Judgment (The Alternate Earth Series, Book 3) (20 page)

“He just wants us all to be together,” Mason replies, either not saying the real reason or thinking he’s hiding it from me.

“He’s not dying,” I say resolutely. “We’ll find the dagger and take Gabriel back with us to our reality. It’s a sound plan. It’ll work.”

“I hope so,” Mason says as he stands back up.

“You don’t sound very confident.” I can’t help but sound defensive.

Mason looks into my eyes. “I think you need to be prepared for a worst-case scenario here, Jess. Don’t get your hopes up too high that your plan will work.”

“Why?” I have to ask.

Mason sighs, lowering his head and rubbing his temples. “I don’t think Lucian is stupid enough to have kept the dagger. My guess is that he either found a way to destroy it or hid it in Hell, in a place no one else will be able to reach it.” Mason lowers his hand, and looks at me with a pained expression. “I’m sorry, but that’s what I think.”

I shake my head in denial, even if Mason’s reasoning makes perfect sense.

“I refuse to believe that until I know for sure.”

“I know,” he says understandingly. “We have a lot to do before a decision needs to be made. But, Jess…you need to follow Gabe’s wishes when the time comes. Don’t make this any harder for him.”

I don’t say anything for a few seconds because I’m still not ready to give up hope that we’ll be able to save Gabe from what he believes is his fate.

“I won’t,” I promise Mason. “I’ll support him. You know I will.”

Mason leans in and kisses me lightly on the lips. “I do know you will.”

“I feel like killing something,” I tell him, feeling depressed and angry all at the same time. “Might as well be leviathans.”

For four days, we hunt down and kill as many leviathans as we can. By the fifth day, the group of Watchers Andre set up to scout out their locations returns with no new sightings to report.

“Do you think we got them all?” I ask Mason as we sit together on the couch in the library. I feel completely exhausted as I lean up against him, my eyes closed. None of us has slept or eaten much in the past four days, and I feel more desperate for sleep than nourishment.

“I’m not sure,” Mason replies truthfully. “The portal to Hell is closed now so, if there are any left, they’re trapped here and hiding.”

“I don’t like leaving things unfinished.”

“There’s no way of knowing where they might be, Jess, unless they decide to show themselves. Andre said his Watchers will continue to search for them until we leave.”

Without thinking, I reach up and grab hold of the locket with my babies’ pictures. Their smiling faces project inside my tired mind, beckoning me to come back home to them.

“Hey, you two, got a minute?”

I open my eyes and see Gabe walk into the room.

“Always, Gabe,” Mason replies as we both sit up straighter. “What’s up?”

“I figured that, since you guys are through traipsing around the world, we can all have supper together tonight.”

“Absolutely,” Mason tells our friend. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Nah.” Gabe waves a hand in the air. “Malcolm and Rafe are doing most of the cooking. Honestly, it’s not going to be anything fancy. We don’t want to waste what little food there is here. So don’t expect a gourmet meal or anything.”

“You’re sure there’s nothing we can do?” I ask, wanting to help in some way.

“Nope, just bring yourselves…and try to smile,” Gabe tells me with a wink.

I smile weakly because that’s all I can muster through my tiredness.

“I don’t suppose you’ve seen Nina today?” I ask, knowing she’s been phasing to the wharf in New York City at least twice a day, checking to see if Sophia has left any word about the dagger. I was beginning to wonder if our message even reached Sophia, or if we had her pegged all wrong. Could she truly be working with Lucian and the others now? I don’t think so. I still believe she went back to them to prove herself to us somehow. Of course, I might be totally wrong, but I don’t think so.

“Yes, I’ve seen her,” Gabe tells us. “Still no word from Sophia. I’ve been checking.”

Of course he has been. Sophia’s response might very well determine his fate.

“Anyway,” Gabe says, “we’ll have supper ready in about three hours. I thought you might want to get some sleep first.”

“Thanks,” I say through a yawn, unable to stop myself after being reminded how exhausted I am.

“Why don’t you take your wife to bed, Mason,” Gabe suggests with a smile. “It looks like saving the world has taken its toll on her.”

Mason stands up. “It has, and I will.”

Before I can react, Mason scoops me up off the couch and into his arms, making me giggle from the surprise.

“I’ll see you two later,” Gabe says right before Mason phases me to our room.

Mason joins me on our bed and lets me fall asleep in his arms.

After I wake up, my husband makes sure that I’m as clean as a whistle, by joining me for a long shower that relaxes my body and soul. Mason has always been able to do that even with just a single touch or kind word. Even a loving glance in my direction has been known to make me go weak in the knees.

When we go downstairs to the kitchen, we’re welcomed by the laughter of our friends. It’s a sound that, for just a moment, makes me forget about the troubles of this world and so very thankful for everything I have. Life is meant to be composed of these small, intimate moments with those you love. They help you realize just how precious life is, and how important the people are who you choose to walk with down its path.

All of my friends are just beginning to sit down at the table when we walk into the room.

Gabe is pulling out a chair for JoJo. She gives him a kiss on the cheek for his kindness before taking her seat. Malcolm brings over bowls of his famous potato soup while Rafe carries a plate full of made-from-scratch yeast rolls.

“I can’t take credit for the rolls,” Rafe tells everyone. “Beau made the dough. I just baked them.”

“They smell delicious,” I say, taking a seat across from JoJo. “Either that or I’m starving.”

“Probably a little bit of both,” Mason tells me as he sits down to the right of me.

After we’re all seated, I notice there’s one empty chair left beside Rafe.

“Where’s Nina?” I ask him.

“She had to run a quick errand first,” he tells me, not elaborating any further.

I immediately assume Nina’s errand has to deal with waiting on a message from Sophia, but it turns out that I’m completely wrong in my assumption.

When Nina walks into the room with a bouquet of red and yellow roses, I’m taken off guard. I didn’t think things as delicate and beautiful as roses could survive out in the world as it is.

Gabe stands from the table when Nina arrives and walks over to her.

“I want you to know,” she tells him, “these weren’t easy to find.”

“Thank you,” Gabe says gratefully, taking the flowers from her. “It means a lot to me that you found them.”

Gabe walks back to the table with the roses, and hands them to JoJo.

“
Mon dieu
,” JoJo says, her eyes widen in surprise. “What are these for,
mon
amour
?”

“They’re for the most beautiful woman I know in this world,” Gabe says, smiling down at her. His love for JoJo is plainly written on his face for all of us to see.

JoJo giggles and brings the flowers up to her nose to sniff their fragrant aroma.

“Red is, of course, for love,” JoJo says, lightly tracing her index finger over a petal on one of the red roses. “Yellow is for….”

“Friendship,” Gabe fills in, “because you’re not just the love of my life, you’re also my best friend. I want you to know and remember that.”

JoJo looks confused by Gabe’s choice of words but smiles at him anyway.

“Of course I will always know that,” she tells him. “We will always be each other’s best friend. No matter what.”

Gabe leans over and kisses JoJo. “No matter what,” he agrees.

I have to look away from the two of them before I lose it and begin to cry.

“I’m hungry,” I say to everyone. “Let’s eat before all of this gets cold.”

As we start to eat, Gabe reminisces about the very first time we all came together. It was when we called him to us in my living room and saved him from being blown to bits by a bomb in Afghanistan. The miracle made headlines for days, but, like all things, it slowly ebbed to the back of people’s minds, not completely forgotten, but enough to make them stop asking questions.

From there, the conversation seems to naturally take us back through the time we’ve spent together during the past few years, reminding all of us how much we each depend on one another.

“The first thing I’ll do when I get back home is find out whether or not I’m a father,” Zack says.

“I think I’ll finally give Joshua an answer to a question he keeps asking me,” Leah says, glancing up at us, a shy smile playing across her lips.

“Joshua popped the question?” I ask, flabbergasted.

“A few times now,” Leah admits to us all for the first time.

“Why haven’t you said yes yet?” I have to know. It hasn’t been much of a secret that Leah has loved Joshua since the moment she met him.

Leah shrugs her shoulders. “I didn’t want to accept until after we came here. If I didn’t make it back there, I didn’t want Joshua living out the rest of his life waiting for me.”

“You’ll make it back home,” Gabe says with certainty. “You all will.”

“There’s no guarantee about that,” Leah tells him, sounding mature for her years. “We all knew the risks involved in coming here. I couldn’t take the chance that Joshua would spend the rest of his life mourning me. I wanted him to have the freedom to love again.”

“Sometimes in life,” JoJo tells Leah, “there is only one person you are meant to love and share your life with, no matter the circumstances.”

“Maybe,” Leah says, “but it just didn’t feel right to say yes to Joshua when I knew this could be a one-way trip for me.”

“Walking down the street can be a one-way trip for someone, Leah,” Gabe tells her. “Whether you’re here or there, it doesn’t matter. When you get home, I want you to promise me that you’ll live life to the fullest. Don’t hold back because you’re scared of what the future might bring. No one knows how long or how short his or her life might be, so don’t waste a second of it. You hear me?”

Leah nods. “Yes. I understand.”

“Good,” Gabe smiles at our youngest vessel like a proud father. “Always remember to never let fear prevent you from living. Don’t let it win.”

“I won’t,” Leah replies, looking thoughtful over Gabe’s words to her.

JoJo leans up and loops one of her arms through Gabe’s.

“I cannot wait to design your wedding dress,” JoJo croons. “It will be
magnifique
!”

“Could I make one small request?” Leah asks JoJo cautiously. “I’m kind of short. I’m not sure I could pull off a dress as big as the one you made Jess. I think I would like one more like Caylin’s.”

“What?” Mason says, looking over at Leah on the other side of me in mock shock. “You don’t want to look like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man walking down the aisle?”

Leah giggles. “If I could float like Jess, it wouldn’t be a problem. But with my short legs, I would probably end up tripping down the aisle instead.”

“Oh…” JoJo says, waving a hand in the air, like Leah and Mason are over- exaggerating about the girth of the wedding dress she designed for me. “It was not that big.”

“Yes it was,” almost everyone at the table says.

“Ok, I need to see this dress,” Nina says, her curiosity piqued.

“I have pictures on my phone,” Mason tells her.

“Go get it!” Nina urges.

Mason stands and phases up to our room.

His departure seems to bring an official end to our supper, but not necessarily our time together.

“Chandler,” Gabe calls out, standing from the table, “why don’t you play some music for us? I would like to dance with the love of my life this evening.”

“Sure thing,” Chandler says, pulling his trusty flute from his back pocket.

Gabe pulls out JoJo’s chair and leads her to an empty spot in the room. As Chandler begins to play a song, Gabe brings JoJo into his arms and they sway in unison to the flow of the music. He smiles down at her, and she kisses him in return.

I sit and watch the two of them together, realizing how well they fit together. I can remember the first time Gabe confessed his feelings for JoJo to me, and how nervous he was about asking her out on their first date. Anyone looking at them now would think they had been together forever and would stay together for just as long. If I have my way, that last part will come true.

When Mason returns to show Nina my wedding dress, I insert myself into the conversation, discretely asking, “Has there been any word from Sophia?”

Nina shakes her head. “None. I’m planning to go in a few minutes to check, though. I’ve been going four times a day, just to make sure I don’t miss it.”