Ascension (Book 4, The Watcher Chronicles) (17 page)

Double crap.

I open my eyes and force myself to put a smile on my face. I can’t possibly take my offer back now. Not when they just risked so much to keep my family safe. I turn back to them.

“The wedding is on the 11
^th
,
^”
I tell them. “I’ll make sure Mason lets you know the exact time and he can show you where the ceremony is to take place. We’re having it at my grandfather’s house.”

They all smile at me pleased that they will be allowed to come.

Crap.

I go into the house and leave Mason to deal with his men and the bodies. When I tell Mama Lynn about the addition of 174 people to the guest list for the wedding, I get ‘the look’.

You know that ‘look’. The one only your mother can give you when she’s mad but doesn’t want to say she’s mad.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her.

She crosses her arms and huffs slightly. “Well, if we’re going to be inviting all of Mason’s friends, I don’t see why we can’t invite yours too.”

I should have seen that one coming. She’s been hinting at inviting people we know to the wedding for a while now. I stare at Mama Lynn and realize I would do anything for the woman standing in front of me.

“Ok,” I say, feeling completely defeated.

“Ok?” Mama Lynn says like she’s not quite sure she heard me, dropping her arms to her sides. “Ok we can invite some of our friends too?”

I nod. “Yes, you can invite whoever you want.”

Mama Lynn smiles happily and turns to my grandfather. “Is your backyard big enough for about 250 people?”

“Sure,” my grandpa says like its no big deal. “We can set up a big tent for the reception too.”

While the two of them start talking about what they need to do for the wedding, I slink off to the dining room where all the food has gone cold and sit down in front of the chocolate cake with a fork at the ready. I’ve eaten a good chunk of it by the time Faison and Leah show back up at the house with a gallon of vanilla ice cream.

“What happened while we were gone?” Faison asks. “And what’s up with all the blood in the front yard?”

She and Leah sit down on either side of me at the table.

“Open up the ice cream,” I say to Faison, my mouth full of chocolate cake. “Then I’ll tell you what happened.”

Faison does as asked and I grab a nearby spoon to scoop out a large chuck of ice cream to eat with my fork full of cake.

“What’s wrong?” Faison asks me, eyeing me knowingly. “You don’t eat like this unless you’re upset about something.”

I tell Faison and Leah what happened while they were down at the Piggly Wiggly.

“I thought maybe if I get huge before next Friday JoJo’s dress won’t fit and we’ll have to call the wedding off,” I tell her through a mouthful of cake and ice cream.

“It wouldn’t matter if you got as big as this house. Mama Lynn has been planning our weddings since we were eight years old. There’s no way she’s not going to make you walk down that aisle even if she has to wrap you in a table cloth and call it a wedding dress,” Faison says with certainty, shattering my hopes and dreams.

I dig out a big scoop of ice cream and cram it into my mouth.

Faison’s right of course. Now that I’ve given her the go ahead, there will be no stopping Mama Lynn now.

I lay my spoon and fork down on the table because my stomach is tied up in knots now, refusing to cooperate with my plan to stall the wedding.

I hear new voices come from the living room. Beau and George walk into the dining room both armed with shotguns.

“Hey there, Jess,” George says to me as he walks into the dining room with Beau at his side. “We heard the commotion but figured your Watcher friends were better able to handle the situation than us.”

I nod. “Yes, they took care of the problem.”

“Mama Lynn just told us we’re invited to the wedding,” Beau tells me. “How exactly are we supposed to get all the way to California?”

“I have 174 Watcher taxis,” I tell him. “It won’t be a problem.”

“The girls are going to flip out when they hear Watchers are coming to our house,” Beau says with a certain amount of excitement of his own.

In spite of my churning stomach, I force myself to smile back at Beau. I have a feeling most everyone in town will have the same reaction as him.

Mason walks into the dining room with Aiden by his side.

“Better late than never, I guess,” I say to Aiden.

“Yeah, I heard I missed all the excitement,” he says looking at me and making a wiping motion like he’s trying to get something off his mouth.

It takes me a minute but I get the message. I take one of the napkins off the table and wipe the chocolate from my lips.

“I’ll take Rafe to his clinic,” Aiden tells Mason. “And watch over Gabe and Zack until they awaken tomorrow.”

Mason nods that he heard Aiden and approves of his plan but keeps his eyes on me. I can tell he’s worried about the state he’s found me in.

I stand up and walk over to him.

“If you guys would excuse us,” I say to the others. “Mason and I have somewhere we need to be.”

Mason looks at me like he’s not quite sure what I’m talking about.

“Beach house please,” I say.

Mason phases us and I run for the bathroom slamming the door as I hug the toilet and have a revisit of all the ice cream and cake I just ate.

I hear Mason knock on the door and call my name, worry in his voice, but I just can’t face him yet.

“Give me a minute,” I say, flushing the toilet. I quickly brush my teeth to get the taste out of my mouth.

I stare at myself in the mirror and notice how deathly pale I look.

I guess fear will do that to a person.

I close my eyes and hang my head wondering what the hell I just got myself into.

When I step out of the bathroom, Mason is sitting on the bed waiting for me. I walk over to him and sit down beside him.

He looks over at me with eyes filled with concern. “Are you all right?”

I shake my head. “No, not really.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The wedding.”

“Oh.”

“I had to let Mama Lynn invite who she wanted since I invited 174 Watchers. She never would have forgiven me if I hadn’t.”

Mason takes one of my hands and twines our fingers together.

“It’ll be all right,” he tells me. “Just make sure you look at me when you walk down the aisle.”

“What if it’s more like stumble down the aisle?” I try to laugh but unfortunately I can fully visualize such a thing happening. “You haven’t seen that dress.”

“Your dad won’t let you fall,” Mason says confidently. “And I won’t either. I can be at your side in an instant.”

“But then I have to say my vows in front of everyone.”

“I’ll ask my father to make the ceremony short and all you’ll have to say is ‘I do’.”

I take in a deep breath and nod. “I can do that. Just walk down the aisle and say ‘I do’. I can handle that.”

Even I can hear the uncertainty in my voice.

Mason smiles at me before standing up and pulling me to my feet.

“I’ll never let you fall, Jess. I promise you that.”

I look up into his beautiful blue eyes and know he’s talking about more than just the wedding. If there’s anyone I can fully depend on to help me with my fight against Lucifer, I know it’s Mason. He would give his life if he thought it would help. It’s something I’ll never let happen but I know he would do it. He’s my rock. My security. My everything.

I take one of his hands and head toward the bathroom.

“We really should get out of these clothes,” I tell him. “And take a shower.”

He grins. “I completely agree.”

“You know you were kinda hot fighting those Watchers. I got a little flustered watching you be all manly and stuff.”

Mason’s grin grows wider. “Did you now?”

I nod. “I think it might be time for that reverse marshmallow.”

Mason pulls on my arm and easily lifts me up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, making me laugh.

“Then why are you walking so slow, woman,” he says making the journey to the bathroom in record time.

Chapter 11

Aiden calls us the next day when Zack and Gabe awaken, finally completing their connections with their archangels. We make arrangements to gather all of the vessels at the villa.

“Gabe says everyone should bring their crown and talisman,” Mason tells me after he gets off the phone with Aiden.

“Did he say why?”

Mason shakes his head. “No. He just said to bring them.”

I do as ordered and show up with my crown and sword in its baldric on my back. We all gather in the living room. Aiden and Mason make quick work of moving the furniture so we have a large empty space to form a circle in front of the fireplace.

I look around at all of us and say, “Does anyone else think we look like the biblical version of the Village People?”

Everyone chuckles, except for Leah.

“I’ll explain it to you later, kiddo,” I tell her with a wink.

I knew we needed a tension reliever before we see what the future holds for us and my joke seems to have done the trick.

“So why did we have to bring our crown and talisman?” Chandler asks Gabe.

“Gabriel says if we wear our crowns and hold our talismans while we’re all together we will be able to see almost anything we want to.”

“Any possible future?” I ask. “We can see what will happen if Lucifer wins?”

“Yes,” Gabe says, “if that’s what you want to see. We can also see what happens if we win.”

“Can we see the fight?” Zack asks.

“Yes,” Gabe says with a smile, “but let’s ask one question at a time.”

Everyone places their crowns on their heads. I look over at Mason before I put mine on. He winks at me and smiles. I instantly know everything will be all right.

I’m the last to put my crown on but when I do, we all hear a low humming noise. I see the crowns on my fellow vessels’ heads begin to glow just before a blinding white light flashes, making me close my eyes involuntarily to shield them from the brightness. When I open my eyes, we are standing inside an empty pitch black space. The only illumination is from the crowns on our heads.

“What just happened?” Rafe asks, looking behind himself and around us but seeing what we all see, which is nothing.

“Ask your question,” a new voice says.

People I don’t recognize dressed in everyday clothing come to stand behind my friends. I instinctively know who they are: the archangels. Hesitantly, I look over my shoulder and see someone who’s only been a vision to me before now standing right behind me.

I turn completely around and stretch out my arm to touch the black angel wings on the front of Michael’s white t-shirt. He’s as solid as I am. I feel his chest rise and fall beneath my hand as he takes a breath. Tears of joy sting my eyes as I walk up to Michael, hugging him around his neck. His curly, black shoulder length hair tickles my face with its softness. I feel his arms go around me and I smile.

After a while I lean back and look at his face. He’s smiling too.

“There’s something I’ve been dying to do,” I tell him.

“What?”

I bury the fingers of both my hands into his hair feeling the soft curly texture against my skin.

He laughs but doesn’t move. He actually looks a little shy about my fondling of his magnificent mane of hair.