NINETY-TWO: One Holodeo, 1 million words

            Arous and Ricci were in the Purple Ward in the HaleSpa.  They stood in the room where Arous last saw her mother.

            “Where’s my mother?” Arous asked. She had an empty feeling at the pit of her stomach.

            “I’d rather show you, if it’s all the same to you,” said Ricci. “Play holodeo security footage from six days, 3 hours and 30 minutes ago.”

            “That’s when I was here,” she said.

            “It’s just a short little holographic video from a few days ago. I promise this won’t take long.”

            The two Miasmen stood cocooned in their corners just like that had six days and three hours ago.

            The holodeo images jumped out from the IDE-3 wall.  It was just like it was then, all of them there, Simon, the Miasmen, her mom.

            “Adjust sound,” said Ricci. “I hate it when the sound is off.”

            The sound came up but the voices were still a lttle muffled.

            “Seriously,” he said throwing his hands up in the air. “Can you make the voices audible?”

            The volume came up and the timber adjusted making the sound clear. Ricci looked over to Arous.

            “I mean, you’d think with technology these days that all these little bugs would be obsolete.  Seems like nobody is concerned with doing things right the first time.”

            The image of Arous ran into the room. She saw herself have a conversation with her mother.  Her stomach turned.  Her mother looked so beautiful, so vulnerable.

            “Okay, can you just fast forward a few minutes.  Get to the juicy part.”

            Images flashed by. The Miasmen unfurled and ran out of the room. The image of Simon escorted her out.

            Then Simon came in with a laser gun.  He looked more haggard than she remember him.

            “Okay, slow this part down please.”

            He pointed the laser gun at her mother.

            Simon was saying something.

            Her mother said something.

            Arous could hear them talking but she couldn’t hear the words.  They were going in through her ears and making sense but they would not plant in her brain.

            Simon fired.

            Lady Grey dropped to the floor.

            She was dead.

           

            The two Miasmen in the corner had unfurled.  Arous felt someone standing behind her.  Ricci looked a little surprised.

            “I suspected what you were up to Ricci,” Simon’s voice came from behind her.  Arous did not turn around.

            “Arous, you have to believe me, that is not how it happened,” Simon happened.

            “My mother’s dead?” was all she could ask.  She felt like collapsing on the floor for a moment.  The despair seem overwhelming.  From the pit of her stomach, something came crawling up her spine and sat right behind her eyes.  She felt herself growing, become large.

            “Arous,” said Simon, “what are you doing?”

            Arous looked down at her hands.  They weren’t her hands anymore, they were the hands of  a Nephilim.

            She turned from Ricci to face Simon.  Her whole body was consumed by the fire of rage.

            “Arous?” asked Simon he started to back away from her but stopped. “It didn’t happen like that.”

            Arous voice came out of the large Nephilim body.

            “You’ve done nothing buy lie to me.  You knew Siobhan was sick.  You knew what was happening-”

            “I didn’t-”

            “You did nothing.  You set out to seduce me, to bring me to my father.  You were never interested in helping me find my mother.”

            “You have to understand. Ricci was using us all.  Me. Siobhan. Jude-”

            “Jude tried to tell me the truth.  He warned me about you. And I wouldn’t listen.  I got mad and told him to leave.”

            “Right now, Ricci’s even going to try to use you. Don’t let him, Arous!”

            “You’ve done nothing buy lie since I met you. Lie, lie, lie! It’s all a lie.”

            “Right,” he said. “I have lied to you but I’m not lying now. Just listen to me.”

            Arous’ hands were one either side of his face.  She held his face gently.

            “Arous?”

            Like a giant flicking a fly, the movement of Arous’ two hands were graceful and quick. Simon’s neck was broken.  She let him drop to the floor.

            There was silence. Arous, not quite fully herself, flashing back and forth between Nephilim and Arous, dropped to her knees beside Simon.

            “What happened?” she sobbed. “What have I done?”

            Arous cradled Simon in her arms.

            “Arous,” said Ricci. His hand was on her shoulder, soothing her.

            “I didn’t mean to,” she said. “I don’t know what happened.”

            “Let me tell you,” he said softly. He looked so kind, so full of warmth. “You’re gift took over. It controlled you, instead of you controlling it.”

            “That’s never happened before,” said Arous, her whole body was shaking.

            “Shhhh. Shhhhh. It’s alright,” he said and pulled Arous into him.  “Arous I can help you.  I can help you make sure that your gift never controls you again.”

            Arous continued to sob.

            “There, there,” he said and pulled her chin up so that he could look into her eyes. “You trust me, don’t you?”

            “Yes,” she said.

            “Then let me help you.”

            Arous nodded and buried her face in his chest.  Ricci looked up at the two Miasmen who had unfurled into Grey Guard.  He motioned for them to remove the body.

            “Let’s get you a Chinese Water Treatment, a nice sedative and get you to bed.”

NINETY-ONE: I have to die

NINETY-ONE: I have to die

“Run!” screamed Edlawit and swooned as she finished narrating the sight.

As I grabbed her, I saw a flash of an underground dwelling of a couple of old, almost forgotten Muskogee, Mekko and Efahava.

“They’re gone,” she stammered. “The vision is gone.”

She paused.

“How could Jude just leave them there to die?. MiJin. James. In the desert.” Edlawit’s voice was tired. “Is there anything we can do? I can’t take much more of this.”

“Don’t worry, Edlawit. They are close to friends of ours. You’ll recognize them.  Here let me show you. They are on their way.”

 “I thought we could trust him!” she was despondent.  “We have to warn her about Burton’s. We have to stop her from going there. We can’t trust Jude now.”

I grabbed her hand.

“No, Edlawit,” I said.  “We’ve already seen this.  It’s fixed.  It has to happen.  We can’t change it now.”

“Then what’s the point?” she said.  “What’s the point in knowing when you can’t change it? Aren’t we supposed to be healers? Aren’t we supposed to save lives?”

“Yes,” I said. “But she’s human.  You’re human.  You must experience death to understand life.”

There was silence.

The first time either had experienced death was when Priscilla died.

“Oh, Priscilla,” I thought. “How I need you now.  How I need you to walk out of the Mist.”

Before I knew it, I was looking over the south end of the porch into the pasture.  Just beyond it lay the Mist.

“You’re thinking of her aren’t you?” asked Edlawit. “Why won’t she come?”

“She’s still resting. Resting in the heart of the Mist.”

“What’s it like, Miguel?”

“The Mist is like being wrapped in love. You are aware of everything and everyone. You have a keen sense of belonging to everyone but still being you.  Little old you, all by yourself but not a bit alone.  It’s warm and full of energy.” I paused for a second, caught up with a whiff of Priscilla. “You know how from the outside, you can see flashes of light within the Mist?”

“Yeah, me an Arous always imagined there were poisajos like lightning bugs in the Mist.”

“Good imagination,” I said. “It’s like that but they’re not solid when they are in there.”

“There are poisajos in the Mist?”

“Yeah, they fly right in and out.  But when the go in they change into tiny creatures of light.  And they can change shape and form and they are warm and the fly back and forth, float around, play hide and go seek with each other.  But you can’t touch them.  They are like pure energy.”

“And that’s where Priscilla is,” she said.  It wasn’t a question but a statement of awe and gentle jealousy.  “Can I go inside the Mist?”

“No. Not right now.  You have to get a new body to go into the Mist.”

“You mean, I have to die.”

NINETY: Cleft of the Rock

MiJin gasped: “I can see them. They’re real.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Jellina.

“Nothing,” said MiJin and she looked down. “They look like Spartan Guard but . . . foggier.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you see them? Getting on that elevator?”

“I didn’t see anything,” said Jellina.

There were two hoveh-sines waiting outside. One for MiJin. One for Jellina.

“This is where we part,” said Lady Rose. “Jellina, your next assignment awaits.” She kissed Jellina on the cheek. Jellina looked at MiJin with a smirk and turned to get into the hoveh-sine.

“Well, MiJin,” she said with the same smile. “I guess there’s nothing to say but good luck.  Even the power of the Rose is no help to you now.”

The Grey Guard that held the door to the hoveh-sine open for her MiJin recognized. It was the same one that had escorted her back from the wall on the hoveh-hyoc.  Jude.

She peered in the open door and saw a little boy.  The boy wasn’t smiling.  She’d seen him before, at the Mission.

Jude’s hand was firm on her back. He slid into the hoveh-sine beside her and closed the door.  There were three other Grey Guard with them.  Their skin was moist but pale. A faint fog seemed to play about them.  Jude was dressed exactly like them but that was the only way he resembled them.  They frightened her.  The boy beside her trembled.

 “Where are we going?” she was in the hoveh-sine before she’d recovered enough to ask.

“Jude,” MiJin said. She could hardly breath.

“Give her some water,” he said.

The Guard across the seat from her handed her a bottle of water.

MiJin sipped her water but found she could barely swallow.

They rode in awkward silence.

“Jude,” she asked. “What are you doing for Ricci?”

“Have you ever heard of the Thirteen?”

MiJin shook her head.

“It’s a folk tale,” said James. “Thirteen beings that save the world.  It’s told a little differently all over the world.  Some say it’s from aliens.  Some say Quetzaquatyl rises from the abyss and tries to turn everyone to Zombies. Some say it’s the Prince Charming who isn’t really as nice as everyone thought come to get us all back for ignoring him or not believing in him.”

“Very good.” Jude laughed while an awkward pressure permeated the hoveh. “I don’t think I could’ve told it any better.”

“Probably not,” said James.

“Arous,” whispered MiJin.

“She’s in danger,” he sighed. “And I can’t help her. Only the triangle could.”

“The triangle?” asked MiJin.

“Three of the thirteen are especially strong or gifted.  Some say they were raised from the dead.  Some say they were triplets raised by wolves. But the three of them, always teenage girls no matter where it’s told, are connected to each other.  Only the three of them together can save the world. With the other nine, that is.”

“That’s only twelve,” said Mijin.

The car stopped and the Grey Guard, the three other Miasmen, slinked out.  Jude got out and helped  MiJin and James as they stepped out into the middle of nowhere.  The sun was going doing.

“It will be dark soon,” said James. “I don’t like the dark.”

“Come on,” Jude said and they all began it walk out into the desert, following the three Miasmen that lead them.

“They are an assassin squad,” said Mijin.

Jude was silent walking beside her.  James walked in front of her.

“What are they?” she asked. “Really.”

“They’re dead,” he said.

“You’re -”

“Not dead.”

“But you’re like them. You’re with them.”

Jude kept walking in silence.

“You’re not going to save me this time, are you?”

“Arous’ life,” Jude choked, “depends on what I do here.”

The Misaman in the lead stopped, “This is far enough.”

Mijin turned and could only see a flash of reflection of light that was the hoveh-sine.  Behind the Misamen were cliffs of rock.  She could see houses in the façade of the cliff. The adobe dwellings stood abandoned.

“Kinda like me,” she said as tears poured down her face.

A voice entered her head, “The cleft of the rock.”

She thought it was Jude and looked to him but he looked down at her with a funny look. No, it was definitely a woman’s voice.

“He will hide me in the cleft of the rock.” She realized it was a poem she had learned as a child.  A strange peace overwhelmed her.

“Well,” hissed the leading Miasmen as fog swirled about their grey suits. “Well, Jude, what are you waiting for?”

“This,” he said and a dense fog enveloped him and a bright light flashed out like a fist striking the Miasman down.

“Run!” he snarled at Mijin and James.

“Run!” screamed the voice in Mijin’s head. “Run for the rocks, for the cleft of the rock, for the houses in the rock. Run!”

Mijin held tight onto James’ hand, pulling him as she ran for the abandoned cliff dwellings.