Chapter 3
Progress of Alex's recuperation was slow but steady and the solitude was starting to drive him crazy. He only ever had contact with the same four people, and after a week of drifting in and out of the same sleep-eat-sleep-eat cycle, he slowly and laboriously forced himself into his clothes and broke free of his makeshift infirmary prison.
Noma found him two hours later by the urn wall that housed Jeep's ashes. He didn't even want to venture a guess how. Perhaps higher angels had some sort of sixth sense for that kind of thing. Perhaps she just knew him too well.
He was immeasurably thankful when she didn't speak and just sat down wordlessly next to him. They stayed like that for a long time until Alex finally broke the silence.
"Can you take me up to the Stratosphere?"
She looked at him in surprise. "To do what?"
"To talk to Michael."
"He's not there."
"Then I'll wait."
"Alex, he hasn't been in Vega since the night we brought you to the infirmary. No one's seen him, no one knows where he is."
That took him completely by surprise. Michael had been a constant fixture in Vega, stoic and commanding, and never in a million years had he thought that could ever change.
He wondered if it had to do with what had become of Gabriel. It had been eerily quiet in the angel ranks. No matter how much Noma had tried to gather information, no one knew if Gabriel was still alive. Although Alex suspected that he was, otherwise something would have seeped through.
"Has anyone tried to look for him?"
"In Vega?"
"Yeah. No. I don't know. Wherever he usually goes."
"Who knows where he usually goes? He could be anywhere. Literally anywhere. Our net doesn't stretch that wide. Not to forget, he's the archangel. You don't go to him, he comes to you."
"So what are we supposed to do now?" Asking the question seemed out of place, because not a week ago, he had been sure he didn't need anyone's guidance, let alone a misguided archangel's. Today he felt aimless and adrift.
"Aren't you supposed to be the Chosen One?" she countered.
"I may be carrying the damn tattoos, but I don't have all the answers."
"Yeah, that would have been too easy, wouldn't it?"
Alex got to his feet, grunting as he did so from the broken ribs that every little movement seemed to aggravate. "Can you take me to the Stratosphere anyway?"
She didn't question him this time. "Yeah, sure."
Alex wandered around circular room, taking in the faint scent of incense and candles, the ceiling fresco above the free-standing bed, the golden geometric patterns on the walls, half obscured by cream colored curtains. Dried up oranges were shriveling in a bowl on a dressing table. He felt like an intruder in someone's home, but wasn't that exactly what he was?
He'd asked Noma to leave. He wasn't sure what exactly he might accomplish here on his own, but if there was any place where guidance might be offered, this was the only one he'd been able to think of.
Looking around the room, he focused on a vacant spot on the floor. He used one of the large pillows to make himself comfortable in a cross-legged position. He pulled his shirt over his head with a subdued groan, yet again startled by the alien sight of the tattoos winding across his body. The bandage around his upper arm concealed some of them, others were discolored by purplish green bruises. He had a feeling that didn't matter.
He sucked in as deep a breath as he could muster despite the pain it caused and placed his hands loosely on his knees. Trying to straighten his back, he closed his eyes and tried to remember what Michael had taught him.
His mind wandered aimlessly—from facing Gabriel in the voltage cell, to the cave, to Noma, to Claire, to William. He felt his thoughts tumbling into each other, felt the anxiety mounting.
It took half a minute until he realized he was clenching his fists, so he made a conscious effort to relax his muscles and refocus. He could almost hear Michael's dispassionate voice from across the room.
"Don't dwell on the thoughts. Register them, but don't judge them. Let them float by, like leaves carried by stream."
It was easier said than done but of course nothing Michael had ever asked him had been easy. However, he also knew that each time, he had come away with an invaluable lesson learned. Relaxing his facial muscles, he let his jaw slacken and opened his mind.
First there was nothing. Then the scenery changed. He was standing alone in the desert. White sands stretched in all directions, a merciless sun beating down on him. Shadows suddenly swept in, darkness alternating with brightness, surrounding him from above. When he looked upwards, there was only blinding light.
"Watch the shadows, not the sun," he heard Michael's voice at the back of his mind.
Alex concentrated on the ground, tracking the shadows south-west. They seemed to be moving away from him and he instinctively followed. His feet dragged heavily through the loose sand but he forced himself forward.
He was being guided up a particularly steep dune that was difficult to climb. When he finally reached the top, he propped himself upright and surveyed the territory. Using his hand as a sunshield, he could make out a distinct rock formation in the far distance, the landscape that was stretching out in front of him suddenly changing to dried-out steppe terrain.
A noise on the ground beside him caught his attention and he recognized the animal staring up at him as a red fox. Its curious, inquisitive eyes studied Alex, then it turned its head towards the rock structure in the distance, as if it wanted to indicate something to him.
A sharp pain in his left forearm momentarily distracted him and Alex was jerked back to reality, the pain searing from his vision right into the real world. The tattoos there were moving, twisting in opposite directions and he had to suppress the urge to touch them.
They finally stopped winding and the words 'Guide the way for those who have lost their path' started to glow orange on his skin. As quickly as the letters had appeared, they vanished again, the markings shifting back into their original position, the pain gone.
He released the breath he'd been holding. What did that mean? It could mean anything. He knew it had been a sign of sorts, but where would he start?
He got up from the sitting position and looked around the room. On an antique desk near the western wall, he found a piece of paper and a pencil and he haphazardly started drawing what he remembered of the rock formation.
The fox and the rock structure had to have some kind of significance—he was sure of that. He decided that this would be his starting point. There had to be a way to find out where these rocks were located. Alex went to the elevator and hit the button to open the doors, finding Noma sitting on the floor with her back leaned against the wall.
She got up when she recognized Alex, stepping out into the room. "Did you find anything?"
He thrust the piece of paper under her nose. "Here. Do you recognize this?"
She took a closer look, her brow creased in a frown. "A… I don't know… ECG trace?"
"No," he said impatiently. "It's a rock formation. Somewhere. I don't know where."
"A rock formation?" She took another look at Alex's scribbles. "Your drawing skills are terrible."
"I think I'm supposed to find these rocks."
"You think?"
"Well, the message isn't always clear."
"Okay, you better start at the beginning. What the hell happened in there?"
He wasn't ready to share his experience with her, not yet. He turned to face her, his voice tight with impatience. "Look, can you just trust me on this for now? Can you help me find these rocks?"
She threw her arms up incredulously. "How?"
"I don't know," he spat back, his voice raised.
"You're not suggesting I fly around the Cradle to look for scraggly zigzag lines on a piece of paper, are you?"
"I hadn't considered that, but, yeah, if it helps…"
She shook her head in disbelief. "Not if you don't tell me what this is about. I mean, you were in there for hours. Now you burst in here and just expect me to go on some wild goose chase without even knowing why?"
"Fine," he said huffily. "I'll find them without your help."
He entered the elevator cabin, hitting the door closing button without waiting for Noma to join him.
"Alex," she called after him, but the doors were already sliding shut.