Saviors 101

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Life made no more sense after eating pizza while sitting in the gentle breeze of the Kirsten Wind Tunnel than it had before eating pizza while sitting in the gentle breeze of the Kirsten Wind Tunnel.

Dana was thankful that Sam was giving her the benefit of the doubt on this one. But it wasn’t making her or her hormones any happier.

“I’m supposed to turn into the Messiah on my twenty-first birthday.” It didn’t make sense no matter how many times she said it.

“Wow!” Sam teased her. “I’ve never dated a Messiah before.”

“It’s okay. I don’t believe Michelle either.” The problem was that Dana was starting to think that maybe she should be trusting the Devil. A part of her thoughts wondered if that made her a disciple of Hell? The rest of her thoughts told that part to shut up.

“What happens, do I forget all about being Dana Murphy and morph into being Diana the Huntress? I don’t like the sound of that one bit. I’d wager that Diana wouldn’t be so thrilled either.” At least that explained her archery and running skills. She glanced at Sam who was stalwartly holding her hand still. And her desire to get him into the great outdoors to jump his bones.

Henrietta set out to explain, which Sam wouldn’t be able to hear. Dana and Michelle had worked out a simple expedient solution. Every time the angel started into talking, one or the other of them would peel out another slice of pepperoni and set it before the angel. She had a total weakness for it. That would shut her up for a good long while and let Michelle explain.

It had gotten so obvious that, whenever the silence grew too long for him, Sam would figure the angel was on a roll and he’d pick out a piece of pepperoni himself and set it in the empty part of an open box lid. He would shiver a little as bits and pieces of the meat disappeared into what, to him, must appear as thin air rather than the angel’s mouth.

“No,” Michelle took another slice of Hawaiian pizza for herself and bit in. “It doesn’t work that way. You’re more of a clone. When you turn twenty-one, Diana will come back into being her own separate self. You’ll pick up a few of Diana’s memories, but mostly her Godly powers.”

Sam took that hit hard, loosening his hand in hers, but Dana didn’t let go and he slowly recovered.

“Then why are you talking to her now?” Sam leaned into her defense as he had all evening. “Why not come around on Christmas eve like ghosts and spirits and angels are supposed to?”

Michelle set down her piece of pizza and stared down at Henrietta.

Oddly, the little angel was neither eating nor speaking as she looked back at Michelle.

The Devil looked back up at both of them for long moment before speaking.

“I suspect that we don’t have that much time. The Software that Runs the Universe is destabilizing and we need a Messiah now who can fix it.”

Dana staggered to her feet, losing her hold on Sam somewhere in the process.

“I’m supposed to save the world?”

Michelle shrugged, “The universe actually. And maybe a couple of the parallel ones.”

“Oh,” Dana attempted a shrug and felt like a windup doll with her internal spring way overwound. “Is that all? No problem. Let me just go take care of that now.”

She turned away and began walking downwind into the dark beyond the tiny glow of the book light.

“Save the universe. Easy, I do that every day. And parallel ones. Of course! I know all about those. I’m supposed to be the next Messiah, but my head is going to explode first. And my brain melt. No worries, I’ll be remembered forever for it. Maybe they’ll even name a religion after me. The Holy Church of Dana. Perfect!”

Right that moment she was nearly decapitated by walking into a sixty-million-year-old Pteranodon wing. With a struggle, she turned back to face the others sitting around the book light like a campfire of old.

“No!”

She’d had enough.

“No!”

It was too big.

“No.” The breeze took her final protest and carried it past the Pteranodon. Past the visible world, around the corner through a pair of wind turners. Chopped it up with a pair of fourteen-foot fan blades. Ran it through two more wind turners and delivered it back to her just as her knees let go and she sank to the floor.

Sam’s hands caught her before she wholly collapsed. He was warm and real and, if she was ever lucky enough, she just might get to make love to their owner. Someday.

“I’ve had enough.”

Michelle was standing before her once more. Henrietta fluttering against the headwind.

“I’m just going to stay here. You can keep on going. And take your little, talking, angel doll with you.”