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remember something beyond what he felt, but nothing was coming
to mind.
                “You were attacked.” 
                He gazed toward the voice
and waited for Celia’s face to come into focus.  When it did, he saw the
worried frown tugging at her lips.  Puzzled, he thought he was lying on the
couch in Lizzie’s house, but then, as the fog cleared from the room and
everything came into focus, he realized that while he was on the couch, Celia
was sitting beneath him, cradling his body against hers.  The back of his head
rested against her chest, and he saw the delicate line of her neck before
finding her face.
    “Attacked?” 
He blinked a couple of times.  Regardless of how hard he tried to remember, he
couldn’t.  In fact, his mind was a blank slate.
                “Yes.”  She stroked the
hair from his eyes.  “Don’t you remember walking a few hours ago?  We were
talking about Lev, and as we headed down to the lake, it happened.”
                The details sounded
vaguely familiar, and he had no doubt her words held the truth.   It was just
that everything blurred together, like he’d been given medication.
                “What attacked us?”
                “ Dybbuks .”
                He blinked a few more
times and finally struggled to sit up.  Celia guided him, and even though he
tried not to think of her cradling him  in her arms, the sensation lingered,
reminding him of all the things she refused to talk about with him, things she
refused to speak aloud, which made no sense.
                “What are dybbuks ?” 
His voice was hoarse, and it took everything he had just to get the words out. 
Speaking, too, hurt.
                “They are souls which for
various reasons have remained in this world long after separation from their
bodies.”  Celia averted her eyes, obviously uncomfortable.
                “How is that possible?  I
thought sojourners took care of that.”
                She nodded reluctantly. 
“Indeed.  We are supposed to, but that does not mean it always happens. 
Sometimes the timing is wrong and the sojourner doesn’t arrive and guide the
soul before it slips away.  Sometimes the souls refuse to sojourn.  Sometimes
the sojourners become corrupted and fail to do their jobs.  While it should be
a perfect system, it’s not.  Angels are just as flawed as humans.”  She stared at
him.  “We, too, have free will, and that free will can destroy us like any
other beings.”
    Suddenly Griffin knew why she hadn’t
spoken of this before.  It wasn’t just about Lev and Elizabeth.  It was about
what could happen to them, too, as a couple--how the tide might shift and destroy
them, and she was trying desperately to warn him in the only way she could.
    “So why did I not see anything?” he
asked, the memories of the past few hours slowly coming back.
    “Because you don’t know what you are
looking for.  Why should you be able to see human souls in their purest form? 
There is no reason for that.”  She stood and headed to the front window to look
out into the night.  Moonlight cascaded down, yet she hardly seemed calmed by
it.  Really, it only seemed to add to her agitation.
    “All right.  I guess I can see that. 
But if they are human souls, why did they attack us?  That makes no sense.”
    “It does if you want a body to
control once again.”  She hung her head and stayed there, lost in thought.
    “What?” 
    “Many of the dybbuks only want
one thing—to find a body and return in the only way they can, back to the land
of the living and to interact with those left behind.  Sometimes all they want
is a chance to say goodbye.  Sometimes, it’s far more than that.”
    Griffin rubbed the back of his neck. 
“And what would have happened if one of them had managed to get inside me?”
    “You would have been like a tourist
going