Page 55 of A Chip on Her Shoulder

“Not precisely, although your death soon comes. I am here to prevent that death from having permanence, but it will leave you changed. All I will do is bar you from crossing through the boundary between life and death, but you must face your death in this moment. I cannot break the universal laws, but I can bend the rules—and I will, for the sake of my fallen son, who has learned something precious.”

“What has he learned?”

“That he, like the rest of his brothers and sisters, is capable of what he has denied himself since the day of his fall.”

“What, the realization that you love him despite the fact he’s a bastard who hates doing what he’s told?”

He chuckled, and I became aware of His presence surrounding me, and He chased away the lingering discomfort with a wave of His perfect hand, which shimmered and came into focus while the rest of His body remained hidden. Something about his thumb bothered me.

“Your thumb has a third joint, like a finger.”

“Would a hand more like yours comfort you?”

I shook my head. After a moment of hesitation, I reached towards Him.

He turned His hand so I could better view His thumb, and like a moth drawn to a flame, I touched Him.

He radiated a gentle warmth, and His skin felt a lot like mine. My curiosity took a firmer hold, and I stroked my fingertips over the extra joint, marveling over how one little detail divided us, yet I couldn’t help but think His hands were somehow gloriously human despite being different.

“You were made in my image, but humans are as humans are. Humans bring change. Humans are change. Humans are a great many things, including defiant. Because my son fell, humans could be. My son’s fall is one of my greatest gifts to mankind, for I gave my son the freedom to fall—and thus the freedom for mankind to choose its own path. Sometimes, I believe I made a rather severe mistake.”

With the suffering I often witnessed in the world, I could understand why He believed our freedom was a mistake, and a rather severe one at that. “I guess I should thank him for that, shouldn’t I?”

“You should. You fluster him. You will continue to fluster him, and I find this amusing. He has his regrets. You will help him overcome those things with time, I am sure. That is part of your purpose.”

“I feel like my birth certificate should have come with a disclaimer that I’m a pawn in a game between your heavens and his hells. It would have been polite.”

“A disclaimer would have changed who you became, and that would have been a poor thing for all parties. You are as you need to be.”

“Is it true you can’t help my brother?”

“Do I possess the power to? Yes, but the method in which I could do so would destroy him in your eyes, and it is not the solution you desire at all. You were told the truth. The only one who can give you the outcome you seek is my fallen son. Of course, it will not be the outcome you expect, and it will undoubtedly vex you, but he will remain your brother, although perhaps a little more troublesome of a being than he was before. But your brother’s life will ultimately come at a price.”

I shrugged. “All things have a price. I expect to pay some fairly high prices for storming the hells and taking the place over. I’m sure Lucifer will get tired of being amused soon enough. At that point, I expect he’ll be carving out chunks of my flesh to feed to his various devils for daring to boss him around.”

“If by that you mean he will stalk you to gain access to your spots, yes.”

“He needs therapy.”

“Intensive spot therapy. You were created to be my fallen son’s ultimate temptation, after all. Your spots and forms are all my masterpieces. I am quite proud of the work I put into your making. I even went so far as to skirt one of the universal laws for my fallen son.”

“Will it hurt you to just call him your son?”

“He prefers the distinction.”

“Well, he’s not here to whine about it. I have noticed he whines a lot. After dealing with him for a few hours, I’ve come to the conclusion you kicked him out because of the whining, and you have been hoping he would grow up and come home. Except he’s a rebellious child and seems to have skipped that phase of reconciliation.”

“You are a most irreverent being.”

“Is this where I’m supposed to say you made me this way?”

“It is.”

“Why did you make me this way, anyway?”

“I am sometimes inflicted with unfortunate amounts of sentiment.”

“You know, if my old man found out you’re quite the sass, the entire world would shift on its axis.”