Ascension (Book 4, The Watcher Chronicles) (19 page)

I smile. “I have to agree with you on that one. It’s pretty wicked.”

JoJo comes to stand with us.

“But where am I?” She asks. “Jophiel doesn’t know where I am either. Surely we need my crown too.”

And then it hits me.

“That’s where I’m leading Lucifer,” I say. “I put my crown on Baal and I must be leading Lucifer to wherever JoJo is.”

“That’s kinda harsh,” Chandler says. “Having JoJo put Michael’s crown on his head.”

“But fitting,” I interject. “I just wish I knew what she and I need to do to make it happen.”

As the vision comes to an end again, we all gather together.

“Does everyone feel comfortable with what their role in the fight is?” Gabe asks us.

“Not me,” I tell him. “Is there anyway you can show us what happens when I take Lucifer away?  That part of the vision just seems to end.”

Gabe looks at Gabriel and I see a silent message pass between them.

“What?” I ask them, sensing something is amiss. “What’s wrong?”

“We can’t seem to access that part of the fight,” Gabriel tells me. “It’s like we’re being blocked from seeing it.”

“Blocked by whom?” I ask, but already have a fair idea what the answer to my question is.

“I would have to presume my father is blocking it,” Gabriel says.

“Why would he do that?” I ask.

“Maybe there is something he’s not ready for you to see yet,” Gabriel replies.

“Let’s not worry about it for now,” Michael suggests. “Let’s watch the fight we can see one more time, just to make sure everyone knows their job.”

I look over at him and can tell he wants to end this conversation for some reason.

I nod. “You’re right,” I say backing him up. “Let’s concentrate on what we do know and can control.”

We actually end up watching the fight three more times.

“Why can’t we see past this point?” I ask Michael. “I still don’t understand how we’re supposed to seal the Tear.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” he says reassuringly, but he can’t fool me. He’s worried about something.

“What?” I ask. “What are you thinking and not saying to me?”

He shakes his head, not wanting to voice his concern.

“Michael, please. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

He’s silent for a while and then he says, “I’m thinking about my father’s warning to you, about the sacrifice that has to be made in this fight.”

I look at the end of the fight playing out before us and notice everyone is all right. The only two people we don’t know the fate of are me and JoJo.

“Maybe we’re taking the word sacrifice to literally,” I tell Michael. “Like Lilly said to me once, He speaks obtusely.”

“Perhaps,” Michael says but he doesn’t sound too convinced.

“I vote we don’t worry about it until we know there’s a reason to worry.”

Michael looks at me. “There was a time not so long ago when you would have looked at things differently.”

I shrug. “I have more to live for now. I don’t think God would give me everything I’ve ever wanted to just take it all away from me.”

Michael’s eyes narrow on me. “You have faith in Him now.”

“Yeah,” I answer easily, “I do.”

Michael smiles. “I’m glad to finally see it.”

“Well, you can only bang your head against a wall so many times before either your head cracks or the wall does. I guess I finally broke down my wall and peeked through to the other side.”

I see Gabe and Gabriel walking over to us.

“We should probably be getting back now,” Gabe says. “I’m getting a bit tired from maintaining the vision.”

I nod. “All right. We’ll need to come back though until everyone gets their parts down pat.”

Once we all gather in a circle again I turn to Michael and give him a hug.

“What’s this for?” He asks, hugging me back.

“For always being there when I needed you,” I tell him pulling back. “Thanks.”

He smiles.

I turn to my fellow vessels in the circle with their archangel by their side.

“How do we get back?” I ask Gabriel.

“Click your heels three times and say ‘there’s no place like home’.”

I lift an eyebrow at him. “Was that an attempt at angel humor?”

Gabriel smiles and shrugs his shoulders. “I thought it was funny.”

I hear Chandler snicker beside me.

“Just close your eyes,” Gabriel says, “and imagine yourself back at the villa.”

We all close our eyes. I think about the living room at the villa and getting back to Mason.

Before I know it, I feel a pair of familiar warm hands land on my shoulders.

I open my eyes and see Mason’s handsome face.

“Welcome back,” he says, pulling me to him and holding me tightly in his arms.

I wrap my arms around him tightly and whisper, “We have to win.”

Chapter 12

Mason calls Malcolm to come to the villa before we go into an in depth explanation of everything that happened while we were in the inner realm.

“He’ll be here in a minute,” Mason tells me, ending the call and dropping his phone back in his front pant pocket.

“Is there a reason you want him here?” I ask. “I’ve noticed you’ve been including him in a lot of things lately.”

Mason looks to see where Aiden is. We are standing near the fireplace and Aiden is on the other side of the room talking to Chandler and Rafe.

“I have plans for Malcolm,” Mason tells me in a low voice.

“What sort of plans?” I ask in an equally low voice.

Mason gently takes both my hands into his which makes me worry he’s about to say something I’m not going to like.

“Do you remember me telling you I want to become human and live a normal life with you after the Tear is sealed?” He asks.

“Yes,” I reply, “I remember.”

Mason’s brow furrows like he’s not quite sure how I’m going to react to the rest of what he has to say.

“I would like to put that on hold for a few years. Would that be ok with you?”

“Mind me asking why?”

“I don’t feel right leaving my men without a leader. I would like a few years to prepare Malcolm for that job before I become human.”

“Have you told Malcolm your plans for him yet?”

“No. I will when the time is right. Though, I have a feeling he already knows something is up. At the moment, I’m more concerned about how you feel about my plan.”

I smile.

“Don’t look so worried,” I tell him, looking him up and down. “How old would you say you are physically in human years?”

Mason shrugs. “I would guess somewhere around 28 or 29. Why?”

“Well I’m only 22. Let’s wait until I’m 29 before you become human. I don’t want you cheating me out of years with you and dying early.”

Mason smiles. “I’ve always liked the way you think, Agent Riley.”

“I know, Mr. Collier. That’s why we get along so well.”

Mason brings me fully into his arms and I wrap mine around his waist. “Can you guess what I’m thinking about right now, Agent?”

“Hmm,” I say running my hands up Mason’s back. “It wouldn’t happen to be what we did in the shower last night would it?”

“It would be exactly that,” Mason says, a wry grin on his face. “Can we do that again tonight?”

I lean up and whisper in his ear, “Yes.”

Then I pull away because I see Malcolm phase in directly behind Mason.

“Am I interrupting something… again?” Malcolm asks with a knowing grin.

“Aren’t you always?” I reply back but with a smile.

“Well honestly,” Malcolm says as Mason turns to face him too, “when are the two of you not groping one another?”

“I’ll ignore that for now,” I tell him. “We have more important things to talk about at the moment.”

After Mason, Aiden and Malcolm resituate the furniture in the room, we all sit down and begin to tell the three Watchers what we saw and experienced while inside our own inner realm.

“I guess we should have seen that coming,” Malcolm says. “It makes sense that he would want to unleash Hell on the worlds and make them his own personal playground.”

I look at Mason. “When the Tear opened the night we first met, did you know it had opened up to Hell?”

“Not exactly,” Mason says. “We had our suspicions but like I told you that night it’s impossible for us to distinguish between changelings and regular people. You’re only able to do it because you have Michael’s gift. And many of the people who came through that night checked out as being completely human.”

“Many?” I ask. “What about the few then?”

“A few simply disappeared after being taken in by Watcher agents. I would have to assume, knowing what we do now, that those few were probably also changelings.”

“So they could be anyone by now?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“But how did human’s come from Hell?” Rafe asks.

“When a soul goes to Hell,” Aiden answers, “they’re given a new body.”

“Why?” Leah asks. “They’re dead.”

“Because if you don’t have a body, you can’t really feel pain,” Aiden answers. “Making people suffer unimaginable agony in death is Lucifer’s whole reason for being. He needs them to have bodies in order to truly torture them.”

“Why did the Tear in the vision have that orange-red dot in the middle of it?” Chandler asks.

“Just like Heaven,” Mason begins to explain, “there are different levels of Hell. From what you’re describing, it sounds like Lucifer is able to punch a hole through every level of Hell and unleash all the nightmares he has stored there.”

“Like the creature we saw?” I ask, shivering slightly at the memory of the serpentine creature with a belly full of human corpses.

“That was a leviathan, one of Levi’s creations,” Malcolm tells me.

“When you watched the battle with the princes did you notice any variation in the fight?” Mason asks. “I mean did it always play back the same way or did it ever happen in a slightly different way a few times.”

I shake my head. “No, it always happened the same way.”

“And your fight with Lucifer,” Aiden says, “it was never shown to you?”

I hesitate before answering because I know this part of the vision worries Mason.

“No,” I tell Aiden. “I wasn’t allowed to see it.”

“Then it must be the deciding factor in the fight,” Mason concludes. “Whatever happens between the two of you will determine which fate we face.”

“Thanks,” I say, “no added pressure there.”

Mason squeezes my hand.

“You’ll win,” he says full of confidence. “I can’t imagine you losing.”

I try to smile at him, thankful for his confidence in me but I fear it comes out looking more like a grimace.

“So, now what do we do?” Zack asks. “How will we know when it’s time for us to fight them?”

“I’m not sure yet,” I answer. “But apparently we’ll be told somehow or we wouldn’t already be waiting for them to show up at the Antarctica site.”

“I must get back to my studio,” JoJo says, “I need to start making our outfits.”

“Before you leave,” I say looking at everyone, “I think we should run through the fight again a few more times until you guys have it down cold.”

“Well, I don’t have much else to do,” Gabe says. “Anytime is good for me.”

Chandler looks at me. “Don’t forget we have the Grammy’s to go to tomorrow.”

Unfortunately I hadn’t forgotten about that. “Yes, I know.”