The food was wonderful and they were famished. The landline phone suddenly rang and Lena hurried to answer it.
“No news, but my brother is still searching,” she said when she came back.
They were almost done with the meal when they heard a knock at the door.
Chapter 21
Anise strode alongside the train track and, after a few minutes, reached a place that reminded her of a central bus or train station in a large city. An usher in purple overalls with diagonal yellow stripes stood inside a small glass booth directing trolleys traveling at dizzying speeds on the colorful tracks.
The usher blew on a long whistle and rapidly moved his arms this way and that. The white plaza in front of him was full of angels in colorful overalls. Anise crossed the crowded plaza, ignoring the curious glances cast her way. She approached the window of the booth and knocked on it.
The usher, surprised, turned around.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’m looking for God. Could you please point me in the right direction?
The usher looked at her incredulously, dropped his arms to his side in sudden astonishment, and then burst into merry laughter. In the meantime, several trolleys collided.
“How about if you stop laughing and get back to directing traffic?” an insulted Anise suggested. But the usher, grabbing his belly with both hands, wouldn’t stop guffawing.
“If you find Him, I mean God, tell Him I’m looking for Him too,” the usher managed to gasp out between gales of mirth. “You think He’d come here? God? We’re just a small country station, a very insignificant place in the universe.”
All around, trolleys continued to collide. Some jumped the tracks and continued traveling every which way. People and animals were tossed out and scattered all about. Ushers ran around trying to gather everyone but to no avail.
He deserves it, thought Anise. Still fuming, she started moving away but then heard the usher, in a panic, yelling “Help!” behind her. She looked back just in time to see his body expanding and filling his little booth until there was no room left at all. Then he blew up. Bits of the purple overalls landed all over the place. Anise, horrified, started running.
“He’ll reassemble himself without any trouble. Don’t worry. It happens all the time around here,” she suddenly heard a feminine voice at her side. Anise turned to find herself looking into the roundest pair of eyes with the longest eyelashes she’d ever seen. The creature had a glorious tail that swung proudly between the see-through wings on her back and her feet were covered in small gills. “By the way, I’m Rae,” she introduced herself.
Anise looked back at the booth and, sure enough, the purple bits of the usher were being rearranged in a small pile. A moment later, his full version was back, and he was again blowing into his whistle, but not before sending Anise an angry look.
“I’m Rae,” the creature repeated to an astonished Anise and held out a purple hand with seven long fingers. “Everyone here is looking for God,” she added. “Everyone has some issue that has to be dealt with, but the problem is that there is just one God and He doesn’t have enough time for it all.”
“Have you ever seen Him?” Anise wanted to know.
“Once, by chance, maybe twenty years ago. He was dealing with a star that was sick of traveling in its orbit, saying it was boring to do the same thing over and over again. The star went off course, starting a series of collisions, and a bunch of planets blew up,” said Rae, “so God showed up to settle things.”
All Anise could say was, “Wow.”
Rae smile. “Yeah. Heaven is an enormous place. People think they’re special, but there are many other life forms that think the same thing, and God simply can’t keep up with all the work.” Rae’s beautiful face turned blue with sadness, and her eyelashes shuttered her big eyes.
Anise felt like hugging her. But she’d only just met her and had no idea whether, for Rae’s kind, this was acceptable behavior. She decided to err on the side of safety and kept her arms to herself.
Rae again opened her beautiful eyes and smiled.
“Even so, I intend to find Him. Plus, the fact that He has a lot of work is no excuse,” said Anise, and turned to go.
Rae hurried after her. “I know where His headquarters are. That’s where all the angels who help Him administer the heavens hang out. It’s a little past the edge that’s over the mountains, and hardly anyone dares climb there.” She stretched out a long arm and grabbed Anise’s hand. “You’ll need wings to get there. Which I’ve got,” she added, wiggling her shimmery wings in emphasis.
“Why would you want to go with me?” asked Anise.
“It’s rather personal,” said Rae curtly.
“Look!” said Rae, changing the subject. She was pointing to a group of ushers in gray uniforms featuring black letters spelling out “The Royal Guard.” The ushers were running toward them. “Those are the Orphils, and I think they’re looking for you,” said Rae. “I think we should hurry,” she smiled, quickly pulling Anise out of there. Both were sprinting quickly right next to the train tracks. “Let’s catch this car,” Rae said, pointing to a pink one rapidly coming their way. She leaped onto it lightly, holding one long purple arm out to Anise who was running as fast as she could. Despite her efforts, Anise was falling behind. Her lungs were burning, but she wouldn’t give up. With a last burst of energy, she managed to speed up just a bit. Struggling to hold her arm out to Rae’s, Anise missed by half an inch and fell even farther behind the trolley.
She checked behind her. The Orphils were only a few yards away, but suddenly she found herself enveloped by a pair of strong arms. Rae, red with effort, was pulling her inside the trolleys.
“Thanks!” Anise smiled at her. Breathing heavily, she looked worriedly at the Orphils outside.
“You’re lucky. Those ones are still doing the training course and haven’t received their wings yet,” Rae explained. Looking at the black masks hiding their faces, Anise thought that they were terrifying enough even without wings. They used their long arms like poles to propel them ahead and were closing the distance with great speed. “They’re fast, but our train car is faster,” Rae reassured Anise, pulling her deeper inside.
It was very crowded and all the seats seemed to be taken. There were many people, but also creatures that Anise had never seen and didn’t exist on Earth.
Seeing Anise’s shocked expression, Rae burst out laughing. “You didn’t really think planet Earth was the only place under God’s responsibility, did you?” she said, pointing to a group of creatures with reddish bodies, two arms in front and one on the back. “Those live on the planet you call Mars,” she clarified.
So there’s life on Mars, Anise thought and smiled. Then, at the far back of the car, they found two empty seats and sat down.
“So what are you actually doing here?” Anise asked carefully, but Rae dodged the question again.
“It’s a long story. I’m also here by accident, just like you,” she said vaguely.
Anise wondered how Rae knew they were here by accident and why the Orphils weren’t chasing her, but now, through the window, she saw Yam and Mor galloping toward her on the magnificent horses, wildly waving their arms in her direction.
“Anise,” Yam called out with sparkling eyes. He was on the black horse with the silver-streaked mane, and, just behind him, Mor was astride the white one.
Anise, still angry about what happened at the gate, studiously ignored them. “Where are we going? And when does the train stop?” she asked Rae, facing away from the window.
“I don’t know,” Rae giggled. “The route changes all the time, but don’t worry. We’re going in the right direction.”
What Rae said made no sense at all. Anise didn’t understand how Rae could claim they were going in the right direction if she had no idea where they were going.
Yam’s horse
had caught up with the trolley and Yam was galloping right outside Anise’s window, his blond curls bobbing in the wind. He was trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t hear him and relented long enough to open the window. “You have to get out of here,” he said while pointing upwards. Anise saw a second company of Orphils popping out past the trolley. Each one had four gray wings covering various parts of their bodies. Anise thought that these must have graduated the Orphil course at the top of their class. Things were looking bad.
“You said they couldn’t catch up with us,” she said to Rae, who shrugged in apology.
“Anise, jump when I say,” Yam yelled.
“Are you crazy? Never!” she yelled back.
“Anise, look ahead and get it through your head where this trolley is heading. You have no choice. Trust me, I’ll catch you,” Yam roared.
Anise stared ahead, in the direction of travel. A huge black hole was revolving right in front of them, and the trolley was heading straight for it at warp speed. This cannot be good, she thought, looking again at Yam. “Jump on three!” he shouted.
She climbed onto the railing. The wind was making the car shake like mad so that she almost toppled over the side. Anise held tight to the windowsill, but the trolley was going too fast.
“Now!” she barely heard Yam yelling, “Jump, Anise!”
But Anise was paralyzed with fear. She couldn’t move. The distance was too great and the trolley was going faster than ever. Anise’s feet refused to let go of the railing. She looked ahead only to see the dark hole starting to swallow the first cars of the trolley. She looked out at Yam, not knowing what to do.
Seeing the terror on Anise’s face, Rae decided to take the necessary steps and gave her a mighty push from behind. The ground was coming up to meet her with sickening speed, making Anise close her eyes and yell out. At the very last second, Yam managed to grab a hold of her leg, so that she was now hanging upside down from the magnificent mare. “I told you I’d catch you,” he said with pride, galloping away from the black hole.
Chapter 22
Amalia pulled out her handgun and motioned to Theo, Sual, and Lena to be quiet. She and Lena moved toward the door, trying not to make a sound.
As they were moving, they heard more knocking. Lena moved the cover of peephole aside and peeked. “It’s all right,” she breathed with relief. Amalia lowered her gun as Lena opened the door.
“Mother,” Sual murmured. Overcome by the sight of the old woman in the kitchen doorway, she burst into tears. Theo, Amalia, and Lena left the kitchen quietly and Lena closed the door.
Aisha passed her hand over Sual’s short hair. It had been more than ten years since she last saw her daughter. Sual looked at her mother. The passing years had left deep creases in her face, but her gentle eyes gleamed just as they always had. She pressed her head hard against her mother’s shoulder, as if burrowing into her body. The tears rolling down Aisha’s cheeks mixed with her daughter’s. They sat holding one another for many long minutes.
“I have something to show you,” Sual finally said, taking her cell phone out. “This is your granddaughter, Mom,” she said, pointing at a photo of Anise.
They stopped just short of the waterline. Yam looked behind and saw Enochio slowly making his way down the rocky mountainside. “We have to hurry,” he said.
“Why doesn’t he use his wings instead of coming down like that?” Mor asked Rae.
“I’m not really an expert on angels,” she shrugged and giggled. She tried to pick a blue flower, but it retreated from her and replanted itself at a safe distance.
Anise was worriedly looking at the mountain ridge in the sea, its top floating in the clouds. “How exactly are we supposed to cross the sea? There’s no way we can swim that far.”
Rae wasn’t listening. She and a small, double-tailed animal with a tiny snout were gleefully rolling around in the grass. “Hey, it bit me!” Rae pulled back a hand and rubbed at red tooth marks.
The tiny creature stretched its snout and fondly caressed Rae’s face. The two tails wagged merrily in the air, each in a different direction.
“Enough, Rae. Stop fooling around with that thing. This is not the time,” said Yam. Rae spread out her gossamer wings and lifted herself in the air, insulted. A frustrated Yam looked at her from below.
“It’s not a ‘thing.’ It has a name. It’s a bogo,” said Rae. “And he’s a lot like those animals you love so much down on planet Earth. Oh – but I can’t remember what they’re called.”
“Dogs?” Mor tried helpfully.
“That’s right. Dogs,” said Rae, sending Mor a bright smile.
The bogo barked, and Rae looked at Yam from a treetop. “What did you want to know?” she asked, holding her hand out to a yellow butterfly.
“Could you maybe stop for a minute and come down so we can talk?” Yam asked. “You said you’d show us where God is. We don’t have time to fool around. The entire heavenly host could be on top of us in seconds.”
Rae floated on her back in the air, not noticing the heavy tree branch pointed directly at her back. She banged into it and fell flat to the grass. Mor had the distinct feeling that the tree was sneering.
Rae sat up and rubbed the sore spot. “Rumor has it that to get to God’s main headquarters you have to cross the sea and then go through a place full of wild animals. Finally, you get to the really violent ones that you supposedly never want to meet. But, I don’t know. I’ve never been to the main headquarters.”
Yam felt like throttling the annoying blue creature. Rae’s flightiness was driving him mad, but he reined himself in.
Mor stood at the edge of the sea, dipping a toe into the water. He looked down unbelieving and took another step. His legs weren’t sinking! “Look at me – I’m walking on the water!” he shouted excitedly.
Anise turned around and looked at Mor walking on top of the flat blue of the water. “He’s actually walking on the water,” she said stunned.
“I think we’ve found the way to the mountain,” said a smiling Yam.
Oddly, it was Rae who suddenly became very serious, shaking her head with concern. “Nothing here is what it seems. You can’t trust the sea,” she warned.
“You don’t have the faintest idea how to get there,” Yam said to her, annoyed, and went to join Anise standing at the edge of the water.
“Look at me! I’m walking like Jesus,” Mor shouted excitedly, as Anise screwed up her courage and took a first step into the sea.
A low, rolling roar filled the air all of a sudden. Yam looked behind him. Dozens of Orphils covered the foothills. The gray threatening mass, quickly making its way toward them, filled him with dread. “I don’t see that we have a choice,” said Yam to Rae.
He and Anise walked into the water. At first, the sensation was odd. Anise looked downward with every step, scared of falling. But the noise was getting louder, and she was afraid of looking back, and so kept walking. After a few minutes, she started to feel more secure and she increased her speed. Yam looked worriedly at the shuddering clump at the waterline. Some Orphils were now baring their teeth and starting to walk into the sea. Yam grabbed Anise’s hand and they walked faster.
Enochio stood on the mountainside watching events from afar. “Idiots,” he muttered, then put two fingers in his mouth and uttering a piercing whistle. One of the gray creatures turned around and looked at him for several long beats with hate-filled eyes, its sharp fangs quivering, white foam gathering in the corners of its mouth. Enochio was not disturbed. Light shone from his chest and a gleaming, golden six-sided mandala appeared, enveloping his whole body. The creature stopped its glaring at once and lifted an arm stopping all the others in their tracks. The reluctant Orphils turned back to the shore.
“That’s the extent of my help,” Enochio muttered. The mandala faded and he wiped the sweat from his forehead. “It’ll keep t
hem at bay, at least for a while.” He turned around and started trudging up the mountainside.
A relieved Yam watched the retreating Orphils. He had no idea what had made them turn back, but he was grateful for whatever it was.
The sun beat down hotly. Anise removed her sweatshirt, walking now in just her T-shirt. Yam walked pensively by her side. “I’m not sure God even knows what’s happening with us,” he said.
“So? That’s no excuse. Somebody has to assume responsibility for this mess. After all, He’s God,” Anise retorted. “Do you remember now? I mean the things we remember up here and later on forget…”
“Yes,” Yam nodded, “I especially remember us,” he added, after a moment of silence. Anise pretended not to have heard, though she knew exactly what he meant. She remembered the promised they’d made one another but refused to think about it now. It wasn’t the right time. First, they had to deal with God, the terrorists, the shooting, and the dead in Jerusalem, and, of course, the whole soul lottery thing. She looked around. “Hey – where’s Mor?” she wondered.
Chapter 23
None of the Christian quarter residents had seen three adolescents matching Sual’s description. Aisha suggested taking them all to the Muslim quarter. “Let me help my granddaughter,” she appealed to her daughter.
If anyone can help us it’s my mother; she’s spent her entire life here, and knows all the quarter’s secrets, Sual thought.
They thanked Lena and returned to the dark Old City alleys. Aisha took the lead, making sure to use side streets. She knew the city inside-out, and minutes later stood in front of the family restaurant.
Sual had tears in her eyes. She’s spent most of her childhood right here. She looked at the rusty metal shutter used as the restaurant door and helped Aisha open the heavy locks and roll the shutter up.
“Hurry. It’s not a good idea to stand around,” Aisha urged her, casting anxious glances all around. Aisha pulled the shutter down behind them and led them to the small office behind the restaurant that served mostly as storage.
The Celestial Gate Page 19
