The Devil's Due (The Earthwalker Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  It wasn’t something I could share with Dad or Nate, but I knew. I knew it without a doubt. My uncle had saved me that day and was looking out for me when no one else did.

  And for that, I would love him forever.

  ~ * ~

  The next morning I managed to open the door to Lacey’s bedroom with only the use of my elbow and a steaming cup of coffee in my hand. I heard her groan at my intrusion and pull the pillow up to cover most of her face. “Good morning, sleepy head. I brought you coffee and some painkillers.”

  “Ugggghhh…” she groaned from beneath the covers. “Why is my body doing this to me? You’d think in all the time man has been consuming alcohol they would have come up with an effective way to negate a hangover.”

  I chuckled slightly and placed her coffee on the bedside table before sitting down beside her. “It’s mostly being dehydrated. You need to drink some fluids.”

  “How can you be this cheerful? We were at the same party,” she whined into the pillow.

  “I wasn’t drinking, remember?”

  She propped her head off the pillow and said, “Oh yeah, about last night … I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “And about my brother … you don’t have to do anything, I was just upset and rambling.”

  “Of course, I do. That’s what friends are for.”

  “Still, I wish it hadn’t come out like that.” She sat up on the bed and blinked sleepily in the morning rays of sun, taking in my wardrobe for the first time. “What are you wearing? You’re in a dress, you never wear dresses, is this the rapture?”

  “It’s Sunday morning in Alabama, where do you think I’m going?”

  Lacey was clearly still not getting it, so I laid it out for her. “I’m going to church.”

  “But we’re in college” she argued simply. “Isn’t that part of the beauty of moving out, that you don’t have to do that stuff anymore?”

  I sighed and walked back towards the door, placing my fingers on the handle. “I was actually thinking it’s even more important now. The parents aren’t here to force us, but I’m going anyway. You can join us if you’d like.”

  “Which building are you going to?”

  A laugh escaped before I could help myself and raw emotion bubbled up inside me when I thought about Elyse. “I don’t know yet, we’re going to find one. All I know is I need to be there, to remind myself I’m still trying.”

  Lacey rested her chin on her hand and let out a tired sigh. “What time are you leaving?”

  I smiled at her response and said, “Caleb will be here in twenty minutes.”

  She threw the covers off and climbed out of bed, giving me the stink eye on the way to her closet. “Shut up.”

  “What? I didn’t say you have to come, I was merely extending the invitation.”

  “But you’re going,” she stated flatly.

  “Well, yeah?”

  She scoffed and pulled a dress from one of the hangers and threw it on the bed. “I can’t believe this. You’re a demon, and you’re making me look bad.”

  Chapter Seven

  Divine Intervention

  “Amedieval morality play embodies mankind as a whole into a single person,” Professor Harris told the class as she flipped through the slides. “The entire play revolves around them coming to terms with mortality and preparing to die. On their journey to self-discovery, they are introduced to good and evil and counseled by several characters to help their life find meaning. Their inherent mortal weaknesses are assaulted by demonic forces — such as the seven deadly sins, while angelic guardians struggle to save them from themselves.”

  She clicked the slide again and another image lit up on the screen in the front of the classroom. This time it brought up the picture of a traveler with a demon and an angel perched precariously on either shoulder. “These virtues and vices are at war for the duration of the play, fighting over the soul of man, until the very end where mankind must choose between good or evil. The sins and virtues are anthropomorphized and depicted as actual people. For example, an actor will come on stage, representing the sin of greed and lure mankind with promises of wealth and prosperity.”

  As the image changed, it lit up the screen again with a medieval drawing of Faustus and the demon Mephistopheles, luring him with a bag of gold. The professor continued, saying, “As they deliberate, another actor will appear on their other side and voice the opposing view — standing in for one of the virtues.”

  Her words resonated with me as I thought back to Caleb’s wise and prudent council. Elyse and Seroquel had valuable insight for me as well. I realized that even though I hadn’t realized it at the time, I’d been receiving this same guidance. “Over the course of the play, Mankind learns there is no value in material goods, and can only be redeemed through the virtue of the life they lead.”

  I sat on the edge of my seat, my pen hovering over my notes as she literally just described my entire personal war against Hell in a stupid PowerPoint presentation. My heart raced as I immediately started writing shorthand to keep up with her. When I finished, it was a jumble of incoherent scribbles, but at least I got the gist of it.

  The metaphor slapped me in the face with how perfectly it laid out the bigger picture. I could see things from an objective view instead of being caught up with it myself. How could I have never thought to view my probation in this light? I went to Sunday school, I’d heard all the stories — it made sense. All this time I’d been looking for answers and now it was like discovering a secret code that had been written just for me. It was right there all along just waiting to be discovered.

  When the class ended, I stepped to the front of the classroom to speak with the professor, notebook in hand. She was cleaning the dry erase board with a damp cloth and setting up for her next lesson. “Excuse me, Professor Harris?”

  She turned at the sound of my voice and gave me a wide-eyed smile. Her wavy black hair fell just below her chin, and she had hazel gray eyes that were thoughtful and intelligent — you could almost see a thousand different cogs firing away inside. It was the same feeling I got from the Elders in the Grove — like she could see right through me. “Hello, Miss...?”

  “Hendricks,” I offered politely. “Do you have a minute? I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about Morality Plays.”

  Professor Harris nodded as she continued to erase the chalkboard with one hand. “Are you interested in vernacular drama?”

  “It does resonate,” I confessed. “I was just wondering ... how do demons factor into it?”

  “Well … they are engaged in a constant battle with angels, trying to influence mankind’s decisions. The idea being that one side will eventually triumph over the other and manipulate the course of history. If you control mankind, you control destiny.”

  “D-does mankind always die?” I asked her nervously.

  “To the best of my knowledge, yes. It’s clearly an analogy for the lifecycle of mankind. We are all mortal, and eventually, Fate catches up to all of us — that’s the point, to make use of the time you have. If you're interested, I have some books I could loan you.”

  “That would be great!”

  The professor smiled and set the eraser down next to the board as she turned around to face me. “Why don’t you come with me to my office and I’ll get them for you.”

  “Absolutely! Thank you so much, I don’t mean to take up any of your time.”

  She grabbed the pile of books she’d brought with her. “It’s no problem at all, my office is just upstairs. Do you mind getting the door for me?”

  I quickly rushed over to the door and held it open once I saw her hands were full. “Thank you.”

  “Are you new here?” she asked me conversationally as we wandered down the hall.

  I chuckled nervously. “Yeah, I’m a just a freshman.”

  Professor Harris clicked her tongue, and I noticed her aura swell with strong emotion. “You’re never ‘just’ anyth
ing. You’re here at the University and that’s wonderful, we’re glad to have you. It doesn’t matter what grade you are, it’s about the thrill of learning and continuing education.”

  I smiled at her passion and found myself entranced by the subtle beauty of her brilliant yellow aura. My eyes lingered on it longer than they should have and caused my mouth to water. I was hungry. It was an odd, unfamiliar sensation that drew me to different people. Not always, but sometimes, one would tempt me more than others. I wanted to taste it and feel that sensation on my tongue….

  Get it together, Wynn. I shook off the mystic appetite and smiled at her as if nothing happened.

  “Have you picked a major?” she asked me pleasantly.

  “Not yet,” I confessed. “I was thinking of maybe something in Journalism? My English teacher back home thought … well, he said I should consider it.”

  She listened while I was speaking and headed out the door, leading us up a stairwell to the third floor. The Garland Building was a beautifully architectured church that had been converted for academic study. It still retained the rose stained-glass windows and gothic arches I’d fallen in love with. As we left its regal ambiance, Professor Harris led me to the Wood building where her office was located. As we got up the steps to the second floor, she turned to me and said, “Well, you certainly have a knack for writing. Your last paper was insightful and well documented. I think you’d probably do well in that.”

  At the top of the stairs, we turned right down the hall to where all the offices were. Her smile took on a bemused expression when we approached her door, and there was a student waiting for her outside. She had greasy black hair and too much eyeliner with a permanent scowl on her face, I took an instant dislike to her the minute she acknowledged us. She and the professor’s auras recognized each other and swirled wildly in reaction to the presence of the other. “Candace, how many times do I have to tell you this?”

  “Please, Professor Harris. You have to let me re-take last semester’s final! I know I can do better on it this time—”

  “We’ve been over this before,” she responded crisply. “You did poorly all semester and hardly ever showed up for class. There were several opportunities to help bring up your grade, and you took advantage of none of them. I can’t feel sorry for you anymore. If you had come to my office at any point during the semester, I would have been able to help, but you cannot show up after the fact and expect me to let it slide.”

  “But if I don't get a passing grade then I won't be able to apply to business school! It going to affect my entire professional career.”

  I resisted the urge to laugh, but the distaste I felt must have been evident on my face. The longer she kept talking, the less respect I had for her, but some things can’t be helped. She reminded me of some of the girls I knew in high school who thought they could sweet talk their way into anything. College must have been a rude awakening once they realized you actually had to work. Cry me a river.

  Professor Harris sighed and told her, “If it was that important, then maybe you should have spent a little more time in class. I'm sorry you made bad decisions, but you're going to have to live with the consequences. There is nothing else I can do for you.”

  “I should take this up with the dean and get you fired!”

  Professor Harris smiled, obviously amused, and unlocked the door. “You do that, Candace. Have a nice day.”

  Red-faced, the girl stormed off down the hall, pushing people out of her way as she went. The Professor sighed and opened the door for me. “Sorry about that.”

  I chuckled nervously and followed her inside. The way Candace approached her with that sense of entitlement, then threatening her career when she didn’t get her way made me realize how much garbage professors go through. Professor Harris didn’t seem surprised by it and went immediately to the bookshelf. It was a medium sized office with a desk on one side, the wall behind it completely dedicated to books. I noticed some Minas Tirith bookends from Lord of the Rings on one of the shelves and on the wall beside her was a map of Middle Earth.

  “Wow, so you’re really into fantasy and stuff.”

  She hummed in acknowledgment and started rifling through her bookshelf, pulling out a couple of them along the way. “The hero’s journey is a tale that has been retold for millennia, but I think Tolkien does it best,” she mumbled.

  I smiled, taking a seat in a chair across from her and looking around at the décor. There was a framed picture of her family, with a husband and two small children. She didn’t strike me as the mother type, hyper-organized and intellectual, but seeing her with them made me realize you can’t judge people by their cover. They clearly adored her, looking back with dimpled smiles and blind affection — nothing like the tense and detached affection my mother had bestowed on me. The unexpected tug of emotion caught me off guard, and I shook it off to give the professor my attention. “You have kids?” I asked her casually.

  She placed a couple of books she had pulled from her library on the desk in front of me and smiled. “Yes, four of them in fact. And judging by the tantrum our friend outside threw, sometimes I can’t tell if I’m at home with my toddlers, or at work.”

  I snickered at her joke and said, “I believe it.”

  She nudged the books towards me and sat back in her seat. “These are just a few, but they’re an interesting read, and I hope you enjoy them. They used layers of metaphor and symbolism back then, so keep that in mind when you’re reading. You’ll have to go deep.”

  “I will, thank you!”

  “And here’s a list of books with similar themes you can get from the library.”

  I leafed through them slowly and made note of the various titles: Everyman, and other Morality Plays by Stanley Applebaum, The English Morality Play as a Weapon of Religious Controversy by Pineas Rainer and Castle of Perseverance by an unknown author.

  “Castle of Perseverance?” I asked her curiously.

  The teacher nodded. “Oh yes! That’s one of my favorites.”

  “Duly noted.”

  I stood up from her desk and slid them into my backpack, then offered to shake her hand. She accepted my offer and smiled before taking a seat herself. “I’ll see you in class on Tuesday!”

  “Yes, you will. Have a nice weekend, Professor.”

  ~ * ~

  My mind was exploring the different possibilities as I was walking home. I planned on diving into the books Professor Harris had given me and checking out the others from the library to get started on my research. As much as I hated to admit it, I got a dark thrill learning about how that knowledge would apply to me as well.

  When I approached Hackberry Lane, somebody waved to me in the distance. As I got closer, Caleb’s rare blue aura called to me from across the street, and I realized it was him. I grinned at the unexpected visit and rushed over to greet him with a kiss. His dark brown hair was messy from just getting off work, and he smelled like sweat and fresh mown grass — it was wonderful. “Hey! I wasn’t expecting to see you here. I thought you were going to be at the site all day.”

  “I got out of work early and thought I’d surprise you.”

  “Ooh!” I cheered happily as I clapped my hands together. “How should we celebrate?”

  He smiled and put his arm around my shoulder as we headed off into the complex. “Well, I was thinking since tonight is the first home game, we might want to get off campus.”

  “Ugh, right, people. I hate people. Every time I go out, I’m reminded why I don’t go out.”

  “Yeah, so I was thinking we could drive somewhere. Want to go star gazing?”

  I raised an eyebrow playfully and inquired, “Stargazing?”

  “Is that weird? I was just thinking about all the stuff we used to do back in Mobile and remembered how you climbed on your roof to look at them. It made me a little nostalgic. What do ya say?”

  I exhaled a tremendous sigh, thinking about the research I had planned and wondered if I really had t
ime to go gallivanting with so much homework. His face was so hopeful I decided research would have to wait. I smiled, bringing our hands together so I could entwine my fingers in his, remembering the late nights we’d spent on my parent’s roof gazing at the stars. “I’d say you know me pretty well. When do we leave?”

  Caleb smiled and kissed me briefly before asking, “Should we invite Lacey or Ryan to come?”

  I thought about that while gathering my things and said, “Yeah, that might be a good idea. Things have been kinda tense between Ryan and I since he started dating the she-witch. It might be a good way to smooth things over.”

  Caleb just rolled his eyes and scoffed with a little grin. “Demon, sweetheart. You know the difference.”

  Truthfully, I missed my best friend and hated thinking about him with Charley. I was hoping to get him away from her for the night at least. Even if I did, I doubted he would be able to give me any reassurance.

  As we journeyed down the sidewalk, hordes of people were setting up and heading towards the stadium. Buses from out of town had brought fans from all around the state to come and see the game. It made traffic an absolute nightmare, and some of the roads were blocked off since the game goers paid no attention to the traffics lights.

  “Ugh, I’m glad we’re not gonna be around for this,” I told him grumpily. “I’d rather have a quiet evening with you than have to deal with people.”

  His smile widened as we made it to my dorm hall and he stopped outside of the lobby. “Yeah, I’m excited for it too. I’ll get the truck, and I’ll be back to pick you girls up in about forty-five minutes.”

  “Okay, call me when you get back.”

  He kissed me on the lips before heading off towards the parking lot. I smiled, pulling my keys out of the zipped pocket on my bag and unlocked the door to go inside. When I made it up to the dorm room Lacey was sitting on the couch watching TV, her computer set up on her lap. She glanced up when I came in and smiled. “Hey, Wynn. Welcome back.”