Heaven Painted as a Christmas Gift Read online

  To Jewel the view was stunning, but if not for the wood railing along the inside of the glass, she would have felt as if she would fall out of the room at any moment.

  There was nothing else in the room but the booth and some chairs.

  “Poker Boy’s office,” K.J. said as Laverne nodded to them and stepped toward the table, leaving them standing about three steps away to listen.

  There were six people already at the table.

  “Poker Boy is the one in the fedora-like hat and leather jacket,” K.J. said. “The woman with the long brown hair sitting beside him is his girlfriend, Patty Ledgerwood, aka Front Desk Girl.”

  At that moment Patty turned and looked back at them, frowning slightly before turning back to face the table. Jewel wondered if Patty had somehow sensed them.

  Poker Boy looked to be in his mid-thirties and had an expressionless face and a square jaw. Patty was just stunning in her beauty, almost a classic Greek look.

  Everyone at the table seemed to be working on a number of huge milkshakes. Poker Boy and Patty were sharing a vanilla one.

  “The man with the rolled-up sleeves on the other side of Poker Boy is called Screamer,” K.J. said. “And the woman next to him is Sherrie, one of Laverne’s daughters and Screamer’s wife. All four of them are superheroes. Poker Boy works for the gambling side of things. Patty works for the gods of hospitality, Sherrie works for the gods of food and beverage, and Screamer works for the gods of law enforcement.”

  “Wow, there are a lot of gods,” Belle said, the same thing Jewel was thinking.

  “You have no idea,” K.J. said. “The man in the tan button-down sweater across from Patty is Stan, the God of Poker and the elderly looking man beside him is Lamplighter Ben, a god in the knowledge and books area. He used to be the God of Lamplighters when that profession existed.”

  Jewel watched as Lady Luck pulled up a chair to the end of the big booth and asked, “Any ideas at all?”

  “We have The Bookkeeper running the numbers as fast as he can,” Poker Boy said. “So far nothing.”

  Jewel had no idea who The Bookkeeper was and didn’t want to ask K.J. at the moment. She imagined he was another superhero or god of accounting or something.

  “And nothing from any other angle either,” Screamer said.

  “There doesn’t seem to be a motive here at all that we can find,” Patty said. “Nick has some enemies, sure, but even his known enemies are worried and trying to help on this one.”

  Jewel glanced at Tommy who seemed to just be listening intently.

  Beside him both Belle and Nancy were doing the same thing. K.J. was shifting from foot to foot nervously.

  “I don’t think this is aimed at Nick,” Poker Boy said. He turned to Laverne. “What would be left after this world was destroyed if we hadn’t saved it that first time from being chewed up by the cross-dimensional insect things?”

  Laverne shook her head. “Nothing, really. The gods that could would have escaped to other dimensions at the last moment to live in exile. The Earth of this dimension would have been a barren wasteland. Nothing at all to gain for anyone wanting that to happen.”

  “So no one gains,” Stan said, shaking his head. “So we’re back to square one.”

  “Not really,” Poker Boy said. “We know that no one would gain, and I am convinced that destroying the world has nothing to do with attacking Nick. So what we have left is an accident.”

  “It’s not intentional?” Patty asked.

  Poker Boy just nodded. “That’s what I would bet.”

  “Great,” Screamer said, “someone is going to destroy the world by accident.”

  Jewel watched as Poker Boy turned and directly faced Laverne. “When you said that all of Christmas will be erased from all memories and all of time, how is that possible?”

  “Sort of the same way we can see this coming,” Laverne said. “All of life is connected in one fashion or another. There is a vast network of energy that connects us all in many different ways and on many different levels. Some of us see the connections and can use them, as all of you do in your own ways with your own powers.”

  “So it is along these life connections that Christmas will be erased?” Patty asked.

  Laverne nodded.

  Beside Jewel, Nancy and Belle both laughed.

  She glanced at them.

  “Life is a giant computer,” Nancy said. “Who knew?”

  “More like a giant internet among all life forms,” Belle said.

  “And the life computer has a virus, or more than likely a worm,” Nancy said, shaking her head.

  “A worm set to erase Christmas,” Belle said.

  Laverne turned away from the table and looked at them. “A worm?”

  All six live people at the table with Laverne looked stunned and surprised to have Laverne talk to someone they couldn’t see.

  Jewel knew what a worm or computer virus was. Sort of. But she sure would never have thought of it.

  Tommy was nodding slightly and K.J. just looked puzzled.

  “We can explain it,” Belle said, smiling.

  “I’m about 99% sure that’s what is going on,” Nancy said.

  “Trust them on that,” Jewel said to Laverne. “I’ve seen them work on a computer and it’s magic in the best way.”

  “Now you just need to figure out who can work on the big computer of life,” Belle said.

  Laverne started to open her mouth, then shut it and just stared at them.

  Jewel wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

  Section Four

  CAN ANYONE SAVE CHRISTMAS?

  TWENTY-SIX

  BELLE FELT OVERJOYED to figure out what the problem was they were all facing. She had no idea how all of life could be hooked together, but it sort of made sense when she thought of it.

  And it really made sense considering what they were learning since she and Nancy had died.

  From everything people had been saying about the problem, wiping a memory from everyone, wiping out an entire history, sure felt like wiping a hard drive of a computer. Or corrupting data in a cloud storage.

  And Nancy knew computers better than anyone alive or dead and she saw the same thing clearly. Something had gotten into life’s connections and was going to eat at the memory of Christmas, deleting it.

  Belle had no idea how that was possible, but she also didn’t know how she could be here after being killed and how an invisible office could float above Las Vegas. So something that seemed impossible before might be very likely, considering everything.

  Laverne turned back to the table of live superheroes and gods and said, “I invited some guests to this meeting. Have you ever heard of the Ghost of a Chance Agency?”

  Only the older god named Ben nodded.

  “Wow, we are super secret, aren’t we?” Jewel said to K.J. and he just shrugged.

  “We recruit for the Ghost of a Chance Agency some very special people right after they die,” Laverne said. “There are less than one thousand agents in the entire world helping solve problems in a similar manner that you all do. Five of the best Ghost Agents are standing with us right now. And two of them have come up with an idea that might be the solution.”

  “And we can’t see them because they are ghosts?” Poker Boy asked.

  “I could sense them,” Patty said, nodding.

  “That’s correct,” Laverne said. “They do the same job we all do, only just outside of the living world. But they exist and work in the living world.”

  Laverne waved her hand and Belle couldn’t feel anything different, but suddenly all six at the table sort of sat back.

  Laverne motioned that the five Ghost Agents should come a little closer. “This is Jewel, Tommy, K.J., Belle, and Nancy.”

  Each of them raised their hand slightly as Laverne introduced them. Belle felt a little like she was in school being introduced for the first time.

  Then Laverne looked at Belle and Nancy with her p
enetrating dark eyes. “Explain again what you just said to me.”

  Belle shrugged. “If life, all life, at all levels, is hooked together in some fashion, that would mimic the connections in both a corporation and a computer or internet system.”

  “Somehow, someone,” Nancy said, “either by accident, or with another purpose, infected the life connections with a virus or a worm that would travel along those connections and remove Christmas from all consciousness.”

  “More than likely not realizing the consequences of the action,” Belle said.

  All six at the table were nodding and clearly thinking. Belle was impressed. It was no wonder this team had saved the world four or five times already. Even having five ghosts appear in front of them didn’t faze them from the task at hand.

  Poker Boy looked at Laverne. “Who would have access to this life computer in any fashion at all?”

  “You all do with your powers,” Laverne said. “But in limited ways, which is why powers are limited.”

  “So let’s start with a logical place first,” Poker Boy said. “Who hates Nick enough who has the capability to try to erase his name from the life connections?”

  “Krampus,” Ben said. “The horned devil of Christmas.”

  Laverne shook her head. “Kramp and Nick play chess three times per week now and Kramp helps Nick and the rest of the elves with the last minute preparations each year. They are best friends and have been for centuries now.”

  Ben nodded.

  “But didn’t Christmas sort of overshadow the Krampus Day celebrations in the past?” K.J. asked, surprising Belle. “I seemed to remember that from my history somewhere and some great Krampus parties a few years back.”

  “They did,” Ben said, nodding. “But that was far, far before the modern Christmas traditions came about.”

  Poker Boy glanced at K.J. and then back to Laverne. “Does Krampus have a son or daughter?”

  “Flick,” Laverne said, nodding slowly, clearly thinking. “He’s a god in the entertainment and party world and through his father’s connections might have enough access to understand the larger scale of things.”

  Laverne stood. “Thank you one and all. I’m going to go talk with Nick and Kramp and get their take on this, and then see if we can find Flick.”

  “Don’t forget to turn us back invisible, please,” K.J. said.

  She smiled. “I didn’t change your status. I just allowed them to see you is all.”

  With that she returned the five of them to their table in the buffet, where the wonderful smell of eggs and bacon hit Belle and she realized she just hadn’t had much breakfast before all that started.

  “Anyone have any idea who exactly Krampus is or was?” Jewel asked.

  All five of them shook their heads.

  “They were some great parties, though,” K.J. said as he sank into the same chair he had earlier, almost shaking.

  Belle glanced around at the live people in the room. One good-looking woman with long silver hair was sitting at a table munching on a light breakfast and working on her laptop computer.

  She pointed the woman out to Nancy, who nodded.

  Belle watched as Nancy transported over to her, melded with her, and a minute later, after the woman’s fingers were done flying over the computer, emerged.

  “I’ll explain who Krampus is after we all get more food,” Nancy said, appearing back at their table. “I have a hunch we’re going to need it very shortly.”

  Belle could only agree to that and hand-in-hand, she and Nancy walked to the food area of the buffet.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  JEWEL WAS GLAD that Nancy let them get something more to eat before explaining Krampus. They were all almost finished eating when Nancy finally told them what she had found out about Krampus, how his holiday had been taken over by Christmas, mostly in Europe hundreds of years before.

  “He looks like what many modern pictures of the devil would look like,” Nancy said, “with long horns and no red suit or pitchfork.”

  “Wonderful,” K.J. said, shaking his head. “I wore a costume to a party that looked like that, only the horns were detachable sex toys.”

  All four of them laughed and Jewel could feel the mood lifting again.

  “Laverne says they are friends now,” Jewel said after Nancy explained about the good kids and bad kids. Good kids were rewarded by Santa, the bad kids were taken by the horned Krampus.

  “Wouldn’t surprise me,” Nancy said, shrugging. “But what has me puzzled is how anyone gets access to the life connections, or even can see them.”

  Jewel pointed to the woman with the laptop. “You can’t see the internet and the connections, but you used it and got into it through an access portal.”

  “Maybe life has access portals?” Tommy said, glancing at K.J.

  K.J waved his hands in defense. “Don’t look at me. I died a hundred years ago, remember. I’m not even sure what the Internet is.”

  Again all four of them laughed and Jewel patted K.J.’s arm.

  “I got a thought,” Nancy said. “Jewel and Tommy, would you release your auras?”

  Jewel glanced at Tommy who only shrugged. She imagined her aura free from being held against her body.

  Tommy did the same thing.

  “Holy crap,” K.J. said, covering his eyes.

  “Might want to move back about fifteen feet,” Nancy said, laughing.

  Belle nodded. “This is like looking into a spotlight.”

  So Jewel and Tommy stood and moved back so they were standing just near one of the main aisles to get into the food area. Jewel had no idea why, but at this point she was really starting to trust Nancy and Belle and their ideas.

  Both Nancy and Belle just stared at them. Finally Belle said, “There!”

  And she pointed to something above Jewel and Tommy.

  Jewel looked up, but could see nothing but the bright colors around her.

  A moment later Nancy and Belle were floating over them.

  “Stay as you are until we return, would you?” Belle asked.

  “We’re here,” Tommy said.

  Jewel watched as both of them looked at something for a moment and then turned upward, clearly following something Jewel could not see.

  They hovered about twenty feet in the air over the large room and looked around. Both of them were pointing and indicating different things.

  Jewel didn’t want to break their concentration, so she just stood there watching without saying anything.

  Tommy did the same.

  Then Belle and Nancy vanished out through the roof of the room, clearly following something.

  Jewel just stayed where she was. So did Tommy beside her.

  “Anyone have any idea what they are doing?” K.J. asked, staring up at the ceiling from his position at the table with all the dirty dishes.

  “My guess,” Jewel said, “is that they are like electricians following a wire.”

  “What wire?” K.J. asked.

  “They saw something in our auras that seemed to connect out,” Tommy said.

  “Remember how Laverne said that we are all connected to this big life computer?” Jewel asked.

  K.J. nodded. Then he sighed. “I think I had better get Laverne here. We may have just gone in over our head again.”

  Jewel agreed, not moving.

  K.J. looked up at the ceiling. “Laverne, if you have a moment, we might need a little help here.”

  A minute later, Lady Luck herself appeared next to K.J. who stood quickly.

  Laverne glanced at Jewel and Tommy, then asked, “Where are Belle and Nancy?”

  “They were looking for an access to the life connections and saw something coming off the top of our auras,” Jewel said. “And they are following that.”

  Laverne frowned, staring at the auras around Jewel and Tommy for a moment. Then suddenly she frowned, clearly seeing whatever it was that Belle and Nancy had seen.

  “Oh, damn,” Laverne said, softly
and then vanished.

  K.J. turned white and sat back down.

  Jewel wasn’t sure if it was a bad thing when Lady Luck swore, but she had a hunch it was.

  She just hoped that didn’t mean that Belle and Nancy had gotten into bad trouble.

  But since there was nothing she could do, she and Tommy just stood there, their auras open to the world.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  BELLE AND NANCY held hands as they floated up through the roof of the buffet and then through the floors above until finally coming out onto the roof.

  They stopped there.

  In both Jewel and Tommy’s auras, there had been a very clear golden stream flowing up and out of the room.

  As Belle and Nancy had floated up to the ceiling, they could see golden streams flowing from everyone in the room. Some were faint, others bright.

  They were all very clear once they knew what they were looking for.

  Now, as they stood on the roof of the hotel, they could see millions of golden streams of bright light flowing upwards from the buildings and around the building from the entire area of Las Vegas.

  And it all formed a stunningly beautiful golden tower stretching up into the sky like a moving golden stream.

  If Belle looked close enough, most streams were moving only outward, but others had light flowing in both directions, passing like streams of traffic on a busy freeway.

  Clearly every stream had an ability to both send and receive some sort of connection.

  The entire column just kept flowing and moving and shifting. It was so beautiful, Belle felt stunned to the very core of her being.

  “How come we couldn’t see this before?” Nancy asked, her voice almost breathless.

  “I don’t know,” Belle said. “But if looks like a river of gold is flowing out of the city and into the sky.”

  “Not all of it gold,” Nancy said, pointing out what looked like a faint black line among some of the closest gold streams.

  Belle had a hunch that was a truly evil person at the end of that line.