by K J Carr
Malak took a piece and chewed on it.
“Eh?” I inquired, grinning.
He moaned. “Heaven. I should have ordered an additional side.”
“Still can.” I turned my attention to my own plate. “Don’t think I have forgotten my question, though.”
“I know you haven’t, but one question for you first. Given that you guys were supposed to slaughter Luther, the pet pig, and then didn’t; and then named this diner after said pig, isn’t it a bit weird that this place is known for their bacon?”
I looked up at him, squinting my eyes, chewing slowly so I could enjoy the myriad of tastes in my mouth. “Luther’s is known for its food, not just its bacon.” I pointed out.
Malak nodded and then proceeded to eat for a minute. “Point.” He conceded.
It was quiet for another minute or so, while we ate, enjoying the food in front of us.
“Death is many things for us. I myself have been around for about two hundred years.” Malak didn’t look up from his plate.
I gaped at him, my fork dropping. “Two…?”
He nodded. “I am young.” One shoulder raised up and dropped, showing how nonchalant he was about his age.
Breathe. Breathe. I sat back and closed my eyes. When I had felt my heart slow again, I opened them, looking down. “And here I thought you were a twenty-year-old baby.”
“I know.” He glanced up at me quickly and then looked back down, finishing his eggs and sighing. “That was good.”
I looked at my plate. I hadn’t finished even half of it, but I suddenly wasn’t that hungry. “Oh.”
Malak looked at my plate and eyed the slices of bacon. I watched him, as he contemplated stealing them off my plate.
“Take them. I’m done.”
His fingers reached out quickly, snatching up the two slices that had been left and placing one on his plate, the other going directly to his mouth.
I picked up my mug of coffee and noticed it was empty. Looking around, I waved it towards Millie and she came over with the pot, filling my mug with the fragrant liquid. Malak pushed his mug towards her and she topped his off as well, before leaving.
I glanced around. “Along with the privacy thing, is there a ‘Don’t stay here and talk’ thing too?”
Malak grinned. “Yep.” He finished the bacon, pushing a couple more creamers in my direction.
He sat back. “Some believe death is like how religion teaches it. If you are Buddhist, you are reincarnated. If you are Muslim, you will go to heaven and have rewards. If you are Christian, you have heaven and hell, depending on how you live.”
He stopped, his hands wrapped around his mug, his face pensive.
“The reality is,” his voice was soft. “We don’t really die. This all is the first phase of growth, but not everyone is ready for the next step. If you believe all that about reincarnation and heaven and hell, then you will stay in this phase. Some souls never leave this stage.”
I thought about that. I knew I should have been shocked or overwhelmed, but this sort of made sense in a strange way. At least, it was in alignment with my own personal philosophy.
“You are not eccentric, Nica. What you are is on the cusp of your second phase of life.” Malak looked at me. “You are ready to learn how to go from this…” Malak waved at the room around him. “…to something like this.” And he pointed at himself.
“I will become an angel?” My voice squeaked a little on that last word. That was not my expectation.
He laughed, except it didn’t sound like there was much humor in the tone.
“I am not an angel per se. I look like one, based on your stories and myths. I am a Tennin. I don’t live here on earth, but travel here through the worlds and dimensions of time. We are long lived – basically immortal, and we protect the humans here on earth as much as possible.” His face grimaced. “We cannot protect you from yourselves, though, just from others from other worlds or dimensions that would do you harm.”
“OML.”
“Oh-em-el?” Malak obviously didn’t know that one.
“Oh, my Lord,” I repeated absently.
“Nothing to do with that.”
“Just a saying, Malak, just a saying.” As I thought, I slid my fingers back and forth on the table, feeling the grain of the wood. We sat there in silence while I thought this through.
“Other worlds? Other dimensions?”
He grimaced. “I don’t know a lot about the science of things. You might learn more later. There are others that can tell you about them. Just know that there is more than earth, and there are more species than humans, out there.”
“Amazing.” My voice was faint. I wasn’t sure what to think about all of this. Or why he was telling me about it. Which was, perhaps, a very important point.
“What does this have to do with me?”
“I am offering you a decision. You decide yes, then you would be marked to Transition. What this means is that you would still live out your current life as a human, but you would also be learning what it means to become Tennin upon giving up your human body or Transitioning. If you transition successfully, you leave your human life and start your Tennin one. You will be assigned a job or category or a life goal, at that point. I am a messenger, or what we call a Kri-Tennin. I find those humans, or other beings, who would most successfully transition, and provide them with the information they need to have to make a Transition decision.”
Okay, ignoring the other beings part right now. “What other categories are there?”
Malak pushed his hair off his face. “Guidance, or Hyrs-Tennin – which are generally a pair that works to guide or train new Tennin or those in Transition, so they can know what is expected once they have transitioned. Jyrd-Tennin, who are either our generals or our specialists. Those are generally the ones with the most...” he paused for a moment. “Talent or special skills. Some of those are what you would call Arch Angels.”
Raising the mug to my mouth, I touched the rim with my tongue.
“Does everyone transition to Tennins? Is it possible to transition to something else?”
Malak’s face grew dark. “Perhaps. I only know of this from the Tennin standpoint.”
I nodded. They were just as stuck in their worldview as Humans were. Interesting.
“This all sounds too good to be true,” I stated sardonically. “What’s the catch?”
“The catch?” That was said a little too innocently.
“Yep.”
Malak exhaled. “If you decide to transition, you will be in a vulnerable state – Tennin but not Tennin. This is when the Daemons have their best chance to turn you into one of them. Or they could just kill you before you transition, absorbing any power you may have potentially had as a Tennin.”
“Daemons? These are not like the evil demons of our fantasy books, are they?”
“Very similar. Those stories are based on them, just like religions are based on the Tennins.”
“Seriously?” Wow, I didn’t realize how in tune with the universe fantasy writers were. Unless they had been visited by daemons…. Something to think about later.
Right now, I had another question. “Obviously, not everyone who decides to transition gets taken by these daemons. How do you protect them?”
“They need to learn to protect themselves, first and foremost. I would work with you and train you a little, as would the Hyrs-Tennin who are assigned to you. We cannot interfere with your death, but we can prepare your mind and body for leaving this existence. Everything you learn will go with you. You will remember everything.”
Malak looked around, not meeting my eyes. “If you decide not to transition, you will remember none of this conversation. When you die, it would be according to whatever rules you have decided death best represents for you. In most cases, though, you would somehow live again, since the goal of humans is to learn so that they can transition to a higher being.”
“And if a daemon kills me?”
He shrugged. “We will try to be there, so we can start your transition. If we are not successful, you will become a daemon. Or your existence will disappear altogether.”
“Let me see if I get this straight.” I looked Malak in the eyes, watching him. “No matter if I decide to transition or not, I will still die. The decision only has an impact on what happens after I die. Or what it means for me to die.”
Malak nodded slowly, keeping his eyes on mine.
I shook my head. My brain was about to explode.
“How long do I have to decide?”
“You can take as long as you want, but remember, the Daemons will be trying to interfere.” Malak’s eyes dropped to the table.
“Will they stop trying to interfere if I decide I don’t want to transition?”
He lifted his eyes up again to meet mine, startled.
At that moment, singing started up in the dining room, and the employees came out holding a huge cake as they made their way towards our booth. I was happy to see that there weren’t sixty candles on it since that would have been a major fire hazard for the diner. Kaitie and Marcus were singing the loudest, but even many of the other patrons started to join in.
I stared at Malak in disbelief. My birthday. Fuck.
I turned to the group and a weak smile crossed my lips.
“You shouldn’t have!” I proclaimed.
“Of course not.” Kaitie slid into the booth seat next to me. “But we did! Because we love you, Nica!” Her voice almost sang the last part. I chuckled weakly and looked over at Malak, but he was gone.
Looking up at Marcus, he tilted his head towards the door. I looked over and Malak waved, disappearing out of it. I wished I was going with him.
I wasn’t even sure how to reach him, but I am sure he would show up soon enough.
Turning back, I hugged Kaitie and kissed her cheek.
“You do know, payback is a bitch!” I whispered.
Chapter 4
Kaitie and I had always insisted that Sundays were for long, leisurely brunches. And we kept the tradition up, now having our meal mostly at Luther’s since that allowed Marcus to join us for at least a few minutes. Today was no exception, and the fall weather turned out to be just as gorgeous as yesterday had been.
I was a little tired since there was so much to think about – Malak had dropped a lot of information on me and I wasn’t quite sure what to think about it all. It felt surreal. All of this had swirled in my head until I had finally dropped off to sleep at some godforsaken hour of the morning. Which meant now I was grouchy, as well as late.
Pulling into the parking lot at the diner, I had to chuckle to myself. Kaitie had pulled off a surprise party yesterday, which was surprising since she generally couldn’t keep a secret. She had been my friend since we had met back when we were ten years old. Back then, we had been two lost girls. We both were odd enough that we didn’t make friends easily.
Kaitie always had been a Sixties child, talking about astrology and crystals and healing energy. She had taught me Tai Chi, which I only really started putting effort into once I found out it was really a martial art fighting form. I had actually been able to use some of the moves on a bully or two, which would have horrified Kaitie if she had known.
Me? I was the socially awkward introvert. I rather read than go to parties. I didn’t like to dress up or wear make-up. I didn’t understand how to keep friends. I am not even sure if I did anything to keep Kaitie; I still believe that our friendship is mostly because of her. That she believes we are friends and so, we were. Now, though, I would miss her if she left since she was like my left arm.
Walking to the door, Kaitie skipped up next to me and linked arms with me.
“I knew you would be late!” she crowed, her grin lighting up her face.
“Of course you did. I am generally late.” I grumbled, glancing at her.
Kaitie’s hair was long and a medium brown. She almost always braided it into a long braid that almost reached her butt. Her eyes were her best feature, a shifting hazel color that couldn’t decide if they would stay brown or green. Today, they were green, matching the green sweater that she was wearing to stave off the chill in the air.
We were such polar opposites. I had dark, kinky, curly hair that wanted to frizz out more than it would lay down smooth. My skin was a light mocha and my eyes were, interestingly, a steely gray. Marcus and I had talked about where I got my eyes from when we were little. Neither of our parents had gray eyes, but our father’s mother had. Or so it appeared from the few pictures we had seen of her. Some strange stuff happens in the name of genetics.
“I brought my cards today, Nica. I didn’t get a chance to…” I stopped and looked at her in horror, my head shaking back and forth.
“No, no, no, Kaitie!” I wailed.
She pulled on my arm and I stumbled through the diner door.
“I didn’t get a chance to do your birthday reading, Nica. We will do it today and there is nothing you can do to change this.” Her voice was firm and resolute. This was the only time I would typically let her read my charts, so she took full advantage of it. The rest of the year, she could do whatever she wanted, I wouldn’t listen to a word of her mumbo-jumbo.
“Kaitie!”
She pulled me into the dining room and made her way over to my – our – booth, not even stopping. Luckily, not even Candace had someone sitting there today. Of course, the little “Reserved” sign helped. I didn’t even know Marcus had those. Ha! Jokes on her.
“Nica, we need to know what is in store for you this year. I do this every year. You let me do this every year. Because of this, we have kept the bad things away or at least to a minimum.” She pushed me into the booth, taking the other side.
“What about that year Alex left me?” I had to pick at the scabs.
“That scoundrel? Ha! Remember I had predicted that good things would come to you – and it was a good thing when he left! He was horrible to you!”
Yeah, I thought sarcastically, I guess that is one way to look at it.
“How about this year, with this vertigo?” I tapped the side of my head.
“How is it today?” Kaitie’s focus changed, her face looking concerned.
“Okay. Barometer readings are higher and no storms on the horizon. So, no blockage or tinnitus.” I shrugged. “And no dizziness, which is always good.”
“Great!” Kaitie’s face lit back up. “Well, I did say something about you needing to concentrate on your health, didn’t I? Which you are. And there was that thing about listening.”
I put my head in my hands, laughing at her. It didn’t really matter what Kaitie said in her reading for me; she would always find a way to interpret my life events into what she had found. And sometimes, it really did point out things, but that was so rare. I don’t know if tarot just was a fake science, or if Kaitie wasn’t very good at doing the card readings, but she enjoyed it so much. And in some weird way, it was profitable for her. Crowds of people came to her store for readings and to buy her new age stuff, and she had an even bigger on-line audience. It was mind-blowing, but if it worked for her, I was okay with it.
“Okay, hon, let’s do it.” I reached out and patted her hand, just as Candace came up to the table.
I looked up at her and could see her focus on our hands. A wicked thought came to mind and I turned Kaitie’s hand over, holding it closely. Kaitie had been turning to get her cards out of her bag, but she stopped, and looked at me, inquiring. Seeing the glint in my eyes, she sighed.
I threw her an air kiss, and then looked up at Candace. “Hey, Candace.”
The girl’s eyes jerked up to meet mine, startled.
“Give us a few minutes, okay?” My thumb rubbed Kaitie’s palm.
Candace nodded once briskly and walked away. Kaitie pulled her hand out of mine abruptly and went back to looking in her bag.
“You know, one of these days, your little tricks will come back to haunt you.” She pulled out her
tarot cards and put them on the table.
“I know.” I sat back and watched the other woman out of the corner of my eye. She had gone over to the counter and was talking to another woman sitting there, gesturing towards us. “There is something about that girl that I just don’t like, though. She almost took my booth out from under me yesterday and she was working the counter.”
“Nooooo.” Kaitie drew the word out, the sarcasm dripping in her voice as she shuffled the cards.
“Yes, indeed! This booth is mine and no one was in it, but she got this guy to say that he was, when he wasn’t. Troublemaker.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest in mock indignation.
“Well, that is a good reason to fire her,” Kaitie replied absently. “Cut the deck.”
I looked at her for a minute. When she stared back at me, not blinking, I realized she wasn’t going to bend, particularly not this year. Not even to talk about Candace. Giving in, I reached out and cut the deck.
“Focus, Nica.” She waited a minute and then laid out the board. I noticed this time she only did a basic three-card spread instead of a Celtic cross.
“Why..?” Kaitie waved at me, cutting me off. She turned over the cards, studying them.
“Interesting.” She tapped a finger on her bottom lip, a frown causing a crease line to appear between her brows.
“What…?” I now was curious and leaned forward.
Candace started moving back to the table. Kaitie looked up and swept the cards up in her hand, smiling at the other woman.
“Hi, Candace. I would like some coffee, the French toast with berries, real maple syrup on the side and an order of bacon.” Kaitie smiled politely.
Candace, who must have thought we would just push her off again, quickly pulled out her pad and took down Kaitie’s order, while I stared at my friend, my mouth open.
