The serpent visibly shrank and then fell, crashing to the earth. Its crown tumbled away until Adonai stopped it with his foot.
“And furthermore,” Eternal Man avowed, “I will establish open hostility between you and the woman, between your seed and hers, and he, her offspring, will crush your head even as you bruise his heel.”
Lilith sensed that a war had been declared, lines drawn and sides chosen. The woman took her stand with God against Adam and the serpent. Lilith had not yet chosen.
God turned Their face to the woman and gently spoke with words of sorrow. “This ambush and betrayal will increase your grief and sighing. With trepidation and a grieving spirit you will give birth to your children, and when your turning is to the man, he will rule over you.”
Another chill ran through Lilith’s body, this time deep in her core. She was shivering. What Adonai said was impossible, wasn’t it? How could Eve go back to Adam after all that he had done? But also in that instant Lilith saw a possibility: finally a clear way for her to change history. Even though she hadn’t been able to stop Adam from his turning, she could find a way to stop Eve from hers.
Adonai let His Word sink into the woman, and only then did He approach Adam. He drew near with hands extended toward His son as He had toward the woman. Gracious love and tender affection flowed in His words, just as tears ran from His eyes.
Adam turned his face away, his hands at his sides.
“My son, because you listened to the voice of the woman and not to Mine, and because you have eaten of the tree from which I told you not to eat, because of you I have ensnared and bound the earth. You have not only transgressed but hidden iniquity in your heart. With trepidation and a grieving spirit you will try to draw your bread of life from the very ground from which you were taken, but it will strain against you with thistles and with thorns. By the sweat of your downturned face you will leave my Rest to eat your work until the ground itself consumes you. From dust you were created; to dust you will return.”
As God declared both the promise and the consequence, Lilith felt as if all creation groaned in grief and shifted.
Adam hesitantly approached Eve. Her eyes burned with rage and grief, and he couldn’t hold her gaze. He petitioned her forgiveness with palms up. She refused to touch him.
“I acknowledge before creation,” he finally said, his eyes fixed down, “that your name is not Isha. I am now dead, but you are Eve, because you are the Mother of the Living.”
His humility didn’t absorb the intensity of her wrath. It couldn’t begin to bridge the rift that had opened up between them.
“These are for both of you.” It was Adonai, holding out garments of animal skin. “Better you are clothed in these than hiding in the covering that you believe this tree provides.”
Hesitantly, Adam reached out and took what God was offering. “Where did these come from?” But he knew.
“Adam, these skins are from the animals you cursed and slaughtered and left impaled upon the Tree of Life. You are already stained in their blood, so let them cover you.”
“I was afraid and ashamed,” Adam tried to explain. “I didn’t know what to do. I thought the shedding of blood would be life that could cover my death and appease you. Life for death?” His tone was hard, still tinged with accusation, but within his words there also was a plea.
“It is not We but you who need a sacrifice,” responded Adonai, his voice as gentle as an evening breeze. “Adam, what you have begun, I will one day finish.”
Then Adonai lifted his hand and spoke another declaration. “Behold, Adam has become like one of Us, knowing Good and Evil, but he must not stretch out his hand and eat of the Tree of Life, or he will merge light and dark, life and death, freedom and rebellion. And he will stay forever dead.”
Again to Adam, God spoke kindly. “My son, you cannot dwell with joy in the presence of One you no longer love or trust. The darkness of your turning is at war with all things light. In order to return, you must leave, but I promise I will not leave you.”
The Wind began to swirl around the great tree. Stepping away, Lilith watched in amazement as the gentle breeze of Ruach became a blasting tornado. With a roar She wrapped round the trunk and then tore it completely from the earth with every root and fruit and leaf. Like a weed it was extracted and carried away toward the garden’s western boundary.
“Adam,” Adonai explained, “in your dominion you chose that tree, so it belongs to you. The Tree of Life will grow forever within Eden, and it will be the tree for the healing of the nations.”
Adam understood. “What will I do?” he asked.
“In anxious toil you will work the earth from which you were taken. You will look to it as if it were your life and source. You will require it to give you all that you can only find face-to-face with Us. And you and your kind will fight over ground until the day that you re-turn.”
Adam, Eve, and God walked slowly together to Eden’s western boundary, and Lilith followed, the serpent silent company. Again, Eternal Man reached out to take His son’s hand, but once more Adam pulled away.
“You should have stopped me,” he muttered. “Better that I had never lived than to continue to exist in death, alone.”
“Not alone, my son. We will never leave you nor forsake you. But, Adam, the darkness of your turning will hide Our face from you.”
Adam almost broke down, but he held his pride as they walked on. Finally Adam asked, “And this serpent?”
“The beast leaves with you. There is no place in Eden for accusers or dividers. By believing your own lies, you have unleashed and empowered a violent, lying terror. You have chosen it as companion and provider. It will build for you destructive beasts of devastating power. In exchange for its promise of security and control, you will give it your homage and obedience. Adam, Our Love will not withhold from you the consequences of your choices. We honor and respect you, so We consent and submit to you. However, We also will reveal a living, loving purpose within your turning and the dust of death. One day We will redeem your disaster, and the serpent in you will be completely crushed.”
Reaching the towering commotion of cascading light that roared like waterfalls, they passed easily through the boundary. But Eve and Lilith remained and watched within the dignity of Eden.
“Eve?” Adam called. Her name took the shape of grief. Now Lilith could see that he understood. The woman had been the Love of God in flesh and bone, but he had chosen instead to be alone. This Love, betrayed and dismantled by his independent turning, ranked large among his losses.
“You promised Eve’s seed will crush the serpent’s head,” he said through tears. “How?”
“That, My son, is a mystery yet to be revealed.”
Two mighty Cherubim appeared and, drawing swords, they touched the boundary. What seemed to have been water became a flaming furnace. They took their stands as sentries.
“From inside out one can pass as through water, but the return to Eden will be through fire,” stated Adonai. “Adam, that is another promise. These Guardians keep the way back to the Tree of Life.”
Eternal Man reached one more time to rest a hand on Adam’s shoulder, and this time Their son did not flinch or pull away. But neither did he turn to face Them.
“Adam, from before your creation, We loved you. In time you will forget, but all your choices will never make it any less true. We will love you now and always, and We will be the way to return you home.”
When Adam reached up to touch the hand, it was gone. He sighed and slumped onto the dirt. The snake kept its distance.
Inside Eden, Adonai took the serpent’s crown and one by one removed the nine stones from their settings. From within His light he brought forth one more stone, the tenth. Elohim produced another, and Ruach, riding as the Wind, presented Them with the twelfth. Then Adonai sang into the sky and twirled and spun until He was a blur. Twelve precious stones of colored brilliance exploded from within him, three in each direction of the com
pass. Colliding with Eden’s boundaries, they penetrated deeply, then detonated in a rainbow of colored music and orchestrated brilliance.
Facing the fiery wall, Adam stood and began to scream, “Eve!” He called and called until his voice gave out. “If it is even possible,” he whispered, “would you please forgive me?”
Eve and God, and nearby, Lilith, listened to Adam’s wrenching cries.
Exhausted, Adam turned his back to Eden and faced his desolation.
Seventeen
* * *
REGRET
“Has anyone seen Simon?” Anita asked as she walked into the room where Lilly lay unconscious, surrounded inside an array of tubes and trays.
“He was here when I arrived with Lilly, but I haven’t seen him since,” asserted John, a hint of a grin on his face. Anita saw it.
“John, what have you done?”
“Nothing really, simple security precautions. All standard.”
“Are you going to tell me?”
“I figured there would be no reason for any of us to attempt to return to the Vault, unless he or she were hiding something, so I may or may not have reset the return coordinates on Simon’s triangle.”
“You sent him away?”
“The triangles all disappeared as they are supposed to, and Simon seems to have gone missing as well. A mystery?” He shrugged.
“Are you saying he’s behind this?” Anita looked at Lilly. “I’ve worried about his state of mind since the crisis over Karyn.”
“I think he has been keeping secrets. And until I understand more, I’d like to be certain he’s not going to interfere.”
“A shrewd measure!” exclaimed Anita. “May I ask where Simon might be?”
“In a companion community hundreds of miles to the south. It will take him months to return. As soon as I can, I’ll go back down to the Vault to see if I can uncover his true intentions.”
Gerald entered the room. “How is Lilly?”
“Barely stable,” answered John. “She is hovering . . . I think Lilly called it a coma. There’s something in her system that we haven’t identified yet, and I think she was infected in the Vault. Would you like to help me investigate? The good news is that the Caretaker has not come for Lilly yet, which means we have time.”
Gerald nodded.
“I am staying with her,” Anita announced. “I want one of us to be here if she awakens.”
“I agree, and thank you! Gerald, let’s gather some food and water for the journey down.”
They left the room together.
“What are we looking for?” Gerald asked.
“We’ll know when we find it.”
• • •
FOR THREE DAYS, LILITH had felt her sense of presence in Eden growing, her ability to interact with her surroundings increasing as if she was gaining substance. She could eat fruit and drink water. She could sleep each night more restfully. Han-el was forever close, and his presence began to make her chafe. Mostly she stayed near Eve, who could not yet see her. Even if she had been able to, grief rendered her oblivious. But Lilith’s anxiety was also growing; she needed to act, and soon.
Each day, when the afternoon sun began dipping into the horizon, Adam would emerge from the forest to stand as close to the wall as he dared and beg Eve to come to him. From Eden’s side there was no impediment to seeing out. Lilly could clearly see him on his knees, pulling at his hair and screaming his anguish. He couldn’t see in, which only added salt to his wound.
The third day, Eve, her hands against the misty veil, watched Adam descend down a path toward a nearby pond. Lilith was close enough to watch and listen, as Eve buried her face in Adonai’s shoulder and began to wail and beat on Him. He held her in His strong arms until she calmed.
“I hate him!” she formed the words, “I hate him!”
“You hate what he has become,” said Adonai. “He is not what he has become. The very Good will always be deeper than the turning.”
“Do You still love him too?”
“That has never been a question for Us, as it is for you. We always knew and yet We love him still.”
“If You knew, then why would You allow it?”
“True love requires open hands. Without the power to say no, love never will be real, just illusion.”
“And you created anyway?”
“You are a marvelous wonder, Eve, made in Our own image. This creation is the best, and Man, the wonder of all wonders. We created to share with you the Love and Life that We have always known. But We always knew that for our yes, you would declare a no.”
“But why even create at all, if You knew?”
Adonai hugged her tight. “One day, Eve, you will be a mother and will better understand. True love is not about the other’s choices, but who you know they are. But as you see, relationship is indelibly affected by the choices of the other.”
“Am I betraying myself? I did this to him. I could have stopped it. I could have asked You but I didn’t. Instead, I wanted to be more than I already was, for him, for You. I wanted to be like You.”
She touched the boundary again and knew that if she chose, she could walk right through it. “Adam,” she whispered. Lilith knew he couldn’t hear. “Please forgive me too.
“God, I am so angry! He raised me, cared for me, and then betrayed me. I am breaking into pieces.” And then the next emotions arose in her words. “But I can’t endure that he is there, alone, and without me.”
“He is without you,” Adonai agreed, “but he will never be alone. He is not that powerful.”
Eve smiled weakly. “That is a comfort to me but not to him. What is he going to do?”
“Adam will work with his hands and by the sweat of his brow to extend Eden without Our presence or Our word. He will turn to the ground for security and worth, identity and meaning, though it cannot give what it does not have.”
“But you said that I would have a seed, a man-child. How could that be possible if . . .” She looked at the barrier between her and Adam.
God smiled. “With that you must trust Me. I fashioned you from Adam’s side and him from the dust of creation. My promise and My word are one. It will surprise you.”
“You said that one day I would turn to him. I don’t think I can or will. Should I?”
“In turning to the man, as Adam has to the ground, and in demanding of him what he cannot give, you would trap him in his shame. Not knowing who he is, he will either run away or exercise dominion over you. If you turn, this will be the consequence of your choosing.”
“Why would I ever again choose such a devastating path?”
“You would have your reasons. You have the freedom to trust and the freedom to turn. This is the profound and sometimes painful mystery of community and love.”
“Will I always have this terrifying freedom?”
“Always! This is Love.”
In that moment Lilith loved Eve and felt more compassion for her than she’d ever felt for anyone else. She had to save her from Adam’s fate. Eve must not leave Eden. If Lilith could change Eve’s path, then she could change history, including her own story. She could save Simon’s wife and countless other girls. Perhaps it was possible to be something besides worthless. It was time.
“Stay here!” she ordered Han-el. “Don’t come with me.” The Angel bowed and held his place. She slipped easily through and out of Eden’s wall. Lilith knew she never would return here either.
• • •
“WE FOUND IT!” GERALD exclaimed excitedly. “What Simon was hiding. We found it!” They startled Anita in the middle of a bite of supper. Recovering, she looked at both men, confused, as John had a fist upraised as if to show her. But he was holding . . . nothing.
“Congratulations!” She rolled her eyes and wiped her mouth. “I send men to find something and they come back excited about nothing.”
“My dearest heart,” Gerald entreated, “it’s a blender’s bag. It absorbs the light to become virtua
lly invisible: that’s why we didn’t see it before. But this time when we went through Lilly’s room, it was sitting hidden on her journal.”
Anita put down her spoon, the expression on her face shifting from annoyance to amazement. “Well, what’s in it? Did you find the ring and key?”
“No,” added Gerald. “Something sinister, an ancient blood-stone mirror.”
John drew it out of its sheath carefully, with two fingers by the handle until it was totally exposed. He laid it on the table. The three gathered around it.
“I’ve studied these,” said Gerald. “They are very rare, a dark arts favorite—mirrors that lie to you.”
Anita chuckled. “Personally, I have found this true of almost every mirror.”
“Not like this one,” continued Gerald. “Do you see how there is no image on the surface, just a swirling gray, and right here”—he pointed, keeping his finger at a distance—“is the blood stone, in this case a diamond. This you mustn’t touch, for it will draw your blood. If you look closer you can see dried blood here and here. Lilly’s, I suspect. We’ll test it. The stone is said to absorb your life and then reflect your deepest truth of being, who you are at the very core of your soul.”
“It can do that?” asked Anita, astonished.
“Of course not,” reassured Gerald. “That is all hocus-pocus. The intention is to draw your attention to the blood, but that’s only misdirection. What it really does is inject you with a poison, whatever that might be, a drug or neurotoxin or combination to make the person highly suggestible. It plays on their worst fears and self-loathings.”
“I will get this to the Scientists right away,” said John, returning the mirror to its cover and putting them both into a box. “We can’t ascertain what Lilly saw, but I am certain it was not good.”
• • •
LILITH DIDN’T HAVE TO go looking for the serpent. It found her soon after she had left Eden’s sanctuary.
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