Others had been called since then, but none had come. Not until this family took it upon themselves to do as they sensed God bade them do.
“So who…?”
“Kalev,” he told her, allowing her to look into his eyes: something else that could have killed in the Timeless Now.
Direct eye contact.
Fascinating how God created the heavens and the earth, and the angelic and human nations. How He created universes within universes, and how all matter leads back to Him. Kalev wished more humans would understand that, but what was to be done? They would need to learn on their own.
“Zollo and Casimir are the twins, though even I have not been able to figure which is which, even after millennia have passed; Omega is Neriah, and Ferris is Lemuel. and I have a sense that Ezer and Elihu are out there somewhere, though I know not where,” he continued after Paloma had backed away enough for the men he had met to gather closer, and those he had not to get a better look at him.
“None of you look a thing like angels to me,” Mark Jeffries announced, standing so abruptly that he jammed his elbow into his half-empty plate. “And why would you? You must have overheard someone talking about the experience. There’s no way you’re an-”
Zollo – whether Arieh or Ari’el, Kalev would perhaps never know – transformed for a near-half minute; long enough to be seen for an angel before becoming Zollo once more. The flash of light emanating from him hurt Kalev’s eyes, and he averted them a moment with each transforming.
A handful of the women screamed; Mark shouted in surprise; Kristof muttered something unintelligible under his breath and turned paler than he had already been; Tawny and Tom embraced each other, lowering their eyes toward the ground, and Cherish ran a ways away before coming back, much more slowly to the gathering.
Once the twin had become Zollo again, and announced he was Ari’el, Paloma moved to hug each of the angels once more, beginning with Zollo, himself.
“Still need to learn to cook,” she asked with a tremulous laugh edging into the words. “Because if you’re really going to be around a while… “
“Absolutely,” Kalev – that is, Dirk, told her as they all settled back down to eat. “Because when you haven’t cooked in over four hundred years, it doesn’t just come back to you. The foods are different; I’m in a different part of the world; the customs are different, and so are the expectations,” he continued.
“And frankly, I wasn’t that good of a cook even then,” he finished with a laugh. And, thankfully, several others joined in.
Forty Eight
Edward watched as Zollo transformed into Ari’el and back into the human form once more, his heart racing.
How could he not have known that there was something more to these men than met the eye. As Paloma had said, they had a familiar sense about them, but how was he to know they were the angels, and not what the Bible called “familiar spirits.” There were so many warnings against them, and yet, what was it, exactly, that helped people to know for sure the difference?
Evil emanated from those spirits, and good from the men before him; the angels they now entertained, before now, unaware.
What had made God decide to send these five down to help them plan out their trip to Israel? Was it because of the impact the trip would have, or was it more for the sake of Quentin or Kristof?
“So you were sent here because…?”
Tom’s question, mirroring his own thoughts, startled him back into the moment, and he waited along with the others for an answer.
Neriah – that was, Omega, in earthly terms – spoke up first, standing at his place and then moving away from the table, raising his voice to be heard by all present.
“There is more than meets the eye with this trip you will take; it is about much more than the mirror, though it is the tool that the Father has used to bring you all together. And Kristof,” the angel-man turned to look at the fashion icon, “as tough as all of this is, and as confusing, I pray you will trust that this is for your good and your future. There are things still to be learned, even by one such as yourself.”
Edward watched Kristof’s mouth twitch a few moments, and thought he would speak, but instead, Neriah was met with a silent stare.
And could Edward really blame him?
He had no knowledge about the mirror, but out of necessity, now would need to be filled in. How would he take the news? How would their understanding of its history inform and help him?
Edward moved to grab a second hot dog and some barbecue chips before returning to his seat, his thoughts lost in the idea of discussing the relationship between the mirror and those gathered with both Kristof and with Quentin, if Lovan or Arthur hadn’t already mentioned anything to him about it. And even if Quentin had heard of it, he wouldn’t know the story; wouldn’t know the history, or what had occurred and it would be a difficult task, for how would the word of what they’d found be retained as a secret if either man decided to mention it publicly?
The thought of television crews meeting them on the other end of a plane trip made Edward shiver, and as he loaded up the hot dog with toppings, he tried to figure out the words he’d need to use if it came to that.
But what am I worrying for? Doesn’t God tell us that we aren’t to live in a state of worry and fear, but to trust Him? That the Holy Spirit would give us the right words at the right time for every situation?
“You’re right,” he heard Ari’el – that is, Zollo – saying nearby, causing him to jump. He turned to see that the angel-man was standing directly behind him.
“Fear, doubt, worry, anxiety… they kill you be it quickly or slowly, and the Father never intended for people to live in such ways. Just as a state of rush is bad for the soul, so are these traps of the enemy people allow themselves to become mired in,” Zollo continued. “It will be good, and it will, indeed, be good, Edward. There is no reason to fret, for their hearts are being prepared, just as yours has been.”
Zollo’s words were soft; kind. They brought Edward peace nearly as much as his time in the valley of rainbow-colored grass that had so surprised and delighted him in Heaven.
Kristof cleared his throat, and Edward glanced his way. “Need anything,” he asked, trying to be cordial.
Though the man had been nothing but kind since arriving this time, memories of his first visit still haunted Edward, as did the letter the man had sent on Edward’s fiftieth birthday. Though he had been forgiven, the memories still lingered and made it difficult to interact with him sometimes.
And he wished that his forgiveness for Kristof was more sure; more firm… but for now, he had to be content with what it was and continue to grow in forgiveness.
“I was wondering,” the man said, removing his hat and sweeping a hand over his scalp, tufted here and there with random bits of short hair that was trying to come in, “if I could get a hamburger when someone is next up. No hurry, I just… the first was good, and my appetite is usually so low these days. something must be agreeing with me, be it the company, the weather, or that my health is actually evening out or getting better, if that is even possible,” he continued.
His words were just above a whisper, and Edward had to strain to hear him above the conversations that had resumed or begun around them at the tables, and in the grass behind him, where some of the boys had settled moments before.
Setting his food aside a moment, Edward silently got up and fixed the burger for Kristof, making sure he prepared it the same way he had the first of them. “Anything else,” he asked, trying to sound cheerful. “Since I’m up, I may as well.”
“Some of that potato salad might be nice,” Kristof said, pointing to the bowl Tawny had brought with her. “And some water, if it isn’t too much trouble.”
“No trouble at all.”
Edward went about helping the man, trying to be less mechanical than he had been, at times, regarding such tasks, and a wave of guilt overcame him.
“There is no need to feel guilt
y, Edward,” Omega said as he approached to retrieve some potato salad for himself. “You are human, and you are doing the best you can with the situation you are in. Your intent has been noted in Heaven; your attitude, of course, has been, too. And you’re right, it could use a little adjusting.”
Why do they keep doing that? In Heaven was one thing, but here on Earth? Wow. I never thought I’d ever have to think a sentence like, “mind reading is creepy.”
“Sorry about that,” Omega said. “I’ll work on not responding to those things. And really, we sense feelings more than thoughts but as they’re attached, and it’s all part of our job…” The angel-man smiled in apology, shrugging his shoulders, the plate in his hand moving slightly with the movement.
“Understood,” Edward told him, looking around before handing Kristof’s plate back to him. “And it isn’t for me to tell you how to do your job and fulfill your calling.”
He could see Omega nodding in his peripheral vision.
“True enough,” the angel-man said, his dark hair glistening in the sunlight. “True enough.”
Forty Nine
St. Louis, Missouri… June 26, 2025
“So, what did they say,” Zebedee asked Romeo once they’d brought Angus back from the hospital. Five inches taller, the man towered over him, his face filled with concern.
“Three days in the hospital must have been some scare,” he continued as Romeo set his sleeping son down on the bed in the quarters that would be his family’s new home.
Three days in their new city, and it was the first time he’d stepped foot into the apartment at all.
Behind him, he could hear Calico gasp, and tried to imagine her delight over their new accommodations as Zebedee’s wife, Elisabet, gave her a tour of the three-bedroom place that would house them for who knew how long.
“He had a low-sugar crisis,” Romeo whispered, tiptoeing out of the room and cracking the door behind him.
Their son’s room, decorated with superhero characters, was brightly colored and he was sure that Angus would appreciate it when he woke up.
The living room, dining room, and kitchen were in neutrals with accents of pale blue and navy interwoven with them, and he had yet to investigate the other two bedrooms, one of which, hopefully, could be utilized as an office.
“That’s got to be tough; we went through that with our daughter a few times when she was younger, but… even still, it’s hard to see, no matter who goes through it,” Zebedee disclosed, his voice low. “Jene just couldn’t keep her sugar up, no matter what we tried; it took nearly three years for the docs to get to the bottom of what was going on, and by then, she was so ill they had to hospitalize her for nearly two weeks. Even now, at fifteen, she’s just… she has trouble. My brother’s a doctor in Texas, so we sent her to live with he and his wife because in the end, we’d rather she live and have constant care from someone who was knowledgeable and loved her than stayed with us and have to be rushed to a hospital for every unknown.”
Romeo looked the man in the eyes then, his own heart flooded with compassion for the McAndrews family; for all they’d gone through, and all they continued going through. He knew so little about them, but this one thing created a bond with the family. That they had experienced similar health crises helped, in some ways, despite that he wished nobody ever had to go through anything so scary and nerve-wracking.
“Hey,” he heard Calico saying from the furthermost bedroom all of a sudden, interrupting his train of thought as he tried to come up with a response, “Romeo? Can you come in here a minute?”
Following the sound of her voice, he and Zebedee made their way to where the women were waiting.
The room was well-lit; more expansive than he would have guessed: perhaps close to eleven by seventeen. The icy yellow, pale blue, and chocolate brown color scheme caught him off-guard, but it was pleasant to the eye.
“What’s up,” he asked, trying his best to stifle a yawn as the exhaustion he’d been holding at bay while Angus was in the hospital overcame him suddenly.
“We were talking, and she mentioned their daughter, Jene Felicity, had gone through some similar…”
Eyes on his, Calico stopped.
“So he must have been telling you about it, too,” she said instead of continuing. “I know that look, even when you’re tired.”
“What look?”
“That one,” she said, gesturing to his face. “Where an eyebrow pops up, and you’re nodding your head, and you’re suppressing a half-smile that looks just a little like a smirk,” she told him, a hint of laughter in her voice. “It’s your go-to look when I’m telling you something you’ve heard before, or when you’re getting bored. And I have a feeling you’re not bored right now, considering all that’s been going on.”
Romeo chuckled a few moments, and the others joined in as he sat down at the edge of the bed next to his wife and took hold of her hands. “I guess you caught me. I never realized I was so predictable that you could deduce something that quickly.”
“No more quickly than you do when you watch my face, like you did yesterday,” she told him, reminding him of when he’d called her out for doubting the doctor’s prognosis.
“I guess we know each other better than we thought we did,” he teased back, knowing that there was no way he would ever know her completely this side of Heaven. Nor she, him.
“That’s the way it goes,” Elisabet said, agreeing. “The more you know, the more you realize you still have things to learn, but simultaneously, it can be daunting. To know that there’s this other person who knows about my flaws and weaknesses and past, and who still loves me, no matter what.”
“Good days, bad days, and days where it’s just blah,” Zebedee continued, picking up where his wife left off as he moved to hold her hand. “Sometimes life is pretty mellow, and other times, hectic, but come what may, I know that my wife loves me. I don’t have to second-guess it. My first wife, well…” He paused and glanced at Elisabet, “they’re not to even be compared. Like trying to compare an apple with a burrito. Just too many differences between them. And it took me a while to realize that this beautiful woman at my side really loved me, but once I did… I was on top of the world.”
Romeo smiled at the comparison. His past experiences had boiled down to much the same thing: he’d been used for what he could give the women he’d dated, and not loved for who he was.
Calico was the first woman who he sensed truly loved him. In spite of his sometime-cynical attitude, his worries, his fears; they balanced one another out. He was extraverted, and she, more introverted. He was energized being around others, and she, not so much; she preferred being in the company of those she was close to, and not strangers. And he was there, able to protect her and help her with things she didn’t even ask for, even as she did her best to protect his heart and work with him on creating a wonderful life together.
It had not been an easy journey; they both had healing to do when they got together, but it had been worth it. God had used their togetherness to continue them toward the healing they so desperately needed, despite that it wasn’t always comfortable.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Zebedee continued, interrupting Romeo’s thoughts. “I was a wreck when we got together; or so I thought… there are things I’m still working to overcome to this day, but I realized after several months of dating that I couldn’t allow fear, worry, and doubt to keep me from walking into the future. I was going to lose the one woman I knew loved me for who I was if I didn’t choose to trust God to move us forward, in spite of whatever else was happening in my life; in her life.”
“Oh?”
This, from Calico as she squeezed Romeo’s hand a bit.
“Absolutely,” the man continued. “There were times when I thought, you know, maybe she’s just not seeing the real me, but then I realized… she was. And she stayed by my side, anyway. Even when I treated her poorly, which I wish I could take back, but I can’t. And those times made us stronge
r, even though they were painful at the time. And then, we had our miracle child when Elisabet was forty one. Jene Felicity McAndrews; born after three miscarriages; born nearly four weeks early, and with diabetes, we later learned. She was nearly three before doctors figured out what had been going on, but it continued. She had other health complications, though none severe, but they added up.”
“Nothing but God could have got us through giving Jene up to Jeremiah and Chloe,” Elisabet said picking up where Zebedee left off. “We drove her down to Texas, stopping everywhere we could think of to make memories with her. That was nearly two years ago, and if anything, it has made us closer and brought our hearts to a deeper love because of the struggles. We refused to give up, and we decided from the start we never would. We decided before we even married that, come what may, we would be there for one another. That God had brought us together for a reason, and that even though we might not understand why, that we would honor Him in coming together.”
Romeo looked from Elisabet and Zebedee’s love-filled eyes for one another to his wife’s.
While their pact had been different, it had been for the same reason: God had brought them together. They had been attracted to one another from the start, despite not telling each other right away. They both loved and wished to please God, and what better way than to cherish the person He gave them … and the relationship, flawed as it was, to help them grow and mature in Him?
Calico’s eyes softened under his gaze as he heard movement from the other room.
“Papa? Where are you, Papa,” he heard Angus call softly as he tore his gaze from the ever-mesmerizing eyes of his wife. “Mama?”
As one, they stood, their hands still folded together, and he nodded at the other couple as he led his wife from the room, taking strides that wouldn’t be too long for her, though they were quick.
“We’re coming, Son,” he said, raising his voice as they neared the door he’d left cracked. “It’s all right. Mama and Papa are here, and you’re safe.”
The Angels' Mirror Pack 2: Books Four through Seven Page 88
