My eyes met Eran’s and I knew he understood my intentions when his appendages quietly stretched and pumped once, lifting his feet inches from the ground.
“
What’s your name?” I asked her.
“
Paula,” she sneered. “May my name haunt you.”
“
Paula, there is something you need to know with absolute lucidity. It is your choices that have brought you to this point. You are here because of your actions. You will be leaving because of your actions. I am simply the messenger.”
With that I impaled the electrical cords through her torso.
Eran smoothly drifted around her as the body he once held fell to the ground gyrated until the nerves succumbed to the electrical currents.
The lights blinked, lingered on briefly, and then flicked off permanently.
In the still darkness, I asked Eran, “Do you hear that?”
“
Wings…” he whispered. “Are you ready?”
Once I nodded, he took Paula’s chain and threw it through the oversized window behind her desk, shattering it. We slipped through the shards and into the cool night air, lifting ourselves to the flat roof above.
Campion was already facing their direction, his stance unyielding and his expression firm. Without taking his eyes from the sky, he commented, “Looks like our party is just beginning…”
There we waited, swords drawn, facing the approaching onslaught.
The thumping of wings cutting the air steadily grew louder until we saw the bodies appearing in the distance. They approached in a single line, forty of them, and they flew with determination.
Watching them, I realized this hunt no longer appeared so easy.
As they drew closer, I scanned their faces for signs of weakness, fear, trepidation. None of these were evident, their entire beings projecting only one feeling…rage.
The hair at the back of my neck snapped wildly, trying to gain my interest, warning me.
“
Stay calm, Magdalene,” Eran warned.
“
I’m not anxious…” I said. “I’m eager.”
He sighed in frustration, preferring me to engage some type of self-preservation.
That was impossible. Adrenaline pumped through me, faster and faster, until the line of Fallen Ones landed in unison on the rooftop. Then it dissipated, my muscles absorbing the rush, containing it for the fight to come.
That was when I heard the chuckle.
“’
Ello, Messenga’,” said a cordial voice in a thick Australian accent, one that teased my memory.
A man stepped closer, in front of the group, dressed in a black suit, his hair slicked back, diamond cufflinks glinting in the dim light.
“
Sharar…” I mumbled, surprised, despite the situation.
Eran and Campion took a quick look at me, gauging my comfort level with this particular Fallen One.
“’
S been a while,” he stated with mock sadness. “No more deliverin’ messages in Jackson’s Squa’?”
“
Those have been postponed in the interest of exterminating you.”
The group chuckled boldly, which I disregarded. “It looks like we’ve disturbed your plans for the night.” I motioned towards his suit.
He lifted his shoulders in a deep laugh and then explained to his cohorts, “This one’s observant, blokes. Best keep yer head ‘bout ya.”
My lips lifted in a half-smile.
“
Ay, took me away from me party,” Sharar confirmed. “Notta wurry. Happy to be the one ta take down the last messenga’.”
My smile widened considerably then. “Your confidence is inflamed, Sharar.”
“
We’ll see ‘bout that.” This statement was delivered with a considerably darker tone, something the rest of us picked up on.
Suddenly, all weapons were drawn. The collision came seconds later, a sweeping and organized alignment against us.
Using my heightened awareness, I was able to eliminate three of them quickly, which only seemed to free up space for the rest. Eran and Campion made a circle around me, one of flying bodies and spraying blood. They held off our enemies as one after another tried to breach the circle.
Then Sharar came through the group, his arrogant grin now stone cold determination. Lip curled up, wings out, arms stretched, he reached me.
He was faster than me, his hand coming around my neck before I knew what was happening.
His fingers had just begun to squeeze when his eyes glassed over and his mouth went slack. As he fell to the ground, Eran stood behind him, withdrawing his sword from Sharar’s neck, the pointing having made its way entirely through to the other side. I finished him with my own swipe across the throat. Eran took a moment to ensure I wasn’t injured, scanning me from the feet up, once and deliberate, before turning back to the fight.
Eran, a far better fighter than me, debilitated five more. Campion removed four. As they fell by their swords, I followed up, ending their lives eternally.
The prospects appeared dim as the remaining Fallen Ones hacked away at us, looking for an opening to get at me.
Then something happened that didn’t quite register with me until the movement stopped.
Bodies were being thrown aside, one by one, as someone from the outside worked their way in. In the midst of the chaos, I didn’t get a good look at the one intervening, trying instead to assist.
When the last Fallen One had taken their final breath, I turned to face the person who had stepped in on our behalf.
Eran had his hand extended, thanking the last one I would have least expected.
Gershom’s head was tilted down, bashfully accepting Eran’s appreciation.
“
What?” he asked, slightly uncomfortable, as if he’d exposed a secret. “I don’t like to fight. I never said that I couldn’t.” Then his brow creased and his expression changed to concern. “Maggie?”
Eran was already at my side, his arms around me, carefully holding me up when I realized that warm blood now spread down my side, pooling beside my combat boots.
In the heat of battle, one of our enemies had landed a precise blow, one directly beside my heart.
As Eran inspected my wound, I searched his face for any sign of relief. There was none. In fact, there was only one way to describe his reaction: rigid determination.
“
Eran?” I heard myself say just as the blackness closed in.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE IDEA
“
Will she be all right?” The voice was drawn out, languid, slow and unrecognizable.
Cool wind crossed my skin, layered with dampness and causing my body to quiver.
“
Is it a mortal wound?” The voice inquired.
Wings, rapid, rhythmic flapped around me.
“
Shut up and fly, Gershom.” This voice was Eran’s and it was undeniably nervous.
My eyelids, thick and heavy, drew open in time to catch sight of Eran’s muscular arm and, beyond it, stone walls. They closed again and soon after I noticed my body jostling from side to side. Searing heat flashed up my body, so intense I held my breath against it.
The darkness came again, swallowing me whole. The sounds fell away, dying down slowly as the sound does with a carnival ride when it comes to a stop.
I was jostled then, my body constricting against the shocking movement. Eran was on the ground, running.
“
The door,” he commanded.
We didn’t stop so I knew someone must have followed it.
Then I was surrounded by sheets, pillows, and blankets and someone was tugging at my wound, irritating it.
“
No,” I heard myself moan as I rolled away.
Someone shushed me just before I fell back to the deep, dark void.
When I awoke, the pain was gone. The severe injury to my side was nonexistent, and I moved with ease, breathing deeply and without restriction.
Opening my eyes again, I found the peaceful hall I knew so well surrounded me. Beneath me was my stone bench, the soft breeze moving around us.
Sitting up, my first thought was encouraging.
I hadn’t died yet. This, I knew with absolute certainty because I hadn’t passed through the tunnel I recalled on previous trips to the afterlife in which my body had stopped working all together.
This was good news. As they healed my body in the other dimension, as it recuperated there, it seemed I would be spending my time here.
Then I paused, realizing for the first time how it must feel for those who knew loved ones fighting for their lives. Having been given the ability to transport myself between dimensions, I was never restricted in being able to communicate with my loved ones. But here, right now, I had no way of telling them I felt perfectly fine. A void separated us, inhibiting us from speaking and leaving us both to wonder how the other was faring. It felt so unfair for them, and now for me and Eran.
Oddly, I was surrounded by loving entities and yet, looking back, I couldn’t remember a time when I felt more alone.
“
I’m here, Eran,” I said softly. “And I’m all right.”
Knowing he wouldn’t get the message, I resigned myself to the situation and stood up.
Scanning the pockets before me, I realized there was really only one thing I could do…I’d make the most of my time and deliver outstanding messages.
Alterums had lined up early in the morning asking me to deliver messages for them, something I readily agreed to. When I started, I didn’t stop, working one message after another to pass the time, stopping only intermittently at Eran’s cabin to visit with Annie and Charlie.
In the afterlife, time remains consistent and irrelevant. No clocks, no common sleeping patterns, and no rising and falling of the sun mark the passing of time. Because of this, I had no idea how many days went by on earth while I worked.
My thoughts were permanently torn between earth and messages with images of Eran bent over my bedside and Ezra pacing the floor in her room, anticipating the announcement that I had reawakened.
The moment did come and when it did, it was sudden.
Walking down a beach with glistening violet sand alongside a man with silver hair and a deeply lined face, I had been disappointed when our conversation came to an abrupt halt.
The man’s name was Dominick and he’d approached me in the Hall of Records, interested in learning how Eran was faring on earth. Our conversation carried over from the hall to his realm in the afterlife where we strolled along a quiet beach.
Dominick appeared to be ninety but occasionally he would stoop, pick up a rock, and skip it across the water with the agility of a teenager. His stride was effortless, hands clasped behind his back, his toes barely leaving prints in the sand.
At some point in the conversation, I’d mentioned my frustration with Ms. Barrett, whom he seemed to know. In fact, he knew just about everyone I mentioned.
“
You’ll need to guide her,” he urged me. “All of them. They need your assistance, Maggie. They may be old souls, wise beyond that of a human, but that is precisely what endangers them. They know what awaits them here in the afterlife, the tranquility. It subdues their preservation instinct and gives them reason to ignore the reality that they would endure significant pain at the hands of a Fallen One. I believe only Ms. Barrett, having personally encountered one before, knows the full extent of the damage they can bring.”
“
Ms. Barrett has had an altercation with a Fallen One?” I asked, stunned.
“
In her first and only life yet as a human…But she remembers it well.”
“
So that’s the source of her fear,” I mused.
He agreed with a solemn nod. “She’s young still, learning our ways. Her existence only began just over one hundred years ago. It’s one of the reasons she’s there as an Alterum. She feels safer with ulterior powers while evaluating how humans interact. Her first visit to that dimension wasn’t easy for her. But know this…even as she learns who she is, she does mean well.”
“
Yes, I can see it.” I agreed, reflecting back to my epiphany that she and I both carried for the Alterums but showed it in different ways.
“
Eran will be of assistance. He’s had a bit of time in both dimensions,” he offered. “But of course you know this already.” He gave me a knowing grin.
I laughed lightly at the understatement.
“
I figured as much,” said Dominick, holding his hand out to an incoming wave and with telepathic force prevented it from reaching us, carving a dry path through it.
“
How long have you known Eran?” I asked, realizing I was shifting the conversation and not particularly caring.
“
Long before you,” he sighed paternally. “I trained him.”
My jaw falling open, I swung my head up. “You…”
“
Yes, he was my student, more of a prodigy to be honest. He excelled at warfare and because of it I didn’t question his decision when he chose to become a guardian. And I certainly didn’t question it when he chose to relinquish his former ward to another guardian in favor of guarding you.”
That statement sparked my curiosity. “Why is that?”
He sighed and tilted his head up to gaze at the translucent blue sky above and the heavens beyond it. “Those of us who have lived in both dimensions multiple times were the first to recognize it. I suppose we had the experience to understand what we saw. The love that you and Eran share differed in its intensity and resilience, far beyond anything we’d ever witnessed before.”