28. Caleb

TWENTY-EIGHT

Caleb

My ears were ringing. Why were my ears ringing?

“Caleb, are you listening to me? I said there’s a beached orca on Alki Beach! This is perfect! We can get both of your eco-lovers over there and help them save the whale together. But we’ve got to move quickly. Barb can watch the store, and I can meet you there, but it’ll be?—”

“I’m coming to get you. Stay at the shop, and we’ll go together.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll get my things together, but hurry!”

She hung up the phone without saying goodbye, leaving me alone with the tinny ring.

The Host was calling. The same thing had happened the last time, when I’d been called up for correction.

Not yet. I can’t leave her now. I still have to figure out if I’ve started the Chosen seal on her!

I swiped my keys off the hook and jogged to my car, the ’87 Buick Grand National, which purred like a kitten when I cranked it up, as always. But even the rumble of my classic car couldn’t bring a smile to my face. Not when the ringing in my ears meant that I was nearly done with my task, and any minute, I’d be called back to stand before the heavenly Host.

Plus, I still hadn’t found the book. How could I be so close to completing my mission without it? It didn’t make sense.

I whipped out of the parking lot more quickly than I should have and forced myself to suck some deep breaths through my nose as I made the short drive to the Bookish Cat. My hands were steady if a bit white-knuckled on the wheel when I parked next to the curb, jumping out to tell Josie I was there.

I hadn’t made it through the front door when a wolf-whistle cut through the usually quiet bookshop.

“Well, look at you, Mr. Hot-to-trot! I like your car. The eighties were my jam.” An elderly woman in neon Lycra sidled up next to me. Her hair was sprayed into a flare of riotous curls, and was she wearing a pearl necklace and earrings with her… was that workout gear? I blinked, trying to figure out what was going on, as a peppy eighties song played over the sound system I didn’t know the shop had.

“Josie?” I called, opting to go straight to the source. Maybe she had planned some sort of eighties theme day, and I missed the memo.

“Caleb! There you are.” She plucked her messenger bag from behind the counter and walked quickly toward me. But she didn’t make it all the way to my side before I heard a familiar voice.

“There he is, ladies! That’s my great-granddaughter’s new beau! Isn’t he a doll?” Nana Geraldine crowed with delight.

Coos of, “Oh, he’s so handsome!” and “He’d be a perfect cover model for Highlander Escape ” had me backing toward the front door like a deer surrounded by a dozen hunters. More and more of Nana’s friends came pouring out of the stacks, several of them with towering piles of books adorned with bare-chested men in kilts. All of them wore fluorescent Lycra and leg warmers.

“This has been great, ladies.” Josie tried to save us. “Unfortunately, we must be going. We’ve got an urgent?—”

Someone poked me in the backside, so I grabbed Josie’s arm and bolted for the door, not waiting for the rest of her goodbye.

She laughed at my panic as she slid into the passenger seat. Before I pulled away from the curb, I saw a dozen ladies, all with their noses pressed against the glass door.

“What is wrong with you? Surely, you’re not afraid of Nana Geraldine’s friends. They’re sweet as can be.”

“Maybe to you . Did you see how they were looking at me? I felt like they had x-ray goggles. And I’m pretty sure one of them pinched my butt. That’s when I bolted.”

She stifled her hysterical laughter with a hand over her mouth, but there was unbridled glee in her eyes.

“Laugh all you want. I’m going to get us safely to the beach.”

“I’m sorry! It’s just too cute. Here you are, an angel with all this divine power, and yet… you’re scared off by a bunch of elderly ladies in their dancercise gear.” She tittered again, and it was like a dam burst inside me. All of a sudden, I was laughing, and then she was laughing louder, and we were just cackling like loons as I drove us down the highway.

We made good time, and I worked on pulling both Marigold and Axel to the beach as we crossed the city. While I usually would have used some vague suggestion, this time I opted for an anonymous text to both of their cell phones.

Anon: Beached orca at Alki. All hands on deck!

They both responded back in the affirmative, and twenty minutes later when we arrived, I could feel their auras rapidly approaching.

“What do we do now?” Josie asked as we climbed out of the car. I saw she’d left her messenger bag behind. I paused, staring at the bag for a second. The ringing in my ears was intensifying, but that made no sense. Marigold was coming from the other direction, and Axel was already on the beach. What about that bag was causing the Host to call me home more quickly?

“Caleb, are you okay?” she asked again, concern stealing over her beautiful features.

“Sorry, yes. I’m fine. Now , we find an unobtrusive spot to watch and pull strings if necessary.” I tugged on my ear, willing the distracting noise to quit so I could finish this match well. It was one of my deepest regrets that I’d thrown these couples off track for their fate; today was my chance to finally rectify that.

“Okay, I kind of thought we could go help them save the orca.”

“That’s also an option.” I shot her a smile.

She tugged me by the elbow, not the least bit put off by the clinging sand. She quickly charged ahead, undeterred by the throngs of beachgoers. I followed, struggling with disorientation from the persistent ringing. It was growing steadily louder as the crowd thinned, and the ground beneath our feet shifted from sand to pebbles.

“Can we just—hang on, I need a second.” I stopped, dropping my hands to my knees. I shook my head, trying desperately to clear it .

“What’s wrong?” She laid a hand tenderly on my back, and I closed my eyes at the touch. She was drawn to me, and the more time we spent together, the stronger the seal between us would grow if it truly had started.

How many more of those little touches did I have left? Not many.

Dread curdled in my stomach at the thought of losing her. Today, tomorrow? The ringing would only intensify until the clarion call came, and I would be pulled back to the heavens to face the Host.

The ringing steadied, and I slowly straightened.

“I don’t have much time left,” I admitted. I owed it to her to be honest, after leaving so abruptly last time. So many mistakes piled up around me like a brick wall, separating me from the life I was supposed to have. The phantom flutter of my wings made me want to weep at how far I’d fallen from grace.

“What do you mean? Much time left for what?” Her brow furrowed, the excited energy of making a match together and saving a whale drained away from her like someone put a pinprick in the balloon of her happiness.

“The call, it’s starting. It means I’m nearly done with my mission, and the Host is about to call me back.” I pointed up to the sky, and her eyes widened.

“What happens then?” She swallowed hard. “Will you… will you be able to come back?”

“I don’t know.” The words were hoarse, and she closed her eyes as if I’d smacked her.

It felt like I’d been punched, too.

After a few long moments, she opened her eyes again, a new determination in them. “That means we’re on the right track, and we don’t have time to waste. Let’s get this couple together.” She looped her arm through mine, by my side, despite the fact that I was about to leave her, again .

In that moment, I knew that it wasn’t possible for me to love this woman one speck more than I already did. She’d consumed me, filled up every place in my heart that used to feel so empty. Whenever she was near, everything clicked into place. With Josie, I felt whole .

And I didn’t know how, or why, or what it would take to make it work.

But I knew it to the very depths of my soul that she was mine, and I was hers. But how could I make the Host see that even though she was human, she was mine ?

We crossed the pebbly shore, and after one more twist in the coastline, we saw the shape of the beached orca, people crowding around it. One of them was pointing and shouting orders, trying to get people into place, while a few others had buckets and were dumping water over it, keeping its skin wet.

“Oh, Caleb, it’s really stuck. How in the world are we going to get it out of here?” Josie asked, immediately focused on the orca’s plight instead of our own rapidly dwindling time together.

The gathered crowd was attempting to get it onto its belly instead of on its side, where it was currently. That was when Marigold arrived. The spark of recognition between her and Axel tipped me off, and I homed in on the two of them.

“They’re here.” I nodded toward the two would-be lovers, exchanging words we were too far away to hear.

“How do they seem? You can tell from a distance, right?”

“They’re okay, both focused on the orca, right now.”

“Right. Let’s get over there and pitch in.” She set her jaw in determination, and we crossed the last of the distance.

It was breathtaking and sad, seeing one of God’s creatures up close. Breathtaking because the orca was magnificent—a male, not quite full-grown. But sad because I could sense his distress. I sent a wave of soothing calm over the animal while simultaneously sending a tendril of power down, down, down, to start funneling out a deeper channel beneath him, urging the water to come up more quickly than it would on its own.

Can I change the tide?

I’d never tried something of that magnitude; never needed to. I reached out tentatively with my power and pulled, urging the water to hurry. If it worked or not, I couldn’t say. Only time would tell, but at least there wasn’t any push back. With the way my power had become unstable around Josie, I wasn’t sure what else it might refuse to do.

“Everybody to this side! We need to get him back onto his belly before the water starts coming back in.” To my surprise, it was Axel, button-down shirt sleeves rolled up past his elbows, water and grit stuck to his otherwise fine clothing, who was directing the rescue efforts.

Josie and I circled the orca and lent our muscle to the efforts to get the creature righted. He panicked and thrashed his tail when everyone started pushing on him, but I urged him back to calm, pressing the suggestion that we were all there to help. He stilled, and moving as one, all of the volunteers heaved along his side, trying to roll him.

Water lapped at our ankles as our first attempt failed.

“Take a breather, and we’ll go again! Bucket brigade, let’s do another run. We can’t let him dry out!”

Marigold took a bucket from a flagging volunteer and sprinted to the deeper water. She ran with practiced ease in the uneven terrain, making four laps before Axel called out for everyone to push again.

“Now!” Axel called .

Josie grunted as she put her shoulder into the whale’s black and white hide, putting everything she had into the effort. We all heaved again, but this time, while everyone pushed, I exerted my angelic might, moving the pebbles beneath the orca so he could roll to his belly.

“Oh my goodness, I didn’t think we were going to budge him.” Josie turned to me, eyes questioning as she swiped her hair out of her face, leaving a trail of sand and seawater across her forehead.

“I may have helped a little,” I answered quietly.

I stumbled back a step as the ringing in my ears took on a strange, doubled quality. It was a sound like when two speakers were too close together, and I couldn’t help but grab my ears. It felt like my head was going to crack in two. I had to see this through, and quickly, or else I would be too incapacitated to help anyone.

“Caleb? Caleb! You’re scaring me. Tell me what I can do.” Josie held my shoulders, her worried face peering up at mine.

“It’s nearly time. I’ve got to get this whale back to sea, so they can—” I swayed on my feet and Josie held me tightly, not letting me pitch over.

“Come here. Back out of the way, and sit down. You don’t have to be touching the whale to help, and if you fall you might get crushed.” The water was nearly to our knees now, coming in much more rapidly than usual.

Was that why I was having trouble? Had I used too much power, trying to call the tide?

I didn’t know, but what was done was done.

“Everyone to the front! The stretcher is here. Let’s see if we can get it under him, and get him off these rocks!” Axel bellowed, and volunteers darted this way and that, everyone trying to grab a section of the thick orange fabric. Josie guided me to a drier area, away from the rising tide, and looped her arm around my waist as we watched the people work.

Marigold and Axel were side by side, shoulder to shoulder as they helped tug and maneuvered the stretcher alongside the team that brought it. Watching them work like a well-oiled machine brought a smile to my face, despite how terrible I felt.

The water was coming in faster now, already lapping at our toes even though we’d come a long way up the beach. I felt a siphoning sensation, as if something was draining out of my chest, and I realized with a start that I was still calling the tide. I didn’t know how to stop it, nor if I could, until the whale was back out to sea. The volunteers continued working the stretcher underneath him, but I had to speed things along.

Closing my eyes, I blocked out everything else. Everything except the salty ocean breeze and the feel of Josie’s arms around my waist. And I pushed .

Reaching down deep, to the core of my being, I tapped into the fount of golden divinity that resided inside of me. I leaned into Josie, pressing my cheek to her forehead, and the skin-to-skin contact made my power swell, eager under my direction. Forming it into a scoop-like shape, I urged it under and up , easing the way for the humans working to save the orca.

Shouts of encouragement rose from the beach, but the tin ringing in my ears grew to drown them out, reaching higher and higher.

I felt more than heard Josie gasp at my side, and then she was shaking me. “Caleb! It’s done! Caleb, open your eyes! Shit, you’re glowing again. But I don’t think anyone’s paying attention, they’re all watching the orca.”

I did as she suggested and smiled at the sight of a black dorsal fin disappearing under the surf, the orca already speeding away from land, back to deeper waters where it belonged. The volunteers were all cheering, many hugging, as a few of them dragged the stretcher back out of the water.

But that wasn’t what my eyes focused on. No, it was Axel, arms curled possessively around Marigold, the two of them locked in an earth-shattering kiss.

“We did it,” I mumbled the words as exhaustion threatened to take me under. I felt when the power I’d been calling snapped free, letting the tide go back to its usual rhythms.

“We sure did,” Josie murmured, pressing her lips to my cheek in a soft kiss.

The ringing changed in resonance, arcing toward a crescendo, and I must have closed my eyes again because Josie was shaking me. Yelling for me to open them back up.

“Come on, we’ve got to get back to the car.”

“I’m out of time, Josie. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“No! Caleb, now . It’s urgent!” She dragged me to my feet, and I stumbled after her. But I knew deep down, even if we made it to the car, I would only have moments after that before I was taken.

Taken back to the heavens and out of her life. Possibly for good, if I couldn’t convince the Host that she was my Chosen.