F3 Interlude

            “So what are we thinking? Sandwiches? Pasta?” I asked.

            “Matthew,” Nikki tried to sound patient and failed.

            “Pizza!” Jessie said.

            I pointed at her. “Yes. Antonia’s! Get the menu.”

            Nikki sighed as Jessie leaped from her chair to dash into Jen’s office and grab one of the many takeout menus from the collection.

M3 Negotiation

            After the Covenant, Abraham really is a new man. Shortly after the deal, God, making small talk, says “What up, Imma destroy those places.” Okay, I took some liberties there, and it’s important that we not do that. So God said “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin!”

F3 Discovered

            I got as close as I dared, and I glimpsed part of the room, enough to make out black candles—store bought—and a concrete floor painted with geometry and symbols. I backed away. Getting closer wouldn’t do me any good, just put me at risk.

            Gotta find the Nativity.

M3 Covenant

            After Abram gets out of Egypt, we’ve got our next big thing, the Covenant. This is where God lays it out. Now a covenant is like a contract. Each side gets something. Abram is going to get prosperity and become “a father of nations.” That’s literally what his new name, Abraham, means. Sarai becomes Sarah, which means princess, a fitting meaning for her new identity.

            The name changes are actually about a new identity. No longer are they Abram and Sarai. Now, they have new lives under God’s covenant, leaving their old behind. Like much in the Bible, there is a lot of symbolism at work in this. The change is such a slight one that most people wouldn’t blink at the difference.

F3 Insane Idea

            “Are you out of your flaring mind?” Flynn yelled.

            Ann grinned ear-to-ear. “Yes, obviously. I’m doing it, anyway.”

            “I—I have no words. Has something like this ever been done?”

            “No one’s attempted it in over a hundred years. But I’m going to make it work.”

            “You seriously want to . . . what is it, again?”

            “Windsurf. That’s the closest word. They used to do it on the water on Earth.”

            “On Earth is not the same as dark energy winds.”

            “I can do it.”

            “Why?”

            “Because I want to.”

            “That’s not a flaring!—” Flynn took a breath to calm down, and looked at Ann. She had this excitement in her eyes, a light he only saw when she was flying hard. She was going to do this with or without his help.

            If I don’t help her, she’s going to end up lost in the wind.

            “Okay, walk me through how this will work.”

M3 Yes, Dear

            So with the promise of countless descendants, Sarai and Abram should probably have a kid. They’ve been trying, but it’s not like it’s happened. They’re not exactly spring chickens, either, with Abram clocking in at around 85. Having problems conceiving, they do what any couple does, go to the fertility clinic!

            No, they didn’t have one, but they did something that has become a thing today, get a surrogate. Okay, well, there are differences since this surrogate doesn’t exactly have a say in things. She is a slave, probably one of the slaves that Abram got out of the deal with Pharaoh. The interesting thing, however, is that the surrogacy was not Abram’s idea.

F3 Wishes

            The pentagram with its lettering freaked me out. What had started as a prank by bored teens turned into a legitimate case with real danger.

            Gun’s back home, so’s the holy water. Even with them I wouldn’t want to be here. Need to get Rich and maybe a few others, perform an exorcism. Would that even work, though? I don’t know what these kids believe, if anything. Jewish ceremony might work. Wish Max was here, he might be able to tell me.

M3 Try Before You Buy

            We’ve been going pretty heavy with Persephone and the Greeks. We need something sexy to take the weight off. Sounds like a job for the Bible!

            After wiping out the world with the flood and dashing the tower of Babel, we move into a new chapter with a guy named Abram. One day, God shows up with the declaration “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great” (Gen 12:2) out of the blue. No preamble, no, “Hey, how you doing?” And this is not something small, either. This is the promise of becoming kings and a nation, you know, world shattering stuff, since “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:3). No pressure, Abram. No pressure.