by G. P. Ching
This wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he'd come here. The day he’d delivered her message of redemption, he saw something in her eyes, a glimpse into a soul at the brink of transcendence. She wasn’t truly fallen, but she wasn’t like him either. She was as close to human as any angel he’d ever known. That was what he fell in love with, the battle within, the freedom, the humanity in the divine. He always envied humans.
At first he’d returned to watch her, but when she’d discovered him in her garden, the visits became mutual. Long walks turned into entire days spent together. Abigail couldn’t hear enough about Heaven, and Gideon couldn’t stop asking about Earth. The day God told him he could stay was the happiest point in his existence. He’d fallen in love with Abigail, the way she saw the world and the heavens for what they were, accepted her role in the universe without blaming anyone but herself, and planted her garden every year the human way, with faith that the seeds would sprout and grow, even though she could have used magic.
Loving someone meant believing in them, and helping them to do the right thing. Tonight was an epic fail in that department.
From the candy dish on the coffee table, Gideon lifted the red stone necklace. Malini had left it with Abigail and him after their battle against Lucifer at the school, when she came into her own as a Healer. He never used it. But now he needed guidance and, although Abigail wasn’t confident in the Healer’s abilities, Gideon believed that the part of Malini that resided in the In Between was infinitely wise. He made himself comfortable in the armchair and raised the stone to the light.
The walls faded to red and then disappeared. The floor dropped out. Gideon was falling, falling, falling. He flapped his wings but there was no air to catch under his feathers. He landed softly in solid black nothingness. After only a moment, a room shingled itself around him. Squares of stainless steel, white, and red formed a mosaic that filled every corner of the darkness. The black-and-white checkerboard pattern of the floor spread toward a gleaming white counter edged in stainless steel. Red padded stools formed in front of the counter. A jukebox against the wall kicked on and Johnny B. Goode drifted across what Gideon now recognized as a '50s diner.
“Don’t look so surprised. This came from your mind, Gideon,” a heavyset black woman said from behind the counter.
Gideon looked down at himself then twisted to see better in the mirrored wall to the left of the counter. He was dressed in khaki pants and a button-down shirt. His hair was slicked back and his wings were … gone.
“Why do you think my subconscious picked a '50s diner?” Gideon mumbled to the woman. After all, he’d been to Heaven. It seemed odd.
“‘Cuz, Gideon, you have idealized being human. Look at me.” She motioned toward her ample bosom. “You gave me this look. A black woman owning a diner in 1950s America. Believe me, this is an idealized version of human history.” She loosed a heady laugh.
Gideon squinted at the woman’s face. “Malini?”
“Not exactly. The stone is enchanted to be an echo of the Healer’s power. I wouldn’t exist without the Healer, but she’s not here entirely.”
The woman lifted a frosted glass from behind the counter, scooped vanilla ice cream into the bottom, then filled in the space with what looked like root beer. She inserted a straw and slid the float down the counter to Gideon.
“I think you’ll like that,” she said.
He took a sip and was rewarded with an ambrosia of flavors he’d never experienced before. It was so good he had to close his eyes.
“Now, I believe you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t have some questions.” She leaned a brown elbow on the counter. I have some limitations though. I can only tell you the future as it stands today. But let me caution you, angel, knowing the future is a dangerous thing. It’s always changing, shifting with every thought and decision we make.”
Gideon stirred his drink. “I want to know if Abigail is thinking about joining Lucifer. I want to know if she’s given up on us.”
The black woman shook her head. “Neither of those are questions about the future, Gideon. Do I need to explain the rules again?” She rolled her brown eyes.
“I apologize.” Gideon sipped from his drink and concentrated on how to ask what he needed to know. “Will Abigail make a deal with the devil?”
The woman pulled a piece of white bread from under the counter and slid it in the slot of a stainless steel toaster near the mirrored wall. She pushed down the lever and drummed her fingers on the counter. Accompanied by a loud ding, the toast popped out of the toaster and landed on the counter. The bread was browned except for a symbol in white at the center.
The woman ran her fingers over the grain. “Yes, she will.”
The answer was a punch in the gut. “Will I be able to stop her?” Gideon whispered.
Another slice of bread lowered into the toaster. The woman caught it this time when it flew from the slot. “No.”
Gideon buried his face in his hands and was surprised when they came away wet. “What is this?” He held his wet fingers out to the woman. “There's something wrong with me. My chest feels hollow and my throat aches. Am I coming apart?”
“You’re crying,” the woman said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. “It’s a human thing and here, in this reality, you are human.”
“I’ve seen people cry. I’ve just never done it myself.”
The woman nodded and patted his shoulder. “Being human isn't easy.”
Gideon wiped under his eyes. “I have one more question.”
“Go ahead.”
“Will Abigail give up on us? On me?”
The bread slid into the toaster and sprung out almost as quickly as it went in. “No. No.” The woman shook her curly black hair. “Abigail will never give up on you.”
Gideon met her kind eyes. “Thank you.”
The bell above the door rang and a girl walked in. Whatever clothes she’d had on transformed into a cardigan and a pink poodle skirt.
“You have got to be kidding me!” she said, looking down at herself and stomping her foot. “Whose idea was this?”
“Mara?” Gideon asked.
The girl looked up and a smile bloomed across her face. “Gideon?” Mara ran to him and tossed her arms around his neck, pressing her lips into his cheek. “What are you doing here?”
“I used the red stone to visit—” He turned back toward the counter with the intention of introducing the black woman, but she was gone. “She was just here. I was talking to her about Abigail.”
“It’s like that around here. You never know what to expect.” Mara climbed onto the stool next to him, then realized he had an ice cream float and jumped down to make herself one.
“We all thought you were dead,” Gideon said.
“I guess I am. Well, Henry says I’m undead. I don't know for sure. I’m the only one who’s ever been here body and soul.”
“Undead?” Gideon didn’t like the sound of that. “So, what does that mean for us? The Soulkeepers need you.”
“I can never go back. The way Henry talks, I’m some sort of a lost soul and as soon as the powers that be notice I’m missing, he and I are going to get our comeuppance.” She scooped vanilla ice cream into a glass. “Of course, Henry is Death so what can they really do to him?” She pointed the ice cream scoop at Gideon and squinted her eyes. “I have a feeling I’m going to take the brunt of it.”
“So, you are supposed to be dead but Death spared you by bringing you here.”
“Yep.” She poured in the root beer. “We’re kind of an item. I mean he’s never actually asked me to be his girlfriend but I think with the living together and the tonsil hockey, it’s a sure thing.”
Gideon’s mouth fell open. He closed it again and cleared his throat. “Where’s Henry now?”
She sighed. “He’s working. We’ve been inseparable and he needed to give it his full attention for a while. I decided to explore and ended up here. Strange choice by the way. I suppose if I
wasn’t the one wearing the poodle skirt it would be cool.”
“I wonder how long you’ll be able to stay here?” Gideon asked because he couldn’t think what else to say.
“Who knows? How’s Dr. Silva?”
“I’m worried about her. She hasn’t been herself lately.”
“You mean she’s been kind and cooperative.”
“Very funny.” Gideon frowned.
“Seriously, Gideon. When has Abigail ever been herself? She’s a Watcher trying to be human or better. Her whole existence is an attempt to not be herself.”
Straightening on his stool, the clouds in Gideon’s mind parted. He stood up and hugged Mara. “Thank you. You are a brilliant girl. Thank you.”
“Uh, no problem. What did I do?”
Gideon didn’t answer her, but concentrated on backing out of the stone. “I’m sorry, Mara, I’ve got to go. I’ve got to go, now.”
“What’s going on?” she called.
The walls turned red then broke apart. He heard Mara swear as her drink disintegrated, and then he was in the chair in the parlor. He placed the stone back in the dish on the table and headed for Abigail’s bedroom. Maybe the answer to all of this was for him to become like her. If he fell like she had, if he became like her, they could be together. It wasn’t ideal and he’d be giving up the humanity he’d desired for as long as he could remember, but if it kept her from Lucifer, he would do it.
He hurried up the stairs, hoping they could watch the sunrise from the tower and talk about the future. It was a beautiful morning for a sunrise.
When he opened the door, the room was empty. Abigail was gone.
Chapter 12
Jacob and Malini
“Why can’t we go in now?” Jacob asked. They waited, parked outside a restaurant called Nowhere Oasis, somewhere in rural Nebraska. Jacob wasn’t exactly sure where it was because he’d slept the last two hours of the journey while Malini drove. They’d made the long trip in her mother's Honda, and Jacob was anxious to get out and stretch his legs.
Malini leaned back against the seat and sighed. “It’s not time. A little while longer.”
“I’m hungry.”
“How could you be hungry? You ate all the snacks.”
“I don’t know. I just am.”
“It won’t be much longer.”
Jacob sighed and repositioned his knees against the glove compartment. “Okay. If you say so, but if we’re going to keep doing this, we need to borrow a bigger car.”
“Just wait until we put three more in the back.”
“Three?”
Malini grinned. “Yep. You know that expression ‘hit two birds with one stone?’ Well, today we’re going to hit three Soulkeepers with one trip.”
“How did you manage that?”
“I didn’t. Fate did. They’re a family, like you and your mom.”
Jacob raised an eyebrow. “Makes sense, since Soulkeeping is genetic. Who are they?”
She popped open the car door just as a couple with two small children exited the restaurant. “Come on. See for yourself.”
Relieved, Jacob unfolded himself from the passenger seat, stretching his arms above his head. “After nine hours of driving, this better be good.”
Rolling her eyes, Malini led the way into the restaurant. There was a tiny foyer with a dusty and outdated braided rug, brick walls decorated with the occasional hanging plant, and Formica tables set with paper placemats. The restaurant was completely deserted.
Malini took a seat at a booth by the windows and Jacob slid in across from her. He grabbed a menu from the stack wedged behind the napkins. A girl, maybe sixteen, sauntered from the kitchen, still chewing whatever she’d been eating, and pulled a pad of paper from the apron pocket of her tailored blue uniform.
“Hi, I’m Sam. I’ll be your server. Can I get you something to drink while you’re deciding?” She flipped her long, red hair behind her shoulder.
Jacob piped up. “I’ll take a cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke. Do you have Coke?”
Malini gave him a sharp look, obviously annoyed that he interjected his order into their mission.
“Sure,” Sam said, taking the menu from his hands and replacing it in the stack. “Do you know what you want?” Sam raised her eyes to Malini’s.
With her left hand, her healing hand, Malini touched Sam’s wrist. The girl’s eyes widened. Jacob was familiar with the feeling, like waves of light from the inside out.
“I need to talk to your mom and your sister,” Malini said.
Sam nodded and backed away.
“And I want a cheeseburger, too,” she called after her.
Jacob chuckled. “Pot who calls the kettle black.”
She shrugged. “I’m hungry. It was a long trip, and you hogged all the snacks.”
Only seconds later, a heavyset woman with dark red curls fringed in gray ran from the kitchen. “Hello! I’m Grace, Grace Guillian.” She eyed Malini suspiciously. “Can I have your name?”
Malini extended her left hand. “Malini Gupta, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
The woman accepted her offered fingers. A moment's connection and she lit up like a Christmas tree. “Welcome, Healer.” She bowed slightly at the waist.
“And this is Jacob Lau, a Horseman,” Malini said. Jacob extended his hand and she accepted it eagerly.
“Girls! Come out here.”
Samantha returned and so did another Samantha. Jacob tried not to stare but the two girls, obviously twins, looked exactly alike, down to their baby pink nail polish. He’d known twins before but these two were exceptionally the same. Every hair seemed to be trained to lie identically, like they were dolls manufactured in a factory.
“You’ve met Samantha. This is Bonnie.” Grace flapped her fingers, calling the girls to come closer. They walked at the same pace with one arm tucked behind their backs in exactly the same way.
“Weird. You guys look exactly alike,” Jacob said.
“Don’t be rude,” Malini whispered.
Jacob’s head snapped toward Malini and then back toward the twins. “I’m not being rude. Look at them! They are the most identical identical twins I’ve ever seen.”
Grace chuckled. “It’s true! Except that they are even more rare. Samantha and Bonnie are mirror image twins. Look here.” She pointed to a large freckle on the left side of Samantha’s nose. The same freckle was on the right side of Bonnie’s. “And believe me, that is only the beginning of what makes these two special.”
“Will you show us?” Malini asked softly.
Grace nodded. “Of course, Healer.”
“Please call me Malini, Mrs. Guillian.”
“Only if you call me Grace. Besides, my husband, Burt, passed away five years ago, so I’m not exactly a Mrs. anymore.”
“I’m sorry,” Jacob said.
Malini nodded in agreement.
Grace smoothed her apron. “Water under the bridge.” She turned toward Samantha and Bonnie. “Since we’re on the subject, why don’t you show Malini and Jacob what your father looked like when he was alive?”
“Sure, Mom.” Samantha smiled and reached for Bonnie’s hand. There was a silent exchange between them and then one twin melded into the other. Like two mounds of clay that were forced together, they blended and blurred, until one was a six-foot-tall man with brown hair in a police uniform, and the other was a four-foot-tall version of herself.
“This is what my father looked like,” Bonnie said, in a man’s voice. Samantha, whose new form made her look around nine, pointed her hands spokesmodel-like at her sister.
“The voice is off, but they’ve done a winning impression,” Grace said.
Jacob couldn’t speak. His mind tried to wrap around what he’d just seen.
The girls seemed to revel in his amazement. They nodded at each other, grabbed hands again, and transformed into Jacob and a very small version of Malini.
“So, they can share mass and look like anyone?” Malini asked.<
br />
The girls transformed into themselves. “Anyone, yes. But we can’t weigh more than three hundred pounds,” they said in unison.
Grace smiled proudly.
“Are you their Helper?” Jacob asked.
“Yes. My mother was a Soulkeeper before she died. I’m a black-belt in Shotokan.” The woman squinted her eyes and made a karate chop in front of her round belly. The twins rolled their eyes.
“My mom’s more of a behind-the-desk kind of Helper,” Sam said.
“Sam! I have many underutilized talents.”
“We’ve trained but we’ve never actually faced a Watcher,” Bonnie said. “We took down a shoplifter at the IGA last fall though.”
Malini frowned. “I’m sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news but we’ve come to tell you, you’re not safe here anymore. Your identities have been compromised.”
“Compromised to whom?” Grace asked.
“Lucifer,” Malini said, lowering her chin and closing her eyes as if it hurt to utter the word.
“Lucifer! My heavens! The girls aren’t ready for that. Who could be ready for that?”
“We want you to come with us. There’s a safe place. A place made for us by God where we can train until the attack. We want to take you to Eden,” Malini said.
Grace scowled. “Eden? As in the Eden?”
“Yes. We want to organize the Soulkeepers so that we can face Lucifer with a united front. Will you come with us?”
Sam and Bonnie nodded but Grace didn’t seem as enthusiastic. Rubbing her mouth, she shook her curly red head. “The girls have school, and I have the restaurant. It’s just us running this place. We’d have to close the whole thing down. This is our livelihood!”
“I understand it’s a difficult decision, but we’re starting a school for Soulkeepers in Eden. The girls could continue their education there.” Malini folded her hands. “To be honest, I’m not sure about your restaurant. I can’t promise you any money or extra help if you need to close it down. But I can promise that you and the girls will be safer with us.”
