Reed ran as fast as he could, tearing through the underbrush and branches of the forest. He stopped once or twice when he thought he heard faint popping noises somewhere in the distance, but his pounding heart was all that thundered in his ears. The woods were quiet.
He slowed his pace. Here, in the peaceful forest, the horror of what he had just lived through fell away, forgotten, and he could breathe, taste, smell again. He didn’t feel the desperation and the rush anymore. The sunlight was golden and pure as it trickled through the trees, untainted by smoke. The quiet rustle of leaves in a late afternoon breeze was the only sound. He relaxed. Elijah had said he would not leave without him. Once he explained why he was late, the others would understand. He took a few deep breaths and began to enjoy his walk.
At last, he heard the murmur of running water. He was nearing the Gorge. A few steps later, he broke out of the trees into the familiar clearing and stopped dead.
At the foot of the gentle, green rise, two figures lay on the turf. He recognized both in an instant. One he knew by the hair and clothing. Hunter lay face down in the grass, unmoving. The other, on his side with his face averted, was Gabe. A pistol lay between them.
As he stood there, Gabe coughed and groaned. Instantly, Reed was at his side, rolled him onto his back, and raised his head in his arms.
“Gabe! Gabe, can you hear me?”
The young man snapped his eyes open. “Reed!” he gasped. “Where’s Lucy?”
“I thought she was here.”
“No, no, she left. She went looking…” Gabe broke off and coughed again. Reed glanced down and saw that Gabe’s left hand, blood oozing between the fingers, was pressed to his upper abdomen. Reed lifted it, and his breath caught. He put the hand back. “Gabe, listen, you’re going to be okay.”
Gabe shook his head jerkily. “No—no, I’m not. But, Reed, you have to know. Elijah, he…”
“What? Where is he?”
Gabe, in obvious pain, squeezed his eyes shut. “He’s… he’s dead. The guy shot him, and he fell. He fell into the Gorge!” The sentence ended in a gasping sob.
Dead? Elijah? It couldn’t be! Reed could only stare at Gabe in disbelief. “No!”
“Yes,” Gabe choked out. Each word seemed to take an agonizing effort. “I came here after the explosion—was going to meet him. I heard voices and came up slowly. He…” He jerked toward Hunter’s form, “he had ’Lijah backed up against the Gorge. He had a gun; I jumped him, but I was too late. One second too late! He fired just as I hit him. ’Lijah fell over the edge. He’s gone!”
Reed felt like his lungs were collapsing.
Gabe went on, half-crying. “We wrestled for the gun. It went off and got me. But—but I won. Reed, I was too late!”
Reed leaned over him, thrusting aside his own feelings. “You can’t blame yourself, Gabe! You couldn’t help it.”
Gabe rolled his head. “But what if… maybe I could have gotten here sooner or found the ringer or…” He broke off suddenly. Grabbing Reed’s shoulder with his free hand, Gabe pulled himself up and fixed his eyes, intense and penetrating, on Reed’s face. “Reed, tell me the absolute truth: did you do it?”
“No, Gabe! I swear it!” A tear trickled down Reed’s cheek. “I wasn’t ever the ringer! I wasn’t! But I found out who was. And you… you took him out just now. That’s him over there.”
A look of utter relief washed over Gabe’s face, and he sank back. “I got him,” he breathed. “I got him!”
Reed could hardly speak. “But, Gabe… Gabe, I’m so sorry!”
“No, Reed, I’m sorry. Don’t say another word. I suspected you! I accused you, I was unkind, I was so wrong!”
“Forget it, Gabe.” Reed mastered himself. “It’s okay. I was suspicious. You were only doing your job.”
“But—but we could have been friends… all this time,” Gabe breathed softly. His voice was getting weaker.
“We still can be,” Reed whispered, taking Gabe’s free hand in his own. “We are.”
Gabe looked into Reed’s face and gripped his hand tightly. “Yes—yes, we are. But not… not for long. I’m going, Reed.”
“Then go, Gabe,” Reed said gently. He hardly knew where the words came from. “Go and sleep in peace… brother.”
Gabe smiled slightly and let his eyes drift closed. “Brother,” he said softly. “Brother.”
“Goodbye, Gabe.”
Reed had seen death before, but he had never seen someone actually die. Perhaps it was always like this, or perhaps it was different for Gabe. Reed never knew exactly when it happened, for it wasn’t an “ending” like he would have thought. It was a passing. Reed had heard of someone’s spirit departing, and that was what he saw. It was strangely sweet and awesome. Gabe sank away, slipped away, slept. Gabe was gone.
When he knew for sure that it was over, he laid Gabe’s head back onto the grass and placed the hand, still gripping his own, by his side. Then he rose and walked up the slope to the point overlooking the Gorge. He stood at the edge, staring down at the dark, swirling waters below. The current was deep and smooth, flowing on—ceaselessly on and on. In his mind, Reed saw the dandelion falling, falling and spinning down to dark water, its yellow crown for an instant on the surface, and then it was gone—sucked down and gone forever. His sorrow overwhelmed him, and he fell to his knees, crying silently and uncontrollably.
How long he remained there like that he never knew. The dark water swirled on; his tears fell onto the grass and down into the current. The rest of the world ceased to be, or perhaps it simply went on and left him and that clearing behind in a still capsule in time, like water flowing around a rock.
In that moment, though he hardly knew what was happening, something in Reed ceased to exist and something else began. There, on the green cliff above the dark river in the quiet woods, a new Reed was born. In an encounter with the all-powerful, all-loving God, the old burned away, leaving a strange new gift in its place. After a whole lifetime, Reed knew peace. The prayer of Elijah was answered.
At last, Reed let his eyes drop down to the grass beside him and caught a faint gleam. There was blood on the turf, deep crimson and, in between the darkened blades, something glistened. Reed reached down and lifted it. A silver chain draped over his fingers, dangling a green leaf pendant. There was only one like it in the world. Somehow, Elijah had dropped it as he stood there, perhaps intentionally. The clasp was unbroken.
Reed held it in his hands, gazing at it. It was not a thing to be taken lightly, not a thing to be trifled with. The meaning it had for Elijah still held true—both meanings. It was a weighty thing to accept. Reed hesitated, then slipped the chain around his neck.
He rose and walked heavily back down the slope to the edge of the clearing. What now? There was Gabe to be taken care of, and Hunter, and… no, there was no Elijah. No Elijah anymore. Reed sat down on a log and buried his face in his arms.
A hand touched his shoulder. He looked up and saw Lucy, her eyes red and her face streaked with tears, standing over him. He had almost forgotten about her. “Lucy. You’re here. He said you went looking for me. Elijah…”
“I know, Reed. Gabe told me before he sent me to find you.” Her voice was thick with the effort to hold in what must have been raging inside. “But I wasn’t here. I missed… Elijah, for one last time.”
Her restraint burst like a dam before a swollen flood, and the turbulent waters poured out—trauma, shock, grief. She covered her face, and her shoulders shook with wracking sobs.
He looked down, fighting to keep his own husky voice calm. “Then you know he waited for me. I was late and now… he’s gone.”
“No, Reed!” She sat down beside him, her own tears still streaming but her sobs held back in an effort to comfort him. “You can’t blame yourself! He wanted to wait for you. He knew the danger, but he still wanted to. He wanted you to come. He… he loved you.”
Her voice softened as she said the words, and she broke off, overwhelmed by her emotions. Reed said nothing. He could not.
Lucy cried silently for a moment, her tears falling into a sorrowful dew on the fresh blades of grass. Then a new thought seemed to rouse her. Taking a breath, she spoke again. “But, Reed, even now, he’s not really gone. He never will be! That’s why Elijah was so special. His spirit will never die, Reed, never, because he had something that no monster with a gun can end. It outlasts everything, even death. He had… Jesus.”
Reed swallowed. “I know. And now… now I do, too, thanks to him.” He looked up and met her eyes squarely. “He said God would make it all clear to me and bring it together, and he was right. I believe.”
“Reed, do you mean… Oh, that’s wonderful!” Her face lit with joy even through her tears. “I’m so happy! And I know he would be, too.”
“Yes, he would. He was the one who showed me. He prayed for me.” Reed’s voice broke. “Oh, Lucy! He was my… my...”
“I know,” she whispered. A tear ran down her cheek. “He was mine, too.”
They sat for a moment with only the faint swish of the water breaking the silence. Reed heaved a deep sigh. “So now what? What do we do?”
“Do?” She wiped her eyes. “You still have to get out of here.”
“Leave?” He was surprised. “But why? The Council doesn’t exist anymore.”
She fixed her eyes on him. “It might no longer exist, but the power behind it still does. And until the day that power is gone, it will pursue you, Reed. Satan hates you, and he will try to destroy you. You have to be expecting it.”
Reed frowned. “So I’m running away?”
“No! That’s not what I meant. I mean you should understand that’s what’s going on, but you have to leave because… maybe because you’re being called to go.”
“Called?”
“Yes! We’ve all felt since the beginning that God had big plans for you. Think what you’ve experienced! Everybody out there wants to find true stability and hope; they need someone to show them the way. We’re all called to do that. Don’t you see? You can help them, Reed! You understand what they’re feeling, and you know what they need.”
Reed reflected for a moment. Lucy’s words awakened something in him, something that had stirred once before. It grew like a flame: slowly, but strong and unquestionable. With it came a whisper in his heart, the echo of a familiar revelation.
Just like me.
It was an echo from the shooting, when he had suddenly longed to help his hurting fellow teens. He was needed. He had escaped the collapse, but others had not. They were out there everywhere—hopeless, helpless, hungering. He stood up. “I… I need to go home.”
She rose as well. “Back to California?”
He nodded. “It’s a long way, but… I think that’s what I’m supposed to do.” He turned and looked at her. “But what about you? What are you going to do now?”
She swept her eyes over the clearing. “I’ve got to let the others know what happened. I’ll send Matt to get them. I’ll need the guys’ help with Gabe. We’ll bury him here; it’s so lovely.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “They can decide what to do with the other one.”
“And after that?”
She met his eyes. “I’ll go where He calls me. You have your purpose, and I have mine. I don’t think I’ll stay here, though. None of us will. We’ll probably scatter.”
Her eye fell on the pendant dangling on his chest, and she caught her breath. He followed her gaze.
“I found it in the grass,” he said quietly. “He dropped it… somehow.”
She reached out and touched it. “I think he’d want you to have it,” she said softly. “Do you know what it means?”
“I do. That’s why I put it on.”
“Then wear it like he did. It’s very special.”
“I’ll always remember him.”
“So will I. But you need to go. I don’t know what this place is going to be like tomorrow. You have to get out of here tonight.”
Reed nodded. “But where will I go? I mean, how will I get there?”
“If God wants you there, He’ll get you there. Trust Him and don’t worry. There’s a network of Christians all over the country. Go to them. They can help you get wherever you need to be.”
“But…” he was having a hard time expressing what he was feeling. “Will I see you again?”
She smiled. “God only knows, Reed. We might not find each other again in this life, but we know we will in the next. I’ll pray for you.”
“Then… then goodbye, Lucy. I’ll miss you.” He swallowed. This was difficult. He had never realized before just how beautiful she was.
Lucy caught his hand. “Goodbye, Reed. I’ll miss you, too. God be with you.”
With a final, lingering look over the clearing, Reed picked up his backpack and turned into the woods. He looked back once and saw Lucy standing where he left her, her blonde hair gently tossing in the evening breeze. She waved a hand in farewell, then the trees and shadows swallowed her from view.
He turned back to the way before him and squared his shoulders. He didn’t know what lay ahead, but he had a purpose, and he knew peace for the first time. He was ready to take it on. As he broke out of the trees and set his course westward, Reed lifted the chain around his neck and slipped the pendant inside his shirt. Settling into a steady pace, he took a deep breath. The sun had set, but the air was warmly soft, the hills were green, and the sky overhead was clear in the twilight. It was the beginning of high summer.
Reed could feel the pendant riding against his chest as he walked and thought of Elijah. He always would; he could never forget him—him or the days he had known him—days when everything had changed.
Far ahead, just where the last bit of fleeing day met the oncoming night, a star, silver and brilliant, glimmered in the West.
“And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”—Daniel 12:3