Chapter Fifteen Smart Phones Be Damned
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Cameron and Brie slept in the same bed that night. No kissing took place, no “bases” of any sort were reached; nothing at all happened that could be described with a crude sports metaphor. They just slept. He wrapped around her, and she spooned into the crescent of his body like two pieces of a puzzle fit together by nature itself.
There were no nightmares.
She awoke rested and refreshed for what felt like the first time in months. His arm was still wrapped around her waist. She could feel his breath on her shoulder. She nestled in a little closer.
I didn’t even know he could sleep.
I could spend the day like this.
I could spend the month like this.
She came to a sudden pause.
I don’t know if I’d ever grow tired of this.
The realization startled her. Her eyes opened, and she shifted slightly to study his face in the morning light. He looked so peaceful with his dark eyelashes fanned over his cheeks and his hair rumpled from the pillows. It was all the more perfect because of those little flaws. He’d finally lost that eternal composure. He’d finally allowed himself to be human for a moment.
Is this what it’s like to fall in love?
She’d never considered it before, let alone experienced it. She was never able to picture herself with anyone, and she didn’t find the concept of being “completed” by a romantic partner at all romantic. Dr. Rogers had called it philophobia, or fear of falling in love. She never bought that. If it was going to happen, she suspected she simply hadn’t found the right person yet. After all, she’d never been able to share her truth with anyone before — not with any hope of being believed.
But Cameron knew her. In a way, he knew her better than anyone else alive. He believed her truth because he’d lived it with her, and he’d trusted her with his truth as well. Maybe she hadn’t been afraid or unable to fall in love all this time. Maybe she’d just recognized that none of the other contenders had been suitable.
Cameron’s very existence disproved a bunch of Dr. Rogers’ other theories anyway.
Not that it matters. The second I strayed too near the subject of attraction, he shut it down.
She remembered his words verbatim and the gravity they carried. Like an invisible weight had been dropped squarely upon her chest. “Such a thing is not permitted.” He’d been very clear.
But that’s not all he said.
Like something out of a dream, she remembered the look on his face when he’d told her, the wistful longing in his eyes when he chanted back those heavenly laws. But there had been other words as well. Softer words. Words that gave her a glimmer of hope.
“Believe me when I tell you there are times that I want to.”
Her eyes drifted once again to the angel by her side, delighting in the image while simultaneously removing him from the equation, trying to decipher her own feelings instead.
Rationally speaking, there was a lot working against them. He was older than she’d like to contemplate. He’d watched her secretly for years. He had real trouble with boundaries, and she still wasn’t comfortable with his infatuation with her toaster. On the other hand, no one had ever sacrificed so much just to be near to her and keep her safe.
No one but Mom. And then Sherry.
She inhaled sharply with the realization it was true.
If that’s the list he’s on… it might actually be love.
She was still reeling in silence, still gazing at the perfect symmetry of his face, when a feral scream ripped through the air.
He woke up with a start, tightening his grip around her.
The screaming paused for a moment, then started up again in the exact same cadence, the exact same series of tortured cries, as though someone or something was being burned alive. It was ghastly. It was utterly horrifying. But at the same time, the rhythm was too perfect. Almost mechanical.
Is that…?
With a look of childlike panic, Cameron bolted out of bed and yanked open the top drawer of her dresser. For a split second, she was convinced he was looking for some ancient weapon. But he emerged a second later with a tiny screeching device. It took a second to recognize her phone.
“I don’t believe it,” she said, holding out her hand. “Give me that.”
He flushed but tossed it over, watching as she frantically tried to unlock the thing with her fingerprint to shut off the bloodcurdling alarm.
“I can’t open it. Why won’t it let me—”
A sonorous baritone cut her off. “Siri, be quiet at once.”
The phone immediately fell silent.
The two of them fell silent as well. For a suspended moment, they simply stared at it together. Then she lifted her eyes with a blistering glare.
“You did this.”
“I wasn’t—”
“Did you just use the hypnosis voice? On my phone ?”
He shifted his weight uncomfortably. “It wouldn’t stop screaming.”
She narrowed her eyes. “And why was it screaming, Cameron?”
Another pause. Another guilty deflection. “I may have taught the creature to fear.”
This took a minute to register.
“It wasn’t strictly speaking on purpose, Brianna,” he insisted quickly, watching her color flame from pink to a more dangerous red. “While I was mending it yesterday, I… I may have been overzealous in my condemnation of its general attitude—”
“Overzealous in your… Do you mean you cursed it?” she interrupted. “Did you curse my phone?” She threw a pillow at him. “Like a freaking warlock?”
He was so undone he actually let it strike him. It flew into his face, then slid to the floor as she huffed again and unlocked her traumatized device with her passcode.
“Hey, Siri. Are you doing okay?”
“Lucky Lucy gets the spoon.”
She paused, flabbergasted, before pressing her home button again. “I’m sorry, Siri. What was that?”
“Into the tunnel, out of the shoe.”
She tossed it on the bed in disgust and glowered at Cameron. “You broke my smartphone.”
“I defeated it,” he muttered.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” he said quickly, trying to change the subject. “Why don’t I go downstairs and make you breakfast? Buy you breakfast,” he amended at the look on her face.
She wanted to hurl another pillow. But she was hungry.
He went downstairs while she made a half-hearted effort to get dressed, her ears still ringing with echoes of those inhuman cries. It was a rather meager attempt, but when she glanced into the mirror, she was delighted to realize that she liked what she saw.
Her skin was glowing, her hair was thick and shiny, and her eyes were clear and bright. Even her nails seemed to be growing strong and fast, despite her never once taking care of them.
I should get a good night’s sleep more often.
Or maybe it’s the smoothies.
She stuffed a backpack with an extra pair of scrubs and shoes to keep in her locker at all times. She didn’t think she’d want to stash her sneakers in the morgue again anytime soon. When she came down the hall into the living room, she stopped short.
Cameron was talking to a golden orb that floated in the air inches from his face. He spoke rapidly and in a low voice, but she could tell it was a language she’d never heard before.
She didn’t want to eavesdrop and didn’t see the value in hiding. She stepped into the room with a confident, “Good morning.” It was the most uncanny thing, but she could swear that both Cameron and the orb turned to look at her.
“Good morning!” Cameron said quickly. “We were just… I was… this is Ephriam.”
The golden ball bobbed slightly up and down.
“He’s an old friend of mine. I was just about to send a message to my father, expressing your desire to… not come to court, when my father sent him here to collect us.” He looked back and forth from Brie to his celestial friend.
Brie swallowed. Be gracious. Sure, there’s basically an alien levitating in your living room who wants to bring you to a different plane of existence. But courtesy is universal. What did Cam say? “Politeness is the flower of humanity.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Ephriam,” she said. Then, in a move she would never live down, she executed a slight curtsey.
She didn’t know how she could tell, but she instantly knew. The orb was laughing at her.
She blushed scarlet. “Well, it isn’t like anyone’s told me the protocols here.”
“Of course not,” Cameron soothed, trying not to laugh. “That was very good.”
The orb glowed brighter for a moment.
“Yes, I was just getting to that,” Cameron hissed at the ball of light under his breath.
“Getting to what?” she asked.
He looked at her apprehensively. “Well, Ephriam was just saying… one idea that’s being floated around is… see, my father might be more amenable to us staying here if—”
“ Cameron. ”
“He may want to assign a team to guard you and keep you from harm.”
She blinked. “A team of what?”
“Elysian guards. Ephriam would likely lead it, given our history.”
Brie eyed the glowing ball skeptically. Cameron waited on her reply.
“Well, that’s… that’s very kind of him, but — and I don’t mean any offense by this at all, please believe me — it’s just… after everything I’ve seen, I don’t see how a peaceful being who most closely resembles Tinkerbell is going to be much use in a fight.”
Cameron and the orb stared at her without making a sound. Then, the golden ball floated close to his ear.
After a moment, he grinned and nodded. “Yes, I absolutely agree. Brianna, you should stand well back.”
“I beg your—”
“Well back, Brianna.”
She obligingly stepped back into the hall.
The orb floated to the middle of her living room and levitated quietly for a moment. Then, the air itself was ripped apart.
Seven enormous, interwoven rings of golden fire, ten feet across, orbited in complex patterns around a being with faces on every side of its head. A man, an ox, an eagle, and a lion all seemed to exist within this creature at once, while at the same time, none of them remotely described the glory of what hovered before her. Wings seemed to be everywhere — claws, teeth, and talons. Wind blew from every direction at once as streams of golden sparks lashed through the air like whips. The heat was incredible, yet nothing burned. It let out a roar, and every molecule of her house trembled at the sound.
In a flash, it was a palm-sized ball of light again. Ephriam floated up to her, twinkling as though pleased with himself.
Brie swallowed hard, then swallowed again. When a full minute had passed, she managed a faint, “Yes, I suppose you’ll do.”
The orb shook slightly and sparkled as though it was chuckling. She gave it a wary smile and tentatively held up her hand. It moved towards her finger, and she delicately touched it. “Please excuse my misunderstanding, Ephriam. I’m very, very glad you’re on our side.”
Cameron had a difficult time keeping a straight face. He walked over to her with a grin and put his hand on her shoulder. “Well, that settles that. Will you tell him?”
If the orb replied, it wasn’t something her ears could register. It turned to her once more and bowed. Deeply.
She narrowed her eyes. “I sense I’m being mocked.”
The orb twinkled with a flurry of golden sparks and faded away.
She turned to Cameron. “So… he seems nice.”
He looked at her with a mix of amusement and awe as she sat down on the couch and let out a long breath. She was aware her eyes were still preternaturally wide, but she couldn’t seem to do anything about it.
“Has anyone ever told you, you are very brave?” he asked softly.
She paused, startled. “No. Never.”
“Well, you are,” he said. “Unflappable.”
“It’s true. I can’t be flapped.” She flashed him a grin, then took a deep breath and stood up. “Let’s go find a little breakfast place by the water. I’ve been here for days and haven’t even seen the ocean yet. Plus, I’m starving. And it might not be too bad to do something normal to counterbalance the whole phenomenal-cosmic-power-display thing.”
He offered her his arm. “Shall we?”
“We shall.”
There was a good chance the drama was behind them, but as they walked out the door, she made the mistake of asking one final question. “Siri, what’s a nice place to have breakfast around here on the waterfront?”
“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe.”
Brie sighed heavily. “This is gonna be a whole thing, isn’t it?”
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch—”
Cameron eased it from her hand, whispering directly into the speaker. “Siri… shut up.”
? ? ?
“Surely this is the elixir of Heaven itself. My good lady, might I have another?”
Fortunately, their waitress was too besotted with Cameron’s face to be thrown by his rather Shakespearean reaction to breakfast. No matter what he said, she just ogled him and giggled. “One more orange juice, coming up.”
“Many thanks, and God bless you.”
Brie grinned at him, thoroughly entertained. “Enjoying your juice, are you?”
“Brianna, this is like drinking sunshine. Do people know about this?”
She threw back her head and laughed. “Ridiculous.”
They were seated at a table for two on the outdoor patio of the Golden Albatross Café. He had allowed her to guide him through the brunch menu, and they looked out over the water, waiting for their food to arrive. It was a glorious day — nothing but fresh air and warm sun. It was bright enough to need sunglasses. The second she slipped hers on, he mysteriously pulled a pair from his pocket as well, mimicking the gesture.
“How do you do that?” she asked curiously, sure they hadn’t been there before.
“Do what?”
“You know. Produce things out of thin air like that. Manifest.”
“Oh.” He looked surprised. “I pray.”
“Excuse me?”
“I guess that’s what you’d call it. I never really considered it before. I think about what I need, ask for it earnestly in my mind, and it appears.” He shrugged as though this was in some way normal. “I always thought it was a gift from God, a power to help my people grant the last requests of humans before they pass on, or simply navigate your world if need be.”
She swirled her ice cubes around with her straw. “Prayers certainly don’t work like that here on Earth.”
He was thoughtful for a moment. “No, I suppose they don’t.”
“And you never use this power for yourself?”
He tapped his sunglasses, grinning.
“You know what I mean. You’ve never manifested a fancy car, or a beach house, or chocolate? I mean, come on. You must at least be tempted, right?”
“In Elysium, there is no need for material things. No one wants for anything. There’s nothing to desire.” He paused for a moment, staring at the sea, as if those two things might not be quite the same. “Well, nothing material,” he amended. “What I wanted to manifest, as you say, was not possible.”
She proceeded forward cautiously, not wanting to close him off. “Like what?”
He let out a quiet sigh. “When I was a child, I wouldn’t wish for cars or candy bars. All I wished for was to know my mother. To have time with her.”
“Oh.” Brie gazed out at the waves as well. “I know what that’s like.” She swirled her ice cubes thoughtfully. “What if such a thing was possible?”
“How do you mean?”
She touched her pendant. “What if… what if the barriers between life and death… what if they aren’t so set in stone? What if it’s possible to bring someone back from the dead?”
A peculiar look shadowed his face, draining it of all color. He weighed his words carefully before deciding to speak. “Such things have happened before. Of course, only God can summon a person’s life force back from Heaven or Hell, but a handful of mortals — only a handful in the whole of human history, mind you — have performed resurrections as well.”
He took a deep breath but held her gaze. “As I told you before, there aren’t enough Elysians to be there to ease everyone’s suffering in their final moments, or to transport every human soul who passes on right away. Sometimes, humans have to wait before moving on to the next realm. So, on rare occasions, when a person’s life force has not yet been shuttled from one realm to the next, and they come into contact with a powerful being or force, their energy is drawn back to their bodies. They’re resurrected.”
She tried her best to understand this, struggling to keep an even expression like his. “When was the last time it happened?”
He leaned back thoughtfully, armed with more centuries of divine trivia than she was willing to contemplate. “Something like this? Something involving more of an artifact than a bestowed power? Not counting Jesus, and not counting his disciples, because they were themselves imbued with the power of Christ—”
“Cameron.”
“It was when the corpse of a random Israelite was thrown into the tomb of Elisha and accidentally touched his bones.”
“So…”
“About a thousand years before the birth of Christ.”
Brie sat there, stunned.
And then again yesterday, in the Daya Memorial Hospital morgue.
“You’re going to make big waves where I come from,” he said quietly, thinking the same thing himself. He deliberately cleared his expression. “Whenever it is that you decide to come.”
So even angels can be passive-aggressive . She fought back a tiny grin. Good to know.
His face brightened suddenly. “Ah! Pancakes.”
She was still getting over her shellshock as the giggly waitress unloaded a tray with eggs Benedict for her and a tower of blueberry pancakes with butter and maple syrup for him, along with another glass of iced orange juice.
“Enjoy!” she tittered as she headed back to the kitchen.
He looked down at his breakfast with a decided lack of confidence and picked up the small, white syrup pitcher. “Am I meant to drink the—”
Brie snapped out of her reverie. “No, you pour it over the pancakes. Then cut little bites, like this.” She demonstrated on her eggs as he meticulously copied her movements.
Before they could actually eat, she stopped him. “Cameron?”
He paused, a fork halfway to his mouth.
“Everything that’s happened seems so rare and unlikely,” she said haltingly, “even in your world. Is it wrong for me to delay our trip to Elysium until we know more about what’s genuinely going on? Even if there’s no immediate danger, is it wrong to want to stay and live my life?”
He put the fork down. “Brianna, everything in your life has led you to this moment. Yes, it’s all exceptional. I’ve certainly never seen anything like it before, and I’ve been around for a long time. But I have to believe that this is happening to you — you , out of everyone in the world, you , out of everyone in history — for a reason. If you think that staying is the right thing to do, if you think this is the place you’re supposed to be, my instinct is to trust you.” He regarded her gently. “You have a beautiful heart, Brianna. I am inclined to have faith in it. And in you.”
He picked up his fork and tried the pancakes. “Oh!” he groaned around a mouthful of maple and blueberries. “Oh, by all the saints. Oh, by the staff of Moses. Brianna, do people know about these?”