Return to Eden

by G. P. Ching

  There was no escape. Gideon crab-walked backward, his white blood leaving a glittering trail across the floor. Abigail. Malini’s healing hand lowered toward her chest. He prayed with everything he had left that somehow it would work. Even if he should die, he prayed Abigail would live. Her surviving would make it all worth it. He collapsed to the floor and looked up into the face of the devil, his heart peaceful and ready for what may come.

  Everything went white. Lucifer turned his face toward the small sun that glowed from above, shielding his eyes with his hand. All around him, the fighting stopped. Soulkeepers and fallen alike stood dumbstruck at the power, light, and warmth that shone down. Gideon stared into the light, equally awestruck although he new exactly who it was above him.

  A soft voice cut through the sound of the machine, barely a whisper yet louder than anything in the room. "Your debt has been repaid."

  A beam of light hit Gideon’s body, a lightning bolt of energy that came with a clap of thunder. The room washed away. Blinded, he let himself go. The warmth and heat washed through him, stripping away the pain of his broken wing, the sight of the death around him, and the hum from the platform. Everything dissolved but peace and light.

  Then it all came back to him.

  * * * * *

  Within the sphere, Malini lowered her healing hand toward Abigail’s chest. She could not heal Watcher flesh, but her gut told her it was the right thing to do. Before her palm touched, a white light blinded her, causing her to pull her hand up short. She forgot herself in the awesome power that filled the pit. God hovered above them all. Her commanding presence burned like the sun. A bolt of lightning flowed from her into Gideon and Abigail. The power cut right through the rotating red sphere, and blew Lucifer off of Gideon like a flake of dust.

  Thrown back from the force of it, Malini watched in wonder as Abigail’s body seized with the power flowing through her. Abigail’s black scaly skin smoothed to a peachy flesh tone. Her leathery wings dissolved under her back. Straight, platinum hair darkened into honey curls. The hard features of her face softened, and her body changed. Shorter, rounder, softer. The lightning changed Abigail into something almost...

  "Human," Malini whispered.

  When the light stopped and chaos erupted on the floor once again, Malini lowered her healing hand onto Abigail’s chest. The new body trembled under her touch. A charge of electricity flowed from her hand into Abigail’s new human heart. Once and again her body flailed on the altar, until her mouth opened and Abigail took her first breath of air as a human.

  Beneath Malini’s hand, Abigail’s lungs expanded and contracted. Her heart beat strong and true against her palm. And although the wound from the obsidian blade was difficult to heal, Malini focused until the hole closed. The black blood turned red between her burnt fingers.

  Abigail’s eyes flipped open, soft blue eyes that were beautiful but ordinary. They locked on Malini as the red blood seeped from under her hand and dripped to the platform below.

  "NO!" Abigail screamed, clutching the blood to her chest. She sat up, her face terrified by the trail of crimson that trickled from the altar toward the machine. Malini realized what was happening and reached for the rolling drop of blood, trying to stop its progress with her palm. Abigail did, too, but she dropped from the altar awkwardly, her new human body learning to move all over again. Both hands fell short of their goal.

  Only a dribble got through. It worked its way under Malini’s palm and channeled into the machine, still pulsating with the magic of the sphere. For a moment, nothing changed. Then the sphere opened, melting into the platform. A hurricane force wind blew out from the machine. Malini tripped backward, grabbing Stephanie and Abigail by the arms before they tumbled into the pit.

  The room shook and the earth split, cracking the altar and the platform down the middle. The machine peeled back, a black hole tearing through the center to reveal an army of Watchers in formation. Nod. The wall unraveled behind the platform and Lucifer’s battle cry rose from the place where he recovered against the wall of the pit.

  Then all hell broke loose.

  Chapter 32

  Invasion

  Gideon tried to react to the army of Watchers marching into the pit, but his body and mind fumbled on the floor. Jacob’s hand appeared in front of his face.

  "Let me help you," Jacob said.

  Pulled to his feet, Gideon couldn’t keep his balance and fell forward, barely catching himself with his hands in a kind of weak push up before his face slapped the floor.

  "You don’t have wings anymore," Jacob yelled, yanking him back up to his feet. He thrust a bow and quiver into his hands. "No time to celebrate. Take these. A human tried to kill me with them earlier. Lucky for us he didn’t succeed."

  Slinging the quiver over his shoulder, he allowed Jacob to drag him back against the staircase. Jacob propped him up in the corner and helped him string an arrow.

  A Watcher came too close and Jacob spun around and sliced it in half. "Give it a try, Gideon. That one there." Jacob pointed at a Watcher who’d slipped past Lillian and was advancing toward them.

  The string pulled to his cheek, Gideon did his best to aim at the Watcher and released. The arrow fell short of its target, skimming harmlessly across the floor. The Watcher stepped over it.

  "Whoa! You really are human." Jacob dodged the Watcher’s talons and thrust his blade through its chest. He kicked the body away and returned to Gideon to help him string another arrow. "I’ll tell you what. Shoot if you have to, but if anything gets too close, reach behind you and poke it in the eye with an arrow."

  Gideon nodded. His throat was too tight and dry to respond.

  Jacob winked then launched himself into the advancing army, wielding his blade. Black limbs flew from the trail Jacob forged and a head rolled toward Gideon's feet. He flattened against the wall when it melted into a pool of black ooze near his toes.

  His bow rattled from his shaking hands. His arm ached from pulling back the string. And for the first time in his existence, Gideon was afraid the way a human might be afraid, knowing that he had only one fragile and mortal life. His new heart pounded against his rib cage, and his skin felt strange. A drip of sweat hit his fingers drawn to his cheek. He wiped under his eye and focused in on the brutal battle.

  The Soulkeepers didn’t lack for skill. Jacob plowed through a dozen Watchers with superhuman precision. But the Watchers poured from the portal tear and overran the pit like ants. Malini picked up the obsidian blade and was trying her best to protect Stephanie and another human woman Gideon didn’t recognize. They’d escaped the onslaught by hiding under the platform.

  The twins held their own but the fatigue was evident in the hesitation before each swing of their club. Lillian guarded the base of the steps, knives flashing and body covered in black blood. The close combat made it more difficult for the Watchers to use magic but not impossible. Jesse strategically materialized anywhere a Watcher rolled a fireball, making use of the chain in his hands. The method worked. So far none of the Soulkeepers were burned, even though several Watchers had burned each other.

  Gideon had to help. He drew the bow, aiming at the crowd of Watchers again, and released the string. The arrow hit his target but only succeeded in sinking an inch or so into the Watcher’s shoulder. The beast yanked the arrow from its black flesh, growling like an animal. Claws and teeth flashed toward Gideon's face. With his human eyes, everything happened so fast, he didn’t have time to react. He thought he was doomed until the Watcher’s head snapped back, pulling its talons up short.

  "A little help, Gideon!" Jesse yelled from behind the Watcher, his chain burning into the dark flesh.

  Gideon reached into the quiver and grabbed an arrow. Throwing his weight forward he stabbed the Watcher in the eye, his hand driving through until his palm hit scaly skin. The body dropped to the floor.

  "Sweet!" Jesse broke apart and disappeared.

  Gideon strung another arrow. His muscles ached and he
couldn’t believe how heavy he felt, as if gravity had become three hundred times stronger with his humanity. Not to mention that the stomach of his new body twisted uncomfortably, sending heaves of air up his throat. His skin prickled like it was too tight. How did humans survive like this every day? All he wanted to do was to find someplace to hide.

  Another Watcher broke from the crowd and headed for him. Drawing the bow, Gideon aimed for the eye and pulled as hard as he could on the string. His muscles burned but he waited until the beast was closer to let go. The arrow cut through the Watcher’s head, dropping it where it stood. Gideon blew out a breath. A mixture of pride and bravery flooded him. Surprise, surprise, his human body was capable of other feelings and this one was huge. Gideon could do this. He could help.

  Turning toward the stairs, he slung his bow over his shoulder and jumped. The first time he wasn’t able to grab the railing but the second time he hooked his toe on the middle stair and wrapped his fingers around the steel. He hoisted himself up and over onto the mesh stairs behind Lillian. From above, he had the advantage. He aimed into the crowd, scanning the faces of the Soulkeepers to see who needed the most help.

  True to form, Lucifer stood on the platform shouting commands to his army but avoiding the fray. Below him, Malini's healing hand was burnt up to the shoulder, the glove on her right hand shredded, as she fought from her position under the platform. Stephanie Westcott cowered behind her. The other human had taken over with the obsidian blade.

  Who was she? For a moment, Gideon paused, one eye focused down the length of the arrow. The human captivated him. Her honey-blonde waves bounced over her shoulder as she thrust the blade into one Watcher then the next. She was soft but strong, vulnerable but brave. The way she dove at the Watchers, it was like she was a Soulkeeper.

  He aimed at the Watcher closest to her and fired. His arrow pierced its head and the woman lifted her face toward him, following the arrows flight. Gideon’s human heart skipped. For a moment there was nothing in the world but blue eyes and pale skin. Abigail. She was alive and she was human! She turned back toward the fight, taking out another Watcher. Lucifer's army closed in all around her.

  Gideon reached for another arrow but his hand came up empty. He’d used them all.

  "Looks like you could use some help."

  On the platform beside him, Mara grinned as if she had a pocket full of hand grenades. Well, it looked like Mara, except for the eyes. Her eyes sparkled with a thousand spinning stars, supernovas exploding in distant galaxies. Gideon took a large step back.

  She shook her head. "How things have changed." Her voice held a hollow depth it hadn’t before. "Don’t worry, Gideon. I’m still me."

  Raising her hands, she focused on the chaos below, those glowing eyes calculating the hole between Earth and Nod, Lucifer’s place on the platform, and the Watchers below. Lucifer pointed at her and opened his mouth to say something but he never got the chance. A blast emanated from Mara, a wave of thick air that washed over the fight below, all the way back to the Watchers that poured from the portal.

  The power ricocheted back into Mara. Every Watcher her magic touched slowed down. Lucifer's lips moved to utter a curse that came out too slow to be understood.

  Mara flipped him the finger. "Suck it, Satan. Times have changed. Things are ‘bout to get real tedious for you."

  The battle waged on, but with the Watchers fighting in slow motion, the Soulkeepers had no trouble slaying them all. Watcher cowardice kicked in and those who were able to retreat, including Lucifer himself, slipped back into Nod.

  Jacob attacked. "Kill them, kill them all," he yelled, running toward the opening.

  With a wave of his hand, Lucifer collapsed the portal, saving what remained of his forces from annihilation.

  The earth shook. Piece by piece the machine came apart, sending huge chunks of metal toppling into the pit.

  "Run," Mara said with a grin. "Amazingly, you’ll have just enough time to make it out alive. Take the elevator."

  Lillian barreled up the stairs, grabbing Gideon’s arm and rushing him toward the elevator. While she hacked through the thorn bush in the hall, Gideon watched Malini usher Abigail and Stephanie toward the west exit with Jacob and the twins. Jesse appeared beside him and followed Lillian into the opening doors.

  They shot toward the surface as the earth crumbled around them.

  Chapter 33

  Changes

  Bursting from the small building, Gideon ran toward the road behind Lillian and Jesse, dodging shingles that shook from the roof. Glass exploded from the window and cinder blocks pounded the dirt behind his feet. Gideon searched over his shoulder for Abigail but the subterranean access point she’d exited from was far away and the shaking made it impossible to see clearly.

  Lillian grabbed his shoulder. "Don’t look back. The whole thing is going under. We’ve got to move!"

  Out of the corner of his eye, Gideon saw the building they’d just exited implode. Metal and concrete folded in on itself and the widening crater swallowed it whole. With her Soulkeeper speed, Lillian could have easily outrun him but she stayed close. He did as she said, pumping his arms and focusing on the landscape ahead. They’d almost reached the fence to the bison exhibit when he realized he couldn’t return the way they’d come. Behind the fence, the bison stampeded across the prairie, frightened by the earthquake. His fragile human body would be crushed.

  "I can’t go through there. I need to go around!" Gideon yelled.

  "This way." Lillian hung left, following the fence.

  At a full run, they sped toward the cars. An explosive boom threw Gideon forward, sending him skidding across the grass. With his cheek plastered in the dirt, trees toppled beside him and the ground rumbled below his flesh. The shaking threatened to tear him apart, then dissipated into a gentle vibration before stopping all together.

  Slowly, he pushed himself up on his hands and scanned the landscape for Lillian. Something was wrong with his face. An intense discomfort he'd never experienced before bloomed in his head and warm liquid dripped into his eye. Wiping his hand across his face, it came away red and gritty. Blood. Real human blood. He sat back on his heels, staring at the stuff he’d waited so long for. Pain. His cheekbone and forehead throbbed. He tapped his face lightly with the pads of his fingers, testing the edges of the place where he’d scraped himself.

  A shadow crept over him. "Crap, Gideon, you’re hurt," Lillian said. He heard a shuffle, then a cloth pressed against his forehead. "I wish I had something better than my sock but we have to slow the bleeding. I think you need stitches."

  He pressed his hand over the compress and stumbled to his feet.

  "Easy. Take your time."

  "Are we safe?" Gideon slurred.

  Lillian turned him around by the shoulders. The place where they’d come from, the land over the Tevatron, was a smoking crater. The ground just ended, the buildings, the machinery, gone, completely gone.

  "We have to find Abigail." Gideon scanned the wreckage, cursing his inept human eyes. "Where’s Jesse?"

  "He took to the wind five minutes ago. We’ll meet him at the car." She hooked her arm around the middle of Gideon’s back, guiding him away from the wreckage. "I’m sure the rest of them will be there."

  With Gideon's bloody knee and sore body, it took them more than fifteen minutes to hobble to the road. He spotted Jesse first, leaning up against the truck, comforting a trembling Stephanie Westcott. Jacob kneeled next to Malini, using his power to help heal her burnt skin. The twins stood up from the place they were resting near the front of the car. Separate, but not quite equal yet, they waved their hands in unison.

  And then, there she was. Abigail wore the same thing as before, all black from her throat to her toes, but that’s where the similarities ended. She was slightly shorter now, and her skirt pooled around her feet. The front of her dress was ripped from the knife that had killed her, but her change in size left the hole lower on her torso than it should have
been. Her once straight, platinum hair had become a wavy mass of honey-colored softness. The hard edges of her face, shoulders, and hips had dulled into rounded curves.

  Despite all of the changes, Gideon knew exactly who she was. The way she held herself, the shape of her eyes, the hesitant turn of her lip. It was Abigail. He wondered how he looked to her. Would she recognize him, face bloody and utterly wrecked? Would she still want him this way?

  He stopped a good ten feet from her. Lillian left his side and crossed the road to hug Jacob.

  "Why didn’t you tell me?" he asked. The words hurled harshly from his mouth, reminding him of the hurt. He'd thought he'd lost her forever.

  She took a tentative step forward. "I couldn’t. I didn’t know I’d be coming out of this alive. I knew you would stop me."

  "Of course I would stop you. We were supposed to be in this together. After all the years we’ve spent waiting, how could you do this to me? How could you give up your life without knowing the consequences? What if you had died? Where would that leave me?" He pointed his hand at his chest.

  "It would leave you and the others alive. It would leave Lucifer foiled another day. It would leave hope for a better future for everyone."

  "But you would be gone," Gideon said through his teeth.

  "Yes." She nodded and looked at the ground.

  Her face twisted as if she were in pain and before he could think about what he was doing he stepped toward her. Tears flowed from her cornflower blue eyes. An ache he’d never known before filled his chest and he reached out to her but stopped short of her shoulder. He returned his hand to his side.

  "I’m sorry, Gideon," she said. "I’m sorry for everything. I did it for you but I realize now I should have told you. You should have been prepared for my death, even if it was necessary." She stepped closer. "But I’m not dead. I’m here and I’m human. If you can forgive me..."