TWO
When Leo orbed into the White Lighter realm the first thing he noticed were dozens of White Lighters. More than he had ever seen gathered at one time. He didn't have to be told to know that almost every White Lighter had been summoned.
"Good, you're here," said an Elder walking up to Leo.
"I came as soon as I got the summons," said Leo. "Thaddeus, what's going on? Why are there so many White Lighters here?"
"There's an emergency," said Thaddeus. "We only learned about it a few moments ago. I'm afraid that so many White Lighters are going to be needed for this. And you're going to be needed most of all."
"For what?" Leo asked. "What's going on? What could be so important that you'd need thousands of White Lighters for?"
"They are responding to a request from me," said man dressed in all black walking up to Leo and the Elder. The man spoke with a distinct British accent. "And I'm afraid we haven't much time."
"Death," said Leo. "What are you doing here?"
"As he said," said the Elder, "we are responding to a request he has made of us. It's not the first time he's made a request of this nature. But it has been a long time since he's made it."
"What request?" Leo asked. "Deaths' duty is to transport souls to the other side. How can White Lighters' help with that?"
Death held up several sheets of parchment. Leo recognized the parchments. It was Deaths' list of souls he was to take. Only Death usually has only a single parchment. There had to be dozens of them in his hand.
"This is why," said Death. "I received this only a short time ago. In a very short time it will become necessary to transport so many souls that I will be unable to accomplish it. It will be necessary that the White Lighters assist in this matter."
"There have to be hundreds of names there," said Leo.
"Two thousand seven hundred ninety two to be exact," said Death. "Now you see why it is important that I have assistance in this matter. It would take far to long for me to accomplish this myself. Too many mortals would continue to suffer until I could get to them. With the help of the White Lighters this suffering can be alleviated."
"Two thousand seven hundred?" questioned Leo. "What's happening? A natural disaster?"
"I suppose that would depend on your point of view," said Death. "Man is a natural creature. And his actions could be considered natural occurrences."
"Actually," said Thaddeus, "there is going to be a terrible tragedy today. Those people will die because of the actions of a few militant fanatics."
"Why not just prevent it?" Leo asked. "If you know what's going to happen it should be a simple matter to arrange things so it doesn't happen."
"We can't interfere, you know that," said Thaddeus. "Evil or not, human free will must not be interfered with. Demons are not involved in this. At least not directly. So we can do nothing to prevent it. But we can assist death in preventing suffering for those humans who will be affected by it."
"I see," said Leo. "I know that Death often takes souls to prevent humans from suffering too much. Is that what's happening here?"
"Partially," said Death. "The incident your Elder spoke of has the potential to cause a great deal of suffering. I would get to them eventually, of course. But not before a great many of them have suffered more than is allowed. That is the reason for the White Lighters."
"What's going to happen?" Leo asked.
"Terrorists are planning to use commercial airliners as weapons," said Thaddeus. "Two planes are heading for the World Trade Center in New York City. One is on its way to the Pentagon. And the fourth is on course for the White House."
"My God," gasped Leo. "How can anyone do something like that? Most of those people aren't even combatants. This is insane."
"I did say they were fanatics," said Thaddeus. "History is replete with examples of fanatics willing to go to extremes to accomplish their goals."
"You're right, of course," said Leo. "It's just that the magnitude of this is incredible. So the White Lighters are here to help Death take the souls of those who are going to die?"
"Yes," said Death. "While you cannot transport them across the divide you can remove their souls so that they do not suffer. The Elders have graciously offered to allow the souls to remain here until I and my fellow Deaths can transport them across."
"The Elders are going to give the White Lighters the ability to take human souls on a temporary basis," said Thaddeus. "IT is going to take the combined power of the Elders to do this."
"You said I would be needed most of all," Leo said to Thaddeus. "I don't understand. If I'm going to be transporting souls here how can that be any more important than any other White Lighter doing the same thing."
"We have something else in mind for you, Leo," said Thaddeus. "We have determined that the impact of the airliners on the White House and Pentagon will produce what might be called a normal amount of damage. And, unfortunately, a large number of deaths.
"However, the airliners moving toward the World Trade Center are a different matter. The twin towers are their targets. The human engineers who designed the towers never imagined an incident like this. The impact of the aircraft with the towers will be horrendous. We believe they will not survive the impact."
"If that happens," said Leo, "they'll collapse into New York City. The destruction will be incredible. And only twenty seven hundred people are going to die? It's hard to imagine so few deaths with a scenario like that."
"Actually," said Death, "if the towers should collapse tens of thousands of people will die."
"Is there anything we can do about it?" Leo asked.
"There is one thing," said Thaddeus. "That is why we have summoned you. If we can keep the towers from collapsing from the initial impact the number of deaths can be minimized."
"You want me to keep the towers from collapsing?" Leo asked. "I'm not sure I can do that."
"You can't," said Thaddeus. "But there is someone who can. That is why we need you. You will need to get this person into the towers. So they can use their power to hold up the towers and prevent their collapse."
"Who could possibly have that kind of power?" Leo asked. "There must be thousands of tons of steel and metal in those towers. I can't imagine anyone with the kind of power needed to do that."
"I'm told I have that power. Now that I don't have anything else to worry about."
Leo turned to see a young woman walking up to them.
"Prue?" Leo questioned.