“Gershom?” I asked, in a surreal state by this point. “Is this…Is this eternal death?”
He half-smiled and then fought the urge to laugh. “No, this is the same place you’ve been coming every night for your entire life on earth.”
“I’m on the other side? But…I was killed…” I muttered.
“By a Fallen One?” asked Gershom, puzzled.
“No…”
“By Eran?” he asked.
“No,” I said, dazed.
“By whom?”
Then I realized what she had done. She had killed me before a Fallen One could do it. She hadn’t sent me to eternal death; she had given me another chance at life.
“Ms. Beedinwigg…my trainer.”
My memory drifted back to Eran’s explanation in the school hallway. He had explained what would happen if I were killed by a Fallen One or by himself, but he didn’t explain what would happen if I died at the hands of anyone else, including a mortal…such as Ms. Beedinwigg.
Although Eran had been unable to do it himself, he recognized what she intended before I had. He had urged me to take the tunnel because he already knew that she had saved me from eternal death.
Here I was now…on the other side…safe.
Glancing around, I saw ornate steps, waterfalls, towering buildings, a place of tranquil beauty beyond anything I’d ever come across on earth. I wanted to stay and celebrate with everyone here, to ask how they’ve been and to tell them about my excursion to earth. But, far more important to me, was Eran and the others I’d left behind.
Eran. His name screamed through my thoughts. My eternal soul mate, bound to a wall, mauled and now facing eternal death by a mass of our strongest enemies. Despite the deep peace presiding here, anger began to swell inside me as the memory of him was conjured. He was going to endure incredible pain and here I was, standing safely among my loved ones.
Then something came to me, as if it had been spoken directly in to my thoughts, and my anger turned to relief and then to elation.
“Gershom,” I said with enough excitement to make his eyebrows lift.
“Yes?” he replied slowly, hesitant, already knowing something was on my mind.
“I wasn’t killed by my guardian. Do you know what that means?”
“No…”
“It means I can return…immediately…right now.”
“Why would you want to do that?” He looked at me as if I hadn’t contemplated the benefits of staying.
I had, and this beautiful, peaceful place was empty without those whom I loved, those who I’d left behind.
“I’m going back. Tell everyone I’m sorry for the quick departure,” I said, motioning to the group behind us.
“I will…and don’t worry. They’ll understand…They know you.”
Without hesitation, I turned and knew exactly what to do. I had done it many times before. I also knew the pain I was about to bear and while leaning forward I braced myself for the impact of it.
I fell forward, remaining rigid, arms against my side, my chin tucked under. The tunic I wore fluttered madly against the sides of my body, against the wind now rushing by. Only a few seconds passed before the pain set in.
Minutes prior, I had fallen to my knees in excruciating agony as my body reacted to the multitude of Elsics nearby. This torment…the kind I felt on my fall back to earth was indescribably worse.
It felt as if my skin was tearing off; my finger nails were peeling back; my limbs were bending in the reverse direction; and the pain was simultaneous and unrelenting. Heat surrounded me, penetrating me, searing my exposed skin.
Finally, I heard myself release the scream that had been building in me, one so deep it came from the depths of my stomach, clenching my muscles, and causing my torso to curl against it.
A moment later I was tumbling through the air; my body now curled in to the fetal position. There was no sound, including the wind rushing by me.
Then I opened my eyes and found I was falling through the clouds. The pain was ebbing away and best of all I had control over my movements again. Straightening out, I steadied my flight. My skin healed rapidly then, fresh and unblemished. With the pain nearly gone, I could concentrate on something beyond what it was doing to my body. It was then I noticed below me mountains topped with snow and revealing colorful textured rock faces.
The Alps, I thought, and smiled.
I was hurling towards the earth faster now but that didn’t bother me. It only meant I was getting closer to Eran, to my housemates, and my trainer, the ones who needed me. Faster, at this point, was better.
Without realizing it and without true intention, I felt my shoulders roll up and forward, lifting towards my chin. My shoulder blades opened across my back and gave way to the appendages waiting beneath the surface of my skin. An aching tickle in two places across my upper back told me that my appendages were breaking through, as if my bones were slivering through my body, out through my skin, and moving against the momentum of the wind. Vaguely, I noticed them emerging from the open slit in the back of my tunic, feathers lifting, fluttering against the force of my fall.
No longer a reborn, having died today, I once again had my appendages and the power it took to fight the Elsics.
I consciously flapped my wings once and my descent accelerated. Another flap and I was able to steer. By the third flap, I remembered what it felt like to fly.
The mouth of the cave I had entered with Ms. Beedinwigg only minutes earlier was now directly in front of me. I soared through it, along the corridors, passing Sarai and Achan’s bodies.
As I raced through the system of tunnels towards the cavern, my body grew in strength and agility, easily avoiding stalactites and fallen boulders, the very ones I had struggled through in my mortal body.
I felt powerful.
Reaching the cavern, I didn’t stop at the mouth of it. I entered, full force, angling myself directly towards Eran.
He was free now, standing over my dead body, my sword in his hands. Only he and Ms. Beedinwigg were left standing. My housemates, Campion included, were still pinned to the ground.
Eran saw me first, just before I landed. His expression was exactly as I’d expected it to be: aggravated. He confirmed his feelings as I stepped up beside him, my wings remaining open and ready for battle.
He heaved a heavy, frustrated sigh at me and returned his attention to Abaddon. Yet, it was Ms. Beedinwigg who voiced her astonishment.
“I gave you an escape, Maggie,” she said furious.
“And I did with it what I thought was best,” I replied, my eyes now forward and focused on Abaddon.
“What is that?” she demanded. “Returning to danger?”
“To those who need me,” I said through clenched teeth.
She gave up on me then and asked to Eran, “Does she ever choose the reasonable path?”
“No,” he and I replied in unison.
She threw up her hands. “It’s almost as if you crave eternal death,” she mumbled.
Abaddon snickered then, drawing our attention. “Well…she won’t need to wait long for that,” he said, moving forward, his face lifting in a sneer. To the Elsics behind him, he suddenly called out, “Prepare for retribution.”
The wave of creatures followed him, closing the distance between us and the sea of our immortal enemies, fangs out, claws extended, eager for revenge.
Then the wave stopped and each one tilted an ear towards the cavern’s entrances above.
They heard the whistle before I did; the sound of something approaching, something enormous and powerfully fast. They shuddered in unison, their wings spreading out quickly, knocking against those closest to them.
All of this happened just as winged beings streamed through the tunnels and into the cavern’s mouth, circling once in open surveillance, and then pointing themselves downward in attack.
Eran released an amazed chuckle, watching in awe as the army of Alterums collided with the Elsics, now struggling to free themselves from their neighbor’s wings.
His plan destroyed, Abaddon’s face twisted in to a snarl and he lunged himself forward. He and Eran collided, swords clashing, their bodies spinning upward.
Instantly, I was in search of a weapon but this only lasted a moment. Ms. Beedinwigg stepped forward, her sword extended towards me.
I gave her a smile of appreciation, took it, and launched myself into the air.
The following minutes were a blur. Swords clashed, limbs were severed, bodies hurled through the air only to stop short at the edge of a blade.
My own blade moved with incomprehensible speed, lashing at the Elsics, carving a path through them, refusing to wait for one to fall before attacking the next. My housemates, Eran, and Ms. Beedinwigg did the same and at those times when they came into my view I was proud.
In the end, the bodies of dismembered Elsics lay piled across the ground, from one end of the cavern to the other, hundreds of them intertwined with the bodies of nearly the same number of Alterums.
Ezra, Felix, and Rufus settled down beside Eran and me, surveying the damage.
The cavern had been replaced with an eerie quiet, shattered only by the intermittent gasps and aching moans of those still fighting death.
“No…” I muttered. “No.”
Suddenly I was moving through the bodies, heaving aside Elsics in search of living Alterums. “It’s not supposed to be this way,” I heard myself saying. “They can’t die this way. We can’t let them die this way…”
Then I felt Eran’s hand on my shoulder. Spinning around, I said, “Help me find the living. I can escort them. I can bring them to the other side. Help me!”
I was now frantic, searching for the lift of a chest, the inhale of a single breath, the flicker of an eyelid…Anything…
Then I came across Campion.
Eran drew in a sharp breath and immediately lifted his first lieutenant over his shoulder. He brought him back and laid him against the outcropping where we now stood.
Kneeling at his side, Eran watched Campion draw his last breaths as I stepped up beside him.
“Eran,” I said quiet but firm. I was calmer now, realizing my job, my purpose in existing was being called on. “Eran, you need to step aside now. Time is running out.”
“Running out?” Ms. Beedinwigg asked quietly, bewildered.
I didn’t bother to address her so it was Ezra who explained.
“Maggie has the ability to deliver not only messages but souls into the afterlife.”
Eran, who understood my unique ability, was already shifting away from Campion.
“And this will be the second time I’ve escorted him,” I recalled. “Remember Gettysburg, Campion?”
I didn’t expect an answer but he mustered the strength to nod; it was slight but detectable.
“Ready?” I asked him, taking his hand.
This time no nod came. His last breath released in a hiss and his body went still.
It was the last sound I heard before my own body became lethargic, before my eye lids grew heavy, and finally I fell still.
There was no bright light, no tunnel, nor was there any rushing wind or need to pump my wings and lift into the air.
As was always the case when delivering messages, I simply awoke on the other side, the one who I’d carried there already beside me.
“Maggie,” Campion urged me awake. “Maggie…”
I opened my eyes to find him standing over me, once again grinning.
I sat up and brushed off the sleep. “Where are we?”
“The other side,” he said, sarcastically.
“I realize that but where exactly?”
His hand swooped out, gesturing for me to look for myself.
We were at the base of the very same steps I’d just left. My circle of family and friends were no longer present. In their place were Campion’s loved ones, eagerly approaching him with open arms.
I didn’t bother to stand, already knowing that my time here would be short. Campion, knowing it also, simply knelt beside me.
“Thanks again for the escort,” he said, confirming he had remembered my assistance in Gettysburg. “Tell Eran that if he calls on me again, I’ll be ready.”
“I will,” I replied warmly.
“Now go,” he insisted, standing.
No sooner were the words out of his mouth did I end up back in the prison, directly beside Campion’s now vacant body.
Others were now being laid next to him. Alterums, each struggling for life. My housemates, Eran, and others, anyone who was able moved quietly and quickly to sift through the bodies, carrying those still moving to the outcropping. I didn’t hesitate. Without addressing anyone nearby me, Eran included, I found the ones closest to death and escorted each to the other side, one by one, until I returned the last time and found no other Alterums living.
“Welcome back,” Eran said, stepping towards me to tenderly brush the hair from my cheek.
I smiled my thanks at him and delivered Campion’s message, my eyes making one final sweep of the bodies to ensure I hadn’t missed any.
“They’re all gone,” Eran said gently. “Your job here is done. You can rest now. They are all safe.”
“And we have you to thank.” The statement came from a man behind us, one with a thick German accent. Turning, I found him to more closely resemble a Greek god than an Alterum. His face twitched as the flicker of a smile crossed over it. “Because of you, they will live to fight another day.”
“Well, let’s hope that won’t be necessary,” said Ezra, pointedly from a few feet away.
The man’s lips pinched closed briefly before acknowledging, “This battle…It won’t be the last.”
With that ominous statement, we stood in silence, absorbing all that had just taken place. When Eran could take no more of it, he turned and said to the Greek god, “Magnus, I would like you to meet Magdalene.”
My heart flipped at the way he said my name.
“It is an honor,” said Magnus with unquestionable sincerity.
“Thank you for coming back,” I replied, surprising him a little. He hadn’t expected me to be so forthright, I assumed.
“Took me a while to gather them,” he slowly motioned towards the Alterums, some of whom were alive and trying to recover from their battle wounds. “Wasn’t sure we’d get here in time.”
“We are glad you did,” said Felix, his face lifting in a shaky smile of appreciation.