The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure (34 page)

Julia’s excitement grew. “Don’t you see? We can’t do it yet but the role of the Ninth Insight is to help create that confidence. The Ninth Insight is the insight of knowing where we are headed. All the other insights create a picture of the world as one of incredible beauty and energy, and of ourselves as increasing our connection with and thus seeing this beauty.

“The more beauty we can see, the more we evolve. The more we evolve, the higher we vibrate. The Ninth Insight shows us that ultimately, our increased perception and vibration will open us up to a Heaven that is already before us. We just can’t see it yet.

“Whenever we doubt our own path, or lose sight of the process, we must remember what we are evolving toward, what the process of living is all about. Reaching heaven on Earth is why we are here. And now we know how it can be done … how it will be done.”

She paused momentarily, “The Ninth mentions that a Tenth Insight exists. I think it must reveal …”

Before she could finish, a burst of machine-gun fire ripped up the stone tiles by our feet. We all dived to the ground, our hands raised. No one spoke as the soldiers came and confiscated the papers and took each of us in a different direction.

The first weeks after my capture were spent in constant terror. My energy level fell dramatically as one military officer after another questioned me threateningly about the Manuscript.

I played the dumb tourist and claimed ignorance. After all, it was true that I had no idea who among the other priests had copies, or how widespread public acceptance of the document had become. Gradually, my tactic worked. Over time the soldiers seemed to grow tired of me and passed me on to a group of civilian authorities, who took a different approach.

These officials sought to convince me that my trip to Peru had been crazy from the beginning, crazy because according to them the Manuscript never really existed. They argued that the insights had in fact been invented by a small group of priests with the intent to foster rebellion. I had been duped, these officials told me, and I let them talk.

After a while, the conversations became almost cordial. Everyone began to treat me as a guiltless victim of this plot, as a gullible Yankee who had read too many adventure tales and found himself lost in a foreign country.

And because my energy was so low, I possibly would have become vulnerable to this brainwashing, had something else not occurred. I was suddenly transferred from the military base where I was being held to a governmental compound near the airport in Lima—a compound in which Father Carl was also being detained. The coincidence brought back some of my lost confidence.

I was walking in the open courtyard when I first saw him sitting on a bench, reading. I strolled over, restraining my exuberance and hoping I wouldn’t attract attention from the officials inside the building. When I sat down, he looked up at me and grinned.

“I’ve been expecting you,” he said.

“You have?”

He put down his book, and I could see the delight in his eyes.

“After Father Costous and I came to Lima,” he explained, “we were immediately detained and separated, and I’ve been here in custody ever since. I couldn’t understand why, nothing seemed to be happening. Then I began to think repeatedly of you.” He gave me a knowing look. “So, I figured you would show up.”

“I’m grateful you’re here,” I said. “Did anyone tell you what happened at the Celestine ruins?”

“Yes,” Father Carl replied. “I spoke briefly with Father Sanchez. He was held here for a day before being taken away.”

“Is he all right? Did he know what happened to the others? And what about him? Were they going to imprison him?”

“He had no information about the others, and as for Father Sanchez, I don’t know. The government’s strategy is to methodically search out and destroy all copies of the Manuscript. Then to treat the whole affair as a grand hoax. We’ll all be thoroughly discredited, I imagine, but who knows what they will ultimately do with us.”

“What about Dobson’s copies,” I said, “the First and Second Insights he left in the States?”

“They already have them,” Father Carl replied. “Father Sanchez told me that agents of the government found out where they were hidden and stole them. Apparently Peruvian agents have been everywhere. They knew about Dobson from the beginning, and about your friend, Charlene.”

“And you think when the government is through, no copies will remain?”

“I think it will be a miracle if any survive.”

I turned away, feeling my new-found energy diminish.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” Father Carl asked.

I looked at him but said nothing.

“This means,” he continued, “that each of us must remember exactly what the Manuscript said. You and Sanchez didn’t convince Cardinal Sebastian to release the Manuscript, but you delayed him long enough for the Ninth Insight to be understood. Now it has to be communicated. You have to be involved in communicating it.”

His statement made me feel pressured and my Aloof drama activated inside me. I leaned against the back of the bench and looked away, which made Father Carl laugh. Then, at just that moment, we both realized several embassy officials were watching us from an office window.

“Listen,” Father Carl said quickly. “From now on the insights will have to be shared between people. Each person, once they hear the message and realize that the insights are real, must pass on the message to everyone who is ready for it. Connecting with energy is something humans have to be open to and talking about and expecting, otherwise the whole human race can go back to pretending that life is about having power over others and exploiting the planet. If we go back to doing this, then we won’t survive. Each of us must do what we can to get this message out.”

I noticed that the two officials were out of the building walking toward us.

“One more thing,” Father Carl said, speaking lowly.

“What?” I asked.

“Father Sanchez told me Julia had spoken of a Tenth Insight. It hasn’t yet been found and no one knows where it might be.”

The officials were almost on us.

“I’ve been thinking,” Father Carl continued, “that they’re going to release you. You may be the only one that can look for it.”

The men suddenly interrupted our conversation and escorted me toward the building. Father Carl smiled and waved and said something else but I could only half pay attention. As soon as Father Carl had mentioned a Tenth Insight, I had been consumed by a thought of Charlene. Why was I thinking of her? How was she connected to a Tenth Insight?

The two men insisted that I pack the few things I had left and follow them to the front of the Embassy and into a state vehicle. From there I was taken directly to the airport and up to a boarding concourse, where one of them smiled faintly and looked at me from behind thick glasses.

His smile faded as he handed me a passport and a ticket for a flight to the United States … then told me in a heavy Peruvian accent to never, never return.