ut your glasses on, Valhalla said. This sun could blind you.

You're not wearing glasses, she answered. And you're not afraid.

Valhalla gave a signal, and suddenly, the blazing light of the sun was multiplied a dozen times.

The Valkyries were using the mirrors on their motorcycles to reflect the sun directly into Chris's eyes. She saw a gleaming semicircle, knitted her brows, and kept her gaze upon Valhalla.

But she could no longer see clearly. The woman's image appeared to grow and grow, and the confusion in her mind increased. She felt she was about to fall, and at that moment,

leather-covered arms came to her support.

PAULO WATCHED VALHALLA CATCH CHRIS IN HER ARMS. ALL of this could have been avoided. He could have insisted that she remain at the hotelno matter what she was thinking.

From the moment that he had first seen the brooch, he had known which tradition the Valkyries came from.

They had also seen his ring, and they knew that he had been tested in many ways. That it would be difficult to frighten him. But they would do everything possible to test the fiber of any stranger who entered their group. Even if that stranger was his wife.

But they could not prevent Chris, nor anyone else, from learning what they wanted to learn.

They had taken a vow: Everything that was hidden had to be revealed. Chris was now being tested in the first great virtue of those who seek the spiritual path: courage.

The Valkyrie looked at Paulo. Help me.

Paulo helped her support his wife. They took her to the car and laid her down on the backseat.

Don't worry. She'll come around very quickly. With a serious headache.

He wasn't worried. He was proud.

Valhalla went to her cycle and brought a canteen. Paulo noted that she had already donned her sunglassesshe must have reached her limit, as well.

She bathed Chris's forehead in water, and dabbed some on her wrists and behind her ears. She opened her eyes, blinked several times, and sat up.

Break a pact, she said, looking at the Valkyrie.

You are an interesting woman, Valhalla said, passing her hand across Chris's face. Put your glasses on.

Valhalla caressed Chris's hair. And even though both were now wearing dark glasses, Paulo knew they were staring at each other.

THEY WALKED TO THE STRANGE DOOR IN THE MOUNTAIN.

Valhalla turned to the other Valkyries. For love. For victory. And for the glory of God.

The same phrase J. had used. The words of those who know angels.

The Valkyries started their engines, blowing up a cloud of dust. The women did the same maneuvers they had at the gas stationpassing closely by each otherand, minutes later, they had disappeared around the mountain.

Valhalla turned to Chris and Paulo.

Let's go in, she said.

There was no door, just a grate. On it hung a sign:

DANGER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PROHIBITS ENTRY VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED Don't believe it, said the Valkyrie. They're not going to spend any time guarding this.

It was an old, abandoned gold mine. Valhalla, carrying a lantern, began to move forward carefully, so as not to bump her head on the passage beams. Paulo noticed that here and there the floor had collapsed. It might have been dangerous, but now wasn't the time to think about it.

As they went deeper, the temperature fell, and it even became pleasant. He was worried about a lack of air, but Valhalla was moving along as if she knew the place wellshe must have been there many times, and she was still alive. Now wasn't the time to think about that, either.

After walking for ten minutes or so, the Valkyrie halted. They sat on the floor of the passage,

and she placed the lantern in the middle of their circle.

Angels, she said. Angels are visible to those who accept the light. And break the pact with the darkness.

I have no pact with the darkness, Paulo responded. I had one. But no longer.

I'm not talking about a pact with Lucifer, or with Satan, or with... She began to speak the names of various demons, and her face looked strange.

Don't say those names, Paulo interrupted. God is in the words, and the devil as well.

Valhalla laughed. It looks as if you've learned the lesson. Now, break the pact.

I have no pact with evil, Paulo repeated.

I'm talking about your pact with defeat.

Paulo thought of what J. had saidabout destroying what we love most. But J. had said nothing about pacts; he knew Paulo well enough to know that his pact with evil had been broken a long time ago. The silence within the mine was worse than in the desert. Not a sound was heard,

except Valhalla's voicewhich sounded different.

We have a contract, you and I: not to win when victory is possible, she insisted.

I have never made any such pact, Paulo said for the third time.

Everyone has. At some point in our lives, we all enter into such an agreement. That's why there is an angel with a burning sword at the gates to paradise. To allow entry only to those who have broken that pact.

Yes, she's right, thought Chris. Everyone has made this pact.

Do you find me attractive? Valhalla asked, once again changing the tone of her voice.

You are a beautiful woman, Paulo answered.

One day, when I was still an adolescent, I saw my best friend crying. We were inseparable, and we loved each other completely, and I asked what had happened. When I insisted on knowing,

she told me that her boyfriend was in love with me. I didn't know that, and that day I made the pact. Without really knowing why, I began to gain weight, to take poor care of myself, to become unattractive. BecauseunconsciouslyI felt that my beauty was a curse, and had caused suffering for my best friend.

Before long, I had destroyed all meaning in my life because I just didn't care about myself anymore. I reached the point that everything about my life became unbearable: I thought about dying.

Valhalla laughed.

As you can see, I broke the pact.

True, Paulo said.

Yes, it is true, Chris said. You are lovely.

We are in the heart of the mountain, the Valkyrie continued. Outside, the sun is shining, and here there is only darkness. But the temperature is pleasant, we can sleep, we have nothing to worry about. This is the darkness of the pact.

She raised her hand to the zipper of her leather jacket.

Break the pact, she said. For the glory of God. For love. And for victory.

She began to lower the zipper slowly. She wore nothing beneath the jacket.

The light from the lantern caused a medallion between her breasts to gleam.

Take it, she said.

Paulo touched the medallion. The archangel Michael.

Take it from around my neck.

He removed the medallion and held it in his hands.

Both of you, hold the medallion.

Suddenly, Chris blurted out, I don't need to see my angel! I don't need to. Just speaking will do.

Paulo held the medallion in his hand.

I've already begun talking with my angel, Chris went on, more quietly. I know that I can, and that's good enough.

Paulo didn't believe her. But Valhalla knew that it was the truth. She had read it in her eyes when they were outside. She also knew that her angel wanted her to be there with her husband.

Nevertheless, she had to test her courage. It was the rule of the Tradition.

All right, the Valkyrie said. With a rapid movement, she blew out the lantern. The darkness was total.

Put the cord around your neck, she said to Paulo. And hold the medallion with both hands joined, in prayer.

Paulo did as he was told. He was fearful of a darkness so complete, and he was remembering things he would rather not think about.

He felt Valhalla approaching him from behind. Her hands touched his head.

The darkness seemed almost solid. Nothing, not a scintilla of light, entered there.

Valhalla began to pray in a strange language. At first, he tried to identify the words she was saying. Then, as her fingers moved across his head, Paulo felt the medallion growing hot. He concentrated on the heat in his hands.

The darkness was changing. Various scenes from his life began to pass before him. Light and shadow, light and shadow, andsuddenly, he was once again in darkness.

I don't want to remember that... he pleaded with the Valkyrie.

Remember! Whatever it is, try to remember every minute of it.

The darkness brought terror to him, the terror he had experienced fourteen years earlier.

When he woke up, he found a note on the coffee table: I love you. I'll be right back. At the bottom, she had written the date: 25 May 1974.

Funny. To put the date on a love note.

He had awakened a bit dizzy, still startled by the dream. In it, the director of the recording studio was offering him a job. He didn't need a job: The director actually functioned more like his employeehis and his partner's. Their records were at the top of the charts, selling thousands of copies, and letters were arriving from all corners of Brazil, from people wanting to know what the Alternative Society was.

All you have to do is listen to the words of the song, he thought to himself. It wasn't really a songit was a mantra from a magic ritual, with the words of the Beast of the Apocalypse being read in the background in a low voice. Whoever sang the song would be invoking the forces of darkness. And everyone was singing it.

He and his partner had done the whole thing. The royalties they earned were being used to buy a country listened. They were young, and they were earning money. Yes, it was true that Brazil was outside, and he had just left the window. Something was burningan electrical appliance, maybe,

body usually gave him a signal, and he knew that. He wasn't nauseated, didn't feel like vomiting.

Yes, it had to be something he had eatenOr maybe an acid flashback, he thought. But he hadn't lot near Rio de Janeiro. There they would recreate what, almost one hundred years earlier, the Beast had tried to establish in Cefalu, Sicily. But the Beast was expelled by the Italian authorities. The Beast had erred on many pointshe had not gathered a sufficient number of disciples, and he did not know how to earn money. The Beast told everyone that his number was 666, and that he had come to create a world where the strong would be served by the weak, and the only law was that everyone do as they desired. But the Beast didn't know how to spread the ideasfew people had taken the Beast's words seriously.

He and his partner, Raul Seixas, well, they were completely different! Raul sang, and the entire in the hands of a military dictatorship, but the government was concerned about guerrillas. They couldn't waste their time with a rock singer. Just the opposite: The authorities felt that rock music kept the country's youth away from communism.

He drank his coffee standing at the window. He was going to take a walk, and meet later with his partner. It didn't bother him at all that nobody knew who he was, while his friend was famous.

What mattered was that they were earning money, and this would allow them to put their ideas into practice. People from the world of music, and the world of magicah, they knew! His anonymity with regard to the general public was even rather funnymore than once, he had had the pleasure of hearing someone comment on his workwithout knowing that the author was listening nearby.

He donned his sneakers. As he was tying the laces, he felt dizzy.

He raised his head. The apartment seemed darker than it should have been. The sun was shining because the stove was disconnected. He looked throughout the apartment. Nothing.

The air was heavy. He decided to go out right awaywithout tying his sneakers, he started to leave, but realized that he really wasn't feeling well.

Could be something I ate, he said to himself. But when he ate something that was off, his entire Just a kind of dizziness that didn't seem to want to pass.

Dark. The darkness grew; it seemed like a gray cloud around him. He felt the dizziness again.

tried LSD in five years. The delayed effects had disappeared after the first six months, and never returned.

He was frightened, he had to get out.

He opened the doorthe dizziness was coming and going, and he might get worse out in the street. Better to stay home and wait. The note was there on the tableshe would be home shortlyhe could wait. They could go together to the pharmacy or to a doctor, although he hated doctors. It couldn't be anything serious. No one has a heart attack at age twenty-six.

No one.

He sat down on the couch. He needed some distraction. He shouldn't think about her, or the time would pass even more slowly. He tried to read the paper, but the dizziness, the lightheadedness, came and went, stronger each time. Something was pulling him into a black hole that appeared to have formed in the middle of the room. He began to hear noiseslaughing, voices, things breaking. That had never happenednever! Whenever he had taken anything, he knew he was drugged, knew it was a hallucination and would pass with time.

But thisthis was terribly real!

No, no, it couldn't be real. The reality was the rugs, the curtains, the bookshelves, the coffee table with the leftovers of bread on it. He made an effort to concentrate on the scene surrounding him, but the feeling of a black hole in front of him, the voices, the laughter, all continued.

None of this was happening. Definitely! He had practiced magic for six years. Performed all the rituals. He knew it was nothing more than suggestion. A psychological effect that was playing on his imagination. Nothing more.

His panic was increasing, and the dizziness was more pronouncedpulling to the outside of his body, toward a dark world, toward that laughter, those voices, those noisesreal!

I cannot let myself be afraid. Fear will make it come back. He tried to control himself, went to the sink and bathed his face. He felt a bit better, the feeling seemed to have passed. He put his sneakers on and tried to forget about it. He toyed with the idea of telling his partner he had entered into a trance, had been in contact with demons.

But he had only to think about that, and the dizziness returnedmore strongly.

I'll be right back, the note said, and she hadn't come!

I never achieved concrete results in the astral plane, he thought. He had never seen anything. No angels, no devils, no spirits of the dead. The Beast wrote in his diary that he was able to make things materialize, but he was lying, the Beast had never gotten that far. He knew that. The Beast had failed. He liked the Beast's ideas because they were rebellious, chic. And very few people had ever heard them. And people are always more respectful of those who speak of things no one understands. As for the restHare Krishna, Children of God, the Church of Satan,

Maharishieveryone knew about those. The Beastthe Beast was just for the chosen few! The law of the powerful, one of his books talked about. The Beast was on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of the Beatles's best known recordsand almost no one knew it.

Maybe not even the Beatles knew what they were doing when they placed that photograph there.

The phone rang. It might be his girlfriend. But if she had written, I'll be right back, why would she be phoning?

Only if something was happening.

That's why she hadn't come. The intervals between bouts of dizziness were growing shorter and shorter, and everything was turning black again. He knewsomething was telling himthat he couldn't let that feeling take him over. Something terrible might happenhe might enter into that darkness and never return. He had to maintain control at any costhe needed to occupy his mind, or that thing would dominate him.

The phone. He concentrated on the phone. Speak, converse, think of other things, take his mind off that darkness, the phone was a miracle, a solution. He knew it. He knew that somehow he couldn't surrender. He had to answer the phone.

Hello?

It was a woman's voice. But it wasn't his girlfriendit was Argelia.

Paulo?

He didn't answer.

Paulo, can you hear me? I need you to come over to my house! Something strange is going on!

What's happening?

You know, Paulo! Explain it to me, for God's sake!

He hung up before he heard something he didn't want to hear. It wasn't a delayed drug effect. It wasn't a symptom of insanity. It wasn't a heart attack. It was real. Argelia had participated in the rituals, and that was happening to her, too.

He panicked. He sat there without thinking for a few minutes, and the darkness began to take him over, coming closer and closer, causing him to step to the edge of the lake of death.

He was going to diefor everything he had done without believing, for the many people he had involved without knowing it, for so much evil spread about in the name of what was good. He would die, and the Darkness would go on, because it was manifesting itself now, before his very eyes, demonstrating that things really worked, collecting what was owed for the time in which it had been used, and he had to paybecause he didn't want to know what the price was before,

thought it was for free, that everything was a lie or just suggestion!

His years in the Jesuit school came back to him, and he prayed for the strength needed to get back to a church, ask forgiveness, pray that at least God would save his soul. He had to be able to do it. He found that as long as he could keep his mind busy, he was able to dominate the dizziness, at least partly. He needed time to get to the church...What a ridiculous idea!

He looked at the bookcase, and resolved that he would calculate how many records he ownedafter all, he had always put that task off! Yes, it was important to know the exact number of records, and he began to count: one, two, three...he did it! He was able to overcome the dizziness, the black hole that was pulling him in. He counted all of the recordsand then counted them again, to make certain he was correct. Now the books. He had to count in order to know how many books he had. Did he have more books than records? He began to count. The dizziness halted, and he had so many books. And magazines. And alternative newspapers. He would count everything, write it down, really know how many things he owned. It was so important.

He was counting the silverware when he heard the key turn in the lock. She was here, finally. But he couldn't allow himself to be distractedhe couldn't even talk about what was happening; any moment now, it was all going to stop. He was certain of it.

She went straight to the kitchen, and hugged him, crying.

Help me! Something strange is happening. You know what it is, help me!

He didn't want to lose his count of the silverwarethat was his salvation. Keep the mind busy.

Better if she hadn't arrivedit didn't help. And she thought the same as Argeliathat he knew everything, that he knew how to stop it.

Keep your mind busy! he shouted, as if he were possessed. Count how many records you have! And how many books!

She looked at him without understanding what he was talking about. Like a robot, she walked to the bookcase.

But she didn't get there. She suddenly threw herself to the floor.

I want my mother... she said, over and over. I want my mother...

He did too. He wanted to phone his parents, ask for helphis parents whom he never saw, who belonged to a middle-class world he had abandoned long ago. He tried to go on with the silverware count, but she was there, crying like a child, pulling at her hair.

That was too much. He was responsible for what was happening, because he loved her, and had taught her the rituals, guaranteed that she could get what she wanted, that things were improving day by day (although he never for a moment believed what he was saying!). Now she was there,

begging for help, trusting in himand he had no idea what to do.

For a moment, he thought of issuing an order, but he had already lost his silverware count, and the black hole came back suddenly with even greater strength.

You help me, he said. I don't know what to do.

And he began to cry.

He was crying out of fear, as when he was a child. He wanted his parents, as she did. He was bathed in a cold sweat, and was certain he would die. He seized her hand, and her hands were cold, too, even though her clothing was soaked in perspiration. He went to the bathroom to wash his faceas he used to do when the effects of the drugs were really strong. Maybe it would work with regard to that, too. The hallway seemed immense, the thing was stronger nowhe was no longer counting records, books, pencils, silverware. There was no place to hide.

Running water.

The thought came from some far corner of his mind, some place that the darkness had not seemed to penetrate. Running water! Yes, there was a power in darkness, in delirium, in madnessbut there were other things!

Running water, he said to her, as he bathed his face. Running water keeps the evil away.

She heard the certainty in his voice. He knew, he knew everything. He would save her.

He turned the shower on, and they both huddled under itwith their clothing, their documents,

their money. The cold water moistened their bodies, and, for the first time since he had awakened, he experienced a sense of relief. The dizziness vanished. They stayed for two or three hours under the spray, without speaking, shivering from fear and the cold. They stepped out only once, to phone Argelia and tell her to do the same thing. The dizziness returned, and they had to flee back into the shower. There, everything seemed calm, but they needed desperately to understand what was happening.

I never believed it, he said.

She looked at him, not understanding. Two years earlier, they had been two hippies, without a cent to their name, and now his songs were being heard all over the country. He was at the peak of successeven though few people knew his name; and he had been saying that it was all the result of the rituals, the occult studies, the power of magic.

I never believed it, he continued. Or I never would have walked those paths! I never would have risked myself, or you.

Do something, for the love of God! she said. We can't stay here in the shower forever!

He left the shower again, checking whether the dizziness and the black hole were still there. He went to the bookcase and came back with the Bible. He had a Bible in the house only so that he could read from the Revelation to John, be certain about the reign of the Beast. He had done everything as called for by the Beast's followersand, in his heart, he had believed none of it.

Let's pray to God, he said. He felt ridiculous, demoralized before this woman whom he had tried to impress for all those years. He was weak, he was going to die. He had to humiliate himself, beg for forgiveness. What was most important now was the saving of his soul. In the end, everything was true.

He embraced the Bible, and recited prayers he had learned as a childOur Father, Hail Mary,

the Creed. She refused at the beginning, and then recited them with him.

Then he opened the book at random. The water poured down on the pages, but he was able to read the story of someone who had asked something of Jesus, and Jesus said that he must maintain the faith. The man answered: Lord, I believehelp me in my incredulity.

Lord, I believe, help me in my incredulity! he shouted through the sound of the falling water.

Lord, I believe, help me in my incredulity! he said in a whisper, through his sobs.

He began to feel strangely calm. If the terrible evil they had experienced really existed, then it was true that the kingdom of heaven did, as well, and along with it, everything else that he had learned and then denied throughout his life.

The eternal life exists, he said, knowing that he would never again believe in those words. I don't care if I die. You cannot fear death, either.

I'm not afraid, she answered. I'm not afraid, but I think it's unfair. It's a pity.

They were only twenty-six. It really was a pity.

We have been through everything someone our'age could have experienced, he answered.

Most people haven't even come close.

That's true, she said. We can die.

He lifted his face, and the sound of the water in his ears seemed like thunder. He was no longer crying, nor afraid; he was only paying the price for his insolence.

Lord, I believe, help me in my incredulity, he repeated. We want to make an exchange. We offer you anything, absolutely anything, in return for the salvation of our souls. We offer our lives, or everything we own. Please accept, my lord.

She looked at him with contempt. The man she had admired so. The powerful, mysterious,

courageous man she had so admired, who had convinced so many people with regard to the Alternative Society, who had preached about a world where anything was allowed, where the strong ruled over the weak. That man was there, crying, screaming for his mother, praying like a child, and saying that he had always been courageousbecause he had believed in nothing.

He turned, and said they should both look up and make the exchange. She did so. She had lost her man, her faith, and her hope. She had nothing else to lose.

He placed his hand on the faucet, and slowly shut it down. Now they could die; God had forgiven them.

The stream of water turned to droplets, and then there was complete silence. Soaked to the bone,

they looked at each other. The dizziness, the black hole, the laughter, and the noises, all had disappeared.

HE WAS LYING IN A WOMAN'S LAP, CRYING. HER HAND WAS caressing his head.

I made that pact, he said tearfully.

No, the woman answered. It was a trade.

Paulo clutched the archangel medallion. Yes, there had been a tradeand the punishment was severe. Two days after that morning in 1974, they were imprisoned by the Brazilian political police and accused of subversion based on the Alternative Society. He was placed in a dark cell,

similar to the black hole he had seen in his living room. He was threatened with death, and he gave in, but it was a trade. When he was released, he split up with his partner and was expelled from the world of music for a long time. No one would give him a job. But it was a trade.

Other members of the group had not made the trade. They survived in the black hole, and regarded him as a coward. He lost his friends, his security, his desire to go on living. For years,

he was afraid to go out into the streetthe dizziness might return, the police could appear again.

And, even worse, after his release from prison he never saw his girlfriend again. At times, he regretted the tradeit would have been better to have died than to have to live that way. But now it was too late to go back.

There was a pact, Valhalla said. What was it?

I promised I would abandon my dreams.

For seven years, he paid the price for the trade. But God was generous, and allowed him to rebuild his life. The director of the recording studio, the same person he had dreamed about that May morning, gave him a job and became his only friend. He went back to composing, but every time his work brought some success, something wound up happening, and everything went down the drain.

He remembered J's words: People destroy what they love.

I always figured it was part of the bargain, he said.

No, Valhalla said. God was severe, but you were more severe than he was.

I promised that I would never grow again. I thought that I could no longer trust myself.

The Valkyrie held his head to her bare breasts.

Tell me about the dread, she said. The dread that I saw when we met at the luncheonette.

The terror... He didn't know how to begin, because he felt he would sound absurd. The terror doesn't allow me to sleep at night, or rest during the day.

Now Chris understood her angel. She had to be here, hearing this, because he would never have told her.....and now I have a wife that I love, I found J., I walked the holy Road to Santiago, I've written books. I'm being faithful to my dreams again, and that's where the dread comes from.

Because everything is going the way I would like it to, and I know that soon it will all be destroyed. It was terrible to say that. He had never said it to anyonenot even himself. He knew that Chris was there, hearing it all. And he was ashamed.

That's the way it was with the songs, he said, forcing himself to go on. That's the way it's been with everything I've done since then. Nothing has lasted more than two years.

He felt Valhalla's hands removing the medallion from around his neck. He stood. He didn't want her to light the lantern, because he lacked the courage to confront Chris.

But Valhalla lit the lantern, and the three made their way out in silence.

We two are going out first, and you come along later, Valhalla said to Paulo as they were reaching the end of the tunnel.

Paulo was certain that, just as with his girlfriend of fourteen years earlier, Chris would never again trust him.

Today, I believe in what I'm doing, he tried to say before the other two left. It sounded like a plea for forgiveness, like self-justification.

No one answered. After a few more steps, Valhalla extinguished the lantern. There was now sufficient light for them to see.

From the moment that you set foot outside, the Valkyrie said, promise, in the name of the archangel Michael, that never againnever againwill you raise your hand against yourself.

I'm afraid to say that, he answered. Because I don't know how to comply.

You have no choice, if you want to see your angel.

I didn't realize what I was doing to myself. I might continue with the same kind of self-betrayal.

Now you know, Valhalla said. And the truth gives you freedom.

Paulo nodded his head.

You will still have many problems in your life, some of them normal, some of them difficult.

But, from now on, only God's hand will be responsible for everythingyou will interfere no more.

I promise in the name of Saint Michael.

The women went out. He waited a moment, and then began to walk. He had been in the darkness long enough.

THE RAYS OF LIGHT, REFLECTING FROM THE STONE WALLS, showed the way. There was the grated door, a door leading to a prohibited kingdom. A door that frightened him. Because out there was the kingdom of light, and he had been living for years in the darkness. A door that appeared to be closedbut, for anyone who approached it, it was open.

The door to the light was there in front of him. He wanted to pass through. He could see the golden light of the sun outside, but he decided not to put on his sunglasses. He needed the light.

And he knew that the archangel Michael was at his side, sweeping away the darkness with his lance.

For years he had believed in the implacable hand of God, in his punishment. But it was his own hand, not God's, that had wrought such destruction. Never, for the rest of his life, would he do that again.

Break the pact, he said to the darkness of the mine and to the desert light. God has the right to destroy me. I do not.

He thought of the books he had written, and was happy. The year would end without any problembecause the pact had been broken. There was no doubt that problems would arise in his work, in love, and along the path to magicserious problems or passing problems, as Valhalla had said. But from now on, he would battle side by side with his guardian angel.

You must have made a tremendous effort, he said to his angel. And, in the end, I spoiled everything, and you couldn't understand it.

His angel was listening. The angel knew about the pact, too, and was happy at not having to devote efforts to keeping Paulo from destroying himself.

Paulo found the door and passed through it. The sun blinded him for a moment, but he kept his eyes openhe needed the light. He saw the figures of Valhalla and Chris approaching. Put your hand on his shoulder, Valhalla said to Chris. Be a witness.

Chris obeyed.

Valhalla took a few drops of water from her canteen and made a cross on his foreheadas if baptizing him. Then she knelt, and told them to kneel as well.

In the name of the archangel Michael, the pact was known in heaven. In the name of the archangel Michael, the pact was broken.

She placed the medallion on his forehead, and asked that he repeat her words:

Sainted angel of the Lord,

My zealous guardian..The prayer from childhood echoed from the walls of the mountain, and spread throughout that part of the desert.

If I trust in you,

The divine piety Will rule me always, and guard,

Govern, and enlighten.

Amen.

Amen, said Chris.

Amen, he repeated.

PEOPLE WERE APPROACHING THEM CURIOUSLY.

They're lesbians, said one.

They're crazy, said another.

The Valkyries paid no attention, but continued with what they were doing. They had tied one kerchief to another, forming a kind of rope. They sat on the ground in a circletheir arms resting on their knees, holding the joined kerchiefs.

Valhalla was in the middle, on foot. People continued to arrive. When a small multitude had formed, the Valkyries began to chant a psalm.

By the rivers of Babylon,

There we sat down, yea, and wept.

We hung our harps upon the willows In the midst of it.

The people watched, understanding none of it. It was not the first time these women had appeared in the city. They had been there before, speaking of strange thingsalthough certain words were similar to those uttered by television preachers.

Have courage. Valhalla's voice rang out clearly and strongly. Open your heart, and listen to what your dreams tell you. Follow those dreams, because only a person who is not ashamed can manifest the glory of God.

The desert's made them crazy, a woman said.

Some people left immediately. They were fed up with preaching.

There is no sin but the lack of love, Valhalla continued. Have courage, be capable of loving,

even if love appears to be a treacherous and terrible thing. Be happy in love. Be joyful in victory.

dreams. Remember that you are a manifestation of the absolute, and do only those things in your had sung in the plaza with others from her church, to save people from sin. In those days, no one The crowd was growing in size. Chris was thinking how difficult it must be to talk to the people Follow the dictates of your heart.

That's impossible, someone in the crowd said. People have obligations.

Valhalla turned in the direction of the voice. She was doing itpeople were paying attention!

Different from five years earlier, when no one came near them during their appearances in the city.

We have children. We have husbands and wives. People have to earn a living, another person said.

Well, meet your obligations. But obligations never prevented anyone from following their lives that are worth the effort. Only those who do that will understand the great transformations that are yet to be seen.

The Conspiracy, Chris thought, as she listened. She remembered the time long ago when she spoke of a New Agethey spoke of the coming of Christ, of punishment and hell. There was no Conspiracy, such as now.

She walked through the crowd and found Paulo. He was sitting on a bench, far from the gathering.

How long are we going to travel with them? she asked.

Until Valhalla teaches me how to see angels.

But we've been here for almost a month.

She cannot refuse me. She swore on the Tradition. She has to keep her vow.

gathered there.

They're not going to take the Valkyries seriously, she said. Not with the way they're dressed,

and with those motorcycles.

They have been fighting for some very old ideas, Paulo said. Nowadays, soldiers dress in camouflage. They disguise themselves, and they hide. But the old warriors dressed in colorful outfits, much more obvious on the field of battle.

They wanted the enemy to see them. They took pride in battle.

Why are they doing this? Why preach in public parks and in bars and in the middle of the desert? Why are they helping us to speak to our angels?

He lit a cigarette. You joke about a Conspiracy, but you're right, he said. There is a Conspiracy.

She laughed. No, no, there was no Conspiracy. She had used that term because her husband's friends acted like secret agents, always careful not to discuss certain things when others were present, always changing the subjectalthough they had sworn, all of them had, that there was nothing occult in the Tradition.

But Paulo seemed to be serious.

The gates to Paradise have been reopened, he said. God banished the angel with the burning sword who was at the gate. For some timeno one is certain for how longanyone could enter,

since it was obvious that the gates were open.

As he was speaking to Chris, Paulo recalled the abandoned gold mine. Up until that daya week agohe had chosen to remain outside of paradise.

What guarantees entry?

Faith. And the Tradition, he answered.

They walked over to an ice cream wagon and bought cones. Valhalla continued to speak, and her sermon appeared to be endless. Before long, she might even try to get the spectators to participate, at which point it would probably end.

Does everyone know that the gates are open? Chris asked.

Some people have noticedand they are calling the others. But there's a problem.

Paulo pointed to a monument in the middle of the square. Let's suppose that paradise is there.

And every person on earth is here in the plaza. Each of them has their own path for arriving there.

That's why people talk with their angels. Because only the angels know the best path. It does no good to seek advice about it from others.

Follow your dreams, and take your risks, they heard Valhalla saying.

What will this world be like?

It will be only for those who enter into paradise, Paulo answered. The world of the 'Conspiracy.' The world of people who are able to see the transformations that are occurring, of people who have the courage to pursue their dreams and listen to angels. A world for all those who believe in that world.

A murmur arose from the crowd, and Chris knew that the play had begun. She wanted to move forward to observe, but what Paulo was saying was more important.

For centuries, we wept on the banks of the rivers of Babylon, Paulo continued. We hung up our harps, we were prohibited from singing, we were persecuted and massacred. But we never forgot that there was a promised land. The Tradition survived everything.

We learned how to fight, and we were strengthened by the battle. People are once again speaking of the spiritual world that only a few years ago was seen as something that only ignorant, complacent people believed in. There is an invisible thread that unites all those on the side of the lightlike those joined kerchiefs of the Valkyries. And this thread is becoming a strong, shining rope, anchored by the angels. A handrail that is perceived by those who are most sensitive, and that will support us. Because we are many, and we are spread all over the earth.

All of us moved by the same faith.

She said, It's a world that has so many names, isn't it? New Age, Sixth Golden Age, Seventh Beam, and so on.

But it's all the same world. I'll guarantee you.

Chris looked at Valhalla, there in the plaza, speaking of angels.

Well, why is she trying to convince others?

No, no, she's not trying to convince them of anything. We all came from Paradise, we have spread throughout the world, and now we're returning there. Valhalla is asking these people to pay the price of that return.

Chris remembered the afternoon in the mine. Sometimes it's a very high price.

It may be. But there are people who are willing to pay it. They know that what Valhalla is saying is true, because it brings back something they had forgotten. All of them still carry in their soul memories and visions of Paradise. Years may go by without their rememberinguntil something happens: the birth of a child, a serious loss, a feeling of imminent danger, a sunset, a book, a song...or a group of women dressed in leather, speaking of God. Anything. Suddenly,

these people remember.

That's what Valhalla is doing. Reminding them that a place exists. Some of them are listening,

others aren'tthose who aren't will pass by the gates without seeing that they're open.

But she's talking about this new world.

Those are just the words she uses. Actually, they have retrieved their harps from the willows,

and are playing them againand millions of people all over the world are singing of the joys of the Promised Land. No one is alone anymore.

They heard the sound of motorcycles. The play was over. Paulo began to walk toward the car.

Why didn't you ever tell me about all this? she asked.

Because you already knew.

Yes, she had known. But only now did she remember.

The Valkyries rode from city to city on their motorcycles, with their trappings, their kerchiefs,

and their strange outfits. And they spoke of God.

Paulo and Chris went with them. When they made camp on the outskirts of a city, the couple stayed in hotels. When they stopped in the middle of the desert, they slept in the car. They made a campfire, and the dangers of the desert recededthe animals did not approach. As they dropped off to sleep, they could look up at the stars and hear the howls of the coyotes in the distance.

Ever since the afternoon at the mine, Paulo had been practicing the channeling process. He was afraid that Chris might think that he hadn't really known what he had tried to teach her.

I know J., she said, when the subject came up. You don't have to prove your knowledge to me.

My girlfriend back in those days also knew the person who was teaching me, he answered.

They sat down together every afternoon, working at the destruction of their second minds; they prayed for their angels, and tried to invoke their presence.

I believe in this new world, he said to Chris, when they had completed yet another exercise in channeling.

I know you believe in it. Or you wouldn't have done the things you've done during your lifetime.

But, even so, I don't know whether the things I do are really correct.

Give yourself some credit, she answered. You're doing the best you canvery few people would travel so far to find their angel. And don't forget, you broke the pact.

The pact he had broken in the mine: J. was going to be happy about that! Although Paulo was almost certain that he already knew everything, J. hadn't tried to argue Paulo out of this trip to the desert.

When the two had completed their channeling exercises, they talked for hours about angels. But only between themselvesValhalla never again spoke of the matter.

ONE AFTERNOON, AFTER THEIR CONVERSATION, HE WENT TO talk with Valhalla.

You know the Tradition, he said. You cannot interrupt a process once you have begun it.

I'm not interrupting anything, she answered.

But soon I'll have to go back to Brazil. And I haven't yet accepted forgiveness, nor made a bet.

I'm not interrupting the process, she said again.

She suggested that they take a walk out in the desert. When they reached a certain point, they sat down together and watched the sunset, and talked about rituals and ceremonies. Valhalla asked about J.'s teaching methods, and Paulo wanted to know what the results were of her preaching in the desert.

I'm preparing the path, she said casually. I am doing my part, and I expect to do it right through to the end. Then, I'll know what the next step is.

How are you going to know when the time comes to stop?

Valhalla pointed to the horizon. We have to make eleven trips through the desert, pass through the same places eleven times and repeat the same things eleven times. That's all I was told to do.

Your master said that?

No, the archangel Michael.

And what trip is this?

This is the tenth.

The Valkyrie put her head on Paulo's shoulder, and they sat in silence for a long time. He had a desire to caress her, put her head in his lap, as she had done for him at the abandoned mine. She was a warrior, but she, too, needed to rest.

He thought about it for some time, but decided against it. And the two returned to the camp.

AS THE DAYS PASSED, PAULO BEGAN TO SUSPECT THAT Valhalla was teaching him everything he needed to knowbut that, as Gene had done, she was doing it without directly showing him the path. He began to observe closely what the Valkyries did; he thought he might perceive some clue, some teaching, a new practice. And, when Valhalla called him to go with her at day's endsomething she did every day nowhe decided that he would discuss things with her.

There's nothing that prevents you from teaching me directly, he said. You are not a master.

It's not like it is with Gene, or J., or even with mepeople who know two Traditions.

Yes, I am a master. I learned through revelation. You're right that I don't pronounce curses,

and I don't participate in covens, nor am I a member of any secret societies. But I know many things that you don't know, because the archangel Michael taught them to me.

Well, that's why I'm here. To learn.

The two were seated in the sand, leaning against some rocks.

I need affection, she said. I really need affection.

Paulo shifted his position, and Valhalla laid her head in his lap. They sat there for some time,

looking out at the horizon.

It was Paulo who spoke first. He didn't want to raise the subject, but felt he had to.

I'm going away soon, you know.

He awaited her reaction. She said nothing.

I have to learn how to see my angel. I feel as if you have been trying to teach me, but that I'm not seeing it.

No. My teachings are as clear as the desert sun.

Paulo caressed the hair that covered his lap.

You have a beautiful wife, Valhalla said.

Paulo understood the comment, and took his hands away.

When he had rejoined Chris that night, he told her what Valhalla had said about her. Chris smiled, but said nothing.

THEY CONTINUED TO TRAVEL WITH THE VALKYRIES. Even after Valhalla's commentabout the clarity of her teachingsPaulo continued to pay close attention to everything the Valkyries did. But the routine varied little: travel along, speak in public places, perform the rituals he already knew, and move on.

And make love. They made love to men they met along the way. Usually they were groups on motorcycles, bold enough to approach the Valkyries. When this happened, there was a tacit agreement that Valhalla would have the right to first choice. If she wasn't interested, any of the others could approach the newcomer.

The men never knew this. They were made to feel that they were with the woman they had chosenbut the choice had been made much earlier. By the women.

The Valkyries drank beer and talked of God. They performed sacred rituals, and made love out among the rocks. In the larger cities, they went to some public place to perform their miracle playgetting those who were in the audience to participate.

At the end, they asked for contributions. Valhalla never played a role, but she directed everything that was happening. Afterward, she would pass her kerchief around, and she always received money.

Every afternoon, before Valhalla called Paulo to walk with her in the desert, he and Chris practiced their channeling and talked with their angels. Although the channel was not yet completely opened, they felt the presence of constant protection, of love and peace. They heard phrases that made little sense, they had some intuitions, and many times the only sensation was one of joynothing more. But they knew they were speaking to their angels, and that the angels were happy at this.

Yes, the angels were happy, because they had been contacted again. Any person who resolved to speak with them would discover that it was not the first time. They had already conversed with them when they were childrenthe angels had appeared in the form of secret friends, and had been their companions in long conversations and in play, protecting them from evil and from danger.

And every child had spoken with their guardian angeluntil that day when their parents noticed that the child was talking to people who didn't exist. Then they became intrigued, blamed it on excessive childish imagination, consulted with educators and psychologists, and came to the conclusion that the child should give up that sort of behavior.

The parents always insisted on telling their children that their secret friends didn't existperhaps because they had forgotten that they too had spoken to their angel at one time. Or, who knows,

perhaps they thought they lived in a world where there was no longer any place for angels.

Disenchanted, the angels had returned to God's side, knowing that they could no longer impose their presence.

But a new world was beginning. The angels knew where the gates to Paradise were, and they would conduct all who believed in them to those gates. Perhaps they needn't even believeit was enough that they needed angels, and the angels would return gladly.

PAULO SPENT HIS NIGHTS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHY Valhalla was doing as she didputting things off.

Chris knew the answer. And the Valkyries knew the answer, as welleven though none of them said anything about it.

Chris was waiting for the blow to fall. Sooner or later it was going to happen. That's why Valhalla had not left them, had not taught them what else they needed to know about meeting with their angel.

ONE AFTERNOON, IMMENSE MOUNTAIN FORMATIONS BEGAN to appear off to the right side of the road as they drove. Soon, to the left, mountains and canyons could be seen, and a gigantic salt flat, gleaming in the sun, extended from one side to the other.

They had arrived at Death Valley.

The Valkyries made camp close to Furnace Creekthe only place for miles around where there was water. Chris and Paulo decided to stay with the group, because the only hotel for miles was filled.

That night, the entire group sat around the campfire, chatting about men and motorcycles, and for the first time in many daysangels. As they always did before sleeping, the Valkyries knotted together their kerchiefs, held the long cord that was formed, and once again repeated the psalm that sang of the rivers of Babylon and of the harps hanging in the willow trees. They could never forget that they were warriors.