by Jessi Gage
“She’s more than a friend. She’s everything to me.” He meant it. His very soul resonated with the conviction that losing Jade would destroy him. “Please, help her.”
Chiboza inclined his head. “I will conference with the angel. It may take some time. I do not want you to get your hopes up. Time is one thing Ms. Alderwood does not have on her side.” He sipped from the water and resumed his posture, eyes closed, hands on knees. This time, his mouth remained still.
“Is he praying?” Emmett asked Nick.
Nick shook his head. A look of awe spread over his face. “He’s listening. To an angel. Like the prophet Daniel when he received a message from Gabriel. Emmett, we’re witnessing a miracle.”
A shiver passed over Emmett. He knew the Old Testament story Nick was referring to. God’s prophet Daniel prayed for guidance as he ruled over a province of the wicked nation Babylon. After three weeks, the archangel Gabriel appeared to him, saying he’d been detained by a prince of Persia since Daniel first uttered his prayer. Commentators said the prince of Persia was likely a demon, that Gabriel had just returned from battling him, and that was why his appearance scared Daniel half to death and made everyone around him run for their lives. Emmett loved Bible stories about angels. God’s warriors. God’s messengers.
An angel was speaking with Chiboza. Amazing.
Please let the angel know how to help Jade, he prayed. The angel’s presence meant God hadn’t given up on Jade. Emmett, too, refused to give up.
“This is going to take a while,” Nick said. “Why don’t you get some rest? I’ll stay here and let you know when they’re done.”
“I’m not leaving Jade.” At Nick’s sigh, he looked up. “You can go rest, if you want.”
Nick shook his head and half sat on the edge of the bed near Jade’s head. “I don’t need sleep. But I do want to sit. Seriously, man. This could take hours, and we shouldn’t talk. This has got to be taking some heavy-duty concentration.” He sketched a glance at Chiboza, who seemed oblivious to their hushed conversation.
Emmett nodded his understanding and wrapped his hands tight around Jade’s bound ones. He adjusted himself to a more comfortable position on the bed. He was there for the long haul.
Chapter 26
Dawn lightened the sky outside. Chiboza sat still as a stone pillar, his creased face frozen in something deeper than sleep.
Jade lay still on the bed, except for the too-rapid rise and fall of her chest. His periodic check of her pulse showed it to be weak, alarmingly so. Her cheeks were hollow. He worried about the toll this was taking on her body. He worried about how Chiboza had said she would waste away.
His buddy was sticking by him even though it meant he would miss his final exam this morning. Nick sat on the bed with his back against the headboard and his chin tucked in sleep. Emmett had wanted to talk to him a hundred times during the night. He wanted to apologize for lashing out earlier when Nick and Chiboza were only trying to help. He wanted to tell them both how grateful he was. But he didn’t want to do anything to hurt Chiboza’s chances of helping Jade, so he kept quiet. Instead, he’d spent the night alternating between prayer and reading Scripture. He’d also shed plenty of tears.
With a long sigh, Chiboza finally stirred. He blinked his eyes open and rubbed a shaking hand over his face.
“Nick,” Emmett said, rousing his friend with a jostle of his leg.
Nick started then followed his gaze to Chiboza. He got off the bed with a creak of the mattress and put a hand on Chiboza’s shoulder. “You okay?” he asked his mentor.
“I require a meal,” he answered weakly.
Nick said, “I’ll go make breakfast. Sit tight.” Then he headed downstairs.
Emmett wanted to drill Chiboza about what he had learned from the angel, but sensed the man was in no shape for an inquisition. Forcing himself to be patient, he turned his attention back to prayer.
“You have something to say?” Chiboza asked, his voice a mere thread of his usual commanding tone.
He met the man’s weary eyes. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior last night. And to thank you.”
Chiboza nodded. “Apology accepted.” For several minutes, the man rested with his eyes closed.
Emmett had just returned to praying when Chiboza said, “You love the girl?”
“I do,” he answered without hesitation.
“That is good. There is hope, then.”
Emmett’s heart leapt. His throat constricted with gratitude. “Thank you, God,” he whispered, as he lifted Jade’s hands to his lips and kissed them. “It’s going to be okay, baby girl. Hang on for me. Just hang on.”
* * * *
Emmett and Chiboza sat down at the kitchen table. Nick brought them plates of French toast and bacon. Jade remained upstairs with one of Nick’s radios set to “monitor.” She hadn’t made a peep so far, and he doubted she would. Her skin seemed to be thinning and stretching tighter and tighter over her delicate bones. He couldn’t deny it anymore. Something was draining the life out of her. It scared him to death.
He took a sip of coffee strong enough to push his tiredness back to an unobtrusive level and exchanged glances with Nick as Chiboza dug into his breakfast with gusto. He was dying to find out what the man had learned, but Nick’s warning look told him to keep being patient.
After cleaning half his plate in about a minute, Chiboza dabbed his mouth with a napkin and said, “I saw Ms. Alderwood. She is with the angel.”
Emmett froze with his fork halfway to his mouth.
“What did she look like?” Nick asked.
“She is pure essence. To me, she appeared as fractured light and cobwebs.”
Emmett put down his fork. “Is she okay? You said she’s with an angel. What does that mean? Is she...dead?” His throat closed on the last word.
“In a way,” Chiboza said, meeting his eyes. “Her life essence has left her body, which typically means death, but the angel claims he can restore her under the right circumstances.”
“What circumstances?” he said.
Chiboza’s solemn gaze pinned him in his chair. He answered the question with another question. “Are you prepared to be Ms. Alderwood’s champion?”
“I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Chiboza gave a curt nod then said, “Eat. You will need your strength.”
* * * *
Emmett carried a second chair from the kitchen up to his bedroom and wheeled his office chair over to the bed so everyone had a place to sit, well everyone with a body, anyway.
“Should I offer the angel a chair?”
Chiboza leveled a look at him, wearing a ghost of a smile. “He has not manifested himself in physical form. Therefore, the physical plane does not appear to him as it does to you and me. If you brought him a chair, he likely would not even see it.”
Everyone sat down, Emmett taking the seat closest to Jade. She was breathing too fast, and her face looked even thinner than before. Her freckles stood out like stains on her chalk-white skin.
“She doesn’t look good,” he said.
“Her body is weakening,” Chiboza said. “We must hurry.”
His chest squeezed. He refused to lose her. He reached out to cover her bound hands with his. “Hang on, baby.”
Chiboza cleared his throat.
He followed his gaze to the spot near the bedside table where Mr. Shadow, a.k.a. Joshua the angel, had appeared earlier. The shadow materialized while they watched, like black threads layering upon each other until there was a semi-solid shape against the wall.
The temperature in the room dropped, and a deeper cold bit through to his bones. He’d thought this was what evil felt like, but according to Chiboza, any time a spirit manifested in the physical plane, whether a good spirit like Joshua, or a bad one, it required energy. That energy would be pulled from wherever possible, heat from the atmosphere, power from batteries, life force from the living. He didn’t like the idea that his personal battery was being tapped
by a spirit, but knowing it was an angel, one of God’s Heavenly Host, and the being currently caring for Jade, he could handle it.
“Are you ready?” Chiboza asked him.
He felt the blood drain from his face. It was an excellent question. Over breakfast, Chiboza had explained what needed to be done to save Jade. Emmett had agreed. To everything. He’d thought he would have time to adjust to the idea, but Chiboza was looking at him with sober expectation. Joshua was waiting with his shadowed face and flapping cape. Nick was giving him a cautious smile and raised eyebrows.
“You’re ready,” Nick said. “You know she’s The One.”
He nodded and licked his suddenly dry lips. He’d known Jade barely more than a week, but his heart didn’t care how long she’d been in his life. His heart only knew that he loved her and his life would never be the same without her.
“I’m ready,” he said. His pulse sped with excitement. He was about to do two things he never thought he’d do. Emmett Herald was going to tamper with the spirit world. And then he was going to get married…that is, if Jade said yes.
Chiboza held out his hand and Emmett took it. Using the gifts Emmett now believed were God-given, the man would act like a spiritual two-way radio. Emmett would be able to communicate with the angel, and the angel to Jade. The angel had warned Chiboza Jade was too weak to do much more than cling to life, such as it was, for the time being, but once the 4-way link was established, Jade should be able to draw energy from Emmett. Once she regained her strength, he would propose, she would say yes, Lord willing, and Chiboza would marry them.
Then Jade would fall under the protection of Emmett’s Christianity and the thing possessing her would be forced out. At least that was the theory.
Chiboza had never done anything this complicated. He only agreed to it because the angel had implored him to try.
The cold that had seeped into Emmett’s bones at the angel’s arrival thrummed with some sort of resonance, like the string of his soul had been plucked by an icy finger. He tensed against the feeling.
“Relax,” Chiboza said. “She is drawing your energy.”
He did his best to relax, thinking of Jade’s beautiful smile, her bright hazel eyes, her laughter, her concern for her grandmother. He loved her so much. Take what you need, baby girl. Take as much as you need.
As the minutes passed, the cold grew impossibly deeper. His hand shook in Chiboza’s. Hunger was like a bowling ball in his stomach, and tiredness was like a stack of bricks pulling on his eyelids. He stopped fighting and let his eyes slam shut. He swayed in his chair.
Nick’s hand on his shoulder steadied him.
“Stop. He can give no more.” Chiboza’s voice sounded far away.
He might have drifted off to sleep, because the crack-hiss of a soft-drink can being opened hit him like a blast to his consciousness.
“Drink this,” Nick said. Then there was cold aluminum at his lips.
He obeyed. The fizzy liquid chilled his tongue but turned to warm syrup as it hit his stomach, like his insides were frozen and the refrigerated soft drink was several impossible degrees warmer.
Time passed. It might have been a handful of seconds. It might have been on the order of minutes. He wasn’t sure. He only knew he was starting to wake up and feel warm again.
“Speak,” Chiboza said, giving his hand a squeeze. “She will hear.”
His heart did a flip-flop as he remembered what he was supposed to do. He licked his lips, wishing he had a ring, even if Jade couldn’t see it where she was.
“Jade, sweetheart?”
There was no answer.
“She can hear you,” Chiboza said. “Go on.”
There was so much he wanted to say to her. He wanted to ask if she was okay, tell her not to be scared, tell her how sorry he was he’d let this happen. But he remembered Chiboza’s instruction to keep things as brief as possible. He understood why now. Communing with the spirit plane was exhausting. Chiboza had done it for hours last night. Emmett’s estimation of the man rocketed to new heights.
He cleared his throat. “I can’t hear you, honey, but I think you can hear me.” This was so hard. He wished he could see her, hold her hand instead of Chiboza’s, cup her beautiful face in his hand while he told her how much he loved her. He settled for imagining those things.
“I know you’re probably confused and scared right now. It’s going to be okay, though. You’ve got a lot of people here helping make it okay. Nick’s here, and his mentor. And you know Joshua, I guess. Mr. Shadow? Um…” Shoot, this was so hard.
“Just do it,” Chiboza said. “Time is of the essence.”
Irritation made his lungs squeeze. He didn’t want to do this in a hurry. He didn’t want to do this in front of an audience. But he had no choice.
“Jade, honey, there’s an evil entity inside your body. I’m so sorry. The only way to get it out is for you and me to get married. Right here, right now. Nick’s mentor, Chiboza, he’s going to marry us, okay? And he can make it official whenever we want to do the paperwork.” Good grief, could he make this any less romantic? His neck broke out in a cold sweat. He was making such a mess of this.
“Um, I’m supposed to tell you it’ll be permanent. As in, our spirits will be joined until one of us dies. It’s like taking ’til death do us part literally. The upside is it’ll bring you under the protection of my faith. The entity will have to leave your body, and then you can have it back.
“I’m sorry. I know this is super sudden, and we haven’t been together long. But it’s for the best.” He shook his head. Poor Jade. She deserved so much better than this stupid proposal.
“I need you to say yes, sweetheart. Say yes. This can all be over soon.”
There was a full minute of silence where they all waited. Nick squeezed his shoulder.
Finally, Chiboza spoke. “She said no.”
Chapter 27
Please reconsider, Jade. Joshua’s shadow-fists clenched, compressing her essence. She had a feeling he would shake her if she had a physical form.
I’ve made up my mind. Let me go, Joshua.
The wind of the physical plane whipped around them. Joshua held her close to his chest, protecting her. All he had to do was let go and Emmett would be free from this ridiculous obligation to her.
You will die!
Yes. And because I believe in God, now, I’ll go to heaven, right? If I go back to my body, there’s a chance I might forget all this. I might never believe. I might live a long life, but it’ll all be for nothing if I die and end up in hell. Let me disperse, Joshua. I’m ready.
What would heaven be like? What would God be like? Who would have thought she’d beat Grandma Nina there?
One thing was for sure, it was bound to be better than the dismal abyss. And it would be a hell of a lot—make that a heck of a lot better than being possessed. If she was heaven bound, she had better start watching her language.
What about Emmett? Joshua asked.
She groaned in exasperation. Why wouldn’t he just let her go? What about him?
He will grieve.
No he won’t. You heard him. He doesn’t exactly sound thrilled about this. When she thought about Emmett’s proposal, the expression “pulling teeth” came to mind. He was offering up his bachelorhood as a sacrifice. She refused to be permanently bound to someone who didn’t want her.
You don’t truly believe that. He has given you his strength just now. He is willing to pledge his life to you. You know he loves you.
Her essence constricted. Maybe. But he doesn’t want this. I can hear it in his voice. He’s just doing this to help me. He didn’t really know her. He didn’t understand what he was getting himself into. He was good and pure. She was…damaged. He’ll be better off without me. Trust me. Let me disperse.
What about your sister? Your grandmother?
Thinking of Jilly and Grandma Nina gave her pause.
You are their last remaining family. They need you.
/> She started to tell him they would be okay, but he shushed her.
He is speaking again. Listen to him. And not just to his words. Listen to his heart.
“Please,” she heard Emmett say. His voice was in her head but far away at the same time. She wanted to block it out—her mind was made up—but she couldn’t ignore the quiet desperation in that one word. Reluctantly, she listened.
“I know I’m doing this all wrong, but please, just, don’t leave me. I need you so much, you don’t even know.” There was a pause, as if he was collecting himself. “I thought I’d never want to get married. I didn’t want to end up like my parents, deciding after being together for fifteen years that they weren’t in love any more. I always thought no matter how much you loved someone, you couldn’t be sure you’d still love them tomorrow, or ten years, or fifty years down the line. How can you take vows to someone when you don’t know what the future holds?
“I’m looking at you lying here, and I’m realizing something. Love is bigger than the future. I’m not worried what the future will bring. With you, I know I can make my own future. I’m not afraid to take a vow to love you for the rest of my life. How can I be afraid of something that’s a part of me?
“Please, Jade. You look so weak. Chiboza thinks you don’t have much time.” His voice cracked, and so did her resolve. “You’ve got to say yes. I don’t know how I’ll survive if you leave me. I just found you. I can’t lose you.”
Joshua tensed. Jade, you must hurry. I can see Mercy’s essence beginning to separate from your body. There is precious little time.
I can’t make a decision like this in a hurry. I need to think about it. Damn it, she was trapped. There was nowhere to run. She hated not having an escape plan. It went against everything life had taught her.
You didn’t run from me when you thought I was in your house to harm you, Joshua said. You didn’t run when I pretended to attack Emmett.
That was you?
Focus, Jade. His voice was as harsh as she’d ever heard it. Don’t be a coward. Don’t run from this good man.
