The Celestial Gate by Avital Dicker (red white royal blue txt) 📗

All around, trolleys continued to collide. Some jumped the tracks and continued traveling every which way. People and animals were tossed out and scattered all about. Ushers ran around trying to gather everyone but to no avail.

He deserves it, thought Anise. Still fuming, she started moving away but then heard the usher, in a panic, yelling “Help!” behind her. She looked back just in time to see his body expanding and filling his little booth until there was no room left at all. Then he blew up. Bits of the purple overalls landed all over the place. Anise, horrified, started running.

“He’ll reassemble himself without any trouble. Don’t worry. It happens all the time around here,” she suddenly heard a feminine voice at her side. Anise turned to find herself looking into the roundest pair of eyes with the longest eyelashes she’d ever seen. The creature had a glorious tail that swung proudly between the see-through wings on her back and her feet were covered in small gills. “By the way, I’m Rae,” she introduced herself.

Anise looked back at the booth and, sure enough, the purple bits of the usher were being rearranged in a small pile. A moment later, his full version was back, and he was again blowing into his whistle, but not before sending Anise an angry look.

“I’m Rae,” the creature repeated to an astonished Anise and held out a purple hand with seven long fingers. “Everyone here is looking for God,” she added. “Everyone has some issue that has to be dealt with, but the problem is that there is just one God and He doesn’t have enough time for it all.”

“Have you ever seen Him?” Anise wanted to know.

“Once, by chance, maybe twenty years ago. He was dealing with a star that was sick of traveling in its orbit, saying it was boring to do the same thing over and over again. The star went off course, starting a series of collisions, and a bunch of planets blew up,” said Rae, “so God showed up to settle things.”

All Anise could say was, “Wow.”

Rae smile. “Yeah. Heaven is an enormous place. People think they’re special, but there are many other life forms that think the same thing, and God simply can’t keep up with all the work.” Rae’s beautiful face turned blue with sadness, and her eyelashes shuttered her big eyes.

Anise felt like hugging her. But she’d only just met her and had no idea whether, for Rae’s kind, this was acceptable behavior. She decided to err on the side of safety and kept her arms to herself.

Rae again opened her beautiful eyes and smiled.

“Even so, I intend to find Him. Plus, the fact that He has a lot of work is no excuse,” said Anise, and turned to go.

Rae hurried after her. “I know where His headquarters are. That’s where all the angels who help Him administer the heavens hang out. It’s a little past the edge that’s over the mountains, and hardly anyone dares climb there.” She stretched out a long arm and grabbed Anise’s hand. “You’ll need wings to get there. Which I’ve got,” she added, wiggling her shimmery wings in emphasis.

“Why would you want to go with me?” asked Anise.

“It’s rather personal,” said Rae curtly.

“Look!” said Rae, changing the subject. She was pointing to a group of ushers in gray uniforms featuring black letters spelling out “The Royal Guard.” The ushers were running toward them. “Those are the Orphils, and I think they’re looking for you,” said Rae. “I think we should hurry,” she smiled, quickly pulling Anise out of there. Both were sprinting quickly right next to the train tracks. “Let’s catch this car,” Rae said, pointing to a pink one rapidly coming their way. She leaped onto it lightly, holding one long purple arm out to Anise who was running as fast as she could. Despite her efforts, Anise was falling behind. Her lungs were burning, but she wouldn’t give up. With a last burst of energy, she managed to speed up just a bit. Struggling to hold her arm out to Rae’s, Anise missed by half an inch and fell even farther behind the trolley.

She checked behind her. The Orphils were only a few yards away, but suddenly she found herself enveloped by a pair of strong arms. Rae, red with effort, was pulling her inside the trolleys.

“Thanks!” Anise smiled at her. Breathing heavily, she looked worriedly at the Orphils outside.

“You’re lucky. Those ones are still doing the training course and haven’t received their wings yet,” Rae explained. Looking at the black masks hiding their faces, Anise thought that they were terrifying enough even without wings. They used their long arms like poles to propel them ahead and were closing the distance with great speed. “They’re fast, but our train car is faster,” Rae reassured Anise, pulling her deeper inside.

It was very crowded and all the seats seemed to be taken. There were many people, but also creatures that Anise had never seen and didn’t exist on Earth.

Seeing Anise’s shocked expression, Rae burst out laughing. “You didn’t really think planet Earth was the only place under God’s responsibility, did you?” she said, pointing to a group of creatures with reddish bodies, two arms in front and one on the back. “Those live on the planet you call Mars,” she clarified.

So there’s life on Mars, Anise thought and smiled. Then, at the far back of the car, they found two empty seats and sat down.

“So what are you actually doing here?” Anise asked carefully, but Rae dodged the question again.

“It’s a long story. I’m also here by accident, just like you,” she said vaguely.

Anise wondered how Rae knew they were here by accident and why the Orphils weren’t chasing her, but now, through the window, she saw Yam and Mor galloping toward her on the magnificent horses, wildly waving their arms in her direction.

“Anise,” Yam called out with sparkling eyes. He was on the black horse with