The Crossing Point

by August Arrea

  “What do you make of them?” asked Max.

  “I haven’t a clue. And I’m not sure I want to find out,” answered Jacob, narrowing his gaze on the birds. “They almost look as if they are guarding something.”

  “What’s to guard? Some old, dusty books?” replied Max with a half-hearted chuckle.

  Jacob didn’t find it humorous. It was the first time any animal in Eden, no matter how ferocious looking, gave him any pause since he crossed the path of Mist’s wolf pack. There was something about these birds he found to be extremely—

  “Intimidating, aren’t they?”

  The sound of Thaniel’s voice startled the boys, both of whom quickly spun around to find the angel lingering quietly at the edge of the balcony.

  “You’re quite right to be leery of them,” he said. “If there’s one thing a Greffier takes seriously, it’s making sure no one trespasses where they shouldn’t.”

  “Greffier?” inquired Max.

  Thaniel emerged into the light and brushed slowly past the two boys while keeping his gaze on the large predator birds lurking above.

  “Keepers of the record. You might even think of them as the watchdogs of this noble institution—or watch birds as it would be in this case,” he said. “As you can see the upper most portion of this Library is cut off from the rest and inaccessible. The Greffiers’ duty is to ensure this restricted area remains undisturbed and to protect what is housed on these shelves.”

  Jacob glanced around and saw Thaniel was right. There wasn’t a single staircase he could see leading any higher than the landing where they stood .

  “I know what you’re thinking,” said Thaniel. “What’s to stop anyone with a good strong set of wings like young Max here from just flying on up?”

  In fact, the thought had not yet crossed either Jacob or Max’s mind. Even as Max, who remained bare-chested with his shirt draped over his shoulder, absent-mindedly flexed slightly his own wings.

  “The answer,” continued Thaniel, “is nothing. But only if that someone is immune to the pain that comes when a fury of razor-sharp talons carves flesh into ribbons.”

  It was hard to determine if the angel’s words were meant as a harmless observance or a warning. Jacob and Max took them as both.

  “So, what exactly are they protecting? All I see are a bunch of old dusty scrolls and books,” said Max.

  Thaniel smiled. “I suppose you would. But I ask you, if the shelves you see were filled with gold bullion and priceless gems would you leave them unguarded?”

  Max, who was always at the ready with an answer, seemed somewhat baffled by the question.

  “I would think by now you would have come to realize knowledge is just as equal a treasure, if not more,” said Thaniel. “For with knowledge comes boundless power, and the old dusty scrolls and books, as you so call them, contain wells of knowledge only a noted few have ever been privileged to ingest. Even I cannot tell you what untold secrets they hold, and the Greffiers will ensure that remains the case. The more pressing question is why do I find the two of you wandering the stacks at this hour of night when you should be in your room asleep in bed?”

  Thaniel then spied the book tucked under Jacob’s arm. He reached for it, but instead of taking hold of it the angel’s fingers only grazed the leather binding and immediately it was as if he had been jolted by some unseen thing.

  “An intriguing choice for reading,” said Thaniel, his eyes boring themselves into Jacob’s. “I don’t recall the Sword of Destiny coming up for discussion during Study.”

  “Gotham told me about it awhile back just before he left,” answered Jacob.

  “Did he?”

  “It was a bit strange. Earlier tonight when I was browsing through some of the books I happened to stumble across it somehow. It was almost like you described on the first day of Study—how books you seek will sometimes find their way into your hand by just thinking about them. Only I wasn’t thinking about the Sword of Destiny. At least, I don’t think I was…”

  Jacob’s voice trailed off and he suddenly felt overcome by a slight nervousness when he realized a strange look in Thaniel’s gaze as it remained fixed on him. At first he thought maybe he had unknowingly taken from the shelves one of the books considered restricted, even though the birds above didn’t seem to mind his having it in his possession.

  “It’s okay that I take this to read, isn’t it?” asked Jacob while nervously eyeing the birds staring down at him from above and not wanting for anything to accidentally be the cause of their leaving their roost with their gleaming talons aimed at him.

  “Of course. After all, that’s why they’re here,” answered Thaniel.

  “Truth of the matter is, we were here looking for a book about the Silent Forest,” Max blurted out suddenly, and he quickly found it to be his turn to feel the weight of Thaniel’s fixed stare.

  “What more do you possibly need to know about the Silent Forest other than it’s forbidden?”

  “You would think that, wouldn’t you?” answered Max. “Thing is, when I learn something is forbidden, it tends to make me curious about the reason why. It’s a little quirk of mine.”

  The angel cocked his head and stood quiet for some time while studying him, leaving Max to wonder if maybe he had made a mistake opening his mouth. Had Thaniel managed to sneak a confessing glimpse from the thoughts he consciously fought to keep hidden?

  “I wonder,” Thaniel finally spoke, “if maybe we are responsible for inadvertently stoking these strange quirks, as you Mr. Kelly have so uniquely deemed them. I’ve often felt the stern warning that greets each brood of Nephilim who pass through Eden’s Gate to steer clear of the Silent Forest only leads to—pondering. The Forest, after all, rests in the furthest corner of the Garden. Hardly a place where boys such as yourself would be prone to wander should no mention be made of it in the first place.”

  “I certainly wouldn’t,” said Jacob. “There’s something creepy about it. Something dark, even in the sunlight.

  “Egg dropper,” Max chided jokingly under his breath while giving Jacob a ribbing poke to his side.

  “Even the name—Silent Forest—does nothing but stir unwanted curiosity. A dangerous trait to possess if ever there was one, especially if one finds he is not in full control of it, wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Kelly?” asked Thaniel.

  Max was quick to nod in agreement to which Thaniel smiled.

  “Now the two of you are standing before me with a look in your eyes as if you are waiting for me to regale you with some tale of unseen monsters or untold curses,” said the angel. “I have no such tale to tell. Disappointing as it may or may not be, there is nothing sinister lurking within the wooded boundaries of the Forest except that which your wandering minds have managed to conjure up.”

  A look of both disappointment and relief passed visibly across both Jacob and Max’s faces, but also confusion.

  “Then why is Anahel so adamant that we stay out of the Forest?” asked Max.

  “Anahel, I’m afraid to say, tends to make much when there isn’t much to be made,” said Thaniel. Without saying another word, he then went to the winding stairway and was about to take to the steps when Jacob’s voice stopped him.

  “Then you’re saying the Silent Forest isn’t dangerous?”

  Thaniel stood quiet for a moment and without so much as a glance over his shoulder he answered simply, “No, that is not what I’m saying. Not in the least.”

  ~~~

  Jacob and Max both struggled to keep pace with Thaniel’s feet as they followed him single-file down the narrow, spiraling steps. Both wrestled the same thoughts: what did Thaniel mean when he inferred the Silent Forest was dangerous after he clearly stated nothing sinister lurked inside it? And what of the lady in the water? He made no mention of her. And while they both longed to ask about who she was, they bit their tongue just short of the point of bleeding knowing any such inquisition would be equivalent to admitting they had broken the rule of steppin
g foot in the forbidden woods.

  They walked in silence a good portion of the way down the stairs, making the long descent seem all the longer. After a while, the continuous coiling path became dizzying to follow, particularly with so many thoughts niggling at the brain.

  “I suspect I don’t stand much chance of soon being rid of the feel of your breath on the back of my neck until I have silenced your idle curiosity on this matter, am I correct?” Thaniel inquired finally with some semblance of annoyance when they had reached the halfway mark of the staircase. “Very well then, let me be as terse as I can on the matter. There is located somewhere inside the Silent Forest a Through.”

  Jacob and Max’s expression mirrored one another’s in an almost identical manner of puzzlement. “What’s a Through?” they asked in unison.

  “A Through is a doorway; a gate, if you will,” answered Thaniel. “You passed through one when you were brought here to Eden. There are several more of these gates in various places outside the realm of the Garden. Because water is the one shared thing most living creatures pass through on their journey into life, so, too, are where most of these Throughs reside. In the case of the Silent Forest, its particular Through rests in a pool hidden amongst the trees.”

  “Where do they lead…these Throughs?” Jacob asked with growing interest.

  At first Thaniel didn’t respond, as if he himself wasn’t sure the answer. Or possibly it was a reluctance to reveal it for worry of stoking even further the boys’ needling curiosity. Finally, he said, “The Heavens.”

  Jacob and Max looked taken aback, as if the answer exceeded the wildest guess either may have been contemplating.

  “Did you say Heavens plural? As in more than one?” asked Max.

  “Of course. Just as a house has many rooms inside it, why would you think Heaven to be any different?”

  Thaniel’s face softened and an even more youthful glow seemed to wash over him as he continued down the steps. A semblance of enjoyment crooked the corners of his mouth as it became clear, without needing to lay eyes on the boys, the overflow of imaginings flooding their skulls.

  “I can only imagine the thoughts erupting inside your heads. Like a pair of dormant volcanos suddenly awakened,” he remarked. “Perhaps it would have been better leaving the two of you to believe some dark force was at work instead.”

  Jacob wasn’t listening. He was too busy thinking back to the underwater passage seeped in impenetrable darkness deep beneath the surface of the Van Gölü through which Gotham guided him so many months earlier, and the welcoming brightness of light that eventually revealed itself. He remembered how it reminded him of stories he heard told by people claiming near death experiences. Then, suddenly, he grew even more pensive.

  “If this is true, how come you inferred that there was something dangerous about the Silent Forest?” he asked once they reached the main floor of the Library. “How can a Through leading to Heaven, any heaven, be dangerous? Or did I mishear you?”

  Thaniel spun around and settled his gaze on Jacob. His eyes glittered with specks of glowing amber swirling about like embers cast from a wildfire into a dark smokey sky.

  “You are nothing if not bright, Mr. Parrish. It’s no wonder you fare as well as you do in Study,” answered Thaniel. “The danger lies in the fact that a Through offers only one direction of passage to anyone with mortal blood flowing though his veins.”

  “Meaning?” pressed Max.

  “Meaning what goes in can’t come back out, including Nephilim,” Jacob cut in before Thaniel could answer.

  “Wait a minute…maybe I’m not the full quid, but that doesn’t make sense. You said the Gate to Eden is a Through, and we’re still able to return to the outside world,” said a confused Max before a vague look of panic quickly lit up his eyes. “Aren’t we?”

  “Not on your own,” answered Thaniel. “Not without an angel leading the way. You can try if you wish, but you wouldn’t get very far and the end result I can assure you would be tragic. Only with the guidance of an angel can you pass into a Through in both directions. And then only a noted few allows such journeys; the Gate into Eden being one of them.”

  “And the one in the Silent Forest?” inquired Jacob.

  Before Thaniel could answer, Max’s growing impatience forced him to abruptly interrupt.

  “I don’t get this. Instead of creating all this mystery why didn’t Anahel just come out and warn the lot of us, ‘Steer clear of the Throughs. They’ll swallow you whole and you’ll never get out!’ I suspect that would do the trick.”

  “That so?” said Thaniel, raising his eyebrows with intrigue. “Well then, let’s give it a try now, shall we? Boys, steer clear of the Throughs. They’ll swallow you whole and you’ll never get out!”

  Just as he suspected, such funning only brought the opposite of quieting the boys until an exasperated Thaniel finally raised his hands in front of himself as if ready to bat away a couple of pesky mosquitos buzzing incessantly around his head.

  “It’s enough I’ve entertained you in your late-night sleuthing to warrant from Anahel the fierce scolding that no doubt should be held in reserve for the two of you,” he said. “I don’t think I care to incur the wrath of my brothers for your nodding off in class tomorrow.”

  Then before either boy could utter another word, he suggested firmly they return to their room and retire for the night while ushering them in the direction of the Library door. Whether they knew it was fruitless to prod Thaniel any further, or they found themselves wrestling with the heaviness of the late hour, Max and Jacob made no argument and went along their way down the dimly lit corridor. Just as they reached the staircase leading to the dormitory where the other Nephilim were fast asleep, Jacob stopped suddenly and told Max to go on ahead with Mist, and Max, seeing that something weighed heavy on his friend’s mind, restrained himself from prying further.

  ~~~

  When Jacob returned to the Library, he found Thaniel standing in the center of the room, his back turned while staring upward at the vast stretch of space hanging over him seemingly lost in thought. At first, Jacob thought the angel was praying and not wanting to disturb him any further was about to tip toe his way back out the door when Thaniel’s voice stopped him.

  “I thought there might be something more occupying your mind, tonight.” Thaniel then turned around to face the boy and revealed a knowing look of understanding in his faint smile. “Something that hasn’t to do with the Silent Forest, I assume.”

  Jacob nodded and Thaniel motioned to him with his hand to take a seat at one of the wooden tables before sinking into the chair across from him.

  “Now then, how may I help ease your mind, if I am able to at all?” asked Thaniel. There was a deep-seated kindness Jacob found in Thaniel’s eyes. Much like Johiel’s. They had a way of drawing him in and putting him at ease whenever they came to rest on him unlike the other Guides. Not that the other Guides lacked kindness in their eyes (except maybe Eksel). but theirs was dominated by a piercing intensity which proved intimidating, to put it modestly. To stare into the cauldrons of molten gold which gave shape to their irises was to never lose sight of the fearsome warriors they were. Yet golden as his eyes were, Thaniel, somehow, managed to be free of such reflections. As a result, Jacob found himself at ease in the angel’s company, and in that ease he came to like and trust Thaniel as much as he admired him for seemingly knowing everything there was to know. And Jacob knew if anyone could help quiet the nagging voices inside his head, it was Thaniel.

  “Can an angel who has fallen ever have the mark on their head removed?” asked Jacob.

  The question brought a crinkle to the space just above the bridge of Thaniel’s nose. “I’m not sure I understand fully the question. The scar is permanent if that is what you’re asking.”

  Jacob took a labored breath as though struggling to transfer the thoughts swarming his head to his voice. “But if a Fallen was sorry and expressed regret for whatever it was he did to e
arn that scar, he could be forgiven, couldn’t he?”

  Thaniel suddenly straightened himself in his chair. “Ah, now I see! You have been pondering the mystery of redemption.”

  Mystery?

  Up until he came to Eden, Jacob thought when it came to redemption it was all pretty much cut and dry.

  “When I was around eight or nine,” recalled Jacob, staring down at the reflections caught in the polished wood surface of the table, “there was a comic book I saw at the store that I really wanted, but I didn’t have any money. And I didn’t want to ask my mom because, well, she wasn’t really in good health at the time and I knew things were tight. So, I took the comic book and stuck it under my shirt and into the waistband of my pants without anyone seeing, even though I heard voices whispering in my ear telling me what I was doing was wrong. I don’t think I ever managed to read past a couple pages of that stupid comic because every time I did I kept hearing in my head Sister Marie Theresa’s voice scolding me in that terrifying way she had that my soul would be damned because of the sin I had committed. It got to where I couldn’t sleep at night because every time I closed my eyes I saw myself burning in a fiery pit. I was sure I was going to Hell…er, rather, the Underneath.

  “Then came the first time I ever went to confession,” continued Jacob as Thaniel wholly listened. “Going into a small dark room and saying out loud your sins to a faceless silhouette peering through a screened window, it was the scariest single thing I’d ever known, not to mention shameful. Then the priest would do something I found to be remarkable. He would mutter three words: ‘You are forgiven.’ And just like that I once again felt…clean. It was almost like magic. And I knew from then on out no matter what awful thing I did, no matter what terrible sin I committed, all I had to do was go into that tiny, closet-like confessional and poof. Just like that, you were given a do-over all in exchange for saying three Our Fathers and ten Hail Marys.”

  “And now you wonder if somewhere there exists a confessional where the Fallen can go to be granted absolution,” said Thaniel.