FIERY ILLUSIONS (Keeper of the Emerald Book 2)

by B. C. Harris

  By the time we reach my Grammy’s room, my emotions have taken over my body. I’m too terrified to step into the room.

  I push Jamie as if to say, “You go first.”

  Jamie steps into the room. He turns and looks back at me. Horror fills his eyes.

  I frantically force myself into the room.

  My Grammy is sprawled lifelessly on the floor, her wheelchair tipped over.

  One of the windows in her room is wide open.

  - 13 -

  RETURN TO TAMOR

  As I rest in bed on Sunday evening, I’m overwhelmed with grief and guilt from all the problems I caused by visiting my grandmother yesterday. Although my grandmother survived her attack, an innocent worker was murdered. I keep blaming myself for what happened. If I hadn’t gone to Splendid Gardens, I don’t think any of the violence would have happened. There is one week until Christmas and my life is a mess.

  I’m not the kind of teenager who finds any pleasure in lying to anyone.

  The fact that I told my mother that I was going to be at the Smithsonian all day on Saturday was a lie. Even though Jamie and I spent a brief time at the Smithsonian, I certainly never gave any indication to my mother that my real plan was to visit my Grammy.

  I almost died yesterday when the police said they would be calling my mother and Jamie’s parents to come and pick us up at Splendid Gardens, a drive of almost three hours.

  When my mother finally arrived at Splendid Gardens, she hugged me which I must admit was not the reaction I was expecting. I thought she would give me the ultra-silent treatment which was her usual way of expressing her displeasure when I did something wrong. When I explained to her that I wanted to visit my Grammy to get a picture of my father, there was a flash of fear in her eyes. After this brief reaction, she became a model of self-composure.

  I couldn’t stop wondering whether my mother and the tall woman on the train were the same person. Was my mother capable of murder? Would my mother try to kill my grandmother?

  Fortunately, I had a very good reason for visiting my Grammy. I wanted to see if she had a picture of my father. It was easy to maintain my focus on this story when I talked to the police. This was not a lie. What I omitted was any mention of the picture I tried to show my Grammy. While I talked about my desire to find a picture of my father, I ignored saying anything about wanting my grandmother to look at a photo of the New Messiah.

  I still can’t believe that someone tried to murder my grandmother, or perhaps the attacker was trying to force some information out of her before Jamie and I returned to the room.

  It quickly became apparent that no one at Splendid Gardens, other than me, saw the tall woman. Jamie didn’t even recall her from the train. In the end I gave a vague description of her to the police. How could I possibly say that she looked like my mother? And to learn that they didn’t have any kind of video surveillance on the property was shocking to me. They said it would take a few days to check the security video from the train.

  It’s my nature to analyze everything that happens to me.

  While I believe it was the tall woman who murdered the worker and tried to kill my Grammy, I also think that this woman was not acting alone. Did she know all along where I was going and why I wanted to visit my Grammy, or was she obeying an order from someone to follow me?

  Why did the woman kill the worker at Splendid Gardens? Was this a cruel diversion to get all the other workers away from my grandmother?

  If nothing else, I have one more clue to whatever is going on. I now know that my father had a sister named Kelly. This is one piece of information that I definitely didn’t share with the police or my mother. If I can find Kelly, perhaps she can help me to solve the mystery of what happened to my father and provide more information about Santtonnice.

  For now, I’ve decided not to let my mother know that I’m aware that my father had a sister. The next problem I face is how to locate Kelly.

  - 14 -

  E. T.

  After a brief, restless sleep, I decided to visit the planet Tamor. I needed someone to talk to, and in the middle of the night, Capurni was the only person I could think of to visit. In an instant, my emerald took me back to the fabulous underwater world of Lattisan.

  It’s great to be with Capurni again. Even though he has the face of a cute puppy and the body of a long fish, he’s like a father figure to me.

  In his presence I feel special. I realize that this is directly related to me being the Keeper of the Emerald, an honor that is such a special part of his world.

  Capurni quickly senses some of the things that are troubling me. Soon we’re talking about what happened at Splendid Gardens.

  Although he listens carefully and compassionately to what I say, he doesn’t have any thoughts to help solve the mystery of what happened.

  I take out the picture of the New Messiah.

  “This is a picture of the man who is causing great controversy on my planet. Some experts think he’s trying to establish himself as a new god or even as the ruler of my planet. Have you eve seen him before?”

  Capurni’s face instantly suggests that he doesn’t recognize the man.

  “No, I have no idea who he is,” Capurni replies.

  “A year ago, I told you about a stranger who tried to steal the emerald from me and my mother in a horrendous fire at her work.”

  “Yes, I remember you telling me about this. Does this have something to do with this picture?”

  “Yes. This is the man who attacked me in the fire, the man who tried to steal the emerald.

  Capurni stares once again at the picture he is holding in his slender fingers.

  As I wait fro his response, I enjoy the massaging action of the celleria in the couch where I’m sitting.

  He shakes his head to confirm once again that he has no idea who this person might be.

  For the next few minutes, I tell Capurni about what is happening in Rome.

  “It appears that this man has super powers. He has healed countless people who were sick. How could he have these powers that are unknown on my planet?”

  “Maybe he’s not from your planet.”

  “Not from my planet? Are you suggesting he’s an extraterrestrial being?”

  “Yes, that is quite possible,” Capurni says.

  “But wouldn’t someone from another planet look different than the people on my planet?”

  “Not necessarily,” Capurni says. “Perhaps this being is familiar with E. T.”

  “E. T.? You mean like extraterrestrial?”

  “No,” Capurni smiles, “although I guess you could say this being might be extraterrestrial. By E. T., I mean energy transmutation.”

  “Energy transmutation? What’s that?”

  “Once before I told you about Kienda who was one of our great leaders before he vanished.”

  I nod.

  “Kienda believed that it might be possible for two people to exchange their energy fields. This would result in the two people exchanging bodies.”

  This sounds like something from one of Michael’s comic books.

  “You mean that my brain would enter your body and your brain would enter my body?” I say.

  “Something like that, except that it’s not really our brains that are being transferred; it’s our energy fields. These energy fields contain our history of experiences and thoughts.”

  “Sort of like exchanging minds.”

  “Yes, that’s a good way to explain it. Your mind would enter my body and my mind would enter your body.”

  “So I would look like you, except that my thinking would still be me.”

  “Yes.”

  “Wouldn’t that be funny?” I say. “I mean if I became you, but still thought like me.”

  Capurni grins.

  “The basis for Kienda’s research lies in our belief that energy possesses consciousness.”

  “And energy can’t be created or be destroyed,” I find myself remembering the first law
of conservation of energy that I learned at school.

  “Exactly,” Capurni replies. “Nothing comes to be or perishes; it just gets rearranged.”

  “And you’re saying that each person has an energy field that carries a record of everything that has happened to them?”

  “Yes. This is the foundation of our belief in life after our physical death. We call this transvolving.”

  “Which is similar to the belief in my world of having a soul that lives on after death,” I say.

  I wonder if there might be some relationship between a person’s soul and their energy field.

  “Might be the same thing,” Capurni offers, having listened to my thoughts.

  “You’re telling me that it might be possible for a being from another planet to come to my world and assume the identity of someone in my world by exchanging energy fields with this person?”

  “Yes.”

  “So it’s possible that the horrendous man who attacked my mother and me last year in the fire might look like a human, but in reality he’s an alien.”

  There’s a pause in our conversation as Capurni considers what I have said. I look through a window at the fabulous underwater world of Lattisan stretching out before me.

  “If an alien used E. T. to change bodies with someone on my planet, what would have happened to the human? Does this mean that there could be a human who looks like an alien wondering around my planet?”

  “Yes, this is possible, but the alien might have also killed this person after the energy transmutation.”

  Capurni stands from the couch as though he’s stretching. He walks over to one of the windows.

  “If this alien, if that is what he is, wants my emerald, why doesn’t he attack me?”

  “Emily, as I have said before, no one can take the emerald away from you as long as it is in your possession. The only possible way anyone else could take it would be if they tricked you into giving it to them.”

  - 15 -

  TOGETHER AGAIN

  Entering the school cafeteria I’m faced with an awkward choice. Jamie is sitting with Michael. At another table, Jasmin is sitting with Drew. It seems like forever since I last spoke to Jasmin. I want to know if she’s ready to speak to me. I’m also interested to find out from Jamie how things went with his parents after they picked him up at Splendid Gardens on Saturday. I wonder if he’s allowed to talk to me anymore. Have I lost my two closest friends?

  This morning my mother was still home when I woke up after my visit to Lattisan. She even made my breakfast and insisted on driving me to school which is only a five minute walk from our house. I got the feeling she was going out of her way to protect me, although I’m not sure who she was trying to protect me from.

  Was she trying to prevent me from learning more about my family? Was she trying to stop me from making contact with the New Messiah? Or, perhaps it’s the tall woman from Splendid Gardens that she’s worried about. From my standpoint, it’s the tall woman who causes me the greatest concern. Apparently the police haven’t found her; for all I know she could still be stalking me.

  I’m facing two mysteries at the same time. One centers on hidden secrets within my family while the other concerns the identity of a mysterious man in Rome.

  Given that my mother warned me in no uncertain terms to stay away from the man in Rome, I suspect that whatever secrets exist in my family are somehow linked to the man in Rome. Solve one mystery and I’ll likely solve the other at the same time.

  Before coming to school today, I checked the Internet for news on what was happening in Rome. I learned that the New Messiah and his followers have taken over much of the famous city. It’s almost as if an ancient Roman emperor has come back to life.

  It was reported that tens of thousands of people have surrounded the Vatican and appear to be waiting for a command to storm the historical complex even though the Swiss Guard, who are the traditional protectors of the Pope, and some members of the Italian army and police are in preparations to prevent such an attack from occurring. It was suggested that the New Messiah will begin his kingdom by establishing his home in St. Peter’s on a site that dates back to the beginning of Christianity.

  According to the news that I surveyed this morning, many world leaders are uncertain how to handle what’s happening in Rome. If presidents and prime ministers can’t decide what to do, how will I ever figure out how to proceed? Every hour that passes, thousands and thousands of people are making their way by car, by bus, by train, by airplane, and even by foot to join the New Messiah.

  Sitting through my first few classes this morning, I decided that my first step in solving the mysteries facing me was to find my father’s sister Kelly. I almost asked my my mother about her this morning, but I decided not to, suspecting I wouldn’t get a straight answer from her. After all, I didn’t even know I had an aunt until a few days ago. This is obviously something that my mother doesn’t want to talk about, or long ago she would have told me about my aunt.

  I walk towards Jamie and Michael. I need to talk to them more than I need to talk to either Jasmin and Drew. They are likely my best choice to help me find my aunt. Any conversation with Jasmin and Drew is going to have to wait.

  I sit at the table with Jamie and Michael. I position myself so I can’t see either Drew or Jasmin.

  “How did things go with your parents?” I ask Jamie.

  Fortunately he begins his answer with a smile that puts me more at ease. I notice that Michael appears to be curious about my question as he leans towards me. I guess that Jamie hasn’t said anything to him, although the reality is that pictures of both Jamie and me have been on the news in connection with the murder of the worker and attempted murder of my grandmother at Splendid Gardens on Saturday. I suspect that Michael knows more than he’s letting on.

  “Things went much better than I expected,” Jamie replies, his light blue eyes glancing towards Michael in a manner that suggests he isn’t sure how much to say in front of him.

  “We might as well involve Michael in our discussions,” I say, looking between both of my friends. “I have a favor to ask both of you so Michael needs to know more about what happened on Saturday.”

  As I glance around the crowded cafeteria, Jamie tells Michael about our visit to my grandmother on Saturday. Michael quickly admits that he has read everything he could find on the Internet about what happened, so Jamie fills in the blanks.

  Since the New Messiah emerged in Rome, our school has been on edge. There have been arguments. There have even been fights. Today, there’s an uneasy quietness in the air, perhaps the same nervous uncertainty that has gripped the world. What would my peers say if they knew I was about to embark on a mission to uncover the truth about the mystery man in Rome?

  “She was stalking you?” Michael responds as Jamie continues to outline what happened on Saturday.

  Several tables away from us, Susan Michaels is sitting self-righteously with her little band of followers. Does she have any idea that her religion might be about to face its greatest challenge? How will Susan and the committed devotees of so many other religions around our world respond to bowing down to a man who could be an alien?

  Like any other teenager, there are times when I worry about the prospect of another world war. There have been times when I’ve heard bits and pieces of conversations on television or the Internet related to the possibility that the next great war (and what is so great about any war?) could be the result of a clash between Christianity and Islam. Perhaps everyone has it wrong. The next major war could be between all the religions on our earth and a being from another planet, who has set himself up as a god in the manner of a Roman emperor.

  “What did you parents say?” Michael asks as he leans further across the table to ensure that he doesn’t miss a word of what is being said. Michael’s unkempt curly brown hair paired with his perpetual grin gives him a comical look in spite of the seriousness of this situation.

  “Yes, what did t
hey say?” I ask, drawing my chair closer to Jamie.

  Our normally boisterous cafeteria suddenly seems to have lost its voice. It’s almost as if everyone has been listening to our conversation. Even the women serving food at the counter along the far wall of our cafeteria have found a way to dampen the sound of the plates hitting the trays.

  By now, Michael and I are close enough to Jamie to be sitting in his lap. He grins as if to say his parents were not concerned about what had happened on Saturday.

  “Actually,” Jamie says, “even though they didn’t come right out and say it, I think they were happy that I spent the day with Emily. I know they’re sometimes concerned that I don’t have any friends. They might have been relieved that I lied to them. Perhaps the whole experience made them think of me as being more like a normal teenager.”

  I laugh. How many other parents would be happy if the police called them to come and pick up their son because he had been in the vicinity of a murder?

  “How about you?” Jamie asks, looking directly at me. “What did your mother say?”

  Looking at Michael’s, I shrug. “As usual, she said absolutely nothing.

  “She wasn’t upset that you lied to her about where we were going?” Jamie says.

  I shake my head.

  There’s a look of concern on the faces of both Jamie and Michael.

  “Does this ever make you feel like she doesn’t care?” Michael asks.

  I consider Michael’s question before responding. As I look around me, most of the other students are doing a poor job of pretending that they’re not listening to us. I even catch a glimpse of Drew and Jasmin who are looking intently in our direction. Is everyone in the cafeteria hoping to pick up some new juicy gossip? Is it possible that over the past week, my altercation with Jasmin and now my link to a murder have resulted in me being a bit of a mini-celebrity in the school? If the other students knew that I was the Keeper of the Emerald, what would they think?