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

the silver-streaked mane, and, just behind him, Mor was astride the white one.

Anise, still angry about what happened at the gate, studiously ignored them. “Where are we going? And when does the train stop?” she asked Rae, facing away from the window.

“I don’t know,” Rae giggled. “The route changes all the time, but don’t worry. We’re going in the right direction.”

What Rae said made no sense at all. Anise didn’t understand how Rae could claim they were going in the right direction if she had no idea where they were going.

Yam’s horse had caught up with the trolley and Yam was galloping right outside Anise’s window, his blond curls bobbing in the wind. He was trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t hear him and relented long enough to open the window. “You have to get out of here,” he said while pointing upwards. Anise saw a second company of Orphils popping out past the trolley. Each one had four gray wings covering various parts of their bodies. Anise thought that these must have graduated the Orphil course at the top of their class. Things were looking bad.

“You said they couldn’t catch up with us,” she said to Rae, who shrugged in apology.

“Anise, jump when I say,” Yam yelled.

“Are you crazy? Never!” she yelled back.

“Anise, look ahead and get it through your head where this trolley is heading. You have no choice. Trust me, I’ll catch you,” Yam roared.

Anise stared ahead, in the direction of travel. A huge black hole was revolving right in front of them, and the trolley was heading straight for it at warp speed. This cannot be good, she thought, looking again at Yam. “Jump on three!” he shouted.

She climbed onto the railing. The wind was making the car shake like mad so that she almost toppled over the side. Anise held tight to the windowsill, but the trolley was going too fast.

“Now!” she barely heard Yam yelling, “Jump, Anise!”

But Anise was paralyzed with fear. She couldn’t move. The distance was too great and the trolley was going faster than ever. Anise’s feet refused to let go of the railing. She looked ahead only to see the dark hole starting to swallow the first cars of the trolley. She looked out at Yam, not knowing what to do.

Seeing the terror on Anise’s face, Rae decided to take the necessary steps and gave her a mighty push from behind. The ground was coming up to meet her with sickening speed, making Anise close her eyes and yell out. At the very last second, Yam managed to grab a hold of her leg, so that she was now hanging upside down from the magnificent mare. “I told you I’d catch you,” he said with pride, galloping away from the black hole.

Chapter 22

Amalia pulled out her handgun and motioned to Theo, Sual, and Lena to be quiet. She and Lena moved toward the door, trying not to make a sound.

As they were moving, they heard more knocking. Lena moved the cover of peephole aside and peeked. “It’s all right,” she breathed with relief. Amalia lowered her gun as Lena opened the door.

“Mother,” Sual murmured. Overcome by the sight of the old woman in the kitchen doorway, she burst into tears. Theo, Amalia, and Lena left the kitchen quietly and Lena closed the door.

Aisha passed her hand over Sual’s short hair. It had been more than ten years since she last saw her daughter. Sual looked at her mother. The passing years had left deep creases in her face, but her gentle eyes gleamed just as they always had. She pressed her head hard against her mother’s shoulder, as if burrowing into her body. The tears rolling down Aisha’s cheeks mixed with her daughter’s. They sat holding one another for many long minutes.

“I have something to show you,” Sual finally said, taking her cell phone out. “This is your granddaughter, Mom,” she said, pointing at a photo of Anise.

They stopped just short of the waterline. Yam looked behind and saw Enochio slowly making his way down the rocky mountainside. “We have to hurry,” he said.

“Why doesn’t he use his wings instead of coming down like that?” Mor asked Rae.

“I’m not really an expert on angels,” she shrugged and giggled. She tried to pick a blue flower, but it retreated from her and replanted itself at a safe distance.

Anise was worriedly looking at the mountain ridge in the sea, its top floating in the clouds. “How exactly are we supposed to cross the sea? There’s no way we can swim that far.”

Rae wasn’t listening. She and a small, double-tailed animal with a tiny snout were gleefully rolling around in the grass. “Hey, it bit me!” Rae pulled back a hand and rubbed at red tooth marks.

The tiny creature stretched its snout and fondly caressed Rae’s face. The two tails wagged merrily in the air, each in a different direction.

“Enough, Rae. Stop fooling around with that thing. This is not the time,” said Yam. Rae spread out her gossamer wings and lifted herself in the air, insulted. A frustrated Yam looked at her from below.

“It’s not a ‘thing.’ It has a name. It’s a bogo,” said Rae. “And he’s a lot like those animals you love so much down on planet Earth. Oh – but I can’t remember what they’re called.”

“Dogs?” Mor tried helpfully.

“That’s right. Dogs,” said Rae, sending Mor a bright smile.

The bogo barked, and Rae looked at Yam from a treetop. “What did you want to know?” she asked, holding her hand out to a yellow butterfly.

“Could you maybe stop for a minute and come down so we can talk?” Yam asked. “You said you’d show us where God is. We don’t have time to fool around. The entire heavenly host could be on top of us in seconds.”

Rae floated on her back in the air, not noticing the heavy tree branch pointed directly at her back. She banged into it and fell flat to the grass. Mor