by Summer Lee
“So you agree with me then?” he asked, hoping for her to back him up. She was his partner after all.
She paused a moment before she answered. She agreed with him, but she didn’t want to support any wild ideas he might have about their situation. “I do agree that all of those events are above and beyond normal. In fact, they are too bizarre to believe. Normally! We can’t help but believe that we are, in fact, here in the wilderness in Israel. We took a plane from Turin, Italy and here we are. That is a fact.”
“So what about those at the Catholic Church?” he said with feeling. “They just disappeared off the face of the earth! Well, you know what I mean. Cardinal Cino and Cardinal DiStazzi haven’t returned my calls since we arrived in Israel! All of a sudden, they no longer have an interest in us! That makes absolutely no sense!”
Magena had made it a point not to think too hard about all of the events that played out since she met Daniel. She had no choice but to face it all, as Daniel ranted. In her mind, there was no way that all of it could be happening. Not in the real world, anyway.
Not in her world.
She was breathing heavily and extremely frustrated. She started to tremble as everything they had been through replayed through her mind. She couldn’t stop shaking, so she wasn’t going to even try. “Alright! I get it!”
He looked frustrated. “You don’t think I’m going through the same thing? Ever since we teamed up…”
A look of realization came across her face.
She immediately calmed down, but still felt a cold chill run up her spine. “I don’t mean to sound really paranoid, but it almost seems like this is all an elaborate plan to turn us against each other.”
His eyes bugged out. “I know! Huh?” he responded with a high level of energy. “Ever since we teamed up, all kinds of crazy things have happened. What the heck’s going on?”
“I don’t know what is going on!” she replied with confidence. “But if it’s someone’s objective is to tear us apart, then I would say that we stick together even more.”
“Heck yeah!” He held out his hand for a high five. She didn’t disappoint him, as they slapped hands. “You know what else? I am sick and tired of playing defense! We’ve been puppets for these people! I think it’s time to take the ball away!”
She forced a smile. “I appreciate your sports analogies. Give me a plan.”
“Okay, back in our court,” he said, with a huge grin. “We hold all the cards. I say we get the Shroud of Turin and the Jewels of Jezebel and take them to some museum or whatever you suggest. All I know is, it’s time we take control!”
“Like Elijah did in the Bible. He was a one-man army that killed the prophets of Baal during the days when Jezebel was queen.”
“I’m not ready for that.”
She laughed. “Nor I.” She snuggled into her blanket.
Wrapped in his own blanket, he reached over and clasped her hand. “Good night, Mags.”
Chapter Seven
Morning broke with no problems from the local wildlife. In fact, Daniel and Magena never heard a peep out of any creature once they started their fire. It was odd, considering where they were, but Magena looked at it as a blessing. They got up and put sand on the hot coals.
They filled their water bottles in a stream nearby, and then they ducked under the water for quick baths in their clothes.
They both ate another granola bar and a strip of beef jerky before starting out. “I assume it will be a long day of walking,” she said as they started down the path.
“Two rocks are large, while one is lean,” Daniel read from the paper as he looked up on a hill. They had only walked for 20 minutes when they came across the described hill. “Check this out. Keep your eyes open.”
There were several boulders of varying shapes resting in many piles. There were three particular boulders that stood out to them. Daniel and Magena clung to each other and stared. Two of them were oblong standing upright on their smallest ends, while there was a smaller boulder in between the two.
“No,” Daniel said, while shaking his head. “This doesn’t feel right.”
“Okay.” Magena stopped and narrowed her eyes at the boulders and then glanced over the paper again. “I doubt we’re going to find too many rock formations that match that description.”
Daniel started toward the hill, determined to prove to himself that he was right. “That’s not what I’m talking about. This whole thing doesn’t feel right. I mean, the poem, the paper it’s written on, and those rocks.” He could see that she was still confused by his sudden reflection. His frustration grew as he tried to think of a way to explain it to her.
“Do you mean that you don’t think the paper is valid?” she queried as she clasped his arm.
He tapped his index finger to his nose several times. “If I had some kind of a prize, you would get it.”
She snatched the paper from his hand and looked it over carefully. “If this is a fake, then I don’t see it. I told you everything I knew about it.”
He looked back up at the hill. “I wish I could tell why I feel this way, but I can’t. All I know is there is something very wrong with this scenario.”
She looked him in the eyes with a knowing smile. “Follow your gut. If this doesn’t feel right, then we won’t go. Do you think it might be a trap?”
He thought about that as being a possibility, while biting his lower lip. “I don’t think so. In fact, I don’t believe it has anything to do with that. I have to say though, I am overwhelmed by everything that’s been going on. Just like we discussed. I’m having a hard time believing that this is real.”
Magena had a look of concern, as she again looked up at the boulders. “I assume that your gut is practically screaming at you that we need another path?”
“Thank you for trusting me,” he said, with a sigh of relief. “I mean, you could have very easily questioned me about the rest of the weird poem, to see if we should take any of it as the truth.”
She looked at the poem again. “Wait a minute! Look at the second and third sentences! ‘Two rocks are large, while one is lean. Seek not the brightest way!’ It doesn’t state anything about us having to go to the rocks! It just states that they’re there!”
His excitement overshadowed hers. “That’s right! Maybe that just means that we’re on the right path!”
“What does your gut say about that?” she asked, with a smirk and her hands on her hips.
“Seek not the brightest way?” Daniel looked around the area. He motioned to one trail with a shadow over it in the nearby mountains. He pointed in the direction of the trail. “My gut says to go that way!”
“Alright then,” she replied with renewed enthusiasm. “Let’s go that way.”
He looked over her shoulder at the poem. “What’s it say next?”
“It doesn’t say anything,” she responded with a chuckle. “It states, ‘The light you see will betray. Lying between the death and life.’ The death and life?”
He shrugged. “I don’t have any clue. My gut has nothing to say on that subject.”
She laughed, as they headed down the shaded trail. She felt somewhat relieved for the first time since their visit to the Hive.
The fresh start of her new partnership was exciting. She knew she still had to keep her guard up, because she was in unfamiliar territory. Her comfort level with Daniel was increasing, while her caution of just about everyone they met increased as well.
She didn’t want to become too dependent on her traveling companion. Not until she could be absolutely sure that he had nothing to do with the situation they were in.
As the thoughts about who exactly was responsible for their adventure wandered aimlessly through her head, she couldn’t help but think that Daniel might have been involved. The newfound trust for her newfound friend started to fizzle, as her usually trusting nature took a back seat to something more negative.
Thoughts filled her active imagination about Daniel orche
strating the entire scenario. With the unspoken accusations flowing freely within her, her breathing became more erratic. She walked a few feet further away from him as her mind played tricks on her. Her imagination was given free rein to play. She felt bad for having those kinds of thoughts, but she couldn’t help it. It felt like she was being controlled. She decided to just let things play out with her ever watchful eye out for any sign of betrayal from Daniel.
***
Then Daniel started talking, and had a lot to say.
He said that he truly believed that everyone who had crossed his path in life had betrayed him. His parents disinherited him. Alan Cranston, the family friend, sent him on the tortuous mission to research The Shroud of Turin. He named everyone he had met in Turin and after that. “Everyone after I met you, Magena,” he said, “has been out for themselves, and been more than happy to place us in danger to accomplish their tasks.”
She listened carefully. “I know.”
“I’ve overlooked how easy life had been, until my parents cut me off. I’ve behaved exactly like they assumed I would.” He then slumped down on the ground and went silent. He said that he knew he was a spoiled brat with something to prove to his parents. Maybe even the world. He rarely got the credit for having a brain, because of how he came across to people. He glanced at Magena and she grinned. She may have been the only person he could trust. He still couldn’t erase the fact that it was after he met her when his troubles really began. He didn’t trust her completely, but needed her to get them out of the sordid fairy tale that he was thrust into. “I can’t help but blame you,” he said.
“Then you should keep your eyes open,” she said, “just in case I plan to take you out.”
He laughed and said, “Let’s get going.”
As they walked along, Magena said, “I feel someone is watching us.”
Chapter Eight
The sun was high in the sky, which was casting shadows all across their trail. It was because the mountains were blocking most of the light. Nevertheless, it was spooky.
The shadows increased as the mountains started to appear closer to each other. The air became chilly the further they traveled. Yet it had not been that long since they came across the boulders.
“I suppose the husband not being near the wife, refers to Ahab,” Daniel said, with some frustration. “I don’t think we’ve come across the death yet.”
Magena looked up at the mountaintops. “The mountains appear closer than before. It’s making our trail almost nonexistent. What are the shadows coming from?”
Suddenly, the space shimmered in front of them. They were already enveloped by the shadows, but now a figure appeared. There in front of them was a well-groomed, middle-aged man, who was shown only from the waist up. It was a smoky-gray apparition that caused Magena to freeze in her tracks.
Daniel gasped as he turned white with shock. He obviously recognized the figure right away. “Dad?”
“Daniel.” The voice sounded hollow and cracked with most of the words. “Why are you doing this?”
Daniel cleared his throat but said nothing.
Magena stepped back out of the way. She wanted to watch whatever was going to happen. She wanted to see how it was going to play out. Feeling faint, she made no judgments as to what she was witnessing.
“You’re not real, Dad! You can’t be,” Daniel yelled out as he clenched his fists. “What the heck is going on?” The image of his father held out his hand and pointed his finger at Daniel. “You were always a disappointment. I can’t even find it in my heart to call you son anymore.” The vision of his father started to weep.
“Do you understand exactly what you’re talking to?” Magena said. She added, “Get real.” She hoped that Daniel would see the situation for what it was. She didn’t know what it was yet herself, but this was a trial for Daniel, and he had to be aware that it something unreal. “Think Daniel. Use your brain.”
Daniel squinted at the apparition in disbelief. “Who… what are you?”
The specter tilted his head at Daniel and smiled. “I am you. I am your deepest thoughts and assimilation of things that were and things to come. You cannot get rid of me so easily.”
The look of confusion on Daniel’s face did not escape Magena. “Okay. I don’t believe I’ll try to get rid of you… Dad. In fact, I kind of like you like this. You being almost see-through is so much like real life. I know who you are, in spite of all the mind games you played with Mom and everyone else. I think you enjoyed that I knew, but said nothing. You liked having me watch you, in hope that I would turn out exactly like you. You didn’t want a son. You wanted a protégé.”
“You’re absolutely right, Son.” The specter had a smug look on his face.
“Why are you so agreeable?” Daniel huffed.
The apparition shook his head. “You never listen to anything I say. If you could remember what I have told you before, you would be wise and know everything. Let me answer another question before you even ask it. I am not dead. That’s not why you see me as you do.”
“So you’re not dead?” Daniel replied with a disappointed look. “You look dead to me.”
“Lying between death and life?” Magena asked, knowingly.
Daniel’s expression went blank. “I now understood what the poem was stating.” He had committed the poem to memory and now looked transfixed at the image of his father. “The husband will not be near to the wife.”
“Shadows foretold will block your view,” Magena added, looking at the poem.
“Right.” Daniel leaned to his left, so that he could see behind the apparition. He saw nothing unusual, except several small hills. He then spotted something out of place. He stepped aside, moving completely away from his father and pointed. “Magenta! Look where I’m pointing and see if you notice anything weird.”
She was at first surprised at him calling her by the name she desired to be called. It took her a brief moment to get over that, before she looked in the direction he pointed. “Yes? So?”
“The ground, Mags! The ground!” He became more adamant and frustrated that she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He hung his head low, while keeping his finger pointed. “Do you see the ground?”
“Yes,” she replied. She didn’t like being treated like a child, but she knew that she had to humor him from time to time. They both needed to proceed with as few disagreements as possible. “Explain.”
Daniel sighed, as he lowered his hand. “What’s on the ground, Mags?”
She stretched her neck out to see more clearly. “Are those leaves? Yes. Those are leaves. Okay. I see leaves.”
“Right,” he returned with a sarcastic tone. “Leaves. So tell me Mags, where is the plant that produced those said leaves?”
She looked all around the area. In spite of the fact that there had been various forms of bushes and trees up to that point, there was absolutely nothing that could have been a viable source of those particular leaves. She gave Daniel a puzzled look.
He nodded with a forced grin. “That’s what I’m talking about. There are no trees or anything else that’s shedding those leaves in the area. Because of the nice pile of them, I doubt they were blown in from somewhere else.”
She couldn’t help but be impressed. “You have a very keen sense of observation.”
“Observation’s not a sense, my friend,” he replied with condescension. “There’s something about those leaves.”
Magena looked around and saw that the apparition of his father was gone. “Where’s your father?”
Daniel looked over at where he last saw the specter and smiled. “I guess his job was done. He followed the poem perfectly. I actually thought it meant that King Ahab was not being near his wife.”
She smirked and playfully poked his chest. “You forgot one important fact there, buddy. Why would a poem that was written almost 100 years ago have clues containing not only your father, but situations surrounding us as well? Answer that one!”
He stopped and slumped. Daniel said that he could not think of an answer. The smile faded from his face.
Chills ran up her spine. She looked to her left. She saw a shadow. Someone was watching them. She did not believe it was Daniel’s dad.
Chapter Nine
They both stood at the edge of the pile of leaves. The leaves were within a 30-foot radius, and where they laid the ground was completely covered. “There is something under them,” she said. The pile was about 6 inches high all the way around.
The two looked at each other and then back at the pile. “Who should go first?” Daniel asked, as if he already had someone in mind.
“That’s not very chivalrous of you,” she responded, with a low and annoyed tone. “I know you want me to go first. Think about the poem. ‘The oldest one will be the new. Fewer steps and fewer still.’ I have no clue what that means.”
He looked at Magena’s face with intensity. “How old are you?”
Her mouth dropped in surprise, at the audacity of the question. “I can’t believe you asked me that!”
“I can’t believe I didn’t ask you before,” he replied, as quickly as she spoke. “The oldest one will now be new, has to mean whoever is older between us.”
“I disagree.”
“I mean, this whole thing is probably about me.”
“It could be about me,” she snapped. “It always is.”
He laughed. “Why does everything have to be about you? Since I believe this is about me, then I would say that I am probably older than you. So, when do I become new?”
She pointed at the leaves. “Maybe when you step onto those leaves.”
He gave her a sarcastic look and then touched the ground carefully with the toe of his right shoe. He applied pressure only after he believed it was solid ground. Surprisingly, he sank and managed to slip through two feet of dirt before he could feel anything solid beneath his feet again. He glanced over at Magena with a panicked look and tried to take a step back. He ended up losing his balance and toppled forward.
