“I don’t think you give them enough credit. They probably already know. Looking back, I think I might have been the only one blind to what you’re saying. The rest of you were giving each other glances like it was an inside joke.”
“Maybe so. But I dare not admit it out loud, just in case.”
“You said there were two things. What’s the second?”
“When Vergil said Raphael let him join a group.”
“How is that a problem?
“It’s not, but think about what’s implied. I wouldn’t have it any other way but…we didn’t choose to be paired with one another. But Vergil somehow got to.”
I finally understood the weight of Cadence’s words.
“Vergil doesn’t need a team,” I whispered in realization.
“Nope,” Cadence’s face looked stressed. “He’ll try to fit in. Put on a good show. But it doesn’t change the fact that he doesn’t need us.”
“He did say he needed help socially.”
“Okay. But what would that matter in battle? I doubt there are other teams in Heaven with an unofficial lead at the helm. I know you see me as the leader, but I don’t, and it’s not like I was given such a title. We are supposed to be equal members, but Vergil is superior to us in almost every way. We could quickly become Vergil and his angels or whatever name you could think of. At any moment, he could take over as leader or a dictator and tell us what to do, and we would be powerless to stop him.”
Cadence’s voice was raised and his angelic pressure was fluctuating wildly. Even from a distance, I was sure the others could see the change and would start to wonder what had gotten him so riled up.
“We shouldn’t worry about what angels might say,” I said to him, turning him around to face away from the mansion. “This could be a test. Maybe God is seeing how we will react. We were tested on pride after all, and at the heart of it, this is what it sounds like the issue is. We’re afraid that Vergil will steal our thunder. But it doesn’t matter. Even if he did, our primary focus is to serve God and carry out His will. Get back into His presence and do our duty. I could care less what the journey is to get to that destination. We have a new life here, a wonderful life. And I’m not going to mess up. I don’t want to find out that we can be thrown back onto the island because we didn’t handle ourselves properly.”
“It’s not that simple, Lysander.”
“Maybe it is. All we have to do is talk to Lucifer and follow his group back to God. Thinking about it and speculating on every little detail will get us nowhere. We just have to go with the flow. It’s what we did on the island. It’s what we do here.”
“You went with the flow, Lysander,” Cadence raised his voice an octave higher. “Not us. Sure, I didn’t like sitting around and thinking, but we still took action in our own way. Alessa kept the group close. Marcus and Farah worked on the barrier and I sat with the newcomers. We weren’t sitting idly by for God to return. We tried to solve the problem.”
“And so did I!” I said, pushing his chest with a little force. “It may have looked like I just sat there all day, staving off Absenteeism, but I was researching. I grew weary at times, but ultimately, I was contributing to the group too! It’s who I am. I think! And I’m telling you that I think we should let these suspicions of Vergil go. I’m here because you all kept me under your wings, but so far we’re not giving Vergil the same treatment.”
“It’s different.”
“Why? Because I’m weak and he’s strong? It doesn’t make a difference. You’ll only be intimidated by him if you let yourself. It’s the same lesson I came to terms with concerning Marcus. Let this go, Cadence. Just accept him.”
“I respect your argument, but I still want to keep an eye on Vergil. To be blunt, I have a basic understanding of who each of you are, but not him. I have no clue what he’s like. The best example I have so far of an Archangel is Lucifer, and to be honest, I’m not sure what I think about him.”
“There’s no reason not to trust someone in Heaven. We’re family.”
Cadence mulled over my words before deciding to let the discussion go.
“I’m sure you’re right,” he said solemnly. “I’m sure you’re right.”
CHAPTER 7: Fellowship
We walked into Cadence’s mansion just in time to see Farah destroy Marcus in an arm wrestling competition. There was no way of knowing who initiated it, but it was apparent Farah was poised to finish it. Slamming down his arm with a powerful “HAH!” coming from her pint-sized lungs, Marcus growled in defeat and rubbed the back of his hand, glaring at her with a ferocity whose flames could only be doused with an outpouring of superiority. Without thinking, I tackled Marcus to the floor, but he retaliated with a palm straight into my chest, sending me toward the ceiling which was over a sun’s height tall. This time, it was Farah who caught me.
“Don’t fight! You no win!” Marcus called out to me. It was good to see he was back to his old self, and Farah could only giggle at the whole ordeal. While I was up high, I took in my surroundings. Cadence’s mansion was tall, but not wide - a lanky structure that mirrored his frame. I tried to change the ceiling with my mind – a flat, boring, tiled thing with a chandelier hanging – but nothing happened. Since it was Cadence’s house, it was up to him if he wanted others to be able to transform it.
There were jagged obtrusions coming out of the walls – little ledges every ten feet or so that looked as if there had been more floors in the house at some point. The room we entered in, which held the entrance, was the only one in the “mansion,” furnished with long, circular, half-moon couches, and brightened by bay windows in the walls, letting the light of Heaven and its starry canopy engulf the room. A single table was fastened in the middle, with a velvety feather-like rug underneath – the softest object Cadence owned.
“Cadence – your house is a skyscraper,” I commented from up above, my voice echoing up and down the structure.
“I know,” he called up. “It’s the way I like it.”
“All bones. No substance,” Alessa said to him from below. Farah and I sped down to be with the group.
“Doesn’t it speak volumes on how resilient I am on the inside? Surely there’s more to me than what you see on the outside.”
“Okay,” she laughed. “Then it says how you are a loner at heart, with great, big solid walls to keep your true thoughts hidden from others…which is manifest in this soft, purple-feathered rug. In other words, on the inside, you’re a great big softy.”
“I knew we should have went to the Fellowship Hall.”
Everyone got a good chuckle out of that except for Farah, who was already setting her elbows up on the table for another round. I couldn’t help but ask Alessa how she had such knowledge of Cadence, or if it was merely some form of intuition.
“I asked God about it, and He answered.”
“Are you serious?”
“Of course.”
I still wasn’t sure if she was joking…but I decided to bounce a request off her anyways.
“Next time you communicate with Him, tell Him I said hello, and ask Him when we can be in His presence again.”
“Wow, that’s pretty bold.”
“I’m taking tips from Farah.”
“Then I’ll be sure to ask Him,” she laughed. I couldn’t stop myself from popping the next question.
“Were you always in contact with God?” I said abruptly. She understood what I was implying. That as a Glory, she may have been able to get in touch with God at all times, even back on the island – but maybe she had been forbidden to speak of it.
“No,” she said, “but it sure would’ve saved us a lot of heartache if I was. My ability was given to me while I was in God’s presence the second time. He said that He would always be there to comfort me, and that this gift, was just a preview of things to come.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. But I got the impression it had something to do with Earth. To be ho
nest, I was so infatuated with His light, I only half-paid attention.”
“I wasn’t even that aware,” I chuckled. “It was like my first memory all over again. I didn’t hear a word He said or notice at all when I was given my abilities.”
“I’ll be sure to ask Him about that too. No charge,” she winked. Suddenly we heard a fist slam down on Cadence’s table. Cadence yelled out a “HEY!” as Farah stood upon it.
“Who’s next?” Farah called out to all of us in a challenge, sweeping an index finger around the room. “Don’t be afraid of little old me. I’m a ladybug, an ant, a little butterfly, a-”
“How long did it take you to research all of those references to yourself?” I asked, but she stared at me with wide eyes. She had found her next victim.
“I like your sass, Lysander. How about you bring it to this table?”
“I saw how hard you hit Rufus. I’m fine right here.”
“Don’t be like that.”
“I’ll take his place,” Vergil said, coming from a corner of the room. I hadn’t noticed or thought of Vergil since I had entered Cadence’s mansion, and now I was uncomfortable with his sudden acceptance of Farah’s challenge. I hoped he didn’t think he had something to prove.
I could already see Farah lose some of her faith. Her petite wings were no longer stout and teeming with boldness. Her face no longer smiling and overflowing with energy. Vergil leaned his elbow into the table, waiting for Farah to clutch his hand. She nervously took it and leaned in, more than half of her body over the table. She counted up to three slowly, and on three, she put her whole body into defeating Vergil. He didn’t budge. He pretended to wince, to grunt as if Farah had some hope, but since he was the one needing help in the social department – we knew he was faking. Farah wasn’t fooled either, and it only cast a shadow of doubt upon her face as her faith diminished with every passing second. Vergil finally saw it too, and thankfully, he didn’t pity her and let her win, but simply ended it, to relieve her of any further discomfort. Farah played the good sport, congratulating him and even managing to pat him on the shoulder. But Vergil stood there expressionlessly, contemplating how he should have handled the situation better. I saw Cadence glance at me out of the corner of my eye, but I ignored it, changing the subject for all of us.
“So Cadence, I noticed those ledges jutting out of the walls, what are those?”
Cadence caught wind of my intentions and was happy to humor me.
“They’re traps actually. The ledges shoot out at various speeds and strength to try to harm you or pin you to the wall. It’s a great training exercise.”
“Can they break?” Marcus asked, already flexing a forearm.
“Well, you can try. They’re easily repaired. I just have to imagine it. When God made this house for me, He definitely knew what I liked because I can test my defenses whenever I want. I haven’t tried the system out myself, but go ahead. Be my guest.”
“I want to fight Vergil,” Marcus huffed as his wings began to build momentum, carrying his massive body toward the ledges up above.
“Who said anything about fighting?” Cadence asked through a clenched jaw. “Just try out the system.”
“I don’t want to fight,” Vergil said under his breath, but Marcus was already in the air, staring down at him like he was a piece of food that had gone rotten.
“Fight,” he commanded.
“No.”
“Marcus, he doesn’t have to fight,” Cadence tried to intervene, but Alessa began egging Vergil on.
“Why aren’t you excited to meet this challenge? Should be a cinch, right? He’s been wanting to fight you since we’ve met. I can tell.”
“What’s the point of this?” Vergil whined, facing away from us.
“Are you trying to say it’s a foregone conclusion that you will win, so why bother?”
“No, but this is counterproductive.”
“We all want to see this, besides, God said it’s okay.”
We all turned to her in shock. God said it was…okay?
Part of me did want to see a fight between our powerhouse versus…well, our more powerful powerhouse. It didn’t matter if it ended up being more of a shoving match and less of a strategic game. That was irrelevant. What alarmed me was Alessa’s message. Alessa said that God was allowing the fight to occur. Could He have really told her that? It was the first time I had thought about someone abusing an ability or a stance in an argument for their personal gain. I quickly shrugged it off because everyone was trustworthy in Heaven and she was my friend, but in the back of my mind, logic was asking me why God would allow such a match to occur...and if He really had at all. Vergil was right in his questioning. What was the point in it? If Marcus won, as unlikely as it was – nothing would change but an increase in his pride. But if Vergil won, and this was the most assured outcome, it would widen the gap between us. Vergil knew this. And so did we. Otherwise Cadence wouldn’t have brought it up to me earlier. It was a time bomb – waiting for the day he would show us that we were meaningless and beneath him. Would that time be now? So soon? What if the fight got out of hand? Would we simply go between them and break it up? Or would some of us divide and pick sides? Would Alessa go to Marcus’s aid? Would I stand by and let it all happen? The situation was too unstable.
“Marcus!” Cadence called up, “this is not happening in my house! Come down here!”
“NO!” Marcus bellowed like an overgrown toddler on the verge of a full-blown tantrum. Cadence was ready to implode.
“Fine,” Cadence said, clenching his jaw in worry, his eyes becoming listless. He let his wings fly out from his body and stretch, letting a current blow through them like a furnace. Marcus stared at Vergil, debating whether he should try to outmaneuver Cadence and engage his desired target in combat, but Cadence didn’t give him the opportunity. He flew toward Marcus at full speed.
Marcus cocked back an arm to stop him, but a shield met him in the stomach. Cadence used his free right hand to punch Marcus in the face, just hard enough to send him off the shield and toward one of the ledges. Before Marcus could halt his ascent, two jagged ledges from each side of him shot out and pinned him around the middle. Cadence made his way past Marcus before it closed shut, placing him safely on the other side, where only Marcus’s upper torso remained.
I couldn’t hear the conversation that ensued, but from the shouting match that quickly lowered to whispers, I was sure Cadence had gotten his point across. Farah was humming to herself softly, sitting on one of the half-moon couches and waiting for them to return. Alessa was steaming in anger for missing out on a great show and Vergil was solemn, ready to speak only after he saw me look his way.
“You’re going to the Fellowship Hall, right?” he asked meekly. “I think I’m going to meet you all there, if you don’t mind.”
“Don’t,” I said. “You’re part of the group. Don’t isolate yourself from us. I know we have some issues, but if we just talk about it, we can work them out.”
“But that’s the problem,” he said. “Those issues are with me.”
“Why do we need to talk about anything?” Alessa snapped. “We all know what you and Cadence were whispering about out there. You’re not sure if Vergil belongs with us.”
“He belongs here,” I said firmly.
“Then tell him what you were talking about.”
“Fine. Vergil, why didn’t you fight with us when Rufus arrived?”
“I was told not to,” he said sheepishly, “by Raphael.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I just obeyed.”
“Okay, when you were born, how long were you on the island before you were taken to Heaven?”
“He wasn’t there,” Alessa began but I cut her off.
“There could have been more than one island,” I said. “You saw the number of angels flying toward the dwarf star. We were right. There’s a whole lot more of us in number than what we saw…so Vergil, how long were you on your island?
”
“Not long. Maybe a day or two at most.”
“You were able to leave because you got the lesson, right?”
“I guess so…I don’t know.”
“Let me ask you this then. When you were transported here, did you arrive with other angels or were you alone?”
“I was alone.”
“You didn’t receive a lesson in pride from Raphael?”
“He mentioned the gist of it.”
“Why didn’t you have to take the lesson?”
“Maybe I didn’t have any issues with pride,” he said, his words accusing and hurt.
“It’s hard for me to understand why you were alone. Are you sure there weren’t any others?”
“No. I was definitely alone.”
“And why do you think that is?”
“Because God wanted me to be with all of you.”
I didn’t know what to say to these words. Even Alessa seemed to be taken off guard and ashamed about how she had acted, but there was no time for remorse. The hurt covered his face like a veil, and it was obvious he was done being questioned under our skeptical scrutiny.
“I don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize this team. I just need to be alone, I guess. Think about choices I’ve made…I’ll meet you at the Fellowship Hall, okay?”
“Vergil, you don’t-”
But he was already gone, his Archangel speed carrying him away faster than my apologies. Simultaneously, the ledges above reset to their original position and Marcus and Cadence floated down. Marcus’s angelic pressure had significantly decreased in that time.
“Where’s Vergil?” Cadence asked. Alessa beat me to the answer.
“He went to the Fellowship Hall. He didn’t like where this was going.”
“I see…”
“Coward,” Marcus spat out and Cadence smacked him upside the head.
“He did make a good point in your absence,” Alessa replied, taking in recent events. “He said that the reason he was born alone was so he could be on our team.”
“Then why wasn’t he just on the island with us?” Cadence asked, and we had no response to that. “I have nothing against him personally, but…you know what, we’re done discussing this.”
The Works of Julius St. Clair - 2017 Edition (Includes 3 full novels and more) Page 70
