“Why?” I asked, my voice sounding ridiculing though I didn’t intend it.
He shrugged. “I was…curious…Do you want to go or not?”
“Yes,” I said so enthusiastic that my voice echoed down the length of the hall.
“Well, come on,” he said, waving his fingers at me in a gesture to follow him.
When I was standing, he took hold of my hand and we lifted into the air. Unlike me, who was unable to fly for a reason unknown to me, Gershom had this wonderful ability and he did it well.
We soared through the hall at speed that would have left acute wind burn on my exposed skin if we’d been on earth. Here, however, it felt like a soft, warm breeze.
After reaching the end of the hall’s arched entrance, we lifted into the sky, passing others who were also flying to other various destinations.
As we drifted higher, the cities and wilderness below us faded in to patches of color. Unlike on earth, the air remained pleasantly warm without a single cloud for as far as I could see.
We glided at the higher level for several hours, while he asked questions about my housemates, Eran, school, and the Fallen Ones. Then he told me to hold on and maneuvered his body to slant downward in a descending motion.
As the ground grew closer again, I noticed he was headed towards a large green patch of land. As I squinted for a better view, I could see the irregular peaks of tree tops and the asymmetrical outline of lakes and rivers. My thought was that I had created a forest, much like Eran, but just before we landed I learned I was wrong.
Gershom pivoted so that he dropped straight down, slowly, until our feet had touched the earth. His wings curled back behind him and settled against his shoulders.
“Welcome home,” he said, glancing around.
“It’s…It’s a jungle,” I stated rather disappointed.
Perspiration had already begun dripping down my temples.
I realized then that I had been planning to find a picturesque country estate or a sandy beach in the middle of a vast ocean. Instead, I stood at the base of what appeared to be ruins from a long deceased culture.
Steps and ledges had been carved into the wall to our left, hidden mostly by thick mossy vines curling up and through the rock. Directly in front of us was a cliff nearly three stories high and at the top was a mass of trees dripping with slime. To our right and behind us was the continuation of a decrepit jungle of thick trees and drooping foliage. At our feet, in the basin where we stood, was an amphitheater surrounded by long, circular benches carved from rock and a stage long since covered in decaying creepers.
“Nice…” I muttered.
“It’s actually quite effective,” he replied. “Just watch.”
Gershom then sprinted towards the chiseled wall to our left, sprang from it, and landed on the cliff above. What impressed me wasn’t his ability to leap so far…It was his agility in avoiding the vines snapping at him along the way.
“Do you see what you’ve created?” he called from the ledge above.
“Yes,” I shouted back. “An elaborate vine snapping game.”
Even from my spot below I could see his eyes rolling up. “You’ve created your very own obstacle course.”
Of course, I knew this already. I was simply joking with Gershom, who didn’t have a single ounce of humor in him. The fact that I had devised a testing ground dawned on me the moment Gershom was snapped with the first vine.
Still, Gershom drove home his point. “This is what helps you stay fit, adept at fighting, when you return here between lifetimes.”
A smile, unintentionally, rose up then as I allowed myself to acknowledge the pride I felt.
“This isn’t all of it, of course,” he implied, floating down to stand beside me.
“It’s not?” I asked, glancing around. “Where’s the rest?”
Gershom grinned and took my hand again.
We ascended over my jungle and I could see that it was far more expansive than the basin where we’d landed. That, however, wasn’t what Gershom was referring to.
As soon as we’d risen, we had begun our descent, landing in a cluster of high rises that resembled New York City. It was much cooler here with steam emitting from vents running down the middle of the street. Where we now stood was lined by buildings so tall they blocked out the light and shaded the street with a hazy darkness. The putrid smell of garbage was nearly stifling, though I saw none in sight. The steps leading to the apartment buildings were vacant even though some windows were lit behind the drawn drapery. That was the only sign of life.
Other than Gershom and myself, there was no one else on the street.
“I figured,” said Gershom, “that you created this one so it would seem familiar to you if the Fallen Ones ever attacked you in the street.”
“They already have…” I said reflecting on the incident in London. “But this…” I shrugged, “this doesn’t seem so bad.”
And then I stepped forward.
The moment my foot touched the ground again, winged beings assembled on the rooftops, silhouetted against the sky’s dim light. They screeched in unison, and I unintentionally shuddered, recalling their sound so vividly.
They lifted into the air and circled, just as a flock of vultures would, above the rooftops. In the next moment, one of them pointed directly downward and the rest followed, forming a vertical line that pointed directly for me and Gershom.
“Ummm…Maggie?” he asked, uncertain.
“Yeah?” My eyes were locked on the line rapidly approaching us.
“Are we in trouble here?” he asked, his head also tilted towards the sky.
“How should I know? I don’t remember anything…”
He sighed but didn’t move.
Apparently he’d come to the same conclusion as me. If he’d wanted to flee it would have been too late by that point anyways.
The one in front came into clear sight then, arms extended, eyes wide, mouth open, releasing a bone-chilling screech.
It never stopped. It never hesitated. But, it never reached us either.
The moment before it came in contact with me, its claws reaching for my shoulders, it exploded in to dust. The next one did the same and the remaining ones followed suit.
In the end, we turned to each other and burst in to laughter. Whether it was from enjoying the test I’d created so long ago or the pure adulation of surviving an attack of Fallen Ones without a single movement, I couldn’t be certain. It may have been both.
“I may have to try fighting them at some point,” I mentioned when I’d caught my breath.
“You may…” he drew in a breath, trying to contain himself. “You may have to.”
He noticed my expression then and asked, “What are you thinking?”
My shoulders shook one last time from a final laugh. “I just realized that it was no wonder I had been upset with Eran for interfering with the Elsic in London…I had trained for that fight.”
He tilted his head, speculatively. “I’d say you’ve trained for a lot more than just that one.”
“Yes,” I said, now contemplative. “But I don’t remember any of it and that concerns me.”
“Then let me help,” Gershom insisted. “Beedinwigg and Hamilton will be your trainers on earth. I’ll be your trainer here.”
My eyes widened. “That…I would really appreciate.”
“All right as your now newly appointed trainer in the afterlife, I’m going to show you the rest of your heaven. But first, I’m taking you to your home base.” He had suddenly taken on such an authoritative, commanding presence I didn’t see a hint of the amicable Gershom I knew so well. I had to admit it, though. I did like the change.
He took hold of my hand and lifted me again into the sky, over the rooftops and across the city. The buildings stopped abruptly and we entered a mountain range spotted with foliage. We coasted towards the highest peak and the closer we came the more I recognized it as a narrow, oblong-shaped piece of land, where groupings of tropical trees stood. At the edge of a slanted cliff a rather primitive encampment had been constructed. Behind it, for the remainder of the flattened peak, tropical trees stood in a massive grouping. This stood out to me. Nowhere had I ever come across a level mountain peak and certainly not one with robust, healthy tropic trees growing from it.
Gershom took us directly for the encampment where our feet settled down into soft, forgiving sand. The air was warm here, unlike the other two areas of what was supposed to be my paradise. However, this place didn’t look any closer to that purpose either.
Then we watched as water seemed to spring from tiny pores in the mountain range around us, filling the caverns and narrow corridors until nothing could be seen where rock had once been. The mountain range was now covered with clear blue water, lapping gently at the beach where we now stood.
I looked to Gershom with my jaw dropped.
“I know,” he said, obviously also impressed.
My feet took me forward without my really telling them to and I entered the warm water. I could see my feet clearly as the sand softly settled down after my disturbance of it. Peering across the ocean before me, I grasped that it was the same blue-green as Eran’s eyes.
That couldn’t be a coincidence.
Certain there were more clues to his existence here I spun around and moved towards the makeshift hut against the trees. Two hammocks swung in the light breeze, suspended in midair and attached to nothing at all. A small campfire burned on the sand outside the hut where fish was being cooked on rotating skewers. I breathed in deeply, enjoying the delicious smell. Coconut shells were left in the sand, empty until I approached. When I was a foot away, they quickly filled up as if an invisible pitcher were filling them until an opaque white liquid had met the rim. I could only guess it was coconut milk.
The hut didn’t have a door, simply an opening cut through the palm leaves that lay over each other to form the hut’s walls and roof.
After stepping inside, I quickly noted that it looked as if I’d just left.
To the right, a book lay open on the small table next to a rocking chair. They were set next to windows that had been rolled up for a view of the ocean now outside. The aroma of cinnamon tea came from a pot steaming on the stove, which mixed with the scent of grilled fish from outside. A small table and two chairs built from driftwood were placed to the left with a bowl of mangos and bananas set invitingly in the center. I took a banana, surprised when it peeled itself. I bit in, savoring the smooth texture and simple sweetness.
Then I saw it.
On a wooden beam, holding up the left corner of the hut’s walls and roof, initials had been carved. E heart M.
I giggled, unable to stop myself.
“What’s so funny?” asked Gershom coming up behind me.
“Eran…He left his initials for me.” I pointed to the carving.
Gershom leaned in to inspect them. “Sappy…but thoughtful,” he commented blandly.
“Gershom, have you ever been in love?” I probed. “Ever had that tickle in your stomach or powerful explosion inside whenever a special someone was near?”
He thought about my question for several seconds before replying simply. “No.”
I felt my shoulders fall. “We need to introduce you to a few girls,” I said and turned back to the carvings. “We haven’t always had these names. I wonder when he left them…”
“Well, since he’s not here to ask, touch it and allow the memory to come.”
“Touch-” I said, starting to repeat his sentence but discontinuing it because I knew I’d heard him correctly.
This place never ceased to surprise me.
It only took a few steps to reach the carving and then I placed my fingers gently over the initials.
Suddenly, as if a movie had started playing in my mind, I saw Eran in a hammock outside, his head tilted to stare across the water, his expression wistful. It gave me the impression that he was missing someone or something. Then, very slowly, a smile lifted his cheeks. He chuckled, stood, and entered the hut. Inside, he looked around to select the beam. Still grinning, he conjured a knife blade from thin air and carved the initials of our names for each lifetime. Standing back, he reviewed his work and then swept a hand in front of the beam, erasing them. In their place, he carved the marks I see now.
Although I couldn’t hear his thoughts, throughout the entire duration of this scene I felt the overpowering sense of absolute love emanating from Eran. At the same time, I was aware of an absolute sense of peace as if I already had everything I needed.
Eran…he was all I needed, and being so close to him left an ache in my chest.
With his carving complete, he flipped the knife to close but upon snapping shut it disappeared completely. Then he strolled outside, his gorgeous trademark smirk in place. That was when the memory ended and I dropped my hand. “The carving was left during this lifetime, just before he fell to earth to protect me there. Incredible…”
“Yes, a little trick we use here,” Gershom said. “Nearly anything you touch here has a memory which you can revisit at any time.” Gershom glanced around, gripped by his own amazement. “This place…I’m constantly intrigued by it.” His formal manner returned then and he said with an imposing presence, “All right. You have two more past lives to endure, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right,” I said wondering where his questioning was headed.
“When you’ve completed them, come find me we’ll start your training. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
Gershom’s wings unfolded outward and, flapping, lifted him off the ground. As he rose, his body shrunk to a dot in the sky and then moved like a bolt of lightning back from where we’d come.
I only had a few minutes left before morning would arrive on earth, I knew. Disappointed in the realization, I did my best to touch everything in sight – the coconut shells, the hammocks, the hut - and experience the memory or series of memories that came with them.
By the time I was pulled back to my bed in New Orleans, I couldn’t have prevented the smile adhered to my face if I had tried.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE PLAN
It had been a little over a week since Marco had arrived and warned of a coming battle. With Fallen Ones continuing to turn up throughout the city and invading the school campus, no one could deny that something was brewing even if no other signs were apparent.