Where All Souls Meet (10 page)

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Eden approached the outskirts of Gabriel. Her mom stuck so close behind her she kept stepping on her sneakers. Yuri had his arm draped over her shoulder and his free hand on the sheath of his sword at his side. He glanced around nervously as he walked into town. As far as Eden could see there weren't any shadow demons. Then again, they were stealthy. Far stealthier than the Raiders who clung to her shoes in a fine white mist. A shaky sigh left her throat.

As Eden strode forward, she began to feel nervous and chilled. She heard distant growling and went rigid, then heard the sound of shuffling feet. Was it Agares? She laid eyes on the Blood Stone chapel and felt her soul fill with dread. The chapel had a high steeple and was made from dark brown cobblestone. The roof was black. A wrought iron fence surrounded it that had an open gate in the front. A wave of red light shot up from it and into the sky.
Soon,
Eden thought.
Soon the world will be free from this darkness and we will never have to worry about it again. Natalia said so, and she's an angel. She wouldn't lie.

She swore foreign eyes watched her every move. It was like being stalked. . She felt sicker than she had with Agares, sicker than she had when she was being pursued by Asag. There was something wrong, and she knew it.

Eden saw in the distance something strange was happening. At the main square of Gabriel, a broken-down white fence met swirling clouds. The clouds became the color of rust. The crimson began to infiltrate the Raiders' fog and soon she looked down and saw the mist which surrounded them was all red. The smell of copper filled the air.
A sea of blood. I'm standing in a sea of blood.

Something warm hit the ground next to her and she heard Thema shriek from behind her. Which was bad. Very, very bad. If Thema could see what she was seeing, then this meant it was real and maybe Agares wasn't doing it
.
Eden couldn't close her eyes and wish away the illusion. Worse yet, she knew of only one being strong enough to physically change surroundings to this degree. Satan.

"Oh no," Eden said.

"Oh no?" Thema said. "Eden, ‘oh no' does not inspire a lot of confidence here. What's going on? You've faced tons of demons. Which one is doing this?
Which one
?"

"Eden," Rebecca said, a needy edge to her voice. Eden didn't ask what her mom expected her to do.

Thunder boomed throughout the sky, and Thema, Aaron, and Rebecca all jumped. Edward and Yuri gazed at the clouds with worried expressions. Eden shut her eyes and heard the sound of pitter-pattering. For the second time, Thema screamed.

"Ew, ew, ew!" Thema danced to avoid the splatter of blood even though it was impossible and clapped her hands to her cheeks.

"Eden,"
said a dark, deep demonic voice which she recognized. The voice was the boom of the thunder cutting across the sky. It was so loud it caused the ground to shake. Her friends all screamed, grasping their heads.
"I can feel you. I can taste your fear. And you're scared."

Her friends all cowered along the ground, including her mom. Eden shut her eyes again and shuddered. As she stood there, she realized there was a reason why she was not one of the five, why she was chosen for this. Satan wanted her now. She loved her mom, her friends, and her world enough to face him. She was going to have to fight him on her own while her friends entered the Blood Stone chapel. There was a reason why all the demons wanted her. God had intended her to distract the demons while her friends saved the world. All they had to do was reach the chapel to end it.

Eden turned her head toward the blazing sky with the lightening shooting across it. God had given her the weapons to fight Satan, but it was not the sword at her hip or the holy water in her pocket. It was love. She would fight for Adanna, who had never stopped thinking of her sister. She would fight for Edward, who had taken care of his dad. She would fight for Aaron, who had died for his country. She would fight for Yuri, the man who had given everything for the mother who kept betraying him. And she would fight for Rebecca, even though she had abandoned her. She would fight for her mom because she was brave and because she could. She girded her loins, prepared to go to the clearing where Satan awaited her.

"
Eden, I can sense your fear,"
Satan said again. "
If you don't come out to face me, then I will come find you. And I will punish you. I will punish you until there is nothing left.
"

"Eden," Yuri said; she heard the tremble in his voice and knew they were on the same wavelength yet again. Somehow he knew what she had to do. "Eden, no. Don't do this."

"Wait," Thema said. "What is she going to do?"

She gazed at her friends' faces and gave them a shaky smile.

"Go to the Blood Stone chapel. Use the back way. There is a route through the basement. It should still be unlocked from when I used it. I doubt anybody would go in there of their own free will," Eden said. "When you get there, the Blood Stone will not be able to function because of the love which is within your hearts. Good luck."

"Eden,
wait
," Aaron said. "I don't understand. Why aren't you coming?"

"I was never meant to be in there," Eden said. "I was meant to face
him
until the end."

Their eyes widened in understanding.

"No," Edward said.

"Eden," her mom said, reaching for her arm as if to stop her.

"I won't let you do this," Yuri said, seizing her arm. "There has got to be another way."

"Yeah," Thema said. "Make your mom's boyfriend stay with you. And
me
too. I'll stay with you. I'm not one of the five."

"Go with your sister, Thema, and protect her. It's more important than protecting me. And Henry, you go with my mom." Eden pulled her arm from Yuri's grip. "There is no other way. He's waiting for me out there. He can feel me. The only way to save me will be to finish this and open up the gates of heaven again. You can't keep me from him if he wants me. He knows where I am at all times. But God can save me, so you must help Him."

"Eden," Yuri said weakly, stepping toward her.

"Eden," Rebecca said. "I… I love you."

"I love you too."

Eden held onto her mom so hard her arms ached. As she clung to Rebecca, she received a wash of memories of all of the things they had done together while they were alive before her mom left her. One memory in particular swept her up in its embrace.

Fourteen-year-old Eden sat at the table. A phone sat at the table next to her. She glanced down at her fingers, picking away at the fragile skin around her nails until it gave way to a trickle of blood. Her mom sauntered into the dining room and then paused when she saw Eden sitting at the table. She tucked a crimson strand of hair behind her ear, then pursed her lips in concern.

"What's the matter, Eden?" Rebecca asked.

Eden hesitated before answering her mom. Talking about her dad with her mom was the equivalent of deliberately running headlong into a brick wall. When her mom laid eyes on the phone next to her, though, she didn't end up needing to respond at all. Her mom expelled an annoyed sigh.

"So Osier didn't call you again." Rebecca sat at the table and crossed her legs.

"He probably had a meeting." Tears threatened to fall from Eden's eyes as she bit her bottom lip. The pressure it took to swallow her tears made her feel as though she had a prickly cactus stuck in her throat. "That's all. He'll call any minute now."

Her mom stared at the phone. "Eden, you know it's one o'clock in the morning in Frankfurt right now. He isn't going to call you."

"But he promised." Eden pressed her hands harder against the table.

For a moment, her mom stared at her silently. Even now, when her mom had on minimal makeup, Eden was struck by how beautiful she was with her high cheek bones and glowing eyes.
I wonder if there are parts of us that are similar at all,
she thought.
"Eden, I…" Her mom stared at her as if she wanted to say something, but then she didn't.

"Mom?" Eden stared at her mom with wide eyes.

Her mom shook her head. It looked as though she was trying to force a thought out of her ear. "Eden, I was looking through some of my old clothes the other day. I kept some of them from when I was younger. I have one in particular I think would fit you. Would you like to try it on?"

Eden's eyes widened in shock as she glanced down at her own clothes. She wore a pair of blue jeans and a baggy, faded sweatshirt. Her mom had never offered her clothes before. Her mom always guarded her old things with the bared teeth of a pit bull. The way Rebecca treated her closet, it could have been lined with solid gold.

"I would like that," Eden said.

"Good." Her mom's grin widened. "Come on, then. Up, up."

After Rebecca leapt to her feet, Eden stood up too then shadowed her mom as she walked up the stairs. Confusion rained down on her.
Why is Mom doing this?
she wondered.

Her mom entered her bedroom. The bedroom was as it always was. It had floorboards the color of beach sand and was painted ocean blue. The bedspread was white with a large princess canopy over it. A large walk-in closet stood at the back of the room.

Rebecca turned and beckoned Eden inside. Eden followed her inside and was overwhelmed by the sea of clothes. From floor to ceiling were shelves heaped with shirts, sweaters and pants. She doubted a clothing store had more clothes. Despite her mom's brilliant collection, she didn't see a single clothing item of her dad's, not even a stray, lonely sock. She knew her dad slept a lot in the bedroom next door to hers and wondered whether he kept his clothes there.

Her mom bent down underneath a rack with brightly colored dresses and vibrant shawls.

"The dress should be…" Rebecca rifled through stacks of shoes then pulled out a box. "Ah-hah. I kept all of my old clothes in here."

"Will it fit me?" Eden glanced down at herself. Compared to her curvy mom, she was a flat-chested surfboard.

"Yes." Rebecca opened the box and started to pull out multiple dresses. "At least, I think it will. I wore it when I was sixteen. You're taller now than I ever was. Thinner, too."

It sounded almost like a compliment. Eden was so shocked she didn't know what to say. Normally, her mom was as likely to give out compliments as she was to stab herself in the eye with a fork.

"I found it," her mom said, springing to her feet with a grin on her face.

In her hand, she held a bright blue dress which was cut lower than Eden would have ever worn. Eden didn't like her body much and went out of her way to hide it. The dress was like a neon billboard begging for attention. Still, as she gazed at her mom's earnest and excited face, she received the dress with hope. If her mom said the dress would look good, then maybe it would.

"I'll wait outside, all right?" Her mom touched her shoulder tenderly then left the closet.

Eden gazed at the dress with a tingling of apprehension, but she slithered out of her clothes and left them lying on the ground. Even while lying on the floor, the drab clothes appeared to be taunted by the shimmering, brightly colored outfits on the racks. This will be fine, Eden thought, holding the dress in front of her and expelling a shaky sigh. She pulled on the blue dress and was shocked when the material didn't droop or drape awkwardly, not even on her small chest.

"Well?" her mom probed. "Do you have it on yet?"

"Yes." Eden stepped out into the bedroom, still in shock at how well the dress fit.

Her mom gasped when she saw her.

"Does it look okay?" Eden nervously wiped away imaginary dirt on the fabric.

"It looks great." Her mom seized her hand and yanked her in front of the full-length mirror on the wall. "You're so beautiful, Eden."

As Eden stood there with the blue fabric swirling, she felt tears fill her eyes for a different reason. As her mom smoothed down a snag in her blonde hair, she felt beautiful for the first time in her life.

Her mom finally releasing her brought her back to reality. With a quivering hand, she traced Eden's cheek with her thumb. Eden saw love in her mother's eyes.
Why now? Why when I have to leave, possibly for good?
She stepped back before she could give up on her task. She had a job to do.

Then, before Yuri could grab her again, she sprinted straight into the hands of the Devil with the sound of Yuri's angry cries behind her as her friends held him back.