Harbinger in the Mist (Arms of Serendipity) (33 page)

After the office, they filed in and out of the upstairs bathroom room since the entire groups could not fit in the small room at the same time. Then on to Aimee’s room. They hit the laundry room the same way they did the bathroom – everyone entered and exited in groups of two. As they entered the next to last room – the room where boxes of unpacked junk, baskets of folded laundry, and various paintings that still needed to be hung – Milton went haywire.  The house shook more violently as he tried in vain to scare them off. He growled again. His angry, disembodied voice rumbled through the house like thunder.

They entered Lindsey’s room in a huddle. The lights flickered from bright to dim to off to dim to off to bright again. The air was so heavy that it nearly choked Lindsey. She was paralyzed with fear. Eli took her violently shaking hand and led her to the center of the room where she nearly dropped the candle as she tried to place it on the floor.  He then led her to the window where she removed Abigail’s sun catcher.  Touching it made her stomach lurch and it took everything she had not to vomit on the floor.

She dropped it next to the candle and sprinted to the bathroom. Eli held her hair as she dropped to the floor retched several times in the toilet. Her entire body was shaking and her face was clammy with cold sweat.

“It’ll be over soon,” he whispered in her ear.

When they re-entered her room, she noticed the heavy mist had gathering around the edges of the room as the song and dance began one last time.

“Do you need to join them?” Lindsey asked, clutching at his side.

“No. They can handle it. I will stay here with you.”

“Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, God the Holy Ghost, Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.”

 “Air, Fire, Water, Earth, elements of astral birth, I call you now; attend to me. With our invocations rightly cast, keep us safe from curse or blast, I call you now, attend to me. From cave and desert, sea and hill, by wand, blade, and pentacle, I call you now, attend to me.  This is my will, so mote it be.”

Milton roared and burst through the mist as he charged the group. Lindsey felt a cold vice grab her around the neck. She could hear Milton’s raspy voice growling very close to her ear. She looked at Eli, wide-eyed with alarm. He began to vibrate.

“No!” Lindsey gasped as loudly as she could. “Don’t do anything, Eli. Let the others …”  She didn’t want Eli to change in front of the group. How much trouble would he be in for blowing his cover? The group from C.A.P.I. circled her and prayed louder, but they were not ‘the others’ to which she had referred.

Milton’s grasp tightened, choking off her breathing. He began to hoist her into the air. She was going to die this time for sure. Milton’s last act of violence in this house would be her death. Instead of panicking, Lindsey thought about the one positive of being dead – she would be a spirit, able to cross the veil and go on to the other side with Eli. She could be with him forever.

The mist closed in around them. She could hear Eli’s voice above the members of C.A.P.I. as he gave instructions to his brothers. The Latin could easily be confused with prayer. Milton roared and his hands faltered as the angels in the mist wrangled his hands from Lindsey’s flesh and pulled him toward the center of the room. Lindsey fell into the protective arms of the worried Harbinger below. Eli held her tightly, his face buried in her hair.

“Holy Mary, pray for us. Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins, Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, All ye holy angels and archangels, All ye holy orders of blessed spirits…”

“Divine God, Divine Lady, if evil dwells within this place, please make it leave this space. Guard well this household, guard well its door. We banish this unwelcome spirit, prevent it from crossing back once more.”

“Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.”

As Milton’s last hiding spaces where cleansed and sanctified, he was pushed into the center of the room, next to the candle that would take him to the other side.

“I won’t go! Leave me alone!” Milton roared.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen.”

“It is time to leave here, Milton; all is well. There is nothing here for you now. You must be gone. Go now, go – complete your passing. Go, and with our blessing farewell. The Summerlands await, your family awaits you. Farewell.”

The mist closed ranks, pushing Milton closer and closer to the candle in the center of the room. The bright orb began to zoom around his enclosed space, a trail of electrically-charged air flowing behind him like the tail of a morose, ethereal comet.

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.”

“Milton, Abigail awaits you in the Summerlands; she and your child are waiting on the other side. Go, be with them! Rest in peace, Milton. It is time to leave here; all is well. There is nothing here for you now. You must be gone. Go now, go – complete your passing. Go, and with our blessing farewell. Your wife and son await you in the Summerlands! Go now, so mote it be!”

As the women ended their incantation, Raven walked over and brought her foot down on the sun catcher, breaking it into several pieces.

Milton stopped at the mention of his beloved, he was uncertain. Where they telling him the truth? Was he really destined for the Summerlands? Did his beloved and their child really await him?

He could hear her voice coming from the candle wick.
Milton, my dear Milton! Come to me, my love!

That was all if took – her voice. The orb turned and entered the flame of the candle in the same way that Olemargaret, Sambo, and Tom had before him. The flame was a brilliant, blinding white as Milton crossed into it. The light flowed up and into the ceiling. It glowed brightly for several seconds before the candle’s flame extinguished. The lights in the room returned to normal and the oppressive, electric air in the room lifted leaving a faint smell of fresh-cut roses in its wake.

The mist followed Milton’s path up and through the ceiling.

“It is done. Praise be to God,” Deacon Gary said as he crossed himself.

Raven picked the candle up from the floor as Sara took Eli’s candle from him.

“Lindsey, the cleansing is complete. You should have no more problems here. We will seal the protection by burying these candles at each corner of the house. We leave you now. Blessed be.” Raven hugged her and led the members of C.A.P.I. from the room. 

Deacon Gary stopped in front of Lindsey. He took the holy water vial from Eli, doused his thumb with the oil and water mixture, and drew a cross on Lindsey’s head with his wet digit a second time. “May God bless and keep you, my child.”

Eli and Lindsey followed them from the room, down the stairs, and out of the house. Gary went to the van and retrieved a shovel. They followed and watched as, at each corner of the house, Gary dug a hole, Raven dropped a candle into it and sprinkled with blessed sea salt, and then Gary covered with dirt. He doused the mound with holy water to seal it.

Before the group left, Sadie placed a bunch of flowers at the base of the tree closest to the house, where Olemargaret and her sons were buried.

Eli hugged Lindsey close and led her back into the house which was now light and airy and smelled of roses. They returned to her room which, for the first time since she moved in, felt completely comfortable.  She looked out of the large window down to the estuary.  The edge of the woods was heavy with the presence of Eli’s brothers.

“They’re waiting on me,” Eli said.

“Your job is over, it’s time for you to go,” tears slid down Lindsey’s face as she said what she knew to be true in her heart.

“Not tonight. They can wait one more night before I go back. Tonight is just about you and me.”

He took her in his arms and kissed her passionately in full view of the angels watching them in the mist below.

Twenty Five

Lindsey and Eli had slept in her bed. While they came precariously close, they did not make love. She allowed him to sleep there in such a private, intimate way against her better judgment. She justified it because it was their last night together. Eli was to return to his regime today. While she thoroughly loved the time they had together that night, she did not want him to descend. She’d rather pine for him for the rest of her life than be responsible for him giving up the post for which he was created, for taking him away from his service to the Creator.

Eli was adamant that he was going to talk to his commander, get a reprieve from duty. He tried to convince her that the Creator would not only understand his longing, but would also bless his decision. They’d slept intertwined together, in a sea of Egyptian cotton and fluffy down, enjoying their last moments together before a decision was forced.

Eli woke her long before dawn. They quickly changed clothes and drove to Kiawah Island. Eli told Lindsey that he had it on good authority that a Loggerhead nest was going to hatch and he wanted her to see it. It was still dark when they arrived at the beach and walked hand-in-hand to the dunes.  Lindsey pretended to sleep during the 45 minute drive so that she could steel herself to do what she felt was necessary – send Eli home. It was imperative that he return to his station not give it all up for her.

The tall, feathery tipped sea oats waved to them in the cool, salty ocean wind. The grey black ocean churned as high tide thundered in. A layer of white froth was left on the packed sand as each wave raced back to the sea. Lindsey let the briny breeze blow her hair back from her face and cover her skin in sea spray until Eli touched her shoulder and pointed her to a mist covered sand dune. With the exception of the never ceasing tide in the background, everything was calm and silent; the surrounding beach seemed to be anticipating the impending hatching.

“Look right there,” Eli whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her back.

She followed his gaze. At first, she didn’t see anything but the wooden stake placed by the Kiawah Turtle Patrol marking the nest and the screen placed on the ground to protect it from raiders. After a moment, the sand beneath the screen began to bubble and shift – it was alive with activity.

The first of the baby Loggerheads began to surface from the earthen womb. The gritty top to the nest gave away as a hundred tiny turtles, each only three inches long, began to climb out.  The sand-covered horde swarmed the beach, oblivious to Lindsey or Eli or even the sea gulls that dipped and dove in the early morning sky, ready to pluck them up for breakfast.

Lindsey sank down in the sand and placed her hands, palms up, on the sand. The little turtles flippered their way over them and down to the water. Eli kept the gulls at bay while the newborns entered the ocean, which was backlit by the first golden rays of the rising sun.

One by one, the tiny hatchlings fought with the incoming tide that kept pushing them back onto the packed sand. Eventually they each managed to time it just right and enter water between wave breaks.

When the last of the turtles disappeared into the murky ocean, Lindsey uttered, “That was amazing.”

Eli examined the nest, making sure that no one was left behind.  “Aye, I thought you would like to see them.” He brought an egg shell to where she sat and handed it to her – a souvenir of the event. “Technically, you’re not supposed to take this from the beach, but I don’t think the turtle patrol will miss this one.”

Lindsey took the thin egg shell half and turned it over in her hands. “How can you be so sure? I thought they counted them.”

“Well, I have friends in high places that can erase any memory of this one particular egg.” He smiled.

Lindsey closed her hand protectively over the delicate shell. She would cherish it forever – it was a token from their moments together. Eli seemed to know the direction of her thoughts.

“Lindsey, just like those turtles left the safe haven of their nest and ran toward the ocean, facing perils unknown, I will leave my brothers, my ranks and run back to you as soon angelically possible.”

“I can’t let you do that, Eli. I won’t be responsible for you giving it all up.”

“Lindsey, I am drawn to you for eternity, drawn to you like those newborn turtles are drawn to the water – it’s utterly unexplainable, completely overwhelming, and absolutely unstoppable.”

Lindsey rose, brushed the sand from her knees, and walked to the shoreline. The cool water rushed over her feet, soaking her sandals. Eli stepped in front of her, pulled her tightly to him, and kissed her. Lindsey broke the kiss and walked back to the sand dune. She dropped down and sat by the empty nest. Eli kneeled in front of her, blocking her view of the sunrise and the brilliant pinks and purples that streaked the sky behind the water.