Otherland (22 page)

“What do you think? Am I too big to fit in this bed with you, Daddy?” she said.

“Never too big. Always my baby girl,” he said, his breath coming with difficulty.

She crawled in beside him, holding his bony hand.

He touched her hair. “I’m happy … So happy. Seeing you. Everything’s right again. … My biggest regret was … not telling you enough … how much ... I loved you. I love you … baby girl. … Flower,” he called her by her child’s pet name.

“I love you too, Bumble Bee Daddy.”

“You … remember,” he smiled, his lids closing.

How could she ever have forgotten?

When she was assured that he was sleeping, and only sleeping, she maneuvered out of bed, ready to meet the rest of her family. Following dinner, and a hardy appetite that Lydia hadn’t had since her last homemade meal in this home, they sat around the table, telling stories, and exchanged updates spanning the 32 years she’d been gone. The sun began to fall.

Jacob stood, alerting Aliyah, then walked around the table and pressed his hand on Mama’s shoulder. Lydia and her mother both stood up to follow him while the rest of the family continued to reminisce.

“What’s wrong?” Lydia whispered.

“Nothing that I didn’t already know was going to happen,” Mama said with a small smile. “A glorious day indeed. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending for my beloved of so many years.”

“No!” Lydia cried. “It’s all my fault. Nothing can ever just be good! Everywhere I go – everyone’s lives that I touch, bad things happen.”

“Bad?” her mother chuckled. “Oh honey, this is so far from being bad. Getting old, watching your body disintegrate, your body creaking and crackling in weakened painful bones – That’s not pleasant. This is truly a blessing. Seeing you one last time was all he needed to finally feel at peace and let go.”

“If you knew what I know, you might not feel that way.”

“That’s why I’m going to make sure he gets to where he needs to go,” Jacob said. “I promise, Aliyah, I’ll get him to the right place.”

“Now I’m confused. What does he plan on doing with my husband?” her mother asked.

“He’s going to help him safely cross,” Aliyah said simply. “Please be careful, don’t get caught, and I swear to God, Jacob, if you mess this up and let something happen, you better hope you get caught, or I’ll kill you myself.”

Kneeling on the floor, both his hands gripping her Dad’s, his face suddenly fell against the bed.

“Oh dear, what just happened?” her mother’s hands went to her heart in concern.

Lydia grudgingly placed a pillow under his head so he wouldn’t wake up with a sore neck. “It’s okay, Mama. He’s a Light knight. He can travel between the worlds. His soul, at the moment, is transporting Daddy to the Lightness.”

“My, my, you really found a keeper, Savannah. Do you think Jasper will have these abilities?”

“He may. I have them as well, Mama,” she said, a little reluctantly as she didn’t want to burden her mother’s heart with how she came to have these abilities. It was enough for them to know that she’d been kidnapped, and that all this time she had believed her parents to be dead. They needn’t know anything more than that.

Her mother kissed her cheek. “I never doubted that. I carried you in my womb, and it was the most spectacular pregnancy that I was greatly envied for. I felt light as a feather, as energetic as a horse, and was as happy as though I’d died and gone to heaven. I knew that you were going to be something amazing and extraordinary. I can see that same gift in your son, as he is perfectly content, just as you were.”

“I feel like this is all my fault. I’m so sorry,” Lydia broke down momentarily, touching her father’s chest. “I’ve lost so many people, so many.”

“Oh, honey, who says they’re lost? Perhaps they were just finally found.”

And go figure would that be the moment that Lydia would burst out in laughter, recalling Jacob’s saying she farted Amazing Grace last night when she was sleeping. “Oh, Mama, I’m glad you said that,” she said between laughter. “I think you’re absolutely right, and I just … I just– needed to hear it.”

But what she had really needed at that moment was the feeling of her laughter to return the warmth to her soul. Not that she’d tell Jacob that. She was still mad at him.

CHAPTER 37

“It’s time. We have to go,” Jacob said to her after he returned and found her saying her goodbyes to her Dad, even though she of all people knew that his soul hadn’t been around to hear any of it, as Jacob had wanted to get him there as quickly as possible so as to return. With times as bad as these, he hadn’t wanted to take any chances of some one or thing learning who he was and snatching his soul.

Before all this, Light souls were allowed to keep their memories and linger or return for a little while in the human world. In this way, they could be with those they loved during the grieving process to enable peace, both for the survivors and the Light soul.

A soul could only cross into the Lightness voluntarily and willingly. Once there, they would be cleansed of their memories. Dark souls did not get that luxury to linger, nor the privilege of being wiped of their memories.

Some of the lighter dark souls would come to feel remorse about those things that darkened their soul, and would earn passage to return to the human world to make amends – either as a soul to provide peace to those they’d harmed and those surviving, or as a new life cycle in the human world to give them the opportunity to live a different life and make better choices.

If given another chance, and they wound up taking the same path and making the same choices as previously, their chance would be revoked and they’d be returned to the Darkness. Third chances were very rare in Otherland, though not entirely unheard of, as it was typically the Darks that volunteered for another life cycle in the human world. Most Lights didn’t find it necessary to return as human, so they would take jobs as Spiritual Guardians, hoping one day to earn the elder position where they’d be closest to serving the High master.

“How do you know?” Lydia said.

“They’re about 40 miles away and coming fast, now that the sun has set.”

“I thought you said they wouldn’t sense me while in your presence?”

“I didn’t say that. You did. Apparently, you were wrong.” They continued whispering.

“Hmm, it doesn’t make sense. Then why did we have an entire night and day without being hunted?”

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to find out soon enough. While you were getting your closure with your Dad, I talked to your family. They’re going to take care of Jasper while you fulfill what needs to be done.” He had already begun cringing before she exploded.

“What?! No, absolutely not. My mom just lost her husband, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she’s old. I’m not going to walk into their lives, cause my dad’s death, and then throw my son off on them to take care of him!”

“Aliyah, there’s nothing more they would rather do than watch over him and protect him while you save the world from an eternal darkness. This is the part about duty that you have never understood. You can’t do everything. You have to prioritize. Most important things first. You have to learn how to delegate the lesser roles and know how to depend on and trust people.”

“My
son
is not a lesser role. He is my
top
priority!” she spat at him. “Just because
you
didn’t choose love doesn’t mean I won’t. I’m not like you, never have been, and I’m glad of it. If I have to take care of my son and fight the world at the same time, then I’m no different than all the other parents out there in the world that manage to do it on a daily basis.”

“You’re forgetting something, Aliyah. Normal parents hire childcare to care for their children while they’re at work, and entrust their faith that the child will be protected, loved, and unharmed.”

Gradually, the room was gathering a crowd of family spectators to witness their argument. “Savannah, really, it’s okay. It’s wonderful, really. I’ll have someone to care for and love while I get accustomed to a life without your Dad. Jacob told us about the Prophecy, and I couldn’t be a prouder mother. We’re your family. We’d do anything for you. All of us, each and every one of us are willing to play our part in supporting you in what you need to do,” her mother attempted to reassure her.

“I didn’t think Angels argued,” Lydia’s 24-year-old niece, Stephanie, said.

“Oh, she is not an angel, believe me,” Jacob said in frustration.

“At least I’ve never been negligent like you, Jacob Knight. I, at least, want to stick around for
my
family and those I love,” she threw at him.

“Throw a fireball at him, Savannah. Use your powers,” an excited 8-year-old said.

She couldn’t
not
laugh. “I can’t throw fireballs, buddy. I can, on the other hand, show you who wears the pants in this relationship.” And with one swift movement of her hand, and a continual circular movement, Jacob was doing somersaults in the air. The kids applauded.

“I’m glad you’re able to entertain people at my expense, Aliyah, while subjecting your entire family to Dark ones that are now only 15 miles away,” Jacob said miserably. “Look around you. Look at your loving family. Now if they can’t protect Jasper, who can?”

“Well they didn’t manage to protect me, did they?” Lydia stated harshly, seconds later wishing she hadn’t said that aloud. The room grew completely silent, except for her mother’s sobs. “Good, it’s best if you all hate me anyway. It’ll make it easier for your life to move on and go back to the way it was before me,” she said, both guiltily and resentful.

“Go on, Savannah. Say what you need to say. It will make you feel better,” her mother surprised her by saying. “I know what it felt like for me to lose you, and all the years that I blamed myself for not knowing, not suspecting. For all that I loved you, I blamed myself for not just being able to
feel
where you were and save you. For years I thought to myself that if I were a better mother, I’d be able to find you. I know what it felt like for me, but I have no idea what it felt like for you, what you endured, how … how frightened you must have been.

“It’s okay to blame me, as I’ve been blaming myself all these years. If I’d just felt like something bad was going to happen. If I’d just gotten in the car and picked you up from school early. If, if, if. Up until this day, it has always been an if. Now, finally, it’s an opportunity for no more ifs, because I won’t let Jasper out of my sight. If there’s anything I can promise you, it’s that I
will
protect Jasper, because I of all people know how easy it is to lose the thing you love the most, and to spend your days wishing you had done something differently that day.”

“And it won’t just be her,” Aunt Cindy said. “All of us suffered the impact of your loss. Our lives wrapped around that knowing that there was a beautiful child in our family, OUR family, that had been abducted. We raised our own children with a knowing and a protectiveness that families that haven’t experienced that don’t have. There will be no child better protected than your son, Savannah, because we know how important it is - not to mention being provided privileged information by your hottie hubby here.”

Lydia looked at all of them, her eyes wet with tears. She looked at her precious son, innocent and content.

“Ten miles, Aliyah,” Jacob whispered.

“Fine,” she finally said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, but for the record, he’s not my husband. He lied, because apparently human Light knights are capable of those as well.”

She gave a quick kiss to her son, and then walked out the door. The Light knight was quickly at her feet until she flicked her hand and the door closed in his face.

“Well, you certainly have the relationship of a married couple,” one of them, a cousin or a niece commented.

Holding his now-bleeding nose, he said, “She’ll come around.”

***

They’d driven as far away from the house and the residential area they could, before the Dark souls found them.

“The Dark master has a very special surprise for you, Aliyah.” A dozen of them surrounded her, as close as they dare with the Light knight being there.

“Not any more special than my surprise to him,” she said. “Why did no one pursue me all night and day?”

“He was building his masterpiece. The grand finale,” one of them hissed.

“How many more innocents must die because of you, Aliyah?” another said.

“You want to save them, don’t you?”

“Like you never were.” They laughed.

“Enough, you’re acting like I am resisting, which I’m not. I will go with you.”

“Aliyah!” Jacob protested.

“Shut up, Jacob. Let Mommy do her job.”

“You’re not ready. Your mindset. Remember what I told you.”

She ignored him. “I’ve never been
more
ready. I’ll go with you, Dark souls, but I’m driving.”

“No, where you’re going, there’s not enough time for that. Dwayne wants only your soul.”

“Absolutely not. No deal,” the Light knight said.

Aliyah’s body dropped as she emerged out of it. “Then let’s do this.” Five miles from her family, from her son; she wanted to lead them away from there.

“Jacob, do I have to remind you to do your duty and watch over my body?”

And the Prophecy was coming to pass, “I’ll protect it with my life,” he whispered, bowing his head. All he’d wanted was her love returned to him, just a few moments more. Perhaps just one more kiss. But she was gone.