Chapter Nine
It was chaos.
Ness screamed as the light swept her into it, pushing her towards the three boys. She had the strangest feeling of merging, of being too close. The others felt it too; they were thrust into each other’s minds with a force they’d never felt before. Ness felt crowded…and then she felt a body, but it wasn’t her own. There were parts on it that just shouldn’t be there on her body…
She could feel Max’s, Jonas’s, and Landon’s minds, each separate from her own, yet the same. She felt their confusion; she heard their thoughts…she could sense every single thing they had ever thought about her, every emotion…
But most of all, she could see the Light. The thing that had swept them up was surrounding them, merging them, making them one person. The only thing that existed was the Light and what she felt, but couldn’t see.
And then there was a ripping—not an unpleasant feeling, but not something she’d want to feel every day. The four were falling onto the platform.
Everything went black as the Light separated itself from them.
* * * * *
Jonas opened his eyes and saw the naked trees above him. The wind played across his face, blowing leaves across the ground in rustling harmony. He sat up and slowly looked at his three friends; they, too, were sprawled across the platform and were sitting up, looking around dazedly.
At the same time, their eyes met…and they knew.
Jonas couldn’t say how he knew…but he knew Max’s, Landon’s, and Ness’s minds as if they were his own.
“Oh, my God, Ness, why didn’t you tell us?”
“Me tell you guys? Yeah right, there’s three of you and one of me…I thought you’d tell people and…why didn’t you tell me?” she stammered.
“Are you crazy? We thought you’d run away screaming…” Jonas’s voice trailed off.
“Even if I wasn’t like you, Landon could have erased my mind, or checked it out before you said anything—”
“Yeah right, like Mr. I-Can’t-Use-My-Power-for-Fear-of-Death-and-Maiming would ever do that,” Max grumbled.
There was silence, and through that silence the four realized that there was now a fifth in their company.
“So, did you enjoy the ride?” the man asked, looking at the four of them. He was seated on a tree stump just a few yards away, surrounded by pale yellow light.
The four friends stared speechlessly at the figure—words were completely disabled from their minds. The edges of the man’s body were fuzzy, as if he was being projected there…but what really took the four by surprise were the wings sweeping out from his back.
Simultaneously, all of them perched on their knees as if praying. A being like this could have only been sent by God….
“Oh…jeeze, don’t do that,” the angel said, totally ruining the effect he put on them. “Stand up.”
They did so.
“What…what are you?” Ness asked bluntly, not wanting to believe what her mind was whispering to her. For the first time ever, she felt as if those whispers weren’t her own thoughts.
“Well, I could go through all that ‘Be not afraid, I mean you no harm’ stuff, but after awhile it just gets old. And usually people catch the drift before I instate the lingo, anyway. So, I’ll cut to the chase: my name is Camael, and I’ve been sent here as a messenger from God.”
Landon blinked. This guy couldn’t be serious.
“Oh, but I am,” Camael replied to Landon’s thought, looking straight into the boy’s silver-gray eyes. “You four are not ordinary teenagers.”
“I think we knew that already,” Jonas admitted, his face still in an expression of shock.
“So if we’re not ordinary, what are we?” Ness asked, her voice harsh.
Camael cleared his throat. “Well. You really want to know, don’t you?”
The four of them looked at him blankly.
“Alright, alright…you are the four Mortal Angels, chosen by God to be the Four to Stand between the final light and darkness.”
Heavier silence than before hung in the air. It seemed as though even the crickets had stopped chirping and were listening in.
“The…what?” Landon asked.
“The Mortal Angels. You have the powers of the angels and the burdens of the angels, but you’re human. And you have a job to do,” Camael said bluntly.
“So you’re saying that I can move things with my mind because God is forcing me—forcing us—to…do…something…” Ness let her voice fade.
“…Stop the end of the world from coming too early,” Camael announced, filling in the missing information for her.
“What?” all four of them gasped at once.
“The end of the world is coming?” said Max.
“We…have to stop it? The end of the world…we have to stop it?” Landon stammered.
“Oh my God…” Jonas whispered.
“What the hell ever happened to free will?” Ness nearly yelled, outraged where the others were shocked. “I thought that God gave everyone free will to chose what they want to do—at least, that’s what they’ve been pressing into our heads at this stupid Catholic school—”
“Oh yes, free will,” Camael mumbled the forgotten term. “You do have it, you know. You have a week to decide what you’re going to do about this.”
“Do about what?” Ness was fuming. “First you come and nearly give us all heart attacks and jumble us all together like that…and then you suddenly drop this bomb on us about the apocalypse and things we know absolutely nothing about—”
“Will you let me explain already?” Camael interrupted. “Jeeze, you mortals are so impatient.”
Ness shut up and glared at the angel. She was one of the rare people who could actually get angry with a messenger sent directly from the Supreme Being.
“Satan recently began sending out his own Dark angels and demons because he thinks it’s time for the balance of power to shift in the favor of evil…but it’s not time for the Second Coming and the end of the world. Not yet, not now.
“He’s already taken great effect on a lot of the United States, but most of the angels posted throughout the world have been taking care of it. This time…we don’t know how he’s done it, but it’s getting harder to hold him back. God is the only one who truly knows what’s happening here.”
Landon found himself looking up at the sky absently, as if he would see God sitting there somewhere. Overpowering emotions were flooding him, and he wasn’t sure if they were all his own. Thoughts kept invading his head—thoughts that definitely weren’t all his own. They were loud and noisy. The most prominent of all were Ness’s. Her thoughts moved faster than lightning, some so blurred that he was surprised she could understand herself.
His power was acting up on its own, stronger than it had ever been before. He felt a huge headache coming on. Why was it doing this?
“And look at everything that’s happening: tsunamis, tornados, earthquakes, other natural disasters, war…all of these things—do you know what’s causing them?” Camael continued.
“The moon’s gravitational pull?” Ness suggested, an impatient tone in her voice. “Some idiots that want to wipe out the Free World?”
“There’s more disease than there ever has been. The people in the United States—in your own country—seem to be losing their souls more and more each day. This isn’t coincidence, kiddies. This is the end of the world.”
“The end of the world…” Max repeated quietly.
“So why are we doing this? Why can’t God just…just get more angels, or something…”
“In a way, that’s what he’s doing. The Mortal Angels are different from normal angels in ways that can’t be grasped by the human mind. They can relate to human life better, and often their free will isn’t so black-and-white that they choose their paths as quickly as angels.”
Not one of the four stunned teenagers was sure that they understood Camael’s words.
“Your destiny isn’t an easy one to explain. You mostly have to figure it out for yourselves along the way. God asks that you please put a great amount of thought into your final decisions,” Camael continued. “You all have to make the same choice…to be blunt, without each other, you’re nothing.”
“Why us?” Jonas asked, staring straight ahead. His eyes were fixed on nothing, but his thoughts were concentrated on everything. “What makes us so special…so different from everyone else?”
“You have a rare bond. Can’t you feel it? Since the day you met each other, it’s been growing and pulling so hard that the golden haze is blinding.” Camael motioned around the four, pointing out the vapor hanging around them.
Max focused on the air. He had always seen the haze; it had always been there. After awhile, though, he just kind of got used to it. It became such a natural part of every day life that he had to concentrate to realize it was there.
“But…but I’ve had my power before I even met Landon, Jonas, and Max,” Ness argued. “It’s impossible—”
“Hey, nothing’s impossible with God!” Camael exclaimed. “And who says that you’ve developed all of your gifts?”
“You mean there’s more?” Max asked, stunned. “Isn’t this enough…it’s already enough of a curse as it is—”
“God never gives you more than you can handle.”
“Will you please stop it with the cheesy Chicken Soup for the Soul quotes?” Ness muttered.
“Chicken soup? Hmm, that sounds pretty good right about now. It’s a bit, well, brisk out here, don’t you think?” Camael said, licking his lips. Ness exhaled loudly and impatiently, and then the angel looked toward the sky. “My time here is running up,” he said. “I have to leave the rest up to you…and I will come back when it’s time to make your decision.”
“Wait!” Max yelled as Camael faded out of sight. “How are we supposed to know…”
The angel was gone, and the woods were pitch-black again.
“What…the heck…was that?” Landon asked slowly, his hands cradling the sides of his head.
“This can’t be happening.” Ness watched Landon, worried; he looked as though he were in a lot of pain.
A light rain was startling to fall. The trees caught most of the droplets, and as they hit the colored leaves, a beautiful, natural song was created.
“We’d better get back,” Max said. The others nodded in silent agreement; Jonas helped Landon stand and they began to make their way up the hill to Max’s house.
“‘Let’s go in the woods,’ Jonas said. ‘It’ll be fun,’ he said. But I never heard him say that we’d be attacked by a giant glowing light and told we have to save the world,” Landon muttered.
“What’s wrong?” Ness asked him, not used to hearing such misery coming from his mouth.
“I can hear everything. Every single thought. It won’t stop…it’s giving me this horrible headache…”
“Excedrin,” Max said. “It’ll work.”
“Yeah, we can get the special kind—you saw it on commercials, you know: ‘for use with out-of-control telepathy…’”
When they reached Max’s front porch, the rain began to fall heavily. “Perfect timing, eh?” Jonas remarked, pushing the door open.
Landon crossed the threshold and said, “Now where’s that painkiller…”
Max got the pill bottle for Landon and collapsed on the living room couch. “This is horrible,” he grumbled, hands over his face. “No, I can’t just be a simple freak that goes invisible…nope, I have to be some sort of angel to stop the end of the world from coming, with more powers than just being a ghost…as if life wasn’t bad enough already!”
“Shh—Max! Be quiet for a minute…does anyone else hear that?” Jonas asked, listening intently. He and Max got up and followed the noise into the kitchen.
It was impossible to see out the windows; the overhead lights were simply too bright. Soon, however, their problem was solved: a boom of thunder that shook the house was followed by the quiet poofing noise that means all the electricity had gone out.
“Great…just wonderful,” Ness said from somewhere in the sudden darkness. She walked into the kitchen—and screamed.
Standing out on the back deck was the same gruesome, bloody incarnation of a man that had attacked Max in math class…and he had just walked through the glass.
Isn't that using his name in vain or something? 
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