Chapter 14 #3
“How did you defeat them?” Uriel demanded, pointing at her former partners. “What are they doing here? Why are they with you?”
“That would be their story to tell,” Alana Catherine said. “Not mine.”
What was left of Uriel’s body began to tremble. “No. No. This is not right.”
Chamuel floated forward. “I forgive you, Uriel. Even if you were the catalyst of our undoing, you had your life stolen from you as much as I had mine stolen from me,” Chamuel said with a sad smile on Its lips.
“As much as Hemah had It’s stolen as well.
It wasn’t caged, but It was still a prisoner of our circumstances.
” The ghost extended Its hand to Uriel. “Come with us and be the spirit guide for the true Higher Power. Give yourself a chance to see what we could have been if we had been stronger. We can still serve the universe as we were once meant to do, by giving the true Higher Power the best parts of us.”
“NO,” Uriel screamed, slapping Its one good hand over an ear. “Stop.”
Hemah didn’t float forward. Hemah didn’t speak.
Its sins were far too large for a simple apology to suffice.
It would have sounded pathetic. Hemah had caged both Chamuel and Uriel for millions of years.
For me, there would be no coming back from that.
Chamuel had forgiven Hemah, but Chamuel embodied compassion.
There was nothing logical about what Hemah had done.
I would think Uriel would be hard pressed to forgive the betrayal after having Its life stolen.
The two former Higher Powers—logic and vengeance locked eyes and stared at each other.
Hemah finally spoke. “I won’t insult you with an apology, Uriel.
What I will say is that we are being given a chance.
You and Chamuel deserve this chance far more than I,” Hemah said.
“But I’ve been given the opportunity to seek redemption.
I chose to take it. I impress upon you to take it as well. ”
Chamuel tried one last time. The ghost’s compassion was ingrained deeply.
“If we can let the past live where it deserves, we, together, can become the sum of our parts. The very thing the Universe intended for us. We’ll just be doing it unconventionally.
We can still make a difference, Uriel. Come with us. Please, come with us.”
“LIES,” Uriel snarled then focused on Alana Catherine. “I will not be a part of these lies. I choose to dissolve into nothing rather than serve you.”
“Are you sure?” Alana Catherine asked. “There’s no going back once the game has begun.”
“I will never bow down to you. Ever. I am not made to be ruled by others.” Uriel’s voice was calm. Its words, methodical. The logic was beginning to bleed through, leaving the insanity behind.
Alana Catherine spread her hands in a gesture of openness. “The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing.”
Uriel eyed Alana Catherine with curiosity.
Alana Catherine eyed her counterpart back. There was no malice in the exchange.
“In philosophy there are four principles of logic,” Alana Catherine began, only to be halted by Uriel holding up Its hand.”
“Yes,” It said emotionlessly. “The law of identity. The law of excluding the middle. The law of non-contradiction. And the only one that matters right now—the law of sufficient reason. I have reasons to deny your offer. Many. All sufficient. As much as Chamuel and Hemah might wish it different, they do not understand logic. It’s not their gift.
It’s yours… and mine. Do you understand why I choose to become nothing? ”
Alana Catherine didn’t hesitate. She nodded her head. Neither she nor Uriel were emotional about it. They were rational, lucid, and analytical. It was like watching scientists evaluate data instead of two Immortals determining the fate of a life or lack thereof.
“Let me go,” Uriel said. “This is not my destiny.”
“As you wish.” Alana Catherine sat down on the dirt floor in front of the entity who should have and could have been her counterpart.
That wasn’t going to happen. They’d both agreed.
“I will give you a logic question—a riddle, if you will. If you answer it correctly, it will lead you to the destiny you have chosen. If you change your mind about your future, you can answer the riddle incorrectly and you can stay, but in ghost form. Do you understand, Uriel?”
“Forever you will be the fake Higher Power, but somehow you have assumed my throne,” Uriel said flatly. “I am the Higher Power—the real Higher Power. There will never be another like me. Ask me your riddle. I am ready.”
“Are you sure?” she inquired.
“Are you deaf?” Uriel hissed.
Alana Catherine gave the former Higher Power, who had embodied logic, one final gift—a riddle to end Its existence.
My daughter’s voice was clear and wise beyond her years. “Only one color, but not one size. Stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies. Present in sun, but not in rain. Doing no harm, and feeling no pain… What are you?”
Uriel laughed. It was not a pretty sound.
It had been evil in life. We weren’t going to get a chance to see if It would have been evil in death.
It had chosen no afterlife, and Alana Catherine had granted Its wish.
The move was as cold and logical as it was compassionate and violent—a sum of all the parts.
“Dust,” Uriel answered in an icy tone with a crazed smile on Its lips. “The answer is dust. I. Am. Dust.”
In a flash of glittering magic that encompassed every color of the rainbow, Uriel got Its wish. The being was gone. It wasn’t a ghost. It was gone. It was nothing.
Chamuel seemed to the be only one truly upset about the loss of Uriel.
Hemah’s expression was unreadable. Being a spirit guide wasn’t for everyone.
I wasn’t sure that Hemah would work out well in the position considering how vile It had been in life, but maybe I was wrong.
What It did today, helping me save my daughter, was not something I would have ever thought It was capable of doing.
Sometimes, it was fabulous to be wrong.
Alana Catherine stood up and brushed the dirt off of her clothes. One by one she hugged and greeted her friends and family. The biggest and tightest hugs went to Gideon and me. Nothing had ever felt so good.
“Can we go home?” she asked.
“YES!” Shitty Ritchie squealed. “I’m going to throw a dang dong party in honor of my lost pecker!”
“Okay” Alana Catherine said with a wince. “Sounds like a plan.”
“How in the actual fuck do we get out of here?” Candy Vargo asked, glancing around.
Jennifer, Alana Catherine and Shitty Ritchie looked at each other and laughed.
“We’ve got this,” Jennifer said.
“Hold our hands,” Alana Catherine added, extending hers.
“YES!” Shitty Ritchie shouted. “We will take you home because we are the MAN and the WOMAN and the other WOMAN!”
And on that vintage Shitty Ritchie note, we joined hands and readied ourselves to leave the Higher Power’s plane—a place where evil had dwelled for far too long. I hoped when all of this was said and done, the new true Higher Power would do some serious redecorating here.
After an eternity of awful, the plane definitely needed an upgrade. Looking at Alana Catherine, Jennifer, and Shitty Ritchie, I knew in my heart and soul they were the right Higher Power for the job.
“Ready?” Jennifer asked.
I smiled at her. “Born ready.”
Alana Catherine smiled. “Let’s go home.”
“Let’s.” I booped her nose.
I had my daughter and my friends back. Going home was the icing on the cake.
We’d proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that anything was possible. It just took luck, skill, timing and a heck of a lot of belief.
We had that in abundance.