Harbinger in the Mist (Arms of Serendipity)

by Anabell Martin

  But this was wrong. Regardless of what he claimed, this could cause problems for him. And it could break her heart.

  “Stop, Eli, stop,” she whispered into his neck. “We can’t do this, stop.”

  He lifted his head up and stared into her eyes before asking, “Why?”

  “Eli, I’m a human, you’re not. You’re supposed to be here to get rid of this thing, to close that dumb portal I opened. I won’t be responsible for you giving up your God-given role. We’re caught up in the emotions right now – fear, love, lust – all fuelled by the atmosphere in this house. What if, a month down the road, you realize that I was just a passing fad? What if I change my mind? Is it too late for you to go back? I can’t make this decision under the current circumstances. And neither can you.”

  Eli sat up and ran his fingers through his hair. He reached down, picked his discarded shirt from the floor, and wrapped it around her shoulders as he kissed her forehead softly.

  “Here, put this on. When you’re ready, bring your pillow and come downstairs. I’d feel a lot better if you slept on the sofa tonight, slept where I could stand and watch over you without… without the temptation.”

  He walked silently across the floor and out the door, moonlight shining on his naked back.

  Lindsey kept his shirt on – it smelled too good to change. She quickly slipped on some underwear and a pair of boxer shorts, grabbed her pillow, and headed out into the dark hallway. Her vision was still blurry, so she ran into her own room to get a new pair of contact lenses and a bottle of saline solution; she’d put them in downstairs. She turned to head for the stairs and ran right into Eli’s chest. He had been waiting on her, not wanting to let her navigate the stairs alone in case Milton was lying in wait for her.

  She was tired, but wanted to talk. “Tell me, if you’re this big, bad warrior angel, why can’t you see this thing and why can’t you just snub it out like that?” She snapped her fingers.

  “I am nearly powerless when I am in human form. I suffer from human inabilities. My capabilities are limited by this body and its needs. I must sleep, I must eat. I have to change to my normal form to be able to talk to my brothers and to be able to fight this entity. But my heart yearns to be with you, so I take those limitations without complaint. When in my natural form, I can control spirits to a certain degree, but I am not all powerful. I require help sometimes, too.”

  She fell asleep on the sofa, wrapped in his protective arms.

  Twenty Three

  They slept in the next morning, not rising until late morning. Lindsey dressed and fixed lunch. She heated up a can of beef and mushroom soup in a sauce pan and added several fat slices of cold-cut roast beef. As it simmered, she opened a large hoagie roll and sliced sharp cheddar onto a plate. Once the meat was steaming hot, she stuffed it into the bread and covered it with the cheese. She used the left over soup to dip her sandwich in as she ate. Eli had a salad and a bowl of grapes.

  After they lunch, Eli went to talk to “the others” and Lindsey headed over to the Robbins’ to feed the horses. The family was due back home the next night and she wanted to make sure that everything was in tip-top order for them. Plus it gave her something to do while she waited for Eli.

  And it kept her out of Retreat House by herself.

  “Well, hey there, stranger!” a robust voice echoed in the barn.

  Lindsey was knee deep in dirty hay and surprised at the greeting. She turned to see Brent standing in the door, a large bag of sweet feed tossed over his shoulder. His wrist was bandaged with white gauze.

  “Oh my gosh, hey! How have you been? What happened to you?” She wiped her brow with the back of her hand nervously.

  “Oh, this? It’s nothing. I was fishing and hooked a baby stingray. Damned thing got me with its tail before I tossed it back in. They’re poisonous, you know. It’ll be OK, though. What about you? What have you been up to?”

  “Not a whole lot. Getting ready for school and stuff like that.”

  Brent put the feed in the storage room and helped her finish cleaning the stalls. When they were done, he put down fresh hay while she fed the horses.

  “Hey, if you’re not busy, I’ve got to head back into Summerville to pick up a new bridle for Pala. You’re more than welcome to tag along. We could grab burgers and maybe even go ice skating if you’re game.”

  “Pala?”

  “Yeah. Uncle Owen gave me the colt. I named him Palaemon. Pala for short. I’m going to board him here, but I still have to keep him up.”

  Brent began measuring the colt’s girth and head with a yellow measuring tape. He wrote the measurements on his bandage with a permanent marker.

  “Maddie is going to be thrilled.”

  “Yeah, I thought so, too. So, would you like to keep me company this afternoon? It’d be a lot of fun.” His gaze was gentle and kind. It made her heart beat a little faster.

  “Oh, um, wow. I’d really love to, but I’ve kind of got something going on at my house tonight. Can I take a rain check?”

  “Are you just brushing me off?” He grinned. “It’s OK if you are, I’m not easily offended.”

  “Absolutely not. It’s just … complicated.”

  “Does it have to do with the priest?” Brent prodded.

  “Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking. Trust me. I’ll be relieved when tonight is over.”

  “Well, alright then, but I expect you to call me soon. I’ve got to take you out on the water before the weather changes.”

  Brent gave her a one-arm hug before he left. She liked Brent and the way his arm felt around her. She liked his gentle nature and his warming smile. Yes, he could be the one to help her get over the devastation she’d suffer when Eli went home. She locked the barn and headed back to Retreat House. She sat on the back porch and waited for Eli to return.

  Once again she was awed at the beauty here. Birds dove and darted over the waters of the ACE Basin, metallic jade dragonflies zipped around the reeds, and a frog jumped into the water. It was like a painting come to life. She looked down at Eli’s sword which lay in her lap. She’d been carrying it around with her for protection. She took it in her hands and examined it. It looked like one long piece of molded sterling silver. From tip to hilt, the sword was one big piece of metal – no gold handle, no priceless gems. Other than the fact that it was extremely light and seemed to almost glow, it was very non-descript. She placed it on the porch beside her and waited for her Harbinger to return.

  As the afternoon progressed, she grew anxious at his extended absence. He’d never been gone this long – was something wrong? What if his superiors refused to let him return tonight? Would she be able to go through with the cleansing and blessing alone? She was sitting there, fretting as the late afternoon mist began to float along the water’s edge. Finally, just as she was beginning to panic, he walked out of the forest and trotted up to her.

  “The others are on guard. They will be here in full support tonight.”

  She nodded, relief washing over her in waves. She knew he wanted to talk about what had happened last night, what was going to happen tonight, and.… afterwards. But she didn’t. She wasn’t prepared for that right now because she was so torn.

  “That is so pretty,” she said. “It looks like a painting.”

  “What is that?” Eli asked.

  “The way the cattails sway in the breeze and how the mist is floating along the water’s edge.”

  “That’s us.”

  Lindsey looked at him, confused. “What’s ‘us?’”

  “The mist. A mist like that is a sign of an angelic presence hard at work. For the most part, the mist that you see in the woods or in a field or on the water are Natura Angelius. They tend to all nonhuman life – taking care of the trees, the animals, and even the waters. They –”

  “Do you mean … fairies?”

  “That is another name they’ve attained over the centuries, but it doesn’t change their role. The Creator made every living th
ing on this earth, do you think He only gave guardians to its human inhabitants?”

  “You mean humans actually have guardian angels? Seriously?”

  Eli looked at her as if she had just asked if humans had hearts that pumped blood. “Well, yes. Every human has their own guardian. But the Natura Angelius –”

  “Do I have a guardian angel?”

  “Yes. And she’s not happy that I’ve exposed myself to you,” he looked over Lindsey’s left shoulder. “Actually, she thinks I’m a bit of an ass for being here like this.”

  “She?”

  “Yes. Human females have female guardians, human males have male guardians. It wasn’t always so, but He soon realized that it was too much of a temptation for some angels when placed with a member of the opposite sex. It wasn’t uncommon for angels to appear in the middle of the night, copulate with their charges, and then disappear again. Many humans thought they were having very vivid dreams at night. Others thought they’d been abducted. He had to remove that temptation that was tainting His guardians. Your guardian is Carina. And, like I said, she’s not happy with me.”

  “Not everyone is heterosexual,” Lindsey retorted.

  “Valid point,” Eli nodded. “The Creator takes such cases into consideration. I suppose I should say that each human is given an angel to which they would not be attracted and vice versa to prevent any temptations or succumbing to weakness.”

  “In the end, how is that any different from what you’ve done? If God doesn’t want guardian angels falling for their human ‘charges,’ why would you think he’d be all right with what you’re doing now?”

  “Falling in love is one thing, falling prey to carnal temptations is another. In the instances to which I referred, the guardians weren’t necessarily in love with their charge. They were just overcome with lust. You see, your guardian sees everything. It’s there in your car, with you at school or at your job, and at the dinner table. But it’s also there when you are in the bath or asleep in bed having a pleasurable dream. It’s always with you, even in your most vulnerable moments. They never leave your side. So, you can understand how a guardian, once attracted to his charge, might succumb to the temptation? However, it’s a whole other story if an angel, any angel, were to genuinely fall in love with a human and request to descend.”

  “If I have a guardian angel, why couldn’t she fix this hole I created the minute it was created? Why couldn’t she stop Milton from crossing over or send him back when he entered the house? For that matter, why aren’t all ghosts sent to … wherever it is that we go when we die?”

  “Well, your guardian angel can never leave your side. They are with you from the moment of conception until the moment your soul departs your body. They are, in a sense, attached to you. They then guide you, if you choose to go, to the other side. Being at the bottom of the angelic order, their powers are also very, very limited. Even if she could leave your side, she wouldn’t be able to overpower another spirit. All she could do is summon an angel who would have the power to do so. She was actually the one who alerted the messengers about the breach in the first place. They contacted us immediately.

  “But to answer your second query, when you die, you have a choice. You can linger here or go on. You cannot be forced, even in death, to choose His kingdom. Lingering is, for the most part, a self-imposed punishment. Instead of going on to an existence of happiness, you stay here and relive your worst memories over and over again. It’s sad, really. If you do cross over, like most souls do, it is absolutely forbidden to return to the land of the living. It’s a one-way barrier. That’s why Milton’s reappearance here is such a problem. Spirits who come back generally do so with great hate or pain still staining their soul and it causes so many issues for the living. He – ”

  “So back to these angels in the mist, every tree, every rabbit, every fish has a guardian, too?” Lindsey wasn’t ready to talk about the spirit in her house. She wanted to keep the conversation light.

  “No. Nature itself has a group of angels that tend to it. They are more visible in the mornings and evenings, as that is when things are waking up and falling asleep. They heal, they rouse, the comfort, they soothe. They pay special attention to things that are essential to human life itself here on earth – water for drinking, trees for oxygen, and crops for sustenance, for example. The Natura Angelius, a subsection of the Virtues, not only take care of God’s lower creations, but they see His hand in it all and gaze in wonder at it. Even angels from other realms have been known to just stop and watch in awe as the sun rises on another day, as God breathes another breath of life down onto his creation. Nature is our Louvre. Like humans go to gaze at the works of Monet and Da Vinci, so do we gather in awe of God’s magnum opus – the world.”

  When Eli explained it that way, she could understand. There was definite beauty in the way the sunlight caressed the tops of the trees and reflected off the water, the way the breeze blew through the cattails and Spanish moss, the way the birds swooped in the air. The earth really was a work of art come to life.

  “The mist has been heavier lately because my brothers are watching, too. They are curious to know what it is about you that has changed me. They want to know if I will descend for you. And they want to know that I am OK since my senses are dulled in this form.”

  They sat and watched as the sun began to set around them. Lindsey reclined against Eli’s chest casually. She enjoyed the heat from his body and the smell of his skin. Every once in a while he would lean around and kiss the back of her head or stroke the side of her face.

  Too soon, they heard a vehicle pull up in front of the house, stop, and doors slam as its occupants exited.

  “It’s time,” Eli said, pulling her up.

  At his announcement, a thick mist pulled in from the forest and surrounded the house. Eli pulled her close to his body as they walked around the perimeter to meet the members of C.A.P.I. by the front steps. Lindsey held out her hand and let it slide through the mist as they passed; it was several degrees warmer than the air around her.

  Eli laughed and leaned in, “They like that. They like being acknowledged.”

  The group stood in the front yard holding bags of equipment. The women wore long, black cloaks with hoods. The man wore black pants and a black shirt with a white tabbed collar – he looked like a priest. A long, thin purple cloth hung over one arm.

  Sara walked forward, embraced Eli, and whispered something in his ear. She looked at him with concern as he whispered something back. She shook her head sadly then walked to the front of the group gathered in front of the house.

  “There are seven of us. A magical number on this magical night! Let us enter this house with pure thoughts and a pure purpose!”

  The man in the tabbed collar approached Lindsey. He dipped his thumb in a little silver tin that looked like lip balm.

  “May this holy chrism oil protect you, my child.” He muttered a quick prayer and placed his thumb on her forehead, marking her with an oily cross. It felt sticky, but smelled sweet.

  Eli squeezed her hand and kissed her softly on the ear. “Let’s do this,” he whispered.

  As the group began to climb the stairs, a dark mass stepped in front of the front door, blocking their way.

  Twenty Four

  The Cleansing and Blessing of Retreat House

  The group gathered on the porch and faced the ghost of Milton Walker.

  “It’s a full body apparition!” Sadie whispered excitedly.

  “That’s the holy grail of ghost hunting!” Raven added, her digital camera clicking as she took photos in rapid succession.

  “Focus, ladies,” Deacon Chris said sternly a he moved to the front of the group and draped the thin purple scarf around his neck. In a louder voice he said, “Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host - by the Divine Power of God - cast into hell
, Satan and all the evil spirits who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

  Milton growled at them menacingly before catapulting straight up and out of sight.

  “He doesn’t want us here. He thinks we’re trying to send him to the Shadowlands,” Raven said. Lindsey was sure that the play-by-play was just for her benefit.

  They entered the house slowly. The women placed their bags on the credenza as Deacon Chris went around the house turning on lights, Sadie followed behind him opening cupboards and closet doors. Then they quickly assembled their items – four white candles, two large cigar-shaped smudging roll, a bag of sea salt, and a lighter. Sadie opened a second bag that was obviously Deacon Chris’. She removed a black, leather-bound book, a glass vial of holy water, and sterling silver crucifix.

  Eli planted himself beside the deacon, “Litany of the Saints?”

  “Yes, to begin with. I would have had to find a priest willing to help and then get permission from the Diocese to even think about an exorcism here. So, I’m afraid that standard prayers and holy water will have to do.”

  “Never doubt the power of simple prayer, Deacon. And remember that they have their own techniques,” Eli pointed at the cloaked women. “Maybe the dual punch will be what is needed.”

  “You are correct about prayer, my son. And their services certainly can’t hurt. Please hand me that crucifix.”

  Lindsey watched as the two sides – Christian and Pagan – prepared to join forces and send the ghosts of Marla Rae Retreat House where they belonged, even if it meant a fight to do so.

  The Deacon took the prayer book and flipped it open with the help of one of the frayed red ribbons hanging out the bottom. He held up the crucifix and instructed Eli to sprinkle holy water in every room they entered.

  The women, on the other hand, lit the candles and the smudge sticks. Sadie handed one of the candles to Lindsey. Raven took the organza bag of sea salt and began to speak softly, incoherently as she waved her right hand in a circular motion over it. When she was done, she hung it from her right wrist.