“First,” Sariana said. “We need to talk about why we’re here. You and I.”
“We’re pitbulls, right? Evil, scary pets,” Alicia smiled and clawed the air. “Rawr!”
“You are, yes. I’m not,” Sariana didn’t quite know how to put this. “Thanks to you.”
"All I did was almost kill you,” Alicia said. “And, now, we’re going to go on TV and talk about that bug and the war on Humanity.”
"No. I’m here because it is my birthright. We are to change the time-line."
"The two of us, huh?"
"You and I. Yes."
"So, you're saying that I was predestined to meet you today?"
"It was your wish. Yes."
"My wish?" Alicia laughed. "And when did I add this item to my agenda?" The girl was silent. Alicia smirked at her. "Well?"
"It was your dying wish."
"No kidding? I’m dead now?"
"I'm sorry. Yeah. Well, not now. Don’t be sad. Before, you lived to be quite old... and wise too," the girl stammered.
“So... we know each other in your dimension?”
“Not exactly.”
"But all of this is going according to plan?' Alicia said as she applied more lipstick.
"Not at all. Not really. No. I feel that it’s very important that you understand...”
“Alicia!” a voice shouted from beyond the cereal aisle. “We need you now.”
“Look, I need you to understand something. I saw what you did out there. But I can’t prove it to anybody. You need to help me convince the world that you’re legit.”
“What’s ‘legit’?”
“That what you’re saying is the truth.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Goddamn it, Alicia!!”
“Ummm... okay. Let’s go.” Alicia took the girl by the hand. “I’m counting on you, kid.”
“Yes, I know but is there not time for us to talk?”
“You want to talk now? What happened to hurry the fuck up?”
“I’m afraid what I have to say... this might be awkward for you.”
Sariana’s warning barely registered with Alicia. “I interviewed Charlie Sheen mid-nervous breakdown, kid. You want to talk about awkward? You’ll do fine.”
Alicia led the girl to the cameras and Sariana was quite impressed. She sat in one of the chairs beside Alicia and the director handed each of them bottled water.
"You have my copy?" Alicia asked. He nodded. "How much time do we have?"
"3 minutes."
"Where do I speak?" Sariana asked her.
"See the red light on top of the cameras?" The girl nodded. "You speak to the one that is lit up."
"Okay."
Sariana began to silently mouth words as Alicia fixed herself in the monitor. She straightened her jacket and checked her hair. "Oh, no," Alicia grumbled. "I'm glowing. Can I get a little powder here please?" A girl arrived to take the shine off of Alicia as she fanned herself with her notes. “God, I’m still sweating from this fucking heat. How do people live down here?”
“Alicia,” Sariana said, hesitantly.
“Yes?”
“Quasihemdemisemiquaver.”
“Why do you keep saying that?”
It was a futile attempt. The trigger wasn’t working. Sariana looked around the room nervously. She could barely see anyone through the glare of the white lights. She was definitely going to throw up. Sariana thought of her Mother and Father. They would know what to do in this instance. But, fuck them. Why hadn’t she been prepared for this scenario? Her palms were pools of sweat and the hair on her arms bristled. This was bad. Sariana saw dark shadows move quickly behind the cameras and she twitched. She looked for Alicia to her right but she couldn’t see her in the glare of the white lights. Everything was happening so fast and it was all wrong.
The monitor lit up with graphics and the anchor in L.A. appeared on the screen. "Our children," he said. "Our most precious children. How are they reacting to the great changes occurring since the arrival of the OWL?”
Sariana swallowed hard and her throat felt like sandpaper. She began to cough and quickly she opened the water bottle and began to drink. The water spilled from her lips and she tried to wipe them dry. She smeared her lipstick in the process but the cold water gave her an instant of clarity. She knew what she must do. The preemptive would go forward. After all, it wasn’t as if she had a choice. Sariana couldn’t go back.
“Many worry that some may be suffering from confusion and even post traumatic stress disorder. How can we explain the events of the past few days and those of the coming days to them in a way that they can understand? For more, we turn to Alicia Parker, joining us live, on locat-”
The red lights on the cameras lit up and Sariana immediately began to speak with great passion. "My beloved Luciferians, it is with a heavy heart that I, Princess Sariana and the Grand Queen Alicia of the Third Order address you this afternoon. Today you are faced with difficult decisions but it is my hope that you will heed my call to resist the coming elemental rain. Stay inside and do not succumb to the coming rapture for it is a deception. You are not being led to your enlightenment as they have implied. You are being led to slaughter. Those who have addressed you previously are not benevolent and they do not wish you peace. They have misled you to believe that the Dark Age is coming to a close but, alas, this is not true. It is only just beginning for our species. You may speed your evolution by resistance. Stand firm and resist all provocations from your creator. Luciferians are a godly people and our souls are meant to serve our destiny in the omniverse alongside the Masters of Wisdom, not at war with federations we did not create. Do not be washed in this rain and do not despair. For a great savior is among you and lead you to victory over your captors, the warlords of Humanity. The Grand Queen Alicia shall lead you forward. Trust in her judgment and do as she compels you for she is a beautiful and righteous Queen. All praise her. I, your princess, bid you farewell and wish all souls Godspeed in your journey to Heaven. May you remain unwashed and may you stand proud as Lucifer once stood, second only to the Sun. Peace be with you."
Alicia sat stunned. For the first time in her career, she was utterly speechless. She tried to snap out of it. “I... um... she... she killed this really big... bug.” The director gave a signal to cut and Alicia’s composure began to return. “Wait! No! Okay...” It was too late. The red lights clicked off and the anchor in Los Angeles turned to his panel of psychologists. The dollar store erupted in laughter and applause.
"My Queen," Sariana said immediately to Alicia. “You must listen to me...”
"That's one for the Christmas party!" the director exclaimed, trying to catch his breath.
"What... the fuck... was that?" Alicia said, still perplexed and growing angry.
"I’m sorry! I tried to tell you. I really did!" Sariana shouted to her above the laughter.
“Did you say I was the Queen of the Third Reich?”
“The Third Order. You are. You will be,” Sariana now made a valiant attempt to explain amidst the chaos in the studio. “The Humans. They anticipated the Luciferian preemptive. This time-line has been manipulated.”
“Oh my God. Why would you do this to me?”
Alicia’s humiliated plea spoke to Sariana on a much deeper level. Her world felt suddenly as if it were further collapsing. Had she failed her Queen? She had to pull it together. “I believe we may be in grave danger. Remember what I told you. Please. Stay focused on me. Ignore this.”
“I should have trusted my instincts. You’re fucking crazy.”
“No! Your Maje... er... Alicia, this is much more serious than we could ever have imagined. Everything I told you is true. You were supposed to wake up. Listen. Please. Quasihemdemisemiquaver!”
"Jesus Christ. It's time for you to go, kid." Alicia said, standing up and gathering her things.
"What are you talking about? Go where?"
"Go home."
"No. Alicia, please listen
. I can’t go home. I’m supposed to be here. With you. We have to figure out how to make this work together. That’s the only way. I need you. There’s too much to do."
"Well, then go do it. Just get out of my face," Alicia snarled, walking toward the door with Sariana in tow. The director moved out of her way.
"Pardon me, Queen Alicia," he laughed. "Forgive me, Princess."
"Yes, of course," Sariana said instinctively to the man. “Alicia, I need to explain. When I jumped dimensions... when I crossed over. We were being attacked... my coordinates...”
Alicia reached the door and held it open. "Out!"
"Please wait just a minute! I understand why you’re reacting this way. I really do. All of this can be explained. If you’ll just listen...”
“Your new coordinates... are OUT.”
Alicia grabbed her by the arm and thrust her out the door, closing and locking it behind her. She turned to face her still snickering co-workers as Sariana knocked on the glass door. “My Queen! Please!”
"Oh, fuck you!" she said. "Fuck all of you."
"All hail the Queen!" came a shout from the back of the store.
"I'm calling it a day," she sighed. "Is there anything else for me, Hal?"
"I think we're good." Alicia began making her way to her desk. "Oh! There is one more thing." Alicia stopped and turned around. "Can you sign this royal proclamation demanding an increase in hazard pay? I'll get it sent right off to corporate."
Alicia flipped him the bird. She found Brady at her desk, surfing the internet and looking more than a bit distraught.
"My wife's Dad died," he said. "Is that what that call was about?" Alicia nodded 'yes' and gave him a hug. "My sister in law sent me an email."
Alicia wrote: "I'm so sorry, Brady. Kristine wanted to tell you - why I didn't say. Hal knows you need to go."
"I understand," Brady said. "What happened to the girl?"
"You'll find out soon enough," she wrote. "I'm going to the hotel. You coming?"
"No. I'll catch a ride back later. I need to book my flight and take care of some things. Can you leave your iPad?"
Alicia nodded and grabbed her things. She gave Brady another hug and wrote: "Take care. Try to see me before you leave."
She grabbed a set of keys from the pegboard. "I'm taking the white truck," she shouted to the staff. "By the way, the red one's a little fucked up."
Alicia walked into the parking lot and shoved through the crowd. She felt stupid. That last bit of nonsense notwithstanding, Alicia had found herself starting to buy into the girl’s crap. Did that bitch call her a devil worshiper on the air? Alicia had been caught up in the moment. Of course, who could blame her? She was just another person, worried inside about an uncertain future and grasping at straws. Still, Alicia hated failure with every fiber of her being and this story was undeniably that. Right now, the reality was that she fit in nicely among these yokels cheering on Armageddon. In light of this misjudgment, her arrogance collapsed. Alicia was ashamed. She was no better than these idiots. Had she ever felt compelled to cry, now would have been a good time to commence.
She trudged her way to the rear of the building and caught a glimpse of Sariana sitting with her back to the building, her arms resting on her knees. “Just keep walking,” Alicia said to herself. A grubby looking man with a nearly empty bottle of whiskey loomed over her.
"Come on, baby, don'tcha wanna party?" the man said to Sariana.
"Go away," the girl said sternly. She noticed Alicia and stood. “Alicia! Wait!”
Alicia didn’t say a word. She unlocked the white truck, got inside and started the engine. Perhaps reluctantly, she kept an eye on Sariana and the man. She saw him grab her arm and Sariana quickly withdrew it.
"You know you want a little of this," the man said to the girl, clutching his groin.
“Go away... please.”
Alicia wanted nothing more than to return to the hotel, take a hot shower and to forget the entire day’s debacle. The sting of her embarrassment was still fresh but Alicia couldn’t dismiss what she’d witnessed only hours before. The girl was a freak. One thing was certain, though. This brat wouldn’t survive the night in the company of these fucktards. Plus, while she wouldn’t admit it, Alicia was scared. Everyone was; even those morons raiding the fireworks stand next door, intent on blowing up the hole in the sky. Alicia didn’t want to forget only the girl and the bug and the whole diatribe about souls. She wanted to forget that the world might be teetering on the precipice of catastrophe.
Would it be so wrong to confess to being just as terrified as the populace she so often ridiculed? To a degree, the girl represented to Alicia an opportunity to indulge in a hypothesis, no matter how ridiculous, for the ataxia that took away her quiet Sunday afternoon at the bistro, her watching sunsets from the rooftop, her longing for the future. No one knew what was happening. The girl, at least, seemed certain of something. Even if it was all bullshit, Alicia took some kind of comfort in that.
Plus, now more than ever, she needed to feel strong. The girl was someone to protect. Alicia sighed. Angry as she was, she couldn't just leave her like this. She got out of the truck and approached the man.
"She's a little young for you, asshole. Get out of here."
"Well, then, how 'bout you? You wanna part...”
Alicia punched the drunk in the throat. Hard. Sariana was startled. He grabbed his neck, gasping for breath.
"Why don't you just go home?" Alicia asked the girl.
"I told you. I can't," Sariana's eyes were locked on the injured man.
"Where are you staying?"
"You... fucking... cunt," the man managed, rising.
Alicia turned and kicked him in the nuts. He doubled over with a shriek, still clutching his bottle.
"Get in the truck, Sara. Sariana. Whatever your name is."
The girls got in the truck and Alicia clicked the locks shut. They began the slow crawl out of the parking lot. The man threw his bottle of whiskey and it shattered against the back of the SUV. Sariana nearly jumped out of her seat with the crash. Glass hit a few bystanders who then erupted in anger and threw the man to the ground. Sariana watched in equal parts awe and horror as one man knelt and began punching him. His rising fist was quickly covered in blood.
"So violent," she whispered.
"He had it coming. Better him than you. These people are getting pretty wasted. You can't hang out down here by yourself. Where am I taking you?"
“My Queen...”
“Seriously?”
“Quasihemdemisemiquaver.”
“Oh... my... God.”
“Quasihemdemisemiquaver.”
“Why would you unleash that bullshit tirade on the air?”
“It’s the truth.”
“It’s ridiculous.”
“It’s a trigger. Quasihemdemisemiquaver. It’s supposed to wake you.”
“I am awake. I’m driving a car, for crying out loud.”
“You’re conscious but not enlightened. The Grand Revelation indicated that this trigger would be embedded in your soul. Either you have failed or, more likely, The Humans have intercepted this time-line.”
Alicia let out a deep sigh. Was she really going to go down this path again? She was exhausted. She honked the horn to disperse the drag queens now assembled in front of the truck. They gave her the finger and Alicia returned the favor. They cleared a path and she now had a reasonable stretch of road in front of her; 10 miles per hour the entire way out of town. They’d be here a while; Alicia decided to indulge her further. Why not?
“Okay. Wow. None of this is even coherent. You’re just babbling...”
“The trigger didn’t work. It was supposed to unlock your soul. I wasn’t expecting to give a history lesson.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sorry.”
“We have so little time and the Humans are obviously already here.”
“I thought we were going to them.”
“That’s how it worked th
e first time.”
“What first time and what does that mean: ‘The Humans are already here’? So what? They were coming anyway, right?”
“They’re here to stop you. To stop us. They need as many of your souls as possible. They know that some will be left behind. But, if we are successful, their army will be far too small to achieve further ascension.”
“What the hell do I have to do with anything? I put you on TV, isn’t that what you wanted?”
“You are to lead the rebellion. You are the Luciferian Queen.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“I don’t understand. What about him?”
Alicia shook her head and saw the highway up ahead. It would be clear and she could get a straight shot to the hotel. “Are you sure you’re not going to tell me where I should take you tonight?”
“I am supposed to be right here. With you. I have nowhere else to be.”
“Are you an orphan? Where are your parents?”
Sariana had thought about this. She realized that the entire preemptive may already have been thwarted by the Humans. “Not yet. I’m still here” she said solemnly. “If I were an orphan, I’d never have been born.” Alicia pulled the truck into a liquor store. “What is this? Why are we stopping here?”
"Stay here," she told Sariana and walked inside. It was practically empty. She found a bottle of Scotch and searched for a clerk. The store was abandoned. At the counter she saw a small stack of random bills so she dropped a ten in the mix and left. Civilization hadn't completely crumbled, she thought. She threw the bottle in the backseat and drove down the highway to the hotel.
"Where are we going?" Sariana asked, clearly nervous.
"To the hotel. You'll stay with me tonight."
“There’s no time to waste. The cloud has been released.”
“Look, you said I needed a history lesson, right? You’re going to have to explain this shit to me if I’m going to help you at all.” Alicia was more or less just buying time until she figured out what to do with the girl.
“The Humans could be anywhere. They might be at your next destination, waiting for us.”
Ascension: Invocation Page 9
