by Alexie Aaron
“Fucking cowardly baby-thieving bastards!” Mia said and sat down in a huff.
“Now Mia…” Judy started.
“They stole my uncle Luke. Orion and Audrey are inconsolable.”
“They have to think of the child. You are.”
“It’s not the same. I know you and Ed. Luke is with strangers. When this is finished, I’ll find him and bring him home,” Mia vowed.
“I’m glad you’re starting to think that way,” Judy said. “I was worried about you for a while.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s understandable. The world is asking a lot of you.”
“It’s not that. It’s… you know.”
“Victor?”
“Maybe. He is determined to perform this doomsday spiral. To do this, I’ll have to practice the death spiral over and over again. Don’t you see? I could go primal if I can’t hold my shit together.”
“You won’t. He won’t. I’m more afraid of you two starting to like each other. But you’ll probably both die; the first pair did.”
“Oh geeze, that makes it better. He told me that, since I have the bird soul of a saltmarsh sparrow, I shouldn’t be so worried if something like this happens.”
“Huh. Let’s look that up, shall we?” Judy said, typing it into the computer. “Oh!”
Mia got up and looked over Judy’s shoulder and read, “Sexy sparrow exposed as world’s most promiscuous bird.” Mia walked into the corner of the room and closed her eyes.
Judy continued to read the BBC Earth News article by Jody Bourton. “Mia, it’s all about evolution. She mates with more than one male during the nesting period so that she’ll have a strong nest. Let’s think about this logically. You already have two of Ted’s, and Dieter is an amazing son. Add to it one or two of Victor’s, there are twins in his family, and back to Ted. I’d say you will have a strong nest.”
Mia walked out of the room. Judy heard the bathroom door close and then some retching. “I wonder if it’s nerves or something that I said?”
Mia walked out of the bathroom and down the hall into the chapel. No one spent much time there. Ed had taken both boys out for a row in the boat with his son, Adam, so she had a few hours of peace and quiet. Angelo was supposed to walk her mind today with Komal’s assistance. Angelo wasn’t pleased with Victor’s plans. He was looking into other maneuvers that could produce the same result.
Mia sat down and closed her eyes.
She felt someone slide in beside her. She opened her eyes and looked over to see Angelo looking down at her.
“When you break apart after the doomsday spiral, the shock wave will knock you away from each other, most likely into the cold water. If you’re able to pull in your wings before you hit the water, you’ll probably be alright.”
“I hate the word probably. It gives one hope when it’s more of a guess.”
“I’m not happy about this, but Nicholai assures me that it will increase your odds of success.”
“I still will have to take orders from Lucifer.”
“Through Abigor. Altair tells me Abigor is a magnificent strategist.”
“I wish that people would stop giving me the odds of survival. I’ve been told, as it stands now, the sixteen prophets say I won’t last three minutes. Do you know how that feels? It sure makes me want to jump out of bed in the morning.”
“Mia!” Komal scolded from behind them. “Negative feelings bring on a negative result.”
“I’m sorry, Komal.”
“Come. Angelo, carry her if you must, but join me in front of the fire. We must walk Mia’s mind house.”
“I’d rather have a root canal,” Mia grumbled and followed the spirit out of the room.
Angelo got up and took a deep breath. Victor’s continual presence in Mia’s life disturbed him. What were his motivations? Angelo had to admit that, even though Victor had been one of his guard for years, he didn’t really know him. Victor’s soul line was one of great military minds and heroes. Did he spare a thought for other things? Victor’s brother had sacrificed himself fighting the mother tree because there was no other way. Would Victor sacrifice himself and Mia with the same cold reasoning? A death spiral took two, and he scolded himself for not taking Mia’s will and might into account. She had a husband and family to live for. Angelo straightened his shoulders. He was going to do his best to sort her mind so she would survive, no matter what.
After a few minutes inside Mia’s mind house, Angelo was amazed that Mia could even make a sound decision. The extensive work Raphael had done was eroding away without the stardust coating everything. He decided on something familiar. He changed his appearance and called, “Hey Mia, would you like to build a blanket fort?”
The child who had joined him in the refugee girl’s mind walked out. She wrinkled her nose prettily. “Angelo, you are amazing.”
They worked together and then played games that children play together.
Komal watched as the large birdman he knew as Victor arrived and walked around Angelo. He sat behind Mia and lifted her onto his lap without breaking the connection she had with Angelo. He placed his face gently next to hers and closed his eyes.
They looked up to see another boy join them. He was light where Angelo was dark. His clothes were foreign looking to Mia, and his shoes had holes in them. Victor timidly walked over. “I sat and thought about this logically. I figured out, if I share my experience with you here, you will have strategic knowledge to tap when you need it. You will be a stronger leader.”
“How?” Mia asked.
“I can open my soul inside here, right now. We can watch it as it decorates your memory with great battles.”
“Me too?” Angelo asked.
“Yes. You too. We should all be friends.” Victor took Mia’s hand, and she took Angelo’s. Together, they watched as Victor emptied his pockets of his accumulated soul’s memories. They looked at how large the pile was, and then the children looked at each other.
“We need another room to this fort,” Mia said. One appeared, and suddenly, colorful happy doors opened down a long hall of memories. The bits and bobs of this and that, which Victor had drawn from his pocket and deposited on the pile on the floor, flew into these rooms, and the doors gently closed. The blanket fort was converted back into a stable dwelling not unlike the farmhouse Murphy had built, except the colors were bright and the walls were decorated with happy pictures drawn by Brian.
Angelo moved to go, thinking that this was over.
“Wait, what’s in your pockets?” Mia asked.
Angelo drew out a very creased handkerchief. He opened it, and there were many organized bundles inside. It took quite awhile; Angelo was a very anal child. But in the end, Mia’s mind house was filled with information.
Victor ran his hand along the living walls and laughed. Angelo and Mia looked at the happy child. Mia took his hand and Angelo’s. “You two hold hands,” Mia instructed.
“We’re boys. We don’t hold hands,” Victor said gruffly.
“There’s no one here but us - and Komal, but he’s a free thinker,” Mia said. “Hold hands or I’m not going to hold yours.”
Victor and Angelo held hands. The three felt the magic move through them. “We shall be friends forever,” Mia declared. “When we are dust, our souls will carry our story to other Victors, Angelos, and Mias. They will be friends and so on until Azrael is old and gray.”
Komal witnessed this and approved.
Chapter Eighteen
“HELL-O!” Mia called into Quentin’s house. She whistled. The office door opened, and a very haggard Ted stumbled out.
“Are you in there making love to Baxter’s nymphs?” Mia asked with her hands on her hips.
“What? NO! Can I? I can’t…” Ted said, looking at his very freckled, tanned wife. “Save me.”
Baxter walked out looking like he had missed a few nights’ sleep too.
Mia ran over and hugged her husband and reached over and pul
led Baxter into a hug too. Energy flowed through them.
“How are you doing this?” Baxter asked.
“I don’t know!” Mia said, giggling. “I think I’m high, but I can’t find the source.”
“Did you and Victor complete a spiral?”
“No, I’m not strong enough yet for the spiral. However, I have all his and Angelo’s soul information in my head where it belongs. I’m incredibly smart. Let’s play scrabble.”
“No, all I can think in, at this point, is binary,” Ted said. “You would have too great an advantage.”
“Unless we played binary scrabble,” Baxter suggested with a twinkle.
“Shush!” Mia said, putting her finger on his mouth. “I’m going to take my husband upstairs and play other reindeer games.”
“Mia…” Ted said, shaking his head. “It is you, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I filled all the empty spaces with happy thoughts. Many of them came from you, Teddy Bear. Quentin supplied a few ridiculous ones as did Baxter. Remember when you tried to get me to create blue fire and I burned off my eyebrows?”
“Yes,” Baxter said. “You were way overpowered.”
Ted lifted a finger. “That’s it. If we pull the power back slightly, I’m thinking…”
Mia stood there alone in the hall as the two geniuses walked back into the office.
Quentin walked in the front door carrying a few bags. He dropped them, gathered Mia up in his arms, and danced her into the ballroom. “You look so healthy. What have you been up to?”
“I can now swing a broadsword without falling on my face.”
“Good skill to have when Macy’s is having a sale,” he said. “Tell me, how is gladiator training?”
“More grunt work than cerebral at the moment.”
“And how are you doing?”
“I’m his best student.”
“You’re his only student.”
Mia just gave him a goofy grin.
“I’m back,” Ted said from the doorway.
Mia put up her hand to stop him from approaching her. “You left me alone and horny in the foyer.”
“Shame on you, sir,” Quentin said, shaking his head.
“I had a fix for the problem we’ve been stuck on for two days.”
Mia stuck out her lip dramatically.
“Now you have another one,” Quentin pointed out.
Ted walked over, grabbed Mia’s arm, and dragged her across the newly shined floor. Quentin heard Mia giggle and then two sets of running feet climbing the stairs. Mia laughed, and then a door slammed upstairs somewhere.
Quentin walked out of the ballroom, picked up his bag, looked up, and shook his head. He walked into Baxter’s office. “Upstairs is off limits. Ted has tied his sock on the doorknob.”
Baxter looked up. His eyes were shining. “We have not only created a static barrier but one that can curve outwards a hundred yards into the lake.”
“Ted had a breakthrough?”
“It turns out he’s very smart when Mia is around. I think she makes him smarter.”
“How?”
“I think it comes from his balls. She stirs things up.”
“That’s ridiculous. You’ve been up too long. Go down and ravish your nymphs. I’m going to eat a half-gallon of ice cream,” Quentin said.
~
Father Santos felt their absence. He could no longer hear them singing. He was incredibly sad. First, he stupidly gets himself embroiled in a plot to hurt the Martins, and then the angels leave. Who would further his prayers to God?
Angelo walked into the sanctuary and saw his friend and felt his pain. “Come, Paolo, leave this place. They do not deserve your allegiance. I’m having a few people over, and I think you’ll like the company.”
“Is this your doomsday party?”
“No. I know in my heart that we have a chance. God made us too. He still cares. Victor may have found a Hail Mary that will work. Mia’s and my friendship is stronger than ever. If the world ends and we perish, I can move on knowing that all the hurt we caused each other has been forgiven and, for the most part, forgotten. Victor and I are friends, and I’m no longer jealous that he is Mia’s soul warrior. He no longer looks upon me as weak.”
“But the angels are gone.”
“Not all of them,” Altair said from behind them.
Father Santos fell to his knees.
“I’m touched, but get up, Paolo. I’m nothing special. There are still hundreds of fallen angels around if you want an introduction?”
“I’ll pass, thank you,” Santos said before he reached out and shook Altair’s hand.
“We need to fix this problem and then the feather crew will be back at work. None of them wanted to leave, but they had to obey the call. Their obedience is their downfall. Sometimes you have to decided for yourself what needs doing.”
Altair looked around at the ornate, expensive building. “I don’t like this place,” Altair said. “Father Simon’s place is more befitting an exorcist.”
“I’m old world.”
“Change.”
“I’m too old.”
“I’m a lot older. It took a little slip of a girl in an alternate timeline to change what’s in here. She was twelve years old with the brain of a thirty-two-year-old, and she shook me out of my chair. Nordin and I had grand adventures, and then when Mia and I met again, we became friends. She talks about others saving her, but she saved me. I pulled the grace out of her, Paolo. It didn’t belong. It was pulling her apart. She’s much happier now.”
“They stole Luke Stavros,” Angelo said. “How can they do that?”
“In their minds, they were saving him because he can exist where they are headed,” Altair explained.
“You didn’t go with them,” Paolo said.
“No. I’ve been there. Boring, very boring, and my friends are here. I don’t move on or reincarnate when I die, but I’d rather not exist anymore than know that I could have stayed and fought beside Mia Cooper Martin and didn’t. Angelo knows what I mean. Come on, Paolo. She changed you too. Don’t you remember?”
“I do.”
“Come, there is a party, and I’m going to get Mia drunk. She has a lot to celebrate. We have to go to Hell tomorrow, but first, we shall dine with friends.”
“I’ll have to stop and buy a bottle or two,” Paolo said, looking at the archangel.
~
“Attention, I have another text for Murphy from Mia!” Jake announced on the outdoor speakers.
Murphy looked up from his work and listened.
“Remember, we are going to Hell in the morning. Are you in? And there is a little red devil emoji and a piece of pie emoji.”
“How shall I answer? One crack for no, two cracks for yes.”
CRACK! CRACK!
“That’s a yes. I’ll add an emoji of my choice. I’m thinking a cheeseburger?”
CRACK! CRACK!
Lazar rang the doorbell. Quentin answered. “Come in, Lazar. I see you’re dressed already. Did you bring the dress?”
“It was in the bottom of her closet in an old boot. I hung it outside to get the stink off it. Honestly, you have no idea what a slob she is. Everything she needs is inside,” he said, handing Quentin the hanging suit bag. “Mr. Martin’s Alsace suit is inside too.”
“Wonderful. Why don’t you go inside the library and wait. Mind the nymphs.”
“Nymphs?” he asked, walking in.
There, inside the library, were three blue women - except they weren’t women. They had large luminous eyes and a seal-like skin, but the rest of them was very female.
“Hello,” he said shyly.
He walked over and sat down. One of the nymphs followed him and pushed a hassock while she walked. She picked up his prosthetic limb, rolled up the pant leg of his suit, and studied it. She then studied the other leg and walked out humming.
Lazar tried to roll his pant leg down, but one of the nymphs hissed.
“Okay,” he s
aid, raising his hands.
The first nymph returned with what looked like a leg. It was actually a sleeve that she then shimmied up his metal leg. “Stand.”
Lazar got up, and she made a few adjustments and handed him a little tube. “My salves don’t stink like horse manure.”
“Mia’s been talking.”
The nymph nodded and left the room followed by the other two.
“Did I hear my name?” Mia said from the doorway.
“Oh my god, that’s the dress. Abigor’s dress,” Lazar said.
“Yes, but it looks better on me,” Mia said, slowly turning so Lazar could see how the tiny gold chainmail hugged her body. The slip she wore under it was a little lighter than her present skin color, but she looked amazing. “Can you help me with my hair?”
“Do I look like your hairdresser?”
“Sort of.”
“Come here.”
Mia did and sat down on the hassock.
When Ted walked in, Lazar had three pieces of Mia’s hair he was trying to braid. He gave up.
Mia frowned. “I’m going to beg some attention from a nymph. If I come back with three boobs, I’m going to blame you.”
“Would you like a drink?” Ted asked.
“After that, yes.”
“She’s nervous. Mia doesn’t do well at these kinds of things.”
“What exactly are we doing tonight?”
“Angelo is giving a dinner party for his friends. He thought we would be up to our eyes in problems for the next few days. He wanted us to take time and appreciate those around us.”
“Because we may not survive the fight,” Lazar said.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go into the past with our children?”
“My place, if the end comes, should be with my folks. But thanks for the offer.”
“Cid won’t go either.”
“I think we’re all fighters. Mia looks different. Her hair isn’t white anymore.”
“She’ll tell you it’s just dirty, but it’s changed because she rejected her angel DNA. She tans and freckles now too. Ralph is going to lecture her about sun exposure.”