“Enduring…” Alex thought sarcastically, once our minds were linked again. “For how long, Tess? What if I never get out of here until it’s time for me to live?”
“Alex, there is a lesson for you to learn here, otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” I added.
“What lesson is that? How to live a useless and boring life? How to waste your mortality and be swallowed up in mediocrity? They are ignorant and average.”
“This is not your Freedom Fighters class, Alex. You didn’t come here to analyze Caesar’s war strategies. Nor is it your Wisdom class where you discuss Socrates and Solomon. You can’t pass judgment on these people, they are doing the best they can with what they have. Besides, I don’t even think they are literate.”
“They are not,” Alex assured me.
“They are good, honest, hard working people,” I said with irritation. “A simple quiet life sounds like a very acceptable—no, preferable—life to me. Look at Dayspring and her brother. They never had a moment's rest, a chance to enjoy the peace they fought for, a chance to love and be loved while in mortality.”
Alex looked away and took some notes. He was silent, his mind intent on the notes he was taking. “Alex?” I asked after a while, hoping to reach him over the wall he placed between us.
“What?” he snapped as he allowed my thoughts back in.
“What is wisdom?”
“The correct use of knowledge,” he recited. He had the words memorized, but they had no meaning to him.
“Interesting. I wonder if you could be wise and illiterate?” This last comment made Alex stop and think for a moment—but only for a moment.
“You are glowing,” he said without emotion, and then looked down at his own, un-glowing pendant.
I looked pathetically back at him. I wished I could stay with him and help him sort this out.
“I will be fine, Tess, really I will. You gave me a lot to think about—maybe I’m the one who’s been unwise,” he said humbly.
I gave him a rueful smile and a spirit appeared out of nowhere. He headed my way; he was obviously here to replace me.
“I love you,” I told Alex as I handed my scroll over to the spirit. “Now be a good Angel and learn your lessons well,” I teased.
He smiled, more for my sake than his. My heart ached as I turned to leave him, but I had to continue. We knew when we volunteered for this, that our time would no longer be our own, and that we had to go wherever we were assigned to go.
Presently the pendant was showing me a long list of classes I had to attend, and as I exited the Angelic Missions building I ran, literally, into Henry, who seemed to be in quite a hurry. He almost knocked me over, and even then looked too preoccupied to notice.
“Henry, hi! Have you finally come to volunteer?” I asked him, and he looked up, startled.
“Tess?” he responded, quite surprised, as if I had just jolted him out of a trance. Then he seemed to register my question and his whole demeanor changed.
“I don’t have to volunteer as an angel to do important stuff!” he said angrily.
“I didn’t mean…” I stammered.
“Just because all of you have pledged the rest of your spiritual existence as an angel, doesn’t mean that I can’t do just the same—or more—as a regular spirit!”
“No…I’m sure it doesn’t.”
“I’ll have you know, that I have a very important job right now—so important, in fact, that I can’t tell you what it is. And I am wasting my time right now even talking to you about it.”
“OK…”
Henry looked at me for a moment. His face and his aura were a mixture of frustration, confusion, and contempt. I tried to read his thoughts, but his mind was clearly blocked. He had a secret that he was guarding, and was not going to let me probe him at all.
He was about to leave, but hesitated. He opened his mouth and then shut it again. And with even more frustration than before, he stormed off. I watched him go and tried to get more information out of his aura—it was an unhealthy color for sure. It reminded me of the churnings my own aura did for a while.
* * * * *
Chapter 21
Agatha paced anxiously back and forth inside the cave she ruled over. She was growing impatient, not with others as much as herself.
There was something nagging her, something that was buried deep within her, but could not be accessed. She tried and tried to analyze it and bring it forward, but it wouldn’t come.
She knew this much. Tess somehow held the key to unlock this mystery. She didn’t know why exactly. The Second One had mentioned to her once, that they were ‘intricately connected’, but this never made any sense to Agatha. She didn’t feel close to Tess. In fact, she hated her in every way, and had no memories of ever dwelling with her—so how could they be connected at all?
He could be so infuriating! Agatha thought. Why couldn’t he treat me like an equal? He was always patronizing me! Now Tess has developed her gift too much—a mind reader! Add to that the fact that her words always have too much sway with me. It’s as if the Second One had given her lessons on persuasive tactics. This made her simmering temper come to full boil. She prided herself in her ability to persuade others, and the thought that Tess, of all spirits, could do that as well was unacceptable.
She was juggling a lot of different things, things that needed a cool head. She had to keep the Fallen Angels in check, making sure they not only obeyed her, but also performed all their duties. She could care less about their training, but she knew that if she didn’t keep them busy, she would have an uprising on her hands, and that could not happen.
Then she had the suspicious ones, Eugenia and Marcel, who would like nothing better than to be Sovereigns once more. Then Eros, who had to keep his mouth shut, and that was no easy task. Then there were the odious flashes that she kept having of Tess that she couldn’t explain.
Her pacing did not slow, even when she had a crowd of spirits looking at her as she moved impatiently to and fro on her suspended rocky island.
“Queen!” said Eugenia louder, hoping to get her attention this time.
Agatha stopped and looked around, startled by the sound of her name.
“What!” she barked back.
“We are back from our missions. Do you want to hear our report?”
“Yes, yes, of course.” Agatha stopped and tried to focus her attention on the reports, hoping that there would be something there to help her unravel this mystery of hers.
“Go ahead, Eugenia. Did you follow her as you were told?”
Eugenia’s face contorted at being addressed so casually.
“I have, my Queen,” she said, full of sarcasm.
“Um, excuse me! But we were here first. We should report first, we were patiently waiting here for a while and...”
Agatha rolled her eyes. “Yes, Amanda, you may go first. Did you and Anthony find the Book of Secrets?”
“No.”
Agatha’s eyes closed, trying to control her now simmering impatience. Eugenia smirked and stifled a laugh.
“The Eternals must have taken the spiritual version of the book back to their world,” Anthony said.
“Or they destroyed it,” Amanda interrupted.
“Or they destroyed it, because it is nowhere to be found. However…” Anthony paused, hoping to have everyone’s attention as he announced his big discovery. “But we know where the physical book is.” He waited for some form of congratulatory recognition, but got none.
Agatha’s eyes remained shut as they spoke, waiting patiently for their report to end. “So…what good would a physical book do to us? We can’t touch it, we can’t open it, we can’t turn its pages, so we can do nothing with it!” Her voice gained crescendo as she spoke.
Eugenia was now giggling with Marcel off to one side. Agatha heard them, but chose to ignore them.
“But we can, my Queen,” Amanda pleaded.
Agatha opened her eyes and looked at her with irritation.
“How?” she shouted.
“We had the pleasure of encountering this most willing mortal, who happens to both see and hear us perfectly. We introduced ourselves as Angels,” Amanda said as she stole a quick sideways glance at Anthony, who responded with a sly smile of encouragement, “and told her that she needs to find this book for us. She is on her way to this book right now.” Amanda smiled smugly.
“Interesting. You’ve done better than I thought you would,” Agatha said, surprised by their initiative.
Amanda and Anthony beamed at the high praise they got from Agatha.
“Make sure this mortal gets to this book without any problems and that she is supplied with all that she needs along the way so she does not die of hunger or anything. Mortals are so fragile. In fact…shower her with riches! She will serve us better then.”
Agatha shook her head as if that existence was beneath her, then remembered that she would soon be one of them, just another average mortal walking the Earth void of any memories of who she really was. The thought made her grimace—yet another reminder of her hate for Tess.
Eugenia was silent now and a little angry at the turn of events. She liked it better when things went badly for Agatha.
“May I ask how you two got to the physical world to begin with?” Eugenia asked.
“The door in the records vault. We snuck through there while that silly little Cherub Reubium was filing lives away,” Anthony said haughtily.
“Humph,” Eugenia replied. She had used that door herself many times, but thought it was her exclusive knowledge. Now it seemed to be common knowledge and she didn’t like it.
“Eugenia, didn’t you have something to report as well?” Agatha addressed her with a fast extinguishing patience.
“I do, my Queen, though I still don’t know why you would have me do such a menial job?”
“You don’t have to know!” Agatha’s voice was a firm staccato.
“Yes, you’ve mentioned that before. Anyway…I have good news and bad. Which would you like first?” She smiled a forced smile.
“The Good,” Agatha said as she mimicked the smile.
“Very well. She is definitely up to something. She was taken off world by a Seraph who…”
“She was what, where?” Agatha demanded.
“I don’t know. That huge Cherub, Kerubiel, blocked my way as I was trying to follow them. Once he was gone, so were they, and I lost them.”
Eugenia said this casually, knowing full well that—for some reason—this information was important to Agatha and any bad news would bring displeasure to her, and anything that brought Agatha displeasure, gave Eugenia great satisfaction.
Agatha was about to demand more information from Eugenia, but before she could do so, Eros stormed in and loudly made his way forward. He was pushing spirits aside as he came down the tunnel and into the hollow center, where Agatha was.
He glided straight to her side and whispered something in her ear. Agatha was not in the habit of approving of such a casual act, but soon forgot all about it when she heard the good news. Then she started pacing again.
“Um, excuse me?” Eugenia said, irritated. “Should I continue or are we done here?”
Agatha ignored her and kept pacing.
“What is the most efficient way of hurting a spirit’s evolution?” Agatha asked out loud, but no one knew who she was talking to, so no one answered her right away.
“You stunt their development,” Eugenia said after a moment.
“Exactly!” Agatha exclaimed as she turned and fixed her gaze on Eugenia, forgetting now the huge dislike she felt for her. “The complicated question is how? How can we stunt a spirit’s growth at a time such as this, when they are all so busy preparing and learning? When our only duty is to study and learn?”
No one answered, Eugenia pondered with interest.
“Useless pursuits and amusements,” a tired sounding voice said from the dark of the cavern.
Agatha smiled broadly now. “Yes…useless amusements. As you all know, we have at our disposal all of the technological advancements that Earth will someday offer a lucky generation. I had sent Eros, a while back, on a mission to look for a device that would aid us in slowing down of the progress of many spirits. Eros, would you like to explain what you have found?”
Eros bowed low, and as he rose his face wore a smug look. “It would be my privilege, my Queen, to explain what I have found,” he said with an oily smile, relishing the spotlight. “It is a device, a game of sorts, that is very popular at the Square. It’s called a Virtual Life, and it consists of a visor that attaches to the temples on each side of the head. Once the visor is in place the game activates and the player can choose with thought alone what game they want to play. The player then directs the game mentally and doesn’t need to move at all. In fact, the mind tricks one into thinking you are moving, when in reality you are not.”
“That is very interesting, Eros, but I am aware of that game already and all the games from those visors are based on Earth’s pastimes, and those are of no interest to us spirits,” Eugenia commented.
Agatha looked positively vexed at Eugenia. She was relentless in her quest to dethrone her.
“A minor inconvenience,” Agatha said, dismissing her.
“No, not minor. It is a very real inconvenience, my Queen,” Eugenia corrected.
“Not when you have already thought of it and found a way to fix it!” Eros came forward and stood his ground.
“Please explain, Eros, what you mean,” Agatha commanded.
“Like I said, I was able to think of that inconvenience already and found a spirit who is able to re-program the game to suit.”
“And who is this spirit who is so willing to help us?” Eugenia asked with suspicion.
“Henry, from Russell’s clan.” Eros said simply.
Disappointment washed over Agatha’s face. “He would never agree to help us, Eros,” Agatha reproached in a low voice.
“What if he didn’t know he was helping us? What if he thought he was on an actual Angelic Mission?” Eros said slyly.
Marcel, who had kept himself in the shadows until now, came forward and exchanged looks with Eugenia.
“How could he be so gullible?” Marcel asked with that same bored sounding voice.
“He is clueless!” Eros exclaimed. “All he cares about are his gadgets. He hasn’t even gone to any of his Gifts classes in a long time. He spends all his time in the technology district, tinkering.”
“But surely you could have found someone else to re-program the game. Henry is too close to his clan. It wouldn’t take too much for them to figure out.” Agatha was now worried.
“No, no, no…he hasn’t seen his clan in ages. I tell you he has removed himself completely from them, and he even resents all the fancy Angelic Missions they are so involved in. So I made it sound like I was working for the Cherubs, and that they had sent me on an undercover mission. I recruited him for this “very important” job, and told him that he wouldn’t even have to go take all those troublesome classes in order to do the work!” Eros finished and looked smugly around the cave.
“He must be a real idiot to mistake you for a Herald,” Marcel sneered.
Eros narrowed his eyes and looked venomously back at Marcel.
“Idiot or not—he accepted?” Agatha asked.
“Yes,” Eros hissed. “In fact, he has been working on it for a while already, and I have brought back a sample of his work.”
Agatha snatched the device that Eros produced from his robes and put it on. She remained silent for a long time, and all the spirits present began to shift and get bored.
“Take that thing off of her!” Eugenia demanded.
Eros looked unsure as to whether he should do it or not, then slowly reached over, turned the device off and removed it from Agatha’s head. She looked disoriented for a moment as she looked around the cave, making sure she was awake and not dreaming still.
“It works!” she ex
claimed. “Very real…” Agatha tried to sound in control.
Eugenia and Marcel exchanged amused glances.
“What…” Marcel started to ask, but was cut off by Eros.
“The program is set to mimic the spirit world, and to follow whatever the mind tells it to do. It resembles something that mortals call REM—a deep sleep. In this deep state of sleep one has access to the unconscious mind, and it manifests itself in dream form. It is said to be very real.”
Eros shot an anxious look at Agatha, who seemed to be still recovering from the experience—and she was. The game had opened her subconscious to what she had been trying to reach, and she was still trying to piece it together.
“How many of these devices can we have?” Agatha asked quickly, trying to take charge once again.
“As many as we want, but I need help getting them all to Henry. These devices are spread all over the spirit world.”
“Get as many spirits as you need working on that. In the meantime, tell Henry how pleased the…Cherubs are with his work.” Agatha smiled contently.
Eugenia and Agatha exchanged annoyed looks before Agatha dismissed them all. Eugenia thought about giving Agatha the rest of her report, but decided against it. She would keep the rest of her report to herself, just in case it came in handy at some future point. She wasn’t sure why, but she would find out what it was about Tess that Agatha was so interested in—and when she did, she would use it to bring Agatha down from her throne.
* * * * *
Chapter 22
“Tess, can you hear me?” Valerie whispered through the calling stone.
I was in the middle of my Time Management class when she called, so I had to slip out to respond.
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