Fallen (30 page)

“I ain’t
…
my
time is up
n’
I’m
ready
.”

The way he said this comforted me in
an odd way. Most likely because
it never occurred to me that
some
people I deliv
er messages to in
the afterlife
were prepared to
leave
their
loved ones on earth.

I watched him
,
wondering if I’d be ready when my time came.

“Thank you,” I said
,
quietly.

“Fer what?”

“
Informing me
that death can be peaceful.”

“That ya already knew
,” he stated simply.

I began to shake my head but he cut it short by reinforcing, “
Ya
know it ‘cause you
’
ve got the gift.”

I didn’t reply
immediately, my mind refusing to believe this complete stranger could know such an intimate, personal detail.

“The gift?” I asked, looking for clarification. I needed to make sure that he wasn’t talking about something else entirely.

“Ain’t many with that gift, though a lotta phonies.”

I was still staring at him
,
but he never once looked my way
…he
just kept rocking.

“How-
how
did you know?” I stammered.

“When ya’ve been around as long as I have, ya get a sense fer things,” he said
,
plainly. “
Best take care y
er
self. Those with our talents don’t stick around too long.”

“That sounds like a warning,” I said, staring at him and finding no comfort in his blank expression.

“It is.” His tone was not ominous or dramatic. It was
straight forward
and unaffected; but
I appreciated it.

Still the goose bumps rose
up
on my arms. “What do you mean?”

“They’re out there. Lookin’ fe
r ya.
Anyone with our gifts.
That’
s the way it works
.
”

“
What exactly
…is
the way it works?”
I demanded,
softening
my voice, “And who are…they?”

Finally, Battersbee stopped rocking and turned to look at me. His
face
was
impassive
,
but the way he whispered the answer chilled me.

“The
Fallen One
s. You’ll know them when they show up.” He tapped his head with his finger. “We have built in radar.”

My jaw fell open as
images
flashed through my mind, instantly switching
from Achan to Sharar
to Sarai
to Gershom.
I noticed
even though none of them were with us
,
simply
a
s a
result
of
my thoughts
, the hair
on the back of my neck
responded.

The
strangest
, most unexpected thing happened
.
I
was flooded
with relief
. It made complete sense.
I had known who they were before I understood it. The hair rising on the back of my neck told me so. I wasn’t dealing with some odd
affliction to my nervous system.
I was s
ensing when they were around.
This reaction
had
mystified me – a feeling
that I hadn’t been able to shake since the first time I saw Achan – or rather when Achan first saw me. It was as if I’d been walking around with a tack in my shoe
,
and each time I met any one of them
, the
annoying tack would land straight up as I stepped down. Battersbee
,
without even intending to
,
had just removed
the
tack.

I
gasped in reaction
to my realization
.

“Hadn’t know
n
it, eh?” Battersbee chuckled.

“I didn’t,” I admitted. “I couldn’t figure out why the hair on the back of my neck
stands
straight up when they
’re
nearby.”

Battersbee grunted. “Huh, they make my skin crawl. That’s how I know. Everyone’s different…
.
”

I drew in a deep breath, feeling as if I had just finished a long,
important
exam.

A moment later,
my
relief was swallowed up by alarm. My
dilemma had
now
changed from one of
irritation
to
anxiousness, the kind
you feel when you
know someone’s coming after
you.

“They
can
be stopped though, right?”

Battersbee chuckled
again
. “Y
ou’re one of them
optimists, ain’t ya?”

“Are you saying they
cannot
by stopped? That once they find you…you’re dead?”

“That’s about right,” said
Batter
s
bee
,
indifferently.

“Are you sure?” I refused to believe there was no way to survive.

Battersbee reached over
,
lifted
the coffee mug to his lips
,
and
drew
in a deep swig. A few seconds later, he dropped it to his lap and continued.
“Knew a guy in
Tulsa
who’d been spotted.
Thought the same thing
.
Surrounded himself with weapons, all kinds. In the end, they found him dead, weapons right beside him. Unused. They strike when
ya
least expect it.
Nothin’
ya
kin do to stop ‘em.
”

I laughed wryly.
“I can vouch for that
.”

“Had some dealings with ‘em, eh?”

“In a way.”

Battersbee shook his head. “Best thing
ya
kin do
now
is run.”

“Running isn’t in my nature,” I said,
knowing
I was being obstinate.

Battersbee glanced at me
pointedly
. “Is dyin’?”

I didn’t bother to answer
.
It was a rhetorical question meant to make a point, and he’d made it just fine. But I did want to know more. Battersbee was the first
person
I could talk to about this situation
,
and he seemed knowledgeable.

“Where do they come from?”

“Been here long before any of us.”

“How many of them are there?”

“Used to be hundreds. Not so many
anymore
. Died off I suppose,” he replied
,
thoughtfully.

“They can die?”

“Oh, yeah. In their own way.”

“How?”

“
Depends. They all come
with their own defenses. Some kin be burned…some stabbed…some beheaded. None of ‘em die the same way
.
Ya have ta figure it out durin’
the fight,” said Battersbee, candidly.

“
But
they have vulnerabilities…
,
” I said
,
eagerly
searching for something positive,
something
hopeful
.

Battersbee took another loud slurp from his coffee mug and said, “They’re a lot like us from what I kin gather.”
Sighing heavily, he added,
“
N’
not so much either.”

“
So…if they’re similar to us
there must be some good and some bad
, right?
Just because we’re reacting to them
can’t
mean every one of them is dangerous
,
”
I
said
,
though
my
instinct
was telling me
that I already knew the answer.

“Radar was given to us fer a reason,”
Battersbee stated
,
plainly
allowing
his answer
to be
implied.

“So don’t ignore it
…
is what you’re saying, right?”

“Do what ya want,
” Battersbee
said
, shrugging,
“
It’s yer life…yer death.”

Felix
emerged from inside the shanty carrying a thick bundle wrapped in white butcher paper.

“Alright, Mags,
we g
ot a couple of beaut
ies
!” Felix grinned widely, holding up
the bundle as if I could somehow see through
the wrapping.