by G. P. Ching
She straightened. “It’s not you! Do you think I’d be able to have this conversation if it was? I’d be a sniveling idiot, completely useless. No, it’s not you, but it’s bad enough.” Her hand lifted to his cheek and her lips found his in a kiss that was as comfortable as breathing.
Eventually he pulled back, remembering that neither of them had eaten dinner yet, and he was supposed to have her home in a couple of hours so that she could check in with her parents. “Where does your father think we are right now?”
“Movie.”
Jacob chuckled. “Are they enjoying the cruise?”
“I think so.” Malini picked at the side of her nail.
“What’s our next move? Do you think Abigail ever met with the two Soulkeepers this afternoon? And there’s a third out there somewhere. If Lucifer has the list, we should have rounded them up yesterday.”
“The two Abigail met with are dead.”
Jacob swallowed. “Did Abigail do it?”
“No.”
“What about the last Soulkeeper? Do we try to find the last one on the list?”
“That’s what Lucifer will expect us to do. It’s the logical thing. But Lucifer’s game was never about the list.”
“What?”
Malini rolled her eyes and groaned. “We’ve been playing into his hands the entire time, Jacob. It’s all so clear to me, now. It’s true that someone needs to gather the last Soulkeeper, but not us and not now. We need to use the element of surprise and go after what Lucifer really wants.”
Jacob pushed himself up to his feet. “I don’t suppose you know what that is? Aside from rounding up a bunch of humans to farm for flesh after he takes over the world.”
“That is what he wants to do, but if we are going to stop him, we need to know how he plans to do it. I can’t see that part. But I know who can.”
“Who?”
“Gideon.”
“Gideon?”
“Yes. He’s our link to what's really going on.” Malini used Jacob’s hand to pull herself to her feet.
Jacob shook his head. “You mean what's going on with Dr. Silva?”
“No, I mean with Lucifer. Gideon may not know it yet, but he’s the key to undoing Lucifer’s plan. You and I need to find him and make sure he stays on our side.”
“Why wouldn’t Gideon be on our side?” Jacob asked. He intertwined his fingers in hers and led the way up the path.
“I’m not sure yet.”
“I don’t suppose you could be more specific,” Jacob pleaded.
Malini shook her head.
“Okay.” He sighed. “Gideon it is.” They’d reached the school and Jacob held the door open for her.
“I wonder what’s for dinner?” Malini asked.
Jacob smiled. “A hot, gnome-cooked meal.”
Malini groaned.
“Hey, Malini, guess which dessert you should skip?”
“What?”
“The forbidden-apple pie.”
Malini giggled, wiping the remnants of tears from her face. “Thank God you’re good looking, Jacob, because you are not getting anywhere on your sense of humor.”
Jacob followed her toward the dining room, wondering how long they had to laugh about anything at all.
Chapter 23
Mara and Henry
As hard as she tried, Mara couldn’t keep her eyes off of the hourglass. Henry, on the other hand, couldn’t look at it. He avoided it by staring out the window, his fingers rubbing the bricks of the sill impulsively.
“Don’t worry, Mara. Once I’ve helped you through the door, I’ll find someone to challenge me and I’ll meet you on the other side. Of course, it might take me some time. I have to find the right person.”
Mara’s face turned from the hourglass. “How do you find the right person to challenge Death?”
“They have to be a champion, someone who doesn’t give up easily. The first days are difficult, even painful. Lucifer will try to sway the new Death to his side by promising to take the pain away. I have to find someone who won’t be swayed.”
“What? I thought everyone here was neutral?”
“We are neutral. But sometimes remaining neutral means doing things to counteract Lucifer’s cheating ways. When he doesn’t follow the rules, we don’t either.”
Mara walked up behind Henry and slid her hands up his chest. “If Lucifer doesn’t follow the rules, isn’t there some kind of punishment? What about God?”
Henry turned in the circle of her arms and placed his hands on her shoulders. “God never breaks His promises. He never breaks the rules. When Lucifer cheats, He can’t match cheating with cheating. But we can. Those of us in the In Between have been keeping the balance for good for a very long time.”
Brow furrowed, Mara pulled back a little. Henry described God as a He, which seemed odd to Mara, who had seen God as female. But then she remembered that everyone saw God as the best part of themselves. For Henry, God was a He.
“The immortals keep the balance. How?” she asked.
Henry fixed her with an intense stare. “I mean, when a murderous dictator meets an untimely death, often it is exactly that, untimely. Much can be accomplished when Death, Fate, and Time work together. Have you ever wondered why time in Nod and Hell is different from here and on Earth? Aldric keeps it that way to give us the advantage. Everything there takes longer, giving us more time to respond. Fate sees when her loom becomes tangled by Lucifer’s trickery. She shares those incidents with us and we conspire to set things right. But imagine, Mara, if someone were to win my role who had a proclivity toward evil.”
“The balance would sway in Lucifer’s favor.”
Henry nodded.
Mara pressed a finger to her lips and lowered her eyes, twisting from his embrace. She couldn’t believe what she was about to say. “I don’t think you should find a challenger. I don’t think you should come with me to the other side. Not right away.”
Henry’s face snapped up. “Why?”
“Yesterday, I saw Gideon. He used the stone to seek guidance from Malini’s power.”
“Gideon? Who’s Gideon?”
“He’s the angel who’s in love with Dr. Silva.” Henry looked confused and Mara realized he hadn’t met either of them. “Dr. Silva is a fallen angel who helps the Soulkeepers. Gideon is the angel who’s in love with her.”
“I think I remember seeing them before you kissed me at the prom. They were huddled around Malini’s body. I can’t hone in on their souls like I can with humans.”
“Anyway, Gideon was here and I had a chance to talk with him. He said that Lucifer is up to something. He’s kidnapped a friend of ours named Dane Michaels and has been holding him for ransom, to obtain the list of all Soulkeepers who have come to power.”
Henry paused, shaking his head and frowning. “Dane Michaels is in Eden. His soul I can see.”
“What? What does that mean? Does Lucifer have the list?”
“I don’t know the circumstances, only the soul. I remember him.”
Mara sighed. “Even more reason that you have to stay in your position. I think it was a little too convenient that Lucifer showed up with the hourglass just when all this crap started going down with the Soulkeepers. I have a feeling that he created this consequence to try to force you out of service. He’s up to something. He wants you to offer someone the challenge so that the In Between will be weak when he makes his move.” She pointed at the hourglass, now half empty. “That is to ensure you are at your most vulnerable precisely when he wants you to be.”
While Mara had always understood that Henry was Death, the air he assumed taught her exactly what that title meant. The bones of his face became more prominent and his eyes darkened into black holes of anger. The skin peeled back from his hands. He formed a bony fist and the temperature in the room plunged.
“You are right, Mara,” he said. “We’ve been played for fools. He has used my love for you to attempt to further his wicked scheme.”
Henry’s skeletal fist came down on the table, splintering the wood into a million pieces. Her coffee mug rolled across the floor.
In this form, his presence was overwhelming. Mara backed toward the door instinctively, her hand pressing into her collarbone. “Please, Henry. Don’t give him the satisfaction of wasting one more minute of our time together.”
Henry bowed his head and Mara felt the cold retreat into him. His face fleshed out and his hands returned to normal. When he looked at her again, it was with soft brown eyes, filled with love and longing. He opened his arms and she ran into them.
“It won’t be forever, Mara. Where you are going, you will hardly notice my absence. Someday, when this is all over, I’ll come to you. My predecessor did it and I will do it. We’ll be together.”
Mara pressed her face into his chest, trying to absorb every detail about him, from the sound of his voice to the way she fit into his embrace. She believed him when he said he would come for her. But someday was a long way off and Mara knew, as good as heaven was, it wouldn’t be paradise without him.
Chapter 24
Malini and Jacob
Malini sighed impatiently from the passenger seat of Jacob’s truck. He’d circled the block three times and still couldn’t find a place to park near Katrina’s dorm. Students rushed in all directions, trying to make their afternoon classes and cutting off Jacob in the process.
“Just park, Jacob. I’d like to do this before my first gray hair.”
“The parking lot is all meters and I don’t have any quarters. I’ll get a ticket.”
“What’s more important: a parking ticket or saving the world from tyrannical rule by the ultimate evil?”
Jacob turned into a restricted parking lot mumbling, “Tyrannical evil,” resentfully under his breath. Hopefully, saving the world would not mean getting towed. They exited the truck and crossed the street to the boxy brown dormitory. Katrina was waiting in the atrium.
“Geez, I thought you guys would never get here. Could your text be any more vague?” She backed inside and pressed the button for the elevator.
Jacob waved his hand. “Hello, Katrina. How are you? I miss you, too. I can’t believe it’s been as long as it has. Time flies.”
The look she gave him could strip paint off the wall.
“Not now,” Malini said to both of them as she stepped onto the elevator. She waited until the doors closed to continue. “Let’s get upstairs. We need to talk.”
Katrina led the way to her room, unlocking the door and holding it open for all of them. “My roommate is studying at the library. We have at least an hour.”
Jacob strode into the room and took a seat on one of the two twin beds he assumed was Mallory’s because the rumpled bedspread didn’t reflect Katrina’s neat freak compulsion. Malini plopped down next to him.
“Where’s Gideon?” she asked
Katrina glanced toward the window. “He hasn’t come back yet. He left this morning to snoop on my physics professor.”
“Why is he watching your physics professor?” Malini asked.
“Because I saw him with a Watcher—Cord.”
Jacob shifted toward her. “Cord? What’s Cord doing here?”
“That’s what Gideon is trying to find out. I heard Cord talking to Dr. Rahkmid yesterday. He gave him specific instructions to bring his team to a rendezvous point on Saturday.”
“That’s tomorrow!” Jacob said.
“Do you think your professor knows what Cord is?” Malini asked.
“I don’t know. I think he was influenced. The way he hung on Cord’s every word and was agreeable to everything he said…”
Malini narrowed her eyes. “Tell me about Rahkmid. What do you think Lucifer wants with him?”
“Gideon and I have been over this again and again. We can’t figure it out. He’s from the Middle East and it’s not like he’s a rocket scientist.” Katrina laughed but Jacob and Malini looked at each other in confusion. “I mean that his job is all textbooks and equations. He doesn’t actually help make anything. If Lucifer is trying to create some master weapon, he chose the wrong guy.”
Scratching his ear, Jacob stood and approached the window. “So Lucifer is using a man who teaches classes and stares at equations all day to somehow be a part of his plan to take over the world. It’s like a bad instructional video: World Domination Through the Magic of Science.”
Malini frowned. “Katrina, can you take us by his office? I’m guessing a physicist has seriously detailed notes. Maybe we can find something about what he’s planning to do. Plus, hopefully we’ll run into Gideon. You did tell him I was coming, right?”
“I did and he told me he got your text, Malini.” Katrina joined Jacob at the window. “It isn’t like him not to be here.”
Tugging on Jacob’s arm, Malini led him toward the door. “I don’t like this. Let’s go see if we can find him.”
Katrina stayed where she was, staring out the window. A shiver slithered down her spine, and her arms wrapped around herself like she was holding her chest together.
“Katrina, do you have a map of how to get to Dr. Rahkmid’s office? I think it would be better if Jacob and I went alone. You should stay here. The enchantment on this room will keep you safe.”
With a sigh of relief, Katrina gave Malini a telling hug. A folder on the meticulously organized desk contained the map. Katrina starred a building a few blocks away and wrote a room number next to it. “His office is number 375. According to my syllabus his office hours are over for the day, which usually means he’s teaching another class.”
“Excellent. Thank you.” Malini reached for the doorknob.
“Good luck,” Katrina said, her voice breathy.
Malini opened the door and followed Jacob into the hall.
* * * * *
Across campus from Katrina's dormitory, Malini glanced at the map in her hands and then up at the building in front of her.
“This place looks like a castle,” Jacob said.
“Altgeld Hall. John Altgeld was a governor of Illinois in the late 1800s. He had a certain taste in architecture and a bunch of the public universities in Illinois erected these castles in his honor,” Malini explained.
“This isn’t the only one?”
“Nope. There’s a castle on the Illinois State University quad, Eastern, Northern, and Southern universities too.”
“Weird.”
“I know, right? They’re beautiful but eccentric. What is it about Illinois governors?”
Jacob shrugged and held the door open for her.
They climbed the stairs to the third floor and down the deserted corridor to 375. Malini jiggled the doorknob.
“It’s locked,” she said.
Jacob bent over. He kept a flask of water strapped to his ankle and had become very good at springing locks. Before he could reach it, the mechanism engaged and the door opened on its own. Malini stepped backward, hoping whatever excuse her muddled brain developed would be believable. But there was no one on the other side of the door.
“Dr. Rahkmid?” Malini called.
Gideon’s hushed voice responded. “Come in, Malini. It’s me.”
She entered the crowded office, amazed that someone so intelligent could be just as untidy. Closing the door behind her and Jacob, she eyed the stacks of papers and books piled precariously on every conceivable surface. Gideon sat in the chair behind the desk, fingers buried in his hair.
“Gideon, what’s going on? Have you found something?” she asked.
He lifted a document from the desk and turned it toward Malini and Jacob. It was covered in mathematical and scientific equations. “Do either of you know what this means?” he asked.
Jacob moved closer, squinting at the numbers and symbols scribbled across the page. “It means this guy is smarter than me. Who could understand this? It’s like a different language.”
Eyeing the equations, Malini sighed and shook her head.
“I don’t understand
it either but I do understand this.” Gideon flipped the document over.
Hand sketched in black charcoal, a human sacrifice was depicted strapped to a stone altar. No hair or facial features defined the sacrifice except for the mouth, agape in a silent scream. A figure with outstretched wings drove a jagged blade into the victim's heart. Blood dripped from the wound, pooling at the base. Watchers crawled from the blood, as if the sacrifice had ripped a hole in the paper large enough for them to fit through.
Malini took the drawing from Gideon. “What does this mean?”
Gideon folded his hands on the desk. “Do you remember how Oswald became Abigail’s portal?”
“It’s not something you forget. She buried her dead husband and a tree grew out of his body and blood. Somehow his soul was bound to the tree, which gave it the power to transport.”
Nodding, Gideon sighed heavily. “To bring a portal into existence, you need something from Heaven, Abigail, something of Earth, the dirt Oswald was buried in, and blood. You need blood, human blood. Look at the picture. The angel, the stone, the blood, and a million demons shadowed in it. Lucifer never cared about killing the Soulkeepers; that was just a ploy to distract us from his real plan. He’s trying to open a portal.”
The diagram slipped from Malini’s fingers and her head shook emphatically. “They already have a portal, the tree in Nod. Why would they need another one?”
Gideon snatched the sketch from the desk and pointed at the blood. “Look at the number of faces in this blood, Malini. Watchers can only come through the tree one or two at a time, but if Lucifer wants to take control, he needs to bring forth an army, a legion of dark angels that will sweep the state, then the country, then the continent. One at a time, Watchers can be killed. The Soulkeepers have time to react. The Watchers have time to collapse under their own self-serving ways. But a legion of Watchers…” Gideon shook his head. “Lucifer is planning to create a portal big enough for a legion to step through.”
