Chapter 29
““I swear, Lucy, if our father has anything to do with this….,” Ella begins, angry now.
“You don’t think Josiah would be complicit in the capture and torture of his own son, do you?” I ask, horrified at the thought.
“I would never have thought so before, ever. But now, knowing he was responsible for sending Daniel and his butchers to our moon base, getting two of his sons killed in the process without any visible remorse, and how he wouldn’t help you and Sam recruit more soldiers…I just don’t know anymore. I don’t know my father like I thought I did. He used to love us, Lucy. I know he did. But now, I don’t know anything. He’s a different person, or at least pretending to be one, and if he is, he’s doing a terrific job of being convincing.”
“I think we should go up there.”
It’s not a question. I want to get inside that orb and look for Sam. I know Josiah can’t be trusted. It’s something I sensed the first time I met him, and I’m sure there’s more going on here than just his apparent eagerness to submit to Jonathan. And if he’s hurt Sam in any way, he’ll have to answer to me. He does not want to be faced with that prospect, I muse grimly. My powers may not work on Jonathan, but no other angel I’ve encountered is immune. I doubt Josiah is, either.
“But what if Sam is there?” Ella asks. “What if Jonathan is there, too, and some of his soldiers? We wouldn’t stand a chance against them, just the two of us, even with your powers. Would we? Your strongest abilities bounced right off Jonathan during the battle. It’s possible we might be walking into a slaughter.”
“I know. But, it’s worth the risk to me, Ella. If you want to get me in and go back to Earth, I’ll understand. With Sam being gone, you’re the de facto angel queen. I don’t care if your brothers are older than you. You’ve been a bigger part of this than any of them from the beginning. As Sam’s co-leader, I’m putting you in charge. If anything happens to me, they’ll need you back there.”
“No way. I’m going in no matter what. I want my brother back, and he is the rightful king. I want nothing to do with leadership until I know for certain….” She trails off and I know what she’s thinking.
“He’s not dead, Ella. I saw him, and so did you. He’s being tortured, but he’s alive.”
“Jonathan is only keeping him alive to draw you out.”
“True. But what did we promise each other?”
“That we would always have Sam’s back, first and foremost.”
“Are we still sticking to that promise?”
“I am if you are.”
“And think of it, Ella. What kind of message will it send Jonathan and his people if we’re strong enough to get Sam back? After capturing their archangels, they’ve already got to be wary of engaging us again. Rescuing Sam right from under Jonathan’s nose would weaken their confidence in him as a leader even more. Some of them might even join our side. We have to take the chance, or at least, I do.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Ella turns and smiles at me decisively, her mind made up. “I guess it’s time we paid my father a visit.”
Following the herbs, she goes up again, pulling me with her, until we’re right at the edge of the AngelSphere. She holds out her free hand, waves it in a circle, and an ancient wooden door appears.
I look at her quizzically.
“Father always enjoyed putting on a show,” she says by way of explanation. “The door itself is really just a portal, a break in the energy barrier of the orb. It’s invisible unless you know where it is, even when it’s open. The wooden door is just Father’s idea of decorative flair.”
“Do we need to knock?”
“No. This is all we need to enter.” She indicates her hand, and I’m guessing she means her unique energy signature serves as her key. “Assuming he hasn’t locked me out.”
She tries the brass knob and it turns, opening the door.
“I guess we’re going inside,” she says.
I nod. “Let’s do it.”
We go through the door, and are momentarily surrounded by a white, pulsing light. Then, we’re standing on the same street in the same town square where Sam and I met Josiah all those months ago. The place is just as empty now as it was then. The herbs we followed here are no longer anywhere to be seen, having disappeared somewhere between the doorway and the street.
What now?
We don’t have time to wonder for long. Josiah is there, standing in front of us, arms crossed defiantly. He looks very, very displeased.
Good. I hope we’ve really inconvenienced the smug bastard.
“Hello, Josiah,” I sneer, putting all the contempt I feel into those two words.
“Lucy.” He nods at me perfunctorily, but not without respect. Excellent. He understands my power and treats me as an equal, rather than a subject or an inferior being.
“Where’s Sam?” I demand, jumping right into it. I want my angel back this instant.
“Where he belongs,” Josiah says simply, as if it were nothing to him. “Somewhere he can’t cause any more trouble.”
Ella looks aghast. “Father! You can’t honestly be saying you had something to do with Sam’s capture.”
“Not his capture. That was all his own doing, thanks to his arrogance. He should have known better than to think he could defeat Jonathan, even with all of you so-called soldiers. Look at you! A couple of untrained women. What kind of soldiers are you?”
He’s feigning ignorance. I know he’s been watching us. He wouldn’t have shown me deference otherwise.
“More trained than you think,” I say, dangerously, assuming a defensive stance where I can spring into action easily if need be. “And if you’re not responsible for his capture, what are you responsible for? I’m positive it’s something.”
“I, seer, am responsible for keeping my overreaching son out of the way. Jonathan’s army grows larger by the day. This planet will fall to him, then the solar system, the galaxy, and the universe. Jonathan then will start working on conquering other universes, until he controls the entire multiverse. Sam is fighting a losing battle and just making things harder on himself and all of us. Jonathan will be more benevolent toward our kingdom if we accept him as our ruler and don’t fight him. He will show no mercy to the ones who put up a resistance. Give up this madness, Ella! Join with me and welcome Jonathan as our overlord, for your own sake. Your mother would want me to protect you. Even if you don’t give in for me, do it for her.”
“You dare bring up Mother in front of me?” Ella asks, incredulously. “You have no right to ever mention her. You’ve been working against everything she believed in for who knows how long, and got two of her sons killed in the process. And if you wanted to protect me, Father, you would be fighting by my side, not giving Jonathan the keys to your kingdom. That’s what you’ve done, isn’t it? You’re deferring to one of your own subjects! Jonathan was part of this kingdom until he disappeared. Why did you never send anyone to find him? Were you in on this from the beginning?”
“Jonathan always had ambitions beyond being only the Earth Angel he was born to be, and never accepted the caste system among angelkind. I’ve kept my eye on him his whole life. He’s done many great things for this kingdom. You know it. You’ve seen the bravery and leadership he’s shown. When he left, I thought it better to let him. He needed to see the universe, test his skills, challenge himself in unfamiliar surroundings. If you try to keep a wild angel like Jonathan chained, you’re just asking for trouble. He could have instigated a civil war and overthrown me eventually. Allowed to follow his desire to explore, there was a good chance he would learn why the angel hierarchy is set up as it is, and would come back a valuable asset to the kingdom, a first advisor to me and my heir. Obviously, he didn’t.”
“And this is better?” Ella is incredulous, and so am I.
“I didn’t expect him to return as a megalomaniac with ambitions of universal domination as a mere appetizer. I thought he would be a more committed, possibly
more powerful Earth Angel. But I had to accept what he’d become and work out the best way of dealing with it.”
“And being in league with him was your answer? Getting two sons killed because you wanted to keep the peace with Jonathan was worth it to you? You could have come to all of us with this, Father. Together, we might have defeated him before it got this far.”
“No. He was already too powerful when he returned. I couldn’t take the chance of endangering any of you, or my subjects.”
“Then why did you encourage Sam to fight him?”
Josiah is silent.
I think I know the answer and I feel sick. Ella’s stricken face is enough to tell me she’s thinking the same thing.
“Oh, God,” I moan. “You were hoping Jonathan would kill Sam, weren’t you?”
“I love my son,” Josiah insists, indignantly. “Don’t think for a moment I don’t love him. But Sam was raised as my heir, and that meant protecting the kingdom and the Earth at all costs was ingrained in him from a young age. I knew he was our strongest angel, besides Jonathan, and I knew he wouldn’t sit idly by while Jonathan took control of the very things he was sworn to protect. I also knew I’d trained him too well; he would never agree to make Jonathan our new leader, no matter how logically I explained it. By sending him out to fight, I was only thinking of the rest of us, and the Earth. If Jonathan killed Sam, as I expected he would, I could have convinced the rest of the kingdom to submit and things would have been so much easier on all of us. I didn’t want to lose Sam, but as king, I had to think of the good of everyone, not just my son and heir.”
“Oh my God,” Ella whispers, disgusted. “And the moon base? You and Sam set that up together before he fought Jonathan.”
“It was a place to get as many of you out of the way as possible. You surely noticed I sent my best warriors there first. They were the ones most likely to want to follow Sam in his fight against Jonathan. If they were out of the way, the rest of you would be easier to control. When Sam survived the fight, I knew Jonathan or one of his generals would come here looking for him. Your mother and I sent the rest of the kingdom there to protect you.”
“Was Mother in on this?” Ella practically growls.
Josiah shakes his head. “No. And Jonathan didn’t know I was on his side. When Jasper came here, he didn’t give me time to explain my loyalty before killing your mother. As soon as Leah said she would never give up the location of her son even if she knew it, Jasper killed her. It was only then that I was able to tell him where my loyalties lay. I gave him the location of the camp from the beginning. It was only when Jonathan couldn’t locate Sam that Daniel was sent there to massacre everyone. It was done to send Sam a message and draw him out. But, whether you believe it or not, I really did make an agreement with Jonathan to ensure your safety, Ella.”
“It hardly matters now, Father. You are not the angel I thought you were.” Ella’s voice is hard and emotionless. “You did a good job of fooling us all these centuries, I must say. We really thought you were courageous and honorable. I’m glad we know the truth now. As far as I’m concerned, you are responsible for Mother’s death. And now you say you’re keeping Sam out of the way, when you originally hoped he would be killed. Why bother now, Father?”
“With Sam a prisoner, there is a chance to convert him to my side through torture. At the very least, we can keep him from interfering with Jonathan’s plans. Killing him is no longer necessary.”
“You’re keeping him here somewhere, aren’t you? You’re letting Jonathan keep him prisoner in his own home.”
“Jonathan promised my crown back to me once this is over, if I would swear fealty to him as my overlord. I’ve done it. This kingdom will be mine again.”
“Our people will never follow you, not after what you’ve done!”
“They will when Jonathan makes them, my dear. Don’t force him to make you do it, too, I implore you. I do not want to see you hurt, but I won’t be able to protect you if you continue to fight against him.”
“I will never stop fighting against him. The multiverse is a vast place, Father. There are others like us out there, and even if we don’t defeat him, it doesn’t mean he wins. Most civilizations won’t go quietly into slavery.”
“It’s not slavery, except for those who fight. It’s an absolute monarchy, with vassal kingdoms, like mine will be. Every angel kingdom of every caste will be a vassal one, with Jonathan the supreme emperor of them all.”
“We already have vassal kingdoms throughout the universe, but no all-powerful overlord for every caste. That’s why the archangels govern by committee, to prevent this exact kind of thing. It’s worked for time immemorial. What’s wrong with continuing that way?”
Josiah just stares blankly at his daughter.
Ella shakes her head, defiance written all over her face.
“No. This is wrong. No being but God should have so much power. It is not how the multiverse was meant to work, and you know it. We will not surrender. I will continue to fight, and my soldiers and friends in arms will fight alongside me. And we will win. You will see.”
“If you think you can win against a lower caste angel with the power to command archangels, then you are a fool, daughter.”
“No. I just know there are more beings willing to fight than you think. Most sentient civilizations in this and any other universe will not just roll over and accept dictatorship by a madman. Our numbers will grow, and we will become strong enough to defeat him. We are determined. And you, Father, are dead to me. I consider myself an orphan now. I can never follow you again, much less respect you. All I can do is mourn you for the angel I once thought you were and the father I used to love.”
“I can’t let you continue to put yourself in danger, Ella. Your mother wouldn’t want you to be involved in this. I owe it to her to protect you. You’ll thank me for this later. Guards!”
Two heavily armed angels, both taller than Josiah and dripping with spears, swords, shields, and silver armor, appear on either side of him.
“Do you recognize them?” I whisper to Ella.
“No,” she replies, quietly. “They must be part of Jonathan’s contingent.”
“Take her back to the palace and lock her in her room,” Josiah commands. “Make sure she doesn’t escape.”
Ella looks at me, horrified, then turns back to her father. “You think Mother would want this?” she cries. “She died protecting this kingdom. She would be ashamed of what you’ve done…and what you’re doing!”
“Do not forget who you are talking to, young lady!” Josiah shouts, his face twisted into a mask of anger and indignation. “I am your father, and your king!”
“You may be my father, but only as a ghost now,” Ella says, anger of her own boiling to the surface, though on Ella, it is the size of a gnat compared to the fury Josiah is displaying. Ella just doesn’t have it in her to be truly angry. She’s too kind and gentle. It doesn’t stop her from delivering the most insulting blow of all, though.
“You are no longer my king, Father. Sam is, and I will only follow him. In his absence, I will follow Lucy, who I recognize as my queen.”
Whoa! What?
As if wanting to physically demonstrate her point and show her contempt for Josiah even more, she kneels before me.
Oh my God. This is not what I had in mind when we came up here. Sam and I aren’t even married, and I’m no one’s queen, certainly not the queen of an angel kingdom. They’ve been treating me like a consort back on Earth, but that’s an entirely different thing. I’m not trained for or worthy of such an honor! What is she doing?
“Ella, what the hell?” I whisper. “I’m not the queen of this kingdom!”
“You are!” she insists. “Sam loves you and you love him. You are soul mates. That means you’ve belonged together since the beginning of time. You might not be married yet, but you are the co-leader of the resistance, and the most powerful seer any of us have ever encountered. In the absence of
Sam, you are the only leader. The uncorrupted archangels decreed it, and you’ve proven again and again they were right. Married or not, as Sam’s soul mate and consort, you are the rightful queen of this kingdom. You’ve earned it. Everyone in our camp will agree with me. So, I give my fealty to you as my queen, and the rest of our kingdom will, too, as soon as I give the word. As a princess of the Earth Angel kingdom, my word carries authority. If I say you’re the queen, you are the queen.”
“So, this is how it’s going to be?” Josiah growls, rage rippling just below the surface of his voice, his every muscle taut with barely concealed restraint from the desire to slap us both.
“It is,” Ella insists.
“Then I’ll just have to lock you both up until Jonathan has control of the Earth. Guards, take them! You can lock the human up in one of my sons’ bedrooms. Not Sam’s though.”
“Why?” I ask, derision dripping from my lips at this weak turncoat of an angel. Sam was right to take the crown from him. Josiah is a poor excuse for a king. Any king who won’t defend his kingdom doesn’t deserve to keep it. “Is that where you’ve got Sam locked up?”
“No. Your precious Sam is somewhere you will never find him.”
“Is he here, in the sphere?” I insist.
“That’s all I will say on the matter. Guards!”
The armored angels move toward us.
I crouch slightly, tensing my muscles, preparing to spring into action.
“Ella, get out of here,” I say quietly, keeping my eyes on the approaching guards. “Go back to the town and tell them what’s going on. Re-fortify the place. Get it cloaked again. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“Lucy, I can’t leave you here! How will you get back?”
“I’ll find a way,” I assure her. “Just go! If you really consider me your queen, then do as I say. Get out of here and get to safety. That’s what your mother would want, and so would Sam. Go!”
“I don’t think so.” Josiah makes a move with his hand, gesturing toward the door. He’s going to lock it.
“Ella, now!” I shout.
She doesn’t say another word, just looks at me with a mix of worry and admiration. In an instant, she disappears, shifting out of the sphere and back to Earth, just as her father locks the door behind her.
“Damn it!” Josiah screams, bending down and pounding his fists on the cobblestone street. Then, he looks up. “Get her!” he cries at the guards, who momentarily stopped their advancement when Ella disappeared.
They start back toward me, and I immediately draw on the reserve of universal power that’s flowing through me all the time now, fully accepting and welcoming it as my birthright for the first time. This is who I am.
Holding out my arms straight in front of me, palms up, I move the energy down them and out my palms. Bright, white light shoots from them, and I feel the weight and movement of it. It’s pure power from the initial creation of the universe, and I’ve been given the gift of controlling it. It’s a blessing. What I did to deserve it, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll solve that mystery one day. But, in the meantime, I’m grateful to be chosen to receive this extraordinary gift.
The energy hits the guards, flipping them off their feet and sending them flying about a mile away into the distance.
Josiah looks at me in wonder and then with covetousness. He wants to use me for a weapon, just as Jonathan does. Well, screw them both! I wave my hands around in either direction, stopping time in the sphere, freezing the guards in place. I deliberately exclude Josiah from this…well, most of him. I freeze his body, but allow his head to remain a part of the waves of time that flow around us.
Walking up to him, I stand on my tiptoes and put my face almost directly against his.
“I will ask this once, and once only,” I say slowly, wanting to make sure he understands every word. “Where. Is. Sam?”
“If I tell you, Jonathan will kill me.”
“Do you think I care?”
To my surprise, I truly don’t care. That’s unlike me. It’s my love for Sam changing me. I’ll do anything to protect him.
“He’ll kill Sam, too. He has spies everywhere. He’ll know I told you.” Josiah is almost pleading now.
“Any spies here are frozen and can’t hear you. Please, consider it perfectly safe to speak freely.”
“Even if I tell you and you somehow rescue him, you’ll all end up getting killed or enslaved eventually. You can’t beat Jonathan.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“You may have special powers, but so does he. You haven’t seen everything he can do. Plus, he has more followers than you. You can’t take them all on by yourself, Lucy.”
“That’s my concern. I’ll give you one more chance.”
I reach into the velvet pouch tied to his plain brown sash that replaces the golden one Sam took, and pull out what I suspected was there from the moment Ella and I encountered him. A starstone blade. Of course the former monarch would have one.
I hold the blade to his throat, drawing a tiny bit of blood as I do.
“How many angels have you killed with this blade, Josiah?” I ask softly, drawing the blade down just a little bit, enough to increase the trickle of blood and cause him visible pain. He hides it well, but it’s there.
“Not many. It is rare that such a thing is needed. Or at least, it used to be.” He shakes his head sadly, defeated.
“Then let’s not add one more to it today. You may be a poor excuse for a father, but you’re the only one Sam has. I don’t want to take you from him, but I will if I have to. Now tell me where he is.”
“You will regret this course of action,” Josiah assures me. “You and Sam may be soul mates and you may think you are doing the right thing, but you are not. Jonathan will punish you both.”
“I think you put too much stock in Jonathan.”
“You will see. When you do, just remember that I am but a poor father trying to protect his remaining children. And that I warned you.”
“Whatever makes you able to live with your decisions. Now, about Sam’s location?”
Josiah hangs his head low and won’t look at me when he says it.
“In your mansion. The herbs brought you here, where you could find knowledge of his location, because they couldn’t go there. They don’t have a key. Jonathan took Sam to your mansion to keep him out of the way, and to draw you to him. Right now, your people on Earth are getting a message from him directing them to give you up in exchange for their lives and good treatment when he becomes their ruler. Believe it or not, Lucy, I was trying to protect you, too.”
“I don’t believe it. And how did Jonathan get into my mansion? I thought only I could get in, and people I invited. Like you said, the herbs didn’t have a key.”
“People you have invited inside in the past can enter on their own,” Josiah corrects me. “And Sam has been there with you. That first visit acted as his invitation. Surely he explained it to you. Sam is a key to your mansion now, as much as you are, and all Jonathan had to do was use him as one.”
I ponder this for a moment. Oh, God, he’s right. Sam did tell me. The mansion was to be our meeting place if we got separated. And that’s exactly what happened, though not in the way either of us imagined.
A sickening feeling of violation washes over me as I think of the villain breaking into my personal space and taking up residence there like a squatter. An eviction is definitely in order, and I will deliver it personally.
“Thank you for the information, Josiah,” I say, eager to get out of the sphere and over to the mansion. “I’m going to freeze the whole dome now, to be unfrozen at some later date when I feel it’s safe to do so.”
Josiah’s eyes go wide. “But you can’t! There will be no one to protect the Earth from alien invaders and other dangers from space! I’m the only one doing that job right now. You’ll be leaving the entire planet vulnerable.”
“I think those are the least o
f our concerns at the moment. Have you fended off any space-based threats since Jonathan came?”
“No,” he admits, reluctantly. “I think he may be using magic to keep those things away until he secures the Earth for himself. But I don’t know for sure,” he’s quick to add. “Would you really put your whole planet in danger?”
“It’s already in danger. I intend to do something about it.”
With that, I wave one hand and freeze the rest of the sphere, including the part of Josiah that can still talk. I’m the only thing in it that is still moving through the normal flow of time. Another power comes to me of its own accord, making its presence known in my mind. I like how new powers do that, arriving within me like friendly, helpful visitors at the exact moment I need them.
Using this new one, I place a lock on the flow of time in the sphere. No one but me will be able to enter this place until I release it. Josiah is neutralized for the time being and can cause no more trouble for us.
I keep the blade. It may come in handy. Besides, even frozen, I don’t trust Josiah with such a weapon. I slip it into the waistband of my jeans.
“I’m coming to get you, Sam,” I say out loud, the time freeze preventing even an echo from forming in this lonely space.
There’s no way I’m leaving the mansion without Sam, and Jonathan will find me to be a more formidable opponent than he imagined. I may not stop him entirely on this trip, though it’s certainly possible, but I will rescue my angel.
As if it were always second nature to me, I slide out of the Angelsphere’s dimension, shifting into the one where my mansion resides, and where Sam is waiting for me.