Chapter 6
It is, by far, the strangest experience of my life. One moment, we’re in my apartment, Sam standing over me as I sit up in the comfy chair. The next moment, he touches my arm and we’re somewhere else. Rather than feeling like I’ve moved, though, it feels like the universe just shifted around me, setting me in a new location. I guess the best way to describe it is being inside a globe that’s spinning. You don’t move, but the globe moves around you, and when it stops, you’re in whatever country lands on you.
This theory is confirmed when Sam catches me in his arms to keep me from dropping to the floor, since I’m still in the “sitting up in the chair” position I was in when he touched me. As such, I’m the same height off the ground as the seat of the chair.
He quickly sets me on my feet, and I look around.
“Sam, where are we?” I ask, amazed. Wherever it is, it’s clearly not on Earth. This is like nothing I’ve ever seen, or even imagined.
It looks like the hallway of an elaborate hotel, or the landing just off the stairs of a large mansion. There are stairs going up and down in front of us, and a long corridor lined with dozens of doors on either side of the stairs. The corridors seem to stretch on forever, so far I can’t see the end of it in either direction.
There is no furniture. The floors, however, are a dark, gleaming maple wood. The walls are lined with golden wainscoting, with stone gray plaster on top and shining maple panels below. Decorative crown molding adorns the upper corners of doorways. The endless doors are the same dark wood as the floor and the bottom half of the walls, with golden accent painting and bright gold doorknobs. In the distance, I think I can see a framed painting, but it’s too far away to make out any details. I’m hesitant to walk down there and look; it seems so far away, I’m not sure I could find my way back to Sam, even though the corridor is perfectly straight.
This is all quite weird, no question. But the strangest thing about it is the way it feels incredibly familiar. Being here is like the biggest case of déjà vu in the world. I’m almost sure I’ve been here before, either in a dream or sometime in my childhood. I can’t put my finger on it, but I know I know this place.
“You can feel it, can’t you?” Sam asks, and I realize I’ve been staring all around me for a long time in absolute wonderment. I turn around and he’s right there behind me, in exactly the same spot where he put my feet on the floor. He’s also smiling gently, patiently waiting while I get my bearings. There’s a hint of a sparkle in his eyes, as if he’s eager to show me something amazing.
“I feel it,” I sigh absently, reaching back to hold his hand. It’s a necessity, as I have a powerful urge to go wandering down those unending hallways and climb up and down the stairs that seem to reach to infinity through level after level of flooring. “What is this place?”
“It’s yours.” There’s no mistaking the satisfaction in his voice, as if he is giving me some incredible gift.
“Huh?”
OK, it’s a stupid response and I would normally be a lot more articulate, but these are special circumstances. A girl gets a break when she sees the impossible with her own eyes.
“This mansion. It’s yours. I had to get us away from Jonathan immediately, so I shifted dimensions, taking you with me. This isn’t an alternate universe or parallel one. We’re essentially still in your bedroom, just in a different dimension that’s overlaid on it. Jonathan won’t be able to enter. We’re safe for now.”
“Good to know,” I say absently, continuing to stare at this incredible place in stunned amazement. “And this is my mansion how, exactly?”
Sam takes me lightly by the shoulders and turns me to him. I’m silently grateful. Those corridors and long lines of doors that go to who knows what are hypnotic.
“Everyone has one of these. Each creature in the universe with a soul that reincarnates has a mansion. That includes the vast majority of beings. Even angels. Even, I suspect, creatures that aren’t direct creations of God. The creative nature of the universe is full of spirit, and it could easily form into a soul for every being it makes on its own. Of course, that last part is just theory, but it’s based on solid science.”
“Uh huh. Okay. Tell me more. What does it do?”
“Well, you’ve been here many times in the past, which is why it feels familiar to you.”
So I was that obvious? Man, I’d be a terrible poker player.
“Why don’t I remember being here? It seems like I dreamed it, but even that is fuzzy.”
“Your soul remembers. These mansions are where sentient beings go between lives. Most beings astral travel when they sleep, at least sometimes, and you can come here then, too. So, you probably have been here in your dreams. Except they weren’t dreams. Each mansion is keyed to the energy of the person who owns it. Only the owner can enter it, or someone they’ve invited in. That’s why I was able to get us here, because I have you with me. You acted as the key. Now that I’ve been here, I will be able to come again without you, because I’ve got your energy signature on me. It’s your invitation. Sorry I didn’t ask first.”
“That’s okay,” I assure him, still a bit dazed by the enormity that is the mansion. “Extraordinary conditions and all. Besides, we’re partners.”
“You contemplate your most recent life when you come here, and review your past ones, alternate ones, and even future ones,” he continues, relishing the explanation. This is a huge piece of information about the workings of the universe, and he’s probably never had the joy of revealing it to someone. His angel family would all already know. “The future lives aren’t set in stone, as you can always change them, but they’re where you’re currently headed if you don’t change anything. The time between lives is the time to decide if you want to change anything, and decide what you want to experience and learn in your next one. It’s also a time for rest and relaxation for you. You can spend as long as you like here before going back into a new life.”
“What’s behind all those doors?”
The doors, the doors! Oh, how I want to start opening those doors! I wrap an arm around Sam’s waist to keep myself from wandering away, and he pulls me closer, seemingly as a reflex.
“All your lives.” Sam throws his free arm wide, quite theatrically and grins, giving me a good view of his perfectly straight, white teeth. “Past, present, future, and alternate. Open any door and you will get a glimpse of what your life is like in that time or world.”
“What happens if I go through a doorway?” I know I’m asking a lot of questions, when Jonathan is presumably ransacking my apartment, but it’s my mansion. I feel like I’m entitled. And he can’t get in here, so we can take our time.
“You would leap into the body your spirit inhabits in that life. Your spirit is always divided among all your different incarnations, but it’s the same spirit, no matter where it is. You’ll still have your memories from this life, but will also gain the memories from that life. Some souls like to do it for past lives to re-experience certain things before reincarnating. It can be a helpful learning tool. Then, there are all the alternate versions of you, spun off by decisions you didn’t make in each life. Each decision in each life spins off a new universe. As you can imagine, the number of doors in these mansions are practically infinite for most beings. Angels are an exception. Our mansions are really just houses. They’re small because we don’t reincarnate very often. We spend most of our time in just one universe as angels there. Some of us don’t reincarnate at all. The ones that choose to forego it go right to heaven.”
I want to look at my past and alternate lives quite badly. The desire is so strong, it’s almost an ache. It would be so easy to spend the rest of this life in here, exploring where I’ve been, where I might have gone, and where I might go. But there is so much to do back home. We can’t stay. However, the temptation to stay is so great, I won’t be able to resist it for long. I will go wandering and Sam will follow me. We’ve got to leave before I give
in to the hypnosis the mansion is working on me.
“Soul mates can enter each other’s mansions,” Sam goes on, oblivious to my slight tugging on his waist as those lines and levels of doors draw me closer to them. “That’s the one exception of owner or guest-only entry. But very few beings have soul mates. It’s one of the rarest things in the multiverse, and the most precious. Soul mates are two souls who are made to be together from the time they were first brought into creation. While they are separated at the beginning, so each half can learn things that will benefit both of them, they always find each other, even if it takes them lifetimes to do it. Once they do, they are never apart again in future lives. They can enter each other’s mansions to plan future lives together, but each one still has their own mansion, too.”
“Romantic,” I muse, my voice flat as I concentrate really hard on one door directly in front of me. I can feel my hand reaching out for the knob, and I can’t pull it back. Something in my subconscious is begging me to open that door.
“I suppose it is,” Sam agrees. “Your Harry is probably in his own mansion right now, unless he’s reincarnated already.”
Harry. The name brings me back to reality like a rubber band snapping in my head, and I focus completely on Sam, the hypnosis broken. “Do you think Harry and I are soul mates?”
Sam looks at me sadly. “No. If you were, he would either be here waiting for you, or there would be some sign he was here previously. You’d feel his energy. He’d wait to reincarnate with you. Like I said, soul mates always stay together once they find each other. And most beings don’t have one. It’s incredibly rare, Lucy.”
I’m not surprised. As much as I loved Harry, and still do, it’s starting to seem more and more like we weren’t the destined lovers I once imagined us to be. He was someone I was supposed to be with as a lover in this life only, and maybe in some other capacity in other lives, but nothing more. And even that arrangement got changed without our consent.
“You know, you can enter your mansion any time, even when you’re not between lives or sleeping,” Sam continues brightly, clearly wanting to cheer me up after Harry entered the conversation.
He doesn’t have to. I want to tell him I’m not sad. I understand things a lot better now. But I let him talk. He seems to be enjoying himself, and we’ll have to get back to the real world where there are murderous angels after us soon enough.
“Is that so?” I ask, teasingly, encouraging him to tell me more.
“Yes,” he says, putting both hands on my shoulders, positively beaming at me. “Most beings don’t remember they have their mansions when they’re in a physical incarnation, so they can’t consciously go there. But you can actually come here for respite, exploration, safety, or any other reason whenever you want, even if you’re in physical form. Now that you know about your mansion, I can teach you how to get here without me. It’s actually not a bad idea. Being able to get here in an instant will protect you in the coming war. If things are looking bad on the battlefield, you can simply shift here, and you can bring anyone who is touching you at the time.”
That is awesome.
“Oh yes, please teach me!” I don’t even try to hide my eagerness.
How cool! This is a skill I can definitely use. And the thought of getting some time to explore this place is beyond enticing.
“Happily.”
“One more question first?”
“Anything.”
“It just came to me, but now that I’m wondering, I have to know. I’ve known about reincarnation my whole life, but people also talk about going to heaven. When and how does that happen?”
“Oh, every being goes there eventually. But most reincarnate many, many times first. There is so much to see, do, experience, and learn in the multiverse, and so many different forms to take. There are more universes in the multiverse than even the angels know. And because time is endless, you have an endless amount of time to explore the multiverse to your content. Most beings cycle through for billions of years or more before they decide to retire and go to heaven. The earliest lives you lived are on the bottom floors of the mansion. The last ones are at the very top. You usually go to heaven after completing those, unless you decide you want more. In that case, additional floors are added simply by your desire to continue to explore the physical realm. Even after you’re in heaven, you can decide to come out of retirement and experience more, though that’s rare. Heaven is pretty cool, I’m told. It’s probably why I’ve never met anyone who’s been there. Most beings don’t want to leave once they arrive.”
He twinkles his eyes at me, and I’m sure he’s trying to impress me with his knowledge.
“That makes a lot of sense,” I say, laughing. His mirth is catching, and filling me with joy, something I’ve needed for a long time.
“Not every intelligent species reincarnates,” he goes on. “Some do go right to heaven, like some angels do. But the vast majority reincarnate. Most do it countless times. The whole process is kind of mysterious, even to us. We’re not quite sure what makes the difference.”
“So angels don’t know everything,” I lean into him and give him a playful shove, careful to avoid touching anywhere near his injured wing.
“No,” he laughs, mock stumbling. “We may know a lot, but no one knows everything, except maybe God. Oh, one more thing about your mansion.”
“What?”
“It is constantly changing, based on the alternate universes born from the decisions you make. It will look slightly different each time you come back here.”
“Good to know.”
We stand there, looking into each other’s eyes for a moment. If this were a regular guy on Earth, I’d swear we are about to kiss. But it’s Sam, and I just symbolically married myself to Harry two days ago, so I’m not quite sure what to expect…and even less sure about what I want. Extreme situations can bring out confusing emotions in people. I think this qualifies as one of those times, which means neither one of us can truly trust what we’re feeling toward each other.
Sam starts to lean in ever so slightly, and I think he actually is going to kiss me. But before I have a chance to wonder what the best response would be, he pulls back again. Whew! Yes, please let me leave that decision for another time. That’s fine.
“We should go back,” he says, his eyes never leaving mine. “Jonathan should be gone by now. My blood on his blade will be going in every direction. He knows I’m not in your apartment, and won’t sense my energy signature there, since I lowered my vibration. He probably figures I’ve gone to another dimension, but the blade won’t show him which one. Even if he knew exactly where I went, though, he couldn’t come here, so that’s good. It buys us a little time to figure out what to do when we get back.”
“And you’ll teach me how to shift back here on my own once we go back to my apartment?”
“Yes, immediately. Since I can enter on my own now, because I’ve come here with you, we can make this our meeting place if we ever get separated during battle or for any other reason.”
“A perfect solution. Can I give you another solution to a different problem?”
Now it’s my turn to surprise him. This idea is something I’ve been pondering since he told me how Jonathan was tracking him with the blood on his blade. Knowing I can learn to shift dimensions on my own cinched the plan nicely. Now, I think it’s time we implemented it. Together, I think we can pull it off.
I purposely put a sly smile on my face, the better to intrigue him. His look of wonderment is totally satisfying. He’s not the only one with secrets to reveal.
“Your blood on Jonathan’s blade is leading him to you. So, what if we take the blade away from him?”
I almost laugh aloud at Sam’s utterly appalled expression.
“You couldn’t possibly get close enough to him to do that! I can’t even get that close without him noticing. And I won’t let you put yourself in danger on my account.”
/> “Oh, Sam,” I sigh, smiling, then giggle just a little. I can’t help it. “You have so much to learn about modern Earth girls.”
“I mean it, Lucy,” he says a bit sternly. He furrows his brow, as if to make a point. New tone and new expression. There are apparently many layers to my Earth Angel.
“Look, I don’t want to confront Jonathan directly,” I assure him. “But I do think we can get his blade away from him without him even seeing us do it. We’ve got to work together, though. Make you a deal? You teach me to shift back here on my own, and I’ll tell you my plan. I think you’ll approve of it once you hear it.”
He still looks skeptical.
I put my hands on my hips and give him my best “teacher” look. “Do you trust me, Sam?”
“With my life. You’ve already proven yourself in that regard.”
“Then you should trust me in everything else, right? If you trust me with your life, everything else is small potatoes.”
“I’m not sure what that expression means, but yes. I trust you in everything. Do you trust me? I know I haven’t done anything for you to earn it yet….”
“You brought me here and opened up a whole new world to me. I think that’s enough to give you my trust.”
“Then you know I’d never let any harm come to you.”
“I know. And you know I would never knowingly put either of us in danger, right?”
“I do.”
“Then trust me on this one. Okay, Sam?”
“Okay. But if it sounds too dangerous, we’re not doing it.”
“Perfectly acceptable.”
“Good.”
“Then it’s settled. Let’s go home, Earth Angel. We have work to do.”
Earth Angel (Angels and Seers: Book One) Page 6
