Piercing the Darkness (95 page)

FROM THE BACK
of Sally’s pickup, Mota and Signa waved to their two comrades, Chimon and Scion, who rode atop the Plymouth. This encounter had timed out nicely!

IRENE HESITATED. SHE
was the vehicle on the right, so she was supposed to go through the intersection first, but she just couldn’t move. This couldn’t be!

Josiah saw the woman too, and marveled. “Hey, look! There’s that lady in the blue truck!”

“Yeah,” said Ruth. “I remember her!”

So it wasn’t a hallucination! Irene pressed the gas pedal gently and began to creep across the intersection, just staring at the woman.

“Hey,” said Josiah, staring as well, “she’s crying.”

SALLY WATCHED THE
Plymouth pass in front of her and speed away, and then she wiped her eyes.

Lord, this was from You! You’ve used this to tell me!

Now she knew. This encounter, this scene before her, said it all: Somewhere, somehow, the darkness had been pierced; it was broken, fallen, its power was gone.

The children were going home!

From high above, Bacon’s Corner looked downright cheery, warm, and inviting, like a little town from a model railroad, its brown, red, and black roofs bold against the surrounding patchwork green of the fields, and its silver elevators stretching toward the sky, flashing in the sun.

The skies were clear, both of clouds and of spiritual filth, washed with Heaven’s light, freshened with prayer and praise to the Maker of it all. It was good to be back, good to see the place so clean. This was victory’s reward.

Tal and Guilo began a gentle descent, their wings spread wide and motionless to carry them lazily over the town, high over Front Street with its cars and pickups jostling through the one intersection, over the Mercantile with its chimney smoking and red rototillers out on the sidewalk, over the small cluster of houses and garages on the Strawberry Loop, just over the top of the big silver water tower with the red light on top, steadily lower over some small farms—from up here the chickens looked like little white, black, and red triangles—and finally, at rooftop level, across the Pond Road and to the roof of Tom Harris’s house.

They came in over Tom’s front yard, pulled up, and stalled just above the peak of his roof, alighting upon it. They could hear breakfast in progress below; much chatter, sharing, rejoicing. Good enough. The others would be arriving any moment, and then that almost happy gathering below would be completed.

Guilo pointed to the northwest. Two streaks of light were descending rapidly out of the sky. Nathan and Armoth, just returning from Ashton!

Two more trails of light appeared in the eastern sky; Cree and Si were returning from the rout at the Omega Center.

Within moments, Nathan and Armoth passed over the house like two shining eagles, waving their swords in greeting. Tal pulled his glimmering sword and directed them to land on the left side of the front yard.

Cree and Si dropped steeply from above and cupped their wings to break their dive, settling like paratroopers to the right side of the front yard as Tal directed them.

Then they waited, every warrior in his place.

“Ah, here they come,” said Tal, looking up the Pond Road toward
town.

It was the green Plymouth, with Chimon and Scion still riding on top, their wings trailing like flashing, flickering banners. They waved their swords at their fellows, who waved back.

IRENE BLEDSOE EASED
the Plymouth to a stop out on the road in front of the house. She was about to reach back to help the children unbuckle and get their things, but there was no need; Josiah and Ruth burst out of that car like kids out of school and raced down the front walk without looking back.

Bledsoe turned her sharp nose forward, hit the gas, and got out of there. Chimon and Scion spread their wings, lifted from the roof, and let the car shoot out from under them. Then they settled to the ground on either side of the front gate.

The kids didn’t knock or announce their arrival at all, but simply yanked the front door open and burst into the house, raising such a reaction from the people inside that Tal and Guilo could feel the noise through their feet.

In Heaven, reunions like this happened all the time, and the angels always found it absolutely riveting. Only human souls made in the image of God could fully know the soaring joy, the tear-stained ecstasy of losing a loved one and then, after a stretch of time that is always too long, feeling their warm embrace again, hearing their voice, sharing all their news. But moments like this were what the angels worked and fought for, and it was their fathomless joy, their greatest reward, to behold it once again.

The warriors in the yard could see through the front door. Tom was on his knees, clutching his children, weeping with joy. His friends were gathered all around, touching him, touching the children, murmuring prayers of thanksgiving and praise, asking questions, but getting no answers in all the confusion, and not minding at all.

The wings of the angels rose with their emotions, reaching high, spreading wide, shining like the sparkling joy that filled the house this day. They began to worship.

“CAN WE STAY
home now, Daddy?” Ruth asked through her tears.

Tom hesitated. He was afraid to answer.

Marshall touched him. “You can tell her yes.”

Tom’s eyes shone with deep joy and assurance. “We
did
win, didn’t we?”

Marshall indicated the kids with his eyes. What more proof did they need?

Tom said, “You’d better believe it! We’re never going to be apart again!”

More hugs. More tears.

A quiet squeak of brakes. Tires on gravel. A glint of blue.

Tom didn’t notice, for obvious reasons, but Marshall did. He looked out the open front door.

He couldn’t be sure. He couldn’t believe it. He moved toward the door while the others stayed in their little rejoicing huddle.

There was a woman out there, parked across the street in a blue pickup truck.

SALLY TRIED TO
keep low, tried not to be obvious as she examined Tom’s house. She listened, and could hear the rejoicing through the open front door. She’d seen Irene Bledsoe driving off, and she’d seen the children run inside. They were all having such a wonderful reunion in there. She didn’t feel she belonged. She didn’t know what to do.

Mota and Signa hopped out of the back and stood by the cab, speaking gently to her.
They aren’t going to hurt you, Sally.

Hey, they won’t mind the way you look.

I look awful
, she thought.
I smell bad. What if they don’t know who I am? What if this is the wrong house?

C’mon. They’ll be glad to see you!

She turned off the engine and sat there for a few more moments, just staring ahead and thinking. Her hands were shaking; she was so nervous her stomach ached.

They sound happy in there. They seem like a friendly bunch. I’ve just got to know how things turned out. They can reject me, I suppose, but I’ve got to know.

She opened the truck door and stepped out onto the shoulder. She
walked toward the back of her truck—from this angle she could peer through the front door and see what was going on in there.

Oh, brother! They’ll be able to see me too! I think that big guy did!