Charis followed her feet,
one after another, through the icy tunnel. Dazed and a little numb,
her mind and heart racing with thoughts and emotions. The team
playfully bouncing around her on all sides. Each one spouting off
their own ideas and plans all at the same time. Mishal was clamoring
about how she was going to learn all she could about humans and put
all that information into a genius compilation. “ A field guide to
humanity I'll call it.” “It will be so informative they will
have no choice but to induct it into the Enochian Library!” She
always had impressive imaginings! “Boom! Boom!” shouted Puwt to
Ruwb. Charis had no idea what they were talking about, nor at the
moment did she need to know. Their loud and excited voices dulled to
faint background noise. Earth, they'd accepted a mission to Earth!
The big, beautiful, exciting Earth! The large, blue and green Earth!
The unknown, foreign and strange Earth! The loud, scary, battle
zone, Earth! Oh No! What if she had just signed on for more than
she could handle? What if she fails, fails God, fails her team,
fails the violet light? What did she know about Earth? Nothing, she
knew nothing, she had never been there!
Until now, she had only
defended the 3rd heaven from infiltrators! The fallen
were always after one of two possible things. The first is the
mysteries of God. The most precious of the knowledge and wisdom of
the Creator. The dark forces seek to know anything they can about
God's hidden plans and secrets, so they might unravel them. It's
said that the dark prince has become obsessed with being wiser than
the Father and thus offers a handsome reward to anyone that retrieves
information for him. These incentives extend not only to the fallen
but the righteous angels as well. Whether its a book , a scrap of
scroll or even a single word from the Enochian library, he made
impressive reward offers, which no one ever knew if they were true,
since his strategies always failed. That is why the library is
heavily guarded at all times. That is also why carrying a single
message through the 2nd heaven is so perilous. The enemy
will try to slow down progress or even detain you if they can. Even
a single word from God carries with it powers that could change the
course of the universe.
The second agenda of the
enemy is more sinister than the first and rose a righteous
indignation in Charis, just at the thought. The second strategy of
the rebel was to gain recruits. Yes, they targeted talented, yet
meek angels trying to contrive a way to manipulate them into changing
sides. However, it had been a very long time since that had
happened, as far as Charis knew because the enemy had taken the
battle front to the Earth, targeting humans instead. A cold chill
crept up Charis' spine..
… Then a warm
sensation, starting in her hand, seeped up her arm. She looked down
to see Laben's hand firmly gripping her's. When had this happened?
She'd been so lost in her own thoughts she hadn't noticed. Her eyes
rose to lock on his. “You were dimming out a little bit there”.
He smiled deeply and was intently peering back at her. “You know
you got this; right? The Lord couldn't have chosen anyone better for
the task”. Charis quickly glanced down, a little embarrassed.
“Yeah I just want to do a good work”. “And I know you will!
We are all behind you”, came Laben's quick response. Hearing that
from Laben really meant a lot to Charis, because unlike the rest of
the team, Laben had been to Earth before. He rarely spoke of it and
all that Charis knew of it, she had gathered from a conversation
between some of the Prince Angels. She knew that Laben had been sent
to the human named Daniel, whom the Lord was quite fond of, to
answer his prayer for his nation. In route, he had been detained for
days in the 2nd heaven and eventually, Micheal, himself,
went to assist him. After that, Laben had requested he be put on a
team and that's how he ended up in their motley crew. Interrupting
this memory, Laben playfully yelled out, “What we need now is... a
little music!”
Laben jerked Charis by
the hand out into the wide cavern and started doing, what he called
his groove thing. Instantly Charis felt the weight of all her
worries roll off her shoulders. He's right; the Lord has confidence
in her team, so should she! Just takes a little faith she thought,
brushing her long hair back over her shoulder, with an air of
confidence.
The team laughed and sang
and danced and played their instruments late into the night!
Exhausted from so much fun, they all huddled around the campfire.
Charis felt it was the perfect time to make her speech. Rising to
her feet, clearing her throat, and ruffling her feathers to get
everyone's attention, she expressed her heart felt feelings for
everyone! “I love each and everyone of you so much and I believe
us to be the best team ever! Now let's go take care of this violet
light with all the passion we can stir up between us!” Everyone
started cheering, then hugged and headed off to bed for a good night
of rest and sweet dreams.
Charis landed gently just
inside the skyport of Chayah's upstairs bedroom. The plushy purple
carpet muting her landing. Snuggled in bed in a sea of animals
Chayah was sleeping soundly. Charis appraised her sister as one of
the most loving angels she had ever met.
Charis fluttered to the
top of the stairs then took the banister on all fours, leaping into
her bed from the landing. “Charis you here?” floated down the
stairs in sleepy tones from Chayah. “Yeah, Chayah I'm up, Come on
down here”. As soon as she pronounced the last syllable Chayah was
instantly teleported to her bedside. It was a darling sight, there
stood Chayah covered horn to toe in a white and purple unicorn themed
onesie, unicorn slippers, shrouded in a unicorn blanket, and firmly
grasping a unicorn stuffed animal by the leg. With one wing Charis
lifted up the covers, “Climb on in, just watch the horn”, Chayah
let out a squeal of joy as she bounded in, gave a little knee buck,
settling into a ball with her face pressed into Charis' chest.
Charis tucked the covers and her wing around the little philly as she
asked “ I expected you to come by the cave. Can you believe the
team is headed to Earth?” “I know, I always knew you were going
to do great things, Charis! I'm really not too surprised.” Chayah
responded looking up smiling. “Yeah , that's what I keep hearing”
Charis thought about how Chayah always seemed so sure that everything
that happened was always meant to be. Charis admired her trust and
peace in the will of the Father. “So where were you, though? I
tried you on the Halo a million times?”, “Oh yeah, well I was, I
was with Uriel. He needed help with something... it took longer than
I thought. But I'll be there in the morning when the team receives
their message, to wish you all a blessed journey. I had to turn my
Halo off to pay attention to Uriel.” “Haha, yeah your probably
right about that!” “Goodnight Charis” “Goodnight Chayah, I'm
gonna miss you while I'm gone.” “ Aww, I'll be seeing you soon.”
Charis chuckled thinking
of Uriel. He was quite possibly the hardest of the Prince angels to
follow in conversation. His manner of speaking was always in
riddles, mysteries, and half-thoughts at best, or so it seemed to
Charis. She thought of the last conversation they'd had on the day
of Chayah's orientation at the Unicorn encampment..
“Why hello Charis and
Chayah! You two are here, very special, very special indeed. Always a
pleasure, at least up until now, mostly always I hope.”
To himself, “Not hope,
I know”
“Yes, Hello Uriel”
Chayah cheerfully responded. Charis just nodded.
“I see many things in
the souls of you pair. Many things.....” Then he just stared for
what felt like eternity.
Charis grew impatient
while Chayah simply returned the intent look.
“Yeah, well, we better
continue looking around the place...” Charis tried to move on.
“Just one moment..”
To himself, “or should I say?...hmm... yes I see....” Back to
the girls, “Yes, I feel I should tell you, a three strand cord,
love rules, just let go .”
They paused wondering if
there was more, there wasn't. “Wow, good advise, good talk”
Charis now with her hands on Chayah's shoulders trying to turn her to
move forward Chayah still intently staring into Uriel's eyes.
“When the time comes
Chayah you will know what you must do” To himself, “She will
know, they both will know. Won't they? Of course they will”
“Yep, we will” Charis
piped in quickly. “Good bye Uriel” Chayah finally spoke.
“Goodbye, I look forward
to our next talk Charis.” Uriel commented, finally breaking his
trance-like stare.
“Yes, me too.” Charis
turned and the girls headed off.
“I'll remember you said
so. Or will I ? Yes I will.” Uriel's voice fading from behind her.
Charis
mused in her bed that night exactly what Uriel's words had meant and
when they would speak again, as of yet they hadn't. Deep and
peaceful breathing rose from under the covers, Chayah was already
deeply dreaming. Love ya Sis and thank you Father for everyone in
my life , were Charis' final thoughts that evening.
The sun has past through
the 3rd portal some time ago. Surely its late enough now. She'd been
waiting for what felt like eternity. The plan will work, it's got
too. She'd been over it in her mind a thousand times. Guard change,
around the back, through the side entrance, down the hall, up the
stairs, open the drawer, get the key, unlock the gate, the last case,
the last shelf, the last book, then straight out the way you came.
Whew , you can do this she thought,you've got to. In
and out, quick and easy. The back, the hall , the stairs, the drawer,
the key, the book, the back, the hall , the stairs, the drawer, the
key, the book... it had became a mantra to pass the uncomfortable
wait.
Its time, slipping
on the black backpack she straightened her hooded sweater and slid
out into the cloak of night. Only the sound of her padded feet in the
crisp air. Scurrying up to the back entrance , the knob was hard to
turn, sticky, then 'Pop!', finally the latch gave way and a loud
screech proceeded from the heavy iron hinges. Oil anyone, the
sarcastic thought flashed through her head, she paused straining to
hear even the slightest sound of detection of her presence. Sure that
it was safe to proceed she pushed a rock into the jamb of door and
slipped inside, coming out would be easier then getting in.
Quickly
she skip stepped down the hall to the stairs. She couldn't help but
stare up at the ceiling which glowed majestically in the light of
night , a thousand twinkling lights , a myriad of stars blanketed the
roof. The entire story of all time, of every life, is said to be
encoded into those patterns. Beautiful! No, she must keep
going! She set to take the steps however with every step up it seemed
her foot slipped off one and back to the step below, Geez, did
they ever get tired of waxing these steps, someone could really get
hurt on this slippery obstacle course! Finally! The top... Pressed
against the wall she circumvented the room to until she was behind
the desk. The desk drawer flew open with surprising ease and banged
loudly against its built-in stoppers, the entire contents tangled
into a mess of items at the front of the drawer. Argh, she
scuffled through the contents recklessly once, then twice; papers,
ink, quills, stamps, no key! No key! It's not here , shocked
and confused she just stood there a moment, fighting the impulse to
just flee she tried to think. At a loss she resigned to just give up
, turning to bolt back down the stairs one step into her flight , a
glint! The light reflected directly into her eye, the key! Hanging on
a hook a single beam of moonlight illuminating the object she so
desired! Yes!
Two
steps and she was there, an elegant pirouette and she was attempting
to slide the key into the cast iron gate. After several shaky trial
runs the key finally aligned to the lock and slid in. The gate
scissored open in a loud crash, no matter she would simply leave it
as it was , key and all , no need to cover her tracks she would be
gone before anyone would be around to discover it. Last case, last
shelf, last book … She squatted at the last case and slid her
fingers frantically over every binding on the last shelf until they
rested on the final book. She tugged with her fingers then hardly
with both hands , What! What is keeping this book in here!?! The
shelf was packed tight, at last, the book sprung free with the
pressure of the other books propelling it into her chest knocking her
onto her bottom under a cascade of books with the book falling open
into her lap, the large handwritten letters beaming up at her. This
is it!! An alarming feeling of how sacred the writing was struck
her senses for moment she quickly gathered herself and the book.
Shoving the book into her backpack she focused on making an extremely
swift exit!
At
a full run she escaped the private room , the office and was rounding
the corner down the stairs, whoops! A misstep and she was on
her back, the book in her backpack acting like a sled she flurried
down the entire flight of stairs, commencing the unplanned maneuver
at the bottom of the stairs, Well that was certainly fast! She
took the hall in fewer steps than she thought possible and burst out
the back door, the hinges letting out a sound similar to a crying cat
and swinging back so forcefully the door shot the rock out of the
jamb and pinged loudly off the window in the next door building which
instantaneously shattered. Not good! She grimaced at the
latest turn of events, “Hey You! Hey Stop!” the guards full voice
rang through the air as he surged toward her, She burst forward away
from him with a speed that surprised even herself , with the sound of
her own feet pounding in her head she glanced behind to see the
guard had stopped, no time to wonder why as she disappeared into the
night....
Beep! Beep! Beep! Violet
Vanderbilt's alarm sounded at precisely 6 o'clock am, like it did
every morning. One arm shot out from the covers and gently pressed
the alarm button to off. Violet awoke with an alarming thought on
her mind as well as the alarming sound in her ear ... another dream!
Soaked in sweat, she sat up and swung her legs off the side of the
bed. Her toes felt good pressed against the cold floor. The dream
now just a fleeting jumble of places, faces, feathers and fright that
could not, would not, align itself with logical reasoning,
sporadically, dancing through her mind's eye. Violet's mom, Carrie,
was one of those faces. She had just simply vanished about two years
earlier. The local consensus was she had left Violet and her dad,
that the cheese had slid off her cracker; her train had jumped the
tracks. Violet's mom had become known as 'Crazy Carrie' who often
spouted off rants about other realms and mysterious beings. The
locals seemed relieved not be subject to her wild imaginings,
anymore. However, Violet missed her mom more than she ever let on to
anyone. The last thing Violet could remember her mom saying to her
was that she was loved and that she was never alone and that they
were always watching over them. Running her fingers through her
hair, Violet held one image from the dream in her thoughts, a golden
piece of paper, parchment maybe, writing, words? … who knows ...the
importance of it seemed to fade as her conscious mind became more
alert.
Violet dressed in her
jogging suit, a pair of worn out sweats and turtleneck, with a vest
over top; laced up her running shoes as was her usual routine. Being
as quiet as possible, she tip-toed down stairs and into the kitchen.
The early morning sun was still warming up the place and was casting
enough light to reveal the kitchen was in a total state of chaos.
Dad must have been working late last night, Violet thought. Ever
since Violet's mom disappeared, her father had thrown himself into
his work. She reached out to grab the coffee pot. Startled by her
dad's voice, “No! Do not drink that! It's not coffee!”
Suddenly Violet's dad, the once illustrious physicist, Dr. Perry
Vanderbilt, clumsily clanged through the basement door next to the
flight of stairs going up to the second level. Violet thought to
herself, well his mind may be slipping but he has the ears of a bat
to hear the coffee pot from down there. “Vi , I may have unraveled
a mystery of the universe! The secret to life itself !” the wild
eyed Dr. Perry announced. “And its in our coffee pot?” Violet
quipped as she peered in at the blackish goo that surely was going to
be impossible to remove from the pot. “Well, yes , yes it is, it is
in our pot that is for brewing the substance coffee. This could very
well be the elixir of life, the key to immortality!” A single
bubble managed to force its way out of the black tar and putter out
into the atmosphere thankful to have found it's freedom. “I see”
Violet muttered leaning her head away from the pot wondering if she
should be holding her breath. “I'm sorry about the pot. My Bunsen
burner decided it did not want to go on this world changing
expedition and gave up on me last night. I will retrieve a new one
today”. “Better grab a coffee pot as well” Violet added as
she turned the pot over and marveled at how the substance seemed
completely unaffected by gravity. “Careful! I must run some tests
on this immediately Vi”. Dr. Perry grabbed the pot and headed back
down the stairs. “Have a great run”, he hollered up from his
murky, odd smelling, make-shift basement lab. “Will do Dad, love
ya”. Amused at her father, Violet gently shook her head. Oh
wait! Her mp3 player, Whew, disaster averted. That could
have seriously thrown off the rhythm of her day!
After retrieving her
music player, she slipped out the door from the kitchen into the
backyard. Oh how she loved the early morning. A light fog covered
the ground, the grass and the leaves with droplets of dew. In the
far corner there was a small break in the bushes that perimetered the
yard and let way to the trail through the forest behind the houses of
her neighborhood. Violet had been running the trail for years now.
It started the morning of her mother's disappearance. Vi had been
sure her mom had just gotten turned around out in the forest and that
she'd see her standing just around the next turn. Although that was
never the case, it seemed Violet could still feel her out here, some
times, and it comforted her. The forest was her and her mom's place.
They would walk and talk as they explored every plant and animal
that crossed their path. Violet's mom would explain to her how God
had created every living thing so perfectly and that was the proof,
for her, He was real. Nothing so perfect could happen by accident.
The Vanderbilt's never talked of God anymore. Once when Violet
brought up the subject, her father exclaimed that God did not exist,
that science could explain everything, that God confused her mom and
ruined her life and sanity. Violet never brought up the subject
again.
Violet cranked up her MP3
player and let the music drown out her heavy thoughts this morning.
Music felt like her life line, a way to sort through feelings that
didn't have names to them. Kind of a way of praying that didn't
require words. Off she ran.
Later that evening,
Violet found herself just wrapping up the kitchen cleaning. She'd
spent the better part of the day scrubbing everything down. She was
just going to sweep the floor, then head off to her room to have
dinner alone. Dr. Perry was sound asleep on the couch and the black
cauldron of magic goop was deposited into the trash. I guess it
wasn't the substance containing the mystery of immortality after all.
As Violet swept around the oven, a small piece of gold chain
stretched out from under the adjustable oven foot. She prodded at it
with the broom. It didn't sweep free. Now down on her hands and
knees, Violet tugged at the chain. It was very snugly wound and
caught on something Violet couldn’t quite see. Finally, after some
effort and dappling in the stickiness, the chain slid free. There in
Violets hand was a sleek gold chain with a diamond angel pendent on
it. With a sudden remembrance, Violet saw her mom's face from her
dream flash before her. In the dream she had been wearing this
necklace, although Violet had never seen her wear it or even have it
in real life. How could this be? “What ya doing down there?”
Violet's dad asked from the other side of the kitchen island.
Startled Violet quickly clamped her hand over the necklace and shoved
it into her pocket. “Nothing Dad... umm just thought I saw; umm
heard something”. “ Heard something? Like a rat !! ?!!”, Dr.
Perry's eyes bulged. He did not like rats. “I swear I'm getting an
exterminator out here first thing tomorrow morning!” Violet's dad
was soon hunkered down with his headlamp on peering under the oven ,
then the couch, then everywhere else. “I will find this rat! The
nasty thing will not contaminate my experiments!” he sounded
absolute. “Yeah well, good luck with that,..I'm...I'm going to bed.
See ya in the morning” Violet sputtered as she hustled up the
stairs.
Safely behind her closed
door, Violet fell onto her bed and pulled the necklace from her
pocket. She held it up in the air above her and watched it spin,
clockwise then counter-clockwise. She pondered the necklace, the
dream, the …. last two years. With a sign Violet gripped the
necklace's tiny angel in her hand, pressed it to her heart and for
the first time in a long time she prayed... "Father, Who is in
Heaven, if you're there... really there... " , yeah because the
all powerful ruler of the universe has time to listen to a confused
teen … who …who... , "if you're there, send me an angel to
help me. I don't know who I am or where I fit". Violet slowly
opened her eyes and felt , well, ... a feeling of peace as she
drifted off to sleep and for just a moment she thought she could hear
the faint sound of singing.
