The Soulkeepers (35 page)

"Does that hurt?" he asked.

"Mildly. Kind of like vomiting your own
shoes."

"Oh." He took in the glow around Gideon.
"Then, why did you change?"

"Because I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

"I want to tell you about Abigail and about
why I'm here."

"Okay."

Jacob took a seat on the garden bench and
Gideon leaned against the fountain. His movements were quicker than
a humans and the turn of his head reminded him of a bird.

"Before the beginning of time, we Angels
lived with God. Angels do not marry the way that humans do but we
do have families. Abigail's family decided to follow Lucifer when
he challenged God for power. He and all of his followers were cast
from heaven, including Abigail. I knew her then, before it
happened. We had spent an eternity together.

Abigail never agreed with what Lucifer did.
She went along blindly, following her family group. She regretted
it immediately. While the others established Nod and preyed on
humans, Abigail lived among men peacefully. She knew she was
cursed, like the rest of them, but she refused to give up. She
wanted to return to heaven. So, she left her family and lived a
solitary life for thousands of years.

Then, she met Oswald. She loved him, as much
as any human has ever loved another. He believed she was human of
course. She tried to tell him about her past, but he interpreted
her words to mean that she had done some things wrong when she was
young. He encouraged her to be baptized because he believed it
would redeem her. She did it in good faith, not knowing what effect
it would have."

"Wait a minute," Jacob interrupted. "You
guys are Angels, you've been to heaven, and you've met God. How
could you not know what effect it would have?"

"I can see why you would think that Jacob,
but Angels are servants of God. We don't have any more answers than
you. In fact, humans have been promised more from God than Angels
ever have. Your future, your soul, is more a certainty than
ours."

"But don't you know? I mean, who's right?
All of these religions on this earth…you've been to heaven and
back! Are you telling me that even you don't know who is
right?"

"No, I don't. But I can tell you that where
I come from, in the presence of God, it is less important who is
right than what is right."

Jacob tried not to look disappointed. Here
he was, a new believer, and not sure what exactly believing meant
for his life. He'd hoped that knowing Gideon, he would know for
sure what to believe, what the truth was. He tried to bring himself
back to the story. This was obviously important to Gideon.

"So, you were saying, that Dr. Silva was
baptized?"

"Yes, she was. When Oswald died, I knew that
God had plans for her when He allowed the portal to grow. To allow
that kind of power in her hands—God trusted her. And then, I was
called."

"Called?"

"Yes. When God has a job for us, we hear it
in our head and we obey. My job was to offer Abigail another
chance. I was the messenger. I came down to her in the garden and I
told her what God told me. Soon, a boy would come who would be
important to the battle between good and evil. If Abigail proved
her allegiance by successfully helping this boy, then she would be
rewarded."

"Am I the boy? Will she get to go back now
that I'm a believer?"

"Yes. You are the boy and no, she cannot go
back now. First, because your purpose is far from complete. There
is much for you to learn and do. And, second, because going back is
not her reward. At least not in the same form she left."

"What do you mean?"

"If Abigail fulfills the Lord's will, He
will make her human. He will give her a real soul, a mortal
body."

Jacob stopped himself from asking why an
Angel would want mortality. He didn't want to be rude.

"You are wondering why she would want this?"
Gideon filled in.

"Yes," he admitted.

"You, silly human, have free will. You have
a soul. And, God does not call you a servant like He does the
Angels, but a friend. When you die and go to heaven, Angels will
serve you."

"Oh," was all he could muster.

"You haven't asked me the obvious question,"
Gideon said with a grin.

"What should I ask?"

"Why am I still here?"

"Why are you still here, Gideon?"

"Because when I came to deliver the message,
I fell in love with Abigail. I suppose, I have always loved her and
will always love her."

"But what does that mean for you? If she
becomes human…"

"I asked, I begged the Lord, if I could help
her, if I could stay… and He said, 'yes.' If Abigail succeeds, then
I will be made human also. We will be able to be together like no
two Angels could ever be."

"You can't be together now?"

"I can't even touch her in this form. She
has a Watcher's skin, a cursed body. This stuff that I am made of
cannot make contact with it. Only as the cat, can she touch
me."

"So, that's what she meant by the curse. You
have to stay with her now, because of your agreement with God, but
you can never really be with her, until she succeeds in her quest.
Until I succeed."

"Yes."

"And, I am her first? She's never been a
Helper before, has she?"

"You are her first and only chance at
redemption."

"Suddenly, I feel a lot more pressure to be
good at this Horseman thing."

"I thought you should know."

"Thanks. I think," Jacob said. "Can I ask
you one more thing?"

"Sure."

"Auriel told me that Watchers lose their
power above ground. How does Dr. Silva do it?"

Gideon smiled. "She never ate flesh.
Watchers who feed on flesh are cursed and must continue to do so or
lose their power. Abigail has maintained a vegetarian diet for her
entire time on Earth and thus was never cursed in this way. It's
another reason she's different from them."

Jacob nodded. "Well, I better get
inside."

He leaned over to cut a handful of
chrysanthemums and tried not to watch as Gideon folded in on
himself.

It was amazing how fast news traveled in a
small town. Jacob stood in the atrium of St. Mary's Catholic Church
with the Laudners amidst a sea of whispers and sideways glances.
Truth can be a fuzzy concept in the best of circumstances. His
story was less than perfect.

When his mom returned with him to the
Launders' home, he wondered how Uncle John and Aunt Carolyn would
react. Dr. Silva, Malini, Lilly, and Jacob had talked for hours
about what story they would tell. What explanation could there be
for her disappearance on Oahu and reappearance in Paris?

They told Uncle John that Malini and Jacob
had decided to drive to Florida and back, just for fun. Jacob said
he'd found Lilly on the side of the road on their way back. Lilly's
appearance certainly upheld the story. She was gaunt, bruised and
her clothes were torn.

For her part, Lilly said she couldn't
remember anything but being held in a dark warehouse. Dr. Silva had
given them a place to say they had found her, a place she said she
could smell great evil. It turned out the FBI knew that place was
frequented by human traffickers, and told Lilly she was lucky to
have made it out alive. They had no idea.

Although Aunt Carolyn wasn't happy about it,
Uncle John invited Lilly to stay in the Laudner home until she
could get back on her feet. With Katrina gone, they gave her room
to Lilly so she could be close to Jacob. They even gave her a job
working in the flower shop. Jacob asked to work there too and Uncle
John seemed ecstatic to finally have him on board. In truth, he did
it to make up for lost time with his mom, but he was glad it made
John happy anyway.

He had no excuse for why he hadn't called
John. The Laudners were beside themselves with worry and had called
the police, as had Malini's parents. Although, Uncle John did admit
he'd talked to Jim Gupta the first day after the pumpkin chuck and
they had guessed something like this had probably happened. It
didn't lessen their punishment. Both of them were grounded until
further notice, maybe forever.

Dr. Silva's garden slowly died as winter
moved in. With Oswald's soul departed, the tree did not have the
warming effect on the environment around it. Jacob tried to help
Dr. Silva collect seeds and roots for her greenhouse, but many
varieties were lost during the first freeze.

Once Jacob returned to school, there were
dozens of stories about what had happened between him and Dane.
He'd been in pretty bad shape. Dane's official story was that he
was mugged in the parking lot by three large men but didn't get a
good look at their faces. Jacob stuck with his story about finding
him beaten in the parking lot. They never spoke of what really
happened, but Dane completely changed his treatment of Jacob and
Malini. It was too early to say they were friends, but the idea
wasn't as crazy as it used to be.

All of this gave the people of Paris more
then enough to gossip about as they slid into the Laudners' usual
pew. Jacob stared at the crucifix that hung at the front of the
church. He couldn't help but be reminded of the last church he'd
been in and the last pew he'd sat in; the one in Nod. He was never
so happy to be in a real church as that moment, a real church with
holy water that hummed to him from every corner, waiting to be a
weapon if something evil came his way. The ceremony itself didn't
make much sense to him. It wasn't his way of believing. But that
was okay. Because, as he looked at the crucifix, at his mom smiling
next to him, and at his own hands, he had something better than
confidence, he had hope.

* * * * *

The Christmas tree in the corner of the
Laudners' living room was the biggest fraser fir Jacob or his mom
had ever seen. They'd helped to decorate it with red and gold glass
balls of various sizes. Clear glass icicles dangled from the
branches behind silver snowflake garland. Early Christmas morning,
Uncle John had finished the tree by laying fresh red poinsettia
flowers on the branches.

Jacob's favorite part was the angel on the
top, which looked nothing at all like Gideon. When there was no one
else in the room, he and his mom laughed about how the flowing
blonde locks looked more like a Watcher than an Angel. He
understood now that the reason Dr. Silva had looked so much like
Auriel was that they'd borrowed the same image, from the Swedish
woman, in slightly different ways. He wondered what the real Dr.
Silva would look like, if she ever became human.

"This one is from all of us," he said to his
mom, handing her a square package. The Laudners had already opened
their gifts and John and Carolyn were looking on, smiling. Katrina
was home from school but still pouting about having to share a room
with Lilly.

Lilly peeled back the red and gold paper and
pulled the top off the box. Under the tissue was a framed picture
of her and Jacob posing in the front bay window.

"I thought it was about time we added you to
our wall," Uncle John said.

"Thank you John. It's beautiful." She stood
up and gave him and Aunt Carolyn a quick hug. Her eyes were misty
and Jacob knew it wasn't just because she liked the picture. It was
what it represented. Lillian Lau had finally been accepted by the
Laudner family.

Jacob handed her a second gift. "From me,"
he said.

Underneath the gold paper was a scrapbook.
The first several pages were already filled with pictures of Jacob,
Malini and the Laudners with a few of Lilly mixed in.

"So that you can start a new history," he
said, and then leaned over to whisper in her ear, "There's a knife
in the binding."

She glanced down and saw the glint of silver
nestled in the spine. "It's exactly what I wanted Jacob. Thank
you." She hugged him hard. "Now you."

He took the box from her hand and removed
the paper in one rip. As he opened the lid, he saw a watch with
five time zones.

"In case we ever travel," his mom said
smiling and then discreetly motioned to look under the watch. Jacob
didn't take it out but in the bottom of the box was a thin flask
with a strap. It was the kind you could wear around your ankle or
wrist. He knew without checking that it was full of water, he could
hear the hum. With this, he would never be without it.

"Thanks Mom. It's perfect," he said and then
reached for the picture of the two of them. "Let's go hang our
picture."

She was on her feet too quickly and Jacob
hoped the Laudners didn't notice her lightning fast reflexes, but
they were too busy picking through a plate of Christmas cookies.
Jacob followed Lilly up the stairs, only speaking when he was out
of earshot.

"The flask was brilliant, Mom." he said,
hanging the picture on the hook John had made ready on the wall the
night before.

"It's important for you to protect
yourself."

They turned with a start when a sound like a
firecracker came from Jacob's room down the hall. Jacob looked back
at his mom. She placed a finger over her lips and motioned for him
to follow her. Silently, they crept toward the room, his mom
pulling the knife from the binding of the album. Her dark eyes
spoke volumes as she kicked open the door.

Malini stood in the middle of the room
clutching her chest. "Jeez Lilly, I think you stopped my heart."
She was leaning on a thick wooden staff.

"Everything okay up there?" Uncle John
yelled from below.

"Yes, John," Lilly called toward the stairs.
"I just dropped my album."

"How did you get up here?" Jacob asked
Malini, looking at his locked window.

"So, you haven't opened your gift from Dr.
Silva and Gideon?" Malini asked.