Phoebe Wren and the Vortex of Light Read Free Page A

faith. It was, they said, the bedrock of their relationship and their family, and ever since she could remember, Phoebe had been taught about the Abba who loved her. She had formed a simple, childlike trust but suddenly Phoebe found herself thrust into frightening and uncharted territory. Never before had she found herself in a situation that her parents couldn’t handle for her, but now, in a floundering aeroplane, Phoebe knew that the only thing she could do was call out to her Abba .
    “Please Abba, help us! I don’t know what’s going on, but all I want is for us to get home safely to Ireland. Can You help us? Can You stop the…” Phoebe’s frantic prayer was cut short as the plane gave one final heave before dropping into a rolling, twisting downward spiral.
    Unseen by the passengers, seven huge ethereal forms cut through the Earth’s atmosphere, hurtling towards the doomed plane like comets, leaving a trail of light in their wake.
    “Solas! Dilis! Make sure that those dark fiends don’t follow us down!” boomed the Captain of the Heavenly Host, Cosain, as he and several other angelic warriors raced to keep pace with the aeroplane and its terrified passengers.
    “Yes, Captain!” returned Solas as he and Dilis pulled back sharply and headed for the stratosphere where they assumed battle positions and waited for the demonic onslaught. On this occasion, it did not come, and as the warrior angels turned their gaze towards Earth, they saw debris of the stricken aeroplane strewn far and wide, and black smoke rising in sickening plumes from the charred remains of Araco Airlines flight 434.
    “No!” gasped Dilis. “We were too late…”

 

C HAPTER 4
THURSDAY 15 th JULY
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN AFRICA AND IRELAND
    Phoebe blinked slowly. Once. Twice. Three times. She rubbed her smarting eyes with shaking fingers and scowled at the blurred images of what was happening around her. She was aware of an incredibly bright light – what was that? It couldn’t be the sun. It was too bright, too close. Phoebe raised her arm to shade her eyes and squinted into the strange light.
    “What..? Who..? Where am I?” Phoebe heard her own voice ask the questions that nobody seemed to be around to answer.
    She was vaguely aware, however, that she was not alone here – wherever here was. Through blurred eyes she could just distinguish the outlines of several figures. People? Fellow passengers? Rescue services? No. These silhouettes were huge, not of human proportions, and they… well, they seemed to glow and pulsate, and somehow Phoebe sensed that the Beings before her were not like her. Phoebe’s senses were dull, and her head felt as if it weighed a thousand tonnes, yet somehow she felt warm and safe, and the paradoxical feelings confused her as she lapsed back into unconsciousness.

FRIDAY 20 th AUGUST
IRELAND
    “Phoebe!” Phoebe’s reverie was disturbed by the sound of Mrs. Quill calling from downstairs. “Phoebe, I need to take Eva and George into town to buy some school shoes. Do you want to come with us?”
    “No thanks, Mrs. Quill. I’m a bit tired so I’ll just hang around here, if that’s okay?” Phoebe chewed her lip nervously as she awaited Mrs. Quill’s response, anxious not to sound anti-social, and yet desperately hoping for some quiet time to herself.
    “No worries at all, Love. We’ll see you when we get back. You can get me on my cell phone if you need me.” Mrs. Quill did not sound in the least bit offended, and Phoebe was glad. The back door clicked shut and Phoebe listened until she could hear the Quills’ car rumble away along the gravel driveway and out on to the country road.
    Phoebe was so glad to have the house to herself for a while; she was glad of the silence and not feeling that she needed to make polite conversation all the time. The Quills were wonderful and Phoebe loved them all dearly, but for now she just needed time to be alone, to process her scrambled thoughts. So much had