“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“No, it won’t affect anything.”
“Good. That answer segues perfectly into the first rule. Speak truth. You both just tossed out falsehoods for Marcus’s and my consumption and apparently expected us to swallow them without question.”
Dana’s eyes widened and Brandon suspected there was a look of surprise on his face similar to the one on hers. Reece’s gaze darted back and forth between them. “Of course your past is going to affect your being here. That’s one of the reasons I believe the Spirit put you two together in this confined area.”
“I can’t wait.” Dana shifted in the teak chair and tightened her arms across her chest.
“Neither can I,” Brandon said. Getting back to Seattle couldn’t come fast enough.
“Good to hear that.” Reece leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “As I just said, the first rule of your training is to speak what is true. If you choose not to say anything, fine. But anything that does come out of your mouth will be the truth. We will be authentic with each other. Are we clear?”
He waited till each of them nodded. “That holds for when the four of us are together and when you are one-on-one.” He glanced at each of them. “Do any of you have a problem with that?”
“Yes,” Dana said.
“What’s the issue?” Reece stared at her.
“You want me to be honest?” Dana waggled her thumb toward Brandon. “Being authentic in front of him might mean wrapping a towel around his neck and strangling him.”
“That sounds abundantly forthcoming to admit that.”
“What I mean is, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to tell what I’m really feeling deep down—”
“In other words you’ll take option one and stay silent.” Reece raised an eyebrow.
“I suppose so.”
“Now”—Reece looked at Brandon—“why are we here?”
Brandon laughed and glanced at the others. “I think that’s our line.”
Reece turned to his left. “Why did you come, Dana? Why did you accept my invitation?”
“Because I thought I was supposed to.”
“Not enough. What’s the deeper reason?”
“There’s nothing more than that. I just thought—”
“What is the first rule?”
“Not right now.” Dana shifted in her chair and rubbed the spot in between her eyebrows. “Not yet.”
“No problem.” Reece shifted his gaze between Marcus and Brandon. “Next?”
“Because I’m tired,” Brandon said.
“Of?”
“Going through the motions. Of not feeling things anymore. I want my heart back.”
“When did you start losing it? Do you know?”
Did he know? Yeah. Precisely. The slide from alive to half dead started the instant he broke up with Dana. He’d always known there was a connection. It was blindingly obvious the two events were fused together. He’d just never let himself admit it for more than a second. That would force him to face why he’d broken up with her in the first place. Not a concert hall he was willing to play in at the moment.
Brandon gave a single nod. “I have a pretty good idea when it started.”
“Do you want to tell us about it?”
“Not at the moment.”
Reece glanced at Dana’s chair on the edge of the patio, then faced Marcus. “Why did you accept my invitation?”
“Because you indicated the magic was real and I want to see if that statement is correct.”
“What’s the deeper reason?”
Marcus stared at the white stones at his feet. “I exist in a world of regret and guilt for what I have not done, which prevents me from living fully in the present. I live in a world of could-have and should-have. If the magic truly is real, my dream is it will bring about the disintegration of those regrets and cause them to vanish.” “Marcus?” Reece waited till the professor met his gaze. “Thank you.”
Reece opened his satchel and pulled out an ancient-looking notebook. “Do you want to know why I think you’re here?” He held the notebook like it was glass and stared at it for a long moment. “I think you’re here because of this.”
He opened the cover as if it were a priceless ancient scroll, then turned to the middle of the journal and pulled out a piece of paper. Reece laid it on his knee and ran the tips of his fingers over the surface. The sheet was yellowed, the ink faded.
“As I read this, close your eyes and listen to the Spirit and see if what I say is true.” Reece cleared his throat, and when he spoke his voice had softened. “This was a prophecy spoken over me by my spiritual leader when I was younger than all of you. He and I have prayed over it ever since.” Reece took a deep breath, then read.
There will come a day when you will train them—they will be four. The song, the teacher, the leader, the temple. Keep your eyes open to see, your ears open to listen, your heart open to feel, and your mind open to discern.
When the time comes, the Spirit will reveal each of them to you. You will teach them wonders of my power they can’t yet imagine. And instruct these warriors how to go far inside the soul and marrow.
They will rise up and fight for the hearts of others. They will demolish strongholds in the heavens and grind their enemies to dust. Their victories will spread across the nations. You will pour out your life for them and lead them to freedom, and they will turn and bring healing to the broken and set the hearts of others free.
And when the wolf rises, the four must war against him and bring about his destruction.
Only they have hope of victory.
And for one, their vision will grow clear,
And for one, the darkness of choice will rain on them,
And for one, the other world will become more real than this one,
And for one, death will come before the appointed time.
The prophecy was about them? Obviously. As Reece spoke the words, a shot of adrenaline had coursed through Brandon. The words were electric. Reece wanted truth? This felt truer than anything Brandon had touched in the past thirty-six months. And more unsettling.
“We are three of the four.” Marcus said the words more to himself than to them. “Everything in my mind says your conclusion is preposterous, yet every indication from my heart asserts it is true.”
“The Spirit has revealed that to you.”
“How do you know it’s us?” Dana said. “Not to be a skeptic. I mean, I think I’m sensing the same thing Marcus is, but still.”
Reece stood and rubbed his chin. “With you, Dana, I knew—”
“Excuse me? Before we get to the history, which I’m sure will be fascinating, can we talk about that last line?” Brandon pointed his finger at his temple as if it were a gun. “One of us is going to die?”
“ I don’t know.” Reece scuffed his boot. “My spiritual leader and I have discussed that many times without a firm conclusion. It could be the death of a dream, death of a career . . .”
“Or perhaps the obvious conclusion is simply difficult to acknowledge,” Marcus said, “especially when you’re attempting to convince people they’re part of a prophecy and you’d rather they not reject the idea.”
“Maybe.” Reece stared at Marcus. “But even if it is a physical death, ‘appointed time’ doesn’t mean one of you would die young.”
Dana waved her hands. “Can we get back to why you think it’s us? Before I buy in fully, I need a little more evidence. I suppose I’m the leader, but really? I manage a few salespeople. I’m not that much of a leader. Plus, there are thousands of people who could fit those four descriptions. Millions.”
“I don’t think we’ve even started to see the kind of leader you can be.” Reece clasped his hands behind his back. “And how did I know? With you, Dana, I knew after we met in our home group—what was that, a year ago? The Spirit said, ‘That’s her,’ the moment I saw you. But like you, I needed more convincing.
“Wit
h each of you, the Spirit gave me clues to look for over the years. For example, with Dana, one of the clues was a picture that kept appearing in my mind of an upright wooden radio from the thirties. So when I found out you were in radio, it was a significant piece in the puzzle among others.
“One clue with you, Marcus, was what I sensed when I read each of your books, as well as what I heard as you grew up.”
“Grew up?” The professor frowned. “Explain.”
“Your dad and I weren’t close, but we were acquaintances. Don’t fret, I’ll tell you more about that in the days to come and why it’s taken till now to tell you this. For the moment, suffice it to say when he would talk of you and your exploits, a curiosity stirred inside me and I wondered if you were the teacher. Then when I read your first book and called you five years ago, and we started having coffee together, and I heard your ideas and passions, I was almost certain.”
Reece turned to Brandon. “You were the easiest. Not long after the prophecy was spoken, I had a vision where I was shown a poem and told the song would have something to do with what I’d seen. I wrote the words down and tucked them in the back of my Bible. On a fall day three years ago, as I drove along Alki in West Seattle, I popped in your CD Go Higher. When the third tune came on with the exact words the Lord had given me in the vision, I had little doubt you were the song. So I came to one of your concerts and you know the rest.”
“Little doubt? Meaning you still had some?”
Reece nodded and looked at each of them. “The final confirmation was your agreement to come on this trip to Well Spring.”
“So where does that leave Tamera?” Dana said.
“I’m not sure. But I’m praying about it, asking for an answer.” Reece rocked forward and slapped his hands on his hips. “I think that’s enough to stew on for the moment. Pray about the prophecy. See what the Spirit reveals.”
“What is this wolf rising thing?” Dana asked. “We’re supposed to destroy whatever it is?”
“When the time comes, yes. I believe it’s an organization here in the US and we’ll discuss it further at some point—I don’t know when. But it’s why you’re here. The ultimate reason for your training.”
He glanced at his watch. “It’s six o’clock now. I’m going to start cooking dinner; we’ll eat at seven thirty and then—”
“One more moment, please.” Marcus held up his forefinger. “I’d like to know more about this organization. Who they are, what they do, why you believe they’re dangerous.”
“In time, Professor, but not for a while. First the three of you need to be trained, then you’ll be ready to hear about the full scope of the war.”
Reece took a step toward the cabin, then turned. “Before we eat I want you to take time alone. To pray. To think. To listen to what God has for you here. Explore the grounds. Get down to the river. Or sit here at the post and take in the cliffs.”
Brandon tapped his feet on the stones and the tips of his fingers together. “Before we break, what does ‘go far inside the soul and marrow’ mean?”
“We’ll get to that. Probably tomorrow. And I pray your spiritual ears will be wide open. They’ll need to be.”
FOURTEEN
AFTER BREAKFAST ON MONDAY MORNING, REECE STOOD, walked to the coatrack, slipped into his green North Face jacket, and put on his beat-up Stetson. “I’m going out. Your training will start when I return.”
He waved his hand at the bookshelves on either side of the fireplace. “While I’m gone you might want to choose a book and read a few chapters.”
Brandon glanced at the shelves, then at Marcus and Dana. They both shrugged. Brandon scowled. Read? Reece brought them up here to read? At the door he paused as if he’d heard Brandon’s thoughts. “You might enjoy it, Brandon.”
“Where are you going?”
The door shut without an answer from Reece.
Brandon rose, jogged to the front door, and yanked it open. He watched the big man stride up the slight incline on the narrow path that cut through the sparse underbrush opposite the road they’d come in on, dust rising a few inches with each footstep.
“Bring me back a latte!” Brandon called after him.
Reece didn’t turn but lifted his arm and flashed a thumbs-up. When Brandon went back inside, Marcus and Dana were already perusing the bookshelves.
“What was his destination?” Marcus said.
“No idea. Off into the woods somewhere.” Brandon walked up to the bookshelves and folded his arms.
Marcus pulled G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy off the shelf and turned it to the back cover.
“Since you’ve known Reece the longest, Professor, what do you think so far?” Brandon asked.
“I’ve already seen multiple sides of him that have not previously surfaced.”
Brandon pulled down a large coffee-table book on rock bands from the sixties. “Like the whole mystic vibe.”
“That’s one of the sides.” Marcus pulled another three books off the lower shelf to the right.
Dana studied the books on the other side of the fireplace. “I want to know more about his past.”
“That desire might go unfulfilled. I don’t think he communicates anything he doesn’t want to reveal, and for me his past has always been Fort Knox times a googolplex.” Marcus moved a rich russet throw pillow to the armrest of the couch and lay out, his stocking feet propped up on the armrest at the other end. “What rises to the surface of your mind when you think about us being an element of this prophecy?”
“Part of the prophecy?” Dana turned and stared at Marcus. “According to Reece we are the prophecy.”
Dana sat in the wicker couch in front of the outside fireplace, struggling to get through the first chapter of Pascal’s Pensées. Between the river song behind and below her, Brandon’s presence, and Reece’s cryptic statements last night, her brain wasn’t willing to take on any new data.
The door to the left of the fireplace swung open and Marcus walked through and waved his thumb back at the cabin. “Is there anything from inside I might bring you?”
“No, but thanks.” She shifted on the couch. “Are you done reading?”
“No, I’m just taking a short break.” He pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I’m practicing a productivity method called the Pomodoro Technique. Essentially you study or write or work intensely for twenty-five minutes, then take a break, then proceed again for another twenty-five.”
“Does it work?”
“Not yet.” Marcus smiled. “But it’s too soon to quantify the results.”
“Keep me posted.”
“I will do so.” The professor motioned to his right. “I’m going to take a short walk before engaging again with my book. My hope is whatever you read will be scintillating.”
“You as well.”
She watched Marcus meander off, then glanced to her right to find Brandon leaning against the edge of the cabin thirty feet away, his face questioning. He pointed at himself, then at her, and back at himself. Great. Did she want him to come over? No. This would be the first conversation with just the two of them since they’d arrived. The first since he snapped her heart in two. But it would have to happen at some point. She might as well get it over with. She put her heart in full lockdown mode, motioned him over, and grabbed a thick piece of kindling to hold on to.
When he reached her he said, “Are you going to bash me over the head with that?” Brandon stood next to one of the wicker chairs, hands jammed in the back of his pants.
“If you get close enough.”
He smiled. “So you’re really okay if I join you for a bit, Day?”
Day? Unbelievable. The guy was a caveman.
“You do not call me Day. Ever again.”
“But I used to—”
“That’s right. You used to. Past tense. Waaaaay in the past.” She shook her head and glared at him. “Wake up, Brandon.”
“Sorry.” He shifted his weight back and forth. “Can I
still—?”
“Fine.” She flicked her hand toward the chair he stood next to. “Whatever.”
He settled into the chair and held his palms out to warm them from the fire, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of sunflower seeds and held it out to her. “You want some?”
“I see you’re still sucking on those things.”
“I’ll take that as a no.” He shook a handful out of the bag and popped them in his mouth.
“What do you want?” Dana frowned.
“Just to talk.”
“About what?”
“Anything.”
“I don’t believe this.” Dana reached down and tossed another piece of wood onto the fire.
“Believe what?” Brandon set his bag of seeds on his armrest.
“Come on, are you kidding me? Really?”
Brandon patted his chest, then the front pockets of his jeans. “Oh no. It looks like I forgot my woman-speak code breaker at home, so do you mind helping me out with a little translation on what I’m missing?”
“Don’t be a jerk.”
“I’m sorry. But I honestly don’t know what you’re driving at.”
“You just want to have a little chat? Wonderful! That sounds great. Let’s compare our journals, okay?” Dana glared at him. “I don’t hear a peep from you for three years, then you show up here and suddenly want to chat? Am I supposed to welcome you with open arms?”
Brandon gripped the back of his neck and stared up at the chalk cliffs across the river. “You are a piece of work, you know that?”
“Thank you. I try. And you’re being a jerk again.” She pushed herself into the back of the couch and yanked her arms tight against her chest.
Brandon rose to his feet and strode away. “Wonderful talking to you,” he called over his shoulder.
“You too. I hope we do it again in about a million years.”
Dana blinked. No way. She wouldn’t let tears come. Steel. Her heart was hardened steel. But there was a fire burning on the outside and the metal had started to melt.
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