Ethereal

Chapter 22

Jasmine went through the portal first, stepping through and disappearing. Noah squeezed my hand again and pulled me with him so that we were stood right in front of the portal, so close that my nose was almost touching it.

We stepped through together, and though this time I was prepared to immediately meet air, not water, I still found myself stumbling a little (especially since the portal was horizontal on this side). Though I didn't quite fall – Noah's grip on my head was quick to steady me.

And there we were. Back in Entilin. Stood on the rocks in the centre of the lake. Jasmine and Noah seemingly had no trouble with the portal, they both stood straight, looking out towards the boardwalk. It had been fixed since I was last here, although it didn't look new. It looked as though nothing had been changed, it had returned to its former state.

Looking at the two of them, I was shocked to realise that their previously white clothes had changed colour. Even my own dress, which had been white just a few seconds ago, was now a pale blue.

Jasmine took the first step into the water, falling below the surface. I followed her, with Noah behind me. I had been expecting to go below the surface and be completely unable to see, like I had when I had jumped into the lake to save my mother. But... I could see. The water was murky, yes. But suddenly I could see through it.

That's how I saw Jasmine gesturing for me to follow her. She walked through the water smoothly like it was nothing, somehow able to find purchase where there was nothing for her to stand on. I tried to copy her, but whatever she was standing on apparently didn't exist for me.

Behind me, I felt Noah's hand on my back. I turned to face him, and he gave me a reassuring nod.

Resisting the urge to breathe deep to steady myself (I didn't think that'd be such a great idea underwater), I tried again to find whatever it was that Jasmine stood on.

And weirdly... I found it. It was like the water hardened to some form of putty beneath my feet. It felt like wet sand did, squishy, but you could still walk on it.

Feeling a little like I was walking through mud, I followed Jasmine, whose footsteps were smooth and rhythmic. I thought perhaps that whatever she could feel beneath her was more solid than the sludge below me.

When we reached the other side of the lake, the three of us were completely drenched. The path we walked sloped upwards slowly so that we were stood on the surface when we reached the boardwalk, so it was easy to hoist myself over the edge.

The water was dripping off of me, leaving a puddle where I stood, but not much could be done about that.

It was a disgusting feeling, to be soaked with water. But even so, it felt so familiar. I was reminded of the day when I first met the angels. Things were so different now, but to be back on Earth was a relief. Truly, I had missed it. Not to mention the dark sky of the early morning that hung above us, welcoming me back to a place where things made sense.

"What time is it?" I asked, confused. How long had it been since I was last here?

Noah walked down the length of the boardwalk and went to the grassy land that surrounded the lake to pick up a stick. He did the same thing I had seen him do once before, sticking it up straight in the ground and carefully angling his hand around it in the shape of an L.

He stood up, discarding the stick. "Thirteen minutes past five." He quoted. "You've been gone about a week."

"A week?" I echoed. "It's been a week?"

He nodded solemnly, "The passage of time is strange in Heaven."

"Yeah." I agreed, "How come you need the stick to tell the time down here? In Caelum you just knew it."

"Here we have the aid of the sun and the shadows. We don't have that in Heaven, so the sticks don't work there. It's knowledge that God gifted us with, but it only works in Heaven." Jasmine explained, "It would be too suspicious if we did it in front of humans."

"I still can't believe there's no time in Caelum." I shook my head. "Or at least, not in the same way."

"Heaven." Jasmine corrected me.

"What's the difference?" I asked.

"Heaven is the entire world above in the clouds, Caelum is just the part that the angels reside in." Noah explained.

"Oh." I nodded. "Okay. Do humans ever go to Caelum?"

"It's too far for them." Jasmine explained. "It can only be accessed if you can fly, anyway. The rest of Heaven is much lower."

I did think that was a little sad, that humans would never see Caelum. "Shall we head to my house then?"

I didn't have the keys on me, but I had left them hung on a branch of the tree I had been sat on before I left. Hopefully too high for a human to be able to climb and reach them, plus they were pretty hidden amongst the leaves.

I had mainly left them there in case my mother returned to the house, hopefully Noah would have gone to check on her at some point. Of course, it wasn't guaranteed, but those keys were far from hidden from an angel.

So, when we reached my house, it was pretty easy for me to go collect them. Clearly my physical abilities had improved though, because this time instead of climbing the tree, I simply jumped up and grabbed a branch to steady myself while I collected the keys, and then let go, landing neatly on my feet.

Having gone to the back of my house first to collect the keys, I paused for a moment to select the key for the front door. "Ready?" Jasmine asked, waiting for me.

I nodded and led them to the front of the house.

Only I froze when my door came into view.

"Emilia?" Noah questioned, concerned. "What's that?"

"I..." I stuttered. "It's..."

It was police tape.

Zig-zagging across the entirety of my front door.

Ignoring Noah's question, I rushed forward and ripped off the tape, so that I could get inside.

Someone had clearly been in. Looking through my things, searching for something. Why had the police been here?

"What day is it?" I asked frantically.

"Saturday." Jasmine replied, looking around cautiously. "Someone has been here."

"The police." I told her, frowning. "The sports shop will be open soon, I want to go there. See if Charlie or my boss know anything... If not, I'll go to the station."

Noah and Jasmine exchanged a look. "Emilia, are you sure you don't want to go straight to the police?" Jasmine asked. "If someone has broken in, you need to report it."

I shook my head. "There wouldn't be police tape if they didn't know already. And I don't think someone broke in... I think the police came, looking for something. You don't think... that they know about the van?"

Maybe I spent too much time watching shows on tv, but I had the sudden thought that if the government knew what I could do... they wouldn't want me around much longer. Were they looking for me?

"Don't panic." Noah told me, sensing my distress. "You've been gone a week, perhaps they just think you're missing?"

"Right, yeah. That'd make sense." I sighed. "Okay, I want to speak to Charlie, I feel like he'd know if something was up."

"Okay." Noah said, though he didn't sound confident. "We have a while, but let's head there now."

And we did.

I had never once thought that something could be going wrong in the human part of my life. But it was.

As it turned out, something had seriously gone wrong.

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