Free The Lost Apostles by Brian Herbert Page B

understand what you want to know.”
    “My words were translated.”
    “The children may still have trouble understanding.” Deborah paused, and added, with emphasis, “They are only children.”
    After glaring daggers at the suddenly argumentative councilwoman, Dixie Lou took a deep, fitful breath and looked up at the heavens, with only a few stars visible because of a haze in the sky caused by the crescent moon being concealed behind clouds. The children had disappeared, an event that apparently took only a fraction of a second.
    I saw it, and I will not forget!
    For the moment, Dixie Lou backed off. But she intended to resume interrogations the following morning inside her command helicopter, conducting a one-on-one, intensive session with each child.
    But she was not destined to get the opportunity. In a matter of hours, all seven of the authentic she-apostles would be gone . . . this time for good. Only the counterfeit Martha would remain behind.

Chapter 9

    The She-God is not a fully developed ethereal power. She is presumed to be benevolent, but there are elements of cruelty and vengeance in her holy soul. The She-God carries within her the simmering power of all women who have been wronged throughout history, who have been raped, murdered, enslaved, and otherwise downtrodden. She is, indeed, a vast repository of angry souls, all seeking redress. The She-God is forming; the She-God is coming. And when this most powerful of all female entities is manifest, all humankind will tremble before her.
    —Notes of Amy Angkor-Billings, 7 th Chairwoman, United Women of the World

    That evening Lori Vale found herself unable to sleep, and lay awake in the darkness. She had considered a number of alternatives for her sleeping arrangements, and had finally settled on this one, waiting until the others were asleep and then sneaking out of the helicopter cockpit, locking it behind her.
    The supply tent at one side of the camouflaged encampment seemed preferable, where she lay now on the fabric floor, with a window flap open to allow in a fresh night breeze. The sand beneath the tent was comfortable, better than the air mattress in the helicopter. She kept a gun handy, just in case.
    In a very short period of time, Lori had exerted control over a small group of women and children who had escaped with her from Monte Konos. The she-apostles were in the care of the two matrons, the translator, and Fujiko Harui, and Lori was giving the adults orders that they followed without argument, orders that involved the physical well-being of the children.
    As she had noticed before, the little people didn’t really seem like children to her, and she didn’t know how much control she actually exerted over them. They were more like adults—very old and independent adults—in young bodies. As Lori made such observations, it seemed to her that any modicum of control she exerted over the children was only physical . . . but the she-apostles were not primarily physical beings. Since they truly were reincarnated, by definition this meant that they moved from one physical form to another, that they inhabited another, more spiritual realm.
    As these thoughts kept her awake, Lori wondered if her parochial mental processes could really comprehend such astounding concepts, if she had the intelligence, experience, and other requisite abilities to grasp the subject. She also asked herself if her own mind was in the physical or spiritual realm . . . or if it could possibly occupy both simultaneously.
    Sometimes the she-apostles reminded her of little angels, and thinking of their cherubic faces now, she smiled into the darkness beneath the eaves of the tent.
    Through the open window flap she saw glittering stars encrusting a black canopy of sky over the desert. Though it had been hazy only a short while earlier, she now found it amazing how many distant suns were visible, and felt reassured by their presence. They were more than balls of flaming energy