t done a great job lately, have you? Our mom is gone, and this is the third time we’ve almost been killed today. And the sun’s not even up.”
And with that, she spun around and walked away. Jonah was about to go after her, but Henry grabbed his arm.
“No, Jonah,” he said, watching her walk. “It’s okay. Give her a minute. She’s safe as long as we can see her. Anyway, I’ve been thinking the same thing myself, especially after today. It’s just that, with you guys, well, there’s been a lot going on, a lot of bases to cover. And at some point, even angels just have to trust Elohim.” They sat in silence another minute, letting Eliza have her space. Finally, Henry got to his feet.
“Come on,” he said to Jonah. “We need to get inside somewhere, get some breakfast, and find a private place where we can talk.”
He began to walk after Eliza.
“And I think I know a spot.”
THIRTEEN
FRAUNCES TAVERN
Jonah, Eliza, and Henry hurried down the New York City street, and Jonah could tell that she was slowly softening toward the guardian angel. They continued to search the sky above them for any sign of the fallen angels, but apparently they really had lost them, at least for now. As they were about to round the corner and move onto a busier street, Henry paused.
“Hold on a second,” he said, and moved into the shadows. He closed his eyes tight, and suddenly his wings disappeared. “Now there will be three of us, not just two.”
“You mean people can see you now?” Eliza asked, her curiosity about Henry growing greater than her frustration. “Angels can do that? They can just make themselves appear and disappear?”
“Sure,” he said, as they turned the corner. “Haven’t you ever heard of people seeing angels?”
Eliza thought for a moment. “In the Bible, yes,” she said. “But in real life? No. Not so much.”
“If anything,” Henry said, “I would think that your recent experiences have proven that the same things that happened in the Scriptures can, and do, happen today.”
They tried to stay in the darker shadows along the busy street as they talked.
“It just seems different, somehow,” Eliza admitted. “Stuff that happened in the Bible all seems so amazing—God speaking to people in burning bushes, sick people touching Jesus and getting healed, angels all over the place, announcing things, protecting people—but it’s not really the kind of stuff you hear about today, you know? At least not for real.”
Henry smiled. “Maybe you haven’t been looking in the right places.”
Jonah’s brow wrinkled. “What do you mean, Henry?”
“Well, you humans always think that if you can’t see it, it’s not happening,” Henry explained. “That if it isn’t happening to you, it must not be going on with anybody. But these last few days, you have clearly witnessed the power of Elohim like you never have before, right?”
They both nodded their agreement, and he continued.
“Humans today have a tough time understanding that there is a whole other world out there. That there are things going on all the time—battles, victories, defeats—between the forces of good and evil, that directly impact what you see and feel. There are no accidents, no coincidences. Everything that happens, both good and bad, has been caused by something else. And everything that happens has a purpose.”
“Everything, Henry?” Jonah questioned. “Isn’t that kind of hard to believe? What about things you can’t explain? Like earthquakes that wreck whole cities and kill thousands of people, or when a kid gets kidnapped, or when a really great person dies from a heart attack?” Or when your mother gets taken from you by evil men, he thought.
Henry met his gaze with his clear, blue eyes. “Everything, Jonah—and I mean everything—passes through Elohim’s hands before it is experienced by a human being. You can choose to believe that or not, but it doesn’t make it any less true.”
“You mean that Elohim causes these awful, evil things to happen?” Eliza erupted. “What kind of God is He? Why would He do that?” Her cheeks were flushed red, and both Jonah and Henry saw the emotion in her eyes and on her face. Jonah had neve
r heard her ask those kinds of questions. But then again, they’d never had a lot of conversations about God before.
Henry stopped walking outside a brightly lit restaurant, shoved his hands deep in his pockets, and leaned against the window.
“That’s the question,” he responded quietly to Eliza, “that has stopped humans in their tracks from trusting and believing in Elohim for years and years. It has led many to a life of doubt, not faith. Here’s the thing. You talk about Elohim causing these things to happen. Those fallen angels we just encountered? They used to be Elohim’s holy angels, just like me. But they rebelled under His loving authority. They left heaven. Led by the darkest one—Abaddon himself. Do you know why?”
Jonah shrugged.
Eliza searched the database in her mind for the right answer. “They wanted to be better than Him,” she said. “Greater than Elohim Himself.”
Henry nodded, watching the traffic flow by, a detached look on his face. Like he was remembering something from long ago. “They chose to rebel. Those days were . . . well, dark. There was a battle across the heavens, unlike anything you have ever seen here.” Henry swept his eyes across an imaginary horizon. Finally snapping himself out of his memory, he turned toward Eliza. “The point is, they chose this path. It was one of the most shocking things to occur in all of the angelic realm.”
“That they chose to leave Elohim?” Jonah asked.
“That He let them choose to leave, Jonah,” Henry said, grimacing. “And leave they did.”
Eliza pushed her hair out of her face. “Why would He do that? Why didn’t He just make them obey? He could. I mean, He is Elohim. He can do whatever He wants to. How could He let that happen?”
Henry answered her frustration softly. “That is the point I wanted to make, Eliza. He lets people—and angels, for that matter—make choices: to follow Him, or not; to obey Him, or go a different direction. These choices have consequences, and the more severe the choice, the more severe the consequences. They are just built into the system. And the most extreme choice of all is to rebel on purpose against Elohim. So those choices, well, they have the most extreme consequences.”
Jonah felt something connect in his mind for the first time. “So you are saying that the evil, awful things that happen in our world are because someone chose to rebel against Elohim?”
“Yes, you could say that,” Henry responded. “When this rebellion left the heavens and entered the earth, and people began to choose against the way of Elohim, those choices brought with them consequences. Look at it this way—the bad choices caused the world to break. And not only people, but our earth itself.”
Eliza spoke up again. “So natural disasters, sickness and disease, evil—”
“All ultimately caused by rebellion against Elohim,” Henry said.
“So maybe He doesn’t cause these things to happen,” she said, “but you still haven’t said why He lets them go on.”
“The answer to that question is all about faith,” said Henry. “Believing that there is a grander plan that you haven’t seen but that Elohim has, that He is working out. When you see one or two things that are happening, in reality He is doing thousands of things you cannot possibly see, or even understand. He allows us to make choices, and sometimes bad choices are made, making bad things happen. But even when bad things happen, He uses them for His purposes. He is so amazing,” Henry said, awe in his voice. “You can know Him so closely, and yet there are so many things that are still a mystery.”
The sign on the corner of the building said FRAUNCES TAVERN. Henry pushed open the door to the restaurant and held it open for them.
“Even for angels like you?” Jonah asked as they walked through.
Henry nodded, winking at him. “Even for me, Jonah.”
The smell of bacon on the grill wafted through the door. Dark, old wood covered the tavern floor, and the weathered brick walls made the room feel warm and inviting. Fraunces Tavern was crammed full of men and women in business suits, sitting at tables, eating eggs and bagels and drinking coffee.
“Back there,” Henry said, spotting a far corner booth that was empty. “Let’s go.”
The three worked their way over to the corner, sliding around the close tables, Henry offering “excuse me’s” to people who didn’t seem to be listening.
Finally they sat down, and a waitress came by and slid three waters in front of them.
“Drinks?” the waitress asked.
Soon, she was back with three tall glasses of orange juice for Jonah, Eliza, and Henry. The guys each ordered plates of eggs, bacon, and hash browns; Eliza asked for a bagel and cream cheese. Henry sat with his back to the wall and kept a cautious eye on the door.
“Aren’t you supposed to keep up with us, Henry?” Jonah said, sipping his drink through a straw, thinking about the last attack. “You know, wherever we go, you’re there?”
Henry wriggled uncomfortably in his chair. “Yes, Jonah, that’s true. Guardian angels are there to help and assist. But I am splitting my time between you two and your dad and little brother at home. Jeremiah is a target for the Fallen too. So far they don’t seem to have made a move for him yet. And I just . . . didn’t anticipate that you’d be attacked so early in your mission. It would be horrible to lose you two. And it sure wouldn’t help with . . .”
Jonah and Eliza waited for him to continue.
“Help with what?” Eliza finally asked.
He tapped his fingers on the table. “My promotion,” he finally said.
“Angels can get promoted?” she said, leaning across the table with her eyes opened wide. “Like, getting your wings or something?”
Henry laughed, glancing over his shoulder. “I have those now, don’t I? But something like that.
“So I see that you both are finding your gifts to be helpful,” he said, quickly changing the subject. “Nice job back there with the shield, Eliza.” Jonah thought he saw her blushing again.
“Did you have any run-ins before you got to New York?”
Jonah and Eliza looked at each other. Jonah launched into the story of their trip. They were both embarrassed that they hadn’t recognized the fallen angels in the alley.
“I was . . . mesmerized by them,” she said, lowering her eyes to the table, wishing she hadn’t trusted them so easily.
“You will learn to use your instincts to discern the Fallen,” said Henry. “It just takes time. The Scriptures are very clear that fallen ones can masquerade as angels of light quite convincingly. I’m not surprised they used that tactic against you.”
Jonah grumbled. “I just wish I could have shot those arrows a little straighter. Maybe I would have hit one of them.”
“I think I can help with that,” he said.
Jonah wondered what he meant, but the waitress came back, so he didn’t say anything. She slid the plates in front of them.
“I know you two are hungry,” Henry said. “You’d better dig in.”
Jonah heard his own stomach grumble, and suddenly it seemed like he hadn’t eaten in days. He pounced on the stack of bacon while Eliza snatched a bagel from her plate, smothering it in cream cheese. Henry looked on.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” Eliza asked him.
Henry held up a spoonful of egg. “Angels don’t eat. This is just for show.”
“Your loss,” Jonah said and took another huge bite of bacon.
As Jonah ate, and Henry watched, images of his mother flashed in his mind, and even though he didn’t want it to, his mind began to conjure up awful possibilities. Was she trapped in a room somewhere, banging on the door, trying to escape? Or held down with chains to the ground, exhausted from fighting the Fallen, having given up on the prospect of rescue? Maybe she was unconscious, barely alive, as they demanded loyalty to their side, committing her to a life of darkness and evil. Could she resist them this long? What did they want with her? Why did they need her so badly?
Or perhaps it was . . . worse. She was already one of the
m, programmed to do Abaddon’s bidding. Like some kind of nephilim robot, awaiting his next command.
There was only one other option he could think of, and it was the one thing he really didn’t want to think about.
Maybe she was already dead.
He suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore. Dropping the food onto his plate, he pushed back from the table. “So where is Mom, and when are we going to get her back?”
He didn’t care about the edge in his voice. The more he pictured what might be happening to her, the faster he wanted to get out of Fraunces Tavern, face whomever and whatever they had to, and bring her home. He looked at Henry intently.
“She is nearby. That is all we know,” Henry said. “Marcus and Taryn received intelligence reports just before I came after you that gave us a very good estimation of where she was taken. It must be a location not very far from here.”
Jonah stood up from the booth. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Henry held his hand up. “Sit back down for a minute, Jonah. You are eager to get her back, and so am I. But there are some things that you have to understand about where we are going. So that when we get there—if you can get there—you will know what we are up against.”
Jonah slumped back down into his chair. “If? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Henry cleared his throat. “Your mother is being held in a place that your father, for instance, could never have found. It’s likely this has something to do with the mission being given to you.”
“Because he’s fully human?” Eliza asked.
“Exactly. Someone like your father, with great spiritual sensitivity, can sense the spiritual world, even if he cannot see it. For example, he can feel fallen angels’ presence, their darkness. But he cannot see them, unless they choose to reveal themselves to him. Marcus, Taryn, me—we have allowed Benjamin to see us.”
“But we can see the Fallen,” said Jonah, “because we are quarterlings.”
Henry nodded.
“So what exactly do they want with my mother?” Jonah asked, the question almost exploding out of him. “I heard what Marcus said. About how powerful nephilim are. And how they can be . . . swayed.”