Enticed (33 page)

„Our realms are overlapping," I said, trying to understand.

„Very good. For a time, in this place, the realms are touching."

„You can do that?"

„It is not without difficulties, and I had to pay a price," he said, now unhappy. Why Nox had bothered to pay anything in order to see me made me very nervous.

„Why can no one else see?" I asked as I silently wil ed Lincoln to find me.

„Time has been altered. It would not be good if everyone else could see these things. I can see them because I am a guide, linked to both realities as much as any angel – elect or malign – is now permitted."

„And me?"

He nodded, showing some vague form of fascination. „I admit, I did not know if you would be able to see me. It is part of the reason for my journey."

„So it was a test?"

„Yes. And no."

„Why? I thought you guys knew everything."

„We do," he said, shortly.

„Everything but that which comes from above you," I said, remembering what Griffin had explained to me once before.

„How"s your conscience, Violet?" Nox sneered, now angry.

„Why did you come here?" I retorted quickly, knowing to stand my ground. I hadn"t meant to anger him but now that I had, decided it would be a bad idea to back down.

Nox tilted his head to the side, examining me, but also looking beyond, momentarily, to the city and its people. He was acutely aware of his surroundings, though he didn"t want to show it. He was fascinated by humanity. No, he was enthralled by possessions. „I have a question and a message."

„Let me guess, question first."

He smiled. „Are you ready to take his life?"

I wet my lips, unnerved to once again be in a desert with angel of dark. „I thought I would only be returning him? If I kil Phoenix"s physical form his spirit stil goes back to the angel realm, doesn"t it?"

„Little girl, I am not asking you about your exile. I am asking about the one who mirrors your soul?"

I gasped. „It"s true, then, we are soulmates?"

„You didn"t need me to tel you that. Now give me my answer, we are running out of time."

„But I don"t understand. I … I would never hurt Lincoln."

„And yet, your decision says you would. Darkness and lessons lie ahead – I will be watching closely to see where that wil of yours takes you."

„That"s it?"

„Yes."

„Well, where"s Uri? Is he here, too?" I asked, not sure if I wanted him to be or not.

„In his way. He sent the message. He is anchoring the realms so that I can move between." He smiled deliberately. „We tossed a coin. He lost." Nox looked disdainful for a moment and I thought he wouldn"t tell me what Uri"s message was, but then he spoke. „I am supposed to remind you of his words about surrender. Goodbye."

I couldn"t remember what they were.

The sands picked up again and I knew only had seconds. „Nox! Wait! I need to know what happened that day, that night, in the desert! Please!"

I heard him laugh but that was all.

The world around me started moving. Lincoln rushed towards me, „What? Is it the senses? I can"t feel anything." He was looking around on full alert.

I couldn"t answer him. I couldn"t do anything. The angel realm or whatever it was, the desert that the guides came from, had just overlapped with my reality. I didn"t know if I would ever have the same feeling of gravity after experiencing the strange sensation of being in two places and yet neither at the same time.

„Violet!" Lincoln said, shaking my shoulders. „Snap out of it!"

I blinked. „Sorry." I was about to tell him what had happened. was about to explain how he"d just stopped, how
time
had stopped, when a familiar feeling came over me. This time it wasn"t only me.

„Violet. I can sense it, there"s an exile here."

I nodded. „It"s the same on I sensed when we arrived." I was speaking on autopilot. I knew I should be onto it, but all I could think about was Nox, how I"d just missed my chance to find out. I wanted to scream. No, I wanted to hit someone.

My eyes darted everywhere, but all I could see was a man in a dirty brown robe walking down the other side of the street. When he was opposite us, he turned towards us and stopped. I waited for him to look up. He didn"t

In the blink of an eye, he was gone. „Did he just disappear?" I asked, letting my frustration get the better of me. „Jesus."

„No, but just as old." I spun around. Rudyard had come up beside me. To say he looked pale didn"t cover it.

„You sensed him?" I asked.

„We all did and you were right, Violet, he is very old indeed. And he is very, very powerful."

„What is he? He didn"t feel like a normal exiled – something was off," Lincoln said.

„I have no idea. We are in an ancient place. There are things here we cannot begin to comprehend," Rudyard said.

„Yeah, well, no offence but the sooner we get out of here the better. I"ve had it with being everyone"s play-thing," I said, running my hands through my hair and starting to put up my wal s. Lincoln looked at me, a question in his eyes. He knew he"d missed something.

With everything that had been happening, I"d been letting everyone down more and more

– new friends, people to confide in, Lincoln, it was all making me lax and that just wasn"t good enough.

Things were pushing at the edges, scary things were playing games with me and I was letting it all spiral out of control. Something had to give.

Lincoln put a hand on my shoulder. I stepped away, breaking contact. I knew he was doing it to show he was there for me, but right now I was too confused. I needed to get back some control. When his hand dropped away he didn"t say anything and part of me wanted to holler and invoke teenager change-of-mind rights. But I didn"t, I just turned away.

„
On reaching the mountaintop we came to a church …

I saw a slightly raised place about the size of a normal tomb.

I asked about it and the holy man replied,

“Holy Moses was buried here by Angels.”"

Writings of Egeria

Azeem and his other Grigori drove us out in once-were-white-four-wheel-drives now covered in dirt and desert dust to a place called Mount Nebo, about twenty minutes from Madaba.

The whole journey my mind bounced between the moments.

How can all of this be happening? Am I losing my mind? When will Phoenix finally kill
me?

And through it all, the growing feeling that something very significant was about to happen. I was missing something.

It was beyond Phoenix and Lincoln. It was beyond us all.

Since I"d arrived in Jordan and sensed that exile, I"ve known it. Just as I knew the day I stood of that cliff that my life was about to change forever, so too I knew the man in those robes was another „cliff".

I struggled to breathe through an even-tightening chest and my eyes stung with a detonation of pure fear. What the hell was going on?

Spence was sitting beside me. I was glad Lincoln had decided to travel in the lead car.

He"d gone into warrior mode and wanted to be up front just in case. I was happy to ride with Spence, Zoe, Salvatore and Azeem and just tune out for a while. I was especially glad Magda was in the other car – I couldn"t deal with her death-stares right now.

When we pulled to a stop, Azeem jumped out and held the door open. „Welcome to Mount Nebo, the final resting place of Moses," he said.

I was the last out.

„We must walk from here," Azeem said, taking my hand to help me from the car. „The others have already begun."

I looked up to see a hill. Lincoln and the first car-load were already on foot and halfway to the top. There was a road leading up but we were on the wrong side of some fairly serious gates and I was betting „open sesame" wouldn"t open.

Spence, Zoe and Salvatore marched on, keen to catch up to the action. I walked more slowly with Azeem.

„You carry the burden of one many years more than you," he said as we walked.

„Yeah. I"m taking it all up front so that later in life I can lay back on a banana chair and drink mojitos."

„An armour of humour is not a strong defence."

„I know," I admitted. „But right now, it"s all I"ve got."

„That is not true, you are never alone," Azeem said, looking to the sky.

„I don"t real y believe in … I"m not sure what I believe."

„We would all believe in God if he served our every whim. Belief is not about an easy life or even truth. Belief is something you have regardless."

I wished I could nod and say something spiritual y appropriate, but … no. We were nearing the top and an enormous sculptures came into view, which sent a shiver down my spine.

„The cross?" I enquired, looking up at the impressive cross that looked like it was made of bronze, the figure of a serpent wrapped around it. It made me think of Lilith. In some stories she is thought to be the serpent of Eden. It"s a visual that doesn"t leave you.

„When Moses brought the people on pilgrimage from Egypt in hope of the Promised Land, they turned on him and on God. Starving and dying, they questioned why they had been brought to this desert and wilderness only to die. On this, God sent poisonous serpents to bite them and many died. When Moses prayed to God to save the people, he was told to make a serpent and put it on a pole. Everyone who had been bitten and looked upon it was saved."

„And this is the God you believe in?"

Azeem gave a small smile. „I admit, it is not the most inspiring of stories."

Now it wasn"t just the Sculptures that reminded me of Lilith. That story sounded like something that would come from her book of tales, too. I was learning more and more, nothing was as clear-cut as I would have liked it. Nothing was wholly good or evil, it seemed.

And if there was a God, I wasn"t sure he was any better than the worst of us.

We were nearing the top. I stopped and turned to Azeem. „Azeem, I … when I embraced and became Grigori, I had to do something."

„A test of wil ," he said, nodding.

„I had to kil an image that I choose." I couldn"t find the words to express how that silhouette had turned into me.

„And now you feel remorse," he said, compassionately.

„Kind of – I don"t regret it, it"s just, the image that I chose … is there any chance I could have actual y …"

„Violet," he put his gigantic hand on my shoulder, „I don"t have your answers. I can see you are haunted by this. Choices often reveal consequences in many ways. But what you are looking for I cannot give you."

„But I"m not looking for something, I … I just want to know …"

„Of course, you are searching. You seek forgiveness and this is something I cannot give.

You wil have to look beyond this place of dirt and rock."

He was back on the God thing.

I didn"t want to offend him, tell him that right now, I wasn"t finding much comfort in the possibility that God might actual y exist. I settled for, „I"l think about it."

„This is a good place to start." He continued along the path and picked up the pace.

„Come on, we"re almost there."

The mountain, actually more of a hill, was not spectacular. It was large, but not like the rock formations that surrounded the hotel with waterfalls. It was simple, and though you could see work had been done to restore the area – small trees and green shrubs to break up the continuum of baron land, a small path that was well maintained – it wasn"t until we reached the very top that I realised why it was such as special place.

The views.

Azeem pointed towards a mass of water. „West, the Dead Sea," and then raised his hand higher, signal ing beyond, „and the Promised Land."

„Jerusalem," Griffin said, now standing beside us.

„Wow," I said, meaning it wholeheartedly.

Azeem turned, „South is the Crusader Castles, north, the Seven Hil s of Amman, and east, the Jordanian Desert to the wastes of Saudi Arabia." Then he walked us in a full circle around the perimeter of the chapel that rested at the top of the rise. It was old but also surprisingly modern in design. Nyla took in my reaction.

„The original chapel is within the walls of this one," Nyla explained.

„The outer shel was built to protect it. But even the one within is no more than sixteen or seventeen hundred years old. It is mostly a tourist destination now and normally open every day," Azeem added.

„Why not today?" I asked.

„We have asked a favour. We did not think it wise to have you all here among tourists."

I couldn"t have agreed more.

Lincoln and Spence appeared from the back of the building. Spence had a handful of small rock he was throwing into the patchy shrubbery. Lincoln looked frustrated.

„How are we going to find anything here? This construction is too recent. Griffin, this looks like a dead end."

„No," Griffin said. He was standing out the front of the chapel, studying every stone, every groove. „There has to be something here. The story tells us that Moses was buried within the mountain, and later Jeremiah returned with the Ark and left it where Moses was buried."

„We should look inside," Rudyard said.

„I am afraid Lincoln is right. You wil not find what you are looking for inside. We have searched every inch of the chapel for hidden passages or markers," Azeem gestured to his men. „I fear this may be a wasted trip for you."

„If Moses was buried in this mountain, it"s likely some sort of tom was created," Griffin said.

„I am not disagreeing with you, friend. It
is
likely that there is a tomb directly under the chapel. But short of pulling down the mountain, we cannot be sure and, well, for some time we have considered that perhaps this may be for the best. If the wrong people or
beings
were to get their hands on the remains of Moses and whatever else may rest with him, it would not be good."

„Well, they"re coming Azeem," Griffin said, now irritated. „And if
we
don"t find it, believe me, they wil ."

This
is why I have a problem with religion. People do too many things in the name of belief, or worse, use it to prevent others from exploring alternative possibilities. I walked to the back of the chapel and saw a narrow overgrown path that led down the back of the hillside.