Celestials

“Shit.”

That’s the only thing I heard in the dark. Then my body was jostled around and I could feel something moving over my arms.

“Are you okay?” The voice spoke again.

Was this limbo? Isn’t that where you go after you die but before you go to heaven or hell? I should have paid more attention to religion - any religion - when I was alive.

Something touched the back of my head and pain shot through my skull. Involuntarily, I jumped and my eyes flew open. The motion made me stumble, nausea rose in my throat.

“Ow!”

Jude’s dark eyes peered into mine. “Follow my finger.”

He moved his pointer finger in front of me and I followed it with my eyes back and forth as it moved passed my face. My eyes followed but the movement made me more nauseous.

“I don’t think you have a concussion but we’re going to need to watch you for the rest of the day,” he told me.

I looked around and saw…my kitchen?

“Aren’t we dead?” I asked, stupidly. Did limbo come with nausea?

Jude’s eyes hardened. “No.”

“How?” Thoughts weren’t coherent. We were going to die. The Nordic god guy was supposed to kill us. Without thinking about how odd it sounded, I added, “Shouldn’t he stay in Norway?”

“What?” Alarm filled Jude’s voice and eyes. I’m pretty sure he thought I’d lost my mind. Oh, wait, I did.

Shaking my head, I realized too late that was a bad idea. It made me dizzier. “The winged guy,” I tried to explain, “he was like a Nordic god. One who was trying to kill us. Shouldn’t he stay in Norway?”

Jude’s smile filled me up with warmth. “No. But he wasn’t trying to kill you. Just me.”

I stared at him, trying to come up with something witty, clever, or just coherent. “Oh. He had a lightning bolt,” was all I had.

Jude nodded, smiling faintly at my child-like statements. “Yeah and he knows how to use it.”

“How did we get out? We shouldn’t have been able to get out.” I could hear my voice wavering. The shock was wearing off and I was starting to shake. We had almost died.

Jude wrapped his arms around me and rubbed my back. “I…there are things that – I have some things that I can do. Vanishing is one of them.”

“Vanishing?”

He rubbed my back and talked into the top of my head. “Focusing enough energy to move my body willingly from one spot to the next. I vanished from the beach and transported us back here.”

I nodded and then realized that was a bad idea. My head throbbed. Slowly, I lowered my forehead to Jude’s chest and inhaled his comforting scent. The things that were happening were too strange and it was much easier to hide in Jude’s embrace. Even the nausea started dissipating.

“So you have like…superpowers? Like X-Men?” I asked. I was trying to stay calm and not freak out and not throw up, either. God, all of this was so confusing.

I could hear the smile in his answer. “I guess like X-Men, yeah.”

“I don’t want to believe this,” I mumbled.

He lightly chuckled. “I know.”

“But I saw his wings. And his lightning. And we appeared here,” I reasoned with Jude and myself. My brain wasn’t comprehending all I saw or the danger I should know I was in. Instead, my head felt stuffed full of marshmallows.

Reluctantly, I pulled myself out of his embrace. Jude’s dark eyes were watching me with concern. There was nothing I could say. Nothing made any sense. And then I noticed something.

Jude was swaying. It was more like we were holding each other up, than him supporting me. When I looked into his eyes I could see the pain he was concealing. I stepped back and my eyes rushed over his body, looking for what was wrong. When his eyes squeezed shut, I realized it was because my hand had accidentally grabbed onto the spot.

A gash ran the length of Jude’s bicep. It looked like someone had sliced a burning hot poker across his skin. Or maybe a lightning bolt. I shifted myself to get a better look at it. “Why didn’t you say you were hurt?”

He shrugged. “I was a little worried about you passing out on me. Ow!” Jude yelled when I prodded his injury.

The six inch wound smelled like burnt flesh and the edges were charred. The skin around it was red and enflamed. The cut itself oozed blood and something brown and bubbly.

“Sit,” I ordered him, pointing to a chair.

“Rory, I don’t know if you-“

“Sit,” I cut him off. My arms crossed over my chest, ready to wait him out. I have no idea where my sudden strength came from.

He eyed me, clearly seeing the stubborn set of my body. With a groan, Jude carefully lowered himself into a kitchen chair while I went into the mudroom and got the first aid kit.

When I came back he was staring alertly outside.

“What is it?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing. Just making sure we’re alone.”

I nodded, laying out my supplies. “Where are Da and Boreas anyway?”

“There was some problem with something on the boat. Benji came and told us about it. The two of them went to look it over,” he told me through gritted teeth. The pain must be bad.

“Da shouldn’t be out,” I scolded him.

His smiled, well, more of a pained grimace. “Boreas took him in the truck. He’ll be fine. You’re brother is just as overprotective as you are.”

I smiled. Jude was right. Boreas was sometimes worse than I was when it came to Da. Gently, I mopped up the blood and brown oozing that was coming from Jude’s gash. As I took the cloth away smoke rose from the brown stuff, while the ooze hardened and turned black.

“What is this?” I shoved the cloth in Jude’s face.

He grimaced at what I held. “It’s how my body and the lightning react together.”

Unconsciously, my face screwed up in disgust. “What should I do for it?”

Jude looked at his arm and his face paled. Clearing his throat, he answered, “If you could try to get it out…it burns.”

“Burns?” It looked gross but I didn’t imagine it hurt him.

He nodded, going paler. “Like acid.”

Quickly, I tried to wipe as much of the ooze off. The blood had dried and the cut had already started closing. The wound was bumpy, full of acid goo.

I gulped. “To get the rest out, I’m going to have to uh, re-open your cut.”

“Okay.” His voice was strained. The pain was tight in his eyes.

“I-“ I cleared my throat. “I don’t know how…I mean, how do I…” I sighed. “I can’t do this. I’m not a doctor.”

Jude turned to me. His body was rigid with pain. Dark eyes bore into mine, imploring me. “Please, Rory. You have to. Use a razor.”

I nodded, my emotions all over the place. Keep it together, Rory. Getting emotional is not going to help him. Grabbing a razor blade from a drawer, I swabbed it in alcohol.

“Ready?” I asked Jude.

He nodded and then gripped the table. I could see his knuckles turn white as I made the first cautious slit into the closed wound. Careful not to cut too far, I slid the razor the entire six inches. Slowly, the brown ooze hissed out, black smoke releasing from his arm. Jude’s breath released at the same rate as the brown stuff. Quickly, I dropped the razor and caught the flow of ooze with a cloth. As soon as it hit the material it hardened and blackened.

“It’s almost out,” I told him calmly. “But I’m going to have to squeeze the wound to get the rest out.”

“Okay.” A bit a color was returning to his face. That was a good sign. “How does it feel?” I asked when all of the brown stuff was out of his wound.

“Better.” Jude’s grip on the table lightened.

As I dipped cotton balls in rubbing alcohol, I told him, “This is gonna hurt a little bit.”

I swabbed the cut in alcohol. He barely made a noise. I guess this was nothing compared to the burning acid feeling of the ooze. Then I wrapped up his arm in gauze.

“You’re going to have to be careful with this for a while. Don’t want to get it infected,” I instructed.

Jude shrugged. “I heal fast.”

Standing up I started clearing the medical kit, but I saw stars. The room became dim and I could feel myself swaying. I tried to put my hand out to steady myself, but it didn’t connect with anything.

“Rory?” Jude’s voice sounded like it was in a tunnel.

An arm snaked around my waist and my body connected solidly to a strong, warm mass. I could feel Jude’s well muscled thighs beneath my butt. I really needed to start feeling better. Jude had held me in his arms way too often lately and I was beginning to like it.

“I’m fine,” I told him, wanting to get up but I couldn’t. The room was spinning a bit. “Dizzy.”

“What the hell?” Boreas’s voice boomed as he crashed through the door.

“Hello, you two,” Da’s smug, delighted voice carried through my dizziness.

I tried to focus my eyes on them. Boreas looked ready to kill Jude while Da never looked happier. “Relax,” I told both of them. “I was dizzy and Jude caught me before I fell over.”

“You’ve been looking pale and now you’re dizzy? Are ya pregnant?” Da asked.

I shook my head. Terrible idea. It throbbed and my vision swayed. “Only if I’m the Virgin Mary, Da.”

Jude, for some reason, found this funny and started chuckling. It was then I realized I was still sitting on his lap. As delicately as I could, I extricated myself from him. Throwing the gauze back into the medical kit I gently made my way back to the mudroom.

“What’d ya need the kit for?” Da wanted to know.

“My fault,” I lied, returning to Da’s side. “I almost fell but Jude caught me. Unfortunately for him, I’m a load and I knocked him into a nail that scraped him to hell.”

“Why didn’t ya go to the doctor’s?” Da asked.

Jude glared at me, very convincingly I might add. “She wouldn’t let me. Said she was fine. So I figured here was the best place for her. And the cut on my arm isn’t too bad.”

“Rory’s always been stubborn,” Boreas chimed in.

“Okay, enough talking about me like I’m not here,” I told them. “I’m not feeling well, so I’m gonna lay down.”

As I lay on the couch, I heard the three of them talking quietly in the kitchen. Da came out a moment later.

“We’re going to head back to the docks. Don’t worry about supper tonight. We’ll pick something up,” he told me.

“Da,” I struggled to sit without getting too dizzy, “you shouldn’t go back to the docks. You’re back isn’t recovered.”

He nodded. “Boreas took me to the doctor’s while ya were with Margot. He said I didn’t have to stay on bed rest anymore, the whole day anyway. I can do light duty. Besides, ya know yar brother, he won’t let me do anything.”

Boreas took that moment to poke his head in. The wide grin on his face was one he rarely showed, but when he did, it drove women crazy. “I’ll take care of him, Rory. Ya take care of my niece or nephew.”

“Oh my god! I’m not pregnant!” I shrieked and then did the only adult thing I could think of. Took my sneaker off and threw it at him. Unfortunately, Boreas ducked out of the way before it could hit. I could hear him laughing all the way out the door.

Closing my eyes I settled back on the couch. The prickles in my temple started again and I felt like someone was watching me. My eyes flew open, but for once, there was someone standing there.

Jude looked at me, almost nervously. “I’m sorry. The nausea is my fault. Vanishing can make you a bit sick if you’re not prepared for it.”

“Is that why you apologized?” When I opened one eye at him, he nodded. “I thought it was because we were going to die.”

Jude’s voice lowered, anger laced through it. “And why didn’t you tell them about your head? You might have a concussion.”

“You said I didn’t have one,” I mumbled, my eyes closed again. It would be great if he would leave me alone to wallow in my own misery and confusion.

“I don’t think so, but your actual dizziness is making me nervous. Don’t go to sleep,” he ordered. “Otherwise you have to be woken up every 45 minutes.”

I peered at him through one eye. “Both times I’ve fallen asleep in the past twenty-four hours, I’ve had nightmares. I’m not going to be falling asleep anytime soon.”

Jude nodded and then turned to go. When he got to the doorway, he looked back at me. “I’m afraid to leave you here alone.”

“Da will be coming back shortly.”

Jude sighed. “He can’t protect you.”

My eyes flew open in alarm and I sat up, the dizziness making me sway. “You mean the winged man? You think he’d come here?”

“They won’t hurt you, Rory. They want you but not to harm you. But now that they’ve seen you with me, they’ll be worried.”

“What do you mean?” He was being cryptic and annoying.

“Jude!” Boreas yelled from outside. He probably thought we were making clandestine plans.

“Just don’t leave the house and don’t go to sleep!” Jude hissed and walked out of the living room.

The man was frustratingly short on information. There was some creepy guy with wings who shoots lightning bolts after me. Jude knew who and what he was – he called the guy by name. So why wasn’t he offering up the information?

And why did they want me? I was nothing special – just a fisherman’s daughter who worked as a journalist for an online paper. There was nothing out of the ordinary about me.

Well, almost nothing. Just what happened with my mom, but I didn’t think anyone would want me because of that. Most people ran when they heard about that.

The tinny sound of “Yellow Submarine” floated across the room. I couldn’t help but smile. Sarah, a coworker of mine, had programmed that as my cell phone ring when she realized my father was a fisherman. I grabbed the cell, seeing a strange number.

“Hello?”

“Are you sleeping?” a male voice asked. I knew that voice.

“Jude?” He was just here, why was he calling me?

“Did you fall asleep?” he demanded.

“No.” His concern was sweet and completely exasperating.

“Good. I’ll be calling every forty-five minutes.”

“That’s fine, but I don’t know what you’re gonna do when I go to sleep tonight,” I taunted him and then hung up.

True to his word, Jude called every forty-five minutes until they got off of work. He was always terse and slightly annoyed with me. When Da came back, he insisted that we order pizza since I wouldn’t be up for cooking. Because my head throbbed, I didn’t argue with him.

Da, Benji, Jude, Boreas, and I ate dinner quietly. I still wasn’t myself and I couldn’t help but notice the glares Boreas threw at Jude and me. Apparently, he still suspected something was up. I mean, it was, but not quite the romantic tryst Boreas had in mind.

When everyone settled themselves in the living room to watch the Mariner’s game, Jude managed to situate himself next to me. Da couldn’t have been happier and Boreas couldn’t have been more murderous. I was inclined to be on Boreas’ side, especially when Jude pinched me every time I started to nod off. The man was determined to keep me awake.

I returned to my room after changing into pajamas and brushing my teeth. The hair on the back of my neck prickled and I could tell something wasn’t right.

Cautiously, I walked farther into the room. Everything seemed normal. The clothes I wore earlier were in a pile on the floor, my bed was neatly made, and my sneakers and purse lay haphazardly near my desk. There was a slight breeze blowing the curtains gently.

I never opened my window.

My heart jumped in my throat and I looked wildly for an intruder. My temples prickled. Did Uriel finally come to get me? Cautiously, I looked under my bed and in my closet. They were both clear of intruders. My desk! I snuck quietly to my desk and poked my head under it. No one.

“What are you doing?” a hushed voice asked.

I spun around looking for the source of it. No one was there. A deep chuckle met my ears.

“Looking for someone?” the voice asked again. It sounded like it was coming from outside.

I ran to the window and peered out, dark eyes meeting mine. I almost screamed until I realized it was Jude sitting in the tree outside my window.

“What are you doing?” I hissed.

He shrugged like sitting in trees outside women’s windows was something normal. “I was worried about your concussion…and everything.” The last word was weighted with importance. Then he quickly added, “I was going to come in but I was afraid I was going to scare you.”

“Come in?” I screeched as quietly as I could. “You can’t come in.”

He moved toward my window. “Someone needs to make sure that you wake up every forty-five minutes and since you didn’t tell anyone about your head, that responsibility falls to me.”

I shook my head and it throbbed, reminding me that Jude was right. “No. It doesn’t. I’ll set my alarm.”

“And if you fall into a coma?”

“Then you won’t be able to wake me up anyway,” I retorted.

Jude sighed and moved closer, his hands on my window sill. “I’m not going to molest you, if that’s what you’re worried about. I told you-“

“I know,” I cut him off. “You’re trying to protect me. The thing I don’t understand is from what. And why? You don’t owe me anything.”

He sighed again, sadness crossing his features. Suddenly, he looked weary of the world. I fought the urge to take him in my arms. “I’m protecting you from the beings who want you. And I’m doing it because I made a promise to myself. That’s all you need to know.”

I cleared the empathy that was constricting my throat. His sadness was palpable. “A promise to protect me?”

The corner of Jude’s mouth lifted in a half-hearted smile. “Not you precisely. Just a promise to redeem myself for something I did in my past. This is one way to do it.”

I sat back on the edge of my bed, memories of my mother assaulting me. “I know how that feels.”

His eyes snapped up and met mine, an understanding passed between us. Cautiously, Jude climbed through the window and then sat on the floor beneath it. His whole body slumped with defeat and weariness. We were quiet for a moment and then his dark eyes met mine.

“Do you mean your mom?” Jude’s voice was quiet and probing.

I nodded, not trusting myself with words.

“What happened?”

This time I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I told him, tears threatening to spill over. Never let them see you cry. Being home made the wound of the tragedy fresh all over again. Bitterness laced through my voice as I continued. “I’m sure that anyone in town will be willing to tell you what happened.”

Jude nodded and then crawled toward me. Gently, he put his hands on the bed lightly grasping mine. “I heard the rumors when I first started working for your Da and Boreas. I want to hear the truth, from you.”

I shook my head again. Tears pooled in my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. “It doesn’t matter. People believe what they want to believe.” My voice shook. Why was he doing this? Tearing me open?

His warm hands held mine tighter. “I need to hear it from you. I think it will help us understand why they want you.”

I shook his hands off me. “That doesn’t make any sense. Besides, you keep telling me people want me, but what you haven’t explained is who these people are. If they are even people.”

Jude moved back to sitting under the window. I slid down the bed so we were sitting across from each other. “What makes you say they aren’t people?”

I glared at him. Did he think I was a complete idiot? “Jude, the guy has wings and shoots lightning bolts. I know that I haven’t exactly been the world’s most sane person lately, but even I know that makes you more than human. And as much as I’d like to believe I hallucinated that too, you were there corroborating my story.”

Jude’s headed lifted, his whole body more alert. “What do you mean you haven’t been sane and you’ve been hallucinating? What’s going on?”

“Why don’t you tell me what the hell is chasing me first?” I challenged him.

“Because it’s all interconnected, I think.” Like that really helps me make any sense of anything.

I crossed my arms and did my best surly teenager imitation. I pinned him with my eyes. “Tell me what is chasing me.”

Jude sighed. “I can’t. Look, it’s not that I don’t want to. I physically can’t. It’s what amounts to a gag order. This ensures you make the ‘most pure choice’.”

“The most pure choice? Is someone’s virginity involved or something? What does that even mean?” This was exasperating.

“I know. I know none of this makes sense. Even less this time. If they don’t want anyone to talk about it, I don’t understand why the a-“ His words cut off and it sounded like someone was strangling him. With a glare to the sky, Jude cleared his throat and continued. “I don’t understand why anyone showed themselves to you.”

Wait. Was he trying to tell me something? I sat up straighter. “Okay, what I’ve got so far is that inhuman things that have wings and shoot lightning bolts are after me. They don’t want to kill me, but they do want to kill you.” I looked to Jude and he nodded. “I have to make…some sort of choice. Which I don’t get, but you probably can’t tell me that either because of the gag order?”

“Right.”

I nodded and strained my memory. What else had I learned from meeting with Uriel? “Uriel is one of the people after me and it seems like he works for someone named Micaela. She doesn’t like you, I gather.”

He smiled ruefully at me. “Not really. It seems I get in her way a lot.”

“Hmm,” I nodded distractedly. “And the dreams I’m having? The one with my mom and the other-?” My hand reached up to the bite mark on my neck. “Are they really dreams?”

“I don’t know.” Jude sounded sad, almost defeated. “This isn’t supposed to happen.” His eyes brightened. “Which means I may be able to talk about it. Dreams about this stuff are normal, but what you’re doing, it’s not normal.”

I inched closer to him. “What do you mean?”

“You haven’t been dreaming about…the places you’ve been,” he said carefully. “You’ve been projecting yourself there. Your anima has been there, which is why you’re so exhausted. You’re body is using a lot of energy to get to those places and keep you there.”

“How? I’m not trying to do it. I don’t even know what those places are,” I told him.

He nodded. “That’s what is so strange. You shouldn’t be able to do it and certainly not with such limited knowledge.”

This was crazy. I actually projected myself into the place where my mother was. Part of me was excited because it might mean I could do it and see her whenever I wanted. The other part was scared because she seemed frightened for me when I was there. And what about the other place? Fiery, dark one? I didn’t want to go back there. Wait, just a minute.

“You were there. In my dream of the fiery place. You woke me up. That’s how I got the bite!” Then something struck me. “Is that even possible?”

“Yes.” Jude looked guilty at his admission. “That’s why it’s dangerous for you to be there. If something happens to your anima, it will happen to your body here. So if you get killed or hurt there, it will really happen to you.”

Could this get any stranger? I wanted to disprove everything that Jude said. My mind tried to come up with brilliant, logical arguments that would make everything he said untrue. However, I couldn’t. I have the bite marks and he has the lightning bolt gash to prove it.

Hold on. The winged people my mother was with were after me and I visited them in my dreams. The first place I went though, was the fiery cavern with the bat people. Crap, crap, crap this was bad.

“Jude. Are the fiery bat creatures after me too?” I asked him, pointedly.

His brows drew together in confusion. “Fiery bat creatures?”

God, was he not getting anything today? “When I saw you in my dream, we were in a cavern with fires everywhere. The people there had bat-like wings.”

He smiled slightly. “Ah, fiery bat creatures.”

“Yes.” Sometimes he was exasperating. Then, I gulped. “Are they after me too?”

He nodded. I was guessing he couldn’t say any more. Stupid gag order. Then another thought struck me.

“Is there anyone else I need to worry about?” Please, say no. Please, say no.

It was like he caught my thoughts, because he smiled. Or maybe he was just laughing at the panic in my voice. “No. That’s it.”

We sat in silence for a moment, both lost in thought. Finally, Jude looked up at me, a lock of dark hair falling in his eyes. Impatiently, he pushed it away.

“Can you tell me about why you think you’re crazy and what you’re hallucinating?” His voice was soft, completely undemanding. I wanted to take him into my closet and hide from the rest of the world like two little kids.

Instead, I told him about the prickle sensation and seeing visions of wings. When I realized he didn’t think I was crazy, I told him about the voices too. Of course, after all this, why would he think I was insane? He got shot with a lightning bolt.

“You’re not crazy,” Jude told me when I finished up. “It’s a manifestation of…what’s going on.” This time he glared at the floor.

“So what do I do about them?” Maybe there was a superpower thing he had or a spell. Did he have magic? Was this whole thing magical? It didn’t feel like Harry Potter and that was disappointing. “Is this magic?”

Jude smiled again. He was breathtaking when he did that. I tried not to stare, but I couldn’t help it.

“Magic?” He asked, breaking my reverie. “No. And as for what to do about it. Nothing. When you saw the wings it was most likely…beings that were around you. You caught glimpses of them. The voices are the same thing, though you shouldn’t be able to hear the beings’ thoughts.”

“So I’m picking up on their wavelengths? Are they telepathic?” I asked.

He nodded. “Only with each other though. Not normally with anyone else and not with - fiery bat people cannot communicate with Nordic gods,” he explained using my descriptions.

“Okay. So what about the prickly thing in my temples. Sometimes it’s worse and spreads and then throbs or becomes excruciating.” Unconsciously, my hand ran to my temple.

“It’s because you’re sensing when others are around – strongly. It should be that you can sense it, like when you think you’re being followed, it’s a gut instinct. Yours seems to manifest itself more strongly.” Jude was beginning to look uncomfortable with the whole situation. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was telling me too much or couldn’t tell me enough. Or maybe because he kept saying that I was different than he expected.

“I always feel it around you though,” I accused him. Guilt showed itself in his eyes. “Except right now.”

It wasn’t the prickle I was feeling, nor was it the electric sensation of when we touched. I was feeling something different right now. Like something was reaching out to me and I was reaching back.

Jude sighed. “I’m…different. They just refer to me as ‘Alone’ or unattached, but I’m part of their world.”

Part of their world? I inched back towards my bed. Was he here to take me for his own purposes?

Jude must have caught the alarm in my eyes. “Not like that. I’m in their world, I know what it is, but I’m not after you.” He sighed. “I’m trying to protect you from them.”

“Oh.” At this point, I had to believe him. He hadn’t tried to kill me with anything. Even with a gag order he was trying to answer all my questions and explain what he could. Either that or he was an exceptional liar.

I inched closer until I was kneeling in the open V of his legs. My blue eyes were on the same level as his dark ones. I tried to find the lie in them. He must have known what I was doing because Jude just let me stare. I couldn’t see any untruths.

“Do you swear to me that you are telling the truth and you won’t hurt me?” I asked, not blinking.

Jude didn’t look away. “I swear to Jesus,” for some reason that name took on an importance I didn’t understand. He didn’t seem overly religious. “That I am telling you the truth as best I can with the gag order and that I will not hurt you or let anyone else hurt you.”

I nodded. I didn’t know why but the intensity and sincerity in his voice brought tears to my eyes. Choking them back, I moved over his leg and sat beside him against the wall. The day finally caught up to me because I felt myself drifting off.

“I’ll wake you every forty-five minutes,” Jude told me.

“Don’t have concussion,” I sleepily mumbled back. My mind started floating off into dreamland. Before I succumbed I thought I heard him whisper to me.

“I will die before I let anyone hurt you. The bastards who want to use you, don’t see how special you are.”