Sent from Above

Chapter 66

Justin was staying in JC's room. Chris was taking over Justin's room, the one next door. And Joey was in his normal room, right across the hall. JC had gone back to sleep and Justin was keeping a vigil over the agitated man. Joey sighed. It had been a few hours since he and Chris had come back to see Justin trying to knock the door down. JC had said that Lance was taken away from them once, then he forgot...even though he didn't mean to. What had he meant? Was he saying that he forgot about Lance? Or did he mean that...Joey didn't even know. He raked his fingers through his hair and went over to his bed. After tossing and turning for about fifteen minutes, he sat up and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels absently while thinking about the fact that Justin had a TV in almost every room.

Chris opened the door and silently slipped in. "Couldn't sleep either?" he asked. Joey shook his head and waved him over. He sat down. "Are you as confused as I am?" Chris asked.

"Probably," Joey said, still flipping. Suddenly, the television turned off.

"Hey," Chris said, "What'd you do that for?"

Joey's brow furrowed. "I didn't do it on purpose," he said. "I guess my finger hit the button or something." He turned it back on and stopped it at a movie. He turned to Chris. "Hey, you think that JC--" he stopped when the television turned off again.

He and Chris turned and looked at each other, then back at the TV. Joey pushed the button again. They caught a bit of the dialogue before it shut off again. "You think Justin's wiring is screwed up or something?" Chris asked, taking the remote and turning it over in his hand. He hit it against his palm and tried the power button again. The TV turned on, but then turned off a few seconds later. Frowning, he got up and tried to turn it on it manually. This time, it turned on but turned back off a second later. "Stay ON!" he said, turning it on. And it stayed on. "Cool."

"Dude," Joey said laughing. "Magic powers?"

"Of course," Chris said, bowing. He started walking towards the bed again, but tripped over something when the lights went off. "SHIT!"

"Okay, I didn't press a button that time," Joey said, chuckling. He turned the lights back on and walked over to Chris, who was holding his right hand tenderly in his left hand. "You okay?"

"I banged it on something," Chris said. "I'm gonna g--" The lights turned off again and he hit his toe. "Dammit!" Joey got up and turned them back on, holding the switch in place. Chris started again. "I'm gonna go yell at Justin and tell him to scrape his money together. I'm so pressing charges, man."

Joey laughed. "You do that," he said. "I'm gonna try to sleep again." He turned off the light and got into the bed, but it turned back on. He groaned. "Screw that, I'm leaving you on." The light flickered off and Joey laughed at it before realizing what he was doing. "Here I am, arguing with a light." It flickered back on. "This is scary..." he said. The light turned off and the TV turned on instead. "No way..." Joey ignored it and turned over. The TV turned off and then the lamp next to his bed was on. "Dammit," he cursed, turning it off. It turned back on. "JUSTIN!" he yelled, banging on the adjoining wall. "YOUR WIRING SUCKS!"

"DEAL WITH IT!" He heard laughter from Justin and Chris and sighed, turning the lamp off. He briefly considered smashing the light bulb but figured it would take too much energy.

Then Joey felt a warmth on his shoulder and sat up suddenly. "Lance?" he asked quietly, eyes wide. The lamp turned on and then off again. Joey's eyes darted around the room. "Is that you?" The lamp flickered once more. He frowned. "Okay, do that three times if it's you and not some stupid wiring." The lamp quickly turned on once, twice...and stopped. Then it turned back on, and after a few long seconds, turned back off. "Lance!" Joey whispered happily, trying to keep his voice down. "You're back?" The light turned on and then off again. "Wait, how do I know it's really you?" Joey felt something hit the side of his head. "OW! All right, I believe you..." Then he looked down and saw a feather in his lap. "Thanks," he said softly. The light flickered cheerfully.

"JOEY! Stop playin' with the lights!" he heard Chris yell from across the hall.

Joey frowned. "You're breaking some sort of rule, aren't you?" There wasn't an answer, just some scratching noise. Then a lamp on the desk in the corner turned on, and Joey got up and walked over. There was a piece of paper that hadn't been there before, blank, and Joey picked it up, looking at it. It was blank on both sides. "You're gonna make this hard, aren't you?" The light flickered off and the door opened a little. Joey sighed and walked into the bathroom.

He read the sign in the mirror. Of course I am, would you expect anything less?

Joey laughed, reading the words written in neat but still messy letters. "Of course not. So, what, are you not supposed to mess around with electrical appliances and stuff?" Another piece of paper appeared by his side. "Okay, this is scary."

Not exactly.

"Oh, good. You're scaring me, you realize that, right?" There was nothing for about a minute, then the light turned off and the door opened. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered.

"Doing what?" he heard a voice whisper.

"Oh my God!" Joey jumped into the air and the voice laughed, a deep, rich sound. "What the hell?"

"Shh," the voice said. "They already think you're insane."

"That's your fault," Joey hissed. "Oh God, I can't believe I'm talking to a disembodied voice. My life is complete."

There was another chuckle. "Not quite," it whispered. Joey rolled his eyes and shut the door behind him.

***

"You think there's something wrong with Joey's head?" Chris asked. He'd decided that his room was too boring so he was visiting Justin. "He's foolin' around with the lights and I think he's talking to himself again."

"Probably," Justin agreed. "So that must mean we're the only really sane members of *NSYNC."

They were silent for a moment before bursting out in laughter. "Oh, think of the FUN we could have with THIS predicament."

***

"Hey, I thought that Nikolas dude said you weren't allowed to talk to me," Joey said, leaning against the headboard of his bed.

"I'm not," he heard the voice say from the end of the bed. "But why should that stop me?"

"A rebellious angel," Joey mused. "Interesting." He thought for a second. "You know, you don't look like you'd have a low voice like you do."

For a second, he thought the angel was offended, but then he laughed. "I get that a lot," he said. "What, think I'm too pretty to have a low voice?"

Joey reddened. "No, it's just that--" he stopped. "I'll stop digging my own grave now." "So..." Joey exhaled, not sure of how to begin. "What happened? Where did you go?"

Lance laughed bitterly. "I got myself caught off guard so some of Satan's followers got me." His voice floated over from the desk now.

"You had the Devil after you? Damn," Joey whistled.

"Yeah," Lance chuckled. "I got away though, all they did was break my wing."

"That all, huh?" Joey said sarcastically. There was silence for a moment.

"Hey," Lance asked suddenly, "What's going on with Josh?"

"What do you mean?" Joey asked nervously.

"I've been gone for a week," Lance said. "I know something's going on." The voice was back on the end of the bed and Joey gasped as Lance materialized, for real, with his legs tucked underneath him at the end of the bed. "Sh," he said. "I'd much rather talk to you like this."

"But I thought you couldn't--"

"I'm special," Lance whispered with a smile. "Now spill."

Joey frowned. "He's been having these weird dreams." A thought nagged at the back of his mind but he ignored it. "And now he keeps saying that he remembers, and he's sorry he forgot about...Lance," he paused, watching Lance's reaction. The blond jumped a little bit at the mention of his name, but was otherwise calm. Joey had to give him credit. "He says he never meant to forget about him and didn't want him to go." Joey's thought pushed it's way forward and he spoke without thinking. "You're the one, aren't you?"

Lance's green eyes widened and the small smile that had been on his lips disappeared. "What?"

He had to finish now. He'd been suspicious before, but now he that he'd heard the voice to place with the face... "You're the Lance on JC's necklace -- The JLB, too, Nikolas told me your first name was James -- and you're the one that he's been dreaming about. The blond haired, green eyed bass that replaces Ken in all of his dreams." He eyed Lance suspiciously. "Aren't you?"

Lance's eyes were still wide, but he didn't say a word. What could he say?

Joey noticed that he didn't deny it, so he continued. "Were you in the band? Ever?" Lance was again silent and he looked around the room so nervously that Joey felt bad. "And what...what did he mean when he said he loved you? JC said he loved Lance and didn't want him to leave. What was that?"

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