Free Memory's Door (A Well Spring Novel) by James L. Rubart Page A

it.”
    “Sorry.” Marcus shrugged. “You’re saying we can send our spirits into spiritual dimensions other than souls?”
    “Yes.” Doug winked at Brandon. “I am, and we can.”
    Brandon stood and pretended to hand something to Doug. “I have to take the gold medal from the current record holder and hand it to you, Doug. I’ve always thought Reece was the outright winner of the On-the-Fringe Olympics, but you’re clearly sprinting past him with this one.”
    Doug smiled. “This is probably true. But I accept the medal with a humble heart and assure you I was taught by another just as I’m about to teach you.” He spread his arms wide. “This evening, my friends, we shall go through the gate and see wonders beyond wonders. Are you ready?”
    Dana glanced at the others, then settled her gaze on Doug. “Where is Reece?”
    “He’s upstairs and he’ll be praying for us during the time we leave our bodies and then join us toward the end of the evening when we talk about where we need to go from here.”
    “He’s not coming with us.” Dana said it more as a statement than a question.
    “No.”
    “Why not?” Brandon said. “We’ve sent our spirits into seventy-four souls over the past ten months and he hasn’t been along for the ride even once.”
    Doug hesitated before answering. “He says he feels for the moment he’s to stay out of souls and the heavens. That the time hasn’t come for him yet to reengage in that way. He feels the three of you are doing powerful work—setting others free, bringing them healing—but it’s not for him to join in on that front yet.”
    Dana folded her arms. “In other words, he’s letting the enemy convince him he’d be of no use inside a soul or anywhere else in the heavenly realms without his sight.”
    “Reece is strong and will join you again when he is ready. In the meantime, we shall extend our friend grace.” Doug set down his Bible and held out his hands. “Now, let us have an adventure together that will be most enjoyable.”
    Dana reached for Marcus’s hand on her right, then extended her other hand to Brandon on her left. The moment her fingers touched his, her body went weightless and Reece’s living room vanished.
    She blinked twice, then opened her eyes fully to find herself floating on a current of air. The sensation was like river rafting down a surging rapid, only faster, but there was no undulation in the atmosphere beneath her. A few feet ahead was Doug. Brandon and Marcus were on either side of her.
    She looked down and saw they floated miles above an ocean smooth as glass that extended as far as her eyes could see in every direction. Lush green islands dotted the sea, some massive, some not more than an acre across. Far below, birds, seagulls maybe, rode the same currents that must be gliding them toward the horizon and a massive descending sun.
    At first she didn’t move, concerned the wind wouldn’t hold her up if she did. But after a few minutes she twisted and realized no matter how she turned, it wouldn’t affect the river of air around her. She turned to her side, then her back, then onto her stomach, and asshe did, laughter pushed out of her in waves. Dana spun and twisted and was a little girl again, rolling down the tiny green hill in the park near her school and then sailing to the heavens on her old, rusty, light blue swing set in her childhood backyard.
    Dana looked for Brandon and spied him to her left and slightly behind doing somersaults through the air. “Whooo-hoooooooo! Try this, Dana!”
    She did and her body raced with adrenaline. After seven rotations she stopped. Laughter burst out of her and she grinned at him. His eyes lit up like they did back in the days when they were engaged. Whoops. She needed to dial it back. Be careful. No mixed signals, even in here.
    To her right, Marcus flew spread-eagled, the wind whipping around his clothes and through his thinning brown hair like a hurricane, his face a cascade of