Chapter 51: Rescuing Spirits

Late-August-Early Sept., 1986

[ I focused my mind as hard as I could, trying to heal both Jessica and Linda ... Then everything went black.]

Charlie POV: (Cont’d)

Where am I???

I feel like I’m laying down but yet, I don’t feel anything underneath me. As a matter of fact, I don’t honestly feel anything! It’s like I’m in a void of some sort without any hint of sight, sound, smell or touch.

Slowly I begin hearing a strange rushing sound in my ears. Almost like water running through a pipe.

Other than that however, I hear absolutely nothing. I tried calling out to Linda and Jessica but it’s like my tongue, throat and lips are frozen.

Slowly but surely, I see a tiny speck of light that seems to keep getting closer and my first thought is, ‘Oh this can’t be good. In the movies they always say when you die you should walk toward the light. I CAN’T be dead ... can I?’

I tried flashing Mary and got no reply, nothing. I went to broadcast mode and again, zippo, nodda, nothing! The light just kept getting closer and brighter, when all of a sudden, a beautiful, female voice said, “Please don’t be afraid, Charlie. No one here is going to hurt you. However, ... you have a very important decision that you must make.

“To answer your first question, you are in what we call ‘The Cusp’. Most beings pass non-stop through ‘The Cusp’ on their way to the next world. You are one of the extremely rare cases in that you are going to be allowed to make a decision. Do you remember what happened to you?”

“Yes, I was trying to heal my two fellow healers who had passed out from exhaustion. Are they going to be alright?”

I was finally able to see her face or maybe she just allowed me to see it, but anyway, she appeared to be confused when she said, “Two fellow healers? What about the other three who were also helping you heal all those children?”

“Oh God, please tell me that they’re all, alright. They were still conscious at the time, or at least that’s what I thought?”

She shook her head solemnly, “I’m afraid not, all six of you exceeded the limits of your human frailty. You are now all in ‘The Cusp’ and right now they’re being faced with the same decision that you have to make. Your gift of telepathy does not work here, none of you can confer on your decision as it is an intensely personal one. You must decide for yourself whether you want to continue toward the light, guaranteed an eternity of love, peace, joy, happiness and tranquility ... or ... going back.”

“I need to go back! We all need to go back! There are still children in dire need of our help and scores more that need the healing that only we can provide! Please, I’m begging you, I need to go back!”

I felt a warm touch on my lips, then I heard, “Shhh, please take some time and consider your decision carefully. You DO realize that there’s no guarantee all of your friends are going to choose as you do?”

“The five of them are much more than just my friends ... We’re family ... I’m willing to bet that they will all choose just like I did.”

That’s when I heard a second voice, one that I had heard before! “My dear Glenda, I tried to tell you that this young man would choose what he just did.”

“But, but ... he didn’t even think about it! Surely, we need to give him some more time? I don’t think he understands that if he goes back, and leads his life differently, he could end up in the bad place?”

Now that familiar voice seemed to laugh quietly, “Ohhh Glenda, my fellow spirits and I have been watching Charlie, his half-sister Linda, and Linda’s sister, Jessica for quite some time now. There’s nothing in any of their pasts that would indicate a propensity for ever choosing the wrong path.”

“So you say, but just tonight, by doing what he did to that pedophile, indicates that he might indeed be subject to being led down the wrong path.”

“Ohh Glenda, Glenda, G l e n d a, I agree that young Charlie can sometimes get overly emotional and act, shall we say ... somewhat impulsively. But, we both know that all he succeeded in doing tonight was to hasten Mister Idolsson’s arrival at his fated destination! I am extremely confident that Charlie will be more circumspect in the future. I would state that as a certainty, even though I know that nothing is ever certain!”

I had to fight back the urge to chuckle and I would’ve pinched myself if I could have, unfortunately, I still couldn’t move nary a muscle.

Glenda appeared to be totally flummoxed. She smirked at this Spirit, who I was sure was one of the three spirits who came to us explaining why we couldn’t bring Sally back.

She looked at me, “So ... is that your final decision?”

“Yes, please! I need to go back and try to help those kids.”

I was glad to see Glenda finally smile, “Very well Asclepius, I’ll leave Charlie to your good care. As you also guessed, all of his family chose exactly as young Charlie did. Your wife, Epione is currently with the young ladies known as Mary, Jamie and Emmy. Old Angak is with the one known as Jessica, while your daughter, Aceso, is with the one known as Linda, Charlie’s half-sister.”

Just before Glenda disappeared, she said, “Don’t look so smug, Asclepius, it doesn’t become you. Oh, and don’t forget to explain to them all of the consequences of their current choice of status.”

Next thing I knew, Linda, Jamie, Mary, Emmy, Jessica and I were all standing together with the four spirits hovering slightly above us. I was relieved to see that my family were all now healthy and smiling.

I still wasn’t sure exactly where we were as we were surrounded by a blinding light.

It was interesting, finding out what their names were. Asclepius, Epione, and Aceso were the ones would had come to us the other day, while Angok I now recognized as one of the spirits would came to Linda and me that first time in Arizona last year.

Asclepius was smiling, “That the six of you were willing to give your lives to heal those unfortunate children makes me certain I’m about to do the right thing. Mary, the way you were able to facilitate Emmy’s mental healing of those kids through Charlie was truly remarkable. Jamie and Emmy, that you were willing to attempt to also assist, disregarding your own well-being in the process, shows us all that you three also belong with Charlie, Linda and Jessica.

“Therefore, we are bestowing upon the six of you ‘gifts’ that have never been presented to any human in the past. Charlie and Linda will no longer be required to act together to heal anyone more rapidly. With your new gifts, a healing that would have taken 30 minutes of your time, working together, will now happen in approximately 10 seconds by yourselves. You will also be enabled to use your gifts with any other abilities you may have acquired from other ‘Spirits’. You two, along with young Jessica, will now be able to heal scores of people with little to no ill effects on yourselves.

“Mary, Emmy and Jamie, your new powers will only heal the mental and emotional ailments of people, while Charlie, Linda and Jessica will still only be able to heal the physical side. A mental and a physical healer may work on a person together, or one after the other. The same rules apply as before. The person must still be alive and you cannot reverse the physical effects of old age. Some ailments may fall into an area where either a mental or a physical healer might affect a cure, like what you call schizophrenia, for instance.”

Epione nudged Asclepius in the ribs, “I think it’s time that our Healers should get back into their cute ‘angel’ outfits and get back to work!”

All six of us were grinning and nodding, then Asclepius asked, “UNLESS any of you have any questions?”

I suspected that was said in deference to Glenda’s final comments. I wondered, too, what that ‘consequences’ remark referred to exactly. However, I had five overanxious ladies flashing me, “Come on Charlie, we’ve been got places to go and kids to heal!”

I was glad to find everyone back in my head again ... and, smiling brightly!

I winked at Asclepius, “It looks like I’ve been outvoted! I guess we’ll have to save any questions for another time!”

He and Epione were smiling as we suddenly found ourselves standing amongst a stunned crowd of people who were all just staring at us.

Bob flashed, “HOLY SHIT, Charlie, are you guys alright? What the hell just happened?”

“I’ll explain later, little brother. You’re not gonna believe what you’re about to see!”

Bob POV:

I’d just finished explaining to Melody, Mike and Stan how to teleport when Mike asked, “Why can’t I reach Jessica? I just tried calling her and didn’t get any response.”

“Ahh, yes, about that. You must remember that right now we’re in a different dimension than Jessica is. Telepathy does not work between different dimensions.”

All three of them nodded that they understood so I continued, “Since you guys are all rookies at teleporting, and I’m the only one that knows exactly where to go, give me two seconds, then turn invisible and teleport directly behind me. Oh yeah, you might want to teleport directly behind each other so you don’t all end up on top of each other!”

Melody was laughing, “I can see how that might be embarrassing. I think we get your drift so lead on, McDuff!”

I turned invisible then teleported to the alcove that we’d been using as a staging area. Seeing that it was all clear, I materialized and a few seconds later all three of them materialized behind me.

Stan was grinning and shaking his head, “That was too cool! Just where are we now, anyway?”

I chuckled, “We’re in McCormick Place in Chicago. We’re in an alcove connected to one of the convention center’s main floors. Just beyond that curtain is where everyone is helping those kids. Remember not to do or say anything that would give away the fact that you know who all the angels are. That would be very bad!”

As we walked past the curtain the scene could best be described as complete chaos.

Most of the volunteers were stunned, watching as our four angels were going from child to child, healing their injuries.

I flashed Mary to see how things were going, “So far so good, Bob. Emmy and I are working with Charlie and Linda while Jamie is working with Jessica. Emmy and I figured out a way for she, Jamie and I to work through Charlie and Jessica to mentally heal these kids at the same time as their little bodies are being healed. The only problem I foresee is that everyone is getting very tired and thirsty! Why don’t you see if you can help Rex and Willie rustle us up some Gatorade or something we can drink.”

“No problem. Just so you know, I have Mike, Melody and Stan with me. You’re not going to believe this, but Stan is a close friend of Judy Logan’s! She actually called him to see if he might be able to fly some of the orphans, who have nowhere to go, to his island!”

I knew things had to be getting tense when all Mary replied was, “That’s nice, please see what you can do about getting us something to drink?”

I was searching around and found a cooler that had bottles of water in it. I was just grabbing some when Sheila flashed, panic stricken, “Charlie, Linda! We’re inbound with eight more kids that the guys just found in a dungeon like area underneath one of the houses.” I felt her crying, “I think one of them may be dead and the rest of them are in extremely bad shape. They were found shackled to a wall and left for dead. We’ll be there in just a second, where do you want us to take them?”

Charlie replied, “If you’re in angel mode, pop in right next to Linda and me. There are some open cots that used to hold the kids we just got done healing. We’ll be waiting for you and you can put them there.”

Sheila soon appeared with an unconscious little boy, followed closely by Dad, Jeremy, Maggie, Gracie and Joni, with a total of seven more kids between them! They were in full angel regalia and popped into an area that had some vacant cots.

The sudden appearance of the six new angels caused quite a stir amongst all the volunteers. Especially because the eight kids they had just delivered, appeared to be in far worse condition than any of the other ones lying around, waiting to be attended to. When the six new angels suddenly disappeared, many of the volunteers began questioning why they left and why were they abandoning needy children.

I could feel Charlie’s sense of desperation as he and Linda were feverishly trying to revive their young boy, just as Jamie and Jessica were doing the same to a little girl they had just gone to.

They were all in ‘broadcast mode’ so there was no hiding the fact they said that these two kids were taking much longer than the rest.

They also sounded very weary.

When they were told the circumstances these last eight kids were found in, a sense of outrage was expressed by everyone that could hear our mental ranting.

Just as they finished the next two kids, everything went to shit!

Mike flashed, “Bob, something is wrong!”

I quickly turned to see what was going on when all of a sudden it looked like Charlie had two of the angels in his arms. Then, for just a second, I could see that the two were Jessica and Linda! I could feel Mike trying to flash Jessica just as I was trying to flash Linda to see if there was something we could do to help. Then, all of a sudden, for a fraction of a second I could see all four of our angels weren’t angels anymore and were lying on the floor!

Mike and I were both rushing over to them when suddenly the brightest light I had ever seen surrounded them, freezing everyone in their tracks. When I turned around, I noticed that there was a bright light surrounding Mary and Emmy also.

Okay, so now I’m panicking too! Mike is freaking out, not being able to reach Jessica, I’m freaking out that I couldn’t reach Linda or Charlie or now even Mary, Emmy or Jamie.

Then the weirdest thing happened.

As I looked around the entire floor, it seemed like everyone was frozen in time! The only ones not completely frozen where Jeremy, Dad and me.

Not that we could move mind you, but, at least the three of us could still turn our heads and communicate telepathically.

I asked Jeremy what he thought was going on. He replied, “I have no idea! For a second, it looked like Charlie and everybody suddenly dropped out of ‘chameleon mode’ for some reason, then they all passed out.”

Dad added, “I hope they’re all okay ... I know they were all getting tremendously exhausted. I tried to tell them to take a break but they refused to stop.”

“I know that guys! I’m worried about them too, but what do you think is going on with this light and the ‘everybody being frozen’ thing? Do you think somehow Zeus might be behind this?”

Jeremy flashed, “I don’t think so, Bob, Zeus made it pretty clear he couldn’t do anything in our dimension, but I know he really likes Charlie.”

Just then I had an idea, “You know, there are some other spirits out there. Like the ones that gave Charlie, Linda and Jessica their ability to heal. I just don’t know enough about them and Charlie never talks about them, so it’s hard to know if they might be behind this.”

Just then, Charlie’s icon appeared in my head, so I flashed, “HOLY SHIT, Charlie, are you guys alright? What the hell just happened?”

Just as the rest of their icons suddenly appeared in my head, an excited Charlie, flashed, “I’ll explain later, little brother. You’re not gonna believe what you’re about to see!”

In what seemed like slow-motion, the bright light faded and there were now three pairs of angels, glowing brightly.

Suddenly, everyone was unfrozen like nothing had ever happened and chaos was once again the order of business. In what seemed like only a few seconds, our ‘Angels’ had healed three kids and had moved to the next three. Once again, it seemed like everyone was frozen. This time however, they were all staring in wonder as after just a few more seconds, the next three kids were healed and looking around, smiling!

The pace at which ‘Charlie’s Angels’ were now operating was blowing my mind. I heard Charlie consulting with Mary and the rest of them just before nine pairs of angels suddenly appeared.

Holy crap! They were using their ‘doppelgänger’ abilities to create three more complete teams! I was still confused, however, as to just how they were doing the pairings. While no one else could see distinctive features on any of the angels, I could tell that Charlie was now working with Emmy, Linda was working with Mary, and Jessica was working with Jamie. When I looked closely, I noticed that all of their doppelgängers were paired up the same.

Zeus had made it clear that if we created doppelgängers, while they would act, think and look like us, they wouldn’t be able to use any of our powers. I was extremely curious just how ‘Charlie’s Angels’ were able to pull this off.

It was obvious that these kids were all being healed, judging by the way they had gone from sullen, lifeless, little kids to happy, normal kids asking all kinds of questions. It was great to see that all the volunteers suddenly had their hands full. They were the ones now frantically rushing around talking to and getting information from all these kids.

It was also great to see all of our friends assisting the nearly 40 volunteers that Judy Logan had rounded up.

As all of us began hearing the horror stories that these kids were telling it ‘flipped the script’ and now it was the volunteers who were crying. It was hard to describe my feelings as I listened to some of these kids tell their stories of what had happened to them. It was a good thing many of them had tape recorders and cameras to document all the stories. Before I knew it, Charlie and his gang were finished and flew up toward the ceiling just before they disappeared.

I thought it was funny the way that no one even seemed to notice that they had left.

That’s when I noticed that nearly every television broadcast station in the city now had reporters and cameras all over the place. I wondered just how much of everything that happened was captured by video?

I flashed Dad, Jeremy and TJ asking if they’d seen all the reporters, questioning if they knew how long they had been here.

TJ chuckled, “They’ve been here since the giddyup, Bob. Judy Logan invited them! They are the ones that have been documenting what all these kids looked like when they first got here! She said it was important that the people know what’s been going on. She had the stations all sign agreements promising they wouldn’t tell anyone or broadcast anything until it was all over. That’s why I grudgingly agreed to this. That’s also why CPD still has no idea what is going on here. None of this is live. Part of Judy’s agreement was that she would grant them a ‘no-holds-barred’ interview along with follow-ups of the aftermath. Just so you know, our friend, Jim Gregory has already dispatched a team of his State Police Investigators to quash any possible jurisdictional scuffle we might get into with the CPD.”

Dad had moseyed up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder.

When I turned around he whispered, “And the best part is, no one here, who doesn’t already know you guys, has any idea who the Angels might’ve been. The way Charlie and the rest of you pulled this off was incredible. Even Judy Logan doesn’t know any of your names, except for Sarah and Mary. Stan obviously knows, but since he’s now under our special confidentiality agreement there’s nothing to worry about there, either.”

About that time, big Willie, Rex and Jeremy came up to us asking, “Well Lenny, it doesn’t appear we’re needed here anymore, why don’t we go and finish rounding up the Co-op?”

Dad grinned, “That sounds like a winner!”

I just had to ask, “Aren’t you guys getting awfully tired? It’s gotta be getting close to midnight.”

Rex chuckled, “It’s more like two in the morning, actually. The thing is, we need to get the rest of them rounded up before news of what happened here makes it to the airwaves. The Co-op was getting nervous anyway and when this news breaks, we don’t want them going underground.” He chortled, “Not that that could stop us from finding them!”

“You know, you guys could all go to Ibera’s, get some rest, and you won’t waste but about two minutes!?”

Big Willie ruffled my hair, “Why, you must be clairvoyant, Bobby! That’s exactly what we planned on doing. We HAVE been paying attention to everything you and Charlie taught us, you know?”

Maggie came running up, “Are you guys going to need me to help?”

Willie chuckled, “I was just going to invite you, unless you’d rather stay here and help the rest of the girls?”

“I’d gladly help you if you need me, however, I probably should stay here and help Janet, Emmy and Mary identify all the pedophiles. Jim Gregory sent us one of his investigators who has this huge book with all of the known or suspected pedophiles’ pictures and names. These kids are like an open book and by just sneaking the information from their little heads we’re not traumatizing them any.”

Rex nodded, “I think we’ve got this covered, Mags. As soon as we’re finished we’ll all pop back here and hook up with you girls.”

Maggie giggled, “Sounds good, and ‘hooking up’ BETTER BE the operative word there!”

She managed to make her point as she gave each one of the four a kiss that threatened to curl their toes. She then flounced off giving a cute finger wave over her shoulder. The next thing I knew, Sheila and Joni came up, giggling, “You guys weren’t thinking about leaving without saying goodbye were you?”

Next thing I knew, both of them seemed to be trying to outdo Maggie in the kissing department. By the time they finished, all four of the guys had a noticeable tent in their trousers!