The first posting was titled part 4. It should have been Part 3.
"I'll sleep on it too," she said. "We'll meet up before class alright, outside the school, and we'll talk about whatever ideas we come up with."
"Sounds good," I told her.
She smiled. "Well, you should probably get home then."
A few moments later, I was climbing back into Jill's car, thinking about how well that had gone. I started the car, lit a cigarette and pulled out of her driveway. I'd been scared when I was on my way here, but now I was feeling a lot better. Rachel had a good head on her shoulders, and I was sure that with her help we could figure out how to save everybody.
"You really think that was a good idea?" I turned to see Malcolm sitting in the passenger seat. "I mean, bringing Rachel in like that. Could be a risk," he finished.
"I trust her," I told him, surprisingly unfazed by his sudden intrusion. I chanced a quick glance over at him and I felt the hairs on my neck stand on end. The way the moonlight was hitting his eyes There was something that just wasn't right about it. I shook my head and returned my attention to the road. "Besides, I didn't exactly bring her in. She kinda wrangled the rock from me and brought herself into it." I took a long drag on my cigarette, allowing the smoke to calm my nerves. "Besides," I said, blowing the smoke out, "As long as I hold onto the rock, even if she did try something, which she won't," I added pointedly, "She can't do anything as long as I have it."
"Oh yes," he said rather smugly, "And you did such a good job holding onto it earlier "
"Wasn't my fault," I said rather weakly. "She's a fucking ninja or something." It no longer surprised me when such language escaped my lips. It simply seemed to roll off my tongue now.
He nodded. "Beside the point anyway, at least it is for the moment. When I said risk, I meant the more traditional physical kind."
"Physical violence is in the past," I told him assuredly. I thought back to the shooting and shuddered. "And soon, it won't even be in the past," I added resolutely. "I'm gonna fix this."
I could almost hear him shaking his head. "So, even after everything I told you, you're still hell bent on trying to clean up the mess you made, huh?" There was a short pause, but it didn't last very long. "Even without any knowledge of what the rock really is or where it came from and what its true powers are, you still intend to use it?"
"Are you planning on explaining any of those things to me, cause if not then yes. I fully intend to rescue them from my careless wishing."
"People are going to end up hurt either way Natalie," he said, the fact that he used my new name without any fuss was a testament to the fact that he was serious. "There's no way around that."
"What the hell do you know?"
"What you have to decide is, do you think less people will be hurt if you change things, than were already hurt." He paused for the moment. "Remember how I told you your destiny was tied to the rock?"
"Amongst other things," I told him sharply, flicking my ashes out the window. "Like, for instance, the fact that you said you were gonna tell me more about this stone."
There was a long thoughtful silence, and for a moment all I could hear was the wind rushing in through the window, and some pop garbage playing softly on the radio. When he continued, there was a different tone to his voice. Up until now, he'd been a pretty smooth talker, casually throwing out the right words as he went along. Now, it seemed like he was taking more care, placing his words carefully in much the same way an artist would carefully place each stroke of the brush.
"Are you familiar with the Greek Gods? Zeus, Aries, Aphrodite, and the like?"
"A little," I answered, taking a right and tossing my finished cigarette out the window. "What does Greek Mythology have to do with anything?"
"Mythology " When he said it, it was as though he was taking the word in, rolling his tongue over it, and scrutinizing it very carefully. "Mythology," he repeated slowly. "Okay, for the sake of argument, we'll call it mythology." He smiled one of those charming, creepy smiles at me as he continued. "According to mythology they were a group of Gods who ruled over man from their home on Mount Olympus. Are you with me so far?"
I nodded. "Is this shit actually going somewhere, or are you just trying to bore me?"
"You wanted to know more about the rock," he told me. "I can't tell you everything about it, but I can give you a little info. First of all, they were more than mere mythology. They existed, but they weren't Gods. Not by a long shot." He shot me a curious glance and before I could voice the question, he continued as though he'd read my mind, "And no, they weren't aliens." He shook his head. "I swear science fiction has ruined the human race." Taking a long breath, he continued, "Christian Mythology," he put the same sort of sarcastic emphasis on the word as he had before, "states that God, the mighty Jehovah, created the world in six days. The bible and other text, some of which have yet to be discovered by your scholars, elude to the fact that he was all powerful, and in a sense, this was true."
I glanced over to see him looking me up and down, and I wasn't sure I liked the glint in his eye, but I didn't say anything. "I'm sure you're familiar with the story of Lucifer, and how he fell from Heaven. How he was damned to the Underworld to torment lost souls." I nodded. "Good, you're not completely illiterate. Now, I want you to listen carefully. Everything I've just said is true. It all really happened. I'm telling you that it's a fact. Are you with me still?"
I just nodded and lit another cigarette out of habit, keeping my eyes focused out the windshield.
"When Lucifer fell, other Angels began to question what was happening, they began to question the mighty God's rule. There was war in heaven. A group of Angels banded together to try and demolish everything that God had built. They were, of course," he said with a smile, "Unsuccessful. But they did leave the old man shaken. They were banished to the Earth, but he couldn't completely strip them of their power. They'd been extremely powerful Angels. Still, they didn't have the power to return, so they remained down here, and decided to do what they could to usurp God's authority on Earth. They held themselves up as Gods in their own right "
"The Greek Pantheon?" I ventured. "They were Angels?" I have to admit that I was still in shock. I wasn't sure what surprised me more; the things that Malcolm was telling me, or the fact that he was actually telling me anything. "If we assume for the moment that I'm believing you," I ventured, "then this is all very interesting, but I don't see what it has to do with the rock." I thought about it for another moment, and another more important thought crossed my mind, "How exactly do you know all of this?" I asked hanging a right, "Just who the hell are you?"
His smile was a little shiftier this time. "As I said, there are some things that I'm not at liberty to say, but if you're willing to listen, I'll continue with the rest of my story."
"Fine," I told him hurriedly.
"Zeus, and his refugees did what they could to co-opt God's creation. They appeared to the Sumerians first, under different guises of course, and were worshiped as Gods. As civilization grew and pushed out, so did they. They pushed on to Egypt and had a great influence on their culture. They were, in fact responsible for the construction of the Pyramids and the Sphinx. It was all part of their overall goal. When they moved on to Greece, they found utopia. At least for a time. They set themselves up as the creators of the world, and for a while, everything was fine."
"For a while?" I asked, surprised at how interested I was becoming. "What happened?"
"Zeus and the Greek Gods became, what God called: Tainted by Humanity. They began to squabble amongst themselves. An era of infighting and shaky truces prevailed. For a time, it seemed that they had forgotten why they were here in the first place." There was a long thoughtful pause, and I struggled to reconcile everything he'd been telling me with everything I knew. When he continued, I was all ears. "Eventually, their power slowly began to fade."
"Why?"
"Belief," he told me, and he must have noticed the confused look because he decided to elaborate, "Think about how low you feel when it seems as though nobody believes in you How low Karyn must have felt by the time she did what she did. Now," he continued, "Imagine that feeling, but imagine it in the physical sense. Imagine your body feeling as drained as your psyche by that same lack of belief."
I thought about it for a moment, expelling smoke and pulling into the trailer park. "People stopped believing and they began to lose their power," I whispered.
He nodded. "Worse, they knew that enough time had passed for God to regain his momentum, and they were right. God made one more bid for power in the form of an emissary, Jesus Christ, the very son of God. Seeing what was happening, and already nearing their end, the Fallen Angels pulled together. They made one last effort toward self preservation. They found a relatively ordinary looking rock and banded together. Each one distilled a little of their remaining power into it. They did this so they could use it to alter reality, to seal themselves away in a pocket reality until such a time that they could return. A time when God was too weak to stop them."
"So, now I have to worry about Gods too?" I asked, sulking a little.
"Probably not," he told me in a rather matter of fact tone. "They knew that he rock would be found and probably used." He smirked, "That was actually kind of their last little gesture. Kind of spitting in his face if you will. The rock isn't powerful enough to release them, and quite probably they'll remain trapped forever. They were careful to make sure that God's power couldn't touch it either." He shook his head.
"What about God?" I asked.
"The old man?" he asked. "Look around Natalie. It should be pretty obvious that he doesn't have much influence in this world anymore "
"Because of belief?" I asked quickly, as I pulled into the driveway. "He has countless believers "
"People who say they believe," he cut in. "There are millions upon millions of people who say that they believe in God Natalie and they are ready to proclaim that fact to the hills. They'll cling to the notion until the day they die, but to say you believe, and then actually dig down into your heart and find that belief beating their like blood " He paused. "Well, it exists out there. There are people who truly believe to the depths of their souls, but that kind of unconditional belief is extremely rare." He looked at me. "No, I simply felt that you should know the story behind the rock that you have in your purse. I thought it might help you understand the scope of what you're dealing with."
"You said my grandfather did something that was fundamentally wrong," I told him. "You said that the creators of the rock weren't happy about it. If the Gods locked themselves away, and they're the creators "
"I've already told you more than I planned on," Malcolm said softly.
"Who the fuck are you?" I demanded.
"I will give you the same prediction I gave you earlier though Natalie. No matter what happens, whether you try and change things back, people are going to end up hurt. You might want to give that some thought before you involve anybody else."
I just looked at him for a moment. "I've made up my mind and, while you've been informative, you haven't said anything to change my mind." I opened my door, slipped my seatbelt off and threw my cigarette down on the ground. When I looked back, he was gone once again. I thought about everything that he'd told me as I made my way into the house. I wasn't sure I believed everything he'd told me, but I was pretty certain that his story had elements of truth to it. In a flash of insight I also realized something very important.
Up until now, I'd assumed that he was watching me all the time. I thought he always had his eye on me. If that were the case though, then why hadn't he said anything about my grandfather. If Malcolm were watching me all the time, he had to have seen me chase after *Whatever the hell it was I was chasing earlier * As concerned about what I learned of my grandfather as he'd been when we'd met, I couldn't believe he wouldn't even mention something like that.
*No, there must be times when he's not watching me * I just had to figure out how to use that.
As I stepped inside, I saw that the T.V. was still on, but Jill was passed out on the couch. I saw a bottle of whiskey on the table. I picked up the bottle, took a quick gulp, hoping it would help to calm my mind a little, and put it back in the cupboard. If I just slept on it, I knew I'd find a solution.
I had to. I owed it to them.
Between Rachel and myself, we'd come up with something. I made my way into my room, shut the door and climbed into bed. I hadn't really realized how tired I was until that moment, and I didn't even bother getting undressed. Within minutes I was asleep
