Crossroads by Mary Ting

Julia?”
    “ You remember her name?”
He sounded surprised. He paused and looked like he was searching
for words. “Julia was a friend, a long time ago. She was one of the
alkin officers. She turned her back on us and became a
fallen.”
    “ Oh,” I said in surprise.
“What did she mean by blocking your passage?”
    “ She had the power to
confuse the location of where someone is. I couldn’t find you.
Luckily, Vivian is a locator, and she has the power to pinpoint the
exact location. It took her a while, but she finally managed to
bypass Julia’s block.”
    “ Wow,” I said. “I’m
grateful that you made it in time. I thought I was…dead,” I said,
trying to choose my words carefully so I wouldn’t make him feel
guilty.
    “ Claudia, you don’t need
to worry about her anymore,” he said tenderly. “Her life was taken
by me.”
    “ How did you kill her? I
mean, I tried to hurt her with my flashlight, but it went right
through.”
    “ When she struck or
defended herself, she needed to take on a solid form. That was when
she was most vulnerable. I had to wait for that precise moment to
quickly drive the sword into her heart.”
    I vaguely remembered the sound of her
cry, a painful screeching noise that I heard before I fainted. I
felt so bad, but I was glad that he made sure she would never hurt
me again. I didn’t know what to say to console him or if he even
cared that he had lost someone who was once an old
friend.
    Suddenly, my mind focused on what
Margaret had said about Isaiah’s descendants. She said we didn’t
need to worry about the one because it was slim chance to none that
the one existed, since they were sure they had taken all the
forbidden children. Although I was not even in a position to
question her, I couldn’t help myself as the thought of “what if”
crossed my mind. “Hypothetically, what will happen if the fallen
find Isaiah’s descendant?”
    “ The fallen cannot kill
the one. The one must give one’s soul freely. When the soul is
released by the hands of fallen, this will allow the gates of the
Halo City to be opened. There will be war, and humanity will be in
danger.”
    “ Ohhh,” I said quietly.
“How will you know that the one is Isaiah’s descendant?”
    “ It is said that the one
would possess a special birthmark. However, any descendant of Royal
Council members would possess this special birthmark. Only the
Royal Council, Margaret, Agnes, and Phillip know what it
is.”
    “ Why only
them?”
    “ It is to protect the one.
If an alkin decides to become a fallen, this information would fall
into the wrong hands. Knowing what the birthmark is for sure would
trigger the fallen to search every single human being on earth.
Imagine what that would be like. Remember, they need the one in
order to enter the Crossroads to Halo City.”
    “ I see your point,” I
said, feeling goose bumps. “Why can’t the angels come down here and
find the one, if the one does exist?”
    “ Angels are not allowed to
intervene with lives on Earth anymore; however, the Earth angels
that already exist in your world can, but they are limited. Their
primary roles are to help humans, guide them, and protect them.
We’re not allowed to be down here. It is one of the Ten Divine
Commandments. The angels lost that privilege when they—” he was
hesitant to say the last couple of words—“created us.” His tone was
soft, almost shameful. “Anyway, Margaret said they were sure they
had taken all of them, so we need not worry.”
    Satisfied with his answer, I asked
another question that needed further explanation. “Why was Halo
City created?” I wanted to hear his side of the story.
    He took a deep breath. “We didn’t want
to leave your world, nor did we want to exist in what you call
Heaven. They didn’t know what to do with us, so we made an
agreement with the Royal Council. We would be allowed to stay at
the Crossroads in Halo City. Phillip, Margaret, and Agnes were
assigned to