3,789 FEET

A gentle glow appeared in the darkness behind my eyelids, and I felt a familiar comforting presence, something I had felt before in a dream, and I heard a voice calling me “beloved.” Suddenly, all the fear and panic whooshed out of me, and into the hollowness left behind poured a light so pure and bright, no shadow could exist in it, and there was someone with me, though I couldn’t see a face, but I could feel arms around me as it spun and fell with me.

Speak, my beloved, and I will give thee words.

My mouth came open and there was no sound—no crashing of thunder, no rush of wind, nothing but my own voice roaring like a freight train.

“I do conjure thee, O thou Spirit Paimon, by all the most glorious and efficacious names of the Most Great and Incomprehensible Lord God of Hosts, that thou comest quickly and without delay . . .”

The words poured out of me as if I’d spoken them every day of my life.

“I conjure and constrain thee, O thou Spirit Paimon . . . by these seven great names wherewith Solomon the Wise bound thee and thy companions in a Vessel of Brass.”

The arms released me, the white light faded. I was through the clouds and the earth burned below me while the fire roared above me. The demons were closing in, but I was as calm as an old man on a park bench, feeding pigeons on a warm summer afternoon.

“I will bind thee in the Eternal Fire, and into the Lake of Flame and of Brimstone, unless thou comest quickly and appearest here to do my will.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the ring on my hand begin to glow.