Odeya's car was small, and filled to the gills with scuba gear. "I'll drive if you want," Hank offered. "There's plenty of room in the Bentley."

"No," she said as an order. "I have more in the trunk. There are things you can use if they fit."

He sized up her taut frame. "For me?" he asked, disbelieving.

She returned the favor, equally sizing him up as he stood outside her car. "Answer me, and look at my face when you do. I know many people, and for them I can do many things. Out of kindness perhaps, out of goodness, and out of my love for them most of all. Shall I not do the same for you?"

Unsure of what to say, Hank entered the car in silence. "So… we're friends?" he asked after they had begun moving.

She pierced him with her iced coffee eyes. "We shall see."

Odeya was a member of a scuba diving club that organized group outings. There were a dozen or so members at the clubhouse, along with a few guests like Hank. While he signed himself in, she rented two tanks of oxygen.

"We'll be exploring a cove with a series of caves," she said. "We must use closed circuit breathers because exhaled gas isn't allowed."

She sidled up to Hank. While his borrowed wetsuit was basic black, hers was sky blue neoprene, with curve hugging bright yellow highlights.

"It's dangerous," she warned. "You'll see amazing things."

Hank was happy enough to go diving, but Odeya was intimidating. And stunning in her sky blue wetsuit. The kinky locks of her bronze hair spilled over her shoulders. The scent of lotus blossoms and heliotrope, all on a kiwifruit base, rode on the neoprene rubber.

It made her smell good enough to eat. "Tell me again why I'm here," Hank said as they headed for the cove in a support vessel, along with thirteen other divers.

Odeya spoke directly into his ear, so others on board couldn't eavesdrop. "More likely than not, someone with us harbors hate. It festers in them like Sin. They'll look upon us with contempt, for in their eye we'll be worthy of vengeance. Of their form of penance."

She drew closer and whispered. "They will look upon us as if to die."

Hank was aghast. "We'll die?"

"They'll look at us as if we should die. And you, the all-knowing Hank-sama, will take note of this act and prevent it."

"Ah… okay. How?"

"Did you not already save Rio's heart? Did you bless her and deliver her from torment?" Odeya spoke like Rio, almost mocking her. "Deliver us all, great goshujin!"

Hank reared back, to puzzle at Odeya's brown face. As it was with Aika and often with Rio, he wondered how he had managed to meet so many crazy women who liked talking cryptically.

Odeya was unfazed by his scowl. "You pay no attention to fear, so you'll show no concern toward his hatred, and ease our minds with your faith." She scanned the people around her, to try to pick out any bad guys. "Death is bayed by your presence."

Hank was unimpressed. He stared at the water near the boat.

"If you say so," he muttered to it.

While Hank enjoyed exploring the caves, Odeya spent most of her time observing the other divers. As her guest, he had to stay near her, so when she trailed after someone who seemed to be on his own, Hank dutifully followed. They entered a crevice lit from above by a blowhole. The rock ceiling was dry in some places, where glowworms had spun nests of silk. Their hanging flytrap threads made the cave look like a cathedral.

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Odeya's Underwater Cave [http://i.imgur.com/eOWImmj.gif]

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Odeya floated still and silent, watching the lone diver. A sunbeam streamed in from the blowhole and, along with a thousand glowworms, the cave sparkled with light. But the water around the lone diver held no light at all, as if a black cloud surrounded him. Like a gentle breeze twirling in circles, the blackness reached out towards other divers, to strangle them with whispery tentacles. In fear, Odeya gripped Hank's elbow as a tentacle managed to wrap itself around the throat of an unsuspecting diver. He convulsed, and the tentacle dissolved. The victim quickly surfaced, to fiddle with his respirator.

Odeya gave Hank a knowing look. The tentacles continued preying on other divers, but were too weak to do any harm. After another minute of observing this phenomena, Hank convulsed himself. Odeya trembled as filth poured from his wetsuit, out every pore and crevice. He was engulfed in black in an instant. Unlike the wispy tentacles of the hateful diver, Hank's cloud was voluminous. It grew toward Odeya, intent on devouring her.

She backpedaled ferociously to escape and drew her diving knife. After regaining her composure, she came at Hank with the willful intent of slitting his throat. From within the cloud, he presented himself to her with arms out and palms up. He showed her she need not have fear, for the black cloud now trailed behind him like a cape, massive but under control.

Odeya!

She froze, awestruck. You can see my soul!

You see in mine too.

You carry the sins of world.

I'm okay.

I'm afraid.

Hank lurched a second time, his face showing pain. Filth belched forth again, this being Rio's monsters and demons and grizzlies. They were too much for Hank to control. They swooped down and absorbed Odeya, but found her an unsuitable host. They then noticed the hateful diver. Roaring off, they entered his body, taking Hank's black cape with them as they left.

The diver visibly swelled. Odeya swam at him with her knife to gut him like a fish, but Hank grabbed her and forced her to surface. He took hold of the hand she held the knife in by the wrist, using his other hand to remove her respirator.

She sputtered and swore in Yiddish. "You yutz! Shtik drek! He'll fight with his brothers and kill them! He will defile their children!"

"You don't know that."

"In a world rife with whoredom and hate, no man has mercy on another." She viewed Hank with the same contempt as she did the hateful diver. "You did this! I should kill you as well!"

He loosened his grip on her knife to see if she'd follow through on her threat. "You're not that type of person," he said.

She attacked, almost sticking her knife up his nose. "Aha! And you, my handsome mamzer, don't know shit about me!"

"Yes I do. I've seen your soul. Remember? And you've been in mine as well, so you know me too."

With her knife still in his face, tears melted the ice in her eyes. "How could you do that?" she cried. "And why? Why did you do that to him?"

Hank searched for words as he gazed at the water. "Rio has… and I guess I've been too—she's been fighting bad guys for a long time. They want to us dead, and…"

He fell silent, ashamed of what he'd done. "There's so much evil in this world," Odeya said, understanding. "Bad people outnumber the good."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"I don't believe you!"

"Many paths lead to Hell, but only one leads to God. Good people willingly obey his law, but evil knows no such bound."

"Do you think what I did was evil? To that man? I didn't mean it."

Odeya stared at Hank, going into deep thought. "A winnowing is at hand," she said, her eyes nearly fluttering shut. "Souls shall be gathered like wheat. Wind and fire will thresh us, separating grain from the chaff."

Of all the Reality Makers Hank had met since becoming a Dot, Odeya was the most troubling. She was so sure of herself, so convincing.

So gosh darn, goddamn scary. "I see this in my mind," she intoned. "A savior descends like a dove. For him, we pave the way, through chaos and unholy ash. He leads not with a sword but with heart, and through him the good Earth is saved."

"And you think that person is me."

The ice in Odeya's eyes returned. "I know a way to find out."

At the end of their diving excursion, Hank showered and got ready to go, but found Odeya still in her wetsuit. She had washed her hair and again smelled like flowers and fruit, with flip-flops on her feet and a dark zipper sweatshirt to keep her body warm.

"Suit up," she ordered. "We're not done."

"No. It's not my suit and it's gross. It's late and I want to go home."

Odeya softened. "Please. It's important."

He gathered up her gear and carried it to her car. "Thank you for taking me diving. I couldn't have done it myself."

Odeya drove slow while taking Hank back to Rio. She grew sad as the shoreline slipped away.

"What's wrong?" he asked when she sniffled.

Her face contorted as she searched for words. "Rio was so sure about you. She said you saved her from the devil!"

It was Hank's turn to search for words. "I don't know what to think, Odeya. Things happen, and they keep getting worse. It's like, you know… I should be happy. I have so many new friends." He gently touched her arm. "Beautiful women like you. But people are dying, and… am I to blame?"

Odeya almost smiled, but instead chose to look severe. "You must let me find out."

Hank huffed. Not with indignity, like the way Anna sometimes did, but with resignation. He eyed up Odeya in her blue wetsuit as she drove.

"I take it this 'finding out' involves water," he said, recalling his lessons with Aika in her bath.

"Fire and water are baptismal, but water holds greater power. Fire dies when confronted by water, but water never leaves." Odeya eyes hardened as she returned his stare. "Just like how hate dies when confronted by love."

"And love lasts forever," Hank noted.

She drove past a bay where people parked seaplanes while in town for a visit. Hank guided her to a man-made tidal pool he knew about, where swells from the ocean would settle before entering the seaplane bay. Over the years, ambitious youths had further sculpted the pool, making one end deeper than the other. There, with boulders in the water to sit on, a bonfire pit lay on shore under an eroded outcropping. As Hank had often done as a teenager, he built a fire out of driftwood and lit it.

He sat on a rock in the water with Odeya as the day turned to dusk. The fire grew, and she unzipped her wetsuit to let in the heat. The musculature of her chest lay in sharp contrast to a charmeuse bikini covered with ocelot spots.

Hank couldn't help but take note of her body. The scent of the fire and her fruity shampoo were drilling holes of lust in his head. She noticed him as well, and, after a while and in silence, she stood before him and unzipped all the way, revealing her matching ocelot bikini bottom. He responded to her roving eyes by removing his shirt. Now seated before her wearing only a knee length pair of black Speedoos, Hank's alabaster skin glowed white in the light of the fire.

With the fire behind Odeya igniting her aura, her dark skin made her look like a shadow. Only ocelot bikini spots could be seen, cupping her teats and crotch.

"God takes away sin when a person is baptized," she said as she drew near. "Have you ever been baptized?"

"Yes of course, as a child."

"Now you shall be as a man. I don't know you, but water will reveal you. Rise and present yourself."

He did as she ordered. he towered over her because of the pool's grade, as she stood in deeper water. Taking him by the hand, she closed the gap between them. Even so, with his height and the different depths of the water, his hips were in line with her midsection. Her gaze upon him broke when his manhood bumped her belly, and her eyes fell to his Speedoos.

Her composure broke as well. She smirked at his generous manhood.

"If the devil is in you," she quipped, showing a rare sense of humor, "he has welcoming attributes."

He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. "I'm welcoming regardless," he quipped back.

A sigh escaped from Odeya. Embarrassed, she gave a smile. Hank smiled back and everywhere in her and around her, ice melted. She leaned towards him, only slightly, but he noticed this and pulled her in. With the fire warming her back and he igniting her loins, she caved into his will. He gained control of Reality with her, and dragged her into his willingly.

"Lamb of God," she whispered, her cheek pressed to his chest.

"Take away the sins of the world," he replied reflexively.

"Have mercy on us."

"He will."

With Odeya guiding Hank's mind, the Universe opened. Or perhaps he died and had fallen from it. Night took the color from the world, mingling black and white. The sizzle in his brain matched the cadence of the bonfire as she searched for welcoming spots on his torso with her warm wet, and long-fingered hands. He nestled his nose in her hair and achingly inhaled her scent. Like he had done for Rio when she was bound to the pipes of her shower, Odeya brought more peace to Hank's soul than he'd ever known. He squeezed her ass with powerful hands, lifting her up on her toes to keep her hair in his face.

Eternity passed. Everlasting. Odeya was no longer Hank's rival, a champion who sought to best him. And he was neither her student nor master. Together, they became one.

Earthly reality returned for a moment when she began bending him backwards. Her right hand worked its way up his spine, until she cradled him by his neck. From there, his mouth was one blessed inch away from her left breast. Flat and nondescript, its softness blended perfectly with the hardness of her pectoral muscle. A caramel nipple swelled in its bikini cup, luscious and ready for suckling.

"No weapon against you shall prosper," Odeya said as she dipped Hank's head in the water. "Those who hold judgment on you be condemned." She let him straighten up before dipping him again. "This is the heritage you receive as a servant of God."

Hank visited a world next door that seemed eons away. In it, he swam with Odeya, in water mixed with fire and ice.

His fire. Her ice.

Their water.

"You may not kiss me," she said.

"That's not gonna happen, I'm afraid."

Although she let him ravish her breast, she dug her nails in his back as a threat, to show him how she could rake him bloody. He found lines of sinew on her neck, and traced them with his teeth up to her ear. On his way back down he found her collarbone, and traced that with his tongue.

She grabbed him by the ears to pry him off, and spoke from a moment away. "Don't touch my lips," she demanded, stabbing with her ice coffee eyes.

"That's a request I will honor."

In his grasp, Odeya allowed herself to be bent backwards, far farther than one ought to go. Her left foot rose to its toes, while her right one left the seabed completely. It traveled the length of Hank's leg, rising higher and higher, until she locked her calf muscle in the cleft of his buttocks. From this precarious pose, she dared him to drown her, much like how Rio had dared him to smash her skull on the floor of her quarters at Milton's, both of them hanging helpless in his arms.

Hank laid Odeya's hair out on the water. Its bronze highlights caught gasps of light from the moon. Her dark face was centered in her aura like a sundial, with his beaming down at her fully. She exposed her throat when he sought to chew it, his eyes widening while hers closed.

Night fell and they never moved, the only life a roaring fire.

Odeya fed Hank trail mix she had made herself as they sat on towels while air drying in her car. She rewarded him with a treat whenever he pleased her.

He made sure he was pleasing her often. "A man doesn't grow wise just by words," she said. "He becomes fearless first."

Hank had already proven he had no fear. It earned him a granola cluster popped in his mouth by his new friend.

"He is then peaceful, he is loving…"

"Yes," Hank said in agreement, nodding while chewing his treat.

"Then he can become wise," she said, popping another into him. She put the next bit of trail mix in her mouth, and locked eyes with him as they chewed. "Tell me," she said after swallowing. "Do you know where your cell phone is?"

"Well… it's in the plane wreck, I suppose."

"Do you think it burned up? Is it broken?"

"It was far enough away, and the grass was damp. It might still be okay."

Hank was giving wrong answers, so Odeya ate the next treat. "Or perhaps someone has found it, do you think, and now they know it's yours."

"Okay."

"Rio's luggage was on that plane."

"Yes."

"And yet she was not. And you live with her. People might find that odd. They might say that together, you caused the plane to crash."

"That's not true!"

Odeya again ate the next treat. "It doesn't matter what's true. What matters is what people believe. And if they believe you brought down a plane and killed all the people on board, they will come after you."

Shocked and with nothing to eat, Hank's gaze fell to the floor. Odeya craned her neck to watch his eyes drop. She leaned towards his face to halt their descent, bending with her head low, until it was in line his navel.

She forced him to lock eyes with her. "I'm… I'm sorry," he stammered, not knowing what else to say.

She dismissed him by raising her head and looking out her side window. "It's better to be strong than to be sorry," she told the gloom and the dark.

"No. It's better to be kind."

She whirled to face him, ice glaring. "We'll find out soon, won't we?" Slowly, she closed her eyes. "I hear the oars of a boat, crossing the River Jordan at night. For a moment I must forsake thee, but with mercy I gather you in."

"Thank you," Hank said, his reward a sweet treat.

"What you did to that diver was wrong. You filled him with evil."

"It's not my fault! It was… I don't know. He sucked it from me somehow."

"He will use it to sin. He'll commit murder in your name."

Hank's soul begged to save the innocent. Oh God! Kill me instead!

"Do you think he'll come after us?" he asked his morah.

Odeya rewarded his selfless nature with a granola cluster. "Everybody suffers," she said sweet and lovely. "It is a simple fact. But a blissful state is obtained by detaching oneself from the world's vagaries."

She brought her lips near his while popping a treat in both his mouth and hers. "Take me with you when you go," she said, before resting her head in his lap. "Show us the way to Heaven."

Keep me forever, my Lord.