Harbinger in the Mist (Arms of Serendipity)

by Anabell Martin

  “You ass!” she splashed water in Maddie’s direction once she’d stabilized the float.

  “Language, language. There are children around, you know,” her friend teased. “I just wanted to see if you wanted to go over to the wave pool with us?”

  Lindsey slid off into the cool water, swam a lap, and then carried the inner tube out of the pool. The concrete was hot on her bare feet so she scuttled to the wave pool as quickly as possible.

  The crystal blue waves rolled to the concrete beach from the back wall, which had been painted with a Hawaiian-esque scene of a surfer dude hanging ten and a hula girl on a small island in the background wearing a coconut bra and a grass skirt. ‘W4’ had been painted in bright yellow on the surf board. (She could only assume it was short for the park’s name – Whirlin’ Waves Water Wonderland.) Each wave rolled over the top of the pool, gaining height as it approached their feet, and broke with a realistic white froth.

  A sign hung by the lifeguard’s stand that said “WARNING: Strong currents and undertows may be present. Water level varies due to wave surge. Enter at your own risk!”

  They pulled their blue inner tubes into the crashing waves and waded out past where they were breaking. They climbed onto their floats and laughed as they bobbed up and down, up and down. The other revelers laughed, screamed, and splashed around in the warm water. One kid was trying to surf on a small, foam boogie board, but he kept wiping out, sending his board flying in the air before snapping back thanks to the cord that attached it to his ankle.

  A lifeguard in red swimming trunks sat in his seat holding a long, white rescue tube. He looked utterly bored. Hell, for all of the movement he displayed, he could’ve been sleeping behind his dark sun glasses. Another lifeguard patrolled the perimeter of the wave pool in a red one piece suit that had the signature white lifeguard sign on it. She, too, carried a white rescue tube in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. She had a whistle perched in her mouth ready to blow it if someone put a toe out of line. He fanny pack bounced as she walked back and forth. Lindsey wondered what she carried in it.

  “We should’ve done this ages ago,” Michelle said.

  A loud horn sounded a few minutes later and the waves cranked into overdrive.

  “Ah, I love it when they do this,” Maddie shouted and sat up.

  The horn had startled Lindsey. Maddie mistook the look of shock on her face and added, “They only do this for like 10 minutes then the waves go back to normal for a good half hour.”

  The turbulent water rocked Lindsey’s float back and forth furiously. Around her people had managed to interlock three and four inner tubes so that they didn’t get separated from their friends. Lindsey hadn’t been so lucky. As the waves plunged forward, she floated backwards, getting closer and closer to the back wall. She held tight to the slippery tube and looked to the side. The pool was marked “10 ft.,” but she knew that could fluctuate thanks to the undulating water surge. She didn’t see Maddie or Michelle anywhere. She was in the back of the pool all alone and without a way to move herself forward. She pushed her weight on her hands and stretched her body upwards trying to spot her friends so that they could help.

  Big mistake.

  Her hands slipped on the wet vinyl and she fell through the hole in the middle of the inner tube. She was surprised and didn’t think to take a breath of air before falling under the water. The joyous sounds of her fellow swimmers screaming and laughing were immediately muffled. She opened her eyes, but her contact lenses were washed away. She could still see her empty tube floating away above her, its blue silhouette a dark halo hovering over the bright water above. In the distance, other tubes, each with a pair of legs or a butt sticking down from the center, were visible. She tried to kick to the surface to get her float but she couldn’t reach it. The movement of the water all around her seemed to be holding her suspended. She struggled, but her lungs were burning and her head was getting fuzzy. She kicked harder, but seemed to be sinking deeper in the water.

  The motion of the water above her ceased and she saw a red suit swimming toward her. She reached out for it with her last bit of strength. The lifeguard wrapped an arm around her and pulled her up and out of the water. She placed her floating rescue tube under Lindsey arms and used it to tow her to the edge of the pool. The other swimmers were out of the water, watching in horror as Lindsey’s partially limp body was pulled out onto the hot, scratchy concrete. She heard a zipper, felt the lifeguard tilt her head back, and felt a plastic face mask pushed down on her nose and mouth. Air, she needed air. Lindsey grabbed at the mask weakly and coughed up a mouthful of water. She sat up and peered at the faces staring at her. The quiet was deafening. She was thankful that she hadn’t actually needed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation; she was humiliated enough.

  Maddie and Michelle ran up to Lindsey, each screaming.

  “Oh my God, Lindsey!”

  “Are you alright?”

  “What happened? We lost you.”

  “I’m sorry, we should have warned you to lock tubes with us.”

  “Ladies, I am going to have to ask you to step away,” the lifeguard said. “I need to make sure she is Ok. Ma’am, do you need us to call an EMS?”

  “Um, no, I was just shocked, that’s all. I’m OK.” She stood up on wobbly legs in an attempt to prove her point. “I think I just want to go home, now.”

  She walked back to her chair in silence. She could feel hundreds of eyes on her and her friends as they walked.

  “What happened?” Maddie asked quietly. “One minute you were there, then you were gone.”

  “I don’t know. The waves kept pushing me backwards. When I was almost at the wall I tried to raise myself up to find you two, but I slipped.”

  They sat on their lounge chairs and calmed down. Slowly, the park went back to normal, people splashing and having fun, her little mishap forgotten. Aware that the lifeguard was still watching them acutely, Michelle took her camera out from under her towel and snapped some photos. She turned it on Lindsey and yelled, “Quick! Smile!”

  Lindsey flashed the camera a goofy smile.

  Soon after that they packed their bags up and headed back to the car. Lindsey was hungry and tired, and her head ached a little. They each grabbed a burger and fries from the concession stand on their way out and ate silently in the car. Lindsey fell asleep 10 minutes into the drive.

  Despite the nap on the way home, she was sore and exhausted when she walked back into the house. Her mom had left for work already so the house was dark and quiet. She flipped on the foyer light, walked slowly up the stairs, and into her room. She fell face-down on her bed. It shook briefly.

  Lindsey sat up quickly, not sure the vibrations had been real or imagined. She exhaled a huge breath of air and started to stand up. She needed a shower and a change of clothes. But most of all, she needed rest. As she took a step toward the bathroom, the air around her got really cold, and a hot, fuggy breath hit her on the side of the face. Her heart began to pound frantically.

  “Why are you doing this? Why are you focusing your anger on me?!?” Lindsey screamed to her empty room, all of her frustrations overtaking her. The air temperature changed to normal, which was a big relief. But the closet door creaked open.

  “Stop it! What do you want? Why are you here?” she yelled.

  As she stared into the open walk-in, at the clothes hanging on each side of it and her shoes and belts resting on their perches on the back wall, a scraping noise startled her. Out of nowhere, a box fell off of the top shelf and thudded to the floor on its side, its top flopping open. The wudu board and planchette spilled out.

  “I didn’t do anything wrong! I wasn’t trying to harm you or your sons. Damn it! Do you take that much pleasure out of tormenting me?!” she screamed.

  The planchette slowly slid onto the board and stopped on top of the word ‘yes.’

  Lindsey took two steps back, her hand covering her open mouth. A small rush of wind flew out of the closet and pa
st the place where she stood. Without thinking, she ran forward, grabbed the board and planchette, and took off down the stairs. She threw them both into the fireplace and grabbed the box of matches from the mantle. Her hands were shaking so badly that she broke the first three match sticks before she managed to get a flame to erupt from the red tip of the fourth.

  Maybe if she burned the damned board she would get rid of the menace, too. She lit it on the side closest to her, watching as the varnish curled up and bubbled beneath the flames. She took a pile of papers from the recycling bin and shoved them under and around the burning board, causing the flames to stoke. The wood underneath eventually began to steadily char and the plastic planchette slowly melted into a boiling, gelatinous glob. She sat on the sofa and watched the damned thing turn to ashes.

  Please, God, let this work. Help me get rid of this menace, she prayed. It was there that she fell asleep, the embers of the crumbling board still glowing red hot.

  When her breathing had evened out and her muscles relaxed in slumber, a dark figure moved from the corner, hovered in front of the fireplace, and then shot straight up through the ceiling. Two smaller figures drifted down to the floor from near the painting Darby hung, the painting of the house. They slowly made their way to stand right in front of Lindsey’s unconscious body.

  Ten

  “You must be Elion,” the young woman said. “Please hurry and check the situation out. For now, I must go. I’m not supposed to be here.”

  The woman left quickly and Elion went to work. He walked the perimeter several times, his hands on his hips and the corners of his lips turned down in a frustrated frown. There had definitely been a rip in the veil separating the land of the living from that of the dead. The aura surrounding the hole was small, giving him hope that it was easily mendable. It was palpable that whoever opened this vortex had done so recklessly, abandoning what he considered common protocol when messing with the barrier between the two worlds.

  Novice, he thought.

  But taking care of errors such as this was his job, his calling.

  He stood there and contemplated the job ahead of him for several moments. He generally had the how’s, when’s, why’s, and where’s when starting a job. This time he had very little information on which to go forward. He would have really liked to know what supernatural tool had been used in order to mend the hole quickly, but it wasn’t a necessity.

  He walked around the large bedroom, which was painted in the soft pinks and purples of the fading sunlight that poured in through the large window. The muted lighting made the spectrum around the hole shimmer brightly, electrically, like the flowing currents in a plasma globe. Elion held his hands above his head and focused his energy so as to channel the essence of the room and the tear. He sensed the presence of only one spirit around the vortex. The owners of this house had been lucky. It was rare that only one restless soul escaped.

  He had been lucky, too. This job would be simple enough since he was dealing with a lone energy. He would first locate the entity, help it cross back, and then seal the hole. Of course rip sealing could sometimes be tricky which was why he liked to know the source, but with enough ingenuity the task could be done. It was time consuming work, too. Add in the fact that the owners didn’t know that he’d been contacted so he had to work around their schedules so has to not be noticed... But still, he’d seen worse. Much worse.

  A noise behind him caught him off guard – the jiggle of a doorknob. The owners of the home were unaware that he and his brothers had been contacted about the spirit. Elion didn’t want to alarm anyone, so he slipped into the back of the walk-in closet, hidden completely by clothing, hanging purses, and stacked boxes. He’d wait for the owner to leave and then he’d continue with his work without interference or distraction.

  Elion prepared himself to channel again, to search the home psychically for the spirit while he waited, but every molecule in his being seized when the girl walked into the room.

  She was dressed in a pair of shorts and a white swim suit top. She was beautiful to look at, sure, but that wasn’t what had captivated him. After all, he’d seen many, many beautiful women during his lifetime, but none had ever mesmerized him like this one. Everything from the shimmering whites and light pinks of her aura to the fruity scent that emanated from her being entranced him. She brushed her long brown hair back out of her face and glanced nervously around her room as she kicked her flip flops off. Her big, blue eyes were full of apprehension and fear.

  Could she sense that she wasn’t alone? No, he felt that she was fearful of the entity that had broken through. Was she the one who allowed it entrance? She must be. This was obviously her room. She sighed and fell face-down on her bed.

  Elion felt his own being lurch towards her as if she was a magnet and he was nothing more than a metal thumbtack. Just as he thinking about stepping out of the closet and explaining who he was, a dark shadow entered the room through the floor and hovered near the head of the bed.

  This spirit was a seething, pulsing, angry emanation – full of deep, muddied reds and forest greens intermingled with the deepest black. It leered at the girl before reaching out and shaking the bed on which she rested. She looked up, startled, and it moved up to her face where it hissed softly.

  Everything in and around Elion turned red. He would not allow this girl to be tormented by this thing. He prepared to charge the dark mass, expel it right there in front of the girl.

  The spirit sensed Elion’s presence and looked toward the closest. It didn’t speak, but Elion could hear his thought. “You’re not welcome in my home!”

  Elion concentrated on the spirit and tried his best to convey a stern message, which wasn’t easy with the unknowing girl in the room. “This is no longer your home, fiend! You have violated the law set forth by your Creator by crossing the veil. By His holy name I command that you leave and return to whence you came.”

  The anger rolled off the spirit like sprayed venom. “Command? You command? I think you need to catch me first, boy!”

  The girl had yelled at it, too, but Elion was concentrating so hard on sending his own message telepathically that he didn’t hear what she had said. The spirit seemed to understand her, though. It turned and leered at her while flying straight toward Elion and his hiding place. Instead of attacking, though, it rumbled around the top shelf near the door. It threw a box out at her and disappeared. Elion refocused his energy, making himself forget about the girl in an effort to concentrate on finding the crevice in which the spirit was now hiding. The girl gasped, grabbed something from the floor, and ran from the room.

  Elion left the house in a hurry and made his way back to the priory. When he couldn’t find Uriel, he called out to his friend and colleague. “Calliel! I need your help,” he yelled into the empty hallway.

  “Eli, is something amiss? You’ve never called to the Brotherhood for help with a case before. Is this one more than we thought?” Calliel asked, running down the hallway.

  “I did not think so at first, but now I do not know. Have you seen Uriel?”

  “He is conferring with Camael. He will be back in time for sunrise assembly. Can I help with something?”

  Elion placed his right hand on Calliel’s bronze shoulder. “Yes. I must ask you for something that will not make sense, though. I need you to stand guard over the girl at Retreat House until I return. You must keep her safe, but you must not be seen. I will be quick.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I must speak with Uriel at once. Please, go protect the girl.”

  Calliel looked at Elion, surprise written all over his face. “Girl? Elion, please tell me that you aren’t thinking what I think you are thinking. You know the ramifications of such an action! We’ve seen it happen too many times.”

  “I have made no such decision. The girl is in danger and in need of our protection. I really need to speak to Uriel but I do not want to leave her vulnerable to another attack from the entity. Plea
se, brother. Go to the house, watch over things there until I return. I shall be quick.”

  Calliel shook his head and went to the door. He was worried, but he would do what his brother asked.

  Elion spent the time traveling to Camael’s in a state of deep reflection. Calliel’s right, he thought. This is insane. I should just take care of the ripped veil, banish the spirit, and return to my post here at the priory. But the girl… I have to make sure that she survives this unharmed.

  Upon arrival, he made his way to his superior’s room. He knocked once and waited on Uriel to allow him entry.

  “Elion! My brother, what brings you here? Surely the case at Retreat house isn’t that bad?”

  The rector placed his hands on Elion’s bowed head softly.

  “My dear brother, I sense that this case is not like anything you’ve seen before. Tell me what the problem is my son.”

  “Uriel, I fear that this case will take longer to close than we expected. I do not know how the rip occurred and the spirit is evasive – it does not want to be returned to the bleakness from which it escaped. I ask your permission to return to the house and confer with the girl that is being stalked.”

  “Elion, I thought that the rip was small, the entity human instead of demonic. Is an extended stay really necessary?”

  Elion could not lie to the rector, so he stood in the doorway looking his commander in the eyes, pleading silently with him for permission. He just needed to talk to this girl. Just once. He knew it was foolish. Such actions were, more often than not, very costly. He’d seen brother after brother falter and lose everything. He had thought them insane for falling to temptation. But something about this girl was different and he longed to talk to her, to know her, to have her know him.

  “Ah. This has nothing to do with the rip or the spirit. You’ve found a soul mate.”

  Eli hung his head in shame. He had known far too many brothers who had fallen prey to physical temptation. He had always felt sadness at such an unfathomable decision. He swore that he’d never allow that to happen to himself. Yet here he was.