Triskellion 3: The Gathering Read Online Free Page A

Chebar amongst the exiles,
    The heavens were opened and I saw a vision…
    “As I looked, behold, a whirlwind
    Was coming from the North, a great cloud
    With fire flashing forth continually
    And a bright light around it, and
    Something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.
    Within it there were figures resembling four living beings
    And this was their appearance: they had human form.”
    “Great sermon, Pastor Crane,” Brother Jedediah said. He passed Ezekiel Crane a cold Dr Pepper and smoothed a hand over his thinning scalp, as if trying to make himself smart for his boss.
    Crane put his white shoes up on the dressing-room table and cracked open the can with a hiss. “Thank you, Brother Jedediah. I thought we’d never get rid of them.”
    Crane had given a two-hour sermon with readings and songs. He had then spent another hour blessing children, and signing books and CDs while the collection buckets were passed around. He had encouraged his followers to go home and listen to the CDs whenever they could – in the car, in bed, at any time, night or day – so they could learn and spread “the good news”.
    “Don’t know where you get your energy from,” Brother Jedediah said.
    “From above,” the pastor said. He smiled and tipped his Dr Pepper at the little man in a “cheers” gesture.
    It was true that Crane did not look particularly tired. His creaseless face betrayed no fatigue and only the dark circles of sweat under the arms of his suit gave away the fact that he had been working hard. Crane swigged down the last of the cold drink and crushed the can in his hand.
    “I got a good feeling, Jed,” he said, smacking his lips. “I can feel it in my bones. I’ve got them buzzing, and now them worker bees are all coming round to my way of thinking.”
    “Hallelujah to that,” Brother Jedediah said. He placed a hand on his sweaty black satin shirt over his heart. “Hallelujah and amen.”

T he sun made the landscape shimmer, and Rachel imagined she could see patches of water on the rough track ahead. The Great Central Road stretched in front of them into infinity. Rachel had thought it would be a major highway, but in reality, it was little more than a rough track used by only a few thousand intrepid vehicles a year.
    Over dinner at a small motel the night before, Levi had revealed where their journey would take them. Rachel and Adam were excited. It was the most famous landmark in the country, but they had never been there. In fact, during their two years in Australia, they had rarely gone further than their local beach.
    “Do you think we have enough food for the journey?” Adam asked, concerned as always about his stomach.
    “There’s plenty of food out there,” Levi said, gesturing at the landscape around them. “If you know what you’re looking for…”
    They spent the first hour in silence, taking in their surroundings. With every step, the horizon seemed to get further away and both Rachel and Adam began to worry about exactly how far they were going to have to walk.
    “Don’t worry,” Levi said, reading their thoughts. “After the first hundred kilometres or so it all goes much quicker.” He grinned at their astonished faces. They had assumed they were already within striking distance of their destination.
    “So how far are we going altogether?” Adam asked.
    “About a thousand kilometres,” Levi said. “But who’s counting? It’s easier if you don’t think of it in terms of miles or kilometres. If you just think of it as a distance that needs covering, it becomes longer or shorter, depending on your state of mind. Kind of like time.”
    Rachel knew what Levi meant. Although a hundred years was obviously way out of her own life experience, sometimes ancient history could feel as if it had only happened yesterday. She walked on, losing herself in thoughts about the past, and the track seemed to melt away under her feet…
    Laura had made it no further than Kalgoorlie the