Celestials

I opened my eyes and I was in paradise. A sandy beach stretched before me with a cool breeze sweeping off the aquamarine water. Palm trees lined the beach. The blue sky was dotted with perfect white clouds that never seemed to mar the shore and the sun shone brightly. It was strong enough to lightly warm the skin but not bright enough that I wanted to put sunglasses on. Strange.

It was then I realized I was floating in paradise. Not really floating, but being escorted by the Oracle’s two messengers. They each had one of my arms and my body floated a few inches over the sandy beach. When we got to the tree line they stopped in front of a path cut through the palm trees.

The two beings set me gently on my feet and then motioned me forward with a sweep of their indistinct blue arms. Slowly, I walked forward trying to get my legs comfortable. I did notice the pain was gone. Quickly, I looked down. My body was still tearing but something in this place made me unable to feel it. For that, I was grateful.

I walked slowly down the path taking in the beauty. Trees and plants dotted with bright, beautiful tropical flowers were scattered along the edge of the path. When I turned, I noticed there was a group of chairs that looked like they were carved from a natural rock that had sprung up on the island. It was cushioned with the softest material I had ever felt. Fruit trees of all different varieties stretched overhead, but there weren’t any leaves or rotten fruit littering the ground. This place truly was perfection. I wanted to stop, but something compelled me to keep moving.

As I continued on I noticed there were many more “rooms” like the last one. Rudimentary furniture carved out of natural rocks or trees with soft cushions on them. These rooms were separated by trees or flowering shrubs and occasionally a sheer curtain or vine curtain. The place was incredible and amazingly beautiful, but I had to wonder what happened when it rained.

“It never rains unless I want it to,” an elderly female voice spoke to me. “And if it does, the rain slides off your skin and everything else as if it never rained.”

From behind a bush covered in bright, pink flowers an elderly woman emerged. Her body was sagging a bit, but strong. Her waist was thick with age and lead up to the remnants of what had once been large breasts. Stick thin legs emerged from her dress and matched thin arms that lead to delicate wrists. Her hands were strong and capable with tapered fingers that played with one of the pink buds. She wore a simple loose caftan in red and had a matching red bandana in her salt and pepper hair curled small and tightly on her head. Her wrinkled face bore a wide, bright smile that lit up her whole face. Her blue eyes twinkled with mischief. If I had to pick out someone to be my grandmother, it would have been this woman.

I stopped and couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face. An instant feeling of warmth and love washed over me.

“I’m-“

“I know who you are,” the woman said.

“And you are The Oracle,” I said more confidently than I felt. I wasn’t sure if I should shake her hand or curtsy. I settled for a polite nod in her direction, which sent her cackling.

“Calm, child. Do not fear or revere me. I am just me, as you are just you.”

I nodded. “What do I call you?”

The Oracle glanced down at herself and smiled as if she had a secret. “Perhaps you can just call me Grandma or Grandmother.” Then she looked closely at me. It was like she was looking into my soul, pulling out things even I didn’t know were in there. “Or Nanie perhaps. That suits me now, doesn’t it?”

I swallowed. How did she know? Both my father’s parents had died before my brother and I were born. My grandfather on my Mom’s side had passed away when she was young. The only grandparent Boreas and I had was my grandmother on my Mom’s side. She died when I was two, but we had always called her ‘Nanie’. Now that I think about it, the woman standing before me could have passed for her twin. At least, she looked a lot like the photos my Da and Mom had.

“It does,” I told The Oracle.

She chuckled again. “When people see me, they see what they want to see. What they think an Oracle should be.” She looked down at herself again. “You saw me as a wise and caring older woman. Just how you imagined your grandmother would have been.”

I smiled shyly. She was exactly right. “So what do you really look like?”

The Oracle shrugged. “Some things are better left for another time.” With that she turned and beckoned me to follow. She was surprisingly quick for an old woman. But she wasn’t. She was…well, I don’t know what she was but it wasn’t an old woman.

She led me to an area where there were some more rock chairs. The Oracle settled lightly into one, while I gratefully sank into its comforting depths. I know I should have been more tired than I was. This place just made me feel pleasant. I sat awkwardly, unsure what I should say. Should I ask her why I was here or what I was supposed to do? Should I ask why I couldn’t ask what she really looked like? Should I just wait for her to start talking?

“My, your thoughts are moving quickly,” she chuckled. My thoughts? She can read my mind? “Yes,” The Oracle answered.

“Oh,” I told her. Not that I needed to speak out loud. God, this was weird. Oh my god, am I allowed to say…er, think the Lord’s name in vain around here.

The Oracle cackled again. “You fear you will do the wrong thing. I do not offend so easily.” She cackled again. “But, my, you are amusing. Please feel free to think and say whatever you must. I am not easily offended. If there are things I cannot or chose not to tell you, I will not answer.”

“Oh,” I said again. Yup, I’m great under pressure. “Uh…so can you tell me how I can fix the mess I made?”

The Oracle smiled sadly. “No.” My disappointment must be evident because she continued. “I cannot guide you to choose one side or the other. It is not my place. These rules were put in place long ago, at a time when they were needed.”

“Great,” I mumbled and then realized I was probably insulting the person who created this whole war situation.

The Oracle smiled at me. “Do not fear you will offend me. I did not create this situation entirely. Remember, angels and demons are only humans who have passed on to a different life. They still carry bias and opinions with them.”

I smiled genuinely for the first time. “That is something I’m beginning to figure out.”

She patted my hand in a grandmotherly way. “Like humans they add their biases and opinions to the words they interpret. Religious rules are humans’ interpretations of what has been passed down to them. That is the same with this war.”

I scrunched my brow trying to focus on what she was saying. “So you’re saying that this war between them grew from them wrongly interpreting a message or prophecy that you sent down to them.”

She shook her head. “Not wrongly. Things are rarely interpreted wrongly.” Okay. This was confusing. But then she continued, “But there are many ways to interpret things. This war is started from a prophecy I passed down and was interpreted one way. That interpretation was voiced strongly and spread until it eventually no one argued with it. At that point, it is accepted almost like a rule or a law. It doesn’t mean it is the only way to interpret the prophecy.”

“So I can find a way out of this….I just have to figure out how to interpret the prophecy differently?” I asked.

She smiled. “Just know that what they are saying…it is not the only way to solve this.”

I nodded. So there was another way out. I just had to find it. I had to find it before my body gave out and destroyed itself. Great. No pressure there.

“You are stronger than you know. You have survived many things.” Then her eyes twinkled simultaneously with mischief and a little sadness. “And you have strong allies.”

“You mean Jude?” I asked. And then quickly added, “And Marco, Tanaka, Jerrick, and Willa.”

The Oracle smiled knowingly. “Yes.”

“Is that why you brought me here? To tell me that there is another way out of the prophecy than starting a war?” I asked hopefully. Think Rory. There is a way out of this.

“That was part of the reason.” She patted my cheek and looked deeply into my eyes. “You are lonely.”

I sighed. “It sort of doesn’t make sense to get close to anyone with my impending death.” God, she wasn’t trying to get me to have sex too was she? Even the freakin’ Oracle was trying to butt in on my lack of love life.

The Oracle cackled again. Ooops. Forgot about that whole mind reading thing. “Even before you discovered what you were, you were always lonely. You didn’t want to let others in, afraid they would turn away from you, judge you.”

I shrugged. I mean, really, what else could I do? She was right. I knew she was right. But it’s kind of hard to let someone in when everyone else in your life has made fun of you for your past. Most new people don’t take a shine to someone the town suspects of murdering her own mother. And how does one start that conversation off anyway? Better just to leave it alone.

The Oracle patted my hand again. “Perhaps there is some truth to your thoughts. However, there are those who will not judge you. Who will take your sadness and wrap it in a blanket of their joy. They will want to protect your heart, not break it.”

“I know,” I nodded, as if I believed that were true. Da, Boreas, Margot – they were that type of person.

“Only those three?” The Oracle asked. Really, why did everyone in my life recently have some sort of mind reading ability? It was frustrating. “Because perhaps it is time you stopped hiding yourself from everyone,” The Oracle answered my unspoken question.

“Maybe.” Don’t think anything, Rory. Don’t think anything.

The Oracle let out another cackle. “You will find your answer in opening your heart, my dear.”

I was taken aback. “If I open myself up to people, that is going to solve my whole trying-not-to-start-an-otherwordly-war-that-will-ravage-human-life?”

She smiled. “Not quite so literally, dear. However, keep it in mind when you are trying to interpret the prophecy a different way.”

I nodded. At the very least, I needed to take what she said into consideration. It didn’t completely make sense but I imagine it would when the time was right. I just hope I had the time to figure it out. I wonder if she could tell me how long that timeline would be. Did I even want to know? I wasn’t sure. I knew I was dying and fairly soon. Did I want to know exactly when?

“I cannot tell you exactly, child, but I can give you some insight if you really want to know.” Again she patted my hand, her skin soft and worn like a familiar, old blanket.

“I just…I don’t need specifics. But I guess…I need to know when the end will be near. I have to figure it out before then,” I told her.

She smiled with understanding. “Your body will let you know. It will start deteriorating more rapidly. You will see more marks and lose weight. Your strength will be very poor and you will be in a lot of pain. Any pain medication will make the tearing move forward more quickly. I am sorry.”

I nodded. It sounded awful. “And that’s how I’ll know the end is very close?”

She patted my hand again. “Yes, child. I have faith you will figure it out before that. You have a strong ally on your side. Let him be all that he can be to you.”

I tilted my head and looked at her. “Can I ask you something?”

“You may ask me anything. It doesn’t mean I will answer.”

“Right. Okay,” I started, gathering my thoughts. I’m not sure where this random thought came from but I figured I would ask anyway. “Do you know what happened to Jesus? I mean, Gabe said he was missing for like two thousand years and Jude may have something to do with it.”

The Oracle visibly paled. Did I ask something wrong? “Not wrong, child,” she recovered quickly. “Just unexpected. I did not realize that is what was thought. Jude was not responsible for Jesus’ leaving. There were other factors. There is no reason for you to fear for Jude’s safety.”

“I always do,” I told her without thinking. When she caught my wide-eyed surprise at myself The Oracle gave me another one of her signature laughs.

“It is as I suspected, child. There is no shame in feeling as you do for someone else.”

I sighed. “It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t feel that way and besides, even if he did, it still wouldn’t matter. He’s a demon or the Incomitatus at any rate. It’s not like we can have a life together.”

“Perhaps not as you imagine it now,” she consoled me, patting my hand. “However, even you must realize that once your earthly life expires your anima will go somewhere. No matter what you become, Jude could be with you. You have friends that have crossed the lines of difference, have you not?”

I nodded. What she said made sense, but there was still the matter of Jude’s innocence. Oh, and me not being able to have sex with him, or dying until I figure a way out of this little world war problem. “Thanks,” I told her. Then I looked around, searching for something else to think about. It’s tiresome to always think about my impending doom. “Does it always look like this here? It’s perfect.”

“It is whatever I want it to be. Today, I thought this would calm you,” she answered me.

I smiled. “It worked. It’s very peaceful here.” Then I looked back at her. “What do you like it to look like?’

She patted my hand again and then stood up. “It is dependent on my mood. However, I do like the wintertime.”

With a wave of her hand all of the greenery was gone and was replaced by bare trees and bushes. Normally, it would look sad and ugly, but these bare branches were encased in ice. It lent a magical feel to the place, everything sparkling in icy wonder. Suddenly, it started snowing in fat, heavy flakes. It took me a moment to realize I wasn’t cold, even standing in my pajamas.

The snow that touched and melted on my arm was like tepid bath water. The snow then slid off and nothing soaked my clothes. Even the wind that blew the rapidly falling flakes around me was warm. I was suddenly in a beautiful, winter wonderland but not cold or wet at all.

I turned in a circle, my arms outstretched and my mouth smiling widely.

“This is amazing!” I told The Oracle.

Her bright smile was my only reply. I wanted to run around like a little kid and play in the snow – jump in the windswept piles that had already built up. When I picked up a handful of snow, it had the same icy consistency as normal snow, it just wasn’t cold or wet.

Suddenly, a snowball hit my arm. When I looked up The Oracle was smiling at me mischievously. For a moment, I wondered if it was allowed to have a snowball fight with such a powerful being. The challenging look The Oracle gave me was all the encouragement I needed.

I grabbed some snow and formed a ball, aiming perfectly at her arm. She smiled at me after I hit her.

“You can do better than that, Rory. I have seen the damage you did to the angelus and everto that attacked you,” she told me.

I shrugged. If she wanted a full scale snowball fight, it was on. A splat on the front of my shirt broke me from my reverie. This time the snowball stayed wet and melted into my shirt. It felt like being hit by refreshing rain on a warm summer day.

I dove behind one of the chairs and gathered a ball, aiming it at The Oracle’s leg. She moved quickly behind the couch she had been sitting on, but my snowball hit its mark.

We played like little kids for awhile; running in between furniture and trees, trying to avoid getting hit. By the time we were done playing, both of us were soaked. My pajamas clung to me and my hair was hanging around my face in bedraggled clumps. I hadn’t laughed so hard or had so much fun in a long while.

The Oracle approached me solemnly from behind a newly blooming bush. The snow was quickly melting and fresh blossoms were appearing on the trees and bushes. It was like watching those fast forward movies in science class about the changing of seasons. I smiled at the new flowers until I noticed the determined set of The Oracle’s face.

“You must return now, child.”

I nodded. I knew I couldn’t stay up here forever – wherever here was. “Thank you.” When she looked at me quizzically I replied. “I haven’t had that much fun – uninhibited, not thinking any serious thoughts, fun – in a really long time.”

She cackled her now familiar laugh. “My dear, it was fun for me also. I don’t receive many visitors.”

Without properly thinking about it, I reached over and hugged her. “I’m going to do my best to fix this. Thank you for everything.”

“This burden would not have been put on your shoulders if you weren’t strong enough to survive it and smart enough to find the best outcome,” she told me, hugging me back tightly.

Suddenly, the two wispy messengers were back and motioning me to follow them. I did, looking back at The Oracle the whole time. For a moment, I thought I saw her as a flash of someone else. It must have been the trick of the light.

“Rory!” she called softly. I stopped and turned. “Tell Jude to forgive himself for what he thinks he did.”

I nodded. We both knew Jude was living with something he needed to atone for. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I’m pretty sure The Oracle did.

“I will,” I told her. I’m not sure how much weight it would hold for Jude. He was pretty self-sacrificing.

The Oracle cackled. “I knew you would be good for him. You see him already. Tell him that I told you, the one he thinks he has aggrieved forgave him long ago. There was nothing to ever forgive.”

I nodded, trying to commit this all to memory. “I will,” I promised.

The next thing I knew the two wispy messengers were grabbing my arms. We floated up toward the sun. It wasn’t hot, just so bright I had to shut my eyes tightly from blinding myself. Moments later I felt a familiar pain radiate down my torso. We must be back in heaven because my body was ripping itself apart again.

I tried to breathe through it and open my eyes. The messengers floated me out of the beacon of light.

Wait. What was I doing back here? I thought the messengers would take me back home. Or at least to the safe house or something.

A glowing voice orb flowed out of one of the messenger’s mouths. With the voice of The Oracle it said, “They cannot leave the otherworldly plains. You will find your way back.”

I nodded to the messenger like it spoke, knowing full well it didn’t. They deposited me down by the beacon. It was strangely deserted and I wasn’t sure where to go from here.

Wake up! That’s what I needed to do. Wake up! The effort in trying to wake myself up tore down my torso. God, it hurt to breathe.

Great. I wasn’t waking up and everything hurt. I snuck around some of the columns and tried to hide. Not that there was anyone to hide from. Where was everyone?

Small footsteps scampered past me. I peeked around the column and noticed a familiar head of bright red hair.

“Moira!” I hissed.

She stopped and looked hopefully around. I stuck my head out farther from behind the column, trying not to lean any of my injuries on it. Just my pajama top rubbing against them created a burning sensation.

“Rory!” she squealed in her cute Irish accent. She jumped in the air and scurried over to me, throwing her arms around me. “I saw ya come back. I just dinna know when. I knew it had ta be today because I saw ya savin’ Jude. I’ve been lookin’ for ya.”

I pushed Moira away after her hug. It crushed my insides and I was reeling from her news. “Jude?”

She smiled. “He’s come to save ya, Rory. Course, now Micaela has him locked up. No one really knows how he was able to get up here in the first place, ya know?”

I couldn’t even think about the implications of what she was saying. Jude could travel through heaven as well as hell. The angelus must be throwing a fit. Which is probably why they have him locked up. “What are they going to do to him?”

Moira shrugged. “I dinna see that far. You saved him before they could do anything,” she told me.

“How do I do that?” God, breathing hurt. How was I supposed to wrestle him away from a bunch of powerful angels?

She took my hand and started walking me toward a giant cloud. “Ya trade places with him. Offer to be locked up again. Don’t worry. We’ll still get to play. I think.”

Trade places with him? I couldn’t do that. If I trade places with him, I die here. The angels win and earth is in ruins. If I don’t trade places with him, I have a feeling the angels would torture him for all of eternity. It was a compelling reason. God knows I didn’t want him to get hurt. But even he would agree that I needed to save the humans and then figure out how to save him. Of course, The Oracle made it sound like I needed him to do that.

“C’mon,” Moira tugged on my hand.

I almost fell onto the floor. Sure, she had angelic strength but my body was weakened from the tearing. I gasped as the pain shot through me.

“Ya’re sick,” Moira reminded herself. “Let me help ya.”

Her small, right arm grasped me around my waist, while her left hand held my right. The small amount of support was what I needed to keep myself moving.

“Thanks, Moira.”

I could feel her shrug against my hip. “Ya’re my friend.”

We walked toward a towering cloud structure. It looked like a billowing, mountainous cloud. As we approached I saw it had two columns in front of an opening in the base, where a sheer curtain obscured the entrance. The two of us hobbled through the curtain and I gasped.

It was a giant, heavenly gladiator arena. The stadium was filled with angels – it must have been all of the angels in heaven. In the center of the arena on the soft, cushiony ground stood a cage. Inside, Jude glared angrily out at the audience. Striding menacingly toward him were Uriel and Gabe. They couldn’t keep the arrogant and devious smiles from their faces. They were going to inflict some torture on Jude and they were going to enjoy it.

“Wait!” I shouted, leaning heavily on Moira.

Thousands of eyes turned towards me. Their anger was like a thousand knives stabbing me. However, there was only one dark pair I was concerned with and they were frightened and alarmed. Shit, Jude was scared for me. I could feel it. This was bad. Maybe Moira had tricked me. There was no way Jude and I would survive this.