to
you?”
I hate his backward questions. “I know what love is,” I snarl at him. “No,” he says. “You know only grief now. There is a difference, though I don’t
expect you to understand what it is, at least not yet. You have all but buried yourself
in it, so how could you? How can you love if you don’t even know yourself
anymore?”
“That’s not fair,” I croak out.
“Do you love Calliel?” he asks.
I freeze, unable to answer, unable to process the question. Any part of it. “And yet he loves you,” Michael says. “I could see it the moment he opened the
door. Maybe because it was so unexpected, or because it was so bright, I don’t know.
But it almost knocked me flat.”
“He… he doesn’t… he can’t….”
“And you don’t see it,” Michael says, as if I’d agreed with him. “Because some
part of you is already grieving for him. You think him lost, and so you are burying
yourself in preparation.”
“You said… you said he would die.”
“Did I?” Michael asks, testing the porch step with his foot. “Not even I can know
what my Father has planned. True, it is killing him to stay on this plane of existence,
but it is up to God, as you call him, to decide Calliel’s fate.”
“Then why do you want to bring him back? Why are you here? Why did you
send the Strange Men after him?”
“Because there is an order to things, even if you can’t see it in all the chaos.
There is a balance, and Calliel has broken that balance.”
“But if it was God that did it, then wouldn’t you think he has a reason?” Michael almost looks embarrassed. “I am a sort of stickler for the rules. Comes
with being one of the oldest. And Father has not spoken to me yet regarding this, so I
must follow protocol until I hear otherwise. But….” He stopped, staring up at Little
House.
“But what?”
“This house has some old bones. Good, but old. You must be very proud of it.” “This is the house my father built.”
He arches an eyebrow at me. “I expect you helped, though. I can feel you in
every part of it. There is love here. Old love. New love. You’ve just forgotten what it
feels like.”
“I….”
“I like you, Benji. That surprises me. I can see why Calliel loves you as he does.
Such a little thing, this place seems to be, but it too surprises me.” He turns to face
me. “There are other… levels… of existence. Other planes. Worlds you couldn’t
possibly imagine exist. There may even be an infinite number of them. I don’t think
even Father knows for sure. Once he started creating, I don’t think he knew how to
stop. And within these infinite levels, there is one that sets itself apart from the rest.
On this level, there are people who can do the most beautiful things with earth and
water, fire and wind. They can manipulate the elements like it’s so much magic. It’s
a beautiful sight to behold. But… there is a darkness coming. One we don’t know yet
how to stop, no matter how much we wish we could. And we must stop it, before it
finally spills over onto the other levels. It is too important to ignore. Metatron….” He
sighs and shakes his head.
“What does that have to do with me?” I ask harshly, unable to fully comprehend
his words.
“That’s just it,” Michael says. “I don’t think it has anything to do with you… at
least it shouldn’t. But then why is my Father so focused on this plane, this corner of
the universe, this planet, this country, this place? Why is he doing what he’s doing?” I say the only thing I can think of: “God works in mysterious ways.” Michael stares wide-eyed at me for a moment before he bursts out laughing,
using Little House to prop himself up as bends over, clutching his stomach. I can’t
find the humor in it, but I start to laugh along with him because if I don’t laugh, I’m
sure I’ll lose it completely. So we laugh. We laugh until we can laugh no more. And
when we finish, I know our conversation is almost over.
Michael stands before me and drops his hands on my shoulders. He isn’t
laughing any longer. “I believe there will come a time, Benji, very soon, that I’ll
return to give you a choice. You must think hard on the choice you will make,
because I don’t know if it can be reversed once it has been made. I might have been a
bit premature when I said Calliel has broken the design. He might have just made it
different. For