balance. Know what that means? You can’t touch me!”
“ Oh, c’mon, Lucy, finish it out! Go ahead, say nanny nanny boo-boo , why don’t you? But you know what they say. He who laughs last, laughs loudest. ” Raphael shrugged. “Or something like that.”
Chapter Sixteen
Meoooowww!
“I said enough of the meow thing. Human form. Front and center. Now! ”
And in the blink of eye, there he was. Micah. My Micah. The doctor-biker in the leather jacket with “The Guardians” stitched in fancy font. The man I’d seen in the club right before the show started. The teenage girl I’d seen with him in the club was lovely. Eighteen, maybe, I thought. Possibly nineteen. Certainly she wasn’t twenty yet, though her eyes spoke of ancient wisdom not commonly possessed by girls her age.
“That’s not fair,” I said.
“Not much is, sweetheart,” Micah confirmed. “What in particular isn’t fair?”
“Her.” I pointed. “She’s too young to be an angel.”
“You know, that’s exactly what I told G. Didn’t make any difference, though. Ari, this is Mia. Mia, this is Ari. And I believe you should do the formal introductions for your Mom and Stacy, don’t you?”
“Can I get a hug first?”
“Thought you’d never ask. You’re one special lady, Ariel Anson Garrett.”
“You’re one special cat, Micah. Angel of the Divine Path.”
“The internet knows that?”
“Technology’s a wonderful thing, huh?”
We hugged. I felt the power flowing from him, greater than any force I’d ever felt. What a wondrous creation an angel was.
I wiped my suspiciously moist eyes and turned to my family. “Mom, this is Micah. And his friend, Mia. Micah, Mia, this is my Mom. Grace Anson.”
“The cats who jumped in the box with us?”
“’Fraid so, yeah.”
“Well, I’ll just be damned.”
I laughed. Mom never ceased to amaze me. What a trooper.
“I doubt that sincerely. Don’t you, Micah?”
“Not in a million years would a soul like yours be damned, Grace. Even your name would never allow it.”
“ Stacy, meet Micah and Mia. In the flesh, so to speak, seeing as how y’all already sorta met in Daytona. Micah, Mia, this is my sister Stacy Anson, soon to be Forrester.”
“Please to meet you both. In the flesh, so to speak. Let's not stand on formality here.” Stacy reached out for her own hug. I believe I’ve said before us southerners are huggers. We hug everybody. As they embraced, force waves rolled off them and washed over me, almost knocking me down. They separated. Micah’s face was white.
“No,” Micah whispered.
“No what?”
“No, she’s not just Stacy. She’s—she was—Hannah?”
Stacy’s face turned as white as Micah’s.
“Micah? Micah! Oh, my God! I never thought I’d see you again! Even if I didn’t remember!” She threw herself back into his arms. He picked her up and twirled her in a circle. Both of them cried and laughed at the same time.
“Oh, dear!” Mom tugged worriedly at my arm. “They do seem to know each other, don’t they? Really well.”
“Yeah, they do. But I don’t think it’s quite what you’re worried about, Mom.”
Micah put her down and I moved between them. I held out the Tear of Isis, that ancient crystal I’d found myself the unwitting guardian of, the crystal pendant I’d brought to Vegas and worn tonight, having no idea why.
“Okay, you two. Attention! Look into this!” I held the Tear up and out by the chain and gazed into it with them, exercising the power of the Seer of the Tear of Isis, to share in the re-living of memories. The memories of reincarnated souls unleashed by the power of the Tear.
* * *
Hills. Rocky hills. Barren hills. Baking heat of the Middle East. The Negev, that was it. The Negev Desert. Guerrilla warriors entrenched in the rocks, bound for Betar where Simon Bar Kochba held off Hadrian’s Roman Legions. It wasn’t the first time the Hebrew warriors grew fangs and
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