Soul Conquered Read Online Free PDF Page A

crease in her
white-and-gold robes. “Watching her? No good at all. Finding the key to helping
Grace and Noah with knowledge? Plenty good. You belong at the library.”
    I sigh. I’ve read all of her “finds” already. I’ve
learned about the history of Angels and Earth and all things Heavenly, but
nothing with any good info on Antichrists or Armageddon. And definitely nothing
on Lucifer. It’s like he was erased from the texts after he fell.
    “I’m sick of studying,” I say. “I never liked it.”
    “You said you’d do anything for Grace.” Shona levels
her gaze at me. She’s thin, but she’s almost as tall as I am, so she’s still
imposing.
    “But it isn’t helping,” I complain.
    “That’s because we haven’t found the right book. Until
now.” Shona gestures for me to follow and heads straight out the door. No room
for discussion. I glance back at the blank screen. Either I rush in to save
Grace with no real plan, which she told me not to do, or I try to help her the
way she asked me to.
    Damn.
    I rush out the door after Shona and hurry through the
hallway of stars to the library door.
    She’s already inside, blowing dust off the top of a
giant tome bound in leather with what must be a thousand yellowed pages, all
frayed at the edges.
    “It’s so old,” she says without glancing up, “that if
it were on Earth, the pages would have disintegrated. But here it is.”
    “Where’d you find it?” I ask, circling to take a
closer look.
    The corner of her mouth twists upward ever so
slightly. “Let’s just say I’ve been combing some unorthodox areas for research
purposes. And it just so happens that the author of this text is our very own
Archangel, Michael.”
    “Mr. Griffith? You didn’t ask him—”
    “Don’t worry. He doesn’t know I…borrowed it. I
happened to see it on his desk when I was there this morning for a meeting
about training more greeters. It was full of clutter—very unlike him—and
this was poking out. Well, I couldn’t resist when he wasn’t looking.” Shona
bites her lip and blushes slightly.
    For the first time in two weeks, I have hope.
    Shona bounces a little on her feet and sounds reverent
when she speaks. “And look.” She opens it, flipping about two-thirds of the way
through. “A whole section on the One.”
    Excitement builds. Maybe this really is it. The information
we need.
    The words are in some ancient text—I’m no
expert, but maybe Hebrew? Whatever it is, it rearranges itself as we watch and
becomes modern English.
    “It’s adjusting to a language we can both understand,”
Shona says.
     
The Prophecy of the One
“ The One shall rise with the
herald of the birds.
Death names him, Hell claims
him.
Heaven cannot touch him,
for he is the harbinger of the
Day of Judgment.
Through the One shall the fate
of the Earth be written,
for his blood sacrifice crowns
the King of Hell. ”
     
    Shona waits, clenching the edge of the table while I
take my time reading it through. Her eyes are lit with anticipation behind her
glasses. “It makes so much sense!” she exclaims the second I look up.
    “Why does it have to be so confusing if it’s translated
for our benefit?” I ask. “I mean, if it’s going to turn it into English, why
not just spit it out instead of all the mumbo jumbo?”
    Shona’s pitying look makes me back down. “Because,
Joshua, there is no exact translation from the language it was originally
written in. This is as good as it gets. But don’t you see? This is where all
the rumors and prophecies come from. Look.” She points at the page, indicating
I should read.
    “‘Herald of the birds’ is the literal sign that
happened when the One was chosen,” I offer the easy part.
    Shona nods approvingly. “Exactly! And ‘Death names
him, Hell claims him’ means he must murder before Hell can claim his soul.
See?”
    “Yeah, I get that part.”
    Shona continues, “‘ Heaven
cannot touch him, for he is the harbinger of the Day