by Carmen Caine
“Then if you’re not, simply shift away,” Blondie taunted in a low sinister voice.
That made me mad. I wasn’t going to sit there and just listen to him torturing us. “We’re not your puppets,” I snapped. But my voice sounded as scared as I truly was.
Blondie and Marquis both tossed their heads back and laughed, deep belly laughs. “We’ve controlled the Fae from the beginning, since the birth of the Glass Wall,” Marquis chortled, pointing to the thin golden classification bracelets still encircling our wrists.
The bracelets on our wrists glowed as if in response.
Blondie spat viciously, “It’s going to take more than Lysol to escape us here, human.”
I looked at my bracelet in horror. Of course, the lizards controlled them. It was the only way the access codes could have been located in the blue strand of light, accessible only in the Second Dimension. Just why they’d created the bracelets was a mystery but a mystery I didn’t really need to know the answer to in order to break them. He’d said my thoughts had power here.
Closing my eyes, I wished with all my might that our bracelets would just fall off.
Blondie caught onto my thought. I could see the alarm in his eyes as his hand snaked out towards me as quick as lightning. But he wasn’t quick enough.
Raising a defensive arm, my bracelet fell to the ground just as his claws grazed my skin. The instant he made contact, the Light Queen’s golden feather roared into life above my hand.
Blondie drew back, yelping in pain.
I stared in shock at the golden feather hovering there, wondering what it meant, but Rafael understood the implications at once.
Reaching out to grab my hand with his bracelet-free one, he grabbed Jareth’s arm with the other. “You can’t touch Fae Light,” he told the lizards. “The bracelets. You created them to control our light. It was the only way you could possess us.”
They drew their lips back and hissed.
Drawing himself to his full impressive height, Rafael ordered Marquis and Blondie in a commanding tone, “Stand back!”
They didn’t like it, but they didn’t have a choice. They backed away, seething with anger.
Hope filled my heart. At last, something was going our way.
We turned to go back, but the lava river had already consumed the lower portion of the bridge. We exchanged glances. There was nowhere to go but forward.
I swallowed, wondering if Rafael’s light was enough to ward off the host of lizards writhing in the pit above us, but we didn’t have a choice. I didn’t trust my thoughts enough to get us out of there. I was afraid that I’d think something horrible out of fear and we’d end up roasted.
I watched in horror as the lava river began to rise and desperately sought to think only of how we reached the top of the cliff in safety.
I pushed Rafael forward as hard as I could as Blondie and the others circled us. They were clearly trying to keep us together and away from the others piled in the pit against the cliff’s red walls.
Relieved to be distracted, I wondered what they were trying so hard to protect. It only made me want to see it more.
“What are you hiding?” I asked them.
They just hissed.
It made me look harder.
I saw them, the thousands of thin, twisting cords of light, running from the shifting pile of lizards to disappear on the other side of the red rock wall.
I knew what was on the other end of those cords.
Humans and Fae.
And I knew what they feared then. They didn’t want me to break the strings of their puppets.
Chapter Eleven – There’s No Place Like Al’s
The lizards knew at once what I was thinking. I wasn’t used to the fact that in the Second Dimension my thoughts were no longer private. I had to remember that I broadcasted each and every one as a Tulpa above my head for all to see.
“The Brotherhood isn’t afraid of a mere human,” Blondie sneered in outright contempt. “The cords are indestructible. There’s nothing a human can do to destroy them.”
Marquis tossed his lizard head back and gave a short bark of a laugh. “And no matter what you do, it will never be over for us, Sydney. We’ll find another human to build our bridge to Earth. We still have the Tulpa. We can always begin again.”
“We have all of eternity to get it right,” Blondie added with a malicious cackle and a swish of his coal-black tail.
Their ominous words struck terror through my soul, making me doubt myself at once.
“Don’t listen to them,” Rafael advised softly, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. “They’re trying to control you through fear.”
I swallowed, wanting to tell him that it was working and quite well.
But then Marquis said, “We have harnessed a power now, a power beyond comprehension. A power that will free—”
At that, Blondie drew his lips back with a sharp, gnashing snarl at Marquis. “Silence!”
At once, Marquis slunk back.
With a firm set of his jaw and a forbidding expression in his eyes, Rafael challenged, “And what has you so afraid, Blondie? Did he reveal too much?”
Blondie swished his tail in agitation. “Step carefully, Fae,” he cautioned. “Your light may fade here.”
“Even if it does, you’ll still have to deal with me,” Jareth warned, stepping in front of us to adopt a protective stance.
Blondie turned the full magnetic pull of his eyes directly on Jareth then. “You belong with us, lizardling.” He waved his hand at the dark, wriggling Tulpas of fear still popping into existence above the pit, and his forked tongue lashed out to make a greedy, slurping noise. “Taste it, Jareth. Taste fear as you were born to. Join us.”
“You’re wasting your time,” Jareth replied with a scathing growl.
“You lie, foolish lizardling.” Blondie laughed. “Soon, the hunger will grow too strong for you to resist. Those two will die here. There is nothing to sustain them. But not you. Here you will thrive. With us. We are brothers.”
With his nostrils expanding slowly, Jareth crossed his arms, and in an impossibly low voice—a voice so low that I felt it vibrate through my bones rather than heard it with my ears—he replied, “Rafael alone is my brother. As he always was, as he is now, and as he will be for all of eternity.”
Hatred raged through Blondie’s yellow eyes then.
All of the lizards in the pit hissed and spat.
A gust of heat rose from behind us, blasting us with warmth, and I glanced back to see the river of lava had risen to only a few feet away.
I gulped in fear.
The Man in the Top Hat stood at the river’s edge and looked directly into my eyes. “Remember the power of human thought, Sydney,” his voice echoed through my mind.
I swallowed. I knew all too well how powerful human thoughts were. The fact that the lava was rising to toast us as I feared was complete proof of it. But maybe human thoughts were too powerful. I couldn’t even control my own myself.
With the lava lapping at our heels, Rafael tightened his grip on my arm and led me up the incline towards the lizard pit.
I desperately tried to collect my scattered thoughts. How could I control them to do anything useful? They always seemed to squirm around on their own and think unbidden, unhelpful things. It was like trying to herd cats.
Suddenly, I remembered Samantha.
Jareth had said she was the most powerful being that he knew. I could hear his voice in my mind, as clear as day. It’s her heart, Sydney. When a human operates solely from the heart in everything they do, the true power of humanity is unleashed.
With every ounce of my being, I turned my thoughts into a heartfelt wish. From my very soul, I wished the river would return to its banks.
Rafael was still pushing me up the path. The stench of sulfur grew stronger with each step. Blondie and the others kept pace with us, but at a safe distance. They clearly feared Rafael’s light, and they didn’t seem to care too much for the Man in the
Top Hat bringing up the rear, either.
As we stumbled to the top of the cliff, I finally gathered enough courage to toss a quick glance back over my shoulder.
The river of lava had receded a few feet, forming a kind of waterfall over the bridge before winding around the base of the cliff to run off into the distant darkness like a glimmering golden thread. It hadn’t returned to its banks, but at least it had stopped its advance.
My fearful Tulpa had clearly been stronger than my heartfelt one.
“Not bad for your first attempt, Sydney,” TopHat observed in an encouraging voice.
Blondie spat.
TopHat turned on him then. "Your greed has brought a human into your world. You would be wise to change your ways before it is too late. This may very well be your last chance.”
“Humans are weak and foolish, incapable of stopping us,” Blondie replied contemptuously. “They are a source of food. Nothing else.”
“They are beings who dream,” TopHat disagreed. “And dreams are the seeds of reality. When humans understand they are so much more powerful than they themselves believe, your reign of terror will end. No longer will they blindly allow you to steep their race in fear. No longer will you be able to use them to wage war, destruction, and breed hatred for your benefit. They will learn they have power over their own thoughts and will cultivate peace and harmony.”
The lizards in the pit—and the few that rested on the rock shelves above it—drew back and hissed at the word peace.
More Tulpas of fear popped into existence above their heads, setting off a feeding frenzy in the pit. Their high-pitched squeals of pleasure made me shudder. Some of the lizards devoured the Tulpas in a single bite. Others absorbed them through their eyes and nose. It reminded me of what I’d witnessed Marquis doing, the very first time he’d taken the Tulpa out of the orange tube. It seemed so very long ago.
“Ah yes.” Marquis sighed in reminiscence. “The taste of that bait was beyond compare.”
“Bait?” I repeated, catching my breath. Had they wanted me to steal it? Had I fallen into their trap from the very beginning?
Marquis all but confirmed it with his next words. “We’ll have better success with the next human. We didn’t expect you to resist from the start, nor to receive help from my very own son.”
Rafael reacted to that one. “You’re not my father,” he responded immediately.
“I beg to differ,” Marquis grinned widely, revealing a huge mouthful of sharp-pointed teeth. “It was I who protected you from the very beginning.”
“Protected?” Rafael repeated coldly. “You are a murderer, nothing more. Too many have died at your hands. Innocents. Jung, the human reporter. Jareth’s bodyguard. How many humans and Fae have you—”
“As many as I needed to,” Marquis inserted with a cynical smile. “They were in the way. Disposable—”
He broke off as a Tulpa appeared in front of us. It looked like a wriggling black pineapple and gave off a sickly sweet, cloying smell. Both Marquis and Blondie reached for it at the same time, ripping it apart to devour it before its piercing scream had even finished reverberating against the rock walls surrounding us.
I closed my eyes and shivered. I was trapped in a nightmare.
At once, I felt Rafael’s caring arm pulling me into a protective embrace. “Let’s leave this place,” he suggested.
I just nodded in agreement.
I was done talking to the Lizard People. After all, I already knew what I should do next. I had to finish the job. I had to destroy the Mutant Tulpa. No doubt, the lizards would create it again, but it had taken them quite a bit of effort to do it the first time. At the very least, I could buy humanity some needed time.
And regardless of what Blondie said, I just might figure out how to cut the puppet strings along the way.
The wails emanating from the pit informed me that I was on the right path.
Blondie and Marquis began to shout at us, but I was done listening to them.
“Let’s go,” I said, strengthening my resolve.
I pointed to the cords of light running up and over the red rock walls like vines, disappearing over the edge and out of sight. A narrow path led around the lip of the pit, to a wide crack in one of the walls where a dense red fog spilled through the opening. It crept out like long fingers to hug the ground.
I waited until both Rafael and Jareth nodded in agreement before stepping forward. TopHat didn’t vote, but he followed as we took to the path. As we approached the pit, the Lizards drew back, showing their teeth. Still afraid of Rafael’s light, there was no way they could physically stop us, but after we passed, they followed, calling after us in deep, otherworldly voices which beckoned us to come back and join them.
“And they call humans foolish?” Jareth muttered in a voice thick with sarcasm.
I silently agreed with him. Did Blondie really think I’d just give up and join him after everything that had happened? And especially after he’d killed Tigger?
Walking through the red swirling mist, we reached the crack in the wall. The air still stank of sulfur, but it wasn’t quite as bad. The mist seemed to have some sort of dampening effect on it.
Rafael went first, nearly stooping in half to step through the crack. He made me wait until he poked his head back through to announce it safe before I followed. Ducking through the crack, I straightened slowly on the other side and peered at the pulsing network of light cords spreading out across a vast field. It looked like a massive golden spider web splayed out on the ground.
“It is some kind of trap,” Jareth whispered as he joined us.
“It is,” TopHat confirmed from behind. “The Brotherhood of the Snake keeps humans trapped in their base emotions to feed off of them. Fear. Hatred. Distrust.”
I shivered. “Is there a way to destroy it?” I asked.
TopHat met my inquisitive gaze with a kind smile. “It is time for me to go, Sydney. You must continue alone.”
Icy fear jolted through me. He hadn’t answered me. “Is that my Blue Thread?” I asked hoarsely.
He just smiled and said, “Trust yourself, Sydney.”
That was exactly what I didn’t want to hear. That was the hardest thing to do. But before I could even protest, he melted into the shadows and was gone.
“Figures,” I muttered under my breath. When I needed him the most, he wasn’t going to be there. But then, I wasn’t sure what he could really do, anyway.
Straightening my shoulders, I took a deep breath. I had the Tulpa to destroy and maybe the light cords, too. And with the way my thoughts reacted in the Second Dimension, I’d best keep myself as focused as possible.
“Shall we?” Rafael asked, bowing a little.
I glanced up at Jareth, but he was unusually quiet and withdrawn.
“Let’s see where the cords go,” I said then.
They both just nodded.
Silently, we skirted the edge of the field, inspecting the cords to see where they ended, but they were merely twisted strands of light, woven back into the web and seemingly didn’t even possess an end.
It was difficult to not let my thoughts wander. I generated myriad Tulpas above my head, mostly dark, gloomy ones. I hadn’t realized before just how much I’d let my thoughts control me instead of the other way around. And even worse, most of my thoughts were criticisms offered by a running inner-dialogue of negativity whose sole purpose was to make me feel as bad about myself as possible. It was a battle to focus either on the task at hand or on positive, happy thoughts.
We’d covered almost the entire perimeter of the field before we stumbled upon a conduit of some kind. It was huge. There were so many twisted cords of light that they had fused into a single channel which descended into the bowels of the Second Dimension itself and flowed out of the field to the edge of what looked like a dark forest.
I took a step forward and then paused. I didn’t know where I was going. Was I leading both Jareth and Rafael down the wrong path? W
hat if I was leading them to the wrong destiny?
Nervously, I turned to them and asked, “Where is it going?” I asked. “It isn’t somewhere we should go, right? Am I making the wrong decision?”
I didn’t have to say it. They knew I was asking if it led to the Tree of Life.
“The Tree is not something to be found easily,” Rafael explained softly. “Its leaves have yet to be found on Earth. Its roots are still hidden on Avalon. No doubt, the trunk is as protected here as well.”
That made me feel a little better. But only a little. “But your fate. And Jareth’s …” My voice trailed away.
Jareth’s brows drew into a dark line. “The Tree of Life is surrounded by the Shadows of Death, Sydney. Only something truly evil can penetrate it. As ornery as you are, I really don’t think you qualify.”
It felt good to roll my eyes back at him.
It was all a bit esoteric to me, but it sounded like it wasn’t too risky to keep following the cords. “Then let’s keep going,” I said, cautiously heading for the woods.
But as I walked, my eerie, nagging sense of doubt turned increasingly fearful. What if they were wrong? What if I imagined we broke though the Shadows of Death? Would that summon them to me? Would I accidentally harm the Tree of Life and blow up the dimensions all because I couldn’t control my thoughts?
A different thought blazed across my mind.
If my thoughts were all that powerful in the Second Dimension, why couldn’t I just wish myself home like Dorothy in The Wizard of OZ?
Startled, I came to an abrupt halt.
“What is it?” I heard Rafael ask.
But I was too busy thinking of Al and Betty to answer.
I tried to focus on just them. I really did. I even kept repeating to myself there’s no place like home, like Al and Betty’s. But more things popped into my head than Al’s bald head and Betty’s sweet nature. I saw the Wicked Witch of the West, along with Toto, and Mrs. Patton’s creepy garden gnomes.
The ground shifted and then we were falling, scraping our shins against a rock wall.
I lost all control of my thoughts after that and panicked.
“Relax, Sydney,” Rafael’s gray eyes swam into view. I felt his strong hands cradle my head. “Just breathe. Slow and easy. Like this. Copy me.”
