Doubt (18 page)

Kerim
interrupted, raising his hand. “I remember this. These were the ‘Isolating the Soul’ experiments. It caused a stir with the Seven Senior Archangels. I didn’t understand the significance at the time and why we were put on high alert. Demons are always searching for more effective ways to relinquish humans from their souls with their permission. When I finished my intensive training to become an archangel, I realized how devious demons really were. Instead of threatening humans to give away their souls, they had found a much easier way. They simply asked humans to be test subjects and made them sign release forms thereby giving away their rights to their soul.”

Raffe
picked up where Kerim left off. “It was not just that. You may have not been briefed, as this is classified information. However, I share this with you as I have been given some leeway by the Almighty to provide you information on a ‘need to know’ basis. It seems to me this is the time you ‘need to know.’ The leaders of the dark spirits have always wanted to enter Limbo and Purgatory to steal the souls of those who are waiting to enter the gates of Paradise. If they breach this world and enter ours, this act alone will cause an imbalance between all the worlds, which could lead to catastrophic destruction for the world here and the spirit world. This would thrust good and evil of man and spirit into a war that will end all wars.”

Kerim arched his eyebrow.
“And what happened with Liora?”

Raffe shrugged
as if trying to make the memory seem trivial. “Well, I fell in love with her. It was hard not to. She was beautiful, generous, and had the purest heart I have ever seen in a human. Like you, my memory had been archived, and implanted memories made me believe I was human. It was with Liora that I felt the emotion of love for the first time. Unless we are in pure human form, our kind does not have the capacity of feeling this emotion. When it came time to eliminate her, I was blinded by the love I felt for her. Love is an emotion that you will not forget, but over time, the memories will fade.”

Kerim
’s eyes widened. Cristal realized at the same moment that it was Raffe and Liora that Bina Schwartz saw in her dream.

Kerim asked
quietly, “And the Almighty pulled you out of the mission and returned you to Him?”

Raffe’s face grew dark
as he spoke. “He removed me from the human world and stripped me of my rank. The Almighty demoted me from being a general to a lowly Purgatory Guide. The other archangels scoffed at me. But after getting to know the humans in Purgatory and understanding their suffering and pain, I realized why we have to protect them. Eventually, I was returned to my brigade and given the rank of Admiral.”

Kerim smiled wistfully
. “I am a colonel in your brigade, Admiral Raphael,” he said with a deep respect in his voice. “You mentored me, I remember. But you still haven’t told me what happened to Liora.”

Raffe replied
with a sigh, “The Almighty sent another angel to finish the mission. Once the angel took her from this world, her soul entered the Kingdom. She sits among those who are in the good graces of Him. Here in the human world, she left behind a daughter who was raised by Liora’s sister as her own child. She changed her name to ‘HE
R
NANDEZ’ to protect the child’s identity and emigrated from here to Mexico. When the child became an adult, she immigrated to the United States. Don’t you see? Cristal Hernandez is Liora’s great granddaughter.”

***

She shook her head in disbelief. “Harry, this is too much. I’m part of a bloodline that has special powers?” There was no time to think about this now.

She looked up
and saw Raffe and Kerim still arguing with each other, oblivious of anything else around them. Maybe that was a good thing. It gave her time to think of what to do next.

Buildings were
collapsing; people were getting injured, maybe even dying.

I
have to stop this.

“
Harry, I’m going to try to close the portal,” she said.

“
Wait! I have to go through it.” Harry grabbed her shoulders. “I believe my mother and your father are there on the other side, in Limbo or whatever Raffe and Kerim were talking about.”

H
e looked at her with determination in his eyes.

“
Yes, they have been trying to communicate with us. I think they are alive. I
know
they are alive.”

“
I will do my best to bring them back,” he said, touching her face.

“
I know you will, Harry,” she said, as tears slid down her cheeks. She bit her lip. Now was not the time to cry. “Hurry, before they see you,” she said. “I will close the portal after you enter. I will make sure Raffe and Kerim won’t follow you.”

His eyes were dark with concern
. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

“
Yeah, you know I always do.” She smirked and looked into his eyes. “Hurry up before I zap you with my super-duper energy blast.”

He smiled. It was
just like old times. “I’ll be back soon.”

Then he stepped
to the side of her, into the light and was gone.

Good luck, Harry.

She closed her eyes, concentrating all her thoughts towards the waves of energy that were blasting out from inside of her.

Summoning all the power inside her
, she roared, “
I command you to stop!”

Her eyes opened and the white light that had been rushing through her had stopped.
She checked her feet by taking a step forward and realized she was free. No time to celebrate. She had to get out of there before Raffe “the Bird man” started coming after her.

She ran up to the edge of the sea wall and looked down at the crashing waves below.
Glancing back, she saw that she had caught Raffe and Kerim’s attention.

Oh sh*t, I better do it before Raffe
stabs me with his light sabre.

Cristal faced the wa
ter, closed her eyes and leaped over the edge.

Her body plunged towards the water. She was falling
fast. In her mind, she wondered if this was the smartest thing she could have done. She pointed her feet down, anticipating impact. Although she was relatively calm, a part of her was calculating what the chances were of smashing her body against a big rock.

This was a dumb move.

Before she hit the water, she heard a “woosh” and felt arms underneath her catching her from the fall. Her eyes opened to see it was Kerim holding her tight. His gaze was fixed ahead of him as he carried her upwards. She turned her head and saw, to her amazement, behind his back were glorious silver feathered wings soaring in flight. She checked to see if Kerim’s body had become transparent. Thankfully, she could still see his T-shirt and leather jacket. He was in human form, except for the wings.

She wanted to say something but wasn
’t sure exactly what.

He glanced down briefly and said,
“Do not be afraid, Cristal. You have no need to doubt me.”

Before she could react, a
thunderous voice boomed across the sky making her cringe in fear.

“
Complete your mission!” the Voice commanded.

She could feel Kerim
’s body shudder.

Is he going to drop me?

He whispered to her, “I will put you down, but you must hide. You have the power to do this. Just focus and concentrate. You don’t need a black hole to enter the other realm. You can transport back and forth like me.”

“
I can?” Her jaw dropped.

“
You can. Just like you realized today that you have the power to understand many languages. You must believe in yourself.”

Kerim
made a nosedive to the ground. She held on tightly to his arms.

Kerim landed on the ground
, gently placing her down beside his motorcycle. It was keeled over against the sidewalk, the cement underneath it raised up from the quake.

He waved to someone
off in the distance and soon Walid was running up to him.

“
Walid, ride the bike and bring Cristal to your home. Take good care of her,” Kerim commanded.

Walid nodded his head, his eyes staring at the wings on Kerim
’s back.

“
Maffoom
? Do you understand me, Walid?”

“
Yes, yes.
Maffoom
. I will take care of Mizz Cristal, Kerim.”

Walid turned and picked up the motorcycle.

Kerim pulled the keys from his pocket and tossed them
at Walid who caught them in his hands. Kerim looked at Cristal, the expression on his face showing his steadfastness and conviction.

“
Remember, Cristal, you have untapped powers that not even Raffe knows about. Why would we be sent here to destroy you if this were not true?”

The rational part of her wanted to scream but the new Cristal, the one who wasn’t afraid anymore,
kept her cool.

“
So Harry was right. You were sent to destroy me.”

He looked away briefly
. “Yes, that is true, but I didn’t know that when I met you. My original memories were removed and implanted with temporary human ones. Now that I know you, I cannot and
will not
let anyone harm you. Never doubt that, no matter what,” he said, his voice breaking with emotion.

She
knew that what he was saying was true.

His gaze shot upward to the sky that seemed to be swallowing the stars
. “Now go! There’s no time!” he cried out.

He was right. There was no time.
She ran over to the motorcycle and jumped on. Walid started the engine. She turned to say goodbye but instead was met with giant silver wings soaring, carrying Kerim into the sky.

She watched as h
e ascended into the dark clouds, disappearing into the heavens. Kerim Ilgaz, her Guardian with wings.

Gabriel, Harry and now Kerim… a
ll gone in one day. No time to cry or say goodbye.

She
placed her arms around Walid’s waist, closed her eyes as he revved the engine and pulled the bike out onto the road. She didn’t know what was in store or what the future held for her, but one thing was for sure—she was determined to continue Harry’s mission to seek the truth.

“
Hold on, Mizz Cristal,” Walid called back to her. “I am taking you to my home in Megiddo.”

“
I am not familiar with that town,” Cristal replied. “Is it a small village?”

“
Oh? But it is famous place,” he insisted. “You do know it.”

Cristal
tilted her head.

“
Sorry, Megiddo doesn’t ring a bell.”

Walid said,
“Ah, yes, yes. I forget. You may know it by the Eenglesh name, Armageddon.”

***

Dear Reader,

Find out what happens to Harry, Cristal, and Kerim in “
RESIST
” (book 2 of the Among Us Trilogy), by becoming a Truth Seeker and registering at the official Among Us Trilogy website at
http://www.amongus.ca
.

If you enjoyed “
Doubt”
(book 1 of the Among Us Trilogy), please take a few minutes to submit a review on
Amazon
. I really appreciate your support, and it will inspire me to continue writing. As an independent author, it is you, the reader, who help me bring my characters to life. Without you, my work is meaningless.

I’ve included Chapter 1 of the next book in the trilogy on the next few pages.  For more information about my other books and film projects, visit my blog at
http://www.anne-raevasquez.com
or send me a tweet
@write2film
.  

Till our paths cross again,

Anne-Rae Vasquez
Truth Seekers and Geeks Unite!