It seemed as if she was ready to cry, and it felt real, not put on. Hmm, that’s a point in her favor… “Ok, well, I’m ready if you are.”
“Yes, let’s go,” she said, her voice quavering, and we both faded into the in-between.
I looked at Denise, and superimposed behind her was the whole universe, bisected by the Good Line; it was a bit overwhelming, and it appeared that Denise was feeling it as well. It only took one moment of eye contact; I knew that she was exactly what she said, and not just that, she was a full-on warrior. Like an old-school Spartan from that crazy movie 300 or something. Dude, the only thing she’s missing is a sword and a shield… those other guys must have been scary, I can’t hardly imagine her being afraid of anything… even if she was terrified, I don’t think that would stop her…
Then, right on cue, came a flick on my ear. “Hey, ugly, you didn’t tell me you were bringing Denise in here with you. Why don’t you introduce us, and tell her what I am.” Marsh-dog bowed low at the waist, his eyes twinkling, and whispered, “Hey, man, stop tapping your head.”
Once again, I swiftly snatched my hand away and said, “What do you mean? I wasn’t tapping my head.”
“Yeah, right, and I’m not a ghost.”
Denise seemed totally perplexed. “Hold on, this is Marshall? Marsh-dog? The dead boy genius?”
“Uh, yeah, sorry Denise, I didn’t know we’d be running into him so soon. Marsh-dog is… well, I guess if you’re an angel you would have little problem believing he’s a ghost.”
“Of course! I know about ghosts, and it totally makes sense that he would stay here. He has lots of unfinished business, right?”
“You got that right.”
Marsh-dog then turned on the charm. “I have never been more pleased to make a person’s acquaintance. So, Denise, you’re joining our crew, right?” He then bowed again.
Denise was obviously charmed by Marsh-dog, as she responded, “Well, I would like to. I think I’m in the middle of being, I don’t know, assessed, I guess. I think it would be pretty cool, though.”
“Assessed? ‘Nando, why didn’t you just ask me? I could have told you, she’s legit. So she’s in, right? What’s next on the to-do list?”
“I’ll need to talk it over with Ling, Gabriella, and Rafael first, but as far as I’m concerned she’s in if she wants to be. The next thing after that is to figure out where in the world this Leonardo Sanna dude is, tracking him down, and seeing if he’s someone we can recruit to our side. That would give us three of The Seven, and we know one is out of commission, so the most they could have that are capable of doing anything is also three. We have three angels now, and I think the most they could have is three too. We might be able to get a fourth if Leonardo Sanna’s angel will help us, so things are looking a little better for us, I think.”
A grin split Marsh-dog’s face, and he said, “Well then what are you waiting for? Get back over to the apartment and look up those coordinates, yeah, I used a big word, and figure out where that dude is so we can get moving. Go.”
Impressed by Marsh-dog’s enthusiasm, Denise and I turned to go, but then Marsh-dog called out, “Hey, ‘Nando, wait a second; I almost forgot to tell you. You know that other stuff in here I was telling you about? I have it almost figured out. You’re not going to believe it when I tell you. I don’t understand it myself, and I’ve talked to them.”
I stared at him, and when he didn’t continue, I blurted out, “Well are you going to tell me or not?”
Once again, his face was lit by an immense smile, and he said, “Let’s wait ‘til next time. By then I’ll have it all totally worked out. Patience, young Jedi.”
Oh, great. The superheroes weren’t bad enough, now you have to go with Star Wars?
“Alright, but if you don’t tell me the next time I see you, I’m gonna… is it possible to kill a ghost?”
Then we all chortled, and Denise and I faded out of the in-between and into the “real” world.
Chapter 9
After speaking with Ling, Gabriella, and Rafael, we decided to bring Denise into our little team. There were a few moments of conflict during the discussion, as the angels were still not sure about her. Rafael said there was something vague and undefinable that they were feeling, and that made them hesitant. In the end, though, we all agreed that the potential benefits outweighed the risks.
The next few days were filled with becoming more acquainted and getting Denise up to speed on the events of the last couple of years. Eventually we moved on to discussing the next steps we were planning, the most important of which was locating Leonardo Sanna. Denise had some good insights into The Others due to her experience with her one of The Seven, and it helped us focus some of our thoughts and plans.
Down to day 775. While we refined our ideas, I had a philosophical struggle about using my abilities, especially on other humans. I mean, does having special abilities give you the authority to use them? To take an extreme example, let’s say I need to get somewhere, and there are people in the way. I could clear the way but some of the people would get hurt in the process; that would be silly. Obviously I would not do that. Now suppose that I need to get to that same place, and if I don’t get there some people would die. Would I then be justified in hurting some of the people to clear the way so that I could save the others? I don’t know the answer, and that’s why I’m struggling. I’ve already used my power in that kind of situation, but it was in the heat of the moment. I’m not sure if I would have done the same thing if I had a moment to think about what to do. Also, the truth is I did what I did because I was angry and afraid, and not being able to deal with anger and fear has led to just about every problem people have ever had. Man, I wish I could talk to Dr. Saresh; he would know what to say to get me past this. One thing I do know is that I’m going to have to find a way, because I have a strong feeling that I’m going to have to do some bad stuff before all this is over.
While in the midst of my existential conflict, I decided to do something that ended up being one of the biggest mistakes of my life. Of course I didn’t know, or I wouldn’t have made the call…
Getting to know and work with Denise caused me to think about my sister, Ariel. Maybe because they are both tall and athletic, although aside from that they don’t look alike; somehow, it just made me miss her. At lunchtime on day 775, I decided to go to the in-between and talk to Marsh-dog to see what he thought about me giving Ariel a call. I didn’t want to have to explain my idea to the rest of the group because they might try to talk me out of it, so I went into my room, closed the door, and faded into the in-between. Man, I hardly even feel it anymore… the fishhooks have become more like magnets or something… I called out: “Marsh! Are you in here?”
He materialized in front of me, which was the first time I had ever seen him do that. “Dude, when did you learn that trick?”
“Man, I’m learning all kinds of stuff. You’re not the only superhero in here, you know.”
“Ah, you’re also levitating again.”
“Dude, that’s how I relax. In case you haven’t noticed, there are no couches in here or anything.”
“Ok, well, I wanted to get your opinion on something.”
“Oh, finally you start to recognize! Come on, ‘Nando, ask Yoda anything you want.”
I did my best not to laugh. Somehow I’ve got to top him! Then I remembered the joke I wanted to tell him: “Hey, Marsh. What happens when a zombie bites a ghost?”
He looked up for a moment, concentrating, and said, “I don’t know. He gets a mouthful of sheet?”
We kept straight faces for about two seconds, and cracked up for the next five minutes.
“Ok, let me tell you why I really came here. I have been thinking about contacting Ariel. It’s been months since she went to Kansas, and I haven’t talked to her in all that time. What do you think I should do?”
Marsh-dog was deep in thought, then said, “Well, you know what happened with Gabriella, so I
would say going there is completely out of the question. Who is she living with? Isn’t it your aunt or something?”
“Yeah, it’s my Aunt Martha. She’s super-cool, I’m glad Ariel got to go there. I just wish… I don’t know, man, she’s my sister, you know what I mean?”
Marsh-dog rested his arms on his knees and looked down, saying, “Yeah, I know what you mean, but you can’t go there. What other options do you have? What would happen if you just called her?”
“I don’t know, probably nothing. Calling is probably the best way, huh?”
“Yeah, dude, use the modern technology. It’s only been around for like a hundred twenty years.”
“Alright, alright. Hey, how about the… things? People? Whatever they are that you were going to tell me about?”
”Oh, yeah, I was going to spill the beans about them the next time you came by. Well guess what, I’m not quite ready. I still have a couple of, oh, let’s call them experiments to run. Next time, I promise.”
“Ok, see you later.”
I faded back into my room and took out my cell phone. I’m sure glad Ling has money… otherwise I wouldn’t have a phone… I flipped it around in my hand, deciding whether or not to call. It’s been such a long time… she’ll be shocked; she might have a heart attack… Finally, I punched in the number and waited. One ring… two rings… three rings… “Hello?”
I immediately choked up when I heard her voice, so it took me a second to respond. “Hey, hi, hi Ariel. It’s me, Fordie.” Ariel has always called me Fordie. That was the best she could do to pronounce my name when we were little, and it just stuck. I guess you could call it a term of endearment.
Now it was her turn to get emotional. “Fordie, is it really you? Where are you? Are you ok? What have you been doing all this time?”
“I’m ok, everything’s good. I just couldn’t let them put me in a foster home, so I had to go off-grid. Don’t worry, though, I’m in a good place.”
“Don’t worry? How could I not worry? I thought you were dead or something! Why don’t you just come out here to Kansas? Aunt Martha would take you in, no problem. You probably didn’t know this but she has a fiancé now; he’s pretty cool, a nice guy. Totally good-looking, too.”
Yuck, you didn’t have to tell me that part. “Is she doing ok?”
“Yeah, you know her, she doesn’t know how to not have fun; hey, that was a double negative, right? You were always so good with words… please, Fordie, can’t you come out here? I…” and then a thunderous crash came blasting through the phone.
“Ariel, what was that?”
“Whoa, I don’t know, sounded like someone threw something heavy!” There was another loud bang! and people were shouting in the background; Ariel yelled, “What are you doing? Steve! What are you doing with that knife? Get away from her!”
Oh no, somehow The Others followed me through the cell network! I could hear Aunt Martha shouting for Ariel to run, get out of the house; I heard her scream, and I just had to go there. I went into the in-between and projected my mind to their house in Kansas; a man was advancing on Aunt Martha with a large knife; she was doing her best to fend him off, despite a gaping wound on her upper thigh. Ariel was picking up anything within reach, throwing it at Steve; most of his left hand was missing. I recalled that for some reason I am unable to go into Ariel’s mind, so I reached into Aunt Martha’s instead and told her to yell at Ariel to get out now; then I went into Steve’s mind, and of course…
There was my old friend, The Coward. “Well hello, Ferdie! Oh, look at you, aren’t you the strong boy!”
When you’re in a person’s mind, it’s dark, heavy with shadows, a bit out of focus, and there seems to be a fair amount of space. In fact, most of the time it feels like it’s about the size of a darkened high school gym, with boulder-sized barriers scattered throughout, and Steve’s mind was a typical example. There was a moving shadow on the opposite side of his mind, and I knew that was The Coward. I didn’t listen to anything else he had to say; I sent a bolt of energy that knocked him out of Steve’s mind, and took Steve down at the same time. Whoa, I could never push The Coward out of someone’s mind like that before… maybe I am getting stronger… I surveyed the room from the in-between; Steve was lying face down on the ground, not moving; Aunt Martha was seated on the floor, her back against a wall, panting and bleeding; and Ariel was… gone. Aunt Martha suddenly looked up, peering directly at me, even though there was no way she could see me. In a monotone voice, she said, “You see, Ferdie, we have people everywhere. There is no way for anyone connected to you to be safe. Shouldn’t you just do them all a favor? Do the right thing, Ferdie… we’ll be seeing you…” When the speech was done, her eyes took on an unfocused appearance; she couldn’t see me anymore.
She’s still alive… got to help her... I hurriedly entered Aunt Martha’s mind to get her moving, as it didn’t appear that she was going to do it on her own. I got her into the bathroom, where I had her fashion a tourniquet out of a towel and curling iron, twisting it tightly around her upper thigh. Next I helped her to the phone and got her to call emergency medical assistance. I stayed in her mind, keeping her upright and moving until the ambulance arrived, then I left her to look for Ariel. I searched all around the house, going in concentric circles, further and further out, but she was nowhere to be found. Well, she’ll come back pretty soon… I can’t stay here much longer, starting to get sick…
I snapped back across the country to the apartment in Bakersfield and materialized in our little kitchen. Ling and Denise were sitting at the table, and Ling cried, “Ferdie, we were looking for you, but could not find you. We did have some worry for you!”
I suddenly felt weak; I stumbled, sat down at the kitchen table, and Denise hopped up to help me stay upright. I gasped, “Ling, it was him, The Coward. He attacked my sister and aunt. I had to stop the host body he was using, and I think I may have killed him.” Then I went on to recount all that had happened.
“Wow, the way he was being controlled sounds just like what happened to Aida. How could they do that to one of The Seven?”
“I don’t know… they must have someone with powers we don’t know about. I’ll tell you one thing, though, The Coward got out of there as fast as he could once I showed up. He obviously saw that my power has increased. It’s always the same pattern, though… using a person to attack with a knife, and also cutting off some body part of their own, as if they want to make sure the attacker dies after doing their dirty work. At first I thought they were using the same pattern so that we would know it was them, trying to trap us somehow, but now I’m not so sure… there’s something else, something I haven’t figured out.”
As I was tapping my head, Denise was punching her palm, and she growled: “They’ve got us painted into a corner, afraid to make any move for fear of more people getting killed. I think Gabriella’s right, this is gonna be a war, and things are gonna get bad. You have to promise me, the next time there’s a situation like this, you have to take me. I won’t be afraid to take action.”
I believe her… plus, I would really like to see an angel in full battle mode… still, something’s nagging me about the way we’re thinking about all of this… don’t have it all worked out in my mind, though…
“So Ferdie, how now are your aunt and sister?” Ling asked.
“Well, my aunt has a bad wound on her thigh, but she’ll recover. Ariel, though… they still haven’t found her. I think maybe she took a cue from me and went rogue. At least I hope that’s what happened.” Some tears were pushing their way to the surface, and I had to work hard to keep them down. Gabriella and Rafael showed up at that moment, so I had to go through the whole explanation again.
“Mr. Ferdie, we must find your sister, bring her here, keep her safe,” said a dejected Rafael.
Gabriella chimed in, her tone low but musical as always: “Yes, but I believe we may want to locate Mr. Leonardo Sanna first. If we have learned of his whereabouts, it is
certainly possible that The Others have learned them as well, or at the very least are searching intensely for him. What are your thoughts, Ferdie?”
Oh, man, how am I supposed to choose? Gabriella’s right, we have to get hold of this Sanna dude as soon as possible, but Ariel’s my sister! I can’t just leave her out there, who knows where… I need to talk to Marsh…
Chapter 10
I gazed at our assembled group, and again it struck me: Dude, I don’t think we have much of a chance… “We have to make a decision right away. Time is going by and more people are going to die soon if we don’t get moving. They might die anyway, but we at least have to try. I can’t make this decision, though, so I need to get some advice from the smartest person I know. You guys wait here, I’ll be back soon.” Then I stood up and faded away.
When I faded into the in-between Marsh-dog was standing right in front of me, and he seemed anxious. “You got a real conundrum here, yeah, I used another big word, I can do that. Here’s what you need to do: take Denise with you and go find that Sanna dude, and send the rest to look for your sister. Here’s why: you’ll be the only one who can really figure out what’s up with Sanna, since you’re both from The Seven. Ling might be able to tell too, but it’ll definitely be easier for you, so you need to go there. Take Denise with you because she’s young and kind of inexperienced compared to Gabriella and Rafael, so I don’t think she would be as much help as them in looking for Ariel, but she’s a badass, so she could help you if you get into any tussles. Yeah, I said badass; I know you don’t like those words, but get over it. Send the rest of the group to find your sister, because Ling, although she can’t do it as good as you, could still figure out who’s who among the humans; you know, whether or not they’re telling the truth, that kind of stuff, and Gabriella and Rafael, they’re calm, methodical, yeah, I used another big word, the point is they will leave no stone unturned. I know you might not want to split up, but that’s the way you gotta do it. Also, Ling, Gabriella, and Rafael just showing up out of nowhere asking about Ariel is going to look suspicious, so they’re going to have to pose as FBI. That’s better than posing as police, because FBI will be more believable; people around there probably know all the po-po’s in the area, but the FBI can be more anonymous. They’ll need some fake badges and stuff, and then just flash them real fast at people so that they don’t have a chance to look at them closely and see that they say Mattel on them or whatever. They’ll also need some official-looking clothes, suits and stuff. And they’ll need those tiny little note pads that you always see FBI-types writing notes in; they flick them open, scribble quickly as the person is talking, then flick them closed and put them in the pocket of their business jacket. You got it? Divide and conquer, right?”
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