Knowing is Half the Battle

Expectations of life in the mind of every child leave anything to the imagination to become reality. When you are older those expectations change and reality of life starts to beat down imagination. In the end those who can keep more of their imagination are the ones that end up as the minority and seem odd to the rest of the world.

Sitting down next to Delilah, the server poured wine for the table. Around the room there were some nervous faces and one that was stone cold as ever.

"So, General, I am sure you want to begin your questions," picking up my glass. "Almost a month ago I did say I would tell you what you wanted to know over the last ten years. Now is your opportunity, but remember something," taking a sip of wine, "there are some things I will not be able to tell you. With that, please begin."

The General looked at Jim and crossed his hands on the table in front of him, "Well, chronologically seems the most appropriate." That term had lost a lot of meaning to me. "What happened on your 21st birthday?"

"That is a pretty general question, no pun intended," smiling. "It was just as John had described to you. He lived for one thousand years. His time was up and mine was to begin in his place." Sitting back in the chair, "You didn't have it quite right, though. You see, there were five before him that had lived for one thousand years each. All the knowledge they had was passed to the next and so on. When it became my turn I was given six thousand years worth of knowledge at one time."

Delilah reached over and put her hand on mine. Gripping her hand tightly, I gave her a wink and kissed her hand then turned back to the table.

"So, you have the knowledge of six people that lived for one thousand years each?" Jim asked as he pushed his chair back and crossed his legs.

"Yes," it would be good if all the questions were answerable that fast.

Jim looked at the General who sat back in his chair. "So, basically you are the smartest man in the world?" Everyone at the table laughed and the General looked around not realizing what he had said. "That did sound absurd, didn't it?"

"It was a little funny to hear out loud, yes. It does not work that way. He gave me the knowledge and it is in my head," looking down at Delilah as if I were speaking to her, "but it has to be accessed one thing at a time."

Jim sat forward and then Diana asked, "I don't understand," and they all seemed to be confused, even Delilah.

The easiest way to explain it was how it was, "Think of it like this, you have a library that covers six thousand years of knowledge with each subject or event represented as one book. The only way to gain that knowledge is to open each book one at a time." From the look on everyone's face they grasped the magnitude of the task.

Diana followed up, "So you have to read every book?"

"No. Just open them. Once they are opened all the knowledge is Let Out, if you will." Drinking some more wine, Delilah curled up on my arm. She looked up into my eyes with hers looking so at peace.

"What kind of things do you know now?" Claire joined the conversation from beside her husband.

The big highlights would be best. "Let's see, John was also at one time known as King John of England, son of Henry the second." A lot of oxygen left the room as everyone gasped. "This one will get you even more. In the late 1700's he lived in Massachusetts and went by John Hancock."

"Dear god!" Diana screeched out.

"He was in the wars against Napoleon and Genghis Khan." Looking down at Delilah, "Are you alright?"

"Oh yes. This is new to me as well and very exciting to hear since I can't read your mind," she said excitedly.

"So, did you just get the knowledge of their life history or did you learn anything else like Math or Physics?" the General was heading down a path I figured he would eventually head. Everything was a weapon now days.

"The science and other modern things came from John. Almost everything in today's world really came from him. Everyone else was just history because they did not live in the time of modern science. John did try to learn everything he could. I know a lot about Physics, Math, Biology, Chemistry, and Engineering and take your pick of all the engineering fields." I took a couple bites of the salad and set the fork down. My stomach was not yelling at me like usual.

"Okay, let's go back a little. When you escaped the FBI in your apartment, what was that?" Jim and the General perked their ears up for this one.

It was time to reveal some things and I was hoping to put a fear into them, "Well, it took me until about four weeks ago to figure out finally what it is. Has anyone heard of a Morris-Thorne Wormhole?" Everyone at the table shook their heads no. "It is the theory of bending Space-Time to a point where they overlap creating a tunnel between the two points. Now, if you could do this, then, in theory, you would be able to pass between those two points as if it were walking through a door." Everyone was highly confused.

"Um, did you just say something in English?" Claire asked.

"I have actually seen this explained in a movie that has the easiest understanding of it." I pulled my napkin from my lap and placed it on the table. Dipping my finger in my wine, I made two dots on opposite ends. "Now, what is the fastest way between two points?"

Jim had this one ready, "A straight line."

"Correct, conventionally. The theory is," folding my napkin so the two points were on top of each other, "you see. If you can bend Space-Time then you would step to the next dot. Let's say this side," pointing to the one closest to me, "is us and the other is China. You just step through."

"And this is what you can do?" the General asked.

"Yes." Everyone stopped eating. It was easiest to just show them. Moving Delilah off my arm, I kissed her on the cheek. "Be back in a second."

Closing my eyes, I moved from the chair to the dance floor. Diana dropped her fork. Then I moved to the door and then to the bar behind them. Finally, I moved back to my seat.

"Shit!" the General smiled and chuckled with Jim. Diana and Clair did not look too good and Delilah just curled up on my arm again.

"There is another way this works as well." Closing my eyes, I split with one me at the bar, one on the dance floor and one at the door.

"Anyone need a drink," asking from the bar.

"Would anyone like to dance?" doing a little shuffle step on the dance floor.

"Or you can go vomit if this is too much," opening the door.

Grabbing up the glass of wine I took a sip and smiled.

Claire's hand was shaking, "You can do that whenever you want?"

"Yes," all four of me said at once. Claire drank everything she had she was so nervous. She might have felt ill because she would not let the server fill it up.

Letting go of the other three, they disappeared. I ate some more salad and then the server picked up all the dishes and delivered steak for everyone.

Delilah started to eat and even fed me a bite as I fed her. There was worry that this was too mushy for the married couples at the table, but quickly gave up on it. This was our first dinner together and I wanted to make the most of it no matter where we were.

"Michael," Jim started in. "How did you push the walls out in your room and in the medical room and then fix them?"

Feeding Delilah a bite of my steak, "Very nice question, Jim," oddly enough something was moving me to being very supportive of everyone. It was a very strange feeling. "Everything is made up of matter, Jim. Each thing is the way it is because of the arrangement of those particles."

Turning to the table and swirling my finger at the candle in the middle, it pulled apart into particles of dust up into the air above everyone's head. It circled the table and I turned it into a single rose that dropped into Delilah's lap.

"Ah, thank you. That is so sweet." It was nice she was not even fazed by any of this. She kissed my lips and it made me feel so warm inside and peacefully relaxed.

"General," standing up, "for you I know only this would make any sense because size does not actually matter, but for you it will be easier to comprehend."

Raising my hand at the wall and windows leading out to the night the wall crashed and tumbled away about twenty feet. Then I turned it into a tank and then an Audi and then a tree. Putting the wall back as if it had never happened, the General just smiled.

"I figured that would be more to your liking," tossing out sarcastically.

"You can control matter?" Jim asked more nervously than Claire.

"Control is a tough word to use for this. We are all made up of it. I collaborate with the matter in something else and lead it to creating or changing what I want. We really work together; I just try to be the foreman." Leaning down to Delilah and whispering in her ear, "I picture the little particles as Weebles that talk. They are my little friends." She laughed and almost choked on some food.

"About a month ago, an agent came into your room and vanished for a few seconds with you. What happened there?" Jim was asking the obvious questions.

"Well, I had just had a conversation with my birth mother," seeing Jim and the General's looks, "Do not ask. Anyway, I just found out the last thing I needed to learn. Everyone, grab hands around the table and I will demonstrate, I think. To be honest I have not tried like this before." Claire and Diana were a bit reluctant but eventually joined hands all the way around. "General, do you remember the first day we met? The day John and I had our first conversation?"

"Yes. Of course," it had to be at the top of his memory list.

Closing my eyes, I asked my little Weeble buddies to open a door to that day in that room. To my left between the table and the window was an oval hole with light blue electricity around a white cloud and in the center was the interrogation room with the General, Jim, myself and a some other people.

"Amazing!" Jim rang out.

The General followed, "I don't fucking believe this," he said in almost a whisper. "Can you do what I think you can do?"

"Yes," answering as Delilah looked at me confused. "I can open a hole through Time and walk through it." That was the first time all night she looked scared. My eyes rolled for less than a second as I saw what went through her mind. "Yes, I know about all of it. I will explain in a few moments."

"So, you could go back and kill Hitler if you wanted to?" the General asked a common question.

"I do not know. I have not tried going further out of my own time. I do not know a lot about it yet. It will take some time and testing," taking a bite of steak. I was getting pretty hungry. Looking over at the server, "May I please have another Medium Rare." He ran off for the kitchen.

"This is the most profound discovery in the history of man," the General threw out there.

I actually knew one that was bigger, but I could not tell him. Knowing it would be too much for him to grasp, it was better left alone.

"So, Michael," I knew what was on Jim's mind and just let him spit it out. "What happened the night all those people died behind the mirrors and guards saw that black smoke disappear?"

"Therein lies the only major problem I have. That is a man named Baal. He is the only one on this planet that can kill me," the General moved forward.

"You mean you can't die?" the General asked with great intrigue.

"Neither of us can," looking down at Delilah and she smiled back at me. "Except for one person on this planet that can kill each of us. Other than that, we will live for one thousand years looking 21 until ten years before we die. We will age those last ten years."

"Why?" Diana asked. Leave it to the woman.

"Good question. We have no idea," Delilah said.

"So, she is one?" Claire asked.

Looking at the General, "Yes, she is one of the other six you have been searching for." Both of them dropped their forks and knives.

"What abilities does she have? The same as you?" Jim took up his fork and took another bite along with some wine.

"I can read and control people's minds, except Michaels. The rest we will figure out and learn to control and use," she grabbed my hand and kissed it.

"Why can't you read or control his?" Claire asked as she let the server fill her glass, again.

"No idea," she looked at me. "Do you know?"

"No, I do not know. I can still see her thoughts."

"You can read minds, too?" the General was getting too fascinated by me. He knew some of this, though. I had pulled his name out of thin air as well as Jim's.

"No, not exactly. With Delilah, she gets into your mind and actually reads it and controls it from there. With me, I see your thoughts pass through my mind like images. It just happens. Right now I do not have much control over it."

Jim wanted the other answers, "So, tell us more about this Baal guy. Is he one of the other six that John mentioned?"

"No," stopped eating and sitting back, "he is one of another group of seven. Yes, they too have abilities." All four looked confused by this new information, especially Jim and the General. "You have to think of it like two halves of a whole. Each one of us," pointing back and forth between Delilah and myself, "has an opposite. They have a purpose to destroy or corrupt their counterpart."

The General threw his hands up, "Who's making up all these rules?" He sounded a little frustrated.

"I cannot tell you that," sipping my wine.

Jim looked me in the eyes, "You can't or you won't?"

"Take your pick."

The conversation was getting tiresome with me trying to explain what I could. I so badly wanted to get up and go to bed taking Delilah down for some sleep. There was a specific need to sit there longer and wait.

"So why haven't we heard about any of this before in history books or files? I mean, why now and why us?" Jim asked the right question.

"Perfect timing, Jim. I am getting tired and so is Delilah," brushing my hand over her face. "You being involved was because of me. You see, I have known about Entertainment Legal Investment and Linguistics for some time now." Jim and the General both were surprised by this.

Jim spoke first, "How did you know about that?"

"I am sure you thought that some rival company or something like that had created the company in my name. But, it was actually me that created it," Delilah sat up and looked at me more confused than she had ever been.

"Why would you set up a company and go through all the trouble in order to be locked up for ten years?" the General turned around with. The women were confused because they obviously did not know the entire history.

Walking over around the table, "It is not easy to explain, but I am going to try. Hopefully, I will be able to show you the explanation for this shortly," that did not help with the confusion.

Walking over to the window and looking out, "Bob was so confused by what he found out, it took him quite some time to tell me what it was. I did start that company. At first I thought I had a split personality and was making up moving or splitting to fill in the time gaps," turning and looking at all of them. "But everything came down to the same question in the end. What was the goal? Jim, you said it yourself. It was so much time, effort and money. What reasons would anyone have that would be big enough to go through all of this?"

Turning to Delilah, "It was Matt that figured out the right question to ask. It took me until one month ago to figure out what it was all about. I created the company in order to save myself and…."

From the other side of the room just as I expected, "And everyone you love." I was standing on the other side of the room.

From the window, "The splitting that I did earlier was one thing, they were all me. This person here," pointing at myself across the room, "is me from the future. He traveled back in time because something happened and he needed to change it."

"Correct," the future me said. "Not only did I need to be in a place to learn at an accelerated rate, but I also needed the two of you to know who I was and what was going on. Well, to some degree anyway."

The General was very confused, "So, that isn't you like before?"

"No. That was me splitting myself into copies. This is actually me from the future. I know, it is confusing," I said looking at the future me.

"Can I leave now?" the future me asked.

"Yes and thank you for showing up."

"Not a problem at all. You are welcome," he paused before turning away and looked at Delilah. "It is nice to see you again, Delilah," he disappeared into time.

Delilah got up and came over to me, "Yes, it was me from the future that told you all those things about the house and what was going on. He is the one that told you never to bring it up in front of me and to stay away from me. The future me did it to save your life and ours together." She ran to me and hugged me like it was the last hug she would ever get. I kissed her, "I am never going anywhere ever again, baby."

Tears were coming out of her, "I Love You, Michael."

Pulling her head back, "And I Love You, Delilah."

"Okay, so this future you set everyone up for this. Why? What happened?" the General asked confused and stern.

"I do not know and I was never meant to. Besides, I do not want to know." He looked like he understood that.

"We need to talk about your plans to train on this and some things you can do to help us, your country," the general said and I knew it was coming.

"No General. We were chosen for a different purpose. We are being driven by something else. We are leaving this place."

"We just can't let you leave, Michael," he was starting to sound threatening.

"You do not have a choice. Think about this, I can go anywhere I want and change anything I want into anything I want and I can travel through time. What exactly can you do to keep me here? You cannot use anyone I know because I can just move them wherever I want whenever I feel like it."

The General was getting angry, "Thompson, you do not have a choice. This choice was never yours. It was mine. I stayed here because I needed the time to learn this ability. Now I know it and how to use it."

"Where will you go?" Diana asked Delilah.

"Somewhere to relax on a beach for a couple of weeks?" she looked at me and I nodded.

"Now, tonight will be our last night. You need to clear out the building," this was a stretch.

"Why? What are you going to do?" the General asked with a lot of concern.

"I am not going to hurt you or anyone. Baal is coming tonight. He will hurt whoever he comes across. I do not want anyone getting hurt." My stomach ached every time I thought about Baal killing everyone to get to me.

He looked at Delilah, "Won't he try to kill her to get to you?"

"He cannot kill her. She has her own opposite. He can only kill me, but he is so far from powerful enough to do that it would take forty of him." Anger was building up inside of me just thinking about Baal. "Besides, with the bonus of Delilah being there with me, so she can read his mind and try to control him, he will be so distracted that it should not be a problem dealing with him. But, he knows I have a weakness for people. He will try to kill as many people as possible to hurt me before I even know he is around."

"Okay, I'll make sure the building is cleared," Jim said. He ran off out the doors to make sure it was done.

Walking over to the General and Claire, "General, I want to explain something. This thing that Delilah and I are in the middle of is bigger than any one country. We are in the middle of something that will affect every single human on this planet. If I thought even for a second that was not true, I would stay here and do what you are thinking of for me."

"Thank you, Michael. I appreciate your candor," he said looking at his wife.

"And, do not worry. I will always be close enough so you can call," walking over to Delilah. "Thank you all for a wonderful evening," just as Jim walked back in. "We will all see each other again. Until then, please be safe."

"Good night," Delilah said. She looked so tired.

Closing my eyes, I focused on the room. We were gone from dinner and standing in my room. She pulled me over to the bed and pulled me down on it. She curled up in my arms.

"I do not want to stay here tonight," saying to her.

"But you told them Baal," I cut her off.

"I know, but he will come tonight no matter where we are and he does not need any incentive to show up here and kill everyone. I want to go stay at the Artist's Loft. Did the future me tell you about that one?" giving her a smile. She shook her head. "Good."

We stood up and waved at the mirror for the last time. Focusing on the Artist's Loft in South Dakota, closing my eyes and opened them in the Loft and looked back to let go of my room.

We walked over to the lift and headed to my room. Pulling us up to the catwalk the lift stopped. We got off and she grabbed my hand which I pulled back. I grabbed her hand and put it on the cement panel next to the door. The bedroom door opened and she looked up at me.

"When did you do that?" she asked pulling me into the bedroom.

"I had some time to set you up for everything. You are even on all the checking accounts as the third signer," she gave me a strange look. "Matt. He is on everything." She giggled as she pulled me up onto the bed.

"Just hold me forever," she said to me in a breathless hypnotic tone.

"I can do that, love," looking around the room. "He will be here soon, baby."

"Do we have time to get some sleep?" she was yawning.

"I do not know. Let us try. If he comes when I am sleeping, usually he will come to my dream first. His abilities are just like yours in a way."

We both closed our eyes and tried to get some sleep. Holding Delilah like that was a dream come true, one that continued every day over the previous ten years. It was perfect to just lay there holding one another. I could smell the sweet scent of her hair and feel her body move with every breath. It was not the same to just sit there and watch her sleep as I had done over the years.

My euphoric feeling was interrupted with thoughts of Baal. He was coming here and I knew it. I was sure he knew that I knew as well. This time he would have a some new plan or scheme to use against me.

Future me had something happen that was bad enough to expedite my knowledge and training with my abilities. Thinking about it made me nervous inside. The way he looked at her told me everything I needed to know. Somehow the Delilah in the future had died and even though I was sure more died, it was her that pushed the future me to the lengths of making this all happen.

Lying there staring into the darkness, I wondered about how she died. Only the Yang would be able to kill us and Baal did not have that with Delilah. I sure was not concerned about myself even with Baal. The future me had a plan and it was working perfectly as far as could be pieced together. My abilities could stop anything he could throw at me even to the point of moving people that needed out of harms way.

Baal had a plan and the not knowing was eating me up. Baal could not move around like I could, just by thinking about a person and then showing up there. Fear was creeping into my body a possible plan snuck into my thoughts.

My parents were still in Hawaii which was a good thing. There were no flight records for Baal to track or anything else in a paper trail since I had them use a credit card that Jax hacked so that the name could not be found. A money order was sent in with the account number once a month. It had been that way for years so the credit card company never complained. In fact, they kept raising the limit.

Matt, Bob, Remy and the kids were all still in danger and the uneasy feeling I started with was getting worse. Was it enough for Baal to die if he killed even one person that I cared about?

Anxiety is never a good thing to make decisions based on, but it had become so bad I needed to do something. Closing my eyes while holding Delilah, I thought of Matt. My focus was on him and we ended up on the floor of his bedroom.

Delilah woke up and looked around, "What happened? Where are we?"

"Sorry, baby. I needed to check on some things," Matt's bed was empty. "Matt," just because his bed was empty did not mean a thing. Matt could be in many different cities. "Matt," I yelled a thundering sound. There was no response, so I grabbed Delilah and thought of the Stage in New York.

We were standing in the living room as Delilah looked around. She had never been here before, either. I ran up the stairs to his room. He was not there.

Nervousness was filling me up and needed badly to know where they were.

"Michael, you are supposed to be able to think about someone and just go where they are, right?" stopping in my tracks coming down the stairs.

She was right. I had never been in a situation like this. Every time I had done this before wherever the person was is where my ability took me. Running over to her I grabbed her up around the waist thinking about Matt's apartment. We were in his bedroom again.

"Search everywhere," it was intense. "He is here somewhere."

We started searching in the closets of his room. We looked in the spare room and the office. We went through every room in the house opening every door. An idea popped into my head.

"Can you hear his thoughts?" hope was all I had at this point. Either he was in this house hidden or he was dead.

"I don't know. I've never tried anything like that," she was a little rattled by my frantic tone.

"Just focus on Matt in your head. You have a name and a face. You can do it," placing my hand on her face to comfort her with a gentle touch.

She closed her eyes and listened inside her mind, "I can hear him," she said excitedly.

"Good. Talk to him. Find out where he is," I missed someplace in the house.

Her eyes were moving back and forth, "He's behind his bedroom closet?"

Running into his bedroom and into the walk-in closet. Matt had spent too much time with me. He had a hidden room in here. Turning to her I was going to ask, but I just put my hand up and ripped out all the walls and let the particles disappear.

In front of us he was on the floor in a Hog Tie position using zip ties and he had duct tape over his mouth. I ran over and instead of ripping off the tape I asked the Weebles to move. They did and the tape was gone.

"Thanks, mate!" he looked up at me having a hard time breathing. I asked the Weebles to move for the bindings and they did. He rolled on his back, "That son of a bitch, Baal. He did this!"

"I know. We have to get Bob, Remy and the kids," I helped him up to his feet. "You mind if I send you to the Artist's Loft now? You will be there for a few minutes alone."

"No problem. I could use a good drink," he came back with a smile. Only Matt could be Hog Tied and then come back with a genuine looking smile. He pointed at Delilah, "Did you know she can talk to people with telepathy? Amazing, really."

"See you in a few minutes and be careful with the alcohol. Baal is coming," I raised my hand and thought of Matt at the Artist's Loft and he disappeared.

I turned to Delilah, "One down and four to go. You ready for this?"

She nodded, "You bet. Let's go get 'em."

Placing my arms around her and pulling her tight, my thoughts were about Bob and focused on him. We were standing in the entryway of my house. It was large and utterly ridiculous. It had two gigantic stair cases hugging the round walls on either side of the entryway.

"Welcome to my house, which is now where you will be living if we get past this lunacy tonight," she gave me a little grin.

"This place is huge! How we going to find them?" that was a good question since the place was big enough to house a small army.

Taking in a deep breath and exhaling with a booming bass, "Bob!" Tilting my head to listen better, "Do you hear anything?"

She closed her eyes, "Yes, the kids are up in their rooms."

Running up the stairs Delilah followed me as we went to the right and down the hallway to the kids' rooms. The rooms were across the hall from one another. The doors were open and the kids where sitting on their beds. In the doorway of each room was a King Cobra protecting them.

"He is leaving without a limb tonight, that bastard," I said as I lifted both arms and both snakes disintegrated. The kids jumped off the beds and ran over to me. They were both close to teenagers, but cobras would freak an adult out. "Are you two alright?"

"Yes," Lexie said. Austin was just nodding.

"Do you know where your parents are?" They both shook. It figures the kids would not know much of anything that was going on. "Was it Baal?" They knew who he was.

"Yeah. That guy is a real dick!" Delilah and I both laughed.

"By the way, this is Delilah," they all shook hands. Austin looked up at me, "Yes, girlfriend. You can call her that." He smiled. "Okay, I am going to send you guys someplace. Matt is there so just have him watch you," they nodded. I thought only about the Artist's Loft focusing on it. The kids disappeared.

"Can you hear Bob or Remy," she closed her eyes and was concentrating.

"Back yard by the pool," she was better than any GPS.

We ran down through the house to the backyard. At the far end of the pool were two lounge chairs with Bob and Remy strapped down to them. Black smoke swirled between the two and, like he seemed to love doing, Baal came out of the smoke.

"I really think you need a new entrance and exit trick. That black smoke thing is getting really old," Bob laughed through his gag and some mucus came out of his nose. Even Delilah smirked next to me.

"Michael, this is quite the exquisite house you have here. Or would you call this a Mansion," he raised his hands up. He was wearing an all read suit with a black tie and was carrying his cane. Once again, he looked ridiculous.

Leaning into Delilah's ear, "Tell them the kids are safe and not to mention it to Baal." She nodded and shut her eyes.

In their faces I could see them getting the message from Delilah. Remy had a tear come down her face.

"Thank you, Baal. I do find it a relaxing place to be, sometimes," putting my hand up and the gags disintegrated into the wind. I left them bound as Bob sat there and exercised his jaw.

"Thanks, boss," he said to me and I gave him a quick wink.

"Now, Baal, we had this conversation the last time. I told you this was between us. I remember distinctively telling you that if you were to injure any of these people, well then I would not be able to let you," my voice turned into a deep growl and was so stern that I almost scared myself, "LIVE." My eyes burned a white blue all around.

My mind was working overtime. I could hear all the thoughts coming through his head in my own. This time he had a decent idea which explained some things about the future me and his setup of this situation.

"You, Michael, have no right," it ended there.

"I Have Every Right," my voice shook the ground and the water from the pool splashed over on him.

His idea flashed into my head before he did anything. He turned to pour fire out of his hand onto Bob and Remy but I turned it into daisies that sprayed all over the two of them. I swiped at the air and sent them to the Artist's Loft with the kids, having had enough of Baal's games.

He laughed, "Predictable. You care more for them than for yourself."

"Baal, I have no reason to be afraid. The only person in this world that can kill me is you and that terrifies me as much as a gnat flying around a room." His face turned stone hard and his eyes were glowing red. I could see the second part of the plan was about to happen.

I spun around and grabbed Sydney by the neck as she snuck up behind us, "Hello, Sydney! Nice to see you again."

I had her so tight she could not breathe let alone talk. I closed my eyes and she appeared next to Baal.

"Hello, Michael," she said raspy and rubbing her neck.

"I knew it! I kept thinking how in the world would she die and the only answer was the opposite, but that also meant someone else was involved that knew me. Little did I know it was someone I slept with," Delilah smacked me in the arm. "I thought you left me forever after that first night. She was after."

She shrugged and held on to my arm, "I guess it doesn't matter now, does it?" Sydney gave her an evil stare.

"Sydney, were you with me because you were trying to find out about her or did you even know?" curiosity stopped everything for a moment.

"She wanted to find out about me. And thanks for the images, bitch," Delilah was angry which I had never seen before. "Baal was told well before he was 21 and he told Sydney well before she was 21 so they would be prepared."

"Nice. Can you tell me what she has the ability to do?" I looked down at her.

"She can shape her body into whatever she wants," Delilah said and then turned to me. "They can't do anything. They are both terrified of you. Let's just go."

My eyes rolled and I slowed time down to a crawl while holding Delilah's hand. "I knew about this. This is how you were killed in the future Michael's world."

She was looking around at everything almost stopped, "Where are we?"

"I am not sure this is the perfect time to have this conversation, but this is the same place and time I just slowed it down," I pulled her to me. "Look, the other me from the future, he set something up hoping I would think the same way as his hindsight at this point."

"What?" she was so confused.

"Can you get into my head? Try it right now, I will let you in." Her eyes shut and I could feel her in my mind just like John was so long ago. "Now, tell me to do something." My right arm lifted and then I was standing on my left leg involuntarily.

She looked at me with a question on her face but did not ask it.

"Yes, baby. You are going to have me beside you as a weapon. Think of it as practice." She rolled her eyes.

Focusing on the time I sped everything back up to normal. Looking at Baal and Sydney I split myself into three. I was standing on the other side of Delilah and on the other side of the pool. They looked around. I sat in the chair next to me. On the other side of the pool I moved toward Baal.

Next to Delilah I moved forward toward Sydney and she followed. Sydney's arm turned into a blade and she took a swing Delilah saw it coming in her mind and ducked and I just moved out of the way. She had me change her blade arm into a rose. Sydney looked at it and turned it into a sledge hammer.

On the other side Baal tried some fire again. Then he had some snakes all around me. "How long did it take for you to figure out where you where last time?" I asked as I wiped away the snakes.

"About a minute. I," he wrapped a Python around me, "was a little dizzy from being pulled apart and put back together."

Delilah was handling herself pretty well even though I knew she was nervous. She was making the right decisions and moves. She was making me do whatever she needed when she needed it.

Sydney had a Mace for each arm and was swinging at Delilah. I kept moving out of the way waiting for Delilah to do something. I could see her close her eyes and I felt my arm move up and Sydney's arms started to turn into dust as it swirled around her. She was completely a dust cloud and then Delilah sent her to a remote island in the South Pacific somewhere and put her back together.

I looked over at her, "Page out of my book?"

"Well, I need to practice and she's the only one that can threaten to kill me," she smiled at me and turned around to the other me. "Good God that is strange!"

"Sorry," I said from the chair. I let go of the right side of the pool so it was just me on the chair and me fighting, if you could call it that, Baal.

"Looks like it worked," I looked at Baal who was creating a hurricane with lightening in it all around me. I wiped it away. "What do you think, Baal?" He was incredibly angry.

He was breathing extremely hard and his eyes were glowing bright red. From the other side of the pool I grabbed Delilah.

"Time for us to go," I thought of the Artist's Loft focusing on only it. We were in the house and I turned back to see Baal turn into a Dragon about twenty stories high.

Standing next to the pool I watched him rise out of black smoke and breathe fire on me which I decided to turn to ice and freeze all the way up into his throat. The dragon coughed and sputtered. He was like a giant dog with a hairball flopping and rolling all over the yard.

From the Artist's Loft, Delilah was still touching me and looking back, "You can see that?" I asked her.

"Yes. It's amazing!" she held onto me.

"Did you want to keep watching?"

"Please," how could I say no?

Creating a sword in my right hand I stabbed it through Baal's left hand pinning it to the ground all the way to the hilt. Then I did it to the other three feet.

"Now, where do you want to go this time?" I asked the dragon. "I know." I raised my hand and twirled my finger. The dragon broke off into particles and swirled into the air. I threw my hand out and the cloud vanished.

Looking at Delilah, I let go of the house and stayed only at the Artist's Loft. Bob, Remy, and Matt were all around the bar.

"Where are the kids?" I looked at Remy.

"Where else," she pointed up at the catwalk area. "They went up to their rooms to get online and whatever. You know they love these places because you have them stocked with stuff to keep them entertained in the rooms."

"Not exactly my intention. I did not want them to get bored if they needed to stay here for a while. I am glad they have no problem being here."

Bob was playing bartender. He handed me a martini. Delilah took a sip of it.

"So, mate, what's next?" I looked at Delilah and winked at her.

"I want you all to stay here for a little while. Baal does not know about this place and they can only follow Delilah and I by feeling," I grabbed Delilah's hand. "We are going to go someplace and relax and listen." She nodded at me with a smile and kissed me.

"Listen? Listen to what?" Matt asked with a drink in hand.

I shrugged at them all, "Listen to what is next."

I put my arm around Delilah's shoulders and walked her over to the entrance door that led down the hallway. Stopping, I closed my eyes and pictured my little Weeble friends deep in my mind.

"It is time to open the door to that space between time," they all cheered and the door to the hallway started to glow.

I pushed the door open without using the pad and walked into the blank whiteness with Delilah in my arm. She looked all around.

"Where are we?"

"In between time," I closed my eyes and put my hand out. The ground turned to sand with a tree in the middle. All around us became water that reflected the rising moon that was huge and hanging three quarters of the way above the horizon. The sky was filled with stars and every type of astrological event. A bungalow grew from the sand next to the tree in the middle.

Delilah spun around looking at the middle of the ocean, my ocean in my night. This was the way that I saw it in my imagination. Far off to the Northeast a shoreline with palm trees sprouted up.

Opening my eyes, Delilah was standing in front of me with tears streaming down her face. "This is amazing, Michael! Truly magical!"

I grabbed her hand and led her over to the palm tree to have some time watching the stars and being close to her without any worries. We sat down and she cuddle into my chest.

"I love you, Michael," I could feel her words vibrate outside my chest and inside my heart.

"I love you, Delilah."