“But maybe that's not what they need.”
“Caring makes leadership harder,” I said. “It's so much easier to command when you don't care. But without compassion, a ruler cannot inspire their people or advance their civilization. You need to care to create positive change. And Heaven needs that change right now.”
Jesus stared at me a moment, then said, “I've become the Man. The Authority. It's been weighing on me. Harshing my mellow. But I'm not the man my father was. I'm not his kind of authority. I have to stand firm, but in my way.”
“If you say you're going to cover Heaven in flowers, I'm leaving,” Horus said.
Kate smacked him in the arm.
“What? Haven't you heard of flower power?” Horus asked his wife. “It's part of that hipster movement.”
“It's hippies, not hipsters, darling. And Jesus is having a moment. Don't ruin it for him,” Kate said.
“It's all right,” Jesus said. “People can only ruin things if you allow them to. I'm not going to allow people to ruin things for me anymore.”
“Good for you, Brother,” Azrael said. “Now, where should we start our investigation?”
Chapter Five
We started in Araboth, the Seventh Heaven. Again. So, I suppose we restarted.
The shapeshifters in our group, those with sensitive noses like myself, wore gas masks to protect us from the harsh odor of bleach. Even with the mask on, my nose twitched and tingled, but it was tolerable. We headed out to the desert, and I didn't need Jesus to lead me. He did walk beside me though, leaving a second set of footprints in the sand. He did not carry me.
Sorry, I couldn't resist. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're very lucky.
What I'm trying to say is that the scent of bleach—or rather the light tingles I got from it—led me right to the spot where the Ark had been left. The culprit had covered their entire trail with bleach, sprinkling it like breadcrumbs along their path, just as we had suspected. There wasn't much to see at the drop location, just a lot of sand. Everywhere. What a waste of a god territory. The Ark had long since been moved to a new location, hopefully safer than its last.
“Well, shish kebabs,” I muttered.
We headed back into the Shining City, through those illustrious pearly gates and across the gold streets, back to the tracing temple. Once there, we stopped before the steps and stared at the main doors. Angels trickled out casually, then noticed us, and hastily bowed to their King before giving us a wide berth. It was probably more the masks than us. I stepped back further and removed my mask.
“Have you checked your wards?” Az asked his brother.
“I don't have to. I would have known the instant someone messed with them,” Jesus said.
“Maybe you should check,” Blue drawled.
“Just in case,” Thor added.
Frowning, Jesus closed his eyes. A few seconds passed. His frown cleared, and he opened his eyes. “They are whole.”
“So it has to be an Angel,” Azrael said.
“Or a Demon,” Finn said, his light Irish accent making the words sound almost playful.
Jesus and Azrael exchanged heavy looks.
“I can't imagine any Demon wanting to undermine your authority,” Azrael finally said to his brother. “We're better off with you in charge.”
“Every soul follows its own path, Brother,” Jesus said. “Sometimes it's harder to discern the path another follows.”
“Did John Lennon just become Deepak Chopra?” Morpheus whispered to me.
I snorted a laugh and looked over my shoulder at the Dream God. “I love that you know who those men are.”
“And I love that you know them well enough to get my joke.” Morph winked an eye of blue mist at me.
Staring into Morph's dreamy eyes, I was reminded of all the territories I'd visited, some unknown to me until I ended up in them.
