by G. P. Ching
"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. 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.
* * * * *
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 lifted the drawing from Gideon’s hands. "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."
"Um, not to shoot down the best theory we have so far, but it won’t work." Jacob spread his hands. "Lucifer doesn’t have something from heaven. He doesn’t have an angel to make the sacrifice."
As if the air around him turned to lead, Gideon’s shoulders slumped forward, his wings falling limp from his back. He scrubbed his face with his hands and his voice came out in a whisper. "Abigail gave herself to him in exchange for Dane. As long as she doesn’t eat flesh, she doesn’t share the Watcher's curse and will work in the ceremony. Lucifer never wanted the list. He wanted her."
Malini’s fingers pressed over her lips. Jacob fell forward, catching himself on the desk and knocking a pile of books to the floor.
"Why? Why would Abigail give herself over?" he asked Gideon.
"She wanted me to believe it was to save Dane. That’s what she told me before she left. But I’ve been thinking about things she said to me over the last month we were together. She thought Lucifer might win, and she wasn’t sure she wanted redemption. She wasn’t sure she trusted God to do what he promised us."
Tears streamed down Malini’s cheeks and she noticed Jacob had turned to face the wall of the windowless office, an obvious ploy to hide his face. Gideon’s body crumpled across the desk, sending papers flying and books toppling to the floor.
"Can I speak to Gideon alone please?" Malini asked Jacob.
Jacob nodded and exited the office, closing the door behind him.
Gideon raised his head.
Bending at the waist, Malini rested her fingers on the desk and met Gideon’s eyes. "What I say to you now, I say not as your friend but as your Healer. I’ve had a vision, Gideon. You will have the opportunity to either save Abigail or to join her. You must not do either. You must let her go, even if that means losing her forever."
"But—"
"No, Gideon. I am certain of this. What I share I don't share lightly. This message is for you and you alone. You must let her go. If you don’t, we are all doomed."
Gideon shook his head.
"She’s made her choice. You have to make yours. If you are with us, if you will help me save this world, you will believe me and trust what I say. Do not try to save her. Do not try to join her. Do you understand?"
Rising to his full height, Gideon ruffled his wings. He frowned at Malini and stepped around the desk, around her. He paused at the door, his hand hovering over the knob, and his back to her.
"You are very young, Malini. Very young for a Healer."
"Yes, but my power is old. I’m sure about this, Gideon. You have to trust me. Are you with us?"
Silence stretched out between them. Malini's breath came and went in long, even draws. She had no idea what she would do if Gideon refused to follow her instructions. The Soulkeepers needed him, now more than ever.
"Yes. I’m with you," he said toward the door. Then he opened it and dissolved into the light of the hallway.
Chapter 25
Dane
Dane opened his eyes with no idea where he was. A glass appeared in front of his lips and a strong arm tipped his body forward. Sweet liquid poured down his throat.
"Good job. Hey, you’re awake," a deep voice said.
He turned his head toward the voice but the glow from the window left him blinking at a dark silhouette.
"I’m Ethan. I’m going to take care of you for a while." The silhouette shifted. A guy with Latino coloring and a physique like he lived at the gym leaned against the bed. The room looked like a hospital but the guy was too young to be a doctor.
Dane tried to speak but his throat cracked. He licked his lips, fighting to sit up against the weakness that seemed to permeate every part of his body.
Ethan placed one strong hand on Dane's shoulder and the other on his hand. He leaned forward, giving Dane a closer view of his face. Stubble peppered his chin and dark circles hung under his eyes, but Ethan’s was the kindest face Dane had seen in what seemed like a lifetime.
"Just relax, Dane. You’re safe. Nobody is going to hurt you here." Ethan straightened slightly. "Geez, you’re cold, let me get you another blanket."
Tightening his hand around Ethan’s fingers, Dane tried harder to speak. "Malini?" he rasped.
"She’s gone, dude. Jacob and Malini left to go talk to Gideon. And Lillian and the other Soulkeepers took off for Dr. Silva’s in case they needed back up. It’s just you and me for a while." Ethan walked away and returned with a warm blanket.
Dane pushed against the mattress, trying to sit up, but he wasn’t strong enough. Ethan’s arms hooked behind his shoulders and under his knees and lifted him up in the bed, plumping the pillow behind his head. The warmth of the new blanket encircled him as Ethan spread it across his body.
"There. That’s better," Ethan said.
What happened next didn’t involve any thinking on Dane’s part. It was instinctual, like drinking the water that was brought to his lips. He used what little energy he had left to throw his arms around Ethan’s neck.
At first, Ethan's arms tensed but then he returned the hug, rubbing Dane's back and cradling his head as tears Dane didn’t know he was holding, rushed down his face. "Man, you’ve been to hell and back...literally."
Dane fell back onto the pillow with Ethan’s help.
"Whole time," Dane croaked, "no one touched me."
Ethan frowned. "You don’t have to explain. I get it and it’s okay with me." He held out his arms. "Hugs are free."
The smile that Dane cracked hurt his cheeks, but he didn’t care. "Why are you here?" he asked.
"You mean, why was I left behind?" A scraping sound echoed through the room as Ethan pulled over one of the chairs from the patio to Dane’s bedside. He took a seat. "Someone needed to stay to look after you and I’ve had the least amount of training as a Soulkeeper. I guess they thought I’d be safer here anyway. Besides, no one knows me yet, so..."
"You’re a Soulkeeper?" Dane asked.
In response, Ethan reached out his hand and made the glass of lemonade float into it from the bedside table. "Yeah, I guess I am. No one was more surprised than me. Are you?"
"No," Dane said. "Friend."
"I see. And you ended up in hell for it?"
Dane nodded.
"Sounds like you’re a friend worth having."
The muscles in Dane's face twitched. His vision blurred and he closed his eyes against a floaty, spinning sensation.
"You’re tired. You should rest. I’ve asked one of the gnomes to bring you dinner. You’ll want to have enough energy to eat it once it’s here," Ethan said.
"Gnomes?" Dane’s eyelids flipped open.
Ethan grinned. "Yeah. The Garden of Eden has garden gnomes. Like real useful garden gnomes that know how to do, like, everything."
Dane’s eyebrows lifted.
"The food is great. Save your strength. Like I said, Jacob and Malini are on it. They said they're going to talk to Gideon about Lucifer and Abigail. They’re afraid she traded the list for you."
The sound of her name made Dane stutter. He needed to tell Ethan. Someone needed to know.
"What’s wrong, Dane?"
"Traded herself for me," Dane spit out. "Saved me."
"You mean she traded herself, not the list?"
Dane nodded.
"She saved you? Was that who put you on the boat?"
"Yes. Tell them."
Ethan nodded and smoothed the covers. He pulled his cell phone from his back pocket and held it toward the window. "No service here. No cell towers in Eden."
Guilt weighed on Dane’s heart. Had Abigail lost her soul forever to save him? He didn’t know for sure, only that Abigail had met with Lucifer then carried him out of hell and
to the boat. Lucifer never gave something for nothing. She’d traded something valuable. He shook his head, the tears starting anew.
"Listen, Dane," Ethan said in a soothing voice. "I’ve been part of the Soulkeepers for a matter of days and I already know Malini and Jacob know what they’re doing. When Abigail came to get me, she was creepy for sure but she was trustworthy. I’ve got to think that all of the Soulkeepers know that. They’re going to do the right thing. They’ll figure out what’s happened and they’ll make it right."
Ethan’s eyes seemed so sure and Dane was too weak to do anything but cling to the hope he offered. He relaxed against his pillow and closed his eyes again.
"That’s it," Ethan said. "Rest up. I’ll wake you when your food gets here."
This time Dane allowed himself to slip into darkness, feeling oddly safe in Ethan’s presence.
Chapter 26
Mara and Henry
Wrapped in Henry’s arms, Mara watched her last minutes fall through the hourglass. She squeezed him tighter, wishing that her bell still worked and she could stop time, preserving this moment forever. It was so unfair. All of it, all of the rules, all of the consequences, seemed arbitrary and purposeless.
"It’s time, Mara. Let’s not give Lucifer the chance to argue the particulars."
She nodded, sobbing, and climbed from the bed. She wore the gray dress from the day they met.
He kissed her softly on the lips. They had said everything there was to say. To draw it out any longer would be torture for both of them. With a wave of his hand, her door glowed to life.
"I’ll come to you," he said. "Eventually, when I find the right person to replace me and Lucifer is less of a threat, I’ll pass on and we can be together forever."
She twisted his ring on her finger and nodded, although she found his words less than comforting.
He pulled the door open. Light and warmth welcomed her, coaxing her forward. She entered a world of joy. Children played in the distance. Figures danced in the beyond to the drifting notes of a far off melody. Even the air smelled sweet, a combination of freshly cut grass and blooming roses. Cherry blossom petals showered down from above like confetti welcoming her home. She took another step into the light and sensed the door behind her close but didn't turn around to check.
