by Jerel Law
“Carlo, what happened to you?” she asked, coming over to examine him. The quarterlings quickly relayed the story of Jonah and the tea as Jonah stood in the back, hanging his head. Camilla glanced at him, her eyes holding more compassion than annoyance.
“Remember, my friends, accidents do happen,” she said, and then changed the subject, for which Jonah was grateful. “Are you prepared for another day of tests?”
The quarterlings responded with nods, but it was a more subdued reaction than yesterday.
“Today’s test is archery. Frederick is at the top of the class so far,” she said. The quarterlings applauded politely, and Frederick couldn’t help but smile. “And very close behind is Eliza. Let me assure you, though, that the scores are very tight.”
Before they could even ask her where they were going today, the messenger angels reached out, opened slivers of light in front of them, and they were gone. Jonah felt himself cracking like an egg, then he opened his eyes.
They were in the middle of a forest, with soaring trees above them, forming a green ceiling with specks of blue sky peeking through. The trees were old and thick, and some had trunks wider than the Stone family minivan.
“Where are we now?” asked Jeremiah, craning his neck up at all the trees.
“Guten tag, Jeremiah,” Camilla responded. “We’re in Germany. The Black Forest, one of the most famous forests in the entire world.”
“This sure smells better than New York,” said Eliza, breathing in deeply as she studied a group of flowers nearby.
“Reminds me of Camilla’s old garden,” Jonah said.
“I was just thinking the same thing, Jonah!” called out the angel. “Now, if you will all follow me.”
Jonah was surprised to see her walk up to the nearest tree and look up. Then she reached up and grabbed onto a set of rungs, invisible from farther away than ten feet. Jonah looked upward, into the trees, and saw a brown platform, positioned forty or fifty feet off the ground. It was just below the canopy formed by the tall trees.
Jeremiah saw it too. “It’s like a tree house!” he said. “Do we get to go up there? And, Camilla, shouldn’t you be flying?”
She laughed. “I haven’t done this in . . . well, I’ve never done this. But there’s a first time for everything.” And with that, she began to climb the tree, beckoning the quarterlings to follow her.
“The angels installed this platform,” she said as she climbed above them, “just for the test. Those not participating today should get a wonderful view from here.”
“Don’t look down, anyone,” said Rupert as he peered wide-eyed to the ground below, which was getting farther and farther away. “We don’t have the luxury of wings to catch us.”
Of course, his comment only caused all of them to look down at the same time, and Carlo and Lania had twice as hard of a time climbing up after that.
Jonah pulled himself onto the platform after Camilla, then leaned over and helped each of the quarterlings. Using his angel strength, it didn’t take much effort to snap them up beside him. Although it bothered him when he noticed that a few of them hesitated to take his hand. Luckily, he didn’t drop anyone.
Nathaniel emerged from behind a tree and landed on the platform.
“Welcome! Are you ready for your next test?” he said. They responded with enthusiastic applause. “It sounds like you are,” he continued. “Today, my friends, we are in the Black Forest in Germany, one of the most beautiful forests on Elohim’s earth, where some of you will take your midterm in Angelic Archery.
“The rules are very simple,” Nathaniel continued. “Shoot at any target that poses a legitimate threat. We’ll be judging you on speed, accuracy, and number of hits. As you found out yesterday, you won’t be shooting at a bull’s-eye on a wall. Your targets will be a little more mobile than that.”
He said this with a twinkle in his eye.
“The arrows you are using today have special tips,” Camilla said. “It’s kind of like having the safety on. They hit their targets and stick, but they don’t hurt anyone.”
It was just the quarterlings with the gift of archery today—David, Jonah, Frederick, Hai Ling, and Lania.
“All of you with the gift of archery, are you ready?” Camilla asked, then looked at David with compassion. “David, my dear, we are going to ask that, because of your injury in the confrontation with those beasts, you sit out again today. I am sorry. It is simply too much of a risk for you on that leg.”
David looked dejected, and for a second Jonah thought he might protest, but instead he nodded his head, staring at the ground.
“Sorry, David,” Jonah whispered. David nodded and then looked down again, rubbing his leg.
Jonah felt awful. He knew how much David wanted to compete, and now he couldn’t. And it was all Jonah’s fault.
“Just do your best,” Camilla reminded them. “We’ll be overhead, tracking what’s happening and grading you. The main thing now, archers, is to give Elohim your best. And all I can tell you is to keep your eyes alert at all times and try to stay calm.”
Angels flew over, landing behind them. Jonah was surprised to see Henry, his old guardian angel, waiting for him.
“Henry!” he said, high-fiving him and giving him a hug. “I didn’t know you were going to be here. It’s nice to see a friendly face.” Jonah said this as he glanced around at the other quarterlings.
Henry, who still looked like a teenager even though he was covered with armor, gave Jonah his usual smile. “You’re going to do great, Jonah. Just remember everything I taught you.” He winked at him and extended his arm.
Jonah and the others floated downward on the arms of the angels. As Jonah did, he suddenly felt dizzy. His head seemed to be spinning around, and his vision grew blurry. He blinked for a few seconds, rubbing his eyes, unable to bring things into focus. Shaking his head to the side, his eyes finally adjusted back to normal again.
“Are you okay, Jonah?”
Jonah saw the concern on Henry’s face as they landed in the middle of the clearing with the others.
“Yeah, I’m good,” he said uneasily, blinking a few more times. “Just got dizzy for a sec, but all better now. Must have been the change in elevation on the flight down or something.”
Henry smiled. “All right, then. May Elohim bless you, Jonah.”
The angels darted off, leaving the quarterlings standing back-to-back on the forest floor. Jonah felt his pulse quicken and his breathing grow sharper. He tried to remind himself that this was just a test. He needed to stay calm and focused.
But his mind buzzed with images of David in the museum the other night, the awful wound on his leg, and then his face up on the platform. He looked upward and saw David standing among the other quarterlings, his hand raised. He was cheering Jonah on! Just knowing that made things easier.
Jonah snapped his head back down and found that his breathing began to slow. Just in time, too, because as he watched the forest in front of him, he suddenly saw movement. His arm naturally went behind his back and grabbed an arrow. The bow formed in his left hand, and he strung it, ready to let it rip when the time was right.
The forest exploded with action. One fallen angel crossed in front of him on his left, moving from tree to tree. Then another snuck out on his right, emerging to fire one of his own arrows directly at Jonah.
His instincts took over. He rolled onto the ground, ducking the arrow by only a few inches. Still holding his own arrow, he aimed and let it go. The flaming arrow made a line for the fallen angel and was true to its aim. It hit him in the chest, and the angel fell.
Jonah began to move faster now, away from the unshielded center of the forest and into the trees. He knew that he couldn’t stay in one place for long. His chances would be much better if he kept moving. Another of the dark creatures emerged to his left, jumping up from behind a large log on the ground. Jonah turned and fired, hitting the creature in the neck.
Keep moving, Jonah. Keep going until
the horn blows. He told himself this over and over as he continued to make quick work of the opposition. He lost count after hitting six.
A flame flashed in his vision to his left, and he slammed his chest down on the ground. The sharp point of an arrow stuck into the tree just above his head, red flame burning. I hope that wouldn’t have actually hurt me if I’d been hit, he thought. But the tip looked sharp.
Another one came, and he ducked again. This one hit even lower on the tree. Jonah was starting to get mad.
He searched the green wall of trees and plants in front of him, but he couldn’t spot the fallen angel. His position on the ground wasn’t helping him. Studying the tree he was leaning up against, he decided to make a move.
Jumping up, he used his angel strength to leap upward to the first hanging branch. Quickly he began to scale the tree, moving from branch to branch until he was halfway up the giant elm. He found a large limb and crouched down. Now he had a view of the entire floor. He could see not only several fallen angels, but also the other quarterlings.
He spotted the fallen angel behind a bush, likely the one who had fired at him, and he reached back for an arrow. As he did, though, the one fallen angel turned into two. Jonah blinked. Did that just happen?
Except that it wasn’t just two fallen angels . . . it was two of everything. Two bushes, two trees, and two Fredericks, just below him, firing two arrows. His vision was blurring again. And his head was beginning to feel light. Reaching down, he grabbed onto the branch he was kneeling on to steady himself. He let go of the arrow, and it dropped harmlessly to the forest floor.
Jonah looked down. He could barely see his hand, let alone anything below. With his other hand, he rubbed his eyes, trying to get his vision to return.
But then he lost his balance, teetering on the branch for a moment before he began to fall.
Which is when everything turned black.
Jonah heard the voice of someone far off in the distance. It was difficult to make out the words, but it sounded as if someone were praying.
“Elohim, we ask that You bring healing to Jonah now, that if it is in Your will, You allow him to be free from injury, that You bring him close to Yourself . . .”
He fluttered his eyes open. All he could see were blobs of light, and then some darker shadows over him. He heard more words murmured that he couldn’t make out. His back hurt. His legs and arms hurt. His entire body was in pain. Jonah tried to raise his head up and say something, but blackness overtook him again, and he lost sight of everything.
A NEW ENEMY
Yes, the testing is on hold for the quarterlings until we can be sure of their safety.”
Jonah recognized the voice of Camilla ringing in his ears. He was trying to see her, trying to open up his eyes, but all he could see in front of him was hazy darkness. Where was he?
“These wounds on his arms and legs, they concern me,” another voice said, one that he knew as well. Was that Taryn? “My feeling is that these and his fall are related.”
“Yes,” came Camilla’s voice again, sounding tired and old. “They are. But there is nothing we can do about that right now. Elohim has a plan, and we will just have to see it through. The best we can hope for is to keep him and the other quarterlings as safe as we can.” She paused. “As much as that is possible at this point. We should have just stuck to written tests . . .”
A gruff voice, which Jonah immediately knew belonged to Marcus, entered the conversation, speaking low. “I think we all know what is going on here, don’t we, Camilla? The boils all over him that won’t be healed by human medicine? They clearly have come from M’chala himself, and I am not going—”
“Enough!” Camilla cut him off. “Enough, Marcus. I am not disagreeing with you, but it is not ours right now to meddle with! We are not to interfere.”
Jonah began to move his eyelids. Finally, and with a lot of effort, he pried them open. Above him, Camilla, Marcus, and Taryn stood, peering down at him.
“Interfere with what?” he said sleepily, their words swimming around in his head.
Camilla gave a quick glance toward Marcus and Taryn. “Jonah!” she said, now leaning over him and touching his forehead. “You’re back with us. Thanks to Elohim!”
He nodded, still a little groggy, but as he looked up, at least he could see clearly now. His whole body ached, but he gradually raised himself so he was sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Careful now, Jonah,” said Taryn, holding his elbow. “You took a nasty fall out there. It’s a wonder you didn’t break anything.”
The fall. He remembered it now, wincing again at the thought of it. Looking around the room, he saw a desk, a stack of books, and a stained glass window that he recognized as being from the convent.
“Camilla’s office?”
Camilla nodded. “You’ve been resting here for a couple of hours now.”
Jonah rubbed his arm, which was tender. “Did I pass the exam?”
“The exam,” answered Camilla, sighing loudly. “We’re considering cancelling the exams at this point. After what happened to you . . .”
“You should keep it going,” Jonah said. “We’ve all worked really hard. I just got a little dizzy and fell, that’s all. And that could happen in the real world. We all need to be prepared. We need to know how to handle things if one of us gets injured fighting. We need to know how to take care of each other.”
She looked at him, and Jonah had the distinct feeling that she wanted to tell him something more, but decided against it. “We’ll see about that,” was all she said, turning back toward her window.
“Frederick had the highest score when you fell,” Marcus said softly so Camilla couldn’t hear. “But you did hit eight before you plummeted to the ground. You did well.”
Jonah tried to read into his eyes for a few seconds, to see if there was anything else there. Marcus stepped away, though, lowering his head.
“Marcus,” Jonah asked, beckoning him back. “Who is M’chala?”
The smile drifted from the angel’s face. He batted away the question. “You need to get back to your room now and rest. We’ll regroup tomorrow. Okay?”
Marcus and Taryn both tried to help him stand up.
“I’d like for you to speak with your parents before you go upstairs,” Taryn said. “I know they’re going to want to talk to you and see that you are okay.”
Jonah agreed, and they walked through the convent doors and onto the sidewalk. Taryn raised her arms and concentrated, and soon they were surrounded by an Angelic Vortex. Within seconds, the screen in front of them appeared, and his parents’ concerned faces were peering at Jonah inside the cyclone.
“Jonah!” Benjamin said. “Henry brought us up to speed on your accident. How are you feeling?”
Jonah shrugged. “Not all that great, I guess. But I’m okay. It was just a little fall.”
Eleanor leaned in closer and tried to speak but coughed. It took her a minute to get herself together, still hacking in between her words. “A fall . . . of forty . . . feet? That’s not . . . little.”
“I’m sore,” he conceded. “I did get light-headed up there. But I feel better now. Really. I didn’t eat any breakfast before the competition. It was probably just low blood sugar. I’ll make sure to eat before my next test.” He didn’t want them to worry and was doing his best to convince them not to.
“Well,” his father said, “you just need to be more careful, okay, Jonah? But we’re glad to see that you’re all right. Even though, honestly, the sores look worse.”
Jonah glanced down at his arms, feeling the sudden urge to itch them. He ignored his dad’s comment. “Mom, are you okay? You don’t look any better than when I saw you last.”
Benjamin cut his eyes toward her. “She’s seeing some doctors here in Peacefield,” he said, but remained tight-lipped. “But nothing for you to worry about right now.”
She was coughing again, unable to speak, but nodded in agreement with Benjamin.
/> “Okay . . . if you say so,” Jonah said slowly, knowing in his heart that they weren’t telling him everything. She looked at him with her heavy eyes and tried to smile.
They said their good-byes and the vortex was gone.
“She doesn’t look good,” Jonah said to Taryn.
Taryn gazed at the street beside them. “You’re right. I don’t know what is going on with her. But she is in good hands. Now let me help you get back upstairs.”
Jonah shuffled toward the door. “I’m good,” he said, waving his hand. “Just going to go get some rest.” He thanked her as he moved his sore body back into the corridor toward his room.
“Jonah!”
He almost didn’t turn around at the sound of his brother’s voice, calling to him from down the hallway.
“Jonah, wait!”
Jeremiah was barreling toward him, causing Jonah to flinch. The last thing he wanted was to end up flat on his back again. But instead, his brother stopped right in front of him and studied him up and down.
“Well, you look better than you did a while ago,” he said. “I thought you might have broken your legs or something.”
Jonah sighed, turning to go. “No, Jeremiah. I guess I got lucky and didn’t break anything. Although I bet everyone around here wishes I had right now.”
Jeremiah crossed his arms. “I don’t. And anyone who says anything like that will have to deal with me.”
Jonah couldn’t help but smile at the thought of one of the smallest kids here going up against someone like Frederick or Andre.
“Thanks, Jeremiah,” he said, slapping a high five with his brother. “You may be the only one who feels like that right now.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jeremiah said. “But Dad says brothers have to stick together. Right?”
Jonah punched him playfully in the arm. “Right.”
Stepping into the bathroom across the hallway, Jonah stopped in front of the mirror. His shaggy hair was matted down, extra greasy from the sweat of the competition and the lack of a shower. His entire body was red with the boils, and his dad was right—they only seemed to be getting worse. He desperately wanted to scratch them, but he knew if he did, it would only make them worse. His head pounded as he leaned over the sink, running the water and splashing it on his face.
