Invisible Terror Collection Part 17

"You were right, Beck. There is a G.o.d ... and a heaven. I saw them, Beck. I was there."

"Are you out of ICU?"

"It was so incredible, Beck."

"Hold on ... I'll be right over."

"It was so beautiful."

"Hold on."

"Wow!" Scott exclaimed as they entered Hubert's cluttered living room. He'd visited Darryl's cousin a couple of times before.

Once when they'd tried to track down their mysterious computer friend Z, and more recently when they'd pulled a trick on the Ascension Lady by reprogramming her computerized astrological charts.

By now he was used to the electronic parts piled in heaps and scattered over the floor like some Radio Shack after a 9.5 quake.

He was even used to the thousand and one empty pizza boxes that never quite made it to the garbage. What surprised him this time were the half dozen people gathered in a circle in front of computer screens. Some had laptops. Others had desktops with monitors. Whatever the setup, each person stared quietly and intently at his screen.

"What are they doing?" Scott whispered.

"Crypts and Wizards," Darryl whispered back. He gave a loud sniff and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Scott looked at his friend for a moment. He'd gotten used to Darryl's frequent sniffs, but he still couldn't quite appreciate his friend's version of a handkerchief. "Crypts and Wizards? What's that?"

"It's a role-playing game."

"A what?"

"You pretend to be somebody, like a sorcerer or zombie or witch or something. Then you use your powers to try and find the treasure buried deep inside the crypt." Scott looked at the players. Their faces were glued to their screens, almost trancelike. "They really get into it, don't they?"

"Oh yeah. Sometimes the games go on for hours, days, even weeks. It's like you really become the person. Come on. I asked Hubert to save a couple of places for us." He gave another sniff and motioned for Scott to follow.

"Where is Hubert?" Scott asked. "I don't see him."

"He's upstairs. He's the Crypt Master. He's the guy who drew up the crypt map with all of its traps and monsters and stuff."

"Yeah?"

Darryl nodded. "He basically runs the game." At last they arrived in front of two empty computer terminals. "Here we go." Scott checked out the screen in front of him. It wasn't too impressive. Just some graphs, the beginning of a maze, and some bizarre figures of people and creatures. "Doesn't look like much," he said as he took a seat behind the console.

Darryl threw him a grin. "Just wait."

"Are you sure it was your grandmother?" Ryan asked.

"Oh yeah." Julie grinned. Her voice was weak and thin. Her hair was stringy in front and matted in the back, and she wore the lamest hospital gown they had ever seen - but inside, Julie bubbled with excitement. "It wasn't just Grandma. My grandpa, my aunt ... people I know are dead were there. It was so incredible. They were, like, all standing in this park with these cool trees and this superclear stream - and the water, it was like diamonds it was so clear."

Rebecca sat on Julie's bed listening to her friend chatter on. It was great having her back. But even as she listened, a tiny alarm started to sound in her head.

"Oh, Becka," Julie beamed. "It was so cool. There was, like, this glowing city, all made of crystal and jewels and stuff. And the light, everywhere there was light. But it didn't come from the sun or anything like that."

"Where did it come from?"

Without blinking Julie answered her directly. "It was G.o.d, Beck. The light came from G.o.d."

The alarm grew louder. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something didn't fit.

"You saw G.o.d?" Ryan asked.

Julie shook her head. "Not exactly. But I was so close I could have, I know it." Becka searched Julie's eyes to see if she was teasing. There was nothing but sincerity in them. "Beck ... he's so cool. I mean, everywhere I went I felt this incredible love, this total ... acceptance. He loves us so much, Becka. You can't even imagine it."

Becka tried to hold Julie's gaze, but couldn't. Her eyes faltered, then looked away.

"Beck, what's wrong?"

Rebecca shook her head. "I don't know ... It's just - I mean, are you sure it wasn't just a dream? Dreams can seem pretty real."

Julie smiled. "No, Beck, this was no dream." Becka had her doubts. But this was her best friend. She'd almost been killed. This was not the time to argue. She looked away and spotted a chunk of crystalline rock on the nightstand.

It was about the size of her fist, and it was so clear it almost looked like ice. Grateful to change the subject, she turned back to Julie and asked, "What's that?"

"Oh, the Ascension Lady came by earlier and dropped it off." Julie reached over and scooped it into her hand. "It's pretty neat."

"Why'd she bring it over?" Ryan asked.

Julie chuckled. "You know Priscilla. I talked to her on the phone earlier. I told her all about my angel guide and everything, and she got - "

"Your ... angel?" Becka interrupted.

"Oh yeah, I had this angel with me the whole time. Anyway, Priscilla says my spirit has been 'awakened,' or something like that. She says that if I practice with this thing - " she hefted the crystal in her hand and grinned mischievously - "I'll be able to call up my guardian angel anytime I want. I'll be able to evolve to a 'higher level of consciousness.' "

"Good ol' Priscilla," Ryan chuckled. He threw a grin at Becka. "Some things never change."

Becka didn't smile back. The alarm in her head was much louder. She was sure Julie was wrong. That what she had seen couldn't be real. But why? What was wrong?

"Hey, Jules, nice hair."

Everyone turned to see Krissi and Philip enter. Philip was holding an arrangement of red and white carnations they'd picked up from the gift shop downstairs.

"Oh, guys!" Julie exclaimed as she reached out to take the flowers. "They're beautiful." Her voice was getting weaker. She did her best to sound bright and cheery, but there was no missing the exhaustion setting in.

Being his usual sensitive self, Ryan was the first to notice.

"Look, Julie, maybe Beck and I should be going. Let you spend a little time with - "

"No, please stay," Julie insisted. She turned to Krissi and Philip. "Ryan and Beck can fill you in on my adventures ... but somebody has to tell me what I've been missing at school. What's the latest?"

As All-School Gossip, Krissi knew it was her duty to give the report. "Kind of a slow day," she said with a shrug. "As far as I know, n.o.body broke up with anybody. No fights. No arrests.

n.o.body new is pregnant - "

"But you missed a great chemistry quiz." Ryan grinned.

Philip motioned toward Ryan. "And our boy wonder there, he's about to become the next school president."

"Oh, that's right, nominations were today," Julie said, disappointed. "I really wanted to run for something."

"Becka tried to nominate you," Krissi said, "but she got voted down."

"They didn't know when you'd be coming back," Philip explained.

Julie turned to Becka. She didn't have to say thanks, it was in her eyes.

"Anyway," Krissi continued, "elections are in two weeks, and Ryan Riordan is going to win by a landslide." Ryan chuckled. "Let's not count our ballots before they're hatched."

"You'll win the election," Krissi insisted. "I know you will." Ryan smiled. "We'll see."

"No, I'm telling you, you're going to win."

"You been borrowing Priscilla's crystal ball?" Julie teased.

"Better than that." There was no hiding the twinkle in Krissi's eyes. "This afternoon, I knew he was going to win the nomination before they finished counting the ballots." She dug into her handbag. "Here, I'll show you." The group exchanged glances as Krissi continued to dig.

Becka cleared her throat. She tried to keep the question light and casual. "How'd you know that, Krissi?"

"Remember, in the mansion, how my hand was writing that stuff without me controlling it?"

Becka nodded.

"Well, the neatest thing is starting to happen." She kept digging. "I've been doing a little experimenting, and I think I've found a way to get my hand to keep doing it."

"Krissi," Julie warned.

"I know, I know," Krissi answered, "it was scary then, but now I know how to control it."

"Are you sure that's, you know ... smart?" Becka ventured.

The word "smart" was a wrong choice, and Krissi immediately shot back, "As smart as any of your hocus-pocus stuff." The words stung, but Becka let them pa.s.s.

"Ah, here we go." Krissi pulled out the pad and flipped it to the page with all the doodles. "See ... down here," she pointed to the bottom of the page. The group moved in closer to look.

"Those are the names of everyone nominated from our cla.s.s.

And my hand wrote them before Mr. Lowry put them on the board."

The alarm in Becka's head sounded louder. She glanced at Ryan. He was still looking at his name on the sheet. Krissi continued, "Then when I got home, I did it again." She flipped through more pages, found what she was looking for, and ripped it out of the spiral notebook. "It's a message. It's for you, Becka." Rebecca felt a chill.

Krissi held it out to her. "Take a look. I don't know who's doing the writing or anything, but it's not like what we ran into at the mansion. This guy, or whatever it is, sounds pretty friendly."

Becka took the paper.

"Krissi," Philip said, "after all we went through at the mansion, are you sure you want to play around with something like that?"

"Why not?" Krissi chirped. "I'm the one controlling it. It doesn't happen unless I let it." She turned back to Becka. "Go ahead, read it. Whoever is writing it wanted you to have it." Becka tried her best to appear calm as she looked to the paper. Unfortunately her hands were shaking. Then there was the familiar chill wrapping itself around her shoulders. There were only three sentences. She read them out loud: " 'You have awakened their powers. Now you must release them. You must allow them to evolve into a higher level of consciousness.' "

The alarm that had been sounding in Becka's head started screaming. She barely heard Julie exclaim, " 'Higher level of consciousness'? Are you serious? That's the exact phrase the Ascension Lady used!"

Chapter 4.

Ryan eased the Mustang through the wet, foggy streets. Becka's house was only ten or fifteen minutes from the hospital, and they were practically there.

" 'Awakening their powers'? " Ryan repeated. "What's that supposed to mean? 'Evolve to a higher level of consciousness'?

Sounds like something from Star Wars." Becka wasn't smiling. "I knew something was up. When we entered the room ... didn't you feel it? Didn't you feel something was wrong?"

"You mean with Julie?"

Becka nodded. "And with her going to heaven. It couldn't have been real. It has to have been some sort of dream or hallucination or ..."

Ryan looked at her. It was obvious he had doubts. "Beck, lots of people see angels and light. When people die and come back, lots of them have said they were in heaven and saw that stuff."

"That's just it ... What was Julie doing in heaven if she wasn't a Chris tian?"

Ryan threw her another look.

She shrugged. "I know how that sounds. I love Julie too, she's my best friend. I don't want to be judgmental or anything, but ..." She struggled to put the thought into words.

Ryan finished it for her, "If she's not a Chris tian, she's supposed to go to h.e.l.l."

Becka winced. "That sounds so harsh."

"You bet it does."

Becka looked at him. The scowl across his face told her he disapproved. "But ... ," she ventured, "that's the whole reason Jesus died on the cross, so we wouldn't have to go to h.e.l.l." Ryan said nothing. The scowl deepened.

She continued, still testing the waters, "I mean, isn't that why you became a Chris tian?"

"I became a Chris tian because it was the right thing to do. I read that New Testament you gave me, and it made more sense than anything I'd ever read. But as far as h.e.l.l and all of that ..." There was a trace of irritation in his voice. "I don't know, Beck.