The Magic Rain
Ch. 21

Chapter Twenty-One: The Final Day

Jo-Bri awoke knowing this was going to be the day; the day Hodon and his wizards attacked for real and in force; the day that Jo-Bri and/or some of his students – his friends -- might die; the day they might have to kill people; the day, as he had put it to his friends and students, that they failed, even if every one of them walked away alive.

Jo-Bri gathered them all in Melinda’s back yard. Mel’s parents stood slightly apart from the rest. Jo-Bri felt Mel’s worry over that, her fear that maybe the lovemaking they had done the night before might have angered her parents or, even worse, disappointed them. Jo-Bri felt Mel send her parents a brief thought and her parents responded with a burst of such unconditional love that it put her immediately at ease – or at least as much ease as she was capable of feeling, given what they were about to face that day.

"Today is our day," Jo-Bri said quietly, though not grimly. He realized he was finally completely ready for this, even as he sensed that the others were not quite as sure about their readiness. Mel sent him a burst of the greatest love she was capable of, and he was grateful that she had grown so much as to be capable of an enormous amount and quality of love, a love greater than any she had known or even dreamed of knowing before meeting him. Jo-Bri silently reminded her and the others to remember that during the battle to come they were to accept and give that love no matter what else happened.

Jo-Bri saw that Mel’s parents were separating themselves from the rest, and he sent Mel a little thought, to help her understand that they were doing so only to be better able to watch over them all, and to be able to channel their love and energies to them all as they gathered those energies from the atmosphere around them. Jo-Bri knew that they were the lynchpins that could mitigate the inevitable failure they would experience today; mitigate it with their parental love.

Jo-Bri and the others joined hands, even Mel’s parents, though Jo-Bri still felt that loving distance they were giving the others. With Jo-Bri’s help, they all joined minds and spirits in a way that was even more powerful than before. Jo-Bri knew it was because of what they had experienced the night before. He sent Mel another thought, helping her realize that even her parents had been changed by the unfettered, unconditional love the youngsters had shared with each other.

Jo-Bri outlined their strategy for the day. They would all go to the site of the portal. Jo-Bri knew where it would appear, because he had been tracking it and blocking it for weeks, though that blocking was no longer strong enough to keep the portal from opening.

Jo-Bri originally intended to try to destroy the portal completely, but now sensed that Hodon had amassed too much power on the other side to allow that, and he didn’t want to waste any of their powers on trying to destroy the portal and then have no power with which to fight Hodon and his wizards.

"Hodon brings fear," Jo-Bri said, and he felt how that affected the others. He also felt the others allow the fear to rise in them, not giving it any more power by trying to resist it. He felt a rush of pride and love for them, as they trusted in their own strength and in the strength and love of the others, including Jo-Bri. He felt their fear subside at least partially.

"That is a small example of the fear we will face today," he reminded them, not pulling any punches. He felt Mel’s love for his honesty, but he could also feel her hope that he was wrong.

He knew he wasn’t.